You can now proceed to flee in terror
Nywho, I do not own HALO – If I didn't I wouldn't need to worry about getting a job.
On with the fic…
Brigid stood on the bridge of the Crimson Revenge, now finished and upgraded as far as it would be for a few years. That ship had state-of-the-art equipment from both humans and Covenant, able to kill shields with a plasma bolt and punch through the ships with MAC rounds. She looked out the main window as they circled the planet in a tight orbit.
"Loosen up when we pass the next moon," Brigid ordered.
"Aye ma'am," the pilot said. Brigid sighed as his hands lagged a moment, Lieutenant Oska was brand-new and didn't have a lot of confidence yet. Covesash had given her a very good crew, but also very inexperienced. She doubted their chances of victory if they came across a ship with a battle-hardened crew. She watched the sunrise over the planet as her eyes adjusted and looked for the circular object. "Begin scanning."
"Object 300 kilometers away," Ensign Katla said, "Readings coming up now." Killjoy projected next to the screen and looked at the statistics.
"Match for previous HALO information," she said, "We found it."
"What can we expect down there?" Brigid asked.
"Unknown," Katla said, "Scans are difficult to interpret from this far away, I'm picking up a few images but nothing to substantial."
"Looks like we're going down there," Brigid said, "We know we need to get the index, and I think it would be good to just go ahead and seal off the library as much as we can so that we can deactivate the ring."
"I can shut down the weapon systems that start the countdown to detonation," Kyle said, "2nd platoon volunteers."
"Granted," Brigid said, "That's your job Kyle. Jo, your platoon is going with me, we're going after the index."
"Rodger," Jo said, "We'll be ready."
"We should be able to sustain ourselves in geo-sync orbit close to the ring," Brigid said, "Lieutenant Oska, make it happen." Oska sounded off an affirmative. Brigid turned and thought for a moment. "Major Pasada you have the bridge." Brigid strode off to her quarters and started strapping on her armor. No one knew what was on HALO, and she didn't like going on a blind mission. There were a lot of variables going into this and her crew was in danger. She walked to the armory and looked at he vast array if weapons there. She took a shotgun and triple ammo, a pistol with a scope, and two needlers. She slung all of these to her back and sides before strapping on a belt of grenades and setting a plasma cannon on her shoulder.
"Wow," Jo said, "Expecting company?"
"I don't know what to expect," Brigid said, "Do you think the cannon is to much?"
"Considering that we have a platoon of hunters," Jo said, "Yea, its to much."
"Fine," Brigid said, dropping the cannon, "You ready?" Jo picked up a shotgun as well and smiled.
"Lez go," she said. The two walked over and entered the pelican that had also been crossed with a covenant drop ship. She entered through the rear hatch and strapped herself into a seat next to Ja'naço. One modification was higher ceilings accommodate several hunters and Sanghelli. She smiled at her brother, who was secured to the drop ship.
"Drop ships 1-3 ready for deployment," Jo sounded off from her pilots position in their drop ship, "Waiting for go."
"We are go," Brigid replied through her intercom.
"All drop ships standing by," Jo said, "Dropping on my mark, all personal secure. 3, 2, 1, Mark." Brigid relaxed and a shiver ran through the ship as the shields dropped and the small ship dropped towards HALO. "We're hot, get ready for a jolt." The retrorockets engaged as the group of ships hit atmo and the air heated by several degrees.
"Major, picking up hull ionization," one of the other pilots sounded off.
"Rodger that," Jo replied, "Hold on back there, it's going to get rough."
"Bring us down as close as you can and land us," Brigid commanded, "We'll break up separately after that if we need to."
"T-minus 45 seconds until landing procedures," Jo said, "Shock troopers, get ready." Shock troopers were deployed through small airlocks with sealed suits and were tethered to the side of the ship to cover decent. "Shock troopers, go." Brigid looked as the shock troopers entered the rotating air lock, she would not see them again until they had landed and could extract them from the harnesses that held them to the ship.
Jo touched the three drop ships down and the hatches opened quickly. Brigid was the first one out and popped her rifle from left to right, making room for those to deploy behind her. She moved foreword and raised a hand, scanning the horizon and seeing no movement. She silently walked back with several of her team and offered a hand to the Shock troopers, helping them to the ground. She told her platoon through hand signals to clear a perimeter and secure an area. After the scouts returned she lowered her rifle.
"Stand down," Brigid said, "We've safe for the moment. Ok, we all know where we're going and what we have to do. Anyone have any questions?" No one did. "Than lets get out of here quickly, the faster we're out the less chance there is that anything on this rock will find us. Move out." They all moved back into their drop ships. Jo followed the other ship towards the library to get the index and then move onto the control room. They landed on a large platform and looked towards large hallways and ceilings that reached for hundreds of feet. Jo looked up and whistled.
"I hope there's an elevator," she said. She walked towards the center and saw a great yawning chasm with a small object in the center. "And I think I found the index."
"Paka?" Brigid asked, turning to their tech. specialist.
"Working on it," he said as he typed into a panel on the wall, "I have a schematic, uploading to the suits now. Ok, we need to go up this hallway and to the left." Brigid nodded and ordered her platoon foreword. They turned the corner and found another hallways, Brigid checked the map at the corner of her HUD and saw a circular room down the hallway to their right. She held her arm out and flicked her hand to the right. They all moved down the hall and into the large circular room. Brigid raised a had and looked around from the doorway.
"I don't like this," Jo said, "Something's off." Brigid turned and looked at Paka.
"It's the only way up," he said.
"Let's go, cover out six." Brigid moved foreword very slowly, and the moment everyone was in the room the floor shifted. "What the fuck?!"
