DOC
The Sarge had taken Rico -er, the LT- a message and he'd disappeared, so it was down to me, Goss, Dizzy and Zim, all heading for our room.
As we walked I hummed Christmas carols without it even occurring to me that somebody else might be able to hear them. I couldn't help it; they always get stuck in my head around this time of year and besides, we were in R 'n R, I just couldn't help being at least a little bit cheerful.
We were almost there and even if I'd already slept and wasn't feeling as tiered as when we first got back I was still ready to flop down on my bed and relax. Just as I reached out to push the door open Dizzy and Gossard burst into song, singing along with the carol I was humming:
"Walkin' round a winter wonderland - "
Grinning (and blushing a little) I joined in wholeheartedly. We got caught on the words a few times, but when we did we just repeated the previous verse or two and everything was fine. We even had Zim singing along as we entered the room.
Max sat bolt upright and stared at us, wide-eyed and horrified, until we finished the song.
"You guys are IN-SANE!" He exclaimed before flopping back down onto his bed. Shaking his head he muttered: "serious issues."
"Aw." Dizzy sat down at the foot of his bed. "You really gotta lighten up, kid."
"Just get off my back, OK?"
She rolled her eyes and moved to sit on the trunk at the foot of her own bed.
I shrugged, "no Christmas spirit."
HIGGINS:
"Who has no Christmas spirit?" I asked as I pushed through the door to our room.
"Besides the bugs?" Zim asked.
"Uh, yeah."
Goss jerked his head in the direction of Max's bunk, "him."
Max stirred ever so slightly to glare out at as. "Aw, shutup."
"See?" Gossard said, making his point triumphantly. "He's a regular Scrooge I tell you!"
I nodded slightly, not really wanting to get on Max's bad side. I mean, I know where he's coming from, I was the new kid too. Plus I wasn't exactly feeling overly jolly at the moment myself.
"What's wrong, Bobby?" Diz asked when I slumped heavily onto my bed, leaving my camera on my trunk.
"I'm supposed to do a Christmas report and I haven't got a clue what to do it on!! I thought maybe I'd get some Christmas messages from people in the Infirmary but 'no, no, they need their rest' and can't be bothered by pains in the ass like me."
"Jeeze, NOBODY'S in the Christmas spirit," she teased.
"Don't worry, paperboy, I'm sure you'll figure out something," Doc tried to comfort.
"Thanks," I replied, "but, any ideas?"
"Um," Doc and Dizzy looked each other.
"Can't you just get a ton of people to wish the people back home a merry Christmas?" Gossard asked. "You know, like how sometimes the people back home do a 'for the boys' type of thing. . .uh," he glanced at a frowning Dizzy and corrected himself, "'troopers'. It would be like a 'for the families back home'."
"I tried that," I groaned. "FedNet just said: 'that's the base, now EXPAND.'"
"How'd you pull this job, anyway?" Max asked, without moving the slightest acknowledging muscle from his bunk to even look in my general direction. Then again he WAS making an effort, sort of.
"I'm a reporter with a long R 'n R right now, I have time to come up with something really good," I sighed. "I guess this is a good opportunity for me, but if they don't want anything depressing how far can I take it?"
"You've pulled it off before though, I saw a couple of yours on TV," Max replied. "Uh," he caught his moment of involuntary kindness, "my Dad made me watch them."
I knew he couldn't be ALL bad.
RICO:
Sadistic bastards.
We don't get two seconds into our R 'n R and they hit us with this.
As I moved to open the door I stopped and listened for a second. The squad was in there sounding pretty cheerful, for the most part anyway. Max was still in his permanent funk from the sound of things and Higgins sounded like he was somewhere in between being distressed about something and happy about Christmas, but the rest of them sounded fine. Doc was even humming Christmas carols.
I sighed, better go ruin it for them. Damn.
I pushed open the door a little harder than I'd meant to and it swung hard, not to mention loudly, against its hinges as I made my entrance.
Everyone looked up in surprise and, after a pause in which they remembered, jumped to attention and saluted.
"As you were," I said, and they relaxed, sitting comfortably on their beds or otherwise, looking at me expectantly. "SICON," a knowing cringe passed over their faces, "has assigned us a new mission. We do this mission successfully and we get to come back and use whatever time there is remaining in our R 'n R."
Groans passed through the squad.
"What?" Max exclaimed. "You mean they're not gonna put it on pause or anything, just continue it while we're down there?!"
Zim glared at him.
"Uh. . . sir." Max added respectfully but continued to glare.
I nodded simplistically, "Yeah."
Everybody groaned louder and I sympathized, but tried not to show it, that wasn't my job anymore.
"So what's our mission that's so damn important they had to cut into a squad with R 'n R, LT?" Dizzy asked.
"Intel. Officers suspect bugs to be hiding out in the Galapagos Islands and to be preparing a new attack strategy for America. Galapagos is supposedly the perfect place for the bugs to prepare something. It's isolated, not many people go there and it's hard to get to. There have been no transmissions from the people working on the Islands in 24 hours and they are supposed to check in every 3." I explained. "Our job is to go there and get them before they can get us. There will be three other squads working other parts of the Island, we work the West."
"Two questions: 1) why not just blow it up?" Max asked.
"There was a squad and civilians down there and it's a national park," I replied.
"Oookay." Max nodded slowly. "And: 2) what could the bugs possibly be planning?"
"Classified," I replied, (even I didn't know). "We just have to clear 'em out of there."
"Fine," Dizzy grumbled in a huff, running her fingers through her hair. "So when do we leave?"
