"HEY LOOK WHAT I UPDATED :D"
Sorry for the long wait time guys... been trying to get this piece together for a while now and I think I just needed to go rewatch the anime again and play some classic Halo:CE to get my back in the mood...
On another note...
HALO 5 OMG! :O TEXT CANNOT EXPLAIN MY EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW SUCH FEELZ MUCH WOWZ OMGZ AND ALL THAT SHYT!1! *Heart attack* But it's being released in 2015!? D; what the hell man, 2015... won't we all be dead by then :,c
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"So I went over to help Henrietta with troop training procedures, I don't see what the big deal is?" I steamed at Louise who was scolding me in her room in front of Siesta.
"The deal it that I was not made aware of your plans!" she retorted
"Big deal! It's not like I'm your familiar anymore! I can go wherever I please!"
"I'd still like to be told of these things!"
"Sheesh!"
Siesta coughed softly "Ok if you two are done fighting, I have something I wanted to pass along, from a Sgt. Montgomery from the UNSC..."
"Hmm? Jude? What does he want?" I asked, turning all my attention from Louise to Siesta.
"I don't know, he just told me to tell you if I saw you to find him down by the School base." Replied Siesta, shrugging with one shoulder.
"Ok, I'll head there now then."
"As will I!" Louise added.
I grumbled since of course Louise had to just know every inch and detail of my life...
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As we walked through the field I saw the Undine guys picking weeds with their bare hands, Reynard and Guiche were muttering about something while Malicorn on the other hand...
"I'm hungry! I'm thirsty! My delicate body wasn't made for such manual labor!" he spouted, with Tiffania, Beatrice and Montmorency overseeing them... and the best part was the most unlikely person responded to that...
"Delicate my ass!" Tiffa exclaimed, one of her eyes twitching a bit in anger... I think I'd influenced her... she was louder and less timid than when I'd first met her in the woods in Albion... I chuckled thinking about what she might become and it sorta frightened me...
"Sir!" called a soldier leaning against the school walls near the UNSC base.
"Jude!" I exclaimed "You sent for me?"
"Aye that I did sir!" he replied marching on over to me. "Well you see sir, Jenny and I noticed you having a bit of a down moment the other day and we got in contact with one of the higher ups about this and uh well... we've gotten you leave for roughly a month, varying by star dates, of leave on Reach! The Dawnstrider has to resupply and for that it needs to make a one week trip back to Reach, restock on supplies such as UNSC food, tools, weapons, equipment and mainly... ammo... also might be getting some fresh troops! So the trip to will be relatively empty."
"Awesome!" I exclaimed "How'd you manage to do that?"
"We pulled some strings." Said a female voice from behind and I noticed Jennifer Woods walking up behind me. "Spoke to Henrietta who got a message to a high ranking officer near Lord Hood's rank who approved your leave on the condition that Henrietta makes a visit to Reach on a diplomatic mission."
"So in other words I'll be on guard duty for her?" I sighed, I knew it should have been too good to be true...
"No no! She will have her own guards of course and the mission itself is only going to last a week, it's a simple visit and such, no deep negotiations yet! But anyways, since Henrietta is going, she's also invited along the rest of you! A week there, a week on the mission, a week of free time for everyone, two for you sir, and a week for the return trip."
Louise cocked her head "So we're going to see your guy's home world?"
I explained that we all had different homeworlds, well most of us... technically... and told her that we were going into my neck of the Galaxy in which case yes, you might consider that we were going to my own homeworld... or my realm I guess you could have said.
"Reach?" she asked "Reach for what?"
Siesta sighed beside Louise "He means the Planet Reach, he told us all about it, remember?"
Louise paused for a moment... before realizing "Oh yeah! I think I remember now! But... how are we going to get there? Magic?"
I laughed "No, far from it! though you might consider it magic we consider it technology." I turned back to Sgt. Montgomery "So will we be taking the Dawnstrider back or some other shuttle?
"The Dawnstrider Frigate will be your ride back, should be leaving today so you may wanna get on the next Pelican up." Said Jude
I nodded and set about collecting those who were tagging along...