"Everyone calm down," Paka said, "It's just the elevator." He put a hand to the side of his helmet, probably adjusting his display of the map. "Its how the building is built, each hallway goes a different direction until you reach the top."
"Anyway we can avoid that?" Brigid said, "It's a long way to go."
"Nope," Paka said, "Looks like we'll have to move fast and take chances."
"We'll do that then," Brigid said as they exited the room and moved foreword into the next hallway section. They paused for a moment as Brigid checked the schematic.
"On our six," a grunt cried. One Snghelli turned and saw two great creatures with grotesquely enormous heads lumber towards her and fall to the floor, she shot one of them and it exploded, blowing her backwards onto one of the hunter's spikes extending form his back. The rest of the troops moved forewords and quickly killed the small parasites.
"I'm ok," Sanai said as they bandaged her arm, "It didn't hit anything vital."
"I still feel bad," Juano said as they removed the Sanghelli form his back.
"We just need to be careful," she replied, strapping her armor back on, "They seem to explode on will and are detonated by fire."
"She's right," Paka said, "These appear to be carriers for the smaller ones, who appear to be parasites. The parasites feed off this host until they can sense prey nearby, then they move around and bust out of their host to get new prey."
"Lovely," Brigid said, "Paka, only take what samples you can take on the fly, I want to keep moving."
"Rodger that," Paka said, "I'll get them on our way out if I can." He took a parasite that was mostly whole and shoved it into a sealed package on his back. They continued up and found themselves at the third elevator before the next onslaught began.
"Fire at will!" Brigid jumped above Ja'naço as he turned and unloaded an entire needle clip from both her weapons with others in her squad. Several exploding creatures detonated, but there were other who kept coming. Brigid saw one of the warrior creatures knocked out of the air by a needler blast and lost an arm, then jumped back up and kept coming.
"Shoot for their heads," Jo said, also seeing this. The battle didn't last long, but a few of the warriors had gotten close enough the strike their forces and Keda had taken a rough blow across his back, knocking the wind from him.
"It felt like I was hit with a bat," he said as he got his breath back. "They have our strength." Jo shot one of the exploders and turned back to the group.
"So what's the difference?" She asked, ignoring the parasites that seemed to explode on their shields.
"The warriors are very tough to kill," Paka said, "It seems as though these are the warriors who knock the prey of the parasites unconscious, they appear to be victims of the parasite themselves." He pointed to where a lump on each creature was, the same shape as the parasite.
"Ew," Jo said. One of the parasites crawled away and latched onto one of the bodies that littered the floor.
"Jo! Look out!" Junao called. The parasite seemed to reanimate the warrior just behind Jo, who couldn't turn fast enough to bring her rifle up and was struck by the strong beast. Junao had the creature impaled on his shield and then ripped to shreds before Jo hit the ground. Brigid clipped her weapons to the belt and quickly ran over to Jo as her hunter brothers stood by and watched. Brigid took off Jo's helmet and was relieved that her neck wasn't broken, she had turned fast enough so that the blow had mostly hit her shoulder rather than her head.
"She's all right," Brigid said, clipping her helmet on and activating the pack that would release smelling salt to wake her, "She's just going to have one hell of a bruise later." Jo shook her head just as the motion sensor lit up again. "Come on kid, on your feet." Jo made a compromise by rolling to her knees and picking up her dropped needlers.
The next onslaught was once again destroyed. Ja'naço was greatly troubled to see the way these creatures fought. "These creatures hold no value for their own lives," he said as he burned bodies, "What are they?"
"I don't know," Paka said, taking samples like crazy. "But we still need to get to the index."
"How far?" Brigid asked.
"One more elevator," he said, "A small hallway and we're there."
"Let's move like we have a purpose then." Brigid raised her weapon and covered their advance as they spent the few tense minutes getting to the last elevator. They made it to the elevator down without any more attacks, but the tension among the platoon was still strung out. They loaded onto the last elevator and it began to move downwards towards the energy spiral that held the index. It was quiet until they reached the index and the small object extended.
"That it?" Jo asked.
"Yup." Brigid said, taking it and clipping the green phial to her belt. "Let's get out of here." They walked right out to the door and stood there.
"Is it just me or did this tall building seem completely unnecessary?" Jo asked as she walked up to the drop ship and opened the ramp, powering up the engines a few seconds later.
"It was," Junao replied, "We should barricade this off anyway."
"Agreed," Brigid said, "3rd and 4th squad stay here and do that."
"Ma'am," Paka said, "Permission to accompany 1st and 2nd squads."
"Granted," Brigid said, "Twins, stay behind to help and then call for evac, third platoon will pick you up on their way back." She switched to her comlink between units and called Sarge. "Copy that Sarge? You're picking up two squads on your way back to base."
"Rodger that," Sarge said, "We're all finished here, ETA twenty minutes."
"Let's go," Brigid said as she walked up the ramp. "Jo we ready?"
"Dust off as soon as you're onboard," Jo replied over the radio, "Signal me when you're strapped in." Brigid sat down next to Ja'naço and clicked in her harness, slamming the 'all clear' button over her shoulder. The engines rumbled and the ship took off from the Library, heading towards the control room from the data Paka downloaded.
Brigid kept peering out the sides of the drop ship as they came closer to another steel structure. Ja'naço was worried to, and when those two were worried the rest of the group was. The human Colonel who had earned her way up the ranks was rarely ever readable behind the faceplate of her armor, but the movements that she used to check her equipment radiated nervousness.
"Something doesn't feel right," Ja'naço said, in code to avoid panicking the crew. "Are you sure we're not being followed."
"Yes," Brigid replied, "This is different, I'm not sure about this."
"What do you think?" Jo asked, Brigid and Ja'naço looked at her. "Don't worry, I wanted to give the new pilot some experience, I'm a page away if theres an emergency. Both of you have a bad feeling too?"
