Chapter 7: Homecoming

Earth

Two Days Later

After two days of urgent transit through Slipspace, the Freedom had finally reached Earth. It was not the first nor last ship to arrive, as it was only one of hundreds of UNSC warships answering the call to return to the most sacred of planets. The Freedom was immediately granted clearance to dock with the Point Hope Orbital Shipyard for much needed maintenance and further systems checks. Meanwhile, the Marine contingents on board were put to good use, either being stationed on the ground or on one of the many brand new super MAC stations orbiting the planet. All the human defenders could do was wait, and hope that their greatest fears were unfounded.

UNSC Freedom

Bridge

"This is the first time I've actually seen you relieved." Joshua quipped resetting his chessboard. "Finally happy that we reached Earth?"

"Finally happy that I don't have to fear having this ship fail on me in the near future." Rogers beamed. "I would toast you, but AIs have a notorious reputation for abstinence."

"I can't imagine why, sir."

Rogers sat back and kept a close eye on the bridge's data screens. "What's our status?"

"Thirty percent of the ship's systems have been fully scanned, with 154 errors detected and repaired. Seven errors still pending, and two files quarantined."

Rogers shook his head. AIs always assumed that everybody understood what they were saying. "Which means...?"

Joshua sighed. It was always a bother having to explain everything. "The scanning is going as planned."

"What about our houseguests?" Rogers was referring to Balthasar, Melchoir, and Caspar.

"I don't foresee any them causing trouble."

"If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you wanted them off this ship." Rogers grinned.

"An AI can dream, Captain."

Super MAC Orbital Station Cairo

"No, I will absolutely not do it." Karla shook her head. "There's no way."

In all of her time spent in the Marines, Karla had seen some pretty nasty things that would make most normal people heave. She'd seen fellow Marines killed or maimed right in front of her very eyes, brutal close combat with some of the worst the Covenant had to offer, countless planets and populations being glassed, and even an underground bunker complex and town inhabited with the living dead. She could handle those easily, there was no doubt about that, but there was one thing that Karla always dreaded the very first day she became a Marine, something even worse than years of combat against the nastiest and most brutal alien race in the galaxy. Something that Karla hoped that she never had to deal with again.

The Marine formal dress uniform. Any combat trooper's worst nightmare.

"Oh come on." Paccone laughed, "It's a small price to pay to see not just a Spartan, but the Spartan."

Of course, he was referring to the Master Chief, Spartan-117. The most famous of them all.

"Oh, shut up. They're all the same anyway." Karla waved the comment off. "Besides, you're already wearing that god forsaken chicken suit."

The Marine formal dress uniform was basically a white cap, shirt, and pants for men, with black dress shoes. There was also room on the uniform to pin on rank and unit insignias, as well as medals earned in combat. For women, it was basically the same, except they wore a knee-length white skirt with black stockings. These uniforms were notoriously uncomfortable, especially forpeople who spent basically their entire lives in Marine combat armor, which was very pragmatically designed for both functionality and comfort.

"I think this uniform makes me look dashing." Paccone smiled, stroking his snow-white sleeves and straightening out his collar.

"I think it makes you look like a complete idiot." Karla retorted.

"Well then, I'm pretty sure you'll feel absolutely wonderful when you find out that you've shattered the many hopes and dreams of a certain Major you know."

Karla's jaw dropped. "You didn't..."

"Major Mackenzie would be so disappointed to see that his favorite little captain didn't attend a once in a lifetime ceremony, just because she disagreed with the dress code."

Karla snatched the vacuum sealed package of clothes from Paccone's arms. She glared at him and let the acid flow out of her mouth, "Somebody is going to get hurt real bad after this." She prodded Paccone's chest with her finger. "Somebody."

Both Marines stood there silently for a few seconds.

"What," Karla finally spoke. "Are you expecting me to strip in front of you?"

Paccone cracked his trademark grin. "I was kinda hoping."

"Pervert."

UNSC Pelican Z-34 en route to Orbital MAC Station Cairo

"Awww, she's sleeping like a little baby." Kumi smiled. "We should shave off one of her eyebrows or something."

"That's terrible." Leo grinned. "We should steal her rifle and hide it in one of the storage bins. That'll drive her nuts."

"Hey, that would." Kumi laughed. "Hey Scohar, you go anything to add?"

Scohar shrugged. "Maybe we should just wake her up, we're almost there anyway."

"You're no fun."

"I can hear you guys." Sam said, eyes still closed. "Can't get any decent sleep in this damn tin can anyways."

"Hey!" The pilot yelled. "This 'tin can' is what's going to get you to the Cairo, unless you'd prefer to walk there."

"Well hey," Kumi knocked on the side of the Pelican. "If this thing will even stay in once piece long enough."

"Oh, it'll get there. You should be worrying about what to do when you feel the urge to hurl."

"Hey man," Leo laughed, "If we can keep Marine combat rations down, we can handle anything."

"Tell you what, you canput that bucket you call a helmet on your face and can keep it all to yourself."

Scohar looked at the exchange curiously. Though it looked like the Marines and the pilot were verbally lashing each other, it was really just comradely banter between soldiers. It was rather interesting to see such unpredictable people interacting with other unpredictable people, and creating an atmosphere of warmth and happiness in an otherwise cold and lonely galaxy.

"Besides," The pilot continued, "I can get us there alive, no problemo."

"Oh yeah, and the fact that your call sign is 'Barfbag' is even more reassuring." Sam said, eyes still closed.

"Hey, how'd you know that?" The pilot turned his head around curiously.

"It's amazing what you can learn if you listen hard enough." Sam said coolly,

Leo noticed that Kumi was quite surprised. In fact, he was actually pretty surprised himself. The pilot had never mentioned his call sign during the entire trip. Leo also noted that Scohar showed no apparent reaction at all. Just another interesting factoid to catalog.

