Author's Note: Ch. 18 has been edited. Thanks for keeping me humble. ;)

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen: Unsteady

Being back on the ship was a relief, but it was short-lived. It seemed I'd traded in one dire situation for another - we were still under attack from the Covenant ship.

Alarms were blaring everywhere upon our return to the hangar bay.

"Hull breach, Deck Six," the Stars' dumb AI announced with eerie calm. "Affected area sealed. Keep clear."

"Wasn't planning on heading back there anyway," I muttered under my breath. We'd definitely taken a more scenic route, but the surviving Marines and I had actually ended up right where we needed to be.

Caleb looked at me as we stood on the deck after disembarking, holding his helmet in one hand. Other Marines from the remainder of the flights - and ours - moved around us. "Ma'am? What are your orders?"

I paused for a moment to think - not easy to do in the chaos. I still felt shaky from our time out in vacuum, but did my best to hide it and push past it. After taking a deep breath, I responded, "First thing's first, Cal. I need to check who made it. Then we'll get to our original stations."

"Yes, ma'am."

I pulled on my helmet again as the spook moved on. I knew exactly who to hail.

"Murphy? It's Lieutenant Colonel Cooper. Please respond."

"Here, ma'am," came the immediate reply.

"Good." There was no love lost between us, but I was glad he was okay - and also glad we hadn't lost one of our top officers in the breach. "What's your roster look like?"

"You mean after that shitshow in space?" He snorted and took a minute to answer. "Thirteen lost, Colonel. I'm still getting the details as to who, but that blast took out the most. A handful weren't fast enough sealing up their suits. The Elites took care of the last two."

"Understood." The news wasn't good, but could have easily been a lot worse. I felt for those who'd been killed in such a terrible way, but knew I needed to focus my efforts on those who remained. We weren't out of this yet. "All right. Rally up the rest and get to the starboard bay, Major. Now. We've got to get things back on track."

"Yes, ma'am."

As I glanced out at the vast hangar, I spotted the former Helljumper walking over to a subordinate and then rush out the bay, back into the corridor of the ship. Several dozen Marines followed.

It's time I get my group going, too, I thought, and pulled my rifle off my back, keeping the barrel pointed down as I pushed through the mass of UNSC servicemen and women in the place.

"Marines, on me!" I shouted. "Start splitting off by platoons and let's get this bay secure and ready for incoming! Move!"

I was anticipating more Phantoms arriving shortly to assault the hangars. What I didn't count on was the ship taking another hit from the larger enemy vessel - a very minor detail that had completely left my mind in the confusion. The Stars shuddered underneath us, before we'd even had a chance to prepare, and I was suddenly thrown backward into the side of one of the idling Pelicans.

For a while, that was it for me.

When I came to my head was pounding. And though I didn't think it possible, even more alarms were sounding now throughout the bay. In the noisy mess, I wasn't able to orient myself right away.

"Colonel? Colonel Cooper?"

My brain felt foggy, and I answered with a groan.

"Lieutenant Colonel!"

I finally registered the voice as Commander Aròn's, surprising me. "Y-yes. I'm here. Go ahead."

"The captain is currently engaged in the fighting," she said quickly. "But he wanted me to get a sitrep from you. You've returned aboard ship?"

"That's...affirmative." I turned and braced myself against the side of the dropship, trying to stand back up as I spoke. "Nothing else going on down here so far." I winced as I pushed up on my legs, sore from the zero-gee action. "We're mostly just...getting knocked around by your driving."

Under different circumstances, I thought she would have chuckled. "That might soon change, Cooper. Dakhati has something up his sleeve. Tell your Marines to brace themselves and standby."

In this case I deferred to the naval officer's expertise. I didn't even have my men bother with anti-boarding procedures, per Dakhati's orders. We simply waited. I was sure if we got any trouble our way in the form of Covenant fighters, Willis would warn me.

The ship moved again beneath us, but this time we were ready. Everyone had their mag locks engaged on their boots, just in case, and we all kept a tight grip on the mesh webbing that extended fully on one side of the hangar, up against the bulkhead. When the Stars gave another violent lurch - what I assumed to be a more aggressive evasive maneuver than before - we swung a little but stayed in place, hoping and praying that what was out there in the void didn't blast us all to pieces.

