Cobalt Army Chapter 21
Leonard stared at the series of security feeds on the screen before him. With access to the bridge came a better connection to the ship's systems. Alpha had easily gained control and nearly cornered the onboard security AI.
Leonard felt a slight tug on his back and he glanced over his shoulder at the engineer that was fixing up his shield generator. It had been almost completely overloaded in the last fight, but the scientist-like alien had been more than eager to volunteer to fix it. This wasn't the first time that Leonard had met the floating aliens. He actually liked them, and had even named the one working with him. He was calling it Todd, though it didn't seem to care what he called it as long as it got to fix things. Todd had already fixed Leonard's radio, the screen that Leonard was currently watching, and managed to fix a fuel rod enough for Leonard to be able to use.
Leonard turned his full attention back to the screens, and his current problem. Much of his team was currently doing sweeps through the ship for any enemies missed, or they were in the med-bay being fixed up. What he was watching were the feeds to the halls and rooms of the prophet. The honor guards had set up a defense around the prophet's personal quarters. Leonard was sure that the prophet was giving orders. He'd never seen brutes be so passive or not race toward a fight.
"Can you just vent the atmosphere in those halls?" Leonard felt a push toward him and then a high-pitched series of sounds from the engineer. "Thank you, Todd. How about you see what you can do with the navigation controls?" Todd floated over to the navigations controls, eager to fix more things.
Alpha appeared on one of the side screens. "That might be a bit of a risk. It could spread and end up killing the prophet."
"I still don't see why we need to catch this damn prophet rather than just kill it." Leonard leaned back in the large chair, feeling small even in his armor.
"You saw what happened on New Jerusalem. That has to stop. Catching a prophet might be able to force peace talks." Alpha paused for a moment. He opened his mouth as if to continue but shut it, thinking better of it.
"Why don't you just have Omega infect him or something, like they tried to do with Junior?" Leonard shifted and winced as pain shot through his chest.
Alpha crossed his arms. "A prophet does not wear armor or anything that I could use to control him. He is not as simple-minded as Junior was."
"I think that's a bit mean to say about Junior, he is a damn good search-and-destroy soldier." Leonard smiled a bit. He'd fought alongside Tucker's child. They'd been sent to destroy a large Covenant camp and, along with the team of elites, it had been easy. They just planted explosives all over and blew the Loyalists to hell.
"He is a good soldier, but a good soldier doesn't need to be smart." Alpha shook his head. "We are on our way to a human system; we can find back up and have them handle the prophet. We currently do not have the resources that are necessary for such an operation."
"By the gods, Alpha, stop talking like that." Leonard sat up and cursed as he grabbed his side. Alpha opened his mouth and Leonard held up his hand. "Save it, I don't need a babysitter." He rubbed his temple. "We can wait until we get to human space, and then get new supplies, and then try to take care of the prophet. How long until we get there, anyway?"
"We have another hour until we will reach the base." Alpha looked away from Leonard.
"What aren't you telling me? What base are we heading to?" Leonard stared at the AI, waiting for a reply.
Alpha's image took a deep breath and looked back to the Sergeant. "We're heading to KUKRI Base." Leonard sat up in the chair and Alpha put up his hands. "Now calm down, I know what you are thinking."
"Yeah, I'm sure you do. I just went through all that trouble to get them off my back about that stuff and now you are taking us there. Because, you know, that's a great fucking idea." Leonard smacked his palm to his face. "You're killing me here, Alpha."
"It's the closest system and he can help. There will be soldiers and equipment there that you will actually have access to. Listen, I know you are not exactly happy with this or being associated with all of this but you have to remember that we are injured, low on ammunition, and greatly outnumbered. Not to mention this course matches with the Cole Protocol."
Leonard ran a hand through his hair, trying to comb out a bit of the matted mess. "Well, I guess that if we are already on our way there's not much I can do about it. Can you lock the honor guards in that back hall? I don't want to have to worry about them changing tactics while we are traveling."
Alpha paused for a moment. "Done, they are locked back there for now. Might I request again that you make a trip to the medical bay? You need to have your wounds seen to." The AI let his worry show on his face.
Leonard tapped his fingers on the armrest of the chair. He stared at the AI then finally let out a long breath. He stood up and moved down the ramp from the captain's platform. He stopped for a moment and looked over at the working engineer. "You going to be all right here alone, Todd?"
The engineer looked away from its task and let out a series of high-pitched noises. It waved its tentacles toward the rest of the panels. Leonard paused for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess that means yes."
Leonard walked out of the bridge and through the halls. He'd been on Covenant ships before, but those had been Separatists. He'd even been on Loyalist ships in the past, but something seemed odd about this one. He couldn't even place his finger on what was so off about it. The walls looked like the walls of any other Covenant ship. The halls were filled with the soft purple light that only seemed to feel alien to him when it was on a Loyalist ship.
The medical bay was larger than would be expected. The elites had never been big on being patched up or healed, though it seemed most of the other Covenant species were willing to take the assistance. Leonard found Oran patching up Brandon. Alpha had put the Covenant machinery to work producing medication that could be used for humans. Oran was finishing up the skin graft and hormonal therapy on Brandon's legs.
Brandon spotted Leonard and tried to stand up, but Oran glared at him to keep him seated. The ODST saluted, flashing a somewhat excited smile as he spoke. "Sir, I'll be back to fully ready to fight in a matter of hours."
