O0O

"Uh, yeah. Hey, just so you know, I'm not the Director. I'm Epsilon. But you can just call me Church." Church looked at the freelancer, and noticed subtle scars across her neck, face, and throat.

"Yes, sir. I've come to alert you of our presence, and ask that you offer your base as quarters."

"What?" Church blinked. "Uh, what?"

"Well," Caboose stepped in. "Basically, the Earth has been taken over by the aliens, so now all the women and children have been sent where the aliens won't look. In small bases all over the galaxy. Like here!"

"WHAT?" Church was shocked, but Caboose went on.

"Yeah, no alien wants this place, so they sent whoever they could to recolonomize the human population. Hmmm, population. That makes me want some popcorn. Church, do we have any of that?"

"What? You know what, never mind. No, there is no popcorn. Yes, the people can stay here." Church looked into the base. "Tucker! Clear the extra rooms, we've got a lot of people coming over to stay!"

"For how long?" Tucker asked, followed by a quiet "Bow chicka bow wow."

"Um, forever." Church replied. "Earth is now alien territory. And since no one cares about this BACKWATER CRAP HOLE anyway, they just sent the women and children here."

"Um, rage much?" Holly could tell Church would have taken offence to the thought of being in a remote area for the majority of the war, but the pent up frustration was on a whole other level.

"Sorry, I've just been stuck with these idiots for much longer than I had hoped. It's getting to the point where I'm reliving memories, the conversations are so similar."

"Well, the Director told me once, 'if you're going to live in a memory, why not live in a good one?' He was always nice like that. It made no sense back then. But now, I'm not sure." Holly offered words of comfort, but all it seemed to do was make him depressed.

"Alright, whatever. Just bring over the new people soon. I can't take much more of this." Church sighed and left. "Take Caboose with you. He's dumb, but he can lift."

Holly nodded and took Caboose along by the hand. His gloves were slightly slick with the sweat from his palms, and he seemed troubled.

"What's wrong?" Holly had a mind to ask.

"You make me nervous." Caboose admitted. "The last lady I knew was mean. In fact, all the ladies I knew were mean. Sheila, Tex, Carolina-"

"Wait, you knew Tex and Carolina?" Holly stopped. Right now, it was Alaska time.

"Sure! Tex was Church's girlfriend who died. A lot. And Carolina was the mean lady who made us help murder the Director." Caboose nodded.

"Good. That son of a whore needed to die," Holly glared at the ground, and snapped out of the dark thoughts that clouded her mind. "Anyway, we have five people staying at Blue base, and five staying at the Red base."

"That means we will have..." Caboose did the math in his head slowly. "Two people per room."

"That's fine with me. But Caboose?" Holly looked over the hill, seeing the progress the reds had made.

"Yes, Ms. Alaska?" Caboose looked towards his new friend.

"Do you want to room with me?" Holly glanced sideways through her visor to see Caboose nod enthusiastically.

"Of course! So far, you're the nicest lady I've met! Even nicer than that one lady in the REACH campaign who gave me a cylinder*" Caboose took her hand tighter into his. "We're going to be best friends. Well, maybe not BEST friends. Church is my best friend. We play Hide Don't Seek all the time. And we go together like chocolate and peanut candy!"

"Uh...Huh, well, I can live with that." she withdrew a rubber band from a pouch and took off her helmet, tying her hair up. "Second best is still a best. Right?"

"Right!" Caboose ran ahead. "Let's go get those poor ladies to some shelter!"

They ran at top speed down the hill, and Sarge looked up just in time to see them hand in hand.

"You've got to be shitting me," Sarge growled. "Not only a Blue, but the dumbest Blue I've ever seen. If that becomes my son in law, I'm gonna be pissed."

"Honey, Holly is a free spirit. She'll do what she wants, even if it's just to piss you off." Betty warned. "Don't call her on it. Or you know she'll date him to spite you. After that 'girls are too weak for the military track' thing, she's been proving you wrong for years."