The Mission

A Record

By Starath

Chapter 9

My breath was loud and too close to my ears. My heart sounded like it was banging against the chestplate. The display cleared, like a window. Sarge's image stood out sharper and clearer than he had a moment before.

"Everything okay in there, Missy?" he asked tapping the helmet.

"Yeah." An amplified woman's voice— my voice— answered him. Did I really sound like that? "Whoa."

"I wish we could give you a warm-up session but Red-Four and the Blues are on their way up here with Covenant on their heels. Here." He handed me the handgun. "Slap that on your hip holster. You get Church's rifle."

I fumbled with the handgun until it slipped into a slot at my thigh and reached out to take sniper rifle. It was much heavier than it looked and I nearly dropped it. Geez. Was I… really going to do this?

"You'll be able to listen in on our radios too. All set?"

"Well—"

"No time like the present, Starath! We'll look after you, but ya gotta do yer best to keep up! You read me, soldier?"

Oh God. Yes. I was doing this. It was happening. I was wearing armor, like them, and there were aliens downstairs, and we had to get out and… I was blocking the door! I hurried to the side to let Simmons and Sarge by, nearly falling over in the process. I righted myself— or, rather, the armor seemed to do it for me.

"Sir, yes Sir!" I yelled, and felt ridiculous. Did I actually say that? Oh my God! But-but-but, this was real! Holy shit, after everything-!

I glanced skyward, only I couldn't do that wearing the helmet very well. Watch out for me, J.J. I'll put your suit to good use. I promise.

When we got to the stairwell, Doc had joined Tucker and Grif at the landing. A floor below, the heavy pounding of boots slammed on each step leading to our level. Amid the gunfire I could hear excited chatter of Grunts and a bellow from an Elite. Donut's helmet popped into view, ten feet straight down. His normally fluid movements were slow and labored.

"I'm not gunna make it, Caboose, I'll cover you!"

Grif tossed a grenade down the stairwell, "Don't be stupid! You're almost up—whoa!" He suddenly ducked.

Donut, literally, came flying up the stairs as if someone had thrown him. He snagged the railing and landed in top of it with a painful, "Ooof!"

Doc and Tucker grabbed onto his head and shoulders in time to pull him onto the floor before he could fall. Doc dragged him around the corner, out of range of incoming plasma blasts. "Donut, how are those ribs?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure they're broken by now!"

Grif fired his rifle. "Caboose, get up he—" For the second time in less than a minute he had to duck again, "What the—!"

Caboose thundered up and vaulted onto the landing where we were gathered. I felt the impact he made clear into my bones. He rocked backward, bumped against the railing, and regained balance in a fraction of a second. If I hadn't been wearing this helmet, I might not have been able to see what he just did.

"Fast enough for you?" he asked Grif.

"Jesus, don't do that!"

"Heh. Mister Sergeant!" Caboose snapped off a salute with his right hand, knocking himself in the helmet with his rifle. "We made it! I don't see Chur…" He trailed off, staring at me. The ODST's armor made me a few inches taller but it was still hard to see over Simmons' shoulder. He and Sarge had kept me behind them. "Who's that?" His head tilted like a confused puppy.

Everyone else paused to look at me too, and I wish I could see their faces! Damn... Oh well. "It's just me, guys." I said, and wondered about my own words. Was I 'just' myself, suited up like this?

"Starry?"

"That's affirmative," Oh geez! My voice sounded so cool when I said that! Eee!

The next thing I knew I was trapped in a giant bear-hug from Caboose that lifted me off the ground. "Starath! I am so happy to see you! You've gotten taller! And heavier too!" My armor creaked. Holy CRAP. How strong was he? He set me down like he'd just picked up a big cup of coffee. "Are you ready to kick alien butt?"

"Uh huh…" I wheezed.

He bumped his helmet's visor against mine; something I'd seen him do to his teammates when he was very pleased. It made my brain slosh around in my skull. "Great! This'll be such fun!"

Fun? Running around in armor killing aliens while trying not to die is fun?

"Easy there, Blue-Three." Sarge snapped his fingers in front of Caboose's faceplate to get his attention. "She can't fight like us very well. But tell you what, you wanna be her battle-buddy?"

"Oh, absolutely!" He bounced on his toes a bit.

…Battle-buddy?

"You can count on me, Sergeant! I can keep her safe!"

"I know you can, soldier. That's what we'll all do, but—"

"Hate to break up the reunion," cried Grif, firing off a round of bullets down the stairs "But here they coooooome!"