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I held out a list, checking off names... "Siesta, Louise, Henrietta, Tiffania, Anies, Guiche, Malicorn, Reynard and Montmorency... I think that is everyone, Tabitha is missing for some reason and Kirche is back in Germania..." I looked up double checking the heads, confirming everyone was here... I had just confirmed everything when the next Pelican landed just outside the school.
I stepped up into the dropship, waving for the others to board. Just for the sake of normalcy for the UNSC, everyone had changed clothing.
Louise, Tiffania, Guiche, Malicorn, Reynard and Montmorency had all changed out of the school uniforms into modern clothing.
Louise had a hot pink t-shirt and denim skirt with black leggings, but kept her school shoes on. Tiffania had changed into the Fatigues that she'd been given several days ago, with the Boonie hat and Kevlar vest, Siesta had changed into the still fitting Fatigues as well, but had no hat nor armored vest. Guiche ditched his frilly school outfit for a classic grey suit and tie... he actually reminded me of an old British secret agent who went to Russia with love but with more hair and not as cool... Reynard on the other hand changed into a Red long sleeved shirt with blue jeans and regular old white running shoes. Malicorn... well... we had an issue finding something that fit him so he just had a plain stupid looking white shirt and black pants... nothing special or even decent looking in my opinion.
And of course Anies wore her new Red ODST Armor with a Purple fleur-de-lis on the shoulders and purple stripe vertically on her helmet, carrying a Battle Rifle on her back as well as an Energy Pike! Also wielding an energy shield attached to her wrist, like a jackal's, only more square.
Lastly Henrietta was wearing her purple political suit with the black mini-skirt and low business like heels...
With everyone suited up and boarded into the Pelican it closed up the cargo doors and took of up to the ship. The dropship rattled a few times as it left the atmosphere, startling most everyone but the Pilots and I...
"And we're out..." came the pilots from the front as the rattling stopped and the pelican became almost still. I knew we were still moving, once that last rock through the ship came and a loud bang sounded then we'd be docked. "We're coming up on the Dawnstrider..."
I stepped towards the front of the dropship and opened the door to the cockpit, looking out the front window, seeing the large Frigate coming into view. "There it is..." I said "UNSC Dawnstrider, a Heavy erm... Paris-Class Frigate?"
"Charon-Class, Light Frigate, sir, With all due respect" Said a pilot "I thought you trained to be a pilot originally, sir?"
"Yeah not a fleet officer or anything like that..."
The Pelican flew into the docking bay and landed with a loud thud which rocked the dropship... then the bay doors opened to two Marines standing there.
"Sir!" barked one of them "Lt. Martinez, this way please." Said the Lieutenant.
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The LT directed us to a low traffic wing of the ship, where there were a few crew compartments available to stay while we traveled to and from Reach.
He also said this wing would remain mostly empty, and would act as extra space for materials brought back from Reach should they be picking up excess materials and supplies.
"It's so small..." Louise grumbled about the small two person rooms which were not much bigger than a walk in closet...
"It's only for a bit, I'm sure you can find something to entertain yourselves for a week or two... unless you prefer to go on ice?" I suggested.
"On ice?" she asked
"Cryo sleep..." I waved for her to follow as I led her to a room with tubes lined up the sides and middle... "Basically it is when you get yourself frozen for a while and then unthawed upon reaching our destination... it prevents boredom and you don't need to eat or nothing... but when you wake up they make you eat this nasty shit which makes you throw up... sometimes they make you eat your own puke after that cuz the stuff in it unfreezes your insides without it hemorrhaging, but hey, if you can keep it down the first time you shouldn't need to eat your puke right?"
"eww... no I think I'll stay awake..."
"Good choice..." I added as we turned around back into the corridors.
As we moved through the ship the P.A systems opened up. "Attention all crew and personnel, we will be making the Slipspace jump in one minute, please standby."
"Oh and by the way Louise..."
"Yeah?"
"Hope you like the color of Steel and Titanium... cuz that's all you will be seeing much of for the next week... even if you do manage to find a view port! Not much to look at in Slipspace..."
"Great... what do you guys do while on board for... you know... fun... to pass the time."
"Go on Ice..." I said emotionlessly... "No seriously, unless you got a spare pack of cards or something lying around, there isn't all that much to do here... this isn't a civilian space cruise."
