Disclaimer: Red vs. Blue belongs to Rooster Teeth, not me. I make no profit from this, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 12
After a night in the Staff of Charon's medical bay on antibiotics and pain killers, Doc said Sister was well enough to be up and about as long as she didn't stress her arm. Sven came by to show her to where she would be bunking.
"Just come back when you need another dose of pain medication. I don't pass out pills – I wouldn't want anyone getting addicted." Doc said.
"Thanks Doc. I'll see you later." Sister waved bye, then trotted down the hall to catch up with Sven and walk by his side. Sister tried to pay attention to where Sven was leading her, but the pain killers the doc had given her were making her feel warm and fuzzy, so she was even more easily distracted than usual. By the time they arrived at crew quarters, she was thoroughly lost. She leaned against the wall of the narrow hallway while Sven knocked on a sliding door. It opened to reveal an angry looking woman with Disney princess quality blonde hair.
"You're back!" she said, and the angry look was replaced with mildly pleased surprise. "Rick was worried. I never doubted you," she smirked at him, then she noticed Sister. "Who's the kid?'
"This is Sister, a new recruit and your new bunk mate." The woman looked at Sister skeptically. Sister perked up.
"I'm not gross or anything. I'll be a good roommate, I promise." She paused a moment, then added, "You're kinda hot."
"Alright, I guess. But I don't see what reason we have for taking on a fucking kid."
"She saved my life for one," Sven admitted with an even stare. The woman raised her eyebrows.
"And?"
"And she may have brought us some new useful information. Rick has Tomoko looking into it."
'Fine. Top bunk is yours kiddo." She returned to her seat on her bed, picked up a kukri that was lying there, and began to sharpen it.
"Kaikaina," Sister looked back at Sven. "My room is across the hall. I'll be back later. You rest. We'll bring your things down later."
"Okay … Sven?" He looked over his shoulder at her as he turned to go. "Thanks." Sven nodded and walked back the way he had come, presumably to continue working on whatever his mission was. Sister leaned against the wall for a few minutes watching the blonde sharpen her knives. She tried to remember if Sven had told her the woman's name and she'd already forgotten it. Sister did that a lot. She looked at the woman's perfect hair and nails and decided she'd call her Girlie. Sister never let anyone know the reason she usually nicknamed people was because she couldn't actually remember their names.
"So, what do you guys do?" she asked Girlie.
"Sven didn't tell you? I thought he said you were a recruit."
"Not really. I asked if you were Innies. He avoided the question."
"If Sven didn't tell you what makes you think I will?"
"Well, UNSC soldiers were chasing him, and he agreed to bring me with him and help me find my brother who was illegally drafted by the UNSC, so Insurrection seemed like a safe bet."
"Logical assumption. Let's stick with that for now." Girlie didn't look up from her knives.
"See, that just makes it sound like you're not the Insurrection, and that makes me curious."
"You're too young to understand."
"Try me." Girlie stared hard at her for a long moment.
"The world's not black and white kid. Let's leave it at that." She went back to sharpening. She had that look on her face that said, 'I'm going to ignore you forever so you'll go away,' so Sister shrugged and turned to leave. "Where are you going?" Girlie asked from behind her.
"Exploring."
"Sven said rest."
"Sven should take his own advice."
" … True enough." Sister could hear the smile in Girlie's voice. "Don't try going through any locked doors."
"No worries. Lock picking is not one of my skills."
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Sister wandered for a while and was soon happily lost, taking in the details of the huge ship. She saw very few people and they paid her no mind.
Eventually she found herself at the showers. A young man was under the hot water, and she stared through the steam for a moment before speaking. He was probably around 18, well muscled, dark eyes and hair, of mixed enough heritage that she couldn't really identify his point if origin, like most colony kids. He had tattoos. Lots of them, in fact. He had full sleeves that seemed to depict the inner mechanics of a ship. The mechanized design was mesmerizing. Sister decided they needed to be friends.
"Excuse me – "
The young man let out a cry of surprise and nearly fell on the slippery floor, catching himself on the handle and spinning it to the off position. He stared, wide eyed and dripping.
"I'm sorry. No one is usually in here at t-this t-time," he said and blushed profusely.
"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who barged in on you. I didn't mean to startle you. I just got here yesterday, and I'm still learning my way around. I guess I'm throwing everyone off." Sister grinned sheepishly. "Also, I'm totally lost. Could you point me in the direction of the hangar?" Sister was unphased by his nakedness. He on the other hand, edged toward a nearby pile of towels.
"Um, yeah, it's – sorry, who are you?" He made it to the pile of towels and snatched one off the top.
"Oh, I'm Sister. I came in last night with Sven." She watched, slightly disappointed, as he wrapped the towel around himself.
