Chapter 12: Saying Goodbye to Old Friends
Heavy Recon flagship UNSC Trilon, Free Orbit around Earth, Sol System
Colonel Anderson walked into the Trilon's strategy room and was saluted by only three soldiers while about fifty others just looked at him. Three Spartans were standing rigid saluting their superior.
"Please sit, as of right now you are in the Heavy Recon Division. No one gives a damned about ranking or etiquette, well, except for the Navy boys driving this thing," he said with a smile. He quickly walked next to a large a holo-projector. He was only a little bit smaller without his armor on so his. His "PJ's", as they called by the Marines and Army, that the Navy wore were a special kind that made him stand out as H.R., were mostly gray with certain parts olive drab, and a deep red. He brought up an image of the Milky Way just as Captain Ronalds had done a week earlier.
" Hell, I'll be blunt, we have a pretty damn good idea where the Covenant Home World is," he got déjà vu when he looked at the surprised faces around him but was startled when he looked straight into three gold visors, he quickly looked away and continued, "That's not all, we're planning a small assault on the planet that I'm calling 'Sadow' for now. Now, any of you who do not think you can do this leave now," not one person moved, "Good. That means I can trust you. I'll carry on. We are going to attack what is called 'The Sanctum of the Hierarchs', that is where the Covenant Hierarchy resides, presumably," he quickly added on, "We are going to either neutralize the Command elements, or more preferably and harder to pull off, capture the head Prophet." He stopped for a second to let it sink in. Only one person had a question, Fred, who stood up and removed his helmet, his trimmed brown hair slightly shiny from sweat.
"Is this a one way mission, sir?" he finished asserting his dislike for the informalities.
"Ninety-nine point nine percent…yeah. Don't expect the Claire Ann to sit there to get fried while we go down and raise a little hell. She's dropping us off out of system and we come in on a stolen Phantom. After that we pretty much wing it. There will probably be at least two fleets there protecting the planet," he replied, not even mentioning the slight insult from the Spartan.
"Thank-you, sir," and Fred sat back down.
"Hmm-mm, any other questions? To tell you the truth I have no idea what is going to happen. You were hand picked for this mission, but if we pull this off and Humanity survives you will be recognized. Your families will be-," he stopped dead; Anderson looked at some of the soldiers and saw some men who could anything, crying. Many of them had lost their families and just fought like demons trying to bring some kind of closure to themselves or as much damage to the enemy as possible.
"As I was saying though, you won't be nobodies after this, oh, we leave in two weeks," continued Anderson. He walked out of the room and was again saluted by the three Spartans.
"I don't like the idea of all three of us going on the mission. One of us should stay," said Linda right when they were inside their cabins.
"That's true. Who though?" added Fred.
"I think we should have Colonel Anderson make that decision," said Will.
"Fred, you go find him and ask ok. Will and I are going to go to the armory to get or weapons and other gear ready for whoever does go," Linda said.
"Okay, I'll be back," he replied. Once he left Will and Linda headed down to the armory where some of the other H.R. guys were already getting weapons and ammo.
"Uh-Hello, what do you need?" asked a young man behind a thick Plexiglas window.
"I want two MA6E Battle Rifles, two M10D Pistols, four MP14K-R SMGs, one PSF-7, and ammunition for all of them, we'll be back," she replied, her smile concealed beneath her helmet. After a few minutes the same young man came from inside the armory desk with a small robotic dolly full of weapons and ammo. The two of them quickly checked over to make sure all of what they asked for was there.
"Hey, guys. The Colonel agrees and wants Will to stay behind. Sorry man, wish you were coming," Fred said over their suits' intercom.
" That's okay, needed some repairs done on my suit anyway," he replied.
"Well, Fred, come to the armory and pick out your gear for the mission. I've got some generic things here already," Linda told him.
"Okay, I'm on deck five so I'll be there in a minute."
"Well, I'm gonna get off the ship just in case they decide to leave early. Maybe get my stuff repaired soon."
"Okay, but just wait till Fred gets here," she said. He just nodded. While they waited the armory attendant brought out some combat backpacks for their gear and five Lotus anti-tank mines. But when Fred arrived the anxiety grew.
"Not very good at goodbyes, you know," Will said after a long silence.
"Yeah, but hey, just think about it, you'll be the only one left. That's gotta feel good," replied Fred.
" Nope, not one bit. But hey, its been fun while it lasted," he said patting Fred on the shoulder, then shaking his hand. He then turned to Linda.
"Best sniper I've ever met, Linda. You give 'em hell from the shadows."
"You know it, 'One Shot, One Kill'," she replied quietly.
"See you later," he said and then gave her a quick hug.
"You'll be waiting for me on the other side right?" Will said as he walked off quickly.
"You mean on the other side of the airlock?" replied Fred. Will answered by using the Spartans' sign for a smirk, moving his finger from the corner of his mouth and jerking it sharply up. He had a strong feeling he wouldn't see them again.