I apologize for the delay in posting and I apologize for the short chapter. This is actually only half of the chapter but stuff came up and I wanted to get this out. Compromises were made but I promise more will come sooner than later. As always, reviews are more appreciated than you know, so feel free to give feedback, negative or positive it's ALL good. Enjoy.

Chapter 5:

AZURA SHORE, MINUTES AFTER LOCUST DEFEAT AT THE HANDS OF DELTA SQUAD.

It had finally happened; the sixteen year struggle for survival was over. For most of the gears on that beach it all felt like a dream. They had seen their enemy burned by satellite lasers, vaporised by massive bombs and drowned by deadly floods but each time it came back more vicious than before. There was still a fragment of doubt that the locusts were really all dead, but Delta had seen the result of Adam Fenix's weapon with their own eyes. Marcus had had killed the Queen with his own hands and was confident enough to throw his lancer on the ground in a final act of victory, as bittersweet as it may be.

As Baird looked at the embracing couple on the beach, he wondered about how many of Sera's creatures- throughout its entire history- had faced extinction. Why were humans the only ones to oppose this natural cycle? What made them believe they were stronger than the powers that governed the universe? Baird thought about the people around him; for once he cared about someone other than himself and it felt unnatural. He reflected on how many people his fellow gears had lost to the insanity. For a moment he felt relieved to have acted like an anti-social dick for so long, this had spared him the crippling pain of losing someone he cared about. Yes, he had lost his parents, but that felt like forever ago and the lack of happy childhood memories numbed the pain just a bit. What surprised Baird the most was how the death of Dominic Santiago had affected him. He wasn't particularly close to the man but losing him felt like losing a brother. He then imagined how painful it would be to have lost his one and only true friend, Augustus. He glanced at the man standing next to him- also leaning on the balcony- who glanced back at Baird. As their eyes met Cole gave him a knowing smile, as if to tell him that everything would be okay from now on. Reassured by his friend, Baird decided he was going to build himself a real future from now on.

Baird was brought out of his thoughts by a hand grabbing his. The female soldier standing to his right had lazily grasped his bigger, rougher hand with hers. He was sure he had already felt Sam's touch before but he only now realised how small and fragile her hand was. It was hard to believe such delicate hands could snap a locust drone's neck with ease. For what seemed like an eternity Sam looked into the sunset and said nothing, she just stood there, gently rubbing the inside of Baird's palm with her thumb. Baird remembered what he had told her just before the final assault on Azura but didn't know if she had paid much attention to it. He wasn't sure what brought on his sudden display of care at the time. Perhaps in the back of his mind he feared he would never see Samantha again, and felt the need to tell the woman he cared about her. It was completely out of character for him, but it happened and he wasn't about to take back his words.

"Did you ever think this day would come?" Sam suddenly piped up, still looking into the sunset.

It took Baird a moment to answer. This wasn't a new question for him, but recent events made him reflect on it with more significance.

"Not...not in my lifetime" He finally responded.

And so they stood there for a while until Cole spoke up. His contagious Cole Train persona surfaced all of a sudden.

"Yeeeah! Wooo we did it baby! We finally got the son' bitches!" Cole yelled out, pumping his fist in the air. "Time to fucking party! This place gotta have some fancy booze, let's do it up, we earned this shit!"

All of the gears on that beachfront erupted in cheer; as they started making their way inside Cole grabbed Sam and Baird by the shoulders and pushed them into the group. He then looked behind him and saw Marcus and Anya still on the beach. He decided not to interrupt.

Baird sat alone at the table in the mess hall, quietly staring at his now empty plate. The usually busy cafeteria had become less and less populated as time passed. Many of the gears had left for the mainland, either by a yearning to help rebuild elsewhere or from knowing that soon enough Azura's fuel supplies were going to run out and leave them stuck on the island. There was still no viable means of transport besides retrofitting imulsion powered vehicles to run on petrol. Baird would sometimes spend sleepless nights searching for a solution to their little problem. This made the decision of sending him to kill some random stranded even more bewildering; there was so much to take care of right here at home, as temporary a home as it may be, before going on some inane quest abroad. He had gone along with Marcus' and Hoffman's crazy plans before but for the first time he thought that maybe the lack of immediate danger had rendered them incapable of making rational decisions.

Marcus had explained the plan to him; of course everything was to be kept under wraps. Again Marcus had not told him the reason behind the secrecy but at some point Baird just stopped questioning every little aspect of the mission.

"Yo Baird." He turned at the mention of his name and saw Clayton approach with a tray full of food. The soldier had just come back from his patrol. Of all the gears in Delta, besides Cole and Sam, Baird liked Carmine the most because he always kept out of people's business; a trait which was lost in most people these days.

"What's up with that technician of yours...Stan is his name right? Is he leaving with the rest of his people?" Clay said as he took a seat besides the corporal.

Baird hadn't heard about anything of the sorts. The Gorasni kept mostly to themselves but news of them leaving would have made even an uncaring Baird notice.

"What are you talking about?" Baird asked the younger man. "Where the hell would they go?"

"Damned if I know, but without that tech of yours you'd have to train one of us to work the night shift down there." The elder Carmine said casually.

Baird shuddered at the thought of one of these enlisted idiots putting their grubby mitts all over the sensitive equipment in the control room.

"But whatever..." Carmine searched for words. "What's up with Sam? You made a move yet?"

Never mind, Carmine was a nosy asshole too.

"Enjoy your meal, Carmine" Baird tapped his shoulder as he got up to leave.

Baird wondered if the rest of his squad had been briefed on their role in the little suicide mission Command had orchestrated. It all sounded very simple; infiltrate the camp, kill the leader then wait for Delta to come save your ass. Maybe they would have the presence of mind to recover his dead body from the camp when they finally stormed it.

Or maybe not. I am so screwed.