"Somewhat," Ja'naço said. "Though it feels somehow removed."
"My question stands," Jo said, "What do you think?" Many of the crew were looking over at the three leaders talking in code, which rarely happened unless the mission was completely botched.
"I think we're OK," Brigid said, "The mission goes foreword. We'll figure out what this is later. The fact that we're the only three feeling the direct emotion is a good sign, if danger was coming the rest of the crew would be feeling it."
"They seem nervous," Jo said, looking around, "The scanners show that we aren't as loud as we normally are on a mission like this."
"They're gleaming," Ja'naço said, "This is rather removed, if the feeing grows in intensity when we get closer we should rethink the decision."
"I agree," Brigid said, "Well, lets relax a little, we don't want a jumpy group going into the mission." Jo went back and took over and Brigid took her seat again next to Ja'naço. They watched again, the feeling did not grow in intensity, but it did not go away either. Brigid's boots hit the ground and she felt a deeper sense of dread. "Ja'naço."
"I felt it before I deployed," he said, "We're still good."
"Move out," Brigid said. She raised her rifle and looked at the ramp that led into the structure.
"So," Jo said, "Who wants to be first to go down the creepy passageway?"
"I believe you just volunteered," Brigid said, smiling behind her helmet.
"I hate you ma'am," she said, taking point. Jo was careful as she moved down the passageway. "Clear," she said, "Door to the left, its locked." Brigid nodded to Paka and he quickly hotwired the system.
"Whoever designed this knows their wires," he said a moment later.
"What," a grunt said, "It took you more than five seconds to hotwire that door?"
"Belay that," Ja'naço said, "We can joke about Paka's technological skills when we're home." Ja'anco turned left two more times and looked through the open door. "I think we found the control room."
"How do you know?" Jo asked, covering the other hallway.
"Lucky guess," Ja'naço replied. The room in front of them was expansive with a walkway out and a large control board in the middle of the room.
"Good guess," Brigid said. "Let's go. Paka, cover our backs."
"Ma'am!" He said, indignified.
"Kidding," she said, "Who wants to volunteer?" Junao raised his shield and lumbered to the back, charging his cannon. "Thank you," Brigid said, "Lets go. Paka, record this stuff for file, everyone have cameras on so we don't miss anything, I want every inch of this room seen." Her HUD displayed the acknowledgement of the order as everyone moved foreword.
"Hey," Killjoy said, "Set me down on that panel up there."
"Let me check it first Killjoy," Paka said, "There might be some security protocols to destroy you."
"Still been trying to enter their systems," Jo asked Killjoy.
"These people know their programming," Killjoy said. "It's more advanced than anything I've ever seen."
"Amen to that," Paka said, "I can't hack it."
"Keep trying," Brigid said.
"The last time I failed to hack something," Paka said, "I was four, I can't hack this thing without an AI for computation."
"Good luck," Brigid said, removing the chip from her helmet and setting it into the control panel. There was a very tense moment where nothing happened, light-years for an AI
"Wow," Killjoy said slowly. "This….is….amazing." A moment passed and Killjoy appeared, lines of code appearing over her costume as her programming was overwhelmed by the mass of knowledge. "So much knowledge."
"Do you know how to stop HALO from activating?" Brigid asked. Killjoy was silent. "Killjoy?"
"Give me a moment, I'm looking," she said, "The equivalent of these data stores rival the UNSC library on earth, except I don't have a previous catalog to reference against. Yes, insert the index into the third slot on the left hand side." Brigid nodded and looked up at the AI.
"You sure?" Brigid asked, indicating the slot.
"Have I ever steered you wrong?" Brigid nodded and inserted the index. Killjoy smiled and reached to her belt behind her back, then brought the index foreword. "I've got it, so now I'm the only one who can activate HALO." She smiled. "I've also cleared the original memory drive and cleared it of the protocols to activate the ring so we've got nothing to worry about from this end."
"Good," Brigid said, "Let's get you out of there and get home."
Killjoy smiled. "I just learned a new trick," she held her hands in the air, "Everyone stay still. Abra Cadabra!" The group was teleported outside and Killjoy jumped back into Brigid's suit.
"OK," Brigid said when she had her bearings, "1: that was unnecessary but still REALLY FUCKING COOL! 2: You're original chip is still down there and you need that to function."
"Oh yea!" Killjoy said, Brigid found herself back in the control room. She picked the chip up and slammed it in her helmet as she was being teleported back. The only bad thing was Brigid appeared upside down and fell a foot to the ground. "Well, I think that was OK considering I've only teleported someone a couple of times."
"Ow," Brigid said. Closely followed by, "That was so weird. I'd like a warning next time you plan to do that."
"Sure thing," Killjoy said, "Oh, and I sent some robot sentinels to go help out the other teams, one of them was about to get overrun by the flood."
"I'm taking it for granted that you sent them a message explaining this," Ja'naço asked.
"Of course," Killjoy said, "What do you take me for an idiot? Come on, lets go, I have a lot to brief you guys on." Brigid nodded and they all climbed back into the drop ships.
"Jo," she shouted, "Give me a status on the other drop ships."
"Drop ship 3 is ready to go on our command," Jo said, "Drop ship 2 is loading up, they've had some injuries, ready in 40 seconds."
"Do we have a status on those injuries?" Brigid asked, strapping herself in.
"3 critical and two minor," Jo said, "Nothing our medics can't handle from the sound of it."
"I want medical teams waiting in the hanger," Brigid said, "We're not taking any chances."
"Rodger that," Jo said, turning to her co-pilot and ordering him to relay the message. Twenty seconds later she turned on the intercom, "Everyone strap in we're taking off." People scrambled as Jo fired up the engines.
