The Mission

A Record

By Starath

Chapter 10


Church's cry of agreement settled my nerves, the beating of my heart slowed to its appropriate rate and I took a deep breath. He was right, for once. I was safe, protected by my armor and eight friends who were trained soldiers.

"What do you mean, 'for once'?" demanded Church, "Of COURSE I'm right. I'm always right."

I sighed audibly, grinning beneath my helmet. Two green dots lit up on my HUD, the 'all is clear' from the scouts. Skirting another pool of Grunt blood, I was escorted through the fissure leading out of the huge cavern with Caboose going first and Grif followed behind me. Our footsteps echoed in the tight space and came back to us, sounding like quiet pattering raindrops on a cold spring morning. Behind us, the rest of the Blood Gulch crew added their footsteps to the tunnel's echoes and we sounded like a coming storm.

Caboose stepped to the side when we emerged from the tunnel. Simmons and Tucker were a few paces ahead, crouched on either side of a giant stalagmite. Tucker's gestures pointed me toward a nearby stalagmite, he pressed his hand toward the ground, palm down.

"He means you need to get behind there for cover, crouched down if you can." said Church, and he briefly took control of my eyes, sweeping them across the cavern we were in now. "I don't like the looks of this place either."

I blinked and held my eyes shut, would you please not do that Church?

"Oh, sorry." He sounded sheepish.

Opening my eyes, I moved behind a pillar of white rock since crouching hurt, so I sat down with my back against the stalagmite. Once again Caboose and Grif took position on either side of me as I watched the others take cover too. Alright, so where are we now…?

Church consulted my mental map. "You called this the Room of Pointy Things. Hmm...Catchy. There are way too many places for things to hide in here."

Agreed.

This cave wasn't as bad as the giant one we passed through, but it had spooked me enough the first time. Stalactites and stalagmites were plentiful here; they hung from the ceiling like lethal icicles and arose from the floor like growing trees. It was hard to see from one end of the room to the other because of how many there were. Luckily for us, there was a rough path that wound through this Petrified Forest... if I could just remember where it started.

I tried pushing myself off the ground and growled, tapping Grif's arm. "Help me up."

He did so and asked, "Where are you going?"

"I have to investigate the way through here." I motioned in the direction I wanted to go.

"I'm coming with you."

"Me too!" Caboose put in as he nodded.

They probably heard my little nervous laugh through the radio. "Be my guest."

Flanked by orange and blue, I passed through the pillars of rock, darting from one to the other just in case I needed the cover. From what, I tried not to think about. I had the urge to grab the pistol out of the holster on my thigh. The path had to be here somewhere...

"Does it really matter if we get through anyway?" asked Church.

True, but making it easier on ourselves wouldn't be a bad thing.

"I suppose not. Heh, you're doing this part like we're trained to, taking cover and all."

That's because I've played enough Halo to know taking cover is a good idea. Geez, I wish Master Chief was with us.

"You and me both. But pay attention to what you're doing, Star." Church's warning came just in time. My left boot slid forward into a deep depression in the floor. "Careful! What did I just tell you? There's two of us in here now!"

I grabbed a stalagmite and caught myself before I could fall. The ODST armor weight made my arm snap straight as I sagged, gravity winning against human muscle. However, a large hand grabbed my shoulder, pulled me upright and held on until I found balance.

"Falling is a bad thing, Starry." Caboose said as he made sure I was okay. "If you break your head, you won't know how to get us out of here."

"Yes, thank you. I know." I rolled my shoulder and winced. Yet another body part that was going to be angry with me later. I pointed ahead, scooting back from the depression's edge. "I found the way through. All we have to do is take this to the other side."

"Great!" Caboose made some hand gestures that must have meant 'come on over here guys!'

"Something like that. Let the scouts—"

An ear-splitting wail abruptly cut Church's words off and immediately my heart rate went into overtime. As the wail repeated I frantically looked for its source. Where was it coming from? I couldn't tell; it bounced off the cave walls and came at us from a dozen directions at once. A high-pitched shrieking followed the horrible sound now. Vaguely I heard Sarge say something about getting to cover, but I couldn't respond. I couldn't even move. Where was it coming from? Was it headed for us? Were we-

"Christine, MOVE IT!" cried Church, giving me a mental jolt.

Beside me, Caboose made an impatient noise as his arm went around my waist and lifted me off the ground. "Sorry Starry!"

"Hey- what the…!" Suddenly I was looking at the ground from several feet higher up than I should be, draped over his shoulder.

