The Mission
A Record
by Starath
Chapter Seven
"Starath, awaken!" Athena's anxious voice broke through. My head jerked up. She was perched on my knee and the blue-white glow of her hologram made my eyes hurt.
"Hmm?" My own voice was thick and hard to control. Oh, I must have… dozed off... for how long?
"I have obtained the correct response to your radio code."
The hamster in my head struggled to begin running on its wheel. "You what?"
She huffed, fluffing her crystal feathers. "Make haste. The waiting party is not a patient man."
That jarred the hamster into action. I pushed away from the wall and stood shakily, stumbling more than walking into the main computer room. I sank into the nice, comfy chair. Damn, why hadn't I bothered to nap here instead? "Let him through."
"Acknowledged," Athena landed gracefully on the terminal and hooted once. "You may speak now, oh foul-tongued one."
"Hey, fuck off, computer lady! Is she there? Star, are you there?" Only one person could sound so pissed off and concerned at the same time. I giggled, then clamped a hand over my mouth in case he could hear it.
"Yes Church, I'm here."
"Finally! Where the fuck have you been girl? We tried looking on the hillside before the Covenant ran us off and nice thinking with the song lyrics even though it bugged the shit out of me until Caboose figured it out, can you believe—" He stopped himself, inhaled, and tried again. "We need to get to your position from the outside. Quickly. We've beaten off the Covenant but they're going to hammer us again in less than two minutes."
"Right. How many are with you?"
"All eight of us, but we're pretty scattered."
"Okay. I don't know what this place is like on the outside. Athena, can you direct them to a way in?"
"Certainly. According to my visual feeds you are located near the staff entrance on the west side of the facility. Proceed nine meters northwest. You will see the door."
A pause. "Shiiiit. There's a Hunter guarding it."
"There is but one creature and eight of you. Surely you can defeat it?"
"Hey, not liking your sarcasm, lady."
"Once you are finished dispatching that dread beast I will allow you through my force-field."
There was another pause, long enough to make me worry. Church said, "We're on it. Star, I need you to do something for me."
"Of course." I nodded.
"Talk to Caboose for a sec. He's been super-worried since he lost you on the hillside and it's ruined his focus for the mission. Getting him to do anything right is worse than usual."
"Oh…" The poor guy. "Sure."
"Thanks. I'll see you shortly." Church's voice cut off abruptly. The radio popped with static.
"Starry? Church said you're okay, are you there? Can you hear me? Starry? Starry?"
The mournful tone in Caboose's voice made me want to cry. "Yes, I hear you Caboose."
"I'm so sorry we lost you on the hill! There was that Hunter, then there were two! I ran out of rockets, then there were the Grunts. I tried looking for you but the rocks buried your hole and-and I couldn't reach! It was so bad, we had to leave but I didn't know where you were—" Caboose stopped to take a breath.
"It's okay." I cut him off; otherwise he would have continued for the next ten minutes. As it was it sounded like I wasn't the only one who wanted to cry. "I'm okay. I'm safe now. Caboose, can you do something for me?"
"Absolutely. Name it."
"I want you to focus and listen to what Church tells you, because it's very important right now. If you do that, when we're home again we'll make cookies together, okay?"
He gasped. "That would be fun!"
I sniffled and dried my face with the back of my hand. "It will be lots of fun Caboose, but you have to do your job first."
"I can do that just for you, Starry." He paused. "Church says it's time to go. Bye!"
"Okay, bye!"
No reply came.
"He has severed the radio connection." Athena preened her crystal feathers with her sharp hooked beak. "That one does not seem as if he is the brightest bulb in the visual display. He speaks curiously for a highly-trained warrior."
"He's not…" I searched for the right way to say it. "He's not intelligent in the normal manner, but he more than makes up for it with his heart."
"Verily, that I will not deny." She swept a wing toward the door behind us. "The drone has brought thee more food and water."
I spun the comfy chair around. The drone on wheels and a tray on its head trundled along the carpet carrying two prepackaged muffins and another cup of water. It hardly stopped moving when I grabbed the first muffin without bothering to read the label. The taste told me it was banana-nut flavored. I brushed the crumbs off the computer console after the muffin was gone.
"How lazy were the workers here that they needed robots to bring them food?"
Athena laughed; a gentle owl's 'whooo' repeated twice. "Not lazy. If they did not have food and drink brought to them, they would not have thought to eat, so involved they were with their studies of this planet's geology."
The second muffin's dark coloration made me read the label before tearing open its package. Chocolate-chocolate chip. Mmm. Whoever stocked the food here had good taste. "What's so special about the planet? I imagine that's why this whole facility was built. What did you call it? 'Geological Differences?'"
"The Wrightly Geological Anomaly Research Facility," she corrected me. "And yes, this facility was built to study the anomalous features in Eclipse-IV's geological records and rock strata. Eclipse-IV follows very few conventional processes used to explain a planet's life history on other worlds."