"Paka," Brigid said, "Hit the clear button." Paka reached up and hit the clear button so that Jo would know that they were ready. The engines rumbled and the ship shook as they began to take off and then everyone shifted as Jo increased their climb angle to break atmo. "All three drop ships clear ma'am, returning to Revenge."
"Well done everyone," Brigid said over the intercom and each mission objective winked off her HUD, "Mission accomplished, HALO deactivated." There was a cheer from the crews as the transports roared back to the Crimson Revenge. Brigid smiled as they landed in the hanger and quickly got the one injury on her team to the medics.
"Ma'am," Paka said, lifting the biohazard case with the remains of the creatures in it. "Permission to escort the samples down to science deck."
"Granted," Brigid said, "And Paka, I want those samples kept in high security isolation, no one is to examine them without a suit on."
"Aye," Paka said, grabbing a midshipman to help him carry the remains down to the deck. Brigid looked over her ships as her troops unloaded and smiled. The wounded being brought out looked all right and would heal quickly. One shock trooper had broken a leg in deployment, but the break was clean and it would be fine after a few weeks in a cast. She turned to look at the third drop ship and her heart fell through her boots at the familiar form lying on a stretcher, escorted by two other familiar shapes.
"Oh God," Jo said, joining Brigid. Another moment passed and then they were besides the stretcher looking down on Kyle, who wasn't moving. "Kyle!" Jo screamed, ripping her helmet off.
"What happened?" Brigid asked, her face paler than death as she removed the helmet.
"He was hit by an explosion and some shrapnel caught him in the back," Sarge said, also removing his helmet. "He's stable as heck though, we just knocked him out for the way home." Brigid took Kyle's hand and turned, prepping her command voice.
"Medic!" She said, her voice reverberated off the high ceilings and all action stopped for a fraction of a second, then three teams ran over and looked at him.
"We have to get him to medical quickly if we are going to save his legs," the lead medic said, "Meet us down there."
"Killjoy," Brigid said, she appeared on the floor, already back in the system, "See if there's anything you can do to help."
"On it," Killjoy said, "I think I can shave three seconds off their travel time." Killjoy disappeared and Brigid steeled her nerves, grabbing Jo's arm as she tried to follow.
"We need to secure everyone else," Brigid said, her jaw clenched.
"Brigid, Kyle may be dying." Brigid held the whole group there as Jo yelled at her.
"I know!" Brigid screamed, Jo looked as though she'd been slapped. "But there's nothing we can do right now, lets finish doing this, the crew needs to see that their leaders are here."
"Brigid is right," Ja'naço said, "There is only a little we have to do here. I'll call up to the bridge and instruct them to plot a course for Ithil, we need to get Killjoy and the information she carries back to the Resistance."
"See to that," Brigid ordered. She and her team quickly took care of the chores and then sprinted to the medical bay. Kyle's armor had been torn off and she could see the holes punched in the armor, she knew he'd be lucky to live, the metal must have been razor sharp and moving faster than sound to have pierced the armor.
"He'll live," Killjoy said, staring down at his form, guiding the laser at it pulsed into his body, repairing damaged nerve and sealing off arteries "I don't think we can save his legs to the point he'll be able to walk right away, but we should be able to get feeling back in them. Maybe he can eventually get prosthetics and walk, but I'm not sure, I'm trying to save as much feeling as I can, that's the important thing." Killjoy feel silent as she concentrated on her work.
"If she keeps the nerve connections alive he could walk again," Jo said to herself. She clasped her hands close to her chest as the doctors worked furiously to mend a body they weren't familiar with.
"Brigid," Ja'anaço said, walking into the bay, "They need you on the bridge."
"One of my men is injured," Brigid said.
"You have many beings under your command Brigid," Ja'naaço said, "They need you."
"They aren't Charlie Company," Brigid said, facing down her brother. Ja'naço nodded.
"I understand," he said, turning, "But I don't support your decision." Brigid stood there a moment longer and turned to Jo.
"I'll be right back," she said, "Page me if anything changes." She turned and quickly traveled up to the bridge. "What's the situation?"
"We need Killjoy to make the calculations in order to start the jumps," Oska said, "We have to get back to Ithil."
"Killjoy," Brigid ordered, "Can you spare a few memory cells to calculate some coordinates real quick?"
"Waiting for you on the screen," Killjoy said, her voice distant.
"Thank you," Oska said, furiously typing the coordinates into the computer. The next few moments past as a blur, she felt a sickening sensation in her stomach and then dread seeped into her veins. Two seconds later her beeper went off.
"Major," Brigid said, shutting off the signal, "Take the bridge." She turned and sprinted to medical, wishing that Killjoy could transport her. She bust into medical to find Kyle still unconscious, but the surgeons were washing up. Brian had his head in his hands and Jo looked on the brink of tears. She couldn't bring herself to ask what happened.
"They couldn't save his legs," Sarge said, "He won't be walking on his own again." Brigid felt the air go out of her. "He will have feeling tough, and maybe in time he'll be able to sand with leg braces and canes, and that's the first step towards walking." She sat down and let her helmet fall. Sarge knew what was running through her head, and it was not because of the despair that was rolling off her in waves. "Brigid, it was not your fault."
"If I had let third platoon go…" she said, "Maybe…."
"No!" Sarge said quickly. "It could have been worse, Kyle knew the risks when he signed up and he knew the risks when he planted the charges. It was nothing you did Brigid, if its anyones fault its mine."
"You haven't done anything to be ashamed of," Brigid said.
"Oh yeah?" Sarge replied, "Why are we here. If I had taken better care of you guys and the squad you were training with then maybe we'd be back on earth right now or off wining UNSC medals."
"No," Jo said, "We would be dead by now, killed by the covenant on a distant planet and fighting for only half a cause."
