Y'know I actually wanted to get this out much earlier. But holidays and stuff had came first. At least this chapter is decently long. If there's any corrections that need to be made just say as bluntly as possible.
As for the story, everything will be explained.
Elizabeth didn't have enough time to process what unfolded in front of her. She quickly scampered towards Jeremy and hauled him to cover with her. "Oh crap! Everyone, defensive positions now!" Immediately the whole squad divided and ran behind trees and boulders. Theo was able to retrieve the sealed bomb before another wave of plasma came racing through the trees out of nowhere. Elizabeth toggled her night vision mode through her helmet in search for a source of the assault. All she could make out were the forest and blasts hurling her direction. "God damn it. Where are they coming from!?"
Jay shouted "Is the Private okay!?" Elizabeth tore off Jeremy's helmet and cast it aside. It slightly burned her hands even through the gloves. She didn't notice. Jeremy had a seared gash running along his left cheek. His eyes were closed shut while writhing in pain.
under her breath she whispered "thank God." and hastily guided him to his feet. "Can you still shoot?!" She was quickly answered. Jeremy took the magnum from her holster and peaked out of cover. He set his sights on a random target. He fired.
BAM!
A jackal with a needle rifle fell from a tree a few meters away. Jeremy grunted "Mind if I borrow this!?" The Corporal only nodded and whipped out a battle rifle from her back to join the fight. Jeremy then steered his aim to his left and pulled the trigger three times. On the last shot he killed another jackal perched on a branch. As it slammed to the floor, the carbine it was holding went off. A single razor thin burst of plasma flew at a distant grunt's eye socket and killed it.
"Ya' good mate?!" Theo called out to Jeremy. Another blast hits the tree he was using for cover. He returned fire with his assault rifle, mowing down two grunt's in the way violently. He turned his head to check up on Jeremy again. The Private still faced towards the unending hell with nothing more than a pissed off expression. Though he let Theo know he was fine with a simple thumbs up. Theo went through his comms. "What are we gonna do after we wipe out these sods, Liz?"
VOOM!
An enormous green ball of plasma ran right above the squad. Looking back, the horde of Covenant finally made a proper appearance. Jeremy's team was on elevated ground. A hill. There was a platoon of grunts and jackals that flooded out from the entrance of a single building ninety feet away. The structure itself was war torn. The top had already crumbled away, leaving an entrance for any ship to deploy more troops. "We gotta haul our sorry asses in there." Elizabeth pointed directly at the small skyscraper. "We have to stick to this stupid plan. No matter what."
"Fuck!" Jay was flanked by a more unique enemy: a skirmisher. She was dragged to the floor by her leg, dropping her assault rifle in the process. It readied their talons and swiped viciously at her chest piece. She guarded her face the best she could but the creature was just too strong to fight alone. The skirmisher grabbed a hold of Jay's neck with both hands. Its monstrous strength was made even more apparent as her windpipe was being crushed. Her lungs were on fire and the world around her became more of a dark blur. The only thing visible was the alien strangling her. its eyes gave off a sick twisted sense of enjoyment. Clearly gaining pleasure out of a messy kill.
The skirmisher's pupils shrunk. A horrified realization spread across its face before looking down. A sharp object was plunged deeply into its side like a slab of meat. Right before losing consciousness Jay managed to unsheathe her knife and stab the bastard with it. Out of nowhere Elizabeth came running to aid Jay in the fight. She laid out a heavy punch to the skirmisher's jaw. It almost fell face first on the ground but the Corporal wanted to make sure it stayed dead. She roped her arms around its neck tightly in a choke hold. "Kill it!" She screamed. Jay removed her blade in a quick motion then returned it to its fleshly home just as fast. She kept stabbing and stabbing until the skirmisher stopped resisting.
"You crazy bint." Was all Jay said to Elizabeth when they took it out. To the Corporal it almost sounded appreciative. Either way Jay dusted her armor off and used her under suit to wipe away the strange other-worldly blood from her knife. The odst picked up her assault rifle and resumed her shooting.
