I think I can now say I have officially given up on any kind of uploading schedule. Sorry. But I've come bearing 3000+ words of chapter, so hopefully some of you can find it in your heart to forgive me.
Grif doesn't say anything when I get back to the base, and for that I'm grateful. He also hasn't managed to get the air filtration systems working. I'm not really surprised. Maintenance isn't exactly his specialty.
I show him the basics of it as I work, listening to the groaning rumbles of the vents as they kick on. After a moment the air begins to flow. I tell Grif it'll still be a few hours before this place is breathable, but it's a start.
I don't know why I'm putting so much work into this. We could easily stay in the ship or just wear our helmets until Rho and my brothers get here. But somehow that doesn't feel right. This place was my home. More than that, it was the first place my family lived without our mom controlling us. It's the first place we were ever free from her manipulation and lies. I feel like that makes it special. I don't like seeing it in such a state of disrepair.
I manage to convince Grif to help me clean up the hangar next. He almost refuses before I make up something about the bodies attracting bats. I don't know if it's true. I honestly don't know much about the creatures, having never been very interested in zoology. But I know Grif hates them, and it's enough to get him to start moving the bodies.
It's dirty work, and I'm glad we have our armor on for it. Even with the suit completely sealed I still feel dirty. The cleaning takes nearly two hours, shaving a bit of idle time off our wait. But once it's over and we've cleaned our armor, thanks to a device inspired by old earth style carwashes, there's nothing more to do.
Grif and I find ourselves in the base's communications room. He falls asleep in his chair almost instantly, leaving me alone with the droning sound of the air filters punctuated by his occasional snores. The noises are too soft, too subtle, and I soon find myself on edge. Too much has happened in this place for me to feel at ease. There are too many ghosts here to not imagine them in every breath of air flowing through these halls.
I eventually head back to the ship and retrieve the damaged AI unit. I don't stay there long. Something about the emptiness of this place unsettles me, and I find I want to be near another living being as soon as possible. I retreat back to the communications room with my prize in hand. Grif's noises aren't at all pleasant, but they're a sign of something that is alive, and I need that right now.
I settle into my usual task of slowly fixing the storage unit. There's a lot I won't be able to do for it until I have the proper equipment, but I do what I can. I have to.
I hear a sound behind me, a shift in airflow patterns causing a slightly different tone to pass through one of the vents. I jump without thinking, nearly ripping a wire from the unit.
"Sorry," I mutter quickly, putting the casing back in place to protect that section of wiring from my own frayed nerves. "I guess this place is getting to me. Too many bad memories," I confide to the silent device. Part of me imagines it coming to life with a soft glow as I begin to speak, but I know it's foolish. The unit is far too damaged for any outside information to reach the AI within, and it certainly wouldn't be able to affect its container in any way even if it were awake.
"I used to live here," I explain, finding it nice to be able to get the words out. "My family was in danger, and I fought every day to help them. But we were attacked and I couldn't… I couldn't help one of them." I fall silent for a moment, forcing myself to not speak of that day. Instead, I remember some of the ones before.
"Silicon was a good kid," I say with a small smile. "He was a natural leader, always helping his team and taking care of them. Not just by making them train, but by trying to make their training fun. He helped them stay calm throughout everything that happened. He got them back alive after the mission mom sent them on." I push that thought away as well, knowing it isn't a happy memory.
Lico's team was like any other, consisting of four members. They only had three when they came back. I don't know what happened on their mission, only that Tungsten never came back and Silicon said he was very brave, and that Tung saved a lot of people.
I continue with happier stories, eventually moving on from Silicon to talk of Neon, then Helium, then Boron. After a long while I explain about how we were betrayed, and the help we found after. I describe Wash; everything he did for my family and everything he did for me. I smile as I tell the AI of the man waiting for me back on Pantheon.
I miss him. I miss Washington more that I had thought I would. I didn't realize how much of my time I really spent with him until I left. I want to get back to him. I find myself truly looking forward to it. After we find Sister, I'm going back to that planet. I'm going to see Wash, and my family, and I'm going to live. A few months ago I had no plans for my future. Now I do, and they feel good.
I lose track of time as I work on the AI, but eventually there's a familiar voice filtering through the speakers in my helmet. "Anybody home?" it asks, accompanied by a message on my HUD requesting for the hangar's doors to be opened.
I set the AI aside and type in the command on the room's main console, glad the code is the same as when we were last here. I then nudge Grif awake with my foot and sprint out of the room, eager to see our new arrivals. I reach the hangar just as the ship lands and station myself at the bottom of the ramp as it lowers.
