Fair warning, this chapter is a little bit sad. Also, not as much action here as we saw in the last two chapters. Still, I like this chapter and I hope you will too.

I watch Doc as he finishes patching up my shoulder. "That should stop the bleeding and prevent infection" he says a little uncertainly.

"Thanks" I say. He picks up his med bag and moves to a seat on the other end of the pelican.

I turn to look at Wash. He's been sitting quietly ever since we got rescued, watching Doc work on my shoulder. I know he still has a lot of questions, but he seems like he doesn't know where to start.

"Ahem" I say, pretending to clear my throat. Wash jumps slightly, but says nothing. "Have you decided yet?" I ask, keeping my voice low so hopefully only he can hear.

"Decided what?" He asks, also speaking quietly.

"If you're gonna help us" I clarify.

Wash thinks for a moment before finally answering. "I don't know. After everything we've been through, I don't know if these guys are ready to take on something like this again."

I look at the other soldiers sitting around us, nodding. "They're not exactly the legendary heroes I've heard of."

"Legendary heroes?" Wash asks.

"Oh yeah. After you took down the Director, everyone started talking about you. The Reds and Blues of Project Freelancer, soldiers for justice." I say it in my best movie announcer voice, and we both laugh slightly. "Of course, I started watching you long before that. I saw everything that went down with Project Freelancer, and I know that half the time you guys were just trying to survive."

"Why were you watching us?" Wash asks.

"I knew some of my brothers and sisters had been sold to the Director. I had hoped to find out what happened to them and if they were okay." I explain.

"Did you?"

I shake my head. "Their names were changed when they joined the Project. The Director never documented where he recruited his agents from, so I couldn't tell which of them were my family."

"Well, if they all got hidden as Sim-Troopers like Caboose, it'll be nearly impossible to find them" Wash says. "But if any of them were actual Freelancers, then I probably know them. How many were there?"

I think for a moment. "Three that I know of. There was Carbon, who you already know" I say, gesturing toward Caboose. "Then there was Zinc. I didn't know her very well, but I heard she became a pilot."

"Could be 479er" Wash muses. "She was the pilot who flew us to all of our missions."

"Was she good?"

"Yeah. Best I've ever seen, despite the fact that we crashed so often. She had a bit of an attitude, too."

I think about it for a minute. "It's possible. I'll see if we have any information on her. Do you know where she went after Project Freelancer shut down?"

"No, but I'd guess she got a job flying for the UNSC."

I'm quiet for a while, thinking about this possibility, before I continue. "After Zinc and Carbon, the only other one I know about is Manganese," I say. "If I were to bet, I'd say he was most likely to succeed as a Freelancer."

"Can you describe him?" Wash asks.

"Huge" I start, drawing out the word for emphasis. "This guy was built like a brick wall, and was the toughest thing you'd ever see. He went by Manny when I knew him, but his name was probably changed. He was strong, even stronger than Carbon. Not very talkative. He didn't like heights." I think a bit more before saying "oh, and completely bald."

Wash looks nervous when he hears this description. "Do you know him?" I ask.

"That… sounds like Maine" Wash says eventually.

"Where is he?" I ask excitedly. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"He, um… He died" Wash says.

My eyes drop to the floor and I clench my fists in frustration. "How? Tell me what happened."

Wash explains Maine was implanted with the AI Sigma, which drove him crazy and eventually turned him into the Meta. He tells me about how Maine betrayed him and tried to steal the Epsilon AI, and how the reds finally killed him by throwing him off a cliff. Wash hasn't looked at me the whole time he's been telling the story, afraid to see my face. When he finishes, he finally gets the courage to look at me. My elbows are on my knees and my head is leaning on my arms with my face aimed down.

"Are you okay?" Wash asks.

I look up and Wash jumps back slightly. I don't know what I look like, but it must be something terrifying. I can feel tears in my eyes. Even though I understand what happened and why they had to kill Maine, I still feel angry. "You killed him." It's a statement, not a question.

"Yes" Wash says, his shoulders drooping. "I didn't want to. He was my friend, and I think I was one of the only people in Project Freelancer who really knew him, but he didn't give us a choice. He was crazy. He would have killed all of us to get Epsilon."

All the anger inside me fades, leaving sorrow to fill its place. "He was my brother. He was the strongest of us. I thought if anyone could have survived Freelancer's fall, it would be him." My head falls and my shoulders begin to shake.

Wash cautiously places a hand on my uninjured shoulder, wanting to provide some comfort but not really knowing how. "He didn't have much of a chance. He was gone before everything went down. The way I see it, we didn't kill Maine, we killed the Meta. Maine was already dead, replaced by Sigma and Gamma and all the other AIs. Once they were gone, there was nothing of him left, just an animal."

We sit silently for a while before Wash speaks again. "You know, he talked about you sometimes."

I look up at him, surprised. "He did?"

"Yeah" Wash nods. "He never said any details, which I can understand now that I've met you, but he mentioned having a sister. He said he had a lot of siblings, too many to really count, but he had one sister in particular who was special. He told me he joined Project Freelancer so he could defeat the Covenant, that way his sister wouldn't have to fight."

I smile and shake my head. "Manny was always trying to protect me. The first time he saw someone hit me while I was training, he charged into the room and threw the guy into a wall."

"I think I'm still sore from that!" Nick calls from the front of the ship.

I laugh for a second before growing quiet. "Manny always took care of me. He was always there for me. When I was sick and scared, and didn't know if I would survive until morning, he stayed with me and kept me company." My eyes turn back to the floor for a second as I say "he was a good brother."

"You two were close" Wash says. It's not a question.

I nod. "We had a lot in common. He was the only one to survive his batch, and so was I."

"Batch?"

"Most of us were made in batches. There would be anywhere from twenty to a hundred in each batch. In the beginning, nearly all of them died. Their genes wouldn't be put together properly, and they would start to fall apart." I explain. "That's what happened to Manny's batch. He was the only one left. Dr. Han spent a few more years working on the formula, trying to perfect it, before making my batch, but it wasn't enough. We all started to die, one by one. The only reason I survived was because I was the last one to start dying. Dr. Han tried to cure each of the others and failed every time, but every time she learned from her mistakes. By the time she got to me, she had finally figured out the cure."

I stop for a moment, the anger and resentment showing on my face when I think about Dr. Han. Then my face softens as I remember Maine. "Manny stayed with me, though. I didn't know if the treatment would work and I was so scared, but Manny stayed with me and told me it would be all right. That was the first time anyone had ever made me a promise, rather than just telling me my percent chance of surviving. I knew it was a lie. He couldn't have possibly known for sure that I would live, but it still made me feel better." I smile sadly at the memories. "Manny always made me feel better."

Wash opens his mouth to say something but is cut off by Nick's voice from the front of the pelican. "Prepare for landing."

I stand and walk to the back door of the ship while I hear Caboose struggling to get his seatbelt off. "No, you hit this button then push up" I hear Donut explain as he tries to help the blue-clad soldier.

"This chair won't let me go. It's a very mean chair!" Caboose shouts.

I smile and shake my head. At least he managed to find some friends while he was gone. I feel a thump as the ship lands and reach for the button to open the door. "Get ready, people. You're about to meet the rest of the family."

Ooh... Are you guys ready for this? It's almost time to meet the family!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it. I'm trying to post as often as possible, but school and Christmas stuff is getting in the way (that, and the fact that I have a new book I'm reading, but I'll blame it on school still). Thank you to all who have reviewed, followed, or favorite this story. You make my days better. See you soon!

-J