The Spartan of Ballast

by SharktasticSarah

The UNSC is wracked by a fiscal crisis in 2567. In order to maintain full military mobilization despite the crisis, an emergency austerity budget is put into effect, slashing non-military expenses while cranking up the taxes out in the colonies, who lack a say in the UEG. Finding a hero in Jennifer-G/090, a Spartan with a grudge, the colony of Ballast makes its voice heard.

1. Prologue

Jenny legs pumped off the surface of the bomb, and she felt the contents of her stomach lurch towards her toes, and the blood rush to her head. Even when she had pushed right off the center, the tiniest bit of rotation left her cartwheeling slowly. She always hated EVAs. Unfocusing her eyes to prevent the nausea, she felt her rotation start to slow. Confused, she glanced to her HUD. Her armor was using its ability to shape its energy shields as a way to make little reaction wheels all over her body, spinning away, slowing the spin down. With a bit of a guffaw of delight, the Spartan marveled at this final surprise her pilfered suit had in store for her, peppering her with minuscule feathery lightningbugs.

It was beautiful, but admittedly, it felt kind of pointless. That bomb would end her spinning either way in about two minutes. Noticing that said bomb lacked the rotation stopping mechanism she did, and that it was pirouetting off into the distance, she felt some sort of satisfaction. Like she made the warhead puke or something. It made no sense but it helped her feel better in a senseless, spiteful sort of way.

But the spite evaporated as she got a good look at the view. Exhaling slowly, she couldn't help but feel a little choked up. Even in an age where space travel was a mundane affair, seeing the gentle curve of one's home was deeply moving. The gentle coiling of rainclouds, deep blues and greens and browns and yellows etched with the thin reflective black of the glasslands. She could even see Port Anthony start to glow as the streetlights came on for the night, the elevator and drydocks sticking out like a thin cobweb against the city.

They had done it. They had taken the best hit that the UEG could throw at them, and they were still standing. And now ONI's racket was imploding in a hail of colonial boycotts and mass uprisings. Her adopted home had done the impossible. They had won.

And in that moment, she realized that was why she had fought so hard for it. Not the rush, not the revenge, just the fact that it was home and it deserved better and she could help.

Jenny liked to imagine that this was a her planet saying goodbye. One final, beautiful view of Ballast in all her glory. Her hand rested on the hardcase at her thigh, where her wedding band was.

Then, there was a white flash. Her visor polarized but it did no good. The shockwave hit. Everything went from white to black.