I frowned, partly because my wonderful, stale chocolate muffin was already halfway gone, but also because that didn't make sense. "When I was outside everything looked normal to me. The caves were… mostly normal too." I shuddered. "I never want to see that creature again."
"Perhaps to one who did not know any better it would look 'normal,' and the life-form you encountered is called a Rattussuchus. They are really quite fascinating."
"Sure, when they're not trying to eat you." I licked my fingers clean and tried to clean up the mess I'd made.
Athena swiveled her head to stare at the wall. "Thy companions have made it in. I will return." She launched off the console.
I expected watch her fly away. Instead she vanished. "Whoa." Grabbing the cup, I downed the water in two swallows and set the cup back on the drone's tray. "Thanks."
It beeped and rolled away.
Now that my stomach was finally satisfied and no longer muttering about being empty, I felt better. So this was it. The guys were finally inside the Geological Research Facility so they could do whatever it was their mission said to do. For all her politeness, Athena was certainly adamant about protecting the information she had.
What could possibly be so important that she couldn't be destroyed when the Covenant came, like she was supposed to be? Why hadn't the scientists who worked here thought to get the information themselves? Maybe they hadn't had the time? I threw my hands up. I didn't know. A troop of ODSTs were sent in to get it and all of them died trying. Now the whole crew from Blood Gulch was here. Were they going to die too?
"No. Because I sure as hell am not going to die."
Master Chief must have had a good reason for sending my friends here. If he didn't, he was going to get kicked in the shin. And no more pancakes for him either.
"Arrrrgghh… We're halfway done, right? Getting out can't be as hard as getting in. It can't be. We're going to do what you couldn't, J.J. Watch over us, okay?"
The dead Helljumper said nothing.
I pretended he heard me anyway. Resting my chin on my palm, I closed my eyes. What would have been like to be a Helljumper? To wear that armor and literally drop into the thick of battle, with only yourself and your team members to aid you? Was it like being a Spartan? Was it—
Athena flew in and landed on the arm of my chair, "They are here."
Startled out of a doze, my sense of hearing refocused and caught the sound of heavy boots on the carpet. I pushed myself out of the comfy chair and rushed to the entryway. A soldier in light-blue armor appeared in the hall.
"Church! Church!"
He halted, leveled his battle rifle, then let it rest on his shoulder, "Star?"
"Oh my God I missed you!" My hurt ankle only allowed a shuffling run, but I didn't stop until I slammed into him. He actually rocked back an inch or two.
"Jesus, Star! You shouldn't be walking on that foot! Couldn't you have waited another twenty seconds for us to get there?"
"No!" I hugged him, "I'm so happy… You're okay!" My voice broke and I sobbed against his chest plate.
"Of course I am. Shit! When'd you get your head hurt, too?" His fingers brushed my hair, near the lump, "That's it. No more missions for you, girl."
"I g-got it when the cave-in happened. I'm okay though, really. I got painkillers from Athena."
"You gotta be more careful. We should get Doc up here to look at that." He tensed a bit, sighed, and patted my back. "You can let go now."
I pulled away. "Sorry. Who's with you?" Still clinging to his arm, I hobbled to the side to see.
"Yo." Tucker waved. The movement was a little jerky, like he'd hurt his shoulder.
Simmons turned the corner and dashed by. He moved so fast the rush of air he created almost knocked me over. "What's the hurry?" I asked.
"Oh, we're only over an hour over the mission timetable and he's the only one who can do the important stuff. Today's been just awesome." Despite his sarcasm, Church sounded tired. "Come on, let's get you to where you can sit down."
I started to let him lead me back to the computer room. I saw something orange behind Tucker, "Grif!"
"Christine!" He jogged toward us and I met him part way. He dropped his rifle and crouched so I could hug him properly. He squeezed me so tight I nearly lost my breath. His armor smelled of dirt and alien blood. My forehead bumped his faceplate. "Don't you ever get lost like that again." He said.
"I'll try not to." If I squinted, I could sort of see through the reflective material of his faceplate. "Do you feel like a soldier yet?"
"Getting there." He squeezed again and repeated softly, "I'm getting there."
"I wish I could see your face." I whispered.
"You'll see it later, when we're home." He promised as I leaned on his armor, listening to the hum of his shields, and enjoyed the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Behind me, somebody chuckled.
"Bow chicka bow—"
"TUCKER!" Grif, Church and I didn't let him finish.
He laughed, "I'm just doin' my job!"
A frustrated cry suddenly came from the computer room. "What do you MEAN the data is not retrievable?"
"Uh oh." Grif stood up and retrieved his weapon. "Simmons is mad."
Church snorted. "Like this mission was going to magically become easy? Let's go see what the problem is. Grif, don't let Star walk back."