Elizabeth pushed the corpse off herself and returned to battle with Jeremy. Most of the Covies were eliminated thanks to Theo and the Private. All that's left were dead bodies and a lone jackal missing most of its left arm. It was already close to being dead; walking around aimlessly with a confused slack jaw look. Its beak dripped with blood infused phlegm, among other fluids. "Should we finish 'em off?" Theo asked. He and Jay finally joined up with Jeremy and Elizabeth who kept their eyes on the creature. The Corporal didn't respond. She slowly raised her battle rifle and fired square on the jackal face. Its head gruesomely turns to mush before twisted backwards moments before dropping.
Elizabeth just led on, everyone followed. The next and final destination was the building itself. The squad carefully made their way down, watching each other's sixes intently. While traversing through piles of alien invaders, Jeremy noticed a lone plasma pistol laying near a scorched circle of grass. The weapon itself was in relatively good shape - no blood stains either. Something in his gut compelled him to pick up the pistol. The reason as to why was lost to him. Regardless he snatched up the gun in the hopes it'll actually help him. As he did the crew was already halfway through the door of the first story.
The Private was last to enter the building. Just moments before, Jeremy had looked back at the forest riddled with dead Covenant. All low ranking soldiers that barely made a dent in the group, say a few burns and choking hazards. At first Jeremy was confused. His thoughts swirled into knots searching for an answer. Unfortunately his conclusion created a massive pit in his stomach. They're all just cannon fodder.
There were more. There had to be. He'd never heard or seen a single patrol without at least one elite, or more rarely, a brute nearby. His mind squirms at the idea. He tried to speak but all that came out was a stuttered "W-wait!"
VSHH!
An energy sword activates in mid air within the barely lit room. A small glimmer over the mysterious invisible form was all Jeremy needed to see. It was an ambush. All the units outside, nothing but a distraction, setup for them. The blood in his veins jumps throughout his body. Instinct fully took control. He rushed at the cloaked elite while firing his assault rifle in a blind fury. The bullets ricocheted off the assassin, causing its energy shields to glow in small wave patterns. Now the hell jumper has a full view of his target. He leaped close to the elite and swung the butt of his rifle at its waist. The alien barely faltered. It snarled angrily. The elite grabbed a hold of Jeremy's chest plate and lifted him off the ground. The Private heard a bitter roar come from the creature as it shifted the glowing sword to his head.
BAM!
A flurry of hot lead went off behind the elite, only distracting It. This opening led Jeremy to reach for his plasma pistol. A bright green light and mechanical hum brought the sanghili's attention back to his victim. A few inches away from its face was a painful surprise. The odst let go of the trigger and the elite felt the full blast annihilate its shields with a powerful knock back. It dropped Jeremy to his knees along the plasma pistol, turned heels without looking, and tried to escape to the opposite direction. The attempt was instantly foiled. With the combined forces of Elizabeth, Theo, and Jay, they managed to wrestle the large warrior to the floor. Jay whaled on its helmet like metallic drums. The rest simply tried their best to keep the thing from moving.
Jeremy closed the gap between themselves and unloaded a whole mag from Elizibeth's pistol onto the elite. Only after he heard the click of an empty weapon did the monster go limp. The squad left the creature after confirming its demise, a gunshot from Elizabeth, and checked up on the Private. The Corporal snapped her fingers. "Hey. You hurt?" She switched her visor off in order to get a better look at Jeremy. She spoke in a monotone semi-professional way. But somehow Jeremy felt her expression displayed more concern. He figured it was just something caught in her eyes or the intense heat of warfare catching up to her. He nods.
She snorted. "Good. Now, get your lazy ass off the floor so we can blow up this depressing shit hole." Elizabeth strolled off after a casual back turn, assault rifle comfortably resting in her arms. "Let's freakin' skedaddle kids. I wanna get back to base and take a goddamn shower after this." Jeremy jumped to his feet with a bit more bravado. Despite his hands burning hotter than a stove from that plasma pistol, he was more than amp up and ready. "We gotta make sure we get rid of all 'em before we detonate this whole place. I don't feel like dealing with stragglers today. So keep together, be inseparable. Watch eachothers back like before. It's go time."