A flood of frenzied chatter wafted up the stairwell, along with the clatter of hoofed feet. Shards of purple glass zipped up and buried themselves into the ceiling. They shattered seconds later, spilling sharp projectiles onto the Blood Gulch crew. Tucker and Grif tossed a pair of grenades and hustled away from the stairs. A panicked scream came from downstairs.

The explosion cut off a collective cry of alarm, then,

KA-BOOM!

Before I realized it, Caboose had me by the elbow and dragged me after Sarge, Donut and Tucker as they ran back the way we came. Grif, Doc and Simmons provided cover fire.

"Caboose! Stop pulling me!" If I was going to be a part of this team the least I could do was run on my own.

He let go, thankfully, but my body had to pick up the pace now without his help. I managed a loping run that probably made me look like a gorilla. Man, I'm going to be so sore after this… We stopped at the closed doors of an elevator. Or, rather, everyone else stopped but me. I ended up running past it due to sheer momentum before I could come to a stop. I turned myself around in time to hear Sarge issuing orders.

"Red-Four, Blue-Two, you ride this thing to the bottom. When you get there give me the green light if it's clear and render it inoperable so them got-durned aliens can't get a free ride. The rest of us will jump the elevator shaft. Go!"

My mouth gaped open. Donut and Tucker nodded and took the elevator down. I was surprised it could hold their combined weight, but also… "We're going to jump down the elevator shaft, Sarge?"

He growled, "If that makes you nervous you're just gonna have to bite the bullet. I don't issue orders twice."

"Er…Sorry, Sir."

Caboose suddenly slapped a hand onto my helmet, forcing me into a crouch. A bright green ball of plasma whizzed overhead, "Don't worry, I know you can do it!"

That made one of us. I was more worried about what the impact would do to my sprained ankle. Caboose and Sarge tucked themselves against the wall, firing their rifles at a crowd of Grunts who had made it up the stairway. Doc, Grif and Simmons kept them pinned down as they backed up to our position. I did the only thing I could do— try not to get shot. Whenever I looked at a Grunt my helmet's HUD zoomed in on it, giving me targeting information. Wow, cool. How did it know what I was looking at? What else could…

What was that timer for? It read 4:00…3:59…3:58…

"Uh, guys? What's that?" I asked hesitantly.

Sarge reloaded his shotgun with fluid movements. "Church started the detonation countdown. And we have a green light! Which one of you knuckleheads wants to go first?"

Five male voices cried "Not it!" in unison and they looked at me.

I held both hands up, shaking my head. "Oh no, I'm not going first. What detonation? Did you guys bring Andy with you?"

"Of course not! He talks too much for a stealth mission. And the 'not it' methodology is not to be argued, Missy. Down you go."

"I can't believe—no! I don't know how to jump that far!" I scooted backward and started to fall on my backside.

Sarge forced the elevator doors open and grabbed my shoulder. "It's easy! You just fall!"

He shoved me into a black hole. I screamed in panic when there was no floor to stand on. "Ooooh my Goooooood!"

My HUD helpfully told me that there was approximately 35 feet between me and the top of the elevator lift. I flailed out, trying to right myself, and grab something, anythi— my fingers brushed a straight metal cable. Less than 25 feet left. I snagged the cable, but couldn't hold on hard enough to stop my fall. Sparks flew from my armor gloves where they contacted the cable. Still falling too fast! Oh God, oh God at this rate I was going to squish into—

THUMP.

My knees buckled. I folded up like a dropped lawn chair, cracking my chestplate against the kneepads. The jolt snapped my teeth together. I sat down hard and squeezed my eyes shut to block out the piercing bolts of light that zinged across my vision.

"Down here, Star!"

Shaking my head in a futile effort to clear it, I looked down. Donut waved at me from an open hatch in the ceiling…or, floor? Whatever. I dragged myself to it and slid through without a second thought. After that drop, what was another eight feet?

Donut caught me before I could land on my ass again. "Lost the 'not it' methodology, huh?"

I nodded and staggered upright. Donut patted me on the back and made sure I was headed for the open doors of the elevator. "Don't worry, happens to me all the time."

Worried? At this point, me, worried? Now why the HELL would I be worried?

Oh yeah. The countdown timer on my HUD now read 2:53.

The sub-basement tunnel hadn't changed any since the first time I was here. It was still dark, wet, and somewhere I didn't want to be. My helmet's polarized qualities shifted so I could see something other than oppressive darkness. Determined to get focused, I examined the cables and piping in the ceiling. Fascinating. Really.

"You okay?" Tucker wiggled his hand in front of my faceplate. In the elevator shaft, several thumps came one after the other.

