Chapter Eleven
December 17 2536, Covenant Shipyard Crafted Virtue (UNSC Asteroid ID K7-49)
Nese stood patiently in her study, her eyes fixed on the doorway to where Kev and Will slept. She was expecting Kev to come out alone, but she hoped Will would be up. When the door opened, she was disappointed, but not surprised. She sat down in her chair, and waited for Kev to wheel over.
"What have I done to him, Kev Jec?" She asked, not looking up.
She could feel Kev watching her, "I think that you have brought him worry for the next few days and nights, but over all he will feel better hearing it from you than from someone else much later."
Nese nodded, "It just feels so painful to see him like this." She felt a hand rest on her shoulder, and reached up to grab it. "Thank you for coming out to see me Kev, you can rejoin Will."
Kev let go and quietly wheeled herself back to Will. Nese turned and looked through the open door at Will. He was still laying in bed. He hadn't gotten up or eaten since he went in there. She was starting to get worried, but decided that one more day couldn't hurt. She would force him to get up and eat something then.
Yen listened in on Nese and Kev from around the corner. She closed her eyes, and wished Will all the best. When she opened her eyes, Sol Cas was standing directly in front of her. "Yen Ham, what are you doing standing here?"
"I was... Gathering intelligence..." She said quickly, trying to recover from being startled.
Sol nodded, looking past her at Nese. "That filthy Human has upset the Priestess once again, and he doesn't even show his face anymore. When I see him I will have to hold back from beating him." Sol walked away, casting one last worried glance at Nese. Yen winced, things here were not as she expected two weeks ago when she agreed to the job. She turned back to Nese, watching the Priestess sit in silence, brooding over what she did to Will.
December 19 2536, Sargasso
Carolina slowly walked out the front door of the small home Will had bought her, looking up at the sky. There above the clouds was a large Covenant ship, it was headed for the major population center to the north. "No... It can't be..."
She slowly looked around at everyone standing in the street with her. Most were standing still, transfixed upon the ship in the sky, but some were running and screaming in panic. It didn't take long for everyone to join them, and soon the street was full of people fleeing towards the spaceports.
Carolina rushed inside, and grabbed her car keys. She locked her house up, and headed for the school. It had been converted from one of the original colony buildings, and had a large underground bunker. Will had made arrangements with the school to keep emergency gear down there.
As she pulled into the parking lot, she was surprised to see a large group of students standing around, all watching the Covenant ship. "Everyone! Return home as soon as possible!"
Some of them turned from watching the sky to her. "Ms. Ward! What are you doing here?"
"Please, everyone, head home as soon as possible. It isn't safe-" Before she could finish her sentence, a dozen Banshee aircraft flew over head, and launch their main explosive at the small suburb. There were dozens of explosions, the air quickly filling with smoke from the countless fires.
"No way!" The only senior in the group, a girl named Jacquelyn, exclaimed. The Banshees turned to make another sweeping run, heading straight for the school.
Carolina headed toward the school itself, "Everyone inside! It'll be safer!"
The students followed, but not quietly, "But when the blow up the school we'll be killed!"
Jacquelyn replied before Carolina could, "This is a colony founding building, it's a lot stronger than it looks, and it probably has a defense bunker."
Carolina smiled, "It does, this way." She pulled open the door for the children, "Head down toward the gym, look for door M343." She pulled out a key and handed it to Jacquelyn, "This should unlock it, make sure everyone is safe. I'm going to look for other people caught outside in the area!"
Jacquelyn nodded, and took the key. "Come back soon Ms. Ward."
"I will." Carolina took off, headed back toward the parking lot. She made her way around the outside of the building, and saw no one. The Banshee's had pasted, and decided that the school was not worth bombing, for now. She did one more lap around the building, and headed inside to meet the children. Another dozen or so Banshees had joined the local airspace, and she felt for sure that the school was on their list of targets. It was just a matter of time.
Carolina entered the small bunker to see the group of students all sitting together on the far side of the room. Jacquelyn was going through a box of food rations, and looked up at Carolina. "Did you know this stuff was down here, Ms. Ward?"
She walked over to the young girl, "My brother set this up, just for this occasion. We should have plenty of supplies. How is everyone doing?"
"Scared, like I am."
"Ms. Ward, what's going to happen to us?" One of the boys asked. He was a freshman, and looked terrified.
She walked over to him, "What's your name?"
"Ajax, ma'am."
"Well, Ajax, everyone, what we're going to do is remain in here for the time being. We have food, water, and radio equipment. I will attempt to contact the UNSC forces, and try to get someone to come save us. I'm sure evacuations are underway as we speak." She turned to Jacquelyn, "Make sure they get what they need. I'm going to find the radio."
Jacquelyn nodded and Carolina headed over to the large computer terminal on the side wall. She turned it on, and waited for the interface to appear. She called the radio functions, yet found there was no signal. The Covenant were jamming all frequencies. "Damn," she swore under her breath. She tapped a few icons, seeing what there was.
A sudden notification popped up. There was a hardline link to the UNSC office, and it had been activated. She tapped the call button, and the standard video phone display appeared. It rang several times before a gruff looking man appeared, "Who is this? Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"I need to speak to Lieutenant Colonel Fant, this is Civilian Consultant 633255 Carolina Ward."