"Oh. Okay, um, I'll t-take you to the hangar. I'm a mechanic, so I'm heading there anyway. Just give me a second."
"Thanks!' Sister smiled and waited.
'Would you, um, mind t-turning around?" Sister looked confused for a moment; then it dawned on her.
"Oh! Right, sorry about that. I forget about the whole modesty thing." She spun around and rocked back and forth on her feet.
"Um, why is t-that?" The young man began dressing hurriedly.
"Well, I guess it just never mattered to me. I mean, we're all just people, right?"
"I guess so." The young man finished tying his boots. When Sister heard him stand back up she faced him, grinning.
"I guess I should ask your name, now that I've seen you naked." The young man chuckled and ran his fingers over his sandy colored buzz cut.
"I'm Cody. Nice t-to meet you I guess."
"I like your tattoos."
"T-thanks." Sister threaded her left arm through his right.
"Now how about you show a girl around, Cody?"
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When Sven found Sister later, she and Cody were in the mess hall, and a crowd was gathering around them. Remembering what Tomoko had said about Sister having a tendency to get in fights, he hurried over.
"And so I told him, 'Deploy the guns! We'll blast them back to hell!' But the guns wouldn't fire on account of they hadn't been used in so long, and I was having to dodge their fire! I was doing these slaloms and barrel rolls all over the place, and I ducked under this one asteroid and looped back over it. That's when he got the guns to work, and I blasted them to smithereens as I came back around! The bastards never knew what hit them!"
Sven managed to hold back his laugh at Sister's newly exaggerated version of the story she had told him before. The crowd around her laughed, clapped, and cheered, and Sven thought if nothing else, Sister would likely boost morale on the ship. He stepped up behind her and put a hand on her shoulders.
"Making friends already, I see. I am not surprised."
"Sven, hey!" Sister leaned back against him and smiled happily. "These people are so cool! This is a lot more fun than, well, pretty much anywhere I've been."
"It took me awhile to find you."
"I've been showing her around some, sir," Cody said. "She's pretty forgetful it seems, so it t-took awhile." Cody and Sister laughed.
"It's just that I have no sense if direction!" Sister defended herself. A big woman bustled over, shouting at the crowd to get out of the way. She set a large pie down in front of Sister.
"There you go you poor thing. You deserve it after what you've been through."
"Thanks Cookie! You must be like, the best ship's Cook ever! Of all time!" She picked up a fork and simultaneously tugged on Sven's sleeve. "Sit with me." She smiled up at him.
"I have work. I just wanted to check on you."
"Sven." Cookie started in a stern voice. "I've been feeding you since you were knee high to a Grunt. You never came in last night or this morning. Sit your ass down and eat something. I know when you need to eat." The ship's cook raised one eyebrow very high, and Sister stifled a giggle. Sven sighed.
"Yes ma'am." He sat down, and she pulled more forks out if her apron for Sven and Cody. The three if them dug into the pie and a delicious silence followed. For a moment anyway.
"Hey Cookie, when are you gonna make us some of your famous pie?" called someone from across the room.
"When you quit yammering and do some actual work!" She hollered back. She turned back to the trio and looked on like a distrustful mother hen. "You know, Sven was skinny as a bean pole when he was little. I could hardly get him to stop and eat then, either. He forgot, he always said. I did finally get him to bulk up a bit."
"Pie doesn't build muscle, Molly." Sven grumbled, calling the cook by her given name. Cody and Sister chuckled.
"Hmph. You bring me that plate when you're done. I have lunch to prep," she said and trundled off.
"So you've known her since you were a kid?" Sister gently tried to pry more information from Sven.
"She worked on the base my cousins and I grew up on. Looked after us when our parents were deployed. When we came out here, she just came with us." After a few minutes Sven looked up to see Tomoko hurrying in. She threw herself down in front of them and shoved a data pad at Sven. Sven hardly noticed her take the fork from his hand as he picked up the data pad.
"Connie made contact. She said she's pretty sure they didn't suspect anything. Also, Demo finally woke from the coma. He's insisting that he should be on the way back from hospital within the week." She forked a piece of the pie into her mouth as Sven scanned the message and let out a long breath.
"Good ... I was sure he was a goner this time." Sven rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Was he able to tell us what they went to the arctic station for last winter?"
"Data. We think they originally came for – " Tomoko glanced over at Sister. " – you know, the thing. But it was moved. So they stole the transfer data. They'll have decrypted it by now."
"I still can't believe they blew up the entire base. We lost so many men. It's extreme even for them," Sven said.
"Yeah, and the only reason we know what they took is because Demo is still alive – barely. Does your family have super human powers or something? You lot are always not quite dying when everyone thinks you will. I would have thought he'd have died from hypothermia in that arctic water, if the explosion didn't get him."