"Any previous flying records, so we know that we might have a slight chance of surviving?" Kumi asked, "Because there aren't many more mundane ways to die than in a Pelican."

"Most recent run was dropping off troops at Zanatar." Barfbag beamed proudly.

"Great." Sam sighed. "Any mission where you actually landed your Pelican intact?"

Barfbag's smile remained unbroken. "None that I could remember."

"Wonderful." Sam leaned back in her seat and started assembling her sniper rifle out of habit and boredom.

"Do you do that often?" Schoar asked, pointing to the half-assembled rifle.

Sam said simply, "Only when I get a bad feeling."

Cairo

"I swear, this is like jury duty, but worse." Williams grumbled.

"Well, I sort of thought it was the point of the army to have sentries." Tarin responded.

Unfortunately for Williams and Tarin, they were passed up for a chance to see Spartan-117, or more universally known as the Master Chief. Instead, they were tasked to guard one of the Cairo's Pelican bays, which could obviously get very boring and very lonely.

"I swear, I'd rather face a Hunter again than go through sentry duty. It just drives me crazy." Williams hung his head in mock sorrow.

"You've actually seen a Hunter?" Tarin's eyes gleamed in curiosity.

"Oh yeah, back on Schizen Eight, we faced hordes of those things. Lucky to be alive after that."

"Let me guess, the Captain killed them all."

"Naturally."

"What were you doing?"

"Ducking in a shell hole and screaming like a little girl."

Tarin grinned. "Naturally."

"Let me tell you, those Hunters are built like tanks." Williams noticed that Tarin was listening with the interest of a schoolgirl, which kind of made him feel good. "Nothing short of a point-blank Jackhammer rocket can get through their armor."

"I've heard that they didn't have much armor in the back." Tarin pulled her trademark silver knife from its sheath and twirled it around in her fingers several times. "Makes it pretty easy to kill them."

"If you can get that close. Even if you manage to dodge its fuel rod cannon or its big honking shield, you still have those razor sharp spines on its back to deal with."

Even as he said the words, Williams noticed that Tarin was only half-listening. Williams had a gut feeling that she was contemplating how to kill a Hunter with just that trusty knife of hers.

"It's suicide." He said.

"I've done crazier things." Tarin looked out of the viewports and narrowed her eyes. "Hey, what the hell is that?"

Freedom

"Sir, I'm reading anomalous contacts on the fringes of the system." Josua chimed.

Captain Rogers sat up, suddenly alert. "Anything from FLEETCOM?"

"All forces are put on full alert, and-" Suddenly, there was a buzzing of static. "Warning, warning, Covenant ships detected and confirmed. Enemy dropships boarding MAC stations, warships gathering on the fringes of the system. All available forces being mobilized, and all MAC stations powered and attaining firing solutions."

"Joshua, what's our maintenance status?"

"Ninety-three percent." Joshua was shifting chess pieces at a frantic rate now. "Approximately twelve more minutes until completion."

"Ninety-three is good enough, and twelve minutes defnitely isn't good enough. Tell the crew to go to battle stations, seal all hatches and detach from the station."

"Understood, Captain."

Warning klaxons began to ring and crewmen all over the ship began running in a mad dash to their assigned stations. There was a loud hiss and thud as power cables and walkways cut themselves from the Freedom's hull and retracted.

"Weapons and shields are powered and ready." Joshua continued.

But Rogers wasn't paying attention. He saw upwards of maybe forty to fifty twinkling lights in the distance, growing larger and larger.

"Joshua, what is that I'm seeing?"

"Possibly a flight of Longswords responding to the attack."

Rogers stared at the display for several more seconds, and then realized what it was.

"Oh my god, those aren't Longswords! Joshua! Activate all anti-fighter batteries! Scramble our Longswords! Tell Point Hope to do the same!"

"Done."

Suddenly, the dark void of space was lit up by the flashes of hundreds of autocannons and gauss turrets firing thousands of rounds per second against the advancing hostiles. Not even flinching once, the Covenant Seraphs replied in kind with hailstorms of blue plasma energy.

Cairo

Karla and Paccone stood at attention as Sergeant Johnson and the Master Chief made their way into the room.

"Hey, it's the Master Chief himself." Paccone whispered. "What do you think?"

"Meh." Karla shrugged. "He's shorter than I thought."

"Oh come on, this is the perfect chance for you to ask him why his armor is such a fruity color."

Paccone was obviously referring to the bright and slightly repulsive shade of green that dominated most of the Spartan'' armor. In hindsight, Karla thought that it would make pretty poor camouflage on most worlds.

"Hey, here's an idea." She whispered back. "You ask him, and I'll watch him twist your head off."

Karla kept a careful eye on the Spartan super-soldier. She had the odd feeling that he could hear her conversation with Paccone. It wouldn't be surprising, since she assumed super-soldiers naturally had better hearing, but it was still unnerving nonetheless. How Sam had a crush on this... soldier while she was in school, Karla would never know.

One of the officers began to talk, but Karla wasn't listening. She still had a great deal of questions concerning her previous experiences back on Aeola. She believed Mackenzie would have an answer, since he had several contacts within ONI, but she never had the chance to speak with him during the long Slipspace journey. She could see him standing on the opposite end of the line of officers, noting with amusement at his obvious discomfort in a dress uniform.

Suddenly, out of the blue, warning klaxons blared. Marines were immediately running and grabbing weapons. Even the officers, still clad in dress uniform, began running for the weapons caches.

"What the hell is going on?" Karla asked a passing Marine.

"The Covenant are finally here!" He yelled, flicking the safety on his battle rifle off. "They've started the attack, the poor bastards."