HERMES, OLYMPUS SYSTEM
AGAPE
MARCH 26 2552
0120 HOURS
Perseus Station
Michelle aimed her rifle downrange as she cleared the tram platform with Sanders and Lieutenant Roque.
"Clear, right!" Sanders shouted.
"Clear, left!" she returned as Miguel moved to the edge of the platform and checked the tunnel.
"All clear!" came his voice over the squad comm.
Michelle relaxed a little and turned around to see her sister coming down onto the platform with a soldier in a fireman's carry.
"Who the hell is he?" Michelle said, surprised by the addition that her sister had literally picked up.
"Does it matter? He's hit, help me with him!" she said back as she began to place the man on the ground.
"Lieutenant, Sanders, Rachel and I need you back here!" Michelle called over the comm.
"Help me get his armor off sis." Rachel said, now completely focused. Michelle pulled her combat knife out of its sheath on her boot and cut through the straps that secured the ballistic armor to the troopers body. Once she pulled that off the man Rachel cut through the secondary Kevlar vest that covered the mans chest.
"Hey, hey, you with us, trooper?" She said in a compassionate voice to the man lying before her.
"Yeah, I'm awake, I'm here." he said through heavy breaths.
"I'm Corporal Rachel Douglas, what about you?" she said, trying to keep the man calm.
"Private Jean-Paul Delacroix." he said looking to her face.
"Jean-Paul, that's an awesome name." Michelle said as she grabbed the sides of the vest. "Look, I need to get this vest off of you but its going to hurt, a lot."
"Why's that?"
"The plasma shot has melted some of the Kevlar and your uniform onto your skin."
"What?!"
"What I want you to do is focus on me and tell me about yourself or your family. Okay?"
"Okay." Jean-Paul said as he prepared himself mentally.
"Alright, one…two…three!" Rachel ripped the vest off Private Delacroix while Michelle moved to hold down the screaming trooper. Rachel tossed the vest to the side and Michelle could see the gore on the fiber armor, it had obviously taken at least three layers of skin with it when her sister removed it.
"Hey, hey, Jean focus on me tell me about your family." Rachel said bringing Delacroix back to them.
"I, uh, have a sister, her name's Chloe." His breathing was more stressed now, he kept trying to look down at his chest but Michelle kept his head facing her sisters face.
"Tell me about her." Rachel urged him as she reached into her trauma kit and pulled out the biofoam canister and poured some onto her hand.
"She's in the Army too, she joined up when I was 14." he began to reminisce, "I haven't heard from her for a while though."
"You'll see her again."
"I trust you."
"Okay this is going to hurt as well just try to bear with me. Okay?"
"Okay."
Rachel began to rub the biofoam on the man's chest, he then shouted several obscenities at the top of his lungs before simply passing out. Rachel continued to work on the man's chest and was beginning to apply the bandages when she was interrupted by her sister's voice.
"Rachel, his pulse is dropping."
"That's normal" she said back, "as the adrenaline subsides his heart rate will come down."
"No, I mean I can't feel a pulse at all!" Michelle pressed.
"What?!" Rachel said as she reached to the man's throat and placed to fingers underneath his jaw line to the left, and just as her sister said there was no discernable pulse.
"Michelle begin CPR!" she said as she pulled an adrenaline syringe out of her trauma kit.
Stop
"What's going on!"
"He's going into Cardiac Arrest!"
"Why?!"
Stop
"I don't know why, just help me!"
"Alright I gonna inject him! Out of the way!"
"Corporal, calm down!"
"No! This doesn't happen! Not to me!"
I said STOP!
CYRUS VII
HIGHCOM FACILITY DELTA-3, ARIA
JUNE 22 2552 (present day)
0935 HOURS
The video playback halted and the program ended, allowing Michelle to direct her fierce glare at the therapist that sat in his chair across from her.
"Major Andrews, why do you insist on having me experience that night again?" She said, trying to keep herself contained.
"I told you Lieutenant Douglas, during these sessions you may ignore the formalities, you disregard my rank and express yourself fully. Don't hold back your emotions." Major Andrews said to her; testing her.
"Alright then, dickless. Why do we have to watch this shit?" Michelle spat. "I was there I remember it, you and every higher up who gives a shit have read the file. What is the point?"