"Brigid," Brian said, "You are not responsible for what happened, and besides, what about what we've found here? We've taken a rag-tag group of outcasts and turned them into a fighting force to be reckoned with in less than a decade. We've ensured that these cultures will outlast the Covenant and that our peoples can live in peace. You've given hope to everyone in this room, and you're a hero."
"I am not a hero," Brigid said, "I just get a lot of people killed and maimed."
"What the hell do you think a hero is?" Brian asked. "Kyle is my cousin, closer to me than my own brother since we were children. Brigid, I know you need to deal with this, which is why I'm going to insist that you wait for Kyle to wake up while the rest of us debrief the crew and get out of our armor." Brigid stood to protest. "And I know you outrank me but don't think that gives you an option in this case." Brigid gave half a smile and nodded. She walked into the room as soon as Kyle was moved and sat next to his chair for what seemed like an eternity. She set her arm on the bed and then rested her head on it, helmet sitting on the table. A moment later she felt a hand take her armored one and woke up.
"Hey," Brigid said.
"Hey sleepy," Kyle said, "How are you."
"More rested than I was," Brigid said, "How about you?" Kyle gave a wry smile.
"Well," he said, "Guess I'm working intelligence from now on." The two talked for a while and then Brian took her place, they didn't want Kyle to ever feel alone. Brigid went back to her quarters and poured herself a very stiff drink.
"Brigid," Ja'naço asked. "Are you allright?"
She looked into the clear amber liquid in her glass and thought for a moment. "No," she said. "I'm not."
"Do you need to talk?" Ja'naço asked.
"Well," Brigid said, "It's not simple. We're the Charlie Company Clowns. We've been through hell and back, worse than any spec-ops soldier and in less than half the time. Yet, we were able to get through it because we had each other, we were invincible. Everything's going to change now."
"You guys are fine with change," Ja'naço said, pouring himself a drink, "Heck, ever thought you'd be in charge of the most elite fighters, belong to races you only knew to be in the Covenant."
"That's different," Brigid said, "We hadn't changed, we were still a group. Now Kyle can't come with us on mission, he'll probably go back to earth, and I'm not sure who else will stay. A whole bunch of variables just got chucked into the soup, as Sarge would have said in basic."
"Well," Ja'naço said, "That is not something I can help with, but I can guarantee that your family will have complete support from our community, and I say family because that is what you guys are."
"And now I'm going to loose them," Brigid said, "In truth, I'm scared. I don't know what's going to happen when we get back to Ithil, and it's scaring the shit out of me."
"That's what's called life sweetheart," Ja'naço said. "Do you need to think?" Brigid downed her glass. "Or perhaps another drink."
"An entire distillery," Brigid said, smiling. She didn't pour herself another drink, she just stared at the ice in her glass. Ja'naço soon left to go check on her status and they were approaching their final vectors about forty-five minutes later.
"T-minus 20 minutes till Ithil orbit," Oska said, "And the communications officer has to relay a message down to your corters."
"Patch it through," Brigid said, beginning to remove her helmet. She looked on the screen and read the transmission from Ithil, highly encoded and keyed in her access code, scanning the chip in her hand. She scanned the lines, Covesash wanted a very detailed briefing from herself and Killjoy upon their return, and he had news from earth. She sighed and changed out of her armor, taking on the black tunic and pants she normally wore with a single gold braid over her left shoulder. She looked in the mirror a moment and then went to go see Kyle, who had the whole group visiting with him.
"Hey," Kyle said. "You awake now?"
"I think so," Brigid said, smiling. "We're about twenty minutes from home."
"Good," Killjoy said, "Covesash has already requested a meeting?"
"Yes," Brigid said.
"We need the squad there," Killjoy said, "I've found out some information vital to our survival." Brigid pressed the intercom to the bridge.
"Lieutenant," she said. "See if you can shave a few minutes off our ETA."
"I'll do my best ma'am," Oska replied.
"All I ask Oska," Brigid said. "How many more jumps do we have to make?"
"We're on three of five," he replied, "Two more to…ma'am Covenant Cruisers of the port bow! They are moving to engage."
"On my way," Brigid said, "Jo and Brian, get to the fighters, I'm going to need you guys out there." Kyle sat up and threw the blanket off him, removing his IV. "Kyle, you stay here, you're wounded."
"Bullshit," Kyle said, "I'm fine, besides, I'm the best tactician you've got."
"Look," Brigid said as Brian got a hoverchair. "We don't…."
"You're right," Kyle said, hefting himself into the chair and positioning his dead legs, "We don't have time for this. Now lets get moving." Jo and Brian got themselves installed into fighters and took the squadron out of the hanger to engage the covenant fighters coming toward the Revenge.
"What's happening?" Brigid asked, entering the bridge 30 seconds after leaving the medical bay.
"Two Covenant cruisers," Oska said, "They have not identified us yet, they think we're UNSC."
"That won't last long," Kyle said, hovering before one of the control panels, "Colonel, shields up?"
"Maximum power," Brigid said. "Charge the particle beams, ready all archer missiles and P-MAC rounds." Brigid smiled, P-MAC rounds were the latest variation the science deck had completed. It was a massive steel round like normal UNSC rounds, but then had a charge of plasma in the center that would detonate a few seconds after impact or even detonate on remote if they lodged the round in a ship for maximum damage. "Killjoy, let me know the moment they go to fire. Oska, come about for a Mac round and then unload everything on the starboard side." The ship began to turn and Brigid saw some of the fighters go down. "Kyle, get those fighters under some sort of order, I do not tolerate losses, bring them home."
"Calling fighters back," Kyle said, "Sweeping buzz missile fire to take out their fighters." Buzz missiles were another invention out of Ithil, it used a plasma core and standard charge to take out Covenant ships without really giving away the identity of the Revenge.
