Kimball and the lieutenants were standing around, waiting for an explanation as to why their red and blue friends were so upset. Kimball walked over to Wash and Carolina.

"What the fuck is going on? Everyone's so silent and upset, what happened?" Kimball was genuinely confused as to why not her friends were cheering instead of being silent and/or crying inside their helmets. They beat the Chairman, what did they have to be upset about? Thoughts raced through her mind. What if the Chairman was alive? Did he survive? She hoped that wasn't that case, but if it wasn't then why were they upset?

"I think you should all get near Tucker. The-there's a message." Carolina's voice faltered. She really didn't have any desire to see Epsilon say goodbye again, but Kimball and the others needed to know. Tucker looked away from Theta, him logging off.

"Can you take Ch-," Tucker cleared his throat.

"I mean, the AIs? I don't want to watch the message again." He corrected himself. It was really going to be hard getting used to all the thoughts being gone from his head, but he would deal with it. It was just a reminder of what wasn't there anymore. He had grown used to Church's calculations in his head, even if it did keep him awake most nights.

"Alright." Carolina walked over to Tucker, and they moved the AIs to her storage unit. The lieutenants, Dr Grey, and Kimball all stood in front of Carolina.

"Hey D, can you-can you play Epsilon's message?" Carolina stuttered. She didn't want to do this again.

"Acknowledged. Playing message…" The message started playing, and by the end of it, the soldiers of Chorus were all silent. They had the same reaction as the reds and blues. Kimball wasn't the closest to Church, and neither were the lieutenants, but that message hit home with them. Losing an ally, whether they were close or not, was hard. Church mentioning Doyle especially hit them. Doyle did the same thing that Church did, he sacrificed himself for them.

Kimball walked over to Carolina. "I'm sorry." She sighed. It wasn't a lot, but it was something. She couldn't imagine what it was like for her to lose the only thing closest to family that she had.

"How long until the rescue ship gets here?" Tucker asked Wash. He really just wanted to get off this damn planet. There were too many people that had died on Chorus, and he didn't want to be in the same place that he lost his best friend.

"Probably a few hours. I don't know." Wash answered. Wash still didn't feel any emotion. He hadn't cried, he hadn't even let tears fall. Losing Church just didn't seem to have affected him and that really worried him.

Tucker nodded. At least he wouldn't have to spend another full day on Chorus. The sooner he got off of the planet, the better.

Six Hours Later

Carolina, Wash, Kimball, the lieutenants, and the rest of the reds and blues were all standing around or sitting down by the time one of the UNSC's ships landed by them. Everyone got on, and in another six hours, they were at the UNSC headquarters. As soon as they got to the UNSC's Headquarters, Tucker rushed off to their labs. Everyone just shrugged it off, but Wash had an idea of what he was going to do, and he supported it.

Tucker sat in the labs, being confused over all of the technical stuff that came with research. The AIs helped him as much as they could, but he didn't understand a lot of it. He decided he needed someone smarter than him. He used his radio to call Simmons in, which he hesitantly consented to doing.

"How the Hell do I do this, Simmons? I need to find a way to bring Church back. I really believe it's possible. It has to be." Tucker whispered the last part. He was starting to be upset again. Simmons sighed. He really didn't know what to do either, and that made him feel worse.

"I...I don't know, Tucker. I'm sorry, but I don't know how to help you. Maybe you should ask the AIs?" He suggested.

"No shit. I already did that. They're trying to find any remains left of Church, but so far, no luck. He was memory. And he's gone now, so there's no way to recover him." Tucker really had no idea how to bring his friend back. He knew there was a way though, and he would find out no matter what.

"What the fuck do we do, then?" Simmons started to get upset as well. Church was his friend too, even if they didn't have a lot of conversations. Just like with Grif, Church had started out as an enemy to him, but he got used to the smartass AI being around. Without him, it seemed as though a puzzle piece was missing from their puzzle of a team.

"I don't know!" Tucker yelled. Simmons just left the room, not wanting to be the subject of the aqua soldier's anger.

"What's he doing in there?" Carolina asked, getting up to go into the labs. Simmons put a hand on her chest, stopping her.

"He's really angry, maybe it's not the best idea to go in there." He suggested. Carolina pushed past him, and walked towards and into the labs. She didn't care if Tucker was angry, she could handle it. When she got inside the labs, Tucker had his helmet off, with both of his hands supporting his head's weight.

"I can't bring him back. There's no way. He really is gone." Tucker whispered, unmoving. Carolina sighed, taking her helmet off. She hadn't taken it off since they'd left for Earth, so it was refreshing.

"Tucker, what are you trying to do? How can I help you with this?" Carolina desperately wanted to help him. She wanted Church back too, and she would do everything in her power to at least recover some version of him. Even if he didn't have all of the same memories, it would still be something to have him back in some way.

"I don't know! I want to bring Church back, I want to find out a way to maybe combine the AIs? I don't know what the Hell to do. I just want to do something." Tucker wasn't crying, but he was undoubtedly on the verge of tears. He remembered how pissed he was when Church and Carolina left them in the middle of a canyon on Chorus. The fact that they didn't say goodbye really bothered him, and even though he was angry at him when he returned, he was also relieved. Wash holding up the team on his own was...frustrating, to say the least. Right now, he wished he didn't know where Church was. At least he would've had hope that he would come back.