The Corporal, followed by Jay, Theo with the explosive, then Jeremy proceeded in a straight line. The leader kept her sights forward. Jay guarding her right flank, Theo his left, and the Private walking backwards in case of another ambush.
Elizabeth ascended up a creaky staircase. Each step was alarmingly unstable. The wooden material squeaked in pain against everyone's boots that - if the gunshots somehow didn't alert any Covenant troops already - would've surely been noticed. It was practically a grantee the next level of enemies were preparing for a fight. Elizabeth halted at a meter behind the entrance above. "How about we give them a little treat?" She reached to her side and removed a grenade from her harness. "I Hope they love pineapples."
A grunt standing alone played with twigs on the floor. A grenade was flung through the opening and bounced off the ceiling inside the second story. It landed right next to the curious alien. It plucked the ticking explosive off the concrete floor to inspect it.
BOOM!
Shrapnel spewed out and destroyed the grunt's face, turning the poor creature's head into an unrecognizable mess. An elite minor, two other grunts, and a single jackal averted their attention from an unactivated radio jammer to the abrupt rumble. Another grenade emerged from the lower staircase and collided with the jammer. The detonation rendered the mechanism unoperational. Instantly Elizabeth entered the room and unleashed her assault rifle without hesitation. She finished off the bewildered jackal in a bloody but efficient manner.
The elite charged forward and laid out a staggering jab to her stomach. Her body was swept from her feet, the hard thick wall catching her mid air. Theo jumped out of nowhere and tackled the elite from behind. Just as he did, it thrusted backwards into the hard concrete. Over and over the large opponent tried to crush Theo with its immense size. Instead he held on even tighter with an iron grip. Jeremy bolted towards the elite. His weapon shot bullets during the sprint and was successful at draining its shield. Only a few feet before reaching the elite did Jeremy's mag run out, so he leaped with his stamina. A heavy limb barely caught the hell jumper's arm. Jeremy retaliated by propelling his legs up and constricted a part of the elite in an arm choke. The shear momentum stumbled the alien off balance. Theo let the towering sangheili go when it collapsed from the constant pressure of the two. Both odsts rolled back and landed on their sides, firing upon the elite with their respective guns.
Lifeless was the alien. Filled with holes and bruises that show it was no longer a problem for Jeremy or the others. The Private spun his head to the Corporal. Elizabeth had already taken out the other grunts right as he dealt with the elite. Jay, seemingly bored, paid close attention to her knife while using the dead jackal from earlier as a stool. She rested her pinkie on the tip of the knife for some unknown reason. Purple blood left its presence on the blade, noticeably dulling the metal to the point where a simple wash wouldn't fix it. That small detail grossed Jeremy out as the thought of space aids crossed his mind and refused to leave him for a time.
"I think we deserve a nice break from the action, Liz. Me ankles are starting to give the ol' boy a pain I can't let fester about. Bein' vulnerable isn't a cherry attribute I wanna hold on to while in the showers." Theo stretched his arms out over a loud sigh for the purpose of relieving tension and annoying Elizabeth. Each action achieved their goals with flying colors.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Despite her feeling just fine she does empathize with him. The squad did pull through a sizable amount of engagements no matter how brief they were. However the idea of finally returning for the tiniest amount of R&R completely overthrew the wants of the others. "We can relax after we get this done. It's been what, like ten-fifteen minutes since we actually did anything?"
Theo started to get less amused with Elizabeth's unrelenting resolve. He dryly laughed while massaging his weakened ankles. "Looky here. I do love marching on and killin' Covenant baddies like any other good human samaritan. But a man can't do that if his legs are fighting against gravity. So I would like it if a bloke such as myself could just sit down for a bit, yeah?" His words started to get more heated than he'd hoped. But he couldn't stop himself from going further. "I know ending lives is fun and all but sometimes a break can really help someone from sinking to the bottom if ya' catch my drift. Personally, I'm a big fan of keeping my head above the water."
