Okay so it's very late but I decided to put up this chapter before I got real busy and would miss out on posting this for a while. And before you ask yes this is going somewhere, I'm just writing some set up for our characters post Gears of War 3. Enjoy and feel free to review, they are much appreciated. Enjoy!

Chapter 3:

Baird grabbed a small flashlight from his utility belt as he made his way to the corner of the underground facility. A dim white light had grabbed his attention and his natural curiosity pushed him towards it. As he got closer, the light began to form into a shape, he realised it was a small slit where the light was escaping, as if a crack had formed in the wall. As he pressed his hand against it and felt it's shaped he deduced it was some sort of door with light shining on the other side. Baird pushed but to no avail, he then decided to simply kick it down with his massive boots. As the hidden door swung open it released an abrasive cloud of dust which got into Baird's eyes and nose; he cursed himself for not lowering his prized goggles from his forehead. On the other side he found a small, illuminated room, maybe 25 square feet with a small terminal on the wall, nothing more. With a perplexed look on his face he approached the glowing screen.

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" All of the gears from delta squad chanted as Jace Stratton downed the special brew Dizzy had prepared for them.

The moonshine tasted like paint thinner with just a hint of coconut; it was disgusting to drink but it was extremely effective at getting one wasted. Jace could feel his throat burning and his head buzzing as he downed the drink. As long as he didn't throw it back up, he was good for another round of their stupid drinking game. It was Cole's turn to drink but the big man decided to throw in the towel, fearing he would ruin his brand new attire by puking on it. It was down to Carmine, Jace and Sam to see who was tonight's champion. Marcus had already left for the night and only a few gears and indies remained in the bar so late.

"Seriously guys, where the hell is Baird tonight?" Cole said with a slight slur in his speech.

"He probably pussied out like the sheltered princess that he is" Sam pitched in before downing her drink.

For a woman her size Samantha could take a drink better than most men in the army. Taking verbal jabs at Baird was amongst her favourite pastimes but it wasn't as fun without him around. She decided to see what he was up to as soon as their little drinking game was over. Carmine took the glass of reserve Jace poured him and as soon as he took a whiff of the stuff he ran for the bathroom.

"Another one down" Jace proclaimed as he took the glass for himself.

At this point he could feel him the numbing in his extremities and seriously contemplated if taking another shot was wise. He looked towards the bathroom door, then at a seriously drunk Cole Train, and then at a Sam who looked like she only had begun drinking a minute ago. He decided this wasn't his night and conceded the victory to the female gear.

"Well I'd better get Clay back to his room" Jace said as he got up towards the bathroom.

The eldest of the Carmines had passed out, head still on the toilet seat and the contents of his stomach simultaneously on the floor and in the toilet. Jace sometimes worried about his friend but knew that choking on his own vomit wasn't going to kill him. After all this was the man who in the last two months had survived a collapsing bridge, a sniper shot to the head and a Raven crash without so much as a scratch. Jace picked him up by the shoulders and dragged him off after waving goodbye to his fellow gears.

The self proclaimed genius had no idea where to start. From the outside the terminal looked like any other plain old security terminal but had zero indications as to what it was protecting. There was a single screen asking for a password and a small keyboard below it. Baird tried the usual "password", "123456789" and "secret" inputs but none worked. Baird was an engineer, not a programmer but he knew damn well that everything could be hacked. Baird was going to find out exactly what this terminal gave access to come hell or high water. He then wondered if he should tell anyone else about his discovery, what if the terminal was protecting something worse than the locust. Who knows exactly what Prescott was hiding on Azura? What if he had accidentally stumbled on to the Island's self destruct terminal? Baird's cynical side kicked in and for a second he hesitated to push anymore keys. He was brought out of his thoughts by a loud bang coming from the other end of the underground facility. He remembered that a Gorasni technician was to replace him overnight and quickly exited the room to meet up with the new arrival. The young man, a former submarine technician named Stanik, was trained by Baird to oversee Azura's main functions. He wasn't the best around but at least he was no dirty stranded. He also kept quiet and did his job and that's pretty much everything Baird wanted from him. To his surprise Baird met up with an obviously drunk private Byrne instead of a UIR submariner. At this point the alcohol had seeped into Sam's system and did a number on her sense of direction.

"Why is it so bloody dark down here?" bellowed the drunken gear as she stumbled around.

"What the hell are you doing here Byrne?" Baird growled at her.

"Why didn't you come drink with us you little squirm?" Sam asked before she tripped over some wires.

Baird quickly leaped forward to catch her and saved her from splitting her head open. It was late and Baird wasn't ready to deal with this shit right now. They had gotten drunk together before and had a great time but tonight wasn't one of those times. Frustrated and tired, Baird grabbed the woman and slung her over his shoulder before making his way towards the elevator. She kicked him a couple of times before giving up and just letting the corporal take her back to her room. Baird wasn't sure why she came down here to see him. Yes she had been much nicer to him recently and he remembered the events on the day they defeated the locust but for her to come see him, especially so late at night...he knew something was on her mind.

As he exited the elevator he crossed Stanik who gave him a knowing look. Baird felt insulted by the man's assumption that he took advantage of the drunken woman. Not that the COG was known for its excellent treatment of women but to assume Baird brought a drunken woman into his work quarters just to fornicate was an insult to his intelligence.

"It's not what it looks like...get to work and make sure nothing breaks or overheats tonight!" Baird growled at the Indie.

Back in her room, Baird put the female gear down on her bead before grabbing a glass of water from the bathroom sink. From the other room he could hear Sam ask him if they were going to have some fun tonight. The thought of sleeping with Sam had crossed his mind many times before but he knew damn well that doing it tonight would mean nothing for either of them. From his experiences drunken fucks never lead to anything but STDs and awkward silence during long helicopter rides. If they really had a tomorrow Baird was going to take the opportunity to build an actual relationship with her. He handed her the glass of water and looked at the tattoos on her arms. She really was a beautiful specimen, if only she wasn't so feisty. Oh who was he kidding? That was his favourite thing about her.

"You just gonna sit there and stare Damon?" Sam asked as she winked at the corporal.

"Go to sleep you crazy vixen" Baird replied.

"Fuck you Damon" She whispered as sleep overcame her.

"Maybe tomorrow" Baird replied with a smirk.

Baird lay in bed, with thoughts of Sam and the hidden terminal keeping him from sleeping. He never expected the news Marcus was to deliver him the next day.