This is a one shot story about what happened to Agent Georgia of Project Freelancer, and the resulting aftermath.
Agent Georgia's Lament
Agent Georgia adjusted his CQB helmet to make it more comfortable. His visor displayed all systems green. It also indicated the dent in his armour that dug somewhat into his right side. He twisted his torso and felt it up against his ribs.
"I really need to get that fixed." He said to himself, "This wouldn'a happened if I had my lucky penny." He said glumly
"Ah, don't worry about it Georgia. You'll be fine once we get back to Infinity." Said Agent Utah, who sat next to him.
Georgia looked at Utah, who had been his friend for a long time since they both joined the Freelancer program. Though neither of them were quite sure as to how they, as lower-ranked operatives, were assigned to Infinity but they carried on each day, facing the challenges of being soldiers in a strange galaxy.
"Fireteam Crimson, this is Bravo seven fiver, coming in hot. Be ready in two minutes." Came the voice of a Pelican pilot who had been sent to pick them up along with Fireteam Crimson.
Utah stood and patted Georgia on the shoulder.
"Come on, we have work to do. Requiem isn't going to clear itself of Covenant now is it?" said Utah with a smile, before donning his helmet.
Georgia shook his head and donned his CQB helmet and followed Utah to the descending Pelican.
"Alright everyone. We've got to get that Lich out of the skies, and the only way to do that is to get aboard it and take out its power source located on the upper deck. You all have the navpoints uploaded to your HUDs so get to it."
The assembled Spartans and two Freelancers saluted the hologram of Commander Sarah Palmer and turned to the waiting bay of the Pelican. As Georgia and Utah shouldered their equipment, Georgia finally got a good look at what they would use to board the Lich. Miller's voice came through their helmet comms.
"Crimson, I'm not saying it's even sane. But get on that Lich at any cost."
"Cool! Jetpacks! This will get us on board that Lich or my name isn't Agent Georgia."
Utah turned to look at him sideways
"What are you, ten? Yes, we got jetpacks, so you'd better be careful with them. Else you might end up throwing yourself miles of course." Utah peeked out of the Pelican's rear bay into the clouds
"We're pretty high up in Requiem's atmosphere, with that fall we may not get back in one piece." Said Utah worryingly
"Whatever, this is gonna be awesome!" said Georgia
"Alright Crimson, let's move!" said the leader of Fireteam Crimson and the Spartans all leapt out of the dropship to the Lich, activating their jetpacks once their trajectory was correct. Utah leapt out, followed by Georgia.
"Georgia, follow my lead. Three, two, one, mark!" said Utah through the comms
Utah engaged his jetpack and shot towards the Lich
Utah looked behind him but he couldn't see Georgia behind him.
"Woohoo!" cried Georgia as he shot through the skies of Requiem.
"Georgia! Take it easy! Don't use up all of your pack or else you won't get back up!"
But Georgia couldn't hear him and kept spiralling through the sky towards the Lich like a stunt plane.
"Here I come Covie bastards!" cried Georgia, and the Covenant sent a reply by way of a rain of plasma cannon fire. Georgia spun, dodging the plasma and irritating the Grunt at the cannon. The Grunt followed him around until Georgia landed behind him and twisted its neck. Fireteam Crimson landed around the Lich and moved towards their objective. Georgia heard a roar behind him and saw an Elite come up behind him with a storm rifle. Georgia did a backflip and used his jetpack to get some extra air, his veins full of adrenaline. The Elite fired at Georgia but missed. Georgia landed behind the Elite and drew a combat knife and finished it off.
The pair continued inwards, encountering another Elite who surprised them both. It knocked Utah to the side and threw Georgia back out the way he came and off the edge. Georgia landed heavily on his back on a Phantom that was heading back to the ships to gather more troops, leaving the atmosphere to do so with Georgia half-unconscious on its bow.
Georgia got up slowly, the acceleration of the Phantom made him dizzy and he almost fell before getting his balance back.
"Georgia! Are you OK?" said Utah through the comm
"Fine, just a little rattled."
