Episode 4: Aftermath

It had been about a week since Hargrove's arrest by the citizens of Chorus, but the reparations to their world was slow going. Even with Santa's help. Not Santa as in "ho ho ho." Santa as in an alien A.I found by Caboose before Hargrove's defeat. Right now, Oregon stood at a balcony in civvies as he looked over what will one day become New Armonia. He had been released from the hospital a day ago, but Doctor Grey had requested that he come in once a week for check-ups. Especially, since Oregon had agreed to be her test subject concerning prosthetics. Tucker had also gotten out of the hospital, but he was less than graceful in his exit as Caboose was still in a coma and his best friend was no more.

"Hey," said a voice behind Oregon. Oregon looked to see Vanessa Kimble heading his way.

"Hey," Oregon replied as he didn't really feel like talking. A man he considered a frenemy had just tried to kill him a week ago after all. Oregon returned his attention to the "cityscape."

"Hey," Vanessa repeated which made it evident Oregon wasn't going to be able to remain silent.

"What do you want?" Oregon sighed as he turned to look at her.

"I finally finished my paperwork," Vanessa said as she removed her helmet, "so I decided to ask you something that's been on my mind."

Even though Vanessa had stress lines and an expression permanently set to grim, she was beautiful. Even with stress lines and an expression permanently set grim. She had light blue eyes, short blonde hair, and some very delicious looking lips.

"I'm not going anywhere," Oregon said, "so ask what you want. I'll answer what I can."

"How is it we knew each other?" Vanessa asked.

"I'm sorry," Oregon said guiltily, "but I honestly don't know. I tried remembering, but I think any memories I had prior to Project Freelancer were covered up so I couldn't access them."

"What's your name?" Vanessa asked.

"Agent Oregon," Oregon automatically said as if it was instinct.

"I mean your 'real' name," Vanessa pressed. Oregon looked away from Vanessa as he did his best to recall his name. It took some time, but eventually he succeeded.

"James," Oregon said slowly, "James Campbell."

As soon as he said that Vanessa dropped her jaw and widened her eyes as she finally remembered him.

"Jim?" Vanessa said with a bit of a quiver.

"That's short for James, yes," Oregon frowned in confusion.

"I thought you were dead!" Vanessa said as she suddenly embraced Oregon in a hug.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Oregon said startled as he tried and failed to free himself. He failed due to only having one arm.

"What are you talking about?" Oregon asked as another tactic.

"I have a lot to catch you up on," Vanessa said as she looked at him. There were evident tears streaking down her face.

Meanwhile, with Agent Nevada…

Nevada was currently asleep in her own room that was given to her temporarily. She had taken off her armor and wore nothing but a form-fitting yellow t-shirt and light blue lace panties. She hadn't been able to sleep for a week because Kappa had been doing equations non-stop after their fight against Eric. Eventually, Nevada resorted to pulling Kappa from her even though it tore her up inside. Her room was pretty basic and the bed wasn't very comfortable. However, after the week she had… she didn't really care.

With Tucker…

Tucker was back in his previous armor and paced angrily while Wash and Carolina tried to console him. They have done so the whole week, and they failed each time.

"Don't blame yourself," Wash said sympathetically, "you couldn't have known-"

"What that Caboose and Church would both sacrifice themselves?!" Tucker demanded angrily.

"It's not your fault," Carolina tried, "Church did what he had to, and that… guy is responsible for both Donut's death and Caboose's condition."

"Nobody knew he was even on Hargrove's ship," Wash said, "Nobody except Hargrove."

"Well, we should've known," Tucker said still angry, "Church went into the ship's systems and Sheila should've told us! They both should have!"

"He had freelancer equipment," Carolina said, "so, it makes sense neither Church nor Sheila told you. It's possible he was hidden from scanners and cameras."

"Exactly," Wash agreed.

Tucker didn't respond except to walk towards the window that looked over the "cityscape."

"Every leader has gone through what you have," Carolina said as she and Wash walked up to him, "They have felt what you feel. Some still do. Vanessa Kimble is still feeling it herself."

"The only difference between the physical ones and the backstories," Wash added, "is that she has been in a leader position much longer than you, and so she knows how to process everything she feels."