"The point, lieutenant, is to gather data to submit an effective psychological evaluation to determine how that night has affected you and whether or not you are fit for duty."
"I'll tell you this, Major, I'm fit for duty because I'm still alive; I'm fit for duty because I'm one of the best snipers in the whole damn UNSC; and I'm fit for duty because I refuse to rest until I've sent every last one of those alien freaks straight to hell."
"Well, I can't say your not dedicated." said Major Andrews, whom was serenely unaffected by Michelle's anger. Being a military psychiatrist he has had soldiers yell at him, cry in front of him, and even seen some that felt nothing at all after all they've been through. "I guess we can end our session here, and I'll allow you to continue serving active duty for now."
"Good, I'll see you later, doc." Michelle quickly left the Majors office and hurried down the hall to the building's lobby where a female receptionist sat behind a desk. The insignia on her uniform marked her rank as a Specialist.
"Hey, E-4, I'm finished with my session." She said as she approached. "I'll be needing my time stamped verification card."
"Service ID?" the specialist said with out looking up.
"06423-57901-MD."
"Here you are, Lieutenant, and may you never have to walk through those doors and into this place again." She said with a false cheeriness in her voice, followed by a toothy smile accompanied by a head tilt and wide unblinking eyes. Michelle warily took the verification card from the specialist and hurried out the door, thoroughly creeped out.
Michelle looked down at her watch, 09:50, she still had two hours before she had to meet up with Captain Sepulveda for reassignment. Michelle stood on the sidewalk outside the psych hospital and thought about her options; she could simply head back to her quarters and take a nap, she could go to the firing range and keep her skills sharp, or she could go to the gym on base and see just how much stronger her augmentations have made her.
She finally decided against the nap but would take up the other two choices in order to get something productive done. Michelle turned toward the north end of the base and started walking.
PLANETARY ORBIT, CYRUS VII
UNSC ARMY CRUISER: NAZARETH
JUNE 22 2552
1000 HOURS
Cryo Bay
Sergeant Alexander Grayson opened his eyes as the door of his cryo pod opened up, he immediately felt his stomach heave; making him double over and fall out of the pod onto his hands and knees. Grayson vomited onto the floor and saw the anti-freeze fluid that he had swallowed prior to entering his pod get sucked down a drain made for the expressed purposed of catching that fluid.
As Grayson stood up he could see other soldiers and crew members stumbling out of their pods and gathering themselves. Grayson opened his locker, that sat directly to the left of his pod, and retrieved his fatigues and got dressed. He exited the cryo bay and headed for the mess hall, he needed something in his stomach and also wanted to get the horrible taste of the anti-freeze out of his mouth.
"Hey Alex, wait up!" a voice called from behind. Grayson turned around to see Kahn jogging over to meet up with him.
"Hey man, I didn't really get to talk to you after the mission back on Seraphim VII." Kahn said to his squad mate. "Are you okay man? I mean you were closer to Mike than the rest of us."
"I'll be fine, Ezra." Alex said back.
"Well I'm gonna stick with you until you have convinced me of that."
"Are you sure its because you care or are you trying to put off Latrine duty for as long as possible."
Kahn gave Grayson a faux I can't believe you just said that look.
"I'm shocked that you would say such a thing!" He said in wonderfully bad accented voice. "To suggest that I, Sergeant Ezra Kahn of the UNSC Army SOCOM, would use the grieving state of my squad mate, and one of my closest friends, as an excuse to neglect my duties. Why that's just plain Boulder-dash!"
"Although, it's exactly what your doing."
"And its exactly what I am doing, yes." Said Kahn, finally dropping the joke accent. "But in all seriousness I do care, and so does the rest of the squad. So you can talk to us at any time man, we're here for you."
"Gotcha man, I'll try to stay optimistic." Grayson said before Kahn took off again.
Grayson made his way to the mess hall and received his plate of nutritional sludge. He sighed as he looked down at his plate, the sludge had a very strange consistency to it and was absolutely pale white, the soldiers around Grayson made all kinds of interesting faces as they tried to stomach the substance. Grayson took his spoon and scooped up a large amount of sludge and put it into his mouth. while the stuff tasted like processed shit, it was a T-bone steak compared to the taste of the anti-freeze
After finishing his "meal," Grayson made his way to his quarters and shut the door. once inside he dropped to the ground and did one hundred push-ups followed by an equal number of sit ups. He had always felt extremely stiff when coming out of cryo and the exercise helped him loosen up.