Nick's the first to emerge, helmet tucked under his arm and a wide grin on his face. He picks up speed a bit to meet me on level ground, wrapping his arms around me without hesitation. "It's good to see you," he says sincerely, grip not loosening for a long time. I don't mind. It's been too long since I've seen any of my family. I'm glad for the opportunity to hold him.
"You too," I answer before pulling back, examining his face and armor. "You're looking a little worse for wear," I comment.
"Work's been good," Nick shrugs. "Everything that happened with mom meant we had a bit of a reputation starting out, which is very beneficial in our line of work."
"Do I want to know what line of work that is?" I ask warily. We spent a long time fighting to make sure the universe doesn't think we're criminals. I'd hate for them to have thrown that away so quickly.
"Just mercenary work," Nick shrugs. "Nothing strictly illegal, and we do make an effort to not work for bad people."
"It's not always easy to tell who the bad people are, though," a second and just as easily recognizable voice says from the top of the ramp.
I look up and see Gold. My face freezes half way to a smile as I watch him step down the ramp. I remember what he said when he left. Though he tried not to, some part of him blamed me for Boron's death. I don't know if his feelings have changed yet. Despite the desire to rush toward him and pull him into a hug, I wait. I need to know if he's willing to be that close again.
"Hey, Sil," Gold greets. There's a smile on his face that I hope isn't as forced as it seems. He's slow and hesitant as he steps toward me, but the moment his hand touches my shoulder I step into his embrace.
"I've missed you," I say, words mumbled into his chest plate as the taller man awkwardly hugs me. Gold simply nods.
I can feel the reluctance in him and step back, not wanting to push him too soon. He's looked me in the eye, and he did welcome me. That's more than I would have expected a few months ago. I know what it feels like to lose your partner. I doubt he'll ever be able to fully forgive me. But he's trying, and that's the best I can hope for.
"Don't forget me!" a happy voice chirps. I turn in its direction and see Rho materialize on Nick's shoulder. "Come on, no hugs for the AI?"
"I would if I could," I say, swiping my hand through the top of her avatar teasingly. Rho shoos my hand away and pats the top of her head like she's fixing her hair, and I know she's giving me a fake glare.
"She's thinking that you're as much of a pest as always," Nick provides helpfully, and now the nonexistent glare is aimed at him. "Well, it's true," he tells the AI.
Gold smiles at the two as they bicker before looking around the hangar. Even with the bodies cleared away there are still signs of the battle that happened here, and with our enhanced senses it's even worse. He approaches one of the brown stains on the floor and studies it with a frown.
"You moved him," he says after a moment, a blank statement that covers up too many thoughts.
"I couldn't leave him there," I answer, looking between Nick, Rho, and Gold. "He deserves better."
Gold falls silent again, eyes fixed on the spot.
"How's he doing?" I whisper to Nick. I feel weird, asking about Gold behind his back like this, but I get the feeling he wouldn't open up to me and there's obviously something wrong.
"As good as you could expect," Nick shrugs. "He's having a hard time, Sil. Losing your partner… that'd be tough on any of us, and he has to deal with everything mom made him do, too. She sent him on a lot of missions while we were in hiding, sometimes finishing something we had started or else attacking a completely different colony. He hurt a lot of people."
I try to feel surprised by this news, though I had honestly expected it. Mom hated the Covenant. Of course she wouldn't have had Gold sitting around idle when he could have been killing aliens. Memories of what I did during a single attack are bad enough. I can't imagine what Gold must deal with every day.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" I whisper, daring to hope the slightest bit for his recovery. I want my brother back the way he was before, when he accepted me as his second partner and helped me feel better about my own leaving. I want him to smile and make jokes and be the leader he always was. I don't want to see him hurt like this.
"He's getting better," Rho answers. "I think he needs time, and space. We're doing our best to give him both and keep him busy. Working stops him from dwelling on it too much."
I nod. It breaks my heart to know that Gold is going through this, and it hurts even more that I can't help him. I still feel guilty over Boron. I always will. The fact that my actions not only cost one brother his life, but have left another in such pain, just makes it all so much worse.
"We tried to go back for Boron," Nick says after a moment. My eyes snap up toward him guiltily. I hadn't even thought to retrieve his body, not after how he had died. I'd just wanted to forget, at the time. "We couldn't find him," he finishes.
"What happened?" I ask.
Nick shrugs. "It looked like the body had been dragged away. We tried following the trail, but it ended eventually. Our best guess is one of mom's monsters took him." He seems to notice my fists clenching at my sides and tilts my head up to look at him. "Hey, it's not your fault. We all left in a rush after we caught mom. You had other priorities."
"I should have gone back for him," I insist.
"It wouldn't have done any good," he argues back. "Besides, you know Boron wouldn't care about that. He never put much stock in how people treat the dead. It's the living that mattered to him."