The Corporeal looked on with more of a confused look than anything. She didn't get a lick of any of the words or meaning behind Theo's retort. Hell, she didn't even register half of what he said. But she did pick up the point of his ramble. A break. The idea dwelled longer than she would've liked. An almost alien concept, not really brought up as she never considered it. But she just might come up with a compromise.
"Fine. You could just relax and play with your weak ass ankles all you want. The rest of us could just as easily go on without complaining." Elizabeth didn't want to seem bothered. No matter how plainly she attempted to express herself, it all came out as venomous as ever.
Jay's arm sprung up in the air, waving about. "Wow-ho-ho. What's this 'us' business you're talking about? Because I know damn well I didn't say I was tagging along for shit."
The Corporal head jerked to Jay. Her furious gaze tried to melt the odst. Sadly it just phased through the calm hell jumper. "I'm the one leading this operation. It doesn't matter what you say, you still have to do what I tell you."
"Well that's great and all. But there's one tiny, insignificant problem. I kinda don't want to right now." Jay stoked the flames inside Elizabeth to an unimaginable degree. Her anger was piling on to the point where her gun seemed like a pea shooter compared to her fists.
"This is motherfucking insubordination. I oughta get the Lieutenant on your ass right now. He's one call away you know!" Her fingers reached for her helmet at a slow pace. Like a mother counting down from three. Elizabeth fully expected Jay to back down, but she didn't. She looked on with an amazingly chill attitude.
Theo looked back and forth between the two ladies arguing and Jeremy, who placed his attention on his assault rifle. He stood up and distanced the two apart with his presence. "Okay, okay. How about we settle this like civilized dingos, huh? Why don't we put it to a vote, yeah?"
Elizabeth's eye twitched at the suggestion. She was dumbfounded. Her mouth hung so far that her jaw almost dropped to the floor. "A vote? A fucking vote? I… I- you know what? Screw it. Sure. Let's vote. And after I win you'll be my new personal body shield."
Theo held his head high. A confident stride led him standing beside the Corporal. The two were In front of Jay and Jeremy, who finally stopped checking up on his weapons. Theo was the first to have his say. "Raise your hand if you wanna just kick back for a damn second and relax." Both Theo and Jay eagerly held their hands in the air. Jeremy stood motionless. Really he didn't care what they did. So long as they get the job done. They weren't in any particular hurry. The entrance for the last story was chained albeit with wood and metal. No noise came from above either. Perhaps they did kill every Covenant troop here.
"I count t-w-o." Theo words lingered on purpose, much to Elizabeth's chagrin. But that small discrepancy didn't disway her stance.
"And if you don't want to be a cry baby and help me secure this building for detonation, raise your hand." Elizabeth's hand shot to the roof. Her face had a grimace that stuck to Theo and Jay.
Jeremy thought about raising his hand. Not much is in the way of finishing the mission. If there isn't anyone then why bother? But he thinks of other possibilities. Based on the slim chance of just one target escaping is too great of a threat. He raised his arm.
Elizabeth had to do a double take. She was surprised that out of anybody who would agree with her it would be the Private. Someone she didn't exactly make good first impressions with. But a twinge of gratefulness somehow made it through her. "Huh. Guess you aren't the useless idiot I thought you were. Good to know."
This isn't really helping your case. Jeremy thought. His decision didn't quite sit well with Jay. She was ready to knock out the Private till Theo put his arm on her shoulder.
"Well. Ain't this a shocker." Despite Jeremy's choice, Theo didn't seem too bothered about the outcome. "How are we gonna dispute this mess, Corporal?" Through a smug smile he awaited his leader's orders.
Jeremy, ultimately tired of the whole argument, decided to speak his mind. "The Corporal and I can secure the next floor by ourselves, we're enough. The two of you can sit back and keep guard for more Covies. It'll only take me a few minutes to prepare for detonation. We'll be back soon." Jeremy walked past Theo and Jay to retrieve the bomb. After, he marched up the staircase, stopping halfway and looked expectantly at Elizabeth. She strutted her way behind him in an agreeing silence.
Jeremy took a quick glance at the locked entrance for the last floor. He mindlessly took out his assault rifle and shot at the chains. Its integrity became loose. A single swipe of his arm was enough to rip apart the metal seal.