"Good genes I guess? His brother was a Spartan, after all," Sven muttered and kept reading. Sister just stared at the two of them until the other woman looked up at her from shoveling Sven's share of pie into her mouth. She swallowed.
"Hi. I'm Tomoko, tech specialist. You must be Sister. I hacked all your files to make sure you weren't a spy."
"Hi! I hope it wasn't too much trouble. I mean, you could have just asked," Sister replied brightly. "How is this Demo guy related to Sven?" she asked, happy to have picked up on a part of the conversation she could follow.
"One of his cousins," Tomoko said at the same time Sven said,
"Not relevant." He glared at Tomoko. Apparently he thought he had revealed enough for one day.
"Hey, leave her alone." Sister poked Sven in the side, teasing. "If you had your tech girl look up everything about me I think I should get to know a little about you. How many cousins do you have? Any more family on the ship?" Sister stared intently at Sven and waited. He sighed.
"Assuming they are all still alive, which is the daily question, I have three cousins: Demo who works with us, Demo's brother who is a Spartan, and Connie."
"Wait, Connie like Connie that shot me? She's your cousin? And she's dating your boss who is your best friend? Wow, talk about family drama."
"How did you even figure that out?" Sven turned his sharp glance from Sister to Cody, who just shrugged.
"I pick up social cues easily. It's other things I'm not as good at." Sister said lightly.
"Like directions." Cody laughed.
"Like I said, give me a land marks and a map and I can find anything. Just don't expect me to know which way north is."
"Sister, it's space. There is no north." Tomoko pointed out.
"So you see the problem!" Sister whined, and the three of them laughed. Sven was just glad they had changed the subject off family. He stood up.
"I've got to go discuss this with Rick," he said, indicating the data pad Tomoko had given him. "Sebial is going to have to up security in the city. We'll see how they do when we know they're coming." He ruffled Sister's hair. "I'll see you later Kaikaina. These two can look after you for now." He looked at Tomoko, and she nodded. He strode out if the mess hall without another word.
"He's always doing that," Sister said as she watched him go.
"Doing what?" Cody asked.
"Swooping in and out if rooms ominously," Tomoko supplied. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't know he's doing it, because Rick does it on purpose, and he never looks quite as cool. That's why he does his hair like that – to boost his coolness because he's the Leader."
"Leader of what, exactly?" Sister asked. "The "Rebellion? The super top secret spies? The secret government experimental facility? The ship full of mercenaries?"
"Well, our funding comes from – " Cody stopped as Tomoko shook her head at him.
"He just means that Rick is in charge of this ship. He's not the head of our whole operation," Tomoko said.
"Oh. What about the Freelancers? Who are they?"
"They're one of the Special Projects that was approved by the UNSC that has become corrupt. Connie is trying to get enough proof to bring them down."
"Wow. That's so noble!"
Tomoko snorted. "It's basically just corporate espionage," she muttered.
"Huh?" Sister didn't quite catch what the woman had said.
"Nothing kid." Tomoko smiled at her. "Let's get you cleaned up. You stink to high heaven." Tomoko shoved the pie plate at Cody and motioned Sister to follow her.
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After a thorough shower Sister and Tomoko made their way back to the albatross where Cody was tinkering. He'd been assigned care of the ship.
"I wouldn't touch that," Sister said as she walked up to see him investigating the "capacitor" she had won in the poker game.
"Sister, do you know what this is?" he asked.
"I've figured out just enough to know it's not what the guy I got it from told me it was and that I probably shouldn't touch it." She shrugged.
"Yeah, good call. I think this is alien," he said. "Did he say where he got it?"
"No, but I'm pretty sure that he scavenged it from some space battle. Brennan told me that was fairly common practice," Sister said as she dug a comb out of her things and began getting the knots out of her hair. Meanwhile, Tomoko had been investigating the albatross's computers.
"Sister, this bird is practically ancient. I'm updating all your software."
"Oooh, cool, show me how!" Sister and Cody came up behind Tomoko and she snorted a laugh.
"I can't just teach you computer programming in an afternoon, kid."
"Well, how long did it take you to learn?" Sister asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.
"My parents were both programmers. I've been working with computers practically since I could walk," she explained.
"All right, so you had a significant advantage. You should be a good teacher then, right?"
"The files I hacked had your grades in them … are you sure you're up for the challenge?" Tomoko gave Sister an appraising look.
"School is lame. This is important. If it's part of my ship, I want to know how it works."
"I may be able to fit in some time to teach you," Tomoko said thoughtfully. "And if you really aren't a spy, then it could be good to have some extra help. We are perpetually understaffed thanks to those damn Freelancers."
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Note: Okay, so ffn's formatting is being freakin weird for some reason and driving me crazy. If you see anything wrong please let me know so I can fix it. Loves!