I nod, remembering one of the boy's declarations on the subject from when we were kids. I realize now that it was an odd conversation for children to have, but we were never very normal. Boron had insisted he wanted nothing fancy if he died on a mission, and that no one should risk their lives to get him back if his body was in enemy territory. I smile at the memory. Boron may not have been eloquent, but he'd always cared.
"Come on," Nick says after a moment, putting an arm around my shoulders and walking me further into the hangar. "I assume there's a reason you wanted us to come here. Let's start talking about what that is."
I nod my agreement, more than happy to let this conversation end. It still hurts to think about Boron.
"I need Rho's help," I explain. I see her glow brighter with excitement at the statement.
"I knew it," she crows. "I told you she'd need me. She's lost without me."
"I am not 'lost without you'," I defend, less concerned about protecting my pride than I am with keeping Rho's smugness down to a manageable level. "But we're following a trail that's been cold for over a year. I need all the help I can get with this."
"No fair," Nick grumbles playfully. "It was finally my turn to get Rho for a while. You always hog her."
"Well, she's just that awesome," I reply, bumping his arm with my shoulder.
Nick grins at the playful move before growing serious again. "What do you need her for?"
"We've tracked where Sister was last seen," I explain. "It's very likely there are records there of where she was sent next. Unfortunately, that base was hit by an EMP over a year ago."
"I'm not sure what help I can be, then," Rho says. "If the computers got wiped, I won't be able to do anything about it."
"I know," I sigh. "But if there is a chance that anything is still there, you're more likely to be able to find it than we are."
"Do you want us to help?" Nick asks. It's easy to see his excitement over the possibility. No doubt he's been feeling the same way I have, traveling with so few people. We're used to a big family. It gets too quiet with just a few.
"Do you think that's a good idea?" I ask, glancing Gold's way.
Nick's mouth tugs down in a small frown before he sighs. "No, probably not," he answers.
I reach out and place a hand on his upper arm in an attempt to ease some of his disappointment. "You know I'd like nothing more than to travel with you guys," I say apologetically. It's true, of course. I miss them. But Gold needs to heal more before he can spend that kind of time near me. I won't risk our continuing relationship for a few days of semi-normalcy.
"You said in your message that you had a surprise," Nick interrupts my thoughts. There's a mischievous look on his face as he holds out a hand. "Gimme," he demands.
I huff out a laugh as I smack his hand away. "I can't give it to you," I begin, "but I do want to show you and Rho what I found."
"What is it?" Rho asks, voice spiking in curiosity. I motion for them to wait as I head back to the communications' room, retrieving the damaged AI unit and carrying it back carefully.
"Is that what I think it is?" Rho asks, flashing toward it as I approach. She glows brighter with excitement as she begins circling the storage unit.
I nod. "Grif and I found him in an old Freelancer facility," I explain. "He's damaged. It looks like he was in some sort of battle, possibly a UNSC raid, and someone stuffed him behind a wall panel to hide him."
"'Him'?" Nick repeats, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Well, maybe him," I shrug. "Most of the fragments presented as male. That's kind of how I've been imagining it, anyway."
"Is he one of us?" Rho asks, circling the unit.
"I think so. There's a symbol on the side, here," I point out, finger hovering over the Greek letter. "Zeta. It seemed like too much of a coincidence for this to not be an Alpha fragment."
"I don't remember the name," Rho says slowly. "But I wasn't with Freelancer for very long before being given to you, and there weren't many records about the fragments." She finally looks from the fragment to me. "Are you going to fix him?"
"Of course," I answer. Rho thinks of the fragments as her family, and she's as close to me as any of my sisters. Even if I had no other reason, that would be enough to fix this AI. "It'll take time, though. He's still heavily damaged, and I'll need some specialized equipment eventually. I doubt I'll be able to finish until after we're done with this mission."
"I can help," Rho offers. "And I'm sure we can get Church's help, too. He knows more about how we work than I do."
"We can ask when the time comes," I say, once again placing the unit on the magnetic holding strip on my lower back.
"Right." Rho nods before reluctantly backing away from the new AI. "First we need to find Grif's sister."
"Exactly. Everything we've found so far is stored in my helmet if you want to look through it," I say, holding out my hand for her. She and Nick share a look before she disappears and he reaches for her chip.
"Take good care of her," he orders, semi serious, as he passes over the beloved AI.
"Just like family," I promise as I accept the chip. I slide it into the back of my skull and wait for her to come online. It feels like home, having the familiar presence in my head once again. Rho sends out a welcoming hum in my mind, and I answer with a smile. "Welcome back," I say as the pink and blue hologram materializes on my shoulder.