The room was empty. The roof, or lack of one, was a huge hole that revealed the black sky. The heavy rain had slowed to a calm storm. Jeremy found it more relaxing compared to how it was earlier. There weren't any windows. Really no way to see outside beside the ceiling. It was a strange facility but that didn't matter. It was going to be blown up after all.
The odst got to his knees and removed the bomb from its case. After a few Seconds of tinkering with the circuits it was fully set up and rigged. The timer glowed and illuminated their surroundings. A lowly red. Five minutes was displayed on the mechanism.
"The bomb is fully operational. Ready for detonation as shown on the timer. What's the next move… ma'am?" Elizabeth had removed her helmet and stared blankly at the explosive. Jeremy couldn't get a sense of where her mind was at.
"You know, you're a very strange person." Elizabeth's tone was different. More mellowed and collective than what he's heard from her. He quickly responds.
"So I've been told."
"Yeah, but why?"
"Why what exactly?"
"Why did you decide to come with me? I know for a fact that everything I said was reasonable, obviously. But from what I can see It might look like I've been a huge dick, which I wasn't. So why tag along? Your choices aren't making any logical sense." Jeremy didn't know what to say. The sake of the mission was an obvious answer. To fulfill his duties as a soldier and protect humanity was another. But if he was going honest…
"To tell you the truth I just felt like it was the appropriate thing to do. To even the odds I guess. If there's a one percent chance of even a grunt escaping this mess… it's not a risk I'm willing to take. And if that doesn't satisfy you, I sorta felt bad about it. Not to say I'm giving you petty of course."
Elizabeth didn't see that coming. As misplaced as his actions were she did find it
rather nice. "Don't go around and give everyone your sympathy. It'll just piss 'em off. But you're lucky I'm not angry about it. Because I would've thrown you out of the damn building through that hole in the roof."
Jeremy returned his sights to the bomb. "Noted." After a final inspection he turns back to Elizabeth. "I suppose it's time to finish what we started?" The Corporal had her helmet back on. She nodded and spun around.
"I'll get those idiots off their asses. Stay here and watch over it." She descended down the staircase. After a few seconds Jeremy heard yelling below him, mainly cursing. His eyes wandered around the lifeless room out of boredom. The center of his attention rested on the sky. Dark still with less rain. But with a closer look appeared a cluster of distant white stars.
His initial thoughts were I wonder what's going up there, with a naive curiosity. He shakes his head. Jeremy already knows the full and gruesome details of what's happening. The galactic genocides. The glassings. Everything. Somehow he felt guilty. The weight of the war began to lean on his shoulders. Billions dead. Countless worlds lost. It all hits him out of nowhere. This wasn't new knowledge. Jeremy's whole life was practically centered around fighting and surviving. Really it was just a reminder of humanity's situation. One that he felt personally.
Jeremy suddenly wished he had his helmet back. His face contorts, already on the verge of tears. He fought them back to the reaches of his mind. It was hard. A cough sealed the deal entirely. He wiped his eyes quickly just in case someone were to see him in that sorry state. In the corner of his sights he barely managed to see a small glimpse of light reflecting on seemingly nothing. But he was too busy making himself look presentable.
Again he shakes his head. Jeremy calmly sighs in tandem with the wind. Now fullying collecting himself, he waits patiently for Elizabeth to return.
Seconds pass. Seconds turn into minutes. Longer time has gone by. The Private starts to worry about the rest of the squad's safety. He stood up and walked forward to investigate, now leaving the room and the bomb on its own.
Interesting. A cloaked figure thought. They hung on a metal bar that protruded from the ceiling. Their hands let go slowly as they inched closer to the floor. When they touch the ground they mindfully pace towards the mechanism. Each step was soft, almost silent. They had never seen anything quite like it. Its design was primitive; a dirty chrome sphere with black metallic veins. Wires were placed in the oddest of orders - or no order at all. The contrast between themselves and those creatures expanded to far greater heights in their mind. They continue to stare at the device, trying to pinpoint a weakness. No clear signs sprung up.
