BIG Z: Now this is going to be a good plot driving chapter that'll set the stage for the big plot of this story. With a little surprise thrown in.
Grif: Well it's about time, you haven't really given us reason to even hope for a plot.
Liz: Seriously, what's the deal with that?
BIG Z: Well the problem has been that I've really been debating on what the plot will be. I actually hadn't planned a long plot at the start of the story. It was only in Chapter 10 that I decided on my plot, and this chapter should give you a good idea of what it will be. Also, please review and tell me what you think.
Chapter 12
Agriculture Satellite Plentiful, in orbit around Pluvia Silva Colony
6/9/2570
1530 Hours
Lieutenant June Athens
The sound of engines pulling up outside the door caught Lieutenant June Athens's attention immediately. But when she sat up her leg flared up in pain like it did the last time she sat up when Tucker and hobbled in helping Lea who had been hit by shrapnel in the battle. Courtney had tasked Doc to take care of the two of them as she continued working on June's leg with a methodical professionalism. She'd shot her full of morphine to get rid of the pain, then cleaned the wound after injecting some bio-foam to stop the bleeding and encourage the blood to clot then she had put on a fresh bandage and then helped Doc with Lea's arm while Tucker tried to keep Caboose from helping him with his broken ankle.
"Hey Sarge," Donut greeted him, petting Shotgun as the large dog walked beside the two Reds.
"Donut, where've you been?" Sarge hollered, "We could have used your help."
"Aww…see they did miss us," Kate grinned to Donut.
"We missed your rifles, you not so much," Carmen replied.
"So…uh where's…ya know," Sarge whispered.
"Oh she's in the infirmary. She got shot in the leg, but Courtney and Doc say she's going to be just fine," Donut said, pointing the way into the infirmary.
"You idiots wait here, I'll…" Sarge trailed off seeing June hobble out of the door with a crutch to keep the weight off of her leg.
"Well, what happened?" she asked groggily, the morphine still keeping a tight hold of her mind.
"We kicked ass, that's what happened," another voice said.
Church and Tex walked into the room right behind Sarge and Donut. Both of them were covered in dirt and dust, and had a few nicks and scrapes on their armor plates. But they seemed to be alright.
"The enemy were Insurrectionists, not very well trained or very brave ones either. As soon as we started advancing they cut and ran, abandoning a lot of their equipment. But we managed to capture those who weren't killed. Something to the way of forty prisoners in all. We also captured eight jeeps and three tanks. But the biggest prize was their ship," Tex stated evenly.
"You captured their ship?!" June replied, startled and amazed at the revelation.
"It's no warship, just a bulk cargo ship. It has an FTL, a few crates of supplies and equipment, and a couple spare vehicles, but that's about it."
"Still, that's an enemy ship!" June said as she noticed that most of the Reds and Blues weren't present, "How many did we lose?"
"Just Lea and Tucker being wounded, for the Blues anyway."
"Red Team didn't lose a single one of our soldiers!" Sarge bellowed proudly.
"And the Zealots? Wait…never mind."
"Good…very good," June said, finally allowing herself to collapse on a couch and breathe a sigh of relief, "One of you got on the horn to the nearest UNSC ship, tell them what happened and ask for assistance. The rest of you lock up the prisoners and sweep the entire satellite. I don't want any stragglers to get away."
"But if they do, good ole Shotgun will give 'em what for, hehe," Sarge chuckled.
"I'll take care of the call to Command, where's a communications station?" Tex offered, still in the zone from the recent combat.
"It's right over…yeah I have no idea," Doc said.
"Great…" Tex groaned as she walked towards the door to the hanger where a Pelican would have to serve as their means of communication.
"I can help with that," a familiar voice called out over the speakers above their heads.
"Vivian," June perked up, "Can we alert Command from in here?"
"Already done, the destroyer UNSC Ranger is on route with a company of Marines on board with several Pelicans coming up from the surface with Ordinance Disposal Teams for a complete sweep."
June sighed another breath of fresh relief at that, at least some things were working around here, "Thank you Vivian, the rest of you…" June looked out at the motely group before her. From the annoying Blues, to the incompetent Reds, to the deadly Freelancers, and to the mysterious Zealots, she had finally gained some measure of respect for this rather unorthodox unit, "Thank you, you all really surprised me with what you've done today. For that, you have my respect."
The Reds all stood taller with pride as the Blues just acknowledged her statement to them with a few nods that she returned kindly. It had been nearly too much stupidity in one unit a few hours ago but now it was a whole different animal, she now saw the unit that had ventured into an Insurrectionist held planet and had gotten their mission done without a second guess. Even with the odds stacked against them they did it. Just like they'd done here.