We entered the mess hall where Marines and TSOG troops were lined up getting food, I saw Siesta, Tiffania and Jenny sitting at one of the tables... Louise went to join them while I went up and got something for myself, coming back to the table with two trays of bland chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed corn... I gave one to Louise since the others already has some.
"Um... what is this?" she asked like she was in shock that someone expected her to eat that.
"Chicken... smart one... and potatoes and corn... don't like it? Tough luck, thats mostly what is gonna be up on there for a few days."
"Don't they have anything... oh you know... good up there? This is bland as hell!"
"Yes your highness, they have a basted steak with fine sauce and seasoning... NO! They don't!" I exclaimed... "I mean sure they switch it up every now and then... maybe we will get fish or simple red meat every now and then... nothing fancy Louise, this is a damned military ship." I explained, though it looked like Tiffania and Siesta didn't care.
"Try some Ketchup with the potatoes and pepper with the chicken... they don't have any BBQ-sauce on the counters up there today so pepper will have to do..." said Jenny after she finished a mouthful, stuffing another back into her face.
"Ah BBQ sauce..." I chuckled "The Military delicacy... and that weird orange stuff that everyone says is curry but we don't like to talk about it that much..."
"Ah yes... the alleged curry days... I swear half the crew is on the latrines after those days..."
"And the beans, don't forget the beans!" I added, playing along.
"AHH! AHH! AHH! NOT THE BEANS! OOOOOHHH NOT THE BEANS!" Wailed Jenny dramatically... (THE BEES! NOT THE BEES!)
"Are you guys done?" Louise asked, un-amused while Tiffania and Siesta were just snickering.
"Almost..." Jenny and I replied, smirking. "We're entertaining aren't we?" she added.
"Yeah Louise, you should savor the humor while it lasts... I mean like I said earlier, not much to do on these ships... so savor the puns and bad jokes while they last."
I then thought of something that I hadn't inquired on in a while. "Oh hey, Woods, do you know if they got any useful info out of Tristain-42?"
Jenny shrugged "I'm a grunt, they don't tell me nuthin'."
"Of course... maybe I should go find Anies then... maybe she'll know." Then as if on cue, in walked Anies and a few Elite TSOG units, covered in red ODST armor but helmetless at the moment... "Speak of the devil... Anies!"
She looked over from her squad, raising a hand back at them and then lightly jogging over to my spot. "Yes Alexander? What is it?" she asked professionally.
"I was wondering if you got any useful info out of Tristain-42"
"Didn't you get the debriefing?"
"I had another assignment..." I glared at Louise
Anies sighed "Right well... I don't really want to talk about it."
"C'mon, if this is important I need to know." Everyone listened expectantly.
"Fine..." She paused "We got confirmation that these things called Forerunners were indeed on our world, they built the structures we saw and established several facilities on our world."
"So what is so bad about that?"
"There is one under each Nation which is associated with Brimir... Tristain, Gallia, Albion and most prominently Romalia, the largest one is there... largest by far... it stretches down into Halkenginia's core taking power from the core to power... things..."
"Things? What kind of things?"
Anies paused again "We're not sure if it's true or not but... but Tristain says that magic... is... is... is artificial..."
"W-what?" Louise stuttered...
"Yeah... we just learned what that means just a moment ago... the core sends out a catalyst wave at the wave level... it goes through the crust and reacts with our blood in some way... and... Humans were never intended to have magic..."
"Wha!?"
"The forerunners came to our world... to save what humanity was here originally and froze our race in time... sorta... however we were kept in isolation longer than intended giving time for a new evolution, the elves... who gained magical abilities from the core of our world AFTER the forerunners had tampered with it and set off the Halo array..."
"So... so what are you saying?" Louise asked
Anies looked at Tiffania "Miss Tiffania, try to cast a spell..."
"But I can't... I can only cast-"
"Try something simple... like move this mug..." Anies suggested, grabbing a used mug off a nearby table and putting it in front of her. "Move it."
"Uh..." Tiffania dug out her wand from her pouch and concentrated... it looked like it was a strain for her to even cast such a simple spell... but she managed to pull it off and moved the mug only a few centimeters to the left... "That was difficult..." she panted, looking worn out from just that.