A long arm reached for the bomb. Though it retracts the moment they heard the creaking of wood. Their gaze snaps to the corner of the room. mumbling stemmed from the previous floor. It was a group. Possibly more imps. Sights shifted between the target or escaping. In a quick decision, they chose the one that wouldn't show any signs of being caught. But not by those humans.
Their legs bend and jump a great distance through the massive hole in the roof. There was a heavy thud when they landed from the multiple story drop. The fall itself was somewhat bothersome, but there was no time for a measly check up so they ran off to the trees. They disappeared completely. Leaving no trace of their existence from both the humans and the Covenant.
"I swear to God, if I hear one more word spill out of your stupid Australian mouth I'll make sure you'll come out of this damn building in a wheelchair." Elizabeth entered the empty room with the whole squad trailing behind her.
Theo chuckles to himself. After a few minutes of rest coupled with messing with his favorite corporal he was especially ready to end his assignment. Jeremy skirted around his squad and squatted above the explosive. "We'll only have five minutes to leave the moment I turn this thing on." He rearranged a few wires, silently cursing to his absent lieutenant who most likely created the incoherent machine. "When I turn this thing on we book it, alright? The Corporal will lead us out. I'll be at the back right behind everyone. So, is everyone ready?"
After a unanimous nod Jeremy activated the device and sprung to his feet. Elizabeth heels turned and ran down the steps along with the rest of the squad. She placed her fingers at the side of her helmet. "Delta 5.1, do you copy?!"
Instantly a familiar voice chimed. "We read ya' loud n' clear Elizabeth. I assume you messed up durin' the mission?" Davidson tried to hide a laugh. He failed but still continued. "Bah. It doesn't quite matter no more. Anyway, status report!"
She skipped the second floor's staircase with a hop, barely catching herself. "All targets are eliminated. The area has been secured and the Private switch the bomb on. We're running for our lives right now. We need evac!"
Theo followed closely behind Elizabeth. Suddenly a very important detail crossed his mind. "H-hey! Liz! What's gonna be the radius when this whole building goes tumbling down?"
Davidson heard the question and proudly told the Corporal the blast zone. "I'd say 'bouta fourth of a kilometer or something. So keep running your little legs. I'm almost there to pick you kids up!"
Jay gritted her teeth and joined in the conversation through her comms. "Are there any other details we should know about?! It's like we've been running blind and deaf this whole time!"
Jeremy was dead last, running a few inches behind Jay. He kept a mental note of the time they had left. "Three minutes!" His rapid stomps turn into quick and nimble steps, hitting the tip of his feet instead of the back. The only sounds he understood were the harshness of his breathing and the throbbing of his heart.
For some reason everything appeared to slow down. His legs kept going, but the motion almost felt non existent. Is this all I'll ever do? A random question paved through his head. Will I be a soldier my whole life? A midlife crisis loomed heavily in his psyche, awkwardly paired with the very tangible one he was escaping from. Very rarely does he reflect on himself. To realize for a brief moment at any point he could either die now or keep fighting for years upon years and then drop dead.
Weirdly it happens at the worst possible time. Though for once he was brought out of it by his squad leader. "Hey jackass! How much longer?!" Jeremy for a second was thankful. He didn't appreciate it a second later.
"Two minutes!" That answer didn't resonate within any of the odsts. Elizabeth groaned, Jay yelled profanities, and Theo yelped excitedly. Their dire situation worsened. They weren't far enough.
"We're right above ya!" The pelican soared over the trees. "I see a clearing a few yards away. Pick up the darn pace!" Right in front was the landing zone. A large green field with untamed grass the size of Jeremy. The ship lowered unevenly and shook the ground when landing. "Get on!" After being collected the odsts were lifted off the air with the entrance wide open.
While Jeremy and the rest were finally seated and strapped in, Davidson stood close to the exposed ramp and watched the view. His grip was loose. Fingertips wrapped around a handle bar. There he looked on expectedly. An itching hope for a satisfying event to play out as he predicted. He counted to himself. "One. Two…"
BOOM!
