1300 hours, September 13 2524, (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Barcelona, Epsilon Eridani SystemThe weeks went by very slowly.
I had recovered from my injuries within days of arriving aboard the Barcelona. I didn't have much to keep me occupied, everybody who wasn't in cryo sleep was either busy doing their jobs or too injured or weak to talk. Instead of fighting the Innies, my main enemy was boredom. I spent my time reading or surfing the Holonet, both of which bored the fuck out of me. As soon as Doc Chagny allowed me to leave the medical bay, I found out that there really wasn't much else to do aboard the frigate. I couldn't even go into cryo sleep because of all the extra personnel on board, there was no room left. I woke up this morning determined to keep my sanity. I donned my battle dress uniform and headed down to Colonel Montgomery's temporary office, desperate to find something to keep me from dying of boredom.
I knocked on the metal door as the half-shaven Colonel poked his head out the door, razor still in hand.
"Yes?" the English officer said.
I snapped him a sharp salute, "Private First Class James Clarke, reporting for duty sir!"
The Colonel's eyebrows shot up.
"Ah, Clarke. I've been looking for you the past little while, son. Step in." Montgomery asked.
The Colonel turned back into his room as I stepped over the low doorframe and into his quarters. Normally, us lower ranks were not allowed into an officer's quarters unless invited or there was an important matter to discuss. Either way, I felt pretty privileged to be inside my commanding officer's room. Montgomery walked into his small bathroom to the right and continued to shave in the mirror. It was pretty informal, we were in Slipspace, I don't think he expected many visitors looking for some sort of work.
His room was relatively dim. A small sitting area consisting of two couches and a coffee table sat to my right, and his large paper-covered oak desk sat directly ahead. A desk lamp was the only illumination in the room, with the white bathroom light casting a few more hints of illumination into the darkness. Another door lay next to the bathroom door, which I assumed was his sleeping quarters.
"Have a seat, Private. In front of my desk" Montgomery called from his bathroom.
I pulled a chair up in front of the wooden desk. I started to get nervous, I had no idea what he wanted with me now. Rhodes claimed it was an award, but I had a feeling that if the Colonel has been "looking for me the past little while", it must be something more important than a medal.
Montgomery stepped out of his bathroom and placed his beret on his head. His boots giving that oddly soothing rhythm on the floor.
He sat down his high-backed swivel chair with a sigh.
"So Private, what brings you here?" the Colonel asked me as he lit a cigar. I wasn't a smoker, but the smell of his Sweet William cigar that UNSC officers favored was strangely intoxicating.
"I was told as we were boarding that you wished to see me, sir. I'm sorry for not coming sooner, I was heavily injured in combat and only recently got out" I had gotten out 8 days ago and had pushed the order to the back of my mind. Recent enough by my standards.
"Mhm, i'm aware of your injuries. You did a helluva job getting into the compound, my officers tell me. Lieutenant Li was impressed. He saw you lead an assault on the section of the wall you breached. Your stunt saved us alot of lives. Unorthodox, but effective." Montgomery said as he tapped his cigar into an ashtray.
I nodded, not wanting to gloat.
"And you engaged a rebel in hand-to-hand combat, correct?" Montgomery inquired.
"Yes sir, that is correct" I confirmed.
The Colonel put a folder down in front of me. 'OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE' was stamped across the front. I opened the folder and stared at it's contents. Inside were pages and pages of reports on one Major Kalikov Dostanko. Pictures of the rebel I had fought were attached to the front of the assembly of papers, although he looked younger and was cleanly shaven. I raised an eyebrow as I flipped through the pages.
"The man you killed was Major Dostanko, a rebel leader that ONI has been tracking for years. He had a personal craft waiting for him in a secluded portion of the compound, equipped with a Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drive. If you hadn't walked in when you did, he would've fled Thern and out of our grasp once more. Congratulations Private, you just bagged yourself a rebel officer" Montgomery said with a grin.
"I was only doing my duty, sir" I replied. I was holding back a smile as I realized that I had actually done something productive in this war.
"You paid a price, Private" the Colonel began, gesturing at my midsection where my scabbed wounds were still healing, "that price shouldn't go unnoticed"
The Colonel stood, and going with formalities I stood as well. The Colonel placed his cigar in his mouth and opened his desk drawer, pulling out a small box. He walked around the desk and opened the box, taking out a shining medal and pinning it on my chest. I glanced down and saw a shining Purple Heart on my jacket. Purple Hearts have been around for hundreds of years, being awarded to soldiers who were badly wounded or killed in battle. Lieutenant Li and Staff Sergeant Rhodes had both amassed multiple Purple Hearts.
I snapped a crisp salute once again. "Thank you, sir"
The Colonel returned a brief salute.
