Samus stormed down the hallway, out of the maintenance room. Her blonde ponytail flapping like a flag in a wind storm. She was so mad, she didn't even notice she
still was carrying John's Magnum. She relaxed her arm, loosening up on the grip of the gun, her knuckles were bleached white. As she unstiffened her arm she could
feel the blood and color flowing back into it. After she calmed down a little she safetyed the gun. Those two crewmen angered her, they were so green. They
obviously knew nothing about the Space Pirates, boys with delusions of grandeur, boating around on starships saving the galaxy being a hero, just a load of crap.
Their family was dead, or soon to be, the pirates had no intentions of ever giving them back. They would just keepf them alive as long as they thought they remained
useful.The crewmen were only doing what they thought was right; after all, wouldn't she do the same thing in their situation? Risk everything to save her family. She
stopped drudging down the hall, she turned back hoping to see Master Chief behind her. No such luck, all she had to keep her company was her anger. It had
served her well so far; no need to go changing things that weren't broke.
She entered the Admirals quarters, and walked into the living room. The plush carpet was springy under her feet. She slumped herself on the large leather sofa,
gingerly tossing the now harmless Magnum over to the far cushion. She took in the sights of her new home for the night. The living room alone was bigger than an
ensigns room, she never understood why the Admiral received so much room, he hardly was ever there, usually at the bridge or the briefing room, where he often
slept. The room was a light blue, not to different from her zero suit. The room featured no sharp corners; everything was tapered, giving it a calming effect. She felt
the rooms effects, her heart rate slowed, her teeth were no longer gritted, her brow unfurrowed. A melody sounded from the door, indicating that someone had
arrived. It had to be the Chief, since Dane would have been able to enter.
"Come in" She said
Her voice command undid the locking mechanisms of the door, allowing it to open. The hulking figure of the armored Master Chief stepped in.
"I wanted to tell you that Cortana was able to disengage the transmitter." He said, producing the cylinder. He walked over towards Samus, placing the cylinder
upright on the coffee table.
"I also came to get my gun," He added, "I like that gun."
Samus lazily pointed at where she had tossed it earlier. After holstering the firearm, he began to ask her about the Ring.
"Now that we know of one of there targets, does it bring to mind any other ideas?" He asked
"It seems they are targeting the military aspects of the Galactic Federation, if they take out its largest Starport, at Norion it would deal a serious blow to our
defenses. We wouldn't be entirely defenseless though, if they were trying to minimize resistance on a full out hostile take over they would be wise to target the
Shipyards of Aliehs III."
"I was hoping you'd have an idea, this way Cortana could triangulate a firing position of the Ring."
"I think I could do one better Chief," Cortana stated. "I think I found the dialing code of the cylinder, when we drop out of hyperspace, I can trace it to its intended star system."
The Chief stood up and moved slightly to the door. "Good," he stated.
"Oh, and Samus, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here." He said feeling stupid. Her ice cold blue eyes looked up trying to make contact with the ones he concealed behind the gold plating of his helmet. "I know," she said, "but it is always good to hear it out loud." John crossed over into the Admirals wash room.
"Well for a barbarian, you're not completely inept with understanding women." Cortana applauded.
"Yeah, you pick up on a few things, when you have one stuck in your head for a couple of years." He pointed out "But it comes with its down sides, like the never ending monologues about petty things."
"What petty things!" Cortana demanded "I'm not petty. Tell me what you're talking about."
He just chuckled; he didn't need to prove his point she just did. He headed off to the shower, he grabbed some of the Admiral's civilian clothing, he was sure none of
it would fit, but he figured this would be the only chance of getting out of his armor for a while. A swoosh of compressed air spilled out of the crack that appeared in
the seal of the MJOLNIR armor. The suit broke down into its five compartments, the torso, and the appendages. Pulling off the torso section, feeling the sticky gel
layer peel from his skin. He looked down and noted the newly injured areas of his upper body. Several orange stains indicated where the medical gel had sealed up
wounds on his body. He peeled off the gel and tossed them into the trash. It was truly amazing gel, it healed up wounds with almost no scarring, and in fact it was
because of that same gel that John's body didn't look like Swiss cheese from all the skeletal augmentations. He removed the rest of the armor, noting the dank smell
that rose into his vestibules.
"God" coughed Cortana "I don't think you could have lasted much longer in that suit with out becoming persevered indefinitely."
"What are you whining about, you can't smell me."
"No, but I have the atmospheric composition sensors. And they are not giving me pretty readings." She teased.
The Chief spent the next fifteen minutes scrubbing off the grime and grit off his muscular body. He flexed his arm as he ran the soap along them, revealing the thick
cords of muscle that lay hidden beneath his skin. He paid special attention to that sticky gel layer, which seemed to get everywhere. He placed the rest of the
disassembled MJOLNIR armor into the bathroom, if the GF was anything like the UNSC, the Admiral wouldn't be here anytime soon, especially with such a high alert.
As well as dealing with those two crewmen. He asked Aurora Unit 242 to ventilate the room, so that by morning the suit would no longer be hazardous to life forms. He
placed the helmet on his head.
"Cortana, will you be ok, here for the night?" He asked her, "Or would you like me to connect you to the Olympus' mainframe?"
"Well as much as I hate intruding on strange programming, I guess I wouldn't mind the company, plus I can finally prove once and for all I am the superior AI on this ship."
"Let me know how your display of mental feats goes tomorrow." He said as he hooked up the adaptor to his helmet. The Chief put on some lounging clothes, which
were too short by a couple of inches. The T-shirt he worn fit pretty well, the Admiral must have been a little soft around the middle.
The Chief wandered out into the living room. He noticed that Samus was still there sitting at the edge of sofa, sitting on her hands looking at the floor, when see
heard him enter the room, her eyes darted up at John. He could tell that she wanted to talk about something. It turned out he was wrong, it seemed he still had
something to learn about women. It turns out all she wanted was to be held. He lay down with her on the oversized sofa, wrapped in a blanket. He breathed in the
sweet scent of her blonde hair, and held her tight until they both fell asleep.