Chapter One: A Serendipitous Meeting
Five Years Earlier. 2256 Hours, February 9, 2553. UNSC Roosevelt Air Base, Skagen, Denmark. "The Outing," Planet Earth. Prologue to the War of Tomorrow
With our big Africa op just two days away, a night at the O-Club with my two best buddies was just what I needed to get my mind off all our troubles - and the impending do-or-die moment humanity was about to face. Our upcoming mission to Kenya would be our very last, the one that either ended the war with the Covies and Flood for good, or made it a moot point if Earth was lost.
Of course I had plenty to think about before then - and to prepare, and to wring my hands about. Little Gabriel was here with us too now, and having just gone through the painful miscarriage of my second child, I wanted to spend as much time with my two-and-a-half-year-old son as I could. But Willis had agreed to watch him on his own for tonight, my company of Marines and their supplies were all squared away, and so I was ready to let loose a bit and have some fun.
"So what're you going to do first when we get there, Lewis?" Captain Oliver Hayden, one of my two best friends, asked the other.
Beside me, First Lieutenant Dean Lewis grinned. "Celebrate the birth of my new son, of course."
"Of course! Well, Courtney and I've got three, so that means...three shots to start. Fair?" Oliver turned to me next. "Cooper here's got one so you'll get just one shot. Dean, buddy, I think you should get two though. A second one for your daughter."
I smiled. "So we're toasting to our kids first?"
"Sure, why not? Even though they're an enormous responsibility, we love the little gremlins a lot so they get first pick."
"I'm guessing that means spouses next?"
"Yeah. We love them, too."
"And next to the dead," Lewis added.
"I'll drink to that," I responded softly.
We'd made it to the corner where the O-Club was now, and we could already see the lights on from the outside - and hear all the noise coming from within.
"Come on," Hayden said, grinning. "Last round will be to bolster our resolve for the end of the world."
Once inside, we finally saw that the place was packed. That wasn't unusual just before deployment, but tonight, the atmosphere was different. There was more chaos and less restraint - in a way we all knew that if we made it back from Africa at all, it would be minus many of the people we'd known and had worked with for months or even years. I hated the thought of it, but I looked to my left at Dean and then to my right at Oliver. This might be our very last time alive together.
And we planned to make the most of it.
Captain Hayden sidled up to the bar first, pushing past other clustered groups of officers to order our drinks. "Six shots of the best you've got, for the three amigos," he said to the bartender. The woman nodded and set out two small glasses of a clear liquid for each of us.
Lieutenant Lewis raised an eyebrow at Oliver. "Aren't you supposed to have three for your boys? And one for Natalie for hers?"
Hayden shrugged as he downed his first shot in one quick swill. "I decided to spread around the cheer a little bit, in the interest of fairness."
"Hey, sounds good to me," I said, taking my first shot next. The liquid burned down my throat, but it felt good.
Finally, Lewis joined in with us, letting his first drink go down the hatch.
"To our families," Hayden said.
"To our families," Lewis and I echoed.
"And this next one," Oliver said as he raised his second glass, "will be for the brothers and sisters we've lost...and the many more we'll say goodbye to on this final campaign."
Out of respect, Lieutenant Lewis and I raised our glasses slowly and solemnly. The three of us gave each other a meaningful look in the eyes, as if to say, If it's me, remember your good friend when I'm gone. And then we downed our shots in unison.
Just a half-hour later I was feeling nice and buzzed, nearing the end of my first pint of beer. I signaled the bartender for another, then took my two drinks back to the poker game Hayden, Lewis, and I had decided to crash. Credits were strewn everywhere on the table, our haphazard version of a pot, and things had gotten relaxed enough that we sat in the group with the top buttons of our uniform jackets undone, even in the presence of two majors. Nobody really cared.
I checked out my hand one last time as the game circled back to me. It was just about my turn, but I couldn't help but let out a groan as I finished my beer and started in on the second. My hand was still shit.
Beside me, Hayden laughed.
"You know, Cooper, the whole point of poker is to have control over your facial expressions. It's like you're on a stealth mission if you're trying to win. Don't want the enemy to know you're there waiting in the shadows to catch him from behind and shank 'im."
I shook my head, although it felt like the room moved a little with it. "Not my style. I say take the enemy head-on with everything you've got and take 'em by surprise that way."
As soon as the Marine officer on the other side of me, another captain, threw more credits into the pot, I laid my cards flat in front of me and folded.
"It's also a good strategy, however, to know when you've got nothing left to give," I said.