"You'll be safer here." Caboose deposited me next to Donut and Doc. He and Grif took up position next to Sarge.

"Red-Two! Sit rep!" Barked Sarge, "Where the hell is that coming from?"

"Dunno yet, Sir. Might be coming from down the path; the acoustics in here make it hard to tell."

"Blue-Two?"

"No contact on my radar yet." said Tucker.

The terrified shrieks were now followed by hurried footsteps beating on stone.

"I got contact! Two incoming!" called Grif.

"I have it too!" said Caboose.

Moments later two red dots appeared in the radar display of my HUD, Doc and Donut moved in front of me with weapons ready. My hand slid toward the pistol and rested on its strangely comforting presence.

"Easy," said Church. "Whatever it is they'll take care of it."

Whatever was out there had to be as scared as I was. From my vantage point I could see down into the pathway. The footsteps were closer now, and… the sliding of something heavy across the smooth floor. Oh God. Not that thing again!

"Get ready men, here it comes!" shouted Sarge.

A dim shape, made visible by the fancy technology in my helmet, popped into view. It was short, with thick flailing forearms and a breathing mask muffling its sharp cries…. Wait, a Grunt?

"The hell? That's not what it was" Church started, feeling just as confused as I was. The Grunt clambered up out of the path, still screaming, until it came to a halt in front of us. Its already wide, frightened eyes doubled in size as it took in our group.

It made a squeaky yip and said a word that sounded like "Demons!" before it spun around to run away.

A rat-monster suddenly lunged out of the dark.

I screamed.

Church screamed with me, and added a loud, "Holy SHIT!"

Everyone else agreed with variations of astonished profanity that were just as loud.

The Grunt didn't live for three more steps. The cave creature snapped at it, cleanly removing the Grunt's upper body in one bite. Fluorescent blue blood sprayed across the ground in an arc. The rest of the body fell with a sickening thump, giving us a lovely view of what the inside of a Grunt's body looked like. The rat-monster's matted fur became dyed blue and there was enough light from our helmet mounted flashlights for us to watch it start to eat.

"Uh, Sir?" Simmons sounded like he'd probably shit his pants.

"Permission to puke and pass out?" asked Grif. He wavered a bit.

"Permission to second that request?" Tucker asked, sounding just as queasy.

"Me too!" Donut cried.

"Me five and a half!" Caboose added.

"Ugh…" Sarge shook his head slowly. "Permission denied... but only because there's enough ugly crap to look at here. At least we know there's Covenant in here now."

"Ya think?" Church's voice came through the radio. "What gave you that idea?"

"Ah shuddup."

"What should we do about… you know…" Tucker waved his rifle at the feasting creature, who was now munching away on the Grunt's back end, having discovered the tiny soldier's methane tank was inedible. This time I didn't complain when Church directed my eyes away from the carnage. I would have chimed in about getting permission to puke, but I was… trying not to puke. Doc rubbed my back, for all the good it did. My legs wobbled. I didn't feel so good.

"Put your head between your knees." He advised me. "Think of happy things, like, uh, kittens."

"I need a bigger kitten!" cried Caboose.

"All the kittens in the world couldn't help me un-see that." Church said, sighing.

"Sir? The… uh, monster thing?" Simmons pointed out.

"We wait until it leaves." said Sarge. He didn't sound so good either. "We're low on ammo and we don't want any Covenant bastards to know we're down here. It hasn't seen us, I think, and if we're lucky maybe it'll eat more of them. Out of our sight."

Agreed. Times a million. But now we had to wait until the rat-thing was gone before we went any further. Luckily my stomach seemed to have decided that throwing up while I was wearing a helmet was a bad idea. I slid into sitting position between Doc and Donut. Doc took the opportunity to check on Donut's injuries while I tried not to watch, I'd seen enough disgusting things today. It'll be a wonder if I manage to sleep at night ever again.

"Sure you will," said Church.

Uh huh... I tried routing my mind into thinking about more pleasant things, but it was simply too tired. Now that we weren't moving, all I wanted to do was sleep. The orange and white hamster living in my mind's cage tripped in its running wheel and fell into its bed of wood shavings. Driven by the urge to run while utterly exhausted, the hamster ran around the perimeter of its cage, around and around and around and…

"Whoa, it's making me dizzy." Church's light blue helmet tilted from side to side as he watched my hamster run for no reason. He turned away from the cage and went to a door he hadn't opened yet. "Maybe I can find something to occupy your mind—"

I recognized the door too late. Wait—

He opened it. He found himself next to a round table that was taller than him by at least ten feet. Sitting at the table, playing cards, were a group of Transformers who were my invisible best friends. Blitzwing and Swindle from the Animated Universe were there, along with Beast Wars Megatron, Generation 1 Megatron and Optimus Prime. Quite a crowd there. I'd warned them about playing against Swindle, though. He never plays fair. But then, most of the Decepticons never do.

