A despair filled scream rents the air, Nevitz suddenly sitting up in bed his body covered in cold sweat. His numb brain not processing at first that it was his own despaired voice screaming out suddenly.

"Wha what was that?" as the adrenaline leaves his body he clutches his head in pain closing his eyes. A throbbing headache pierces his consciousness almost like he had spent the last day bathed in nothing but alcohol and now he was paying for it.

"Lance Corporal!" Quick footsteps approach, "Lance Corporal Young, are you okay?"

Nevitz hears shuffling feet and the sound of the stranger looking at a datapad.

"Yeah...I think I'm okay...but I feel like I was run over by a Scorpion while intoxicated enough to kill a fucking Hunter." he then groans from the pain lancing into his head from attempting to open his eyes.

The stranger chuckles at the colorful remark. "You had a close call there Marine."

Vision still blurry but the L.Cpl could see just enough detail to understand where he was, not to mention the smell of a sterile environment. It had become his second home.

"What happened this time?" Nevitz mumbling as he closes his eyes again and starts to rub his temples to try and alleviate the pain in his head.

"This time?" The stranger asks, Nevitz could hear the rustle of clothing as if they were shrugging at the meaning of his question but followed suit with an explanation.

"It seems as if your squad was taking a Covenant defensive position and you were wounded."

Nevitz sighs, "Which Covenant defensive position? I've lost count long ago how many I've taken." his eyes still screwed closed but he could feel the frown on the person from the obvious sarcasm that filled the L.Cpl's voice.

"From your last mission Lance Corporal, your squad was taking Whiskey Beach..."

Nevitz interrupts, "And a Wraith melted the fucking hell out of the remaining members of my squad right?"

"That's correct." Aggravation heavy in the male's voice.

"Gawd fucking dammit." Nevitz mumbles, "I swear the next Elite I meet I'm going to kick him in his fucking balls and use my combat knife to scribble offensive messages into his genitalia." he heavily sighs, "I'm getting really tired of this shit."

"It's your job Marine." and before the man could elaborate.

"I know that, I don't need a reminder that nearly 90 percent of my service time involves possibly being melted into goo, getting eaten by Jackals, or being miraculously whacked by a fucking Grunt."

Nevitz stops from spouting anymore offensive material, "So where am I now? I think...I was supposed to transfer yet again to another station when the previous mission went FUBAR."

"Correct," the man shifts the weight on his feet, "You are aboard the Equinox, before you ask how, you were in stable condition with only superficial wounds and a pretty ugly concussion so you were transferred to Equinox while unconscious."

"I take back my previous percentage, I think I spend 10 percent of my time in the med-bay and the other 10 in cryo." Nevitz finally is able to slowly open his eyes.

"Here, take these and drink the glass of water next to you." the 'Doc' holds out a couple of brown colored pills in his hand. Nevitz picks them up popping them into his mouth.

"You know," he takes a swig of his water swallowing the pills, "With medical technology advanced enough to clone human tissue and organs, why do we still have pills?"

The 'Doc' taken aback by such a random question, Nevitz merely waves a hand saying 'Forget about it.'

"There is a full uniform on the chair across from you with personal effects, you are to report to 2nd platoon on Deck 5 when dressed."

"Roger that Doc." Nevitz drains the rest of the tepid water in a quick gulp sliding his legs out of bed and walking over to the chair on unsteady feet.

Sometimes it really sucks to be in the Armed Forces... slightly thinking to himself while getting dressed.