"Touché." Hayden played his hand and looked over to Lewis, next in the circle. "Well, buddy? Whatcha got?"
It was the final go-around of the game, and Lewis was the last player. His face was a stony façade; there was no getting through that mop of red hair and those blue eyes to reveal what he was thinking.
Finally, though, he grinned.
"Royal flush for you all," he said. "Read it and weep...and give me each of those lovely large credit bills."
Several groans went through the table then, but our buddy Lewis was the legitimate winner. Sometimes it paid to have a best friend who was as good at cards as him. As soon as everyone was done protesting the win, Lewis took the wad of cash in his hands, stood a little unevenly, and raised his half-empty glass.
"Next round of brew on me!"
We all raised our glasses in return to that. I hurried to finish my second beer to make way for more, and one of the majors started doling out the cards for another game. Suddenly, though, the whole table went hush and we all abruptly stood.
"Colonel on deck!" someone shouted.
Shit, I thought. Technically, by the simple act of unbuttoning our jackets to reveal our T-shirts underneath, we were all out of uniform. A couple of the young second lieutenants with us hurried to straighten themselves out; the rest of us didn't even bother. We knew if this full bird colonel was a real hardass and a stickler for the rules, we were all in for a reprimand anyway.
The colonel who'd just entered was a man in his mid-forties with salt-and-pepper hair. He had a medium build and stood tall at six-foot-three, an imposing figure to most of us. We all stood at attention in absolute silence as he walked around, almost as if he were inspecting the place. Maybe he was. I was ready to get the chewing out of my life when he finally addressed the bar patrons and grinned.
"A round for all the Marines we've got in here! Enjoy, everyone. The next two days won't be easy...and anything after that is not guaranteed. Drink up."
Cheers and whoops sounded throughout the crowd, and our table cheered even louder. Between Lewis and the colonel, we were getting our next two drinks free. Couldn't ask for much more than that.
"That guy," Hayden said then, "is a fucking hero."
"Yes, Oliver, we know," Lewis replied. "We're all going to get back very drunk tonight."
"No, I'm serious! You ever hear about the siege on Beijing a few weeks ago? That dude."
I almost spit out my beer. "Really? You're sure?"
"Dead on," Hayden affirmed. "He stopped a whole damn Covenant army in China to save the city. Pretty badass."
"Glad he's going in with us, then," I said.
"Yeah, me - oh, shit! Here he comes."
The full bird colonel had finally made his way to our table then after speaking to some of the other Marine officers in the O-Club, drink in hand. Without a word, a couple of the second lieutenants quickly made room for him and he sat down.
After taking a long swig of his beer, he said, all casual, "So. Let's start with some introductions. I'm Colonel Aiden Bolowsky. You, Lieutenant Red?"
We all looked over at Dean. He was the only one at the table with red hair. Hell, probably the only Marine in the whole bar.
"First Lieutenant Dean Lewis, sir. XO of Bravo Company, 102nd Battalion."
"Who's your CO?"
"Me, sir," I responded. "I'm Captain Natalie Cooper. And this is our buddy, Captain Oliver Hayden. He's in charge of Charlie Company in the same battalion, sir."
Colonel Bolowsky nodded with his beer. "Good to meet you, Marines. And the others?"
We went around the circle till the introductions were finished. After that the O-6 sat in on two games of cards with us - and went through two beers. I finally stopped halfway through my third, though more was offered. I didn't want to get completely plastered tonight when I was going back home to my son - even though Willis and I had already put him to bed long before I'd left.
It was close to 0300 hours when Hayden, Lewis, and I decided to call it quits and return to our respective quarters. Throughout the walk, Oliver talked mostly about the colonel we'd met.
"Man, that guy was cool. Everything a superior officer should be, plus he knows when to unwind. I like it." He paused for a moment, then added, "I hope I'm like that when I make full colonel."
Beside us, Dean snorted. "As long as you're fantasizing, you can wish for the Covenant to peacefully depart the planet as well."
"Yeah," I chimed in. "And the Flood. That way we can all sleep in tomorrow morning instead of having to get up in three hours for formation."
That elicited a collective groan from the three of us.
We walked along for several minutes in silence after that. We were almost to the barracks when Lewis spoke again.
"I know who might make it that far up the ranks." He turned and glanced at me with a smile. "Our very own Cooper here."
"Nah," I said. "Not in a million years. I'm still sometimes surprised I made captain already."
"Sure you can, Natalie," Hayden said then, serious for once in his life. "Out of all of us, you just might be the one to make it."