"You're a good soldier, Clarke. That little stint of yours shows that you are also a capable leader. The brass is planning something big, and they've got their eyes on you" the Colonel said through clenched teeth, holding his cigar in place.
I was surprised at this news. I was a regular infantryman, just like everyone else. I hadn't signed up to be a marine or an ODST. I had signed up to be a regular, ground-going, frontline grunt. The fact that the higher-ups, people that held more rank than Colonel Montgomery, were watching me and knew who I was made me a little more than antsy. I wanted to know what this plan of theirs was, but I decided not to ask any questions, no matter how much I wanted to know.
"We can only wait" I replied.
The Colonel gave a quiet laugh.
I bit my lip as I considered my next question.
"Sir, I was wondering if there was any duties you could have me do until we get off of here. I'm going mad with boredom" I said with a bit of hesitation. I didn't want to come across as a pushover who couldn't occupy himself through one slipspace trip.
"Yeah, head down to the armory and you can clean the weapons" the Colonel replied as he sat down in his desk again and began flipping through reports again.
A smile finally cracked over my face. I was good with weapons, and could strip them and clean them up pretty quickly.
"Thank you sir, i'll get on that right away" I said nonchalantly, giving him another salute before I left the room.
We only had another day or so before people came out of their cryo pods, so having armory duty would give me plenty of things to do before I had to disembark.
I arrived in the armory and set myself about the task of stripping all the weapons and cleaning their inner components. I worked for a few hours and dozed off on the floor close to 3 in the morning.
I was jostled awake by trembling as the Barcelona came out of slipspace. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. It was not a nice sleep. I put on my helmet and rushed back to the sleeping quarters and grabbed my bag out of my locker. I saw Doc Chagny in the hall and gave the french doctor a quick nod as I ducked under a bulkhead. I was very excited to get off of the frigate. I had already been paid a few days before, and military personnel rode passenger freighters for free on their return home. Marines, ODSTs, and army troopers were already fully dressed and assembling in the docking bay.
I pushed my way through the crowd as I caught glimpse of Valdez. A faint smile crept across my face. The joke would be on him. I crept up behind him and wrapped my arm around his neck, this time his arms flew up towards his neck as he tried to wrench me free.
"No magnum now, huh Valdez?" I laughed into his ear.
Valdez gave the best laugh he could while being choked and fell into me as I kept my grip. People parted as they saw this "fight" starting. A circle was quickly formed around us as people cheered us on.
Valdez reached around my right leg and pulled it out from beneath me. I tried keeping my grip as my arms slid up to his forehead and slipped off. He flipped himself over and jumped ontop of me, causing my still-healing ribs to start hurting again. Maybe this was a bad idea.
Valdez broke into a smile as he sat on top of me, pinning my arms beside my head. The cheers grew louder as I tried to resist him. I was going in for a headbutt as the cheers died down and people tried to scurry away. Two military policemen walked into our circle and heaved Valdez off of me. I was pulled to me feet as well.
"What the fuck is going on here?" one of them asked us.
"It was just a fun match, sir" Valdez said with a bit of a grin on his face.
"This true?" the other MP turned to me.
I nodded. "Yes sir, its true"
They let us off with a warning. "Save it for the rebels" they told us.
Valdez punched me in the arm, "Nice fucking job"
I shrugged. "You had it coming"
We clapped each other's shoulders. It had been weeks since we had seen each other, and we had both gotten wounded in the battle.
Valdez pointed at the Purple Heart pinned on my jacket.
"When did you get that?" he inquired.
"Yesterday, Montgomery gave it to me in his office" I replied. I didn't tell my squadmate about the other things the Colonel told me about.
Valdez laughed. "I beat you to the punch" He opened his jacket and showed me his Purple Heart sitting on his inside dress uniform shirt.
I shrugged again. It didn't really matter who won what first. It's not like we were expecting awards.
We briefly exchanged our stories of the fight as Mackenzie and Santos showed up.
"Look who it is, the fat man and the celtic asshole" Valdez shouted over to them.
"I'm not fat, amigo, i'm pleasantly plump" Santos corrected him.
As with Valdez, we greeted them with smiles and claps on the shoulder. Thats when O'Grady showed up.
"Guys! Over here!" O'Grady waved as he jogged over, dragging his multiple suitcases and duffel bag behind him.
Mackenzie's eyebrows shot up.
"What did ya pack in der, your entire feckin' closet?" Mackenzie asked.
O'Grady looked down at his bags and answered. "I packed a few weeks worth of clothes, soap, towels, laundry deter-"
"Hey O'Grady, nobody cares what your mother packed you" Santos jived.
We all laughed, except O'Grady.
"I packed it myself" the blonde haired kid said matter-of-factly.
I was about to ask O'Grady how his part of the fight went when Valdez spoke up.