"P-MAC gun ready," Killjoy said, "Coordinates on screen."
"Fire when ready," Brigid said as the cruisers came in range.
"They're firing!" Killjoy said. Brigid hit the impact alarm as the beam fired and the ship lurched as the shields deflected the blow.
"Get back on track and fire," Brigid said, "Destroy both ships, we can't let them think UNSC has shield technology."
"They don't," Kyle said.
"Yea," Brigid replied, "But the Covenant won't know that if they get away." A dull rumble sounded through the hull as the P-MAC rounds fired and then a very loud hum as the plasma beams and archer missiles flew. The missiles and beams outstripped the P-MAC rounds and took out the shield of the two ships, then the rounds impacted against the Covenant hull and tore through the ship. One round came out the stern and detonated, throwing the carcass of the ship into a spinning whirlwind toward the nearby system. The other ship had been turned and both rounds lodged in the side of the ship. The cruiser began to turn and headed right for the Revenge as the plasma inside each round came close to detonating.
"They've lowered their shields," Maika, the science officer said.
"Remaining cruiser coming about," Oska said, "They're going to ram us and catch using the blast."
"Oska, use the emergency thrusters," Brigid said, grabbing a handhold as she stood over his shoulder, "Kyle, mark us."
"Wait," Kyle said, "Not all of the fighters are in yet, we're still missing Gold Group."
"Colonel," Oska said, "We wait any longer we'll be trapped in that blast."
"Commander Maika," Brigid said, "Shield status."
"100," she replied, "But that's not enough to withstand to P-MAC rounds."
"Re-routing," Kyle said, "Ma'am, fire the thrusters, I'm placing a rally point on the other side of the planet."
"Order Gold Group to scatter," she said, "Get as far away from the cruiser as possible. Oska, fire the emergency blasters." Dots on the display screen began to fly away as fast as the engines could fly. Oska picked a glowing red button, broke the glass case over it, and slammed the ignition key. The ship let loose, basically, a controlled explosion at their nose which sent them backwards faster than normal thrusters could. Brigid was thrown across the deck and hit the bulkhead, Kyle's chair lost its brakes and he was thrown to the floor, Oska fell over his control panel and beneath the deck, and the P-MAC rounds exploded, sending them into a slow spin across space, canceling out their shields.
"Brigid," a familiar voice came in over the intercom, "Colonel, are you allright?" Ja'naço was calling up from the hanger. Brigid struggled to her feet and saw that her shoulder was dislocated, she popped it back into place with a grunt and hled it across her chest.
"Yes," she said, pressing the button, "Medical teams to disperse, make sure the crew is ok." She stood and looked around as the different crewmembers got to their feet. One of the Grunts was struggling on the floor, his environmental suit broken and leaking. Brigid grabbed a sheet plastic, which they carried for such an occasion, and ran over to the Grunt, sealing his suit shut until the medics could arrive and patch it up enough for him to get down to medical. The Grunt stopped struggling and just concentrated on breathing, she looked around as she held it there. "Maika, status report."
"Shields recharging," she said, holding her arm. "No damage to any decks, only receiving data from 75 fighters."
"Recall everyone," Brigid ordered, she signaled a midshipman and gave him to task of sustaining the grunt. "Anyone who's injured get your replacements up here and report to medical." She looked around and then moved her left arm a little, it didn't hurt so she rolled her shoulder. "Good." A Sanghelli picked Kyle up and set him back in his chair, she rushed to his side.
"I'm fine," he said, "Oska went over his display." Brigid turned and jumped down below the deck, where Oska was lying in a heap.
"Lieutenant Oska," Brigid said, she turned him over and saw that there was no serious damage, though he would be sore that night when he got off duty. "Oska, wake up." She shook his shoulder and he came around. "You OK?"
"I think so," he replied, "One hell of a headache ma'am."
"You went over your station," Brigid said, "Just stay still a moment, anything particularly hurting."
"Just sore," Oska said. "Did we win?" Brigid thought of the fighters blown to pieces and melted by plasma.
"There is no winning in war, Oska," Brigid said, "Only survivors, and we survived."
"Well, I'll take that," Oska said.
"You performed well for your first tour," she stated, "When you banked us after that hit you probably save our lives by going with the attack rather than against it. Did you learn to fly like that at academy?"
Oska laughed. "If my professor had seen me do that he would have told me it was stupid and dangerous, then failed that test."
"Well," Brigid said, activating the ladder, "Good work." She could visibly see Oska's pride swell several degrees. "Don't let it go to your head, but you're on your way to being a good pilot." Oska smiled this time. "Now, lets get back upstairs and sort this mess out." Brigid climbed up on the deck and stood up as Oska followed her.
"Good, you found him," Kyle said, "We've retrieved all of our disabled fighters."
"What's the butchers bill?" She asked as Oska took his station. Kyle pulled up a display on his chair's pad.
"28 dead," he said, "36 wounded, and seven returned fighters damaged."
"Do we have names?" Brigid asked.
"Already sent in report form to Ithil," Kyle said.
"No survivors found," Maika said, "Victory complete."
"Setting course for home," Oska said, "Plugging in three more jump points…ah JAKA!"
"Language Lieutenant," Kyle said, "What is it?"
"UNSC battleship coming out of slipsteam," he said, "600 kilks away, they're hailing us."
"Ah hell," Brigid said, "Oska, jump now! Killjoy, help him out!" The two worked together and jumped out of the system faster than they ever had before.
"They are not following," Maika said, "We're clear." Brigid exhaled and took her seat.
"Oksa," she said, "Get us home, please."
"Ma'am," he said, keying in more coordinates. She waited a few seconds and Kyle floated up to her.