Leonard returned the salute. "Good to hear. We might need fighting soldiers soon if those honor guards get restless. Can you find the time to patch me up a little, Doc?" Leonard stopped and shook his head. "I mean Professor. Not Doc, definitely not Doc."
Brandon raised an eyebrow. "Why not Doc?"
"Because Doc is a pointless, useless, annoying baby." Grif sat up from where he'd been lying on the floor.
"Why were you lying on the floor?" Leonard frowned at him, watching the orange soldier stretch.
"Because I'm lazy, and the Professor is going to check me over for radiation effects." Grif grinned and leaned against the wall.
"Be careful when you check him out, Professor. Simmons might get jealous if you get too handy with his boyfriend." Leonard ignored the sounds of protest from the lazy soldier and looked around the bay. "Where're the soldiers that aren't on patrol?"
"Allison collected them and they headed to the ship's weapon locker to see what they could get. Best to have weapons in a fight and we're low on ammunition." Oran motioned to Brandon and he stood up off the table. The marine flexed his legs and nodded. "Thanks, professor."
"You all set to go?" Leonard asked. Brandon nodded. "Good, then get your ass to the armory and help Allison out with inventory. I want a complete list of every weapon we have on this ship and how much ammunition." Brandon saluted and marched out of the medical bay.
Leonard turned and walked over to Oran. "Can you patch me up a bit?"
"Depends on how much patching you need. Remove your armor." Oran motioned to the examination table, or at least what she was using as an examination table. Leonard was pretty sure it was just a table to the Loyalists. Leonard removed the scratched-up, dented, and burnt armor and lay down on the table. He flinched as the burnt part of his back touched the cold metal, sending a new wave of pain through him.
The Professor turned her attention to a data screen. She'd rigged it to her personal data pad, which she could then link up with the neural interfaces at the base of Leonard's skull. She furrowed her brow. "Was this body cloned?"
Leonard frowned as he thought. "I believe so. Though the Director said he had used a different form of cloning. He said it was more of like puzzle cloning. I don't really know."
"Most clone bodies that are full bodies don't survive long. They have a history of getting ill and dying. This body is in good shape, except for some old injuries and your current fresh ones." Oran sounded impressed.
"Well, the Director knows what he's doing. He made me after all." Leonard shrugged his shoulders and flinched as it scraped some of his burns against the table. "Can you just patch up my back? It's making things annoying."
"I can patch it up but without proper equipment I can't fully heal you or any of your team." Oran let out a frustrated sigh. "I really need better equipment. This stuff is junk."
"Well, you won't have to worry about that for long. We're on our way to a base which will have proper equipment. Once we're there we can also have a proper look at that thing. You find out anything about it?" Leonard felt her start to work on him. He felt a pang of pain in his back before it numbed completely.
"Not really." Oran busily worked on him as she spoke. "I'm a bit afraid to actually use any of the tools here to try to look at it. Alpha said the AI wasn't completely gone. If it finds out, it might try to send a signal to the Loyalists and we'd be back in trouble."
"Good; I don't want to risk having to deal with them until we have to." Leonard flinched slightly as pain shot through his leg and then eased and numbed. He sat in silence, listening to Grif snore in the corner while the professor worked on him. His mind ran through possible scenarios and what they should do, but mostly focused on their destination. KUKRI base was the last place he wanted to be going at the moment, but they had no choice. It would mean that he would have to confront—
Oran patted Leonard's arm, pulling him out of his thoughts. "You're good to go. Well, as good to go as you can be for now." Oran took a step back and Leonard sat up. He swung his legs over the side of the table and stood up. His back didn't hurt as much and the pain in his leg was gone. He could still feel his chest hurting, but not enough to be a problem.
"Thank you, Professor. Now you might want to see to the potato growing on your floor." Leonard motioned to Grif, who was curled up, almost looking like a spud, on the floor. Oran groaned and Leonard laughed as he walked out of the med bay.
"Alpha, how long until we reach the base?"
"Five minutes, Sergeant." Alpha paused for a moment. "I hate Covenant slipspace."
"I bet you do. You told me it was going to be an hour only twenty minutes ago." Leonard frowned as he made his way back to the bridge. When he reached it, Allison and Steve were waiting for him. "Well, at least I don't have to go looking for you two."
The two soldiers stood and saluted. Allison moved up the ramp behind Leonard and stood at the side of the captain's chair. "Sadly, sir, we don't really have good news. There was very little in the armory. Only plasma pistols and a few spikers. This ship is rather under-stocked considering that it has a prophet on board."
Leonard sat down, nodding. "Well, the Loyalists are running low on supplies due to them being cut off from everything. I bet most of their good weapons are back closer to the prophet, where we can't get them."
"Exiting Slipspace," Alpha announced.
"Four minutes early," Leonard muttered. He looked over at Todd, who had floated up to him, making a series of noises and flailing its tentacles around. The front screen switched from the black nothingness of slipspace to the image of a space station.
"Sir, what is that?" Allison stared at the complex station. The solid gray metals that made up the three large sections of the station were connected by blue tinted walkways, pipes, and tubes.
"That is KUKRI base." Leonard sighed and stared at the base.
A com channel opened up and the familiar swooping eye-like symbol of F.L.I.S.S. appeared on the corner of the screen. "Greetings, Sergeant Church. Welcome home."
~End Chapter 21~