Brothers in Arms
Chapter 7: The Dawn of Mourning
Zack POV
I was seated at the bar, drinking my twelfth shot. I wanted to get drunk, but my cybernetics automatically filtered all the toxins from my body, so I wasn't doing very well in that aspect. Jared's death still haunted me. He was one of my best friends, and I had a lot of fun with him being in Wolf Squad.
As I ordered my thirteenth shot, I noticed someone sitting next to me. I looked up and it was Kate, who had seated herself next to me without me noticing. I smiled wryly. 'Hey…' I simply said. Kate said nothing, but just put her head on my shoulder and put an arm around my waist. I appreciated that. She always knew how to comfort me, no matter the situation.
A few minutes passed, and she said: 'We can't mourn him forever, Zack.' I hugged her a bit tighter, then I let her go and drank my shot. 'I know… It's just…' 'It's just that he died under your command?' she asked. I nodded silently. 'Yeah.'
Kate took my hand. 'How many shots have you had already?' I grinned. 'That was number thirteen, but due to my Geth cybernetics, I can't get drunk. Automatic filters.' Kate laughed and stood up, pulling my hand. I stood up and followed her.
She led us to the combat simulator. 'I don't need to blow off steam, Kate, I already did that,' I said. 'The simulator is not only for combat, Zack,' she simply said. She went over to the Turian controlling the simulator and whispered a few words in his ear. The Turian nodded, pressed a few buttons, and said: 'You two can go in now. Take as long as you need.'
Kate took my hand again and led me into the simulator, without putting on armor or bringing along weapons. I frowned. 'What's going on, hon?' I asked. She grinned. 'Just come with me, okay?' she said. 'You'll see for yourself.'
We entered the simulator and I noticed that we were walking on sand. I also heard the rushing sounds of a sea close by. I could even smell the sea-air. But it was pitch-black around us. 'A beach at night?' I asked. I could barely see her, but Kate nodded. 'Come, let's sit down close to the water.' I followed her closely and as I did, I noticed that it was slowly becoming lighter around us.
Kate sat down, and I sat down next to her. She then hugged me tight and rested her head on my chest. I put an arm around her and held her close to me. Her body warmth was soothing and her being here with me was a real relief. Then I saw something on the horizon.
It was the sun. It was slowly rising, bathing the beach in a faint, but pleasant yellow glow. The glistening blue waters of the sea reflected the light and soon I could see everything. I could see the bright ball that was the sun, I could see palm trees in the distance and I could even feel the warmth the sun was radiating.
'This is lovely, Kate. Absolutely beautiful,' I said. She smiled. 'Just like me, huh?' she said with a wink. I grinned and gave her a kiss. It wasn't a long one, though, since the simulator had cameras to ensure nothing would go wrong.
We sat there and watched the sun rise until it stood high in the air. By the time that had happened, I was completely at peace. I still remembered Jared's death, but it didn't weigh down on me as much now. I stood up and reached out my hand to Kate, who took it and rose up as well.
We gave the signal to end the simulation and walked out of the simulator. Once out of there, the rest of Wolf Squad was waiting for us, including Cale, who was looking directly at me. 'Zack, I want to talk to you,' he said. I nodded and followed him, while the rest of Wolf Squad took Kate with them, also to talk, according to Ghost.
Cale and I ended up in his cabin. Then he turned around and looked at me. 'I know about you and Kate, Zack.' My eyes grew. I didn't want Wolf Squad to know that Kate and I were fraternizing, because it could result in us both losing our careers.
I narrowed my eyes. Cale saw my reaction and grinned. 'Don't worry about it, man, I support you two. Won't breathe a word to Aston, either. But tell me, how are you two doing?' I breathed out heavily in relief. At least he left our relationship alone.
I sat down on his bed, he sat down next to me and I told him everything. About how our relationship started, how far we had gone and about my feelings for her. 'I truly love her, Cale,' I said. He nodded. 'I don't have any doubts about that, but you do realize why Alliance Command is against fraternization, right?'
I frowned. 'Actually, no. They never told me.' Cale sighed. 'It's all good now, Zack, but she's a Marine, too. What if you lose her during a mission? You'll be scarred mentally and your capabilities will decrease.'
I considered his words carefully. Then I looked him straight in the eyes and said: 'I won't lose her. I can promise you that.' Cale sniffed. 'As long as you can stay true to that, you won't have any problems. Just don't say I didn't warn you.' Then he clapped me on the shoulder, hard. 'Come on, it's time to address Wolf Squad about Jared,' he said. I nodded, I hadn't thought about that until now.
I opened up Wolf Squad's personal comm channel. 'Wolf Squad, I want everyone to report in the debriefing room,' I said, 'I want to say a few words about our late friend.' I closed the channel again and started leading the way.
Fifteen minutes later, all of Wolf Squad had gathered in the debriefing room. I pressed a button and a clip came up. It was Jared, Cale and me during a party on Pinnacle Station. Then the clip moved on and showed him joking around while placing the explosives. And then, the moment of his death showed up.
I cringed when I saw Jared being cut in half again. Then I put up a picture of his face, just grinning at the camera. His light eyes had sparks in them, but we all knew that those eyes were gone, now. I started speaking:
'Guys, I know Jared might not have been as good a friend to everyone of us, but he was one of us nonetheless. He was a good soldier, loyal to the bone and very capable. But he was also a good friend. He knew a lot of good jokes and he certainly supported me at any time. Such a friendship cannot be replaced.' I saw Jesanya and Khan nodding in agreement.
'Jared's family has already been informed about his death and I'm having a meeting with them myself in a week,' I said. It was true, I had contacted Jared's family already. His mother stayed composed over the call, but I could tell she was completely devastated. The meeting would be next week, exactly 7 days from this point. Cale would take over the next mission while I was gone.
We took an hour to pay our respects to our fallen comrade. Then we went back to our rooms. Everyone except for me. I needed to do something about my combat skills, I somehow felt that they were lacking real punch.
When I arrived at the training room, Cale was there as well. 'Oh, hey there,' he said, 'I was just training myself and a little doodad I put in my armor. Check this out:' He stomped the ground and a powerful electric pulse came out of his foot, knocking me off my feet. I stood up and laughed. 'That's pretty cool, how'd you do that?' I asked. He grinned and pointed at his boots. 'Modified EMP bursts. Unlimited amount of uses out of it and it disables everything electric.'
I nodded. 'Looks good. Now come and help me figure out this Geth arm. I'm pretty sure it can do more than just produce a flamethrower.' The next five hours were spent trying out everything my arm could do and react to. Eventually, we discovered energy traces that led into my arm. I activated it and a cannon came out. I raised an eyebrow and asked: 'Wonder what this thing does?'
I aimed it at a target dummy and concentrated on firing the cannon. I proceeded to shoot out an energy blast so violent, I not only knocked the dummy clean off its pedestal, but also disintegrated it. Cale took a few steps back from me. 'Umm… Right… Let's just be careful where you aim that thing from now on, okay?' I laughed and he joined in.
When we came by, I pointed at his shoulder guards. 'Say, there's plenty room on those things for a stationary weapon, right?' I asked. He frowned, looked at his shoulder guard and nodded slowly. 'Hey, you're right… I'll see what I can do with it later, ok? Let's just take it easy for now and keep ourselves fit. You also have a meeting with Jared's family later, don't forget.' I sighed. 'I'm really not looking forward to it, bro,' I said. He put a hand on my shoulder. 'I know… Just stay professional, but let them know that Jared was a good friend of yours. You'll do fine.' I nodded in silent thanks and went back to my room. Next week wasn't going to be fun…