"You OK Brigid?" He asked in code. She gave a wry chuckle and looked at him, her hand in her head.
"You Kyle," she said, "Are one hell of a battle tactician. We would have lost a lot of fighters without you today."
"You know you love me babe," Kyle replied, his face paled slightly, "Ow."
"What the hell are you thinking?" Brigid asked, seeing blood seep through his uniform, "Get your ass down to medical right this seshi moment." Kyle turned and floated down towards the lift and the door opened to reveal Ja'naço.
"Brigid," he said, "You should come down to the hanger."
"Major," Brigid said to her XO, the Sanghelli nodded and she entered the lift, taking it down to the hanger. She felt her heart fall to the bottom of her shoes. She knew that they had gotten off lucky, but the injured were grievously so. One grunt had severe burns and another Sanghelli had lost his arm. The medical teams were not overwhelmed, but they were certainly busy. She saw Sarge laying on a stretcher and walked over to the medics. "Dr?"
"He's fine Colonel," the doctor said, "He only has a cut on his arm and a little stress on his lungs from lack of oxygen, we had to put him under so that we could tend to him."
"He always was the trouble patient," Brigid said, "Carry on." She walked up to Ja'naço and looked around. "Has the crew ever experienced a battle like this?"
"Not this grievous," Ja'naço said, "Never in injuries, they were just KIA, no remains to look at."
"Get the injured out of here soon so that the engineers can start working," Brigid ordered, "We'll be landing on Ithil soon and we'll need to get the critically injured into hospitals." Several of the greener recruits looked on in horror from the screams of one Sanghelli, he had been burned badly and the medics were removing his armor, along with sheets of skin. Brigid walked over to them and they looked right into her eyes.
"Colonel," one said, "We never thought it would be like this. We've heard about your great victories and begged to be assigned to you, but we never thought that it would be so bad."
Brigid sighed. "There are many things that you will be disillusioned about on this ship," Brigid said. "War isn't great, and victory never comes without a price." She turned and looked back as the Sanghelli was carried away on a stretcher, unconscious from the pain. "And heroes are only the survivors, the ones that really deserve the medals are the ones who don't come back, they're the ones who really believe in what we're doing here, enough to give their lives for it." The recruits still looked at her as though she had two heads, Brigid turned and face them, they flinched away as they saw the scars on her face in full light. There's nothing I can say to you that would make you understand, you have to understand it for yourselves." She replaced her battle-hardened mask of a commanders face. "We have work to do and it won't get done my us standing here."
"Aye," they said and scrambled off to fix the damaged fighters. Brigid felt a familiar presence behind her and smiled.
"You always sucked at motivational speaking," Jo said, "I don't even know why you try that corny shit."
"Because I want to," Brigid replied, "How's Sarge?"
"Ready to beat up the doctors if they don't let him out of the infirmary," she replied, "They want to monitor his oxygen levels for a few more hours, but we all know he'll just check himself out of the hospital on Ithil."
"Speaking of home, how far out are we?"
Jo looked at the display pad on her hip and smiled, "We only have one more jump, so I'd say about twenty minutes, Killjoy's getting better at finding shortcuts in slipstream."
"Good," Brigid replied, "Killjoy said she had a briefing for us when we get back."
"Yeah." There was a long silence between the two old friends, both of whom had the same question on their minds, but Jo was the first one to face it. "What's going to happen when we get back to Ithil?"
"I don't know," Brigid replied, "I'm just wondering if this means the end of the group."
"Kyle and Brian have been away from Earth for a long time."
"So has Sarge."
Jo turned and faced her best friend, "So have you."
Brigid chuckled, "My place is here… You?"
Jo laughed, "You know the story with my family. Besides, I don't think my Hunter brothers here would fit in with any of my old circles." The two sat for another moment and looked down and saw their rumpled uniforms, laughing wryly.
"I think we should go change before our audience with Covesash," Brigid said between breathes.
"No," Jo replied, "Let him see us like this, he might give us a break."
"Maybe," Brigid said, "We've earned it with this crew. How long have we been out?"
"Two years, but this was really the only battle we've been in. That one back near the Protos III system doesn't count, that was only a fighter patrol."
"Why was this so monotonous?"
"We were searching for HALO, not for the enemy. Also, most of our missions involved sneaking onto a ship while it was planet side and sabotaging it, that's why the ship crew wasn't really battle-hardened."
"We still deserve a break," Brigid said, "Our groups been on the job since we got here six years ago… Has it really been that long?"
"I think so," Jo said, "I feel a hell of a lot older than 25 though."
"I feel to young to be a Colonel," Brigid replied, "Hell, I'd be begging for a Chief Petty Officer position in UNSC, if I was still alive."
"Brigid," Jo said, they both had gotten over their chuckles, "Just so you know, we're not going to abandon each other."
"Of course not," Brigid said, "We're the only two girls from 4th platoon, someone's got to keep the story going."
"Women always had more endurance," Jo said, reliving their basic training days.
"Why do you think we always outlasted the guys during the 15km runs?"
"Because women have more endurance."
"I think we've covered that point." The two laughed again and went to go change their uniforms. Brigid met Ja'naço in her quarters and they played chess until she felt the nose thrusters fire, signaling their decent to Ithil. She quickly froze the game and traveled up to the Bridge. The window in the front revealed a growing landscape as they fell through the sky.
Her XO stood to call the crew to attention, but she quickly silence him and indicated for him to continue. Brigid kept a sharp eye on the crew as they were led by …, she smiled when she saw that they worked just as well under her. Brigid gave her tunic a tug and shifted her shoulders, then decided that she hated her uniform and would always rather wear her armor from then on.