"Yeah you see... our magic is connected to the planet... but here is the thing... Tiffania is probably the only one of us who can use magic off world..."
"W-w-"
"Henrietta tried to conjure some water as she was thirsty just a moment ago... she couldn't do it... Alexander, I bet your... Telekinesis or whatever it is wont work here either... try it."
I shrugged and focused my mind on moving the same mug... but no matter how hard I tried, no matter how concentrated or focused I was or clear my mind was... it would not budge...
"Hmm..." I mumbled, pondering the situation. "So basically, off world, humans can't use magic?"
"Pretty much, however the silencing effect does not affect Elves, so says Tristain... and since Tiffania here is only part Elf, it stands to reason that the effect restricts her, but does not fully silence her."
I shook my head, a bit confused by all I was hearing "That's a lot to take in."
"There's more... apparently the reason Elves can use magic inherently is because during our the time our world's humans were frozen so to speak, the elves had evolved quickly from a small microscopic creature that was released from the core right after the Halo array was fired. In fact Tristain says that from his observations the Elves had only become... erm... Semi-Humanoids when Humans were first repopulated back to Halkenginia... it took millions of years from them until the Elves became what we know them as now."
"So according to Tristain... shouldn't the whole planet have creatures that can use magic then? Like... monkeys?" I asked
"No... Tristain had also mentioned that, while the creatures released were strong in... uh... what did he call it? Psi Energy? Hell there were hundreds of names thrown around back there... Psi, Magic, PK, the Force!" Anies lightly placed a few fingers on her forehead "Whatever you call it, they were strong in it... however they were physically weaker than non Psi races, which means when Humanity and other creatures were released back into the world, those creatures outcompeted the Psi creatures for things like food, water, shelter, et-cetera... the only reason the Elves survived is because by the time Humans were released they had become sentient and were starting the get the hang of using their Psi powers and were just as intelligent as Humanity... so we were generally on even footing during that time, with us being physically more intimidating and powerful and the Elves being magically gifted."
"So wait, wait, wait... if this is all Psionic energy... then how the hell does magic work?!" I asked, baffled
"I don't know! Maybe it's all in our minds? Asking how magic works is like asking what the meaning of life is... you don't fuckin' know!" Anies exclaimed.
I shrugged "Well it's not like it's going to change anything for us right guys?" I quickly looked all the others with me, Jenny grinned and nodded before stuffing her face again, Siesta also grinned but then stuffed her face in a more elegant fashion... Tiffania just shrugged and then my eyes landed on Louise... I couldn't help but crack that kind of an asshat smirk at her... "Riiiight Louise?" I teased.
She whipped out her wand and pointed it at me "Ex-" she paused... lowered her wand and narrowed her eyes before saying one single un-amused word. "Fuck..." she grumbled.
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Siesta's POV
I'd returned to my quarters, which I was sharing with Tiffania who currently wasn't present. I was shuffling around in my bag which had several of my items in it, a few sets of clothes, some basic product and uh, maybe a love potion...
So I'd gotten a weak love potion from my cousin, Jessica, who gave it to me to use on Alexander as to get an upper hand on Louise and any other competitors. I just had to find a way to slip some of it into a drink or something. I dug it out of my bag and stared at it for a while, it has a strange and eerie glow to it, the pink liquid seemed to sparkle a little as I held it next to a light. I then remembered what Anies had said back in the mess hall, about magic not working while we weren't on Halkenginia, so I wondered if that counted for potions with magical properties... guess there was only one way to find out.
I headed out to begin my plan when I bumped into a passing soldier, Cpl. Jones, one of the original Marines who I'd not seen in some time.
"S-sorry" I said
"No worries, the corridors here are small." He then paused for a split second "Hey ya dropped somethin'" he finished and reached down, I then noticed I'd dropped my potion, which was in a small vial. "What is this pink shit?" he asked handing it back to me.
"Uh..." I paused thinking of an answer "My medicine."
"Ah I see, you got a cold then? Stuff looks like cough syrup."