"I can walk if—EEK!" He swept me off the ground before I could get away. "Griiiiif!"
"Hey, orders are orders, Star."
I glared at him. He was grinning under that helmet. I just know he was grinning. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"A little."
Tucker brought up the rear when we followed Church. "Aww, isn't that cute? You've got your own knight in shining orange armor, Starath!"
My heart jolted and traded places with my stomach. I clamped my mouth shut, looked Grif in the faceplate, and saw my reflection blushing. He poked me in the ribs to make me squeak. Tucker laughed again, and this time got to say the whole phrase.
"Bow chicka bow wow!"
We found Simmons hunched over the computer console, typing furiously while he argued with Athena at the same time. Long strings of computer programming code scrolled across the monitor faster than I could read it. I'd never seen an angry owl before, but from her fluffed out feathers and body posture, she was just as unimpressed as Simmons was. My comfy chair had been shoved across the room. Grif deposited me in it and stood by its side.
"How can the data not be retrievable?" demanded Simmons. "It has to be in your database somewhere!"
"As I have stated before, thy proclamation is only partly true."
"You said the data isn't here!"
"Nay, that is thy wrongful assumption. The data thou seeketh has its place but not its original pathways."
Simmons poked the monitor, his finger making a loud tap on the glass. "It should be right here, that's where the command lines trace it. There's nothing but junk data in its place. Did it get moved or corrupted?"
"I moved it."
"Then where—"
"It is in a better location than it was before."
"And where the hell is that?"
"Where the pathways do not go."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Simmons' voice broke; something it did when he was at the end of his rope.
"There is no need to lose thy mind over this. It is not difficult."
"You're being difficult!"
"Uh, guys?" Tucker called from the entry room, "Did you know there's a dead guy in here?"
"What?" Grif went to go see. "Aw, damn."
"That's the trooper we were told about." said Church, his attention divided between them and the data conversation. "Leave him alone, you two."
"I wasn't going to touch him!" said Tucker.
Grif nudged J.J.'s boot with a foot and shook his head. "At least we made it further than he did."
"While I do not disagree with thee, orange one," began Athena, "I question thy capacity for effective judgment if ye have allowed a young woman unsuited for war into this situation." Everyone stiffened. Athena left the console and flew to my chair, perching on the armrest. "Why, if not for my care and aid she may have been massacred by the beasts underground. Where were ye then, Spartans?"
I swallowed. No one moved, but the silence did not last long. Church strode forward.
"Okay, first of all, we're not true Spartans. Second of all, it's not like we lost her on purpose. Third of all, I don't want to hear a SINGLE goddamn word out of you unless it's to help Simmons, alright? We're kind of pressed for time."
Athena's amber eyes widened. Her beak clacked together. I reached out to smooth her ruffled feathers, only to have my hand pass through her hologram. "Athena, it was an accident when they lost me—"
"Like it was when thee came to be here in the first place?"
"Yeah."
She looked Church up and down. "Ye not be 'true Spartans', yea? No wonder ye hath done such a terrible job."
"Look computer lady, we didn't come THIS far to be insulted by a fucking bird that glows in the dark! Get over there and help Simmons. NOW."
"Or what? Thy vulgarities mean nothing. I am supervisor of this facility—"
"Athena!" I interrupted her and Church before he could start cursing. "A lot of strange things have happened today, but that doesn't mean they're bad soldiers. The sooner they get what they want, the sooner I can go home safely. Could you please help them?"
She glanced at everyone and huffed. "Yea, for thy benefit, I will."
"Thank you."
"Thou art welcome." She directed my gaze to the door where Tucker and Grif still stood by J.J. "The drone hath brought you fresh clothing. Follow it to clean thyself and dress at the proper facilities. It is the best I can do short of putting you in armor like these… gentlemen."
I sighed. She hadn't outright insulted them again but at least she meant well. I pushed myself out of the chair and immediately stumbled. Church caught me around the middle.
"Whoa. Here, Star, take it easy. Grif, get over here. Help her get to wherever that robot on wheels goes."
"On it." Grif promptly scooped me up and carried me out the door.
"Can I come?" asked Tucker, a little too eagerly.
"Yes," said Church, then changed his mind. "Wait, she'll be changing clothes. So no."
"Aw! I promise not to look! I bet Grif wouldn't let me anyway!"
"That's right, I wouldn't." We passed Tucker on the way out. Grif paused just long enough to meet him faceplate-to-faceplate. "Because if you did, I'd break your arm."
"Hey, there's no need for violence..." Tucker stepped back with hands up in surrender.
Over Grif's shoulder I could see Athena hop back onto the computer console. She laughed with two soft 'whoos,' "That one is of the protective nature, yea?"
I ducked my head and hid my face in his neck, fairly certain I was blushing.
To be continued…