As nothing but boots on the ground, there was only so much we could do on our end out here. Right now, it was up to the bridge crew.

Ten whole minutes passed, but it felt more like hours as the ship roiled, boosted, and then fired its weapons. I started to get a little green from all the movements, and my muscles were getting tired. Not knowing what was going on outside didn't help, either. A few around me did retch - maybe from anxiousness, seasickness, or both.

After a while, I realized I was holding my breath. I slowly let it out when I heard a loud whoop over the general channel. My heart sank when I realized it wasn't who I thought.

"All right! Direct hit!" Willis's second-in-command shouted.

I should've been happy about that, but in the moment, I was left only with dread.

"Adrian?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Fear crept in as I wondered why it was him - and not my husband - giving us all the update. I swallowed, barely able to get the words out. "Is Wi - Major Hawk - "

The ship tilted again and I nearly lost my grip. I acted fast, engaging the mag lock again, and that's what saved me from sliding down the deck. As soon as I was upright, I tried again. "What's the major's status?"

"Fine, Colonel. Just busy picking off stragglers now. We had to work to keep a couple more Phantoms from getting to the bay while the Stars maneuvered."

I released a long sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"No problem, ma'am. It's what we're here for. Adrian out."

Once the worst of the nightmarish merry-go-round was over, I instructed my Marines to set up behind the barricades inside the hangar, just in case. Thankfully, though, we never had to deal with any on-board action. That was fine by me, as I'd had enough close calls - both inside and outside today - without navigating that, too. We were left in the figurative dark for a while after that, wondering what was going on and the status of our ship, when finally Captain Dakhati's voice came over the shipboard COM.

"Everyone, this is the captain," he said. "The Covenant ship has been destroyed."

All the Marines around me cheered. Somehow, Dakhati had pulled it off. I nearly sagged in relief.

"Good work to all our sailors, pilots, and Marines. Flight Leader, come on home."

I didn't know why, but I was suddenly nervous as I waited for the Broadswords to return. I'd issued my orders to my men after the fight, and operations started winding down, but there was still plenty of ruckus in the hangar bay. After being on high alert outside in vacuum, and again as we'd remained vigilant for attacks inside the bay, I was finally able to pull of my helmet and get some air - calmly, without fear of a continued assault. It was a good feeling.

I ran a hand over my put-up hair then and realized I still had my gloves on. I quickly tugged them off my fingers and was almost surprised when I glanced down at my left hand and didn't see a ring. There hadn't been one there for months now, but its absence still felt strange. It made my anxiety about seeing Willis soon intensify.

It seemed that no matter what, I couldn't escape the fact that despite recent encouraging developments, many things between us were different now.

I hadn't said goodbye to him before he'd left, and it made me feel a little down now, despite the victory. He could've been killed at any time out there - by the enemy ship, an explosion, a wayward shot in the dark. I'd almost died myself in a blast on the ship, and then out in space, and nearly inside here again. It truly dawned on me that if either of us had bit the big one, that would've been the end. With no last words spoken between us.

A lump formed in my throat. I wondered what bay he'd even be coming in from.

I stood on the port side of the deck for a long while, and when I realized he wasn't coming, that he'd probably already landed on the other side and I'd missed my chance to welcome him back, my heart sank even lower.

With my helmet in one hand and gloves in the other, rifle slung behind my back, I turned to go.

And was met face-to-face with Willis. He gave me a tired grin.

"Natalie."

I wasn't even able to react to his presence; he quite literally swept me off my feet. And before I could process what was happening, he took my face in both his hands and kissed me.

Hard. Right in the middle of the whole damn hangar.

Caught up in the moment, I kissed him back.

"Don't do that to me again, Cooper," he said, hugging me tightly. "No more space walks for you, okay?"

I smiled a bit, though the last hour or so had left me rattled enough that that was as far as I'd go. "That's fine with me. I could live a lifetime without experiencing that again."