"I'm just fucking peachy!" I snarled, "Give me a gun. I want to shoot something."

"You've got one right there." He motioned to my hip holster, "And there are plenty of Covenant out—"

"No, I want to shoot Sarge! He fucking threwme down the elevatorshaft!"

"Whoa! O-kay…" Tucker backed off, "Maybe now's not the best time to be holding a weapon…"

I struggled to pry off the sniper rifle attached to the slot in my back. "I can't aim worth shit, but maybe I can beat him to death with this!" It wouldn't budge. "God dammit! And could I PLEASE turn this freaking timer OFF? What, is the whole building set to blow? Can I DIE YET? AAARGH!"

"Uh, Grif!" Tucker called to the orange-armored soldier still standing in the elevator, "Come calm your girl down!"

My eyebrow twitched. His… girl…? Since when? Why didn't I have a grenade? I wanted to stick a 'spider' on Tucker and watch it explode. Yes… Exploding Tucker. Watch him go BOOM!

Grif approached me, "Starath…? Are you okay?"

I threw my hands up in an all-out flail, the armor's weight suddenly having no effect on me whatsoever, "YES! I'm fucking FINE!"

"You sound pretty stressed out to me."

"Do I?" Score one for the Oblivious-to-Sarcasm team! "Oh no, I just LOVE screaming at the top of my lungs while using obscenities for FUN!"

"That's more like Church's thing, don't you think?"

I dropped my arms, "You're…not…helping…Grif."

"Yeah, I was about to say, swearing a lot would make you sound more like Church." said Caboose from right beside me.

I recoiled out of shock. How did he—? Spinning around, I stomped off, "Whatever!"

There wasn't much to look at down here, except for pipes and cables and everything else I'd already contemplated before, besides the timer that now read 2:01. Holy shit. We were all going to die. I was stuck, underground, with a military-school rejects who'd learned to shoot straight only a few months ago, while a bomb somewhere was set to go off, and we still had to find the data chips or whatever the hell Church mentioned. No one was even looking for the database thingy yet! What did it even look like? He said he found it through a cable, near rock. Rock? Like the cave I came through?

Luckily I was already walking in the direction I needed to go, I wanted to keep the Blood Gulch crew behind me.

"This is fun! Where are we going?" If I hadn't been wearing the ODST armor I would have jumped out of my skin. A few paces behind me…stood Caboose.

"Don't DO that! And go away!"

He shook his head and had the nerve to shake a finger at me, "Battle-buddies don't leave each other alone. That is bad. Mister Sergeant trusted me to keep you safe, and that is what I will do."

"You can keep me safe by standing aaaaalll the way over there." I pointed to the other end of the tunnel.

"Sorry, that only worked for Church once… uh, twice. But only because he asked nicely, and he had a bigger gun."

I growled at him.

"So, where are we going?"

Fine. I was stuck with him, "We're going to find the database for everyone, since they seem to be preoccupied with other things."

"Yeah… shooting aliens tends to do that." He sighed softly, as if saddened by the thought.

I scanned the ceiling one more time. We were almost to the end of the tunnel and I could see the hole I'd crawled through from before. There, a bundle of cables branched away from the main lines running along the ceiling. My HUD traced the lines in the near-darkness for me so I wouldn't strain my eyes. They came to the corner where the tunnel wall met the ceiling and stopped. Just, stopped. I ran my hand along the wall as high up as I could reach. Nothing but concrete. Right? My boot accidentally slipped through the hole in the wall. I yanked it out, breaking off a piece of the wall with it.

Wait… My HUD magnified the cracks surrounding the hole; they spread out like a spider's web, but there was this one…It ran straight up after a few inches. Maybe it was the bottom of a door? Kneeling, I grabbed the broken wall and pulled. A chunk of concrete came free suddenly, which made me tumble backward.

"Starry! You alright?" Caboose helped me to stand.

"Fine…" I tapped my chin, or, I meant to, and tapped my helmet instead. "Caboose, I think there's a door here. Its bottom starts near the hole. Think you can get it open?"

He slapped his assault rifle onto his back, "Never hurts to try!"

I got out of his way so he could work. Caboose broke away some concrete and found the straight edge of a panel. Hooking his fingers underneath, he pulled and followed the panel up along a newly exposed seam. He arose, slowly, grunting a bit as he tugged on the panel.

Caboose suddenly whined. "Starry..."

"What?"

"It's biting me!"

"Huh?"

"Can't get… good enough grip. It's biting my fingers!"

"Oh." I stood there, "Uh…"

He braced his right foot against the wall, "There must be a lock or something in here. Can you see it?"