"I remember how I felt when Georgia went missing," Carolina said, "and I blamed myself for the accident. Especially, after the Director yelled at me for losing an agent. Afterwards, I did everything I could to ensure my team's survival. Even with my long-lasting grudge against Tex."

"So that's why you shot me in the balls with your grapnel gun," Wash said, "Thank you by the way… though I wish you would've hit me elsewhere. I still feel sore."

Tucker couldn't repress a snort at that. Even Carolina smiled in amusement while Wash exclaimed indignantly.

"What happened to Georgia?" Tucker asked after a while.

"You don't want to know," Carolina said.

"I kinda do, though," Tucker said as he turned to look at her.

"That's what I said," Wash agreed, "multiple times."

With the Reds…

Sarge was busy training in the gymnasium, because he didn't want to risk losing Simmons like he lost Donut. Even though he will never admit it to himself, he doesn't want to lose Grif either. Sarge did his best, but he kept getting his ass handed to him by Doc/O'Malley.

"You can do it Sarge!" called Simmons from the target practice area.

"Kiss-ass," Grif said as he sat in a chair watching while munching on oreos.

"I'd rather be a kiss-ass than a fat-ass," Simmons returned as he it the apple that was on top of an unfortunate soldier's head, "Also, where the hell did you get those oreos?"

Grif's only response was to continue munching.

"Can it, you two!" Sarge called as he got to his feet, "We're supposed to be training, so we can take that guy down for giving Donut the worst last facial he had ever received."

"Training?!" laughed O'Malley, "Is flopping on the ground what you call training?! If so, then you're doomed! Hahahahaha!"

"Ah shut up," Sarge yelled as he punched at O'Malley. However, O'Malley dodged the attack. As O'Malley dodged, he grabbed Sarge's arm before he spun around Sarge and kicked the back of Sarge's knee.

A few hours later, with Agent Oregon…

Vanessa had spent hours filling Oregon in on what he's missed and didn't remember. She had taken Oregon to a local coffee shop as she needed the caffeine, and Oregon didn't drink alcohol.

"So," Oregon said slowly, "We were an item?"

"Yeah," Vanessa said with a nostalgic smile, "You were head of the fencing team, and I was class president during High School. We were the talk of the town back in the day."

"However," Vanessa continued as her expression grew sour, "things went downhill when we went to college."

"What do you mean?" Oregon asked.

"After the first year of college," Vanessa said sourly, "we were to get married. On Chorus, people can get married when they reach 17 at the youngest."

"We were in college at 16?" Oregon asked confused, "because he had never heard of that being the norm."

"People on Chorus are a lot smarter than the rest of the galaxy," Vanessa explained, "probably something to do with the precursor tech."

"Oh," Oregon replied.

"Anyway," Vanessa sighed sadly, "you were reported dead on the news the day before our wedding. I was distraught, and I never recovered completely. I had sworn off love for the rest of my life. You were my soulmate, and I still feel that way."

Oregon had nothing to say to that, so he stayed quiet.

"Do you remember anything now, or…" Vanessa trailed off unable to keep a tinge of hope out of her voice.

"No," Oregon said feeling guilty again, "I'm sorry. From what you said, we were awesome and must have loved each other deeply."

"It's not your fault," Vanessa said as she controlled her sadness, "You had no control over that."

"Even if I did remember everything…" Oregon said slowly and cautiously, "I know I wouldn't be Mr. Right for you. At least, not anymore. I just wouldn't be the same guy that you fell for. The things I've done… still haunt me at night. I wouldn't want you to be subjected to what haunt me. Even Zeta doesn't like it. At one point, she requested that I pull her every night."

"I understand," Vanessa said quietly as she stared down at her coffee.

"I believe you'll find the right guy for you someday," Oregon said as an attempt to cheer her up, "someone who's not as messed up as me. Someone who can be there when you need it. I'm just unable to live a normal life anymore. I've been a soldier for so long, I would see battles and enemies where there are none."

"Oregon," said the voice of Zeta inside his head, "you need to see something. I'll show it to you in your room."