"Okay, I think that's enough socializing Lieutenant," Courtney piped up, "Come on, I still need to keep an eye on your leg. The rest of you, unless you're hurt or injured, scram."
The two Reds proudly saluted June who returned it and left. The two Blues on the other hand didn't, Tex just nodded, which was about all the acknowledgement she gave anyone, while Church just flashed a quick two finger salute as he left.
Maine and the Zealots
Holding Area
In an empty store room the forty prisoners were being watched over by Agent Maine and the twenty Zealots who just stood up on raised platforms that crisscrossed the storeroom and allowed them to be completely impervious to any attacks from the deflated and depressed bunch of prisoners they had just taken. But Maine, being Maine, didn't settle for that. He had been standing at the door to the storeroom, arms crossed over his chest, scanning the room for any officers of leaders among the crowd that sat waiting for a UNSC ship to come and take them away.
Soon, he found one, his collar had a single silver bar that must have meant he was a Lieutenant. Not the highest ranking officer he'd found, but he was, unlike the other officers that Maine and the Zealots had found aboard their ship, alive. Maine had a pair of Reds standing next to him, Battle Rifles held over their chests, awaiting orders. Maine tapped them slightly and growled as he pointed at the rebel officer.
"Yes sir," the Reds chirped as they walked into the mass of sitting Insurrectionists and yanked the officer up by his armpits and started dragging him towards Maine who was already walking out towards a room that he had picked out for an interrogation room. Maine waited outside the room, unseen by the young man until he was thrown onto the chair inside. There was only a table and two chairs on opposite sides of the table and a single light that had been pointed down at the table to give the room a classic, interrogation feel.
"Hey, what are you…" the man yelled as he was shoved down forcefully into the chair. But the Zealots didn't answer.
In that moment, the door opened carefully, and quietly, revealing the menacing silhouette of Agent Maine. The titan of a man stepped forward, every step of his boots rang out off of the tile. The man sat there, watching him. His hands started to shake, but he tried to stay even and unyielding. But he jumped in surprise when a single bloody knife was stabbed into the table right in front of him. Maine saw the reaction this had and sat down carefully, hearing the steel chair creak audibly.
"I won't tell you anything," the man said. But Maine slowly took out his Brute shot and set it gently on the table, and took out a large stone, and with steady smooth strokes he began to run it along the blade. He stared at the man through his gold visor and just kept up his smooth rhythm.
"Listen I don't know what you're thinking but I don't know anything."
But it seemed as if Maine just ignored him. The rock continued to run along the large sharp blade. The golden visor reflected the man's reflection, and he started to fiddle with his hands as his eyes watched the rock glide along the smooth blade effortlessly.
"Okay, it was supposed to be a smash and grab, an easy one to take some equipment from a small unit. That's what our contact said."
The rock continued its unending movement as Maine leaned forward slightly, but kept staring at him. The man stared at the Zealots behind Maine as they stared back at him, with equally unyielding faces of gold.
"What do you want from me?!"
With that outburst Maine gently set the rock down, and stood up, weapon in hand and started to walk towards him dragging the blade along the surface of the table. The low scratching noise pierced the air as it left the table and then fell on top of the man's leg as Maine started to circle him. When he was directly behind him he took the blade and ran it along the back of his neck. The man shivered in fear from the ominous contact of the cold steel. The man looked at the bloody knife still embedded in the steel table and began shaking, the fear emanating in his voice.
"Okay, I'll tell you what I know, but you have to promise me protection."
Maine took the blade off of his neck and then nodded to the man to continue.
"All I know is that he's a businessman on Pluvia Silva, he's been providing us with info on shipments of military gear which he buys from us after we steal it. I don't know his name, the Captain knew but you sort of cut him in half. That's all I know, I swear," the man said when he hesitated after speaking the sensitive information.
Maine listened to this, and without saying a word nodded to the Zealots, which was their signal to take the guy back to where the other prisoners were stowed away. With that very enlightening, but disappointing, interrogation Maine now had some information. Information he knew would come in handy in tracking down who had set them up for an attack.
So he got on the radio, and called Agent Washington, who was actually aboard the Insurrectionist ship, scanning its data banks for anything useful.
"What is it Maine?" Washington grumbled into the radio, Maine responded with a low series of grunts and growls that immediately caught Wash's attention, "Really? And he just told you that without torture?" Maine replied curtly with that, "Yes I know you can be very persuasive sometimes but it's very likely he lied to you to avoid pain and mutilation."