I moved closer to inspect the seam, stretching to do so. Just above his fingers there was a… clip? Yes, a clip held the panel against the wall, and further up a second one was barely visible. "Yeah, there's a clip or hinge. Want me to shoot it?"

"No, that would be dangerous and bad for me. Guh… Okay. If you can help me get this open further I can get it off… owie… fingers…"

Yeeeeeah. Was I going to stick my fingers into the jaws of death like he had? Um, no. I searched for something to use, a flat piece of concrete caught my eye. Grabbing it, I wedged it under the panel door and scooted it up inch by inch. I leaned on it with my full weight to force the panel open. Caboose's whining gave way to a cry of triumph.

"Aha!" His hands disappeared under the panel before the metal and concrete groaned. He heaved and ripped the panel clean off the wall. Caboose dropped it with a hefty clang.

"Holy crap!" I snagged the rim of the opening before I could fall over, "How strong are you?"

Caboose flapped his hands, flexing them in between trying to blow on them despite having a helmet on, "No one arm wrestles with me anymore. Except the Chief."

"Uh huh…." I peered into the opening. It was a room cut into the rock, the size of a small closet, packed with computer equipment and blinking lights, "We found it!"

"Yay!" He clicked his COM radio on, "Guys! Me an' Starry found the—"

I didn't get to hear the rest of what he said, "Hig-gig-GURK!"

A flash of white blinded me, then I felt a sensation of someone pouring chilled mercury into my brain. It seeped into every crevasse, pore, muscle and nerve that I had. My body jerked and moved by itself in reaction to the sensation. Okay. Something was NOT. RIGHT. HERE!

"What the— Star?" A male voice in my head asked. My body turned its hands over without my orders, and looked itself over as if confused, "Oh well… at least I can't get lost in here like Caboose's mind."

What. The fuck. There was a voice… IN. MY. HEAD! I'm not supposed to have voices in my head! At least not now! That's it. I must have cracked. This whole mission adventure snapped my weak mind in half and—

"No no no! Starath. It's okay. It's me, Church. I kinda… uh, possessed you."

Church?

…seriously?

"Yeah,sorry. I couldn't stand being locked in that room anymore."

I don't want him—you—in my head! Un-possess me!

"Um, actually, this arrangement can work, Star. I can help you through the rest of this."

I don't care. OUT. NOW!

He sighed, "Look,I know this is odd—"

Of COURSE this is odd! A grown man is in my head!

"Hey, at least I'm your friend."

I'M the only one supposed to be in my head, friend or not! Out!

Somehow I felt him making himself comfortable, "You can trust me, Star. Calm down, I'll just ride along in your armor and help you do stuff."

My teeth ground together, "I don't WANT to calm down; I want you out of my head!"

His voice took over mine, "Well tough shit. I'm staying whether you like it or not."

It was then when I realized I was surrounded by the Blood Gulch crew. Simmons was busy working in the closet. Six helmets turned in my direction.

"Starry… Are you feeling okay?" asked Caboose.

"No, I'm not! Because there's—"

"—It's okay everyone," Church said aloud and with my mouth (how did his voice come from me?), "It's just me. Star's freaking out a little—"

"A little?" I screeched, "A little? That's the fucking understatement of the century! If you weren't already dead I'd—"

"Technically I'm not dead. And all this screaming isn't good for your blood pressure—"

"Would you STOP INTERRUPTING ME?"

"…Uh… Sorry?"

"Starry…Did you eat Church?" asked Caboose, scratching the top of his helmet.

"ARGH!" I banged my hand against my faceplate in a failed attempt to face-palm. An awkward silence dropped across the tunnel's atmosphere like a dead animal. I stared at the palm of my glove, panting, this was SO screwed up.

"Yeah, but on the other hand, we've successfully confused everybody."

Oh, ha, ha. Somehow I just wasn't in the mood to see humor.

Doc came forward, "I know what this is. You picked up Church, didn't you?"

If I had had the energy, I would have hugged him, "Uh huh."

He patted my shoulder, "Look at it this way: At least he's a friendly AI."

"Yeah, see? Listen to Doc."

You're not helping! To Doc I said, "Yeah, but this is still really weird."

"It takes some getting used to, is all. He'll be able to help you out."

"Can't he live in someone else's armor? I mean, you guys are the soldiers. I'm just the… baggage."

A small white hologram blipped into existence on my right side. His Spartan avatar stood no taller than a Barbie doll. He waved. If my sudden burst of talking to myself didn't have everyone's attention already, Church's appearance sure did. Somehow he spoke through my helmet's speakers. "All the more reason I should be with you. Does anyone other than me notice we have less than thirty seconds before the explosives detonate?"

