Chapter 9
I slowly came to, not knowing where I was. I heard talking for a few seconds, but it stopped when my vitals sped up. A doctor walked up to me and started talking.
"Lieutenant Henson, can you hear me?" he asked. I nodded. "Good. You've been unconscious for a few days now, and you still haven't fully recovered, so don't try to move too much." I ignored that and sat up. It was painful, but I continued. "Okay, I didn't just say to take it easy, sir. Anyways, the bleeding has stopped, but you have a fractured arm, among other minor injuries in several locations."
"I don't care about my injuries, doc. Just tell me how long it'll be before I can suit up again," I said.
"According to Colonel Hegwood's orders, you won't be going on missions for a good while, even though your wounds should be healed before then."
"Get him, Keyes, and Johnson in here. I want to discuss the mission with them. Tell them it's important, too." I wanted to know every detail of what happened. "Tell him I won't talk unless those two are in here."
"Well, Colonel wanted to tell you something, anyways. I'll go get them now." Once he left I got out of that stupid apron and put my uniform back on, but I left my left gauntlet off. Soon after the four of them walked in. Colonel asked the doctor to wait outside.
"Before you start talking, there's something that I need to tell you, Lieutenant. This is very difficult for me to say, but while you were killing all those Flood, some of their blood entered the wound on your arm. We were able to remove some of it, but a good amount is still present in your system, and we have no idea what effects this'll have on you." We were all silent for a minute, letting that information sink in. What the hell will that shit do to me, I wondered.
"So, is there a chance that Henson could turn into a Combat Form?" Keyes asked. Dammit, I thought, she had to bring up that possibility. "I mean, will he mutate in any way?"
"I'm sure ONI would like to know the same thing. That is, if I inform them of Henson's situation. If I did, they would want to study him to see the stages of the transformation."
"Hell no, sir," I declared. "You can't send me to them. There's no telling what they'll do to me."
"If I do, many Marine lives could be saved if they were to find a way to prevent the transformation. It would benefit several human and even rebel lives. You have to see the benefits of this, Henson." I got pissed off when I heard Colonel say this and flew into an outrage.
"No, sir, you have to see the disadvantages," Keyes stated. "Lieutenant Henson saved all of us from a horrible death at the hands of the Flood, something probably no other commander could do. In my opinion, to have him removed from action would be a crime, sir. Either way, the Flood seem to infect dead hosts, so Lieutenant Henson does a fine job as it is preventing Marines from becoming Combat Forms." Just then the intercom came on:
"Sir, there are three Covenant cruisers en route to our location and we need the four of you on the bridge immediately to plan our defenses," it said.
"Understood, I'm on my way now," Colonel replied. "We'll continue this discussion later. In the meantime, we have some cruisers to kill."
"Hell yeah, I've been itching for more action. Johnson, give me a radio. No space battle is complete without a little boarding action."