"What's going on?" the voice of Jenny came over the channel.
"Maine said he got some interesting information out of one of the enemy soldiers."
"He did huh?" another voice called out, this time it was the Lieutenant.
"Yeah, he said that these guys were set up to do this by someone on the surface of the planet, a businessman he said," Washington definitively replied, "This looks like something we need to investigate."
"Well it'll have to wait, we're going to have to repair what was done to the station first."
Blue Team
Bridge of Cargo Ship Manifest
"Hey Wash," Jenny asked as they scanned the ship for any additional life signs.
"Got anything?" Washington looked over.
"No I've got a question, how much is this ship worth you think?" she asked looking around the the inside of the vessel.
"Oh I'd say about two or three billion dollars, give or take. Why?"
"Really?" she cooed excitedly.
"What are you getting at?" Washington finally asked.
"I was reading in our rules and I came across something very intriguing about a certain regulation dealing with the spoils of war. It turns out whenever a ship Is captured we get a cut supplemented to our pay."
"Really?!" Washington asked, very surprised.
"Yep, turns out that we as PFC's and NCO's get our share of an eighth of the vessel's value. And I just did the math, seeing as we are the NCO's and PFC's, and if the ship is worth two point five billion dollars our shares come out at roughly…" she trailed off, wanting to build the suspense on Washington.
"Well?" Wash said impatiently, wanting to know exactly what the value was supposed to be.
"It's called suspense Wash," she teased, getting a neutral annoyed expression instead of the angered one she was wanting to exploit, "Fine, poor sport. The value would be something in the range of six million nine hundred forty four thousand five hundred dollars."
"Seriously?! That's a Hell of a lot of money!" Wash cried.
"And that's not even counting the officer's share. Which seeing as we only have one officer, she gets all three hundred twelve millions of it," Jenny said.
Washington's jaw practically dropped to the floor, "Are you kidding me?!"
"Not at all," she said, "But with that amount of money she'd be a fool to stay here and risk her neck anymore. She could retire and along with any kids she had."
"Yeah…" Washington replied, trailing off.
"Something wrong?" Jenny asked, looking at him with concerned eyes.
"What if she does retire? What…what about the others? I was really starting to like it here. I know it might sound absurd but I actually don't want this to end."
"Yeah, that's right, you and I both know that there are many among us would take this opportunity to bolt and live a life of luxury," Jenny said, worry etching her face, "So what do we do?"
"Do? We can't do anything Jenny; that is money they are all legally entitled to by the Universal Code of Military Justice. We have no way to block them from it, we have no way to make sure it doesn't get to them."
"Unless we destroy the ship."
"No…no way. This ship has the intelligence that points the way to whoever wanted us dead for our equipment, and I will not give that up, also six million dollars is something I really want in my bank account."
"Yeah, but working overtime must have gotten you some serious money anyway," Jenny said nonchalantly.
"Actually Freelancers don't get overtime pay."
"Really?"
"Yeah…wait…did you get overtime?" Washington asked, not believing what he was hearing.
"Oh Hell yeah, we even got maternity leave with pay."
"How do you know that?" Washington asked.
"Because I tricked Command into thinking I got pregnant by photo shopping a picture of a pregnancy test, I got four months of leave until Sergey blackmailed me into coming clean," Jenny said.
"Why'd he do that?" Washington wondered.
"I told Command he was the father."
"So…did you and him…ever…"
"What?! Hell no! He was more frightened of his own team than he was of Hawaii and Monty," Jenny laughed.
"The whole castration threat coupled with killing the last guy who hit on you girls?"
"Yep."
"Okay, looks clear," Washington said, chuckling at the thought of Sergey, once a hard charging Marine, cowering in fear from the threat of getting his manhood cut off by temperamental ladies who were also pathetic soldiers, and one of which was his own girlfriend.
Main Hanger
The UNSC Ranger docked quickly and securely to the station with most of the Reds, Blues, and Freelancers waiting for them. The Red Zealots had made certain that the prisoners were ready to be offloaded, and were guarding them in the back of the hanger, weapons ready to fire in the event of any trouble.
The massive airlock slid open, and in rushed about fifty UNSC Marines. They all fanned out, but soon relaxed as they saw that the situation was fairly well in hand. Behind them came another man with his hands clasped behind his back and head held high. He walked up to Lieutenant Athens, who was leaning on a pair of crutches due to her wound, and saluted.
"Permission to come aboard Lieutenant," the old man asked, a grin on his face.