"Got 'em!" cried Simmons. He came out of the closet holding a pair of glowing data crystal-chips and stashed them away somewhere. Did Mjolnir armor have pockets? "Oh, hey Church, I was wondering where you were."

"Excellent work, Red-Two." said Sarge.

"Um, HELLO?" I shouted, "Something's gunna go BOOM in twenty seconds! Aren't you guys worried?"

"Eh, it's not the first time we've gone through an explosion," said Tucker, as if commenting on the weather.

"Well I haven't! We need to get out of here right NOW!"

"Who's got a grenade we can—" Church started to say.

Caboose barreled forward into the rock wall and broke through like he'd run into a sheet of paper, "All clear!" he called from the other side.

"…Or we could do that." said Church with a cough.

"Alright men! Go, go, go!" Sarge waved us into the new Caboose-shaped hole. Church's hologram disappeared when I followed Simmons in. My HUD displayed the final countdown numbers.

:04… :03… :02… :01… 0:-

We tumbled into the cave just before a trio of explosions sounded overhead. The shockwaves travelling through the ground made my armor rattle. As stone trembled around us I nervously glanced at the ceiling. There were no stalactites up there, but who knew if there were any loose boulders ready to come down on our heads. The opening to the tunnel we stood beside moments before crumbled inward with a cascade of concrete and debris.

A cloud of powdered rock blew over us and hung in mid-air before disintegrating onto the floor. Again my faceplate compensated for the lack of light surrounding me. I blinked, focusing on outlines of my friends. Tiny blips of colored light shined from chest, shoulder and knees of their armor. I sagged against the nearest object. It moved. I pulled away and identified what, who it was.

"Sorry Doc." Once again I forced my breathing to even out even though it really didn't want to, "Please… tell me you guys planned that."

"Well…. we planned on getting out," said the medic.

Oh, that was wonderful to know. Typical Blood Gulch crew thinking in action, and exactly how many meetings did they have with Chief about this mission?

"Uh, five, actually." said Church in my head, "And we don't have pockets, by the way.We have compartments around the waist."

Pockets. Close enough.

"Who's not dead? Sound off!" barked Sarge.

One by one the guys made it known they weren't dead. They formed a semi-circle around Sarge, but it took too much effort for me at the moment to stand up straight and join the formation. My mind and body were almost funned out, entirely. "So now what?" I asked.

Sarge reloaded his shotgun and looked over all of us, "Seeing as I'm the only team leader with a body, I'll take charge of the rest of this operation. That alright with you, Blue-One?"

Church's hologram faded in and motes of dust flitted through his image to give him a halo, "I can still direct a bit, but yeah. It'll help me stay focused on Star."

"Good." He ratcheted his shotgun and checked the sight on it, "Now all's we gotta do is wander this cave system long enough to get outta—"

"Um, Sir?" I raised my hand as if I was in a classroom out of habit.

"What is it, Missy?"

"This is the way I got into the facility. I can lead us out."

"That's a negative."

My mouth hung open and snapped shut, "What? Why?"

"You are in no position to be leading us anywhere. Who knows what could be around the next bend! There could be Covenant patrolling in here, or worse yet, a homicidal Energizer Bunny!"

"A what?" I blinked and shook my head, "Never mind. Look, I don't want to argue with you, Sir, but—"

"Then you'll pardon me in saying that is precisely what yer doin'!"

"Saaarge!" I stomped my foot, the one with the bad ankle and regretted it at once. My voice cracked. "Come on! I know the way out! Do you honestly want to wander around down here talking to the bats?"

"Bats?" squawked Grif. His voice cracked, "C'mon, Red-One. I don't wanna be down here long enough to see bats!"

Simmons groaned, "Oh geez, don't start that again."

Oops… bad choice of words. Great, now Grif was going to be paranoid until we found daylight. If Sarge letus find daylight that is. What was his problem? He'd been so kick-ass before, now he sounded like he used to be! Dammit, all I wanted was to go home…

"Sarge, if she knows the way out we should go for it," said Church, "Gold Team is waiting on us."

He grumbled to himself, like he tended to do when he wasn't getting his way, "You make a good point, even though you forgot my code name."

"Oh please," Church said in my mind, "Those numbers are pointless anyway. It's not like the enemy knows who's who."

That's what I thought too. Wait, who's Gold Team?

"I'll tell you later."

"It makes sense, Sir." said Simmons. The others muttered in agreement, but not very loudly, lest Sarge figure out who agreed the most. It was probably Grif, though. He kept looking around for bats.

