Dominic Santiago sat in solitude inside the medium-sized cafeteria, sipping a cold cup of coffee. It was unusual for anyone to drink cold coffee, but Dom was feeling deppressed. Now that his best friend, Marcus Fenix, was in prison, he felt alone. Every other COG soldier he saw around him were just faces, they might die tomorrow, or maybe by the end of the week. Such was the cruelty of war; Survival. Dom usually wouldn't look upon the other soldiers as just another guy, but the truth was that they were loosing this war badly. The Locust had humanity by the throat!
"Marcus, what do you think?" Just speaking to the air sometimes helped him ease his mind.
The commotion around him suddenly stopped. He heard the double doors open, and somebody wearing leather boots walked in. Dom turned in the direction of the doors, as did everyone.
He craned his neck to try and get a glimpse of what everybody was so worked up about. Dom was puzzled by what he saw.
A young kid, probably 18, strolled through. He was dressed in black jeans and wore a denim jacket, with a COG emblem hung around his neck.
"Hey kid," The bartender confronted him. "Are you a COG or what? No civilians allowed."
"Step aside." The kid said. His dark black hair covering his determined eyes. He looked intimidating to Dom, even though he was just 18.
"I belive you didn't hear me. No. Civilians. Allowed."
"I'm gonna ask you one last time, step aside."
Now the bartender was furious. Dom let out a sigh and turned away. Stupid kid, trying to act all tough in front of COG soldiers. He was probably going to get beaten up. That, Dom didn't want to see.
"Obey his orders, Private." Everybody turned to the man on the top floor wearing the full COG uniform, armor and all. Dom knew who it was just by his voice: Hoffman; Colonel Victor Hoffman. "Or I'll see you at your court martial." The bartender saluted and marched back to the counter. "Erin, come up quickly. Prescott's waiting for you."
Erin walked up the stairs, but not before taking one last glance at the bartender.
'Isn't Erin a girl's name?' Dom thought silently. But in this case, Erin was a guy. And why was so much respect demanded to be shown to him? Dom brushed the thought aside, he didn't need to know it. Right now, he had decided to bust Marcus Fenix out of prison.
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Erin entered Hoffman's office, which Prescott was using at the moment. He didn't salute,
neither did he greet any of them. Hoffman was obviously annoyed at this. However, Erin wasn't a COG soldier. He was a Lambent Soul, operating under the Rift of Souls, and they weren't an official part of the COG military.
Prescott leaned forward from Hoffman's chair. "Good afternoon, Erin. We've got a mission for you."
Straight to the point, that was how the Rift operated, mission after mission without delay.
"We've noticed a certain Locust General running around, killing all the top ranking officers in the field. I think they're on to us, to the Lightmass project."
"Your mission," Prescott withdrew a photo from his pocket and handed it to Erin. "Is to kill Locust general RAAM."