"Permission granted sir," she replied, saluting the man back.
"Commander Caldwell, skipper of the Ranger, I must say you did a fine job Lieutenant Athens."
"Thank you sir," she grinned, shaking his offered hand as more Marines flooded into the satellite.
"I'm also pleased to say that you and your unit are relieved. My Marines will have your farm nice and secure within an hour, and OD teams will have swept it within two. I guess congratulations are in order, normally Innies never allow themselves to be captured alive, but you've done and taken forty of them, and seized not only…" he looked at a tablet with a detailed report on it, "a dozen vehicles, several hundred weapons, but you also took their ship!"
"Commander sir, how did you know that?" June asked.
"You're A.I. Vivian, gave me a fairly well documented report in your stead due to your wounds, oh by the way, I was in the officer's club aboard the local command satellite, word is you're in line for a promotion because of this little action, but you didn't hear that from me," the older man whispered.
"Re…really? A promotion?" June stammered.
"That's what I heard Admiral Swan say herself. She's head of all UNSC forces in the area. Still there's a lot that needs to be done, ONI wants to debrief you and your troops when the area is deemed secure," the man said.
"Commander sir," a Marine officer walked up saluting Commander Caldwell, "All units report no enemy presence left on the station. And OD teams have given us the all clear, just waiting to transfer these prisoners to the Ranger and we'll be out of these Spartans' hair."
"Oh these guys are no Spartans," June said, looking back at her unit.
"Very well, Lieutenant, it seems I'll be out your hair slightly early. I'm told that the damage was light and should be repaired by the satellite's caretaker robots…oh that was also on the report from you're A.I."
"Thank you sir, thanks for stopping by," June said saluting the officer as he watched the row of prisoners be sent under guard to the Ranger along with a few platforms carrying white body bags holding the Innies who had been killed in the battle.
"By the way Lieutenant, are you familiar with the regulations regarding spoils of war?" June shook her head, "Well, it seems that according to the rules you and your troops will be getting a cut of the profit of selling off that ship you captured."
"A cut sir?"
"It's an old rule, more for show than actual application, it stipulates that regulars get their share of an eighth of any profit generated from the sale of a captured vessel, and officers get their share of an eighth of the profit. So you should be seeing a check on your doorstep pretty soon," he said, walking away.
"That's a lot of money," June breathed.
The door hissed shut behind the man as the Ranger left, and the Reds and Blues all began buzzing behind her. She hobbled on her crutches to face them, only to discover that they were already in front of her. They all had their helmets off, with great big grins on their faces.
"So what was that amount money?" Liz asked immediately.
"It's an old rule from the days of sail, if an enemy ship is captured and sold the crew responsible get a cut of the money, the crew itself gets their share of an eighth, and the officers get their share of an eighth. It really hasn't been used in several years on a large scale ship, but with this one…" June trailed off making her point clear.
"Whoohoo!" Grif whooped, "we're gonna be fucking rich!"
"How much can we expect to get?" Church asked hurriedly.
Everyone looked at Simmons and Lisa to figure out the figures, but before they said anything Jenny stepped forward.
"Something close to six and a half million dollars, that means about three hundred twelve million for you Lieutenant," Jenny said with an air of sadness in her voice, "that's if the ship is worth two point five billion."
June seemed to be stunned with that, "that much?"
Jenny nodded, but managed to choke out, "yeah."
Lea put her hand on the sad girl's shoulder, "What's up with you? Don't you want the money?"
"I do, I do…it's just…now you're all going to leave, and I was actually looking forward to staying here. I mean I've really gotten to see this place as home, and you guys as family, and now…"
Everyone began to really sober up to that revelation, it was true for many of them, they had come to see this satellite as the home of promise that had been the reward of all the years of risking their lives for nothing. And those friends who had been fighting beside them for that time had become more than friends, in some cases more than family. Sarge stepped forward when the silence had been hanging for a while longer.
"I've still got years left in this army, I'm not going anywhere yet."
"Ah Hell, I like it here, I'll admit it," Church admitted, "and you dipshits aren't as bad as you used to be."
"I think it's safe to say that the money changes nothing, we're inseparable Jenny, get used to it," Lisa said, smiling.
"And I didn't spend four years busting my ass in an academy to retire after three weeks of service, I'm staying," June said, "Which reminds me, I'm going to be crippled for a few weeks because of this," she pointed at her bandaged leg, "So I'm going to be at an office chair, which means I'm going to want a full report on exactly what you found out Agent Maine, and Agent Washington, take Vivian to the ship and download its databanks and start going through it."