"Oh, alright… Guess my life-long dream of cave spelunking and deep-earth fishing will have to wait." Sarge sighed and looked at me, "Missy, you can lead."

A jolt of energy surged through me at the idea, "Awesome!"

"…Behind Red-Two and Blue-Two. They're our scouts."

Damn. I knew there had to be a catch.

"With Sarge there's ALWAYS a catch."

I giggled, then covered my mouth. Or I tried to. My gauntlet smacked on my faceplate. Luckily no one could see me blushing.

"But Mister Sergeant! I am supposed to be Starry's Battle-buddy!" said Caboose with a whine.

Church growled in my head, "Oh, great. 'Battle-buddies.' That's fuckin' dandy."

"That's why you'll be right behind her, Blue-Three. Maintain contact via TEAMCOM only from here on out. We need as little noise as possible, just in case." Sarge slapped his shotgun into his palm, "Get moving, Missy. We're waitin' on you."

Waiting on…? Oh! Right! Duh, I get to be leader now! Sort of. Church's hologram vanished as I turned to Simmons and Tucker. My radio popped on when I started to speak, "There's only one way out of here. It's… that way." I pointed, "Be careful of the tunnels when you go through them. They're really slick."

They nodded and moved into the darkness where the tunnel was. I started to follow them. Someone tugged on my arm.

"Hey Star?" asked Grif. The display on my HUD displayed a private COM line.

"Yeah?"

"If you see any bats, will you make sure they're gone before I get there?"

My shoulders dropped a few inches. Here was an armored, trained soldier… afraid of bats. Even though I shook my head, a smile crossed my face. "Sure Grif."

He gave me a thumbs up, "Thanks. I got your back, behind Caboose."

Maneuvering through the tunnel was harder than the first time because I was wearing bulky armor. My body had gotten used to moving in it by now, but my motions were still jerky and awkward.

"You're doing fine," said Church, "Sarge must have done a good job stripping it down or you'd be having more trouble with it.

Yeah, thanks. I was still going to hurt after all this. Two green lights flashed on my HUD. Tucker and Simmons allowed me to enter the huge cavern I'd been in earlier. My helmet's enhanced visual qualities allowed me to see the underground lake clearly in the low light. If I focused on the water's surface I could make out distinguished lumps in the water. I shuddered. More evil monster rat things? What did Athena call them?

"She named them Rattussuchus." I felt Church moving in my mind, as if he was turning the pages to a book. A memory of the monster rat appeared in my mind's eye, its fur all matted and ugly and gross, staring at me, somehow, with its sightless patches where eyes were supposed to be, "Damn,that's what you saw earlier? And then fought off? What else…?"

I felt more page-turning, or whatever he was doing to sort through the memories of my day. He started with the recent events and went backward. He found the first time I talked to Athena. He found the moment of the rock slide, when I was trying to reach Caboose. The forest fire. Screaming 'Go to hell!' at Sarge. The Reds and I being bombarded by the Banshees. Doc wrapping up my ankle in that frigidly cold cloth. When I clung to Donut as he slid down the rope. When Simmons carried me. The Grunt's head exploding in my face. The impact that sprained my ankle. O'Malley's laughter. Church growled and slammed the metaphorical book of my memories shut.

"Damn, Star. I'm sorry about all this. I'm gonna fucking stab O'Malley when we get back."

You and me both. But, hey, I've lived this long. Don't worry about it.

"Yeah, you've done very well, considering the situations you've been in. But still. This is not the place for you."

That's what Sarge said, he scared me with that speech he gave after Simmons found me. Thank God he found me…

"Sarge was worried when he talked to me about you. All this time we just wanted to see you safe, and look at what you've gone through." Church sighed. "Hey, why is there a hamster in here?"

Hamster?

Oh. In my mind I saw Church standing next to a glass cage full of wood shavings. He leaned down to peer into the top. Little dishes of food pellets were stashed in the corner, next to a water bottle that hung over the lip of the cage. Blue plastic tubes rested on one side. They were missing pieces of plastic where the tubes had been chewed on. In the middle of the cage a metal wheel turned furiously as a little orange and white hamster ran full speed without going anywhere.

Church tapped the glass.

Don't disturb the hamster. It's my mind at work.

"Oh. What if I did?"

I'd lose my train of thought.

Instantly Church was no longer in a room lined with doors containing only the hamster cage. He stood on top of a clattering railroad car. Ahead of him an old steam engine chugged and belched smoke, pulling its infinitely long line of cars as it barreled down railroad tracks leading nowhere. He lost balance and landed on his behind.