"Good morning, Sergeant Grayson." Gabrielle's voice said to him through the intercom speaker in the room.
"Yeah, good morning to you, too, Gabby." Grayson said as he stood up from the floor and wiped a small amount of sweat from his forehead. "What's up?"
"I wanted to let you know that we have just been cleared so troopers are now authorized to go to the planet's surface."
"Thanks, Gabby. Anything else?"
"Your squad mates are waiting for you in the hangar bay and are ready to head to the surface as soon as you get there."
"What's the local time at the base that we'll be landing at?" Grayson said as he packed a small bag with a few clothes and then grabbed his wallet and phone.
"10:45, Sergeant, the weather is rather cloudy and cool today as well so I suggest you bring a coat, you wouldn't want to catch a cold."
"Okay, mom." Grayson said mockingly.
"And make sure you brush your teeth and put on clean underwear everyday!" Gabrielle shouted back to him as he left the room.
Grayson entered the hangar bay and just as Gabrielle said there was the rest of the squad sitting there in front of a Pelican dropship each with their own bag of luggage.
"Hey there, big guy." Jacobs said as Grayson approached. "You ready to go groundside and let off some steam."
"Hell, I know I am!" Kahn said before Grayson could answer, this of course got him a glare from Jacobs.
"Well, I would prefer it if we all had a drink for Jones somewhere." Grayson said. Both Kahn and Jacobs fell silent at this and nodded their heads.
"I agree completely," Said Captain Anderson. "but it will have to wait. At least for a couple hours. When we get groundside you guys can do whatever you want just don't leave the base, we're going to be meeting with a few people a 12:00. Alright?"
"Yes, sir." they all said.
"Good, now lets go." Captain Anderson climbed into the Pelican and sat in the seat closest to the troop bay door on the left of the craft. The rest of the squad took seats in positions that they would normally prefer if they were going to jump into a hostile zone. Geez this is a little awkward, Anderson thought to himself as he saw the seating that his men chose.
The craft's rear door closed and the section of hangar that it sat in was isolated as it took off from the Nazareth.
"Good morning, gentleman," Came the cheery voice of a woman. "Thank you for flying UNSC Army Airways. I'm your pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Jessica Maddow, and I'll be taking you to the city of Aria where it is now 10:50. The weather is rather cold today so I hope that you brought coats. The emergency exit is located behind you and in the event that you need to use it, were all fucked anyway." She said, keeping her voice as cheerful as when she started.
"Well isn't she peachy." Kahn said slyly.
"Wake me when we land." Said Jacobs, "I'll be in my happy place if you need me."
CYRUS VII
HIGHCOM FACILITY DELTA-3, ARIA
JUNE 22 2552
1100 HOURS
Gym
Michelle's fists slammed into the punching bag over and over again, she punched and kicked the bag as it swayed around in several directions. She had been in the gym for half an hour venting her anger into the heavy bag in front of her, her hands had begun to bleed and it was starting to show through the gauze she had wrapped around her hands. Michelle just couldn't get the thought of the session out of her head and the more she tried the angrier she got. Michelle continued her onslaught on the poor defenseless bag until she had no more energy to do so; her arms and legs burned, the bag in front of her drooped and swayed from the abuse that it took, and she was drenched in sweat.
Michelle unwrapped the gauze on her hands and headed into the showers. She stood under the faucet and turned it on, the water flowed down her body and soothed her bleeding hands. She was alone in the showers with no one to bother her, Michelle put her back to the wall and let herself sank to the ground. Michelle placed her elbows on her knees and lowered her head, she had only about fifteen minutes before she had to meet up with Captain Sepulveda, but for now she just wanted to sit there under the flow of water and forget everything.
Hey everyone, it has been a very long time since I updated this fic but hopefully that won't be the case anymore so fingers crossed.
Also credit for the character Chloe Delacroix goes to casquis and his fic The Life, check it out.
Hooah,
-Alex Hawk