A raging explosion engulfed the distant building along with the surrounding forest at an unknown but devastatingly large diameter. The initial shock pushed the trees back right before flames utterly incinerated everything. The pelican rumbles as it feels the wave of sheer force shooting towards it. "Wha-huh-oh, Might've put too much punch in that boy. No matter. What's done is done." Davidson banged on the metal Interior three times. The entrance sealed away at crawl, giving the Lieutenant one last shot of the destruction he sent out. "That was simply spectacular. My dream project flew off without a hitch and did exactly what I wanted. I outta thank you each of ya' for your hard, life threatening work."
Elizabeth and Jay already removed themselves from their seats. Both were behind the Lieutenant. A single thought was shared between the two. Mainly if they could get away with murdering a superior officer. Instead of acting upon it they simply waited for Davidson to notice their anger.
Jay spoke first. "Sir. Permission to speak freely, sir?" Davidson nodded nonchalantly. "Okay good." She took off her helmet and placed it on the floor. After a sigh she was completely ready to unload everything she stomached. "Why didn't you give us more information? What was the point?" It was a short question. Although it came off as polite or reserved, it wasn't a mystery to Davidson regarding her true feelings.
"Would you like the full story? Or just the important details? If I'm going to be an open book it's only fair if you get to choose what you wanna hear." Jay rolled her eyes. It wasn't the first time he held off on certain details. Numerous missions succeeded with little more than a 'point and shoot' directory. But this was different. It was more dangerous. More unknown.
Davidson's attitude was awfully uniform. He wore a seemingly expressionless face, practically unreadable. Even when he spoke it sounded off.
"Through the years we lost quite a lot of personnel. Billions. The UNSC, if you can't already tell, is tenuously spread thin to the point we can no longer send groups off to die a la Soviet Union and hope for the best." Theo's attention swayed to his CO. On occasion he'd be serious. Usually when ridiculing the Corporal or Jay. But this was radically different. "Now we have to play smart. This planet in all honesty is a run down mess with a diminishing population we can't just stock up. If that wasn't a kick to the balls we also quite literally border on the outer regions of UNSC territory. It's a god damn miracle we haven't gotten carpet bombed by those utterly improvident terrorists. Now, new methods of getting better results from our loyal soldiers had to arise."
Elizabeth couldn't wrap her head around Davidson's sudden personality shift. He came off like one of those ONI spooks she'd heard about. It freaked her out. But she wanted to save face. She spoke up. "So what? Is that related to you giving us zero Intel? Please educate me here cuz I really want to know what the hell is going through that skull oh yours."
Davidson laughed her off. "Eh. Well that's really easy to answer. This whole operation was a wee-little test crafted by myself and some colleagues a few days back. They wanted me to find teams who could handle a situation that could go off the cuffs, hince the bare minimum of information I kindly provided. You're just the start of many."
Elizabeth scoffed at his justification. Although anger would be a normal and reasonable reaction, she couldn't muster that emotion. Only disappointment surfaced. "Were you just gonna throw away our lives like no big deal? And test. You make it sound like this isn't even a problem. You've tossed us around like stupid playthings, or at least that's how I felt."
Theo decided that moment it was time to butt in. If not for the safety of Elizabeth, then it would be the safety of the ship caught between the crossfire of the Corporal's wrath. "Did we pass the test then? We came back alive and took out those Covies without a single set back. My intelligence may be lackin' but I'm sure that must account for something, right?"
Through a familiar big, toothy grin Davidson returned to his old self. "Oh absolutely. I never lost faith in any of ya' if you believe me. My expectations were wisely placed in this group without a second thought. You all made a fine example of a proper hell jumper!"
The air was dead silent. No one knew how to respond appropriately to the real squad leader's constant change of character. Both Jay and Elizabeth's trust of their CO wound up into question. Never had they seen Davidson act this way. Theo had nothing to add. Only one thing rummaged in his head. Sleep.
However Jeremy ready beat him to the punch. The Private slept soundly, gun still clutched in his hands. Thankfully with safety turned on. It was a busy day and he definitely felt it the most. Davidson noticed Jeremy checking out a bit earlier than he wanted. But ultimately he let the odst sleep away the rest of the ride like a bad hangover