"What the hell?" he shouted, searching for nonexistent hand holds on the railroad car's roof. "How did I get up HERE? What is this thing?"

The train headed for a tunnel that materialized out of the distance. The train would barely fit through it when it got there. Church seemed to realize this and panicked. "Star? Star? Get me OFF this crazy thing!"

Technically it was 'crazy train,' but he was from the future so I couldn't expect him to know that. He dropped off the railroad car when it no longer existed and landed in a hot tub in a backyard at night. Its water churned and bubbled, shifting through a spectrum of blue colors meant to make the hot tub more relaxing. As soon as Church got his bearings he realized he was surrounded by four scantily dressed, busty women. They cooed and scooted in closer to give him their full attention, despite being in his armor, he leaned back and made himself comfortable.

"Hello there ladies.You like me, do ya? Oh yeah..." The women giggled, caressing him under the chin and his thick arms while talking nonsense. Out of nowhere a Spartan in black armor marched up to the hot tub. Church gulped. "Tex?"

She stopped at the hot tub's rim and socked him across the jaw line of his helmet. "You animal!"

"Ow! What the f—"

Church was back in the mostly empty room lined with doors containing only the hamster cage. The metal wheel squeaked a few times. He shook water off his armor, dumbfounded. I've mentioned I have a big imagination, right?

"God damn, Star! Don't fuck with me like that! What was Tex doing in here?"

I dunno. I thought she might like to visit. On the outside, I struggled not to burst out laughing.

"Which way now, Starath?" Simmons asked, his voice brought me back to the real world. Screwing with Church had only lasted a few seconds.

"That was NOT funny," he grumbled.

Yes it was. For me, anyway. Now as for the way out of here…

"Oh really?" Church went to one of the many doors in the hamster room and opened it. A million books lined shelves of a library that had no end to its dimensions. He pulled on a string to click on a light bulb overhead. He scanned the books in a recently used batch and selected a book with an orange cover. He opened it with great care and began reading, "What's this? Star has a crush on Dexter Grif?"

I gurgled and stumbled as I walked past Simmons. No I don't!

"Yes you do. It says right here: 'Out of all of them, I think I like Grif best. He has the cutest smile when he's happy, and it feels good when he hugs me. He's not as wound up as the others, but rather mellow, when he's not hiding from Sarge or freaking out over bats. It's so dumb he's afraid of bats, but it's so loveable—'"

Oh my God, Church! I DON'T like him! Stoppit!

He turned to the next page, "Aww. You wanted to kiss him earlier today!"

I did not!

"But you didn't. Why not? He would have liked it, even if he is the big brother type. Ooo!" He poked his finger onto the page and read aloud in a high-pitched voice, "'Sometimes he has this way of looking at me that makes the backs of my knees tickle. I can't help but notice how his muscles move under his shirt…' Wow, Starath! You've got the hots for Grif! If only he knew…" Church laughed, paused and glanced up and around, "Why's it so warm in here suddenly?"

Oh gee I WONDER WHY. My movements had been paralyzed for the long half-moment it had taken Church to read that. The images the words conjured made my insides turn into pudding, like Grif in his favorite, tight, T-shirt- ARGH!You are such an asshole, Church!

"What can I say? I stick with what I know. Want me to read more? I thought I saw a chapter in here about dreams…"

Want me to put you on that train again?

He snapped the book shut, "No."

Then shut up and let me get us out of here. It's not like it matters anyway if I like Grif, which I DON'T, because I don't think he'd care.

"Oh? Want me to tell him?"

"Nooooooo!" I said aloud, and clamped my mouth shut when Tucker and Simmons looked at me, "Uh… Er…. Sorry, I was just thinking to myself. Sort of. The way out isn't over here, it's, uh…" I pranced forward, ignoring the heavy thuds of my heart against my ribcage. Okay, think. When I came into this insanely creepy cavern the last time, where was I?

Church found a map on the bookshelf and took it out of the library with him. He unrolled it and laid it flat on the table next to the hamster cage. He attempted to make sense of the mess of squiggles, X-marks, and pencil sketches of pretty rock formations I'd seen earlier. The cavern we were in was marked with a crayon drawing of a lake labeled 'Spooky Lake of Doom: Beware of monsters.' He scratched the top of his helmet. "Uh…"

He couldn't read my map properly, of course. My hamster saw it and began adding details to it with each turn of the running wheel. That's right! There was that puddle I stepped in, and I skirted the cavern wall at least halfway before I found the other tunnel…

Somehow Church had known I wanted to speak and opened a COM line. "Keep an eye on that lake, you guys. That's where the rat-monster must have come from." I warned the others.