"No, no, its ok, nothing to worry about." I replied
"Alright then, laters." Said the colored soldier before he headed down the corridor.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. "That was close..." I muttered as I held the vial daintily with two fingers. I then checked it out to make sure it was alright... it had a crack in it and was leaking potion. "Uh-oh..." I looked back over my shoulder but the soldier was gone... but so long as he didn't ingest it or inhale it, it would be fine... hopefully he washed his hands soon, like real soon... it was then that I realized that he'd been headed towards the mess hall... I shuttered "Oh no..."
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1 hour later...
Scorch's POV
I was headed back up towards my quarters when I heard a commotion coming from one of the maintenance access ways. I cocked an eyebrow, these sections of the ship could only be accessed by ship crewmembers and anyone with the codes, or an A.I which could hack into the system and open the doors... which thankfully I had one.
"Hey Cortana, think you can open this for me?"
"Done before you even finished your sentence" replied the quirky A.I as the light on the door changed from red to green and slid open. I then ventured into the darkened narrow (Even more so than the normal halls) corridors and flicked on my helmet lights as there was very little light given off from the red emergency lights within. "Hello?" I called.
Then a loud bang and a muffled "MMPH!" sounded from one of the many turn offs in the access ways. I ran down towards the sound and turned a corner to find... Cpl. Jones making out with one of the crewmembers? I processed what I was seeing before muttering "Ok, I'll just be backing up now, didn't need to see this..." but apparently that was loud enough for them to notice me, that and I'm pretty sure the light from my helmet totally didn't give me away at all!
"Hey it's the commander..." muttered Jones as though he was drunk.
"Yeah, it's the Spartan..." added the crewmate, in the same drunken sound as Jones.
"You guys alright? You uh... sound like you've been drinking a bit... so you guys are like shit faced right?" I asked.
"Drunk? Only drunk on love..." said Jones in a hushed tone... to which I was a little disturbed by.
"Maybe the Spartan would like a taste of it..." said the crewmate.
"Uh..." I started before backing up slowly "You guys need to go get some sleep, you guys are wasted! Or at least just focus on one another, leave me outta this."
"Naw" said the crewmate "Just one kiss is all you need to understand..." and she started to advance towards me... Now while I was locked in my armor, with my helmet on I was in no immediate danger, but I had no interest in fighting them and it wouldn't take much effort for them to pull my helmet off if they knew where the manual unlock was... it was only when I shone my light directly at them did I notice a pink haze just over their eyes... it couldn't have been a spell? Could it have?
I darted out of the corridor and back out into the hallways, with the two following me. I found an open bunkroom, ducking into it and shutting the door before the two drugged marines could follow me. I slid down the door and sighed... I then noticed who was in here...
"Tiffania, Siesta. Hey sup..." I said as they just looked at me in confusion.
"Alexander what is going on?" Tiffania asked as she cocked her head at me.
"Oh I'm not entirely sure, two soldiers out there just went nuts and pretty much tried to sexually assault me... like they were under the effects of some spell..." I replied... then noticed Siesta flinch. "Siesta?"
"Oh nothing, just worried..."
"Well I'm sure we're safe in here, they can't get in, though someone is gonna have to notify the captain, I don't think this thing spreading is a good thing, might have to issue a lockdown." I stood up and checked the room for a comms terminal, which I found just next to the door and punched in the code to speak to the captain.
"Captain Drake this is S-362, I think some of the crew members have been infected with some kind of... well... how do I put it... love drug."
"Uh come again 6-2, did you say love drug? What do you mean?" replied Drake over the intercom.
"Well like they aren't themselves, they only seem to register pleasurable emotions and exhibit a strong desire to spread this emotion despite what the other may want... so in short its literally lovesickness. Recommend a full ship lock down."
"Negative 6-2 I have an issue with several of our core systems right now, I'm having maintenance crews touch up on them, however I will lockdown the entire Portside Aft wing along with the maintenance access ways within that wing, which will be inaccessible until lock down as been removed. Please keep me posted as to the status of this situation."
"Affirmative Captain, 62 out."
