April 20, FOB Ramius, 00:30 Local
This deployment so far was much better than Iraq Coady thought as he lay on his cot, Atago was asleep next to him on her cot. They had to share a room because there was a severe lack of space at FOB Ramius. The reason for such a lack of space was two new teams showing up without any of the officer's prior knowledge. Scott felt something on his arm, it was Atago. She'd moved over to rest her head on his shoulder, he blushed a bit but kept his arm where it was.
He liked her, but like every other time he liked a girl he didn't know if she liked him back. He gently kissed her forehead and pulled her blanket up to cover her more, everyone was doubling up for warmth, too. Some nights it dropped close to freezing, the few blankets they had were their only defense against the cold until space heaters could be trucked in. As he lay his head back on the pillow he felt Atago kiss his cheek "What'd you kiss my cheek for?" she wrapped her arms around him "because you kissed me first!" Scott shrugged "Fair enough. Now go back to sleep, we've got that patrol tomorrow." He felt her nuzzle his neck and they went to sleep holding eachother.
April 21, Un-named Village, 5 Kilometers NW of FOB Ramius, 11:45 Local
Captain Coady, First Lieutenant Itami, and Second Lieutenant Cody stood in a semicircle around the villages chieftain, Itami translating what the chieftain was saying. "Uh, he says that there haven't been any Imperial troops here for weeks, and he'll be glad to help us in any way he can." Scott wiped the sweat from his brow, or what little bit was exposed under his ACH helmet "Alright, ask him if there's anything we can do for him." It was a 120F in the shade and Scott needed something to eat, and maybe read a book or something in the hammock he brought through the Gate with him. "Uh, he says that there isn't anything they need help with, but they'll come to our fortress if he needs anything." "Alright, thank him and we can get going." On the wat back to the Humvee Scott saw Haines getting mugged by the Akatsuki sisters for some candy "Aw come on! I gave you the damn Skittles didn't I?" The destroyers were small, but could clearly take down a Recon Marine for a packet of Skittles if they wanted to, that or Haines let himself get mugged. Scott didn't know which was funnier. "Didn't I tell him not th have candy in the truck? Was I speaking a different language or what?" The lieutenants laughed but didn't answer the question. Scott sat in the front seat, Haines driving, Itami and Cody in the back seat, and Mane in his usual spot manning the machine gun. As they drove back to the FOB they discussed similarities in their carriers, Lieutenant Cody was alsp named Scott, but was in the UNSC Army and specialized in Air Assault. They also found out there were several dozen planets with humans on them that were not governed by the UNSC. UNSC stood for United Nations Space Command, and the Earth Scott and the others were from was an exact copy created by the Forerunners, an ancient alien race that left the Milky Way galaxy some hundred thousand years ago.
Lieutenant Cody sat in the Humvees seat with his MA5M aimed out the open door, scanning for activity in the surrounding hills. Captain Coady was almost exactly like him, except for a few other things, he wore perscription glasses. Other than that they were even the same height and grew up in the same town on their seperate planets. He took his helmet off and set it on a hanger in between the front and back seats.
He wanted to get back to Ramius as soon as possible, he had something he wanted to ask his girlfriend, Sera, and he hoped she'd say yes. He and Sera had been going steady for the betteer part of three years, he was sure she was the one.
Back at Ramius the team that went on patrol split up and went on their seperate ways for the rest of the day after lunch. Coady lay in his hammock in front of the barracks room he and Atago shared for the time being, reading The Hunt For Red October for the hundredth time, it really was his favorite book. Scott looked up at the sun for a moment, it was as hot as Iraq during the day in these mountains, and at night it was colder than Afghanistan in the Fall.
A cargo helicopter had dropped off some extra blankets and small space heaters while they were on patrol, and the Remnant team was busy unpacking and inventorying the dropped supplied. Scott watched them with curiousity. Most of them looked like people back home. The Remnant team consisted of Lieutenant Scott Cody, Lukas Maximillian, Alex Rose,who had wings, Seraphina Delila, who was Cody's girlfriend, Saffry Shomane, the fox faunus, Pierce Gray, Faber, Odessa, and Darby. They all wore the UNSC uniform, minus ranks or other insignia, aside from Cody, who was the only soldier in the group, the rest were civilian friends of his who volunteered to come here. Scott went back to reading his book, he wanted to finish reading it again so he could lend it to Atago to read so she could better learn to read and write English. She spoke it with almost no accent, occasionally she needed help with some words, which Scott was happy to oblige her with some help. He sipped water from his canteen as he heard someone walk over to the footend of the hammock. Scott finished the paragraph and put the book down. When he looked up Atago was standing by his feet with her amrs crossed "Hi A-atago, what's up?" She leaned on the side of the hammock, her face close to Scotts "I thought you were gonna let me read that?" Scott rolled his eyes a bit "I am, after I'm done reading it." He patted her head "But I want to read it right now." She pouted and stuck her lip out. Scott sighed, she was too damned cute "Alright, get in here I'll start over." She smiled and lay down next to him, her head resting on his shoulder as he started reading the first chapter outloud.