Prologue
I remember the words my father once told me, "be strong, be brave, be bold, but most importantly, don't be afraid to run", I now find myself in the cargo hold of a Medivac, my team and I plan to reclaim Tarsonis from the Zerg, initial assaults on the Zerg have proven unsuccessful and the Dominion have now turned towards the 54th battalion and the ghosts to solve this problem.
"Hey, did we have to be the team to have the ghost tag along?", "yeah, why do we have to be the ones to shuttle this bag of shit". Marines and Ghosts have never had a very, 'friendly' relationship, however I've always had respect for them, this is due to my younger sister, actually training to become one herself.
"Shut it, both of you, orders are orders and I intend to follow them", both of the marine's look at me with an evil eye, before their helmets hiss shut. "I never got your name love" the ghost looks blankly at me, "are you okay, you don't look to hot". I unlock my chair and step up towards the ghost, I wave my hand mere inches away from her face, "hello, anyone in there".
She begins to break into some kind of spasm, I grab her by both of her arms, only lightly holding her down, I point at one of the marines, "You, go tell the pilot that the ghost is having a spasm". I get on one knee as the ghost seems to shake more and more violently by the minute. "We need a medic back here now!" the marine shortly returns, with a medic behind him.
The medic takes one look at the ghost then darts off to the cockpit again, she returns with a medical kit, "do you know what's going on doc" the medic opens the kit, and begins to pull out a whole array of objects, most of which I had no idea of what they are. The ghost begins to slow down, "is this meant to happen" the medic looks at me in disgust "yes, now can you please stop asking questions".
Over the course of five minutes the ghost had stopped, the medic then pulled something out of the kit that I was all too familiar with, "that's an AED, is she dead", I always admired how medics could stay completely calm in situations like this. I didn't need a mirror to know that my face was covered in fear and concern, one part of me didn't want the ghost to die, the other saw her as a liability and wanted her dead.
I was conflicted, and in the end I decided to let fate decide, I helped the medic move the ghost to an isolated room, I stepped outside, the door slammed shut and the sound of a lock snapped into place.
I made my way to the cabin where I informed the pilot, "I not sure what's happening to the ghost, but I think her situation is deteriorating" the pilot presses a few buttons on the panel and turns to me, "I'm going to see how she is, can you watch the cockpit whilst I'm gone", I look at the panel in front of the joystick, "I don't need to drive right", she giggles, "no, just watch for anything that goes wrong, and come get me if you need to", I raise my right hand to a salute, "yes ma'am!", the pilot leaves the cockpit in my, not so capable hands.
I sit in the cockpit for a good hour or so, by then I had read every manual in the database about flying this thing, if it ever came to it, I felt a little more confident in my ability to pilot this thing. I could hear the clanking of metal on metal, only a marine makes that sound when they walk. A marine walk's in and salutes me, "sir, the pilot wanted me to tell you that the ghost is fine, and is making a good recovery after the seizures, she will arrive shortly", I return the salute, "thanks you …" I intended to call the marine by his name but I couldn't read his name, "it's M. Koiter", I give a thankful nod, the marine saw this as a reason to leave, and left.
I sat there twiddling my thumbs waiting for the pilot to arrive, I wanted to check on the ghost, I couldn't really pinpoint why I felt such a compulsion to check on her, I just felt the need to. A little while later, I began to doze off into my thoughts, this didn't last long as the pilot walked up behind me, "enjoying the view", I turn to look at her, "no, more dozing off", her eyes roll, "well I think you can go now, I can handle this".
After leaving the cockpit I started to make my way to the infirmary, it was a short walk, and I arrived with no interruptions. "hey doc" she turns to me, "oh, hi, you're looking for the ghost, she's just down there" I looked towards the direction she is pointing and start walking, she runs after me, "oh and one more thing", I turn my head to look at her, "sorry for blowing up at you, I know you were trying to help, I'm new you see, I was really just a panicked as you were" a smile crosses my face, "hey, don't even worry, it happens to the best of us, at least you can admit it", I continue to walk, she follows me.
I had, no clue why the medic seemed to attach to me the way she did, I assumed that she was just being polite and helpful, or so I thought. "Here she is" the medic opens the veil that hides the ghost away from sight. "How are you love?" the ghost jolts awake, she grabs a tight hold on my arm, "don't trust them", the ghost faints. I grab a hold on my pistol turning to face the medic, "what's her problem", the medic seems distant, "she's hallucinating, who knows what's happened", I feel my grip tighten around my pistol, "listen, you need to trust me, put that women down, now!", I look all around me frantically searching for the voice, "it's me, on the bed, that women tried to kill me", the medic has walked off, "you want me to shot her", it seemed weird talking to a voice in my head, "please, shot her, then there's a syringe on the pilot, it will remove my paralysis".