Just moments later the captain's voice came over the ship's speakers "Attention to all crew and personnel, the Aft Portside wing is now under lockdown due to an unexplained yet harmless infection, this is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill." Then the captain came back over the room's comm. system a few seconds later. "We got a problem 6-2... the systems that are currently under maintenance are preventing full lockdown from taking effect, we've shut the doors, but if the infected still retain their memories and motor skills then they can just enter the pass codes on most of the doors... the maintenance access ways however have been locked down and you will need high access security codes to get in... or in your case a very smart A.I..." Cortana's avatar flickered over my shoulder, hips angled and arms crossed, pleased with the recognition. "What I'm gonna have to have you do is make your way through the maintenance corridors to the Port-Aft Security office and manually initiate lockdown override. I've tried contacting the security details there but no response, whether its due to system maintenance or they've been infected I don't know..."
"Sir, why not just seal the systems back up?"
"They're currently partly dismantled for the said maintenance, putting them back together will take time 6-2... and we don't have that time if what you say about this infection is true... so you have your orders, Captain Drake out." And the comms were shut off...
I sighed as double checked that my helmet was locked "Man, it's always somethin'." I complained. "You two stay here, I've got a bit of sneaking around to do."
"What if they come in here? Wouldn't we be safer if we went with you?" Siesta asked, showing fear in her eyes.
"I guess, but only if you two are good at being quiet... we don't know how many are infected now and one wrong move could have them on us faster than a Brute to a barbeque... sorta..." I furrowed my brow... I wasn't good at those kinda of southern expressions at all. I holstered my weapons and slid the door open, peeking around the corner both ways. "Clear" I hissed, the steel colored corridor being completely empty. I checked over towards the maintenance passageway which I'd come out of when running from Jones, it was red in a state of lockdown but Cortana would be able to open it easy enough.
I motioned for the girls to follow me and crept over to the door, letting Cortana open it for me and ushering them through... I hoped none of the infected had found their way in here before the lockdown was initiated. It was just as dark as it had been before, nearly pitch black with only a faint red hue coming from the emergency lighting in the ceiling. "Follow me and keep quiet" I whispered... I then remembered I was wearing Scout armor... kinda sad since I'd been wearing this set for years now and was about to flick on night vision when I remembered the girls wouldn't be able to see without my helmet's flashlight.
I flicked my helmet light on and lead them through the tunnels, checking each corner before proceeding. There were a few places where the access ways parted and we'd have to make a dash through the open corridors of the ship or certain other rooms before reaching the security office. As we approached an exit point I turned my lights off. "Shh..." I hissed under my breath and waved for the girls to lower their bodies, crouching and staying silent just as four infected and lightly moaning marines made their way past the opening... the way they moved just reminded me of zombies, or even Flood combat forms in their passive state. "Shh, let them pass... don't do anything stupid." I whispered.
Once they were out of sight of the doorway I waited for about thirty seconds until I figured they'd be out of earshot and out of sight once in the hallway. "Ok lets go." I waved forward peeked through the door. It was clear and I stepped out to get my bearings "Looks like we're near the Portside Cryochamber" I said pointing at a hanging red holographic sign with the symbol of a man in a cryotube on it, pointing left (To the right of the exit that is, like... right then left...) doing another once over down the other side of the hall, to the left of the exit, I saw one of the emergency armories, specifically for those just out of the tubes to arm up if attacked or other situations that required an armed response... they were smaller than the main armories in the center of the ship in the motor pool and hangars, typically consisting of two narrow rooms with weapons lined along the walls on both sides with a two long racks of small arms down the middle. Despite what I saw, there were no more maintenance access points which meant we were going to be in the open for a while. However typically during a soft lockdown the armory could be opened with a mid-security pass code... being of a high rank I was actually told this code when we got aboard however Cortana had already hacked it open by the time I'd reached the panel.
"I might be just a fragment Six, but I can still do more than most dumb ..." she said from within my helmet.
The doors slid open and we made our way through the armory, before moving on however I knelt at one of the weapon racks, looking through the lower sections, where ammunition was stored... I looked over the ammo types.
'.50 AE HE-Magnum, 7.62 AP, .50 AE Magnum, 7.62 HP, 5.56... 12-Gauge, 10-Gauge, 8-Gauge... 20-Gauge...' I racked off in my head, surely we had enough Gauges, the amount of ammo types the M90 could take was amazing... "Ah here they are!" I noted and pulled out a few boxes of solid rubber slugs and beanbag ammo.