Church staggered backward, trying to take in the scene. Dozens of other Transformers sat at a nearby bar. Cheery piano music floated through the room. "What the fuck is this?"

"Hey! Come to play with us?" asked Swindle, eager for more players to… er, swindle.

Blitzwing's Icy face changed places with his Random face and he laughed hysterically. "Don't be silly! How vould he lift ze cards?"

"Nonsense." said Optimus Prime. "Playing cards is the right of all sentient beings, no matter how great or small."

"Oh give it a rest, Prime." grumbled G1 Megatron, taking a swig of energon from his cube.

Church slammed the door shut and leaned against it, panting. He'd just seen the inside of my Transformers Closet, where everything (and everyone) related to Transformers was kept. I'd been a fan of them since I was twelve years old. I probably had about a hundred characters in there, among other things.

"Christ! Would you LABEL these fucking doors?"

Why? I know what's in them.

"Humor me."

Resting my chin in my palm (which was kind of hard to do because of the helmet and gauntlet) I mentally labeled most of the doors in the room Church was in. I couldn't label them all because even I didn't know what some of them led to. He went to a door next to my endless library of memories. It was labeled "Music Room".

"There, this should be safe."

Luckily for him, it was. He entered a room containing a tape deck that sort of looked like G1 Soundwave, only cooler. Cassette tapes lined the walls, hanging by a nail through one of the holes in the cassette. The tapes used most often sat in a messy pile by the tape deck. Church riffled through them. He held one up that read "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid", written in black marker on a piece of tape.

"Hey, it's my theme song! Sweet!"

After some fiddling, Church figured out how my tape deck worked. I was too tired to protest. The tape started playing the song it contained. The quality varied, going from garbled to clear, depending on what parts of the song I remembered best. I'd made a CD of music for the guys once when I decided everyone needed a theme song. Church sang along with his slightly off key.

"With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit 'em right between the eyes, hit 'em right between the eyes! When you walk away there's nothing more to say, see the lightning in your eyes, see them running for their lives! Heh heh!"

I always thought this song matched Church after he found out he was an AI. Even if he couldn't hit someone between the eyes if he was standing in front of them.

"Oh hey, shut up. I'm better than I was, but I STILL say someone fucks with my rifle when I'm not looking."

Of course. Silly me. Back in the main room, my hamster slowed down in its frantic run to nowhere and started to burrow into the wood shavings for a good sleep. Church must have known without having to look back at the hamster cage.

"Star, I need you to stay awake right now. The rat-thing from hell isn't gone yet, but this isn't the time to sleep." He left the Music Room when his song ended. "Are you with me, Star? Come on, are you?"

I yawned loud enough for Doc and Donut to turn and look at me. I shifted position and found that one of my feet had fallen asleep. Well, that was one part down. The rest of my body was ready to follow suit. I had gotten to the point where I was going to break down and cry if I didn't get any sleep soon.

"I know you're tired, Star, but you've gotta stay awake until we get out of here, okay? Focus on me, if nothing else."

Wouldn't it be cool if he told me a story?

"Uh… Sure. Do you want me to do that?"

There probably wasn't enough time, but the Blood Gulch crew always had some sort of mischief going on. They always had stories to tell.

"Us? Mischief? Nah…"

So the time they put Andy the Bomb in my living room wasn't mischief. Right.

"He wanted to meet you. And itwas pretty funny that we left him on your couch…" Church laughed to himself, then sobered. "Damn it sucked when Tex found out." He rubbed the back of his helmet and jerked, as if wincing.

And all those times you've messed with Master Chief wasn't mischief either?

"Yeeeahthat was fun. Til we learned he doesn't just get even." He winced again. "He gets ahead. Tell you what Star, the next time we get a brilliant idea like stealing the Mjolnir armor plating for protecting his ass, talk us out of it. Please."

Church's voice faded in and out now. What did he say about peaches? My hamster had curled up, nice and warm, ready to sle…eep…


To be Continued…