The man on the other side looked dumb struck, "What?"
"Just transfer me soldier!"
He nodded, and disappeared from the screen. After a moment, Colonel Fant appeared. "Colonel! It's Carolina."
He looked relieved, "Thank god you're alright. Where are you?"
"The bunker under the school, and I have a dozen or more students with me," she explained. "We're safe for now, but we need to get these kids off-world." She turned, noticing Jacquelyn creeping up behind her. "How are things on the surface?"
He sighed, "We're not being glassed, yet. Satellite imagery shows that the southern hemisphere wasn't as lucky. We're trying to get people to the spaceports, and get them loaded in. However the engagement in space isn't going so well. Last I heard we took heavy casualties."
Carolina nodded, "I will let you get back to work, Colonel. This hardline should remain intact until they glass us. But at that point, there'll be nothing left to say."
He nodded, "Over and out."
Jacquelyn took the few steps to be within quiet conversation range, "Ms. Ward?"
She turned in her chair, "Yes?"
"What was that all about?"
"Jacquelyn, isn't it?" The girl nodded. "My sister works for the Office of Navel Intelligence, and I occasionally do some consultant work for them. Analyzing Covenant movement patterns and creating defensive strategies based on mathematical formulas."
The young girl looked surprised, "But you're just an ordinary high school teacher..."
"I have two masters degrees, in mathematics and astrophysics. But I just wanted to teach the next generation, because once we're done with this war, the galaxy will be left to you and your classmates." Carolina stood a smiled, "Don't worry, we'll all be just fine."
December 20 2536, Sargasso
Ajax sat in front of the computer terminal. Jacquelyn had been up all night and was finally getting some sleep, and Carolina went out as soon as the sun was up to look for more survivors and get some information on what was happening above ground. He was leaning against the console, wishing there were games he could play on it when it beeped at him.
Someone had sent a file over the network, it was a letter. Addressed to Carolina, from an A.I. on some other planet Ajax had never heard of. He decided to leave it alone, but left the alert on the computer screen for when Carolina got back.
"Ajax." She was back, as if she heard the computer. "What's that?"
He jumped up, "A message came in for you, from off-world. Strange that they'd deliver mail with the Covenant here..." He slowly walked away, as if he didn't know what to do with himself anymore.
Carolina watched the boy wander until he found a place to sit, and she turned to the computer. She sat down and opened the file. There was a small note from the Colonel telling her that she needed to read this, it was extremely important. She opened the original file, and started to read. It was a letter from an A.I. on New Harmony, the planet Will had been stationed at. It was dated almost a month ago, but it had an urgent tone.
"Carolina Ward, you don't know me, but over the past few weeks I have gotten to know William, and more so in these past few days of combat. On November 13th, a team of Elites entered our city, and took your brother captive. He was still alive, and was taken aboard their ship, which has since left the system. We have a tracking bug planted on the ship, and traced it to an asteroid belt outside UNSC space. A plan is being devised to launch a rescue mission.
"I was not authorized to tell you any of this. But I have included the spacial coordinates of the asteroid the ship he was on arrived at. We want to believe that they took him for a reason, and that he is still alive, but after the several month journey to rescue him, we can not be certain we will find him alive."
Carolina started to cry, silently. The file included all the information the A.I. had on their current plan. It wasn't looking good. Here she was, worried about her own life, when her brother had spent a month as a captive. She knew he was still alive, she could feel it, but she didn't know what to do. When she had an idea.
She called the Colonel, wiping her tears away. "Carolina?" He asked as the connection opened.
"Forward that message to Emily. I don't know where she is, or how long it'll take to get there, but she needs to see that. She'll know what to do. Right now I need to focus on getting these children to safety."
He nodded, "As soon as we can. For now, the Covenant has to come first."
"Of course." She signed off, and turned to see Jacquelyn waking up.
She walked over to the girl, grabbing a water bottle and energy bar on the way. "Here, have some breakfast."
She took the food and smiled, "Thanks Ms. Ward."
"Hopefully we'll be out of here later today or tomorrow, things are going fine." She stood and walked away, inwardly crying over Will. She had to show a strong face to the students, but she didn't know if she would be able to keep it together. Carolina retreated to a far corner, where she had made her bed, and sat down, her head falling into her hands. She held back the teas, but she needed a moment to herself.
Jacquelyn looked around, seeing the faces of people she passed in the hallways. She didn't know anyone, she had been in the library yesterday, and when the Covenant appeared she had ran outside. She just happen to join in the group of students, some of whom were in the library with her, others who were doing other activities on the school grounds.
There had been more teachers and students on campus, but they had fled instead of staying. She didn't know why she had stayed. She didn't even know Ms. Ward very well, never having had her as a teacher. All she knew was that the Covenant were destroying her home, killing the people she knew, and there was a very good chance that she and the others around here wouldn't make it out alive. She looked back at Ms. Ward, who looked so distraught that Jacquelyn couldn't help feel that she was right, that they were all going to die.
Author's Notes: Well, here's the formal introduction to Carolina Ward. These next few chapters will have a lot of her and the students, but I will start mixing in more of Will, Nese, and Kev sections. I just wanted to get this plot rolling. Also, don't forget about Julia, February and Marc. They'll be returning at some point in near future.