I stood back up and grabbed a magnum off the rack, tossing at Siesta who fumbled with it a few times, almost dropping it before solidly gripping it. "W-what?" she stuttered before I held up the box of rubber magnum slugs. "Continently enough you two are both still wearing your fatigues, to take a few clips of non-lethal ammo, tuck them away and lets go huh?"
I heard the chk-chk of an M90 being pumped only to turn around to see Tiffania already loading a few beanbag slugs into a shotgun before pumping it again, she looked up from the shotgun at me. "W-what? I can figure out how to work this thing you know?"
"I think I'm in love" I quirked under my breath.
*Bang* I got shot in the back by Siesta with a rubber slug, startling me and causing me to lose my balance and fall on my face... "Not... cool..." I sighed, peeking over my shoulder to see Siesta glaring at me... I guess she heard that...
We then heard footsteps coming from behind, just outside the armory doors. "Let's go!" I hissed and sprung to my feet. "Only use your weapons if you have no other choice" I ordered as I picked up an empty M90 from the weapon rack and grabbed a few more cases of rubber and beanbag slugs.
I lead them out the opposite end of the armory and across the hallway and into the next one which was all nice and quiet, but from the sound of things it sounded like whoever had heard us had broken past the armory doors behind us just after we'd left. Only way they could have done that was if one of the infected knew a mid-level pass code... and if that was the case then a soft lockdown would no longer help and we needed to get to the security office NOW.
"We gotta move, double time it!" I hissed and headed to the other side of the armory, sliding the door open and bumped into someone, I reeled back and was about to pummel the guy in the face when.
"Whoa!" the Marine exclaimed, falling back "Wait, wait, I'm not infected!" I double checked who it was, and realized he was wearing a full body suit of black ODST armor with a maroon colored personal indicator around his left bicep with a double chevron. "Cpl. Bradley?" I asked
"No, Cpl. Foley" Foley corrected, removing his helmet to reveal a black haired Caucasian with short but not quite buzz cut hair and dark green eyes, no pink tint over his irises confirmed what he said, he was not infected.
I removed my helmet and pulled him into the armory before shutting the doors. "What are you doing here?" I asked
I was in this section with Bradley and Dempsey when the lockdown went on... we decided to head to the security office to watch over things while they settled down however we passed through one of the dorm wings where people were already being infected, trying to flee from those... lovesick freaks... wow... never thought I'd hear myself say that."
"Yeah well... never thought it would be so terrifying either..." I commented
"I hear that." Foley added, walking over to the racks and grabbing a shotgun, loading it with beanbag ammo just as we had. "So, plan?" he asked.
"We get to the security room, initiate hard lockdown, close the window security shutters, secure the room exits and wait for this thing to blow over, I mean... its gotta wear off right? I mean it can't last forever!"
"Sir, we don't even know what is infecting these people..." Foley said "For all we know this could be some Halkenginia sickness.
"Then why haven't I seen any Halkenginians like this?" I noticed Foley glance at Siesta before he replied.
"Maybe they've just got a higher resistance to it?" hinting at something. Honestly that was something I'd never thought about...
"Hey Siesta, awkward question, but... were you always so... attached to people?" I asked
"Huh? What do you mean..." her face turned red "W-what!? N-no I mean... not like that... erm... wait or... I mean... bah!"
I sighed "Well that got us no answers..." I groaned as Siesta reverted into a shell of herself momentarily.
"Well if it isn't a disease then what?"Foley asked.
"A love potion?" Tiffania asked.
"A love potion?" both Foley and I replied. "Who in their right mind would drink such a volatile concoction?" I added "Both Louise and I know how much trouble a love potion can get you in." To which I got a strange and somewhat revolted look from Foley.
"No I didn't mean anything like that happened I meant it was just an issue this one time, I swear I'm not a creep or anything!" I quickly added.
"Right..." Foley mumbled, awkwardly looking away from me and taking a few steps to the side.
"C'mon, we've dallied enough here, we need to get to the security room" I said, and started out of the armory.