"Thank you for telling me of my past," Oregon said warmly, "I mean it. Also, I enjoyed our talk… even though it was a bit depressing for the both of us. You helped me feel like a person again instead of a monster."

At that, he walked off. Vanessa knew he was sincere in everything he said, and that he wanted her to be happy. However, it just made her even sadder. Unable to hold back her tears anymore, she exploded into a crying fit. As nobody was nearby, nobody came to see if she was alright.

Back with Nevada…

Nevada slowly woke up and pushed herself into a sitting position. She stretched for about a minute and then got up to her feet. She took off her form-fitting t-shirt and lace panties as she walked towards her room's bathroom. Now that she was rested, she was looking forward to a shower which aren't exactly common during missions. She turned on the shower and waited for it to steam before she stepped in.

Back at Oregon's room…

As soon as Oregon entered his room, Zeta's holographic form appeared next to his head.

"What do you have to show me?" Oregon asked as he took off his shoes one-handed. They were fortunately just slip on shoes, because if they had shoestrings he'd never be able to tie them once on for obvious reasons.

"Epsilon sent us a file the day he sacrificed himself," Zeta explained, "and I have had to focus all of my attention on decrypting it this week. Go to the terminal, and I'll bring it up."

Oregon immediately walked towards the terminal, and when he got there Zeta turned it on. Oregon watched as several holographic images and files appeared in front of his eyes. There were two files. One was highlighted by Zeta and the other had attracted Oregon's eyes. The one Zeta highlighted was called Project Alpha and the other was called Memory Machine.

"What's memory machine?" Oregon asked.

"Memory machine is tech invented by Project Freelancer which was stolen by Hargrove," Zeta explained as she selected the file, "It was a machine used to alter, block, or remove memories. Unfortunately, another aspect of the machine was never successful."

"What aspect?" Oregon asked.

"Returning memories," Zeta said simply.

"Damn it," Oregon said no longer hopeful.

"What I brought you here to see is the file I highlighted," Zeta said as she closed out of the Memory Machine file and selected Project Alpha. Oregon gave the go ahead, and Zeta activated it. It was full of images of Church. In actuality, the images of were of Alpha. There was also a few reports. The reports read:

Report #1

Dear Chairman,

I believe we have located the Alpha A.I at a former Freelancer base. Rather, what's left of the code. We have also determined its hardware's location. Someplace called Blood Gulch Valley. Unsure where the exact location as of yet.

Report #2

Dear Chairman,

We have arrived at Blood Gulch Valley, and in all honestly… it's very boring out here. However, we have located the remains of a smart tank which had lost its A.I somehow. Will update on further progress.

Report #3

Dear Chairman,

We have found or more accurately, fell into a cave system where we found an advanced computer which had a dying A.I that was proven useless to us. The computer looked like it was made of random parts. Some even looked like they had wrappings of food cans on them. Will update on further progress.

Report #4

Dear Chairman,

We have located the Alpha hardware. It was forcefully installed into the back of a soldier's head. The hardware is now in our possession, and we're enroute to HQ. Mission completed.

Oregon stared for a few minutes as he had no clue what this could mean, and he had no idea why he should care at all.

"I know what you're thinking," Zeta said, "Why should this matter to you? The answer is, because it mattered to Hargrove. We have to find out what else he has done, and from what I read of the file we took for him… his intention was to revive the Alpha A.I's hardware and by extension, the Alpha."

"From what Wash told me," Oregon said slowly, "Alpha was a friend to the Reds and Blues. In order to get their trust like Wash and Carolina have… we have to bring the Alpha back."

Oregon immediately turned and headed towards the communication device handed to him by Vanessa Kimble. He picked it up and dialed the number for Doctor Grey.

"That arm ready yet?" Oregon asked once Dr. Grey answered.

"Just about," Dr. Grey replied, "I still have to work out the kinks. Why?"

"I have a mission," Oregon said, "I'm going to bring Church back."


much shorter than the previous chapters/episodes, but I honestly had no idea what else to do. It also seemed like the perfect point to end the chapter/episode as well. as always, if you enjoy it please leave a like and if you want to stay updated follow it. reviews are always welcome. If they're questions or constructive criticism anyway.