"There's the spaceport" the Martian pointed out of the transparent airlock at the New Alexandria Orbital Spaceport.
I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Ready to go home, Clarke?"
I turned and saw Staff Sergeant Rhodes standing beside me.
I smiled and nodded.
"Of course. Who isn't?"
I hadn't seen my squadmates for almost a month. They were like a second family to me. O'Grady would take a bit of getting used to, but he would fit in eventually, if he survived our next engagement, that is. I thought about the events of the past few months. Fighting on Thern, Ramirez dying, O'Grady filling his shoes, assaulting the whaling station, getting blasted in the gut by a shotgun, and of course Colonel Montgomery telling me about the brass' "plans" for me. All these thoughts swam around in my brain.
I shook my head. I wouldn't have to worry about these things for a while. I was going home, and I was spending time with my family. I stood amongst my squadmates and the massive crowd as the Barcelona docked with the spaceport. The hiss of the airlocks disengaging and the dissipation of the transparent barrier was greeted by the cheers of everyone assembled in the bay. People surged forward into the big hallway of the spaceport as we exited. We came into the massive lobby as people scattered everywhere, families waiting and giving hugs and kisses.
I stood with my squadmates as we all turned to each other.
"Well boys, its been a good fight. Enjoy your leave, we'll see you in a few months" Rhodes said with a genuine smile as he playfully punched O'Grady. "See ya kid"
He turned around and walked in the direction of the ticket desk. Nobody knew much about Rhodes, the squad had a pot going on about where he was from. Rhodes knew about the bet, but he never told us. He liked to keep us guessing. We all stared at him as he purchased his ticket, hoping to read the attendant's lips or get some hint at where he was from.
"He's from Luna, i'm telling you" Valdez spoke up.
"Nah, he's definitely a Harvest guy" Santos replied.
We debated for a few minutes before we heard Santos curse.
"Shit, i'm going to miss my ride. Amigos, we'll see you later" Santos waved and jogged as fast as his fat legs could take him.
"I've got to go too, the flight to Earth is leaving soon" O'Grady said. "It's been a pleasure guys, really. I'll see you soon"
"See you later, rookie" I said as I ruffled his hair.
O'Grady ran off towards his terminal.
"Christopher!" I heard a woman shout.
An african-american woman came running out of the crowd as Valdez turned and laughed, spreading his arms wide open. They kissed each other and then he turned to me and Mackenzie.
"Oh, guys, this is my fiancé, Shannon" he told us.
"It's a pleasure meeting you, Chris has told me all about you two" she said with a smile.
"Good things, I hope" I smiled.
They both laughed.
"We've got to go, it's been real boys" Valdez and Shannon scurried off towards their terminal. Mackenzie and I stood together as we watched them go.
"Nice arse, that one has" Mackenzie murmured to me. I rolled my eyes.
"No wonder you're single..."
The P.A. system came online.
"FLIGHT TO TRIBUTE DEPARTING IN, 20 MINUTES" the female said.
"Thats me. James, i'll call you sometime" Mackenzie said as we shook each others hands. He wrapped his arm around me and gave me a "man hug".
I nodded to him and smiled.
"Keep it classy, Mack"
Mackenzie looked behind him and pounded a hand against his chest, and then he was gone.
Now I was alone. My flight wasn't leaving for another half hour. I readjusted my bag on my shoulder and walked over towards a bench. That was when my stomach once again backflipped.
"Daddy!" I heard a familiar little voice from the crowd.
I turned around and saw a little girl with curly brown hair, bright blue eyes and a little blue dress on. It was Maddy.
I dropped down to one knee and spread open my arms. She ran into me with so much force that it nearly knocked me over.
"Maddy, I missed you so much" I said to her. I'm surprised she recognized me, I had bruises and cuts still healing.
I looked up and an even bigger smile broke out across my face.
"Maddy? Maddy! There you ar-" the elegant, blonde-haired woman stopped and covered her mouth.
"James..." I stood up and embraced Jen.
"You're back..." she said to me. I kissed her.
"I always come back" I said with a smile.
I looked at the two of them. After months of fighting on a barren wasteland, through the cold, demoralizing nights, raids, blizzards, and the assault, I had never lost hope. Never lost the will to fight. I always had that one light in the darkness. For the first time in months, I was genuinely happy.
I was with my family.
It was only for a few months, yes, but I didn't think about the future. The moment was now, and I was ready to live in that moment.
"Come on, we've got to get home" I said as I picked up Maddy and held Jen's hand.
Little did I know then that these few months would be the last time i'd see either of them for years.
Author's Note:
Hopefully these filler chapters have given you a bit more insight and depth into the squad's lifestyles and personalities. Prepare for the entrance of some unwanted visitors...
-Phantogram