The Sarge had taken Rico -er, the LT- a message and he'd disappeared, so it was down to me, Goss, Dizzy and Zim, all heading for our room.
As we walked I hummed Christmas carols without it even occurring to me that somebody else might be able to hear them. I couldn't help it; they always get stuck in my head around this time of year and besides, we were in R 'n R, I just couldn't help being at least a little bit cheerful.
We were almost there and even if I'd already slept and wasn't feeling as tiered as when we first got back I was still ready to flop down on my bed and relax. Just as I reached out to push the door open Dizzy and Gossard burst into song, singing along with the carol I was humming:
"Walkin' round a winter wonderland - "
Grinning (and blushing a little) I joined in wholeheartedly. We got caught on the words a few times, but when we did we just repeated the previous verse or two and everything was fine. We even had Zim singing along as we entered the room.
Max sat bolt upright and stared at us, wide-eyed and horrified, until we finished the song.
"You guys are IN-SANE!" He exclaimed before flopping back down onto his bed. Shaking his head he muttered: "serious issues."
"Aw." Dizzy sat down at the foot of his bed. "You really gotta lighten up, kid."
"Just get off my back, OK?"
She rolled her eyes and moved to sit on the trunk at the foot of her own bed.
I shrugged, "no Christmas spirit."
HIGGINS:
"Who has no Christmas spirit?" I asked as I pushed through the door to our room.
"Besides the bugs?" Zim asked.
"Uh, yeah."
Goss jerked his head in the direction of Max's bunk, "him."
Max stirred ever so slightly to glare out at as. "Aw, shutup."
"See?" Gossard said, making his point triumphantly. "He's a regular Scrooge I tell you!"
I nodded slightly, not really wanting to get on Max's bad side. I mean, I know where he's coming from, I was the new kid too. Plus I wasn't exactly feeling overly jolly at the moment myself.
"What's wrong, Bobby?" Diz asked when I slumped heavily onto my bed, leaving my camera on my trunk.
"I'm supposed to do a Christmas report and I haven't got a clue what to do it on!! I thought maybe I'd get some Christmas messages from people in the Infirmary but 'no, no, they need their rest' and can't be bothered by pains in the ass like me."
"Jeeze, NOBODY'S in the Christmas spirit," she teased.
"Don't worry, paperboy, I'm sure you'll figure out something," Doc tried to comfort.
"Thanks," I replied, "but, any ideas?"
"Um," Doc and Dizzy looked each other.
"Can't you just get a ton of people to wish the people back home a merry Christmas?" Gossard asked. "You know, like how sometimes the people back home do a 'for the boys' type of thing. . .uh," he glanced at a frowning Dizzy and corrected himself, "'troopers'. It would be like a 'for the families back home'."
"I tried that," I groaned. "FedNet just said: 'that's the base, now EXPAND.'"
"How'd you pull this job, anyway?" Max asked, without moving the slightest acknowledging muscle from his bunk to even look in my general direction. Then again he WAS making an effort, sort of.
"I'm a reporter with a long R 'n R right now, I have time to come up with something really good," I sighed. "I guess this is a good opportunity for me, but if they don't want anything depressing how far can I take it?"
"You've pulled it off before though, I saw a couple of yours on TV," Max replied. "Uh," he caught his moment of involuntary kindness, "my Dad made me watch them."
I knew he couldn't be ALL bad.
RICO:
Sadistic bastards.
We don't get two seconds into our R 'n R and they hit us with this.
As I moved to open the door I stopped and listened for a second. The squad was in there sounding pretty cheerful, for the most part anyway. Max was still in his permanent funk from the sound of things and Higgins sounded like he was somewhere in between being distressed about something and happy about Christmas, but the rest of them sounded fine. Doc was even humming Christmas carols.
I sighed, better go ruin it for them. Damn.
I pushed open the door a little harder than I'd meant to and it swung hard, not to mention loudly, against its hinges as I made my entrance.
Everyone looked up in surprise and, after a pause in which they remembered, jumped to attention and saluted.
"As you were," I said, and they relaxed, sitting comfortably on their beds or otherwise, looking at me expectantly. "SICON," a knowing cringe passed over their faces, "has assigned us a new mission. We do this mission successfully and we get to come back and use whatever time there is remaining in our R 'n R."
Groans passed through the squad.
"What?" Max exclaimed. "You mean they're not gonna put it on pause or anything, just continue it while we're down there?!"
Zim glared at him.
"Uh. . . sir." Max added respectfully but continued to glare.
I nodded simplistically, "Yeah."
Everybody groaned louder and I sympathized, but tried not to show it, that wasn't my job anymore.
"So what's our mission that's so damn important they had to cut into a squad with R 'n R, LT?" Dizzy asked.
"Intel. Officers suspect bugs to be hiding out in the Galapagos Islands and to be preparing a new attack strategy for America. Galapagos is supposedly the perfect place for the bugs to prepare something. It's isolated, not many people go there and it's hard to get to. There have been no transmissions from the people working on the Islands in 24 hours and they are supposed to check in every 3." I explained. "Our job is to go there and get them before they can get us. There will be three other squads working other parts of the Island, we work the West."
"Two questions: 1) why not just blow it up?" Max asked.
"There was a squad and civilians down there and it's a national park," I replied.
"Oookay." Max nodded slowly. "And: 2) what could the bugs possibly be planning?"
"Classified," I replied, (even I didn't know). "We just have to clear 'em out of there."
"Fine," Dizzy grumbled in a huff, running her fingers through her hair. "So when do we leave?"