"Um…Lieutenant, there's one more thing that I think you need to know before that happens. Oh Lea, Tucker you have to be there when I say it, it's a legal thing," Courtney said after June had issued her orders.
"Tell me what?"
"I don't really want to say that here."
"Fine, let's go to inside," June said as she started hobbling her way over, "The rest of you…do whatever it is you do."
"Yes ma'am!" the Zealots called out, and immediately aimed their weapons at each other.
"Not here! And not with live ammo!" Four-Seven screamed in panic, concerned the Zealots would destroy one of her precious dropships.
"Killjoy."
"Come on team, I had the perfect idea about what to do with those jeeps we captured," Sarge said out loud.
"Awesome sir!" Simmons kiss-assed.
"Kiss-ass," Liz groaned.
"Yeah I'm gonna take a nap," Grif agreed.
"Stop whining or I'll shove you two out an airlock," Carmen grumbled.
"Hey Carmen you ever tried my Hawaiian slow roasted pork?" Hawaii asked.
"Oh it's worth trying Carmen, trust me, he can throw a great Luau," Alaska grinned.
"Oh a Luau? Can I dress up and do a dance?" Kate asked.
"Oh we can go to that beach spot!" Donut said, "I'll take the decorations, Hawaii you're on food, Kate, you're on traditional Hawaiian Luau outfits."
The Reds disappeared into the entrance to where they had parked their vehicles and then the Blues started to leave.
"That actually sounds like a good idea," Tex said.
"Yeah it does," Jenny agreed.
"Oh I want to dance like a hula girl!" Caboose said, "Oh Captain Thin Crust Can you let me and my Rachel dance with you?!" he yelled running ahead of the Blues, with a blushing red Rachel right behind him, trying to clamp a hand over him before he ended up making her do something she would loathe.
"Now that I've gotta see," Lea grinned and started walking away but was grabbed by Doc.
"Okay, I was wanting to tell you this later, but seeing as you're both here, follow me," Courtney said, leading them into the living area where she offered them all seats.
"What's this about Doc? I'm missing Rachel trying to strangle Caboose," Tucker groaned leaning back in the couch.
"Tucker, when was the last time you and Lea…you know…" Courtney asked, trying very hard to keep from saying what she was aiming at.
"Whoa now! My love life is none of your business!" Lea stammered.
"Well…the product of your love life is now our business and responsibility," Doc said tentatively.
"Product?" June asked, afraid of what was going to be said next.
"Lea, you're pregnant," Courtney said finally.
"What?" the now stunned young woman blurted quietly.
"We found out when we scanned you at first when you came in with those shrapnel wounds. I saw it on my scanner, but a secondary scan by Courtney confirmed it once things became calm again. That's why we were so careful to give you a blood transfusion. Because that stress might kill the child," Doc said.
"I'm pregnant…" Lea mumbled to herself, her eyes locked on a spot on the wall trying to wrap her head around the fact.
Tucker was completely silent, he was threatening to burst over into outright tears, and when a single teardrop rolled out Lea noticed immediately.
"Tucker…you okay?" but she got no response, "I know this wasn't what we wanted at all, but…"
But Tucker looked at her and smiled, stunning her completely, "It's fine, I knew that we would eventually have a kid. It just happened a little early," he responded.
"But…I thought we wanted were going to get married before we decided to have kids?"
"Well…I guess that we're going to get married soon. Because I do not want to have a crying baby at our wedding," Tucker said definitively.
"So you're going to keep your child?" Courtney said, "Lieutenant you see why I asked you to be here?"
"Uh Courtney," Doc said, waving his hand over her face. She was passed out on the armchair a few feet away, apparently another pregnancy was too much.
"Not again."
Church: What the fuck?
Sarge: Another Blue?! Z, how could you? You call yourself a Red Team fan? I'm ashamed.
BIG Z: Guys chill, it's just the start of the subplot I came up with as soon as I go to the part where the UNSC troops left.
Lea: You weren't planning on having me get knocked up until then? What the fuck dude?!
BIG Z: If it's any consolation the subplot points to the theme of what comes after this story. Love Red vs. Blue Style III.
Lea: Still doesn't make me feel any better about having to go through labor.
Tucker: It's okay I'll walk you through it.
Lea: Oh yeah, Junior. Which reminds me, will he make a good big brother you think, or will he just eat the baby?
Next Chapter Preview: What the Hell, a new Blue? Even more surprising, a real plot?! What is going on here? Let's talk it over with a nice Hawaii Luau and Donut choreographed dance.