"Rat-monster?" asked Tucker, sounding confused. Nevertheless he heeded my warning and swept the water's surface with his rifle.

"Trust me, you'll know it when you see one. There's no need to get near the shore." For all I knew the monsters could pop out of the water and drag one of us under like a crocodile. Although… Where was the one that attacked me? Was it still loose? I SO did not want to see that thing again!

"Relax, you've got armor now and it would be outnumbered. Where's that tunnel?"

That's what I'm trying to figure out. If I could find the puddle again…Aha! I crouched beside it. The ground surrounding it was still wet from the splash I made. Something else pooled near the puddle, something that was thicker than the water and…fluorescent blue?

"Tucker, come here please." I pointed to the blue splatter, "Is that what I think it is?"

He had to only glance at it and bobbed his head, "Grunt blood. Shit."

"There's more over here," said Simmons. Behind us the other soldiers were emerging out of the tunnel into the huge cavern, and somebody let out a long whistle.

"I bet a whole fleet of Pelicans could fit in here! Or Blood Gulch itself!" said Donut, "Oh, look, a swimming pool!"

"Stay away from it!" I said. "Sir, there's evidence Covenant have been through here."

"Well that's just dandy. Stay alert, men. Blue-Three and Red-Three, stay tight on Star."

Caboose and Grif were immediately on either side before Sarge had finished the order. I made an effort to get up out of my crouch but I was too heavy for my muscles to move. "Uh, help?" Two hands in blue and orange easily pulled me to my feet.

Sarge inspected the Grunt blood. "Hmm, somethin' must be killin' the bastards."

"Probably the locals." I said.

"Like bats?" asked Grif.

"No, something bigger." Like the evil rat monster thing from hell. But at least that meant they might be too busy to bother us, and the Covenant would stay clear once they knew about the creatures.

"We're not that lucky," said Church. "Now come on. Which way?"

I planted my foot into the puddle of water and peered across the expanse of the cavern, looking for a darker place in the rock compared to the rest. Escorted by Grif and Caboose, I followed cavern wall, brushing my hands over the surface. I wish I could have felt the stone this time, but my fingers didn't miss the break in the wall. Was it…? Yes, because my sweatshirt had snagged on that protrusion of rock on my way out. It scared the crap out of me.

"Don't use your radio to tell them. We do this." A tiny green light flicked on in my HUD. "That's the 'go a head' signal. Stay put until you get a green light from the scouts."

Tucker and Simmons slipped through the crack and disappeared into darkness. Red and teal-colored lights allowed me to track where they were by watching their legs. I focused on them to keep my eyes from wandering into the huge cavern where monsters made by my imagination could leap out at me from the dark. The lake, although calm, reflected the lights made by everyone's armor and created ghosts on nearby rock. Nothing reached the ceiling, as high as it was, just black on thick black, oppressive, filled with tiny red eyes staring at m—

"Whoa,whoa. Don't go scaring yourself." Church interrupted my thoughts, "We're all here with you.You're safe."

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt water collecting there. You have no idea how hard it was coming through the first time. I jumped at my own shadow on a regular basis, and all I had here was my shield, water dripping, and—

"That was then, this is now. Keep your mind in the present."

The present. Right. My eyes drifted over the lake and squinted at the lumps. Were they… logs? Underground? No, there was something glistening like… wet… skin… The shapes snapped into focus.

Dead bodies. Dead bodies of Grunts! An Elite! Oh God, dead things were in here. Bile jumped into my throat, eager to come out. No! I was wearing a helmet now! Oh God. I'm gonna be sick. Dead… things… floating! I whimpered and started to cry. That could be us. That could be me. That could be-

"Listen to me, Christine. That is NOT going to happen to us, you hear me? We're going to get out of this. We're going to go home. We're going to kick O'Malley's ass, and then we're going to watch Transformers. Or whatever! Don't torment yourself with 'what ifs.' Focus. We're counting on you to direct us out of these caves. Sarge gave you that duty."

Shaky breaths rattled in my ears. That's right, Sarge wasn't going to let me do this but then he let me anyway. I have to be useful now. I can't be scared.

"Oh, shit yeah, you can be scared. Just... Don't let it control you, okay?"

Two green lights flashed once on my HUD. I glanced up at Caboose and Grif. They nodded and let me go ahead. I'll be okay. We'll be okay. I have the best guys with me in the whole world, even if they're idiots sometimes.

"Heeey..." Church grumbled.

Loveable idiots, and the best damned soldiers I'd ever met.

"Booyah! You got that right, sister!"

To be Continued…