We moved through the halls until we came to a crossroad, I checked the signs, which indicated the security room was to the left. When I looked down I saw a pair of shambling infected, with pink tinted eyes... I turned back to my followers, held up two fingers and pointed down the hall. Tiffania and Siesta didn't recognize the gesture but Foley did and he pumped his shotgun. I flicked my hand forward as Foley and I popped around the corner and fired two slugs, both of which impacted in our targets abdomens, winding them and putting them on the ground as they gasped in pain, but otherwise alright.
"Go!" I hissed and we ran past the wheezing pair of Marines, the gunshot would have easily gotten the attention of any infected personal in the wing so we had to move fast... we ran, ran past a few more infected and dodged a few as well, firing off a few more rounds to clear a path as more came like zombies.
We ran, and made it to the security office. Foley opened the door and we fled past him as he sealed the door behind us... "Initiate hard lockdown!" he exclaimed as I ran, found a console near a set of monitors and slammed on one of the big red buttons which instantly secured all bulkheads closed any window shutters, and upped the security code level to red which caused all doors to require a maximum security code to open, of which, only the captain had access to. The lights all shut off, and red emergency lights just like the once in the maintenance passages turned on lighting up this side of the ship a dark red.
"Uh sir... I feel like... ugh..." I looked back and saw a pink outline on Foley's cheek...
"Sorry Foley..." I said, pumping the shotgun and blasting him against the wall... he grabbed his side and looked like he was going to pass out... when he suddenly shook his head... "Owww!" I exclaimed... staying silent for a while after that. "You... ASS!" I complained "But thanks?"
"Huh?" I questioned as he pulled himself back up. "I don't feel it anymore..." he said, wiping the pink remnants off his cheek and pulling a disinfecting wipe from his little leg mounted medkit.
"Looks like physical shock will rattle the infected senses and break whatever trance they are in... why didn't we notice this earlier?" I wondered aloud.
"Well we were kinda running right?" Siesta commented
"Right... well... I think I know what we need to do..." I said "We need to hunt from lovesick bastards... Foley, check the cameras, I want an estimate on how many people are in the Port-Aft side.
"Do-do-do..." Foley hummed as he scanned over the monitors "Around 300 sir, the entire ship probably contains around 1,500 personal, half of which are probably crew."
"Right then..." I nodded "We've got a lot of work to do... then we're getting to the bottom of who set this lose upon our ship!" I swore I heard Siesta gulp a bit after I finished speaking. I then sighed "After this is done though I'm going on Ice, I've had enough ship drama to last me a while..."
Several hours later...
"Is... is that the last of them?" Tiffania asked for the hundredth time.
"Three hundred... and twenty-one..." Foley sighed, sliding down a wall, tired as he was...
"We have no idea if that was really the last one so we will remain on high alert for now..." I said "C'mon, lets head back to the Cryochamber, those who are coming to will be put on ice so we can avoid it spreading if there really are more infected still..."
We headed back to the Cryochamber where a few technicians were just finishing putting a few well bruised Marines on ice.
"This room is full sir, please follow us to the next one over..." said the techie in his yellow colored uniform as he lead us into the next room, which was mostly empty however there were a couple frosted over cryo-tubes which probably held personal who had gone on ice before the infection broke out.
"Alright, sir, if you please." Said the technician.
"Sure" I hit a few buttons on my tac-pad, which removed most of my armor in the usual green holo-light, leaving me in a skin tight and thin rubberlike jumpsuit, of which my armor plating would usually go over. "You sure you don't want to remove all your clothing sir?" asked the Tech.
"I can endure a little freezer burn." I said "Besides, this stuff is made special for Cryo-freezing. It shouldn't burn too much."
"Alright then sir, here you go." The tech handed me a full mouth inhaler which I took, held for a moment before laying myself in an empty Cryo-tube, I finished and handed the inhaler back to the technician.
"Have a good sleep" he commented before the drugs began taking effect, shutting the Cryo-tube as it started to freeze over.
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Yada-yada-yada... witty outro comment.
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Sorry about the long wait, I should stop apologizing for that, since its just gonna happen again, until next time, I know... *sigh*
WTYL guys... Rogue out.