"Well get back here, we're getting our butts kicked!"
A Grunt poked its head out of the side platform and looked up to where the noise was coming from.
"Uh-oh." Said Georgia
He tried to duck out of the way but the Grunt fired its needler and the crystal shards followed him around. Georgia hit the top of the Phantom and the needles flew over him, each one curving slightly more towards him. One hit his jetpack and lodged there.
Georgia stood up and fired back at the Grunt, hitting it in the face and it tumbled off the edge. Georgia jumped off and engaged his jetpack. As he did so, the needle exploded. Georgia had less than a second to react before his pack went spiralling out of control. The darkness of space loomed up above him, and he kept going until he was out of Requiem's gravity well and well on his way out of the fleet assembled around the entrance to Requiem's inner atmosphere.
Utah had just finished clearing out the Lich and looked up at the night sky. He could see Georgia spiralling out into space and soon lost sight of him.
"Utah! Hold on I'm-"
Miller's words rang through Utah's mind, At any cost.
Utah sighed and continued to the objective.
"Damn, I hope he's gonna be OK."
Utah arrived where the rest of Crimson was, waiting for pickup. Utah sighed and began to make his report.
"Agent Utah of project Freelancer, returning from mission Requiem-032. Mission parameters fulfilled, casualties reported, and Agent Georgia missing in action. He lost control of jetpack and went flying into Requiem's orbit. All communication lost. End report."
Georgia woke up days later, drifting in the middle of space. Requiem was gone behind him, consumed by its star.
No-one had found him yet. Not surprising really, even he didn't know where he was, and he didn't have an AI to help him out. He checked his armour's HUD; his suit had locked down to conserve energy. The indicator for his jetpack was darkened. A quick analysis told him that the pack had careened off into space and left him to drift aimlessly.
Georgia sighed.
"This is going to be a long night." He said, and began to fall asleep in his armour.
"Hm hm hmm, hm hm hmm, hm hm hmm hm hm hm hmm. Hmm hm hm, hmm hm hm hm hm hmmm."
Utah hummed as he remembered Georgia. He missed him, even though he was a super badass space warrior, he still missed his friend.
Georgia awoke from a proximity alert, his motion sensor started flashing. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was spinning through what looked like a UNSC repair station. Frigates and Pelican dropships were docked and flying around him. His stomach, kept supplied on limited nutrients provided by his suit, began to protest at his rotation.
"Oh, crap, I'm gonna be sick." He thought as he spun towards a viewport on the station.
"Oh man, sure does suck what happened to Georgia." Said Utah to himself, "Oh well. Oh hey look! His lucky penny!" Utah bent down and picked it up
"Too bad he didn't have that with him- when it happened."
"Is that Utah in there? And does he have my lucky penny? I told him I should have brought it to Requiem!" thought Georgia as he got closer and closer to the viewport until he slammed into it face-first. The shock of the impact brought his drowsy mind straight out of it.
"Hey Georgia." Said Utah calmly through the comms, now in range.
"Hey Utah." Replied Georgia, somewhat sleepily.
"I found your lucky penny. D'you want it back?"
Georgia thought for a moment, considering his position.
"Naw, you can have it."
Another source of mass began to pull at Georgia's feet, possibly the centre of the station's mass. Georgia began to slide down the window
"I gotta go now. See you later man." Said Georgia
"Okay bye." Said Utah
"Was Utah always that rude? Maybe I'll get rescued finally that I'm in UNSC space. Maybe I can flag down a Pelican."
Georgia began to wave his arms and legs around in an effort to draw a pilot's attention. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Way back when during the fight for Reach, Spartan James-005 had a very similar incident and was declared MIA as he spun off into space. Surely someone will find him. Or Utah will tell someone he was there, right?
Georgia began to get very tired from waving his arms and stopped to take a rest. He had been going on very little to eat for a long time now. His mission clock was turned off to conserve power so he couldn't know for sure. Georgia thought he saw a Pelican heading his way, but his eyelids were so tired he couldn't be sure. His eyes closed and he fell into a dark, dreamless sleep.