"Approaching landing platform," Oska said, "Requesting for defense clearance." Oska keyed in the clearance codes and then set his hands on the controls of the ship, maneuvering it down to the forest canopy and landing it in the concealed platform. He then clicked the landing locks into place. "Crimson Revenge is home."
"Good landing," Brigid said, "Now, I'm sure everyone is anxious to get home and see their families, but we have a little bit of work to do before that. So, make sure that you all get your jobs done and then your free until further notice." The crew saluted and then went back to their work, making sure that the ship would be locked down and maintained while they were planetside.
"Let's go," Killjoy said, "We need to talk to Covesash as soon as possible. Pick me up." Brigid took Killjoy's chip out of the Revenge and put it in a small pouch on her belt. She turned to the intercom and indicated her squads quarters on the control screen to page them.
"My team," Brigid said, "Meet outside Covesash's apartment in 10 minutes, don't be late." She went back to her bunk and grabbed her stuff, throwing it over her shoulder as she walked down the ramp and into real sunlight. She smiled. "Home again." People were busy on the docks, and word had already traveled that they were home. Females and younglings rushed to the docks to meet their families after their space jaunt.
She stopped and greeted a few people on the way to her house, but promised longer visits as soon as she was out of her meeting. She walked up to the main building of the colony and saw Kyle in his hoverchair.
"Hey girl," he said, "Jo's talking her brothers out of coming, but you know how hunters get."
"Yes," Brigid said, seeing Ja'naço out of the corner of her eye, lumbering towards her, "I know, speaking of brothers…" She turned and faced the large alien, "I'm not sure that you can come to this one bro."
"You forgot the part where I don't care," Ja'naço said, "Knowing you, you'll sneak out the back door and go gallivanting off for a few weeks and won't tell me where you are. We've been over this, I'm not letting you out of my sight." Brigid rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Lets get this over with," the door opened and the guards let them pass without question. They entered and saluted Covesash, standing before his desk as they waited for him to acknowledge them.
"You told me that you have something to report?" Covesash asked. Brigid set the chip into the reader and Killjoy projected onto the ground.
"Covesash," he said, bowing, "Please clear the room." He waved a hand and the guards left. "What I have to tell you is unspeakable, you are not to mention it to anyone. These HALOs are worse weapons than we could ever imagine. Shutting down the rings aren't enough, if the Covenant find out a way to set off one the other ones will automatically activate when the shockwave reaches them."
"So," Covesash said after a moment, "All our work has been for nothing if the Covenant reach one ring that is able to activate."
"To be blunt," Killjoy said, "Yes."
"Oh great," Brigid said, "So we have one down….I think."
"Two," Killjoy said, holding up two fingers, "This is another piece of news. A UNSC ship, The Pillar of Autumn, landed on HALO and was later used to destroy it."
"So the only way to really end this threat is to destroy the rings?" Jo asked. Killjoy nodded. "Why didn't we destroy that thing when we were there?"
"Because," Killyjoy said, "The Flood exist, and do you think that they want to die?"
"Do they think?" Kyle asked.
"They have a sudo-hive mind based on survival," Killjoy said, "But they also have free will and a government, though I don't really understand it."
"Interesting," Sarge said, "So, why aren't we killing them."
"They're life forms with conscience," Ja'naço said, "They have the dignity of every creature in the universe."
'Except they eat every creature in the universe," Sarge said.
"That doesn't exactly matter," Brigid said, "If they're on the ring they're contained. If we deactivate all the rings then they can't set each other off and we're good."
"Unless the Flood get off of the ring," Sarge said, "In which case we're screwed."
"No," Covesash said, "This argument does nothing. That is not the object at hand, what is the object at hand is that the UNSC ship that saw you hailed their base and believe that one of their ships was stolen by the Covenant, they have placed a high alert and have a standing order to destroy the Revenge upon its discovery." There were a few seconds of silence before Jo voiced her opinion on the matter.
"Shit!"
"Amen there Jo," Brian said. "Do we have to go to UNSC again and clear our names."
"Yes," Covesash said, "I'm sending the five of you back to Earth with a small detachment of our forces to meet with their officials for the last time." Brigid noticed Kyle and Sarge light up, but Brian and Jo were neutral. Maybe the group wasn't finished after all. "Then, those of you who wish to stay have been offered a position as military ambassadors to the UNSC and will remain in contact with us so that we can coordinate attacks against the Covenant. Those of you who wish to return can, though you will from hereon foreword hold the rank of ambassador and all the responsibilities and privileges with your rank." Covesash smiled and then reached into a box. "We also have a few more honors to impart upon you five humans and your crew. All of you have received the Honored Veteran's Medal. Colonel Brigid McClain, you are promoted to General Admiral and given two more ships under your command, which have been built on the blueprints of the RS Crimson Revenge." Brigid smiled and let the medal be pinned to her tunic. "Lieutenant Colonel Josephine Reita, you are promoted to Colonel and given command of the ship and crew of the RS Illusion." Jo smiled as the rank was replaced on her shoulder and she couldn't hide the excitement from her clenched limbs as she walked away from the platform. "Lieutenant Colonel Brian Hetington, you are promoted to full Colonel with your Cousin Kyle Hetington." Covesash did not say whether or not they would return after the mission, though Jo had already told them that she would stay until she stopped breathing. "And now," Covesash said, facing Sarge, "My old friend you have once again declined a promotion, though you qualify much higher than many of your peers here. Fr this, we have already bestowed our highest honor that we can as a military form. Our people wish to thank you for your years of service, they have established you as our official liaison to Earth and…"
"No," Sarge said, cutting off his old friend.
"Excuse me?" Covesash asked.
"I don't want the position," Sarge said, "It's one of the reasons that I declined a promotion, it's not the life that I'm designed to lead."
"We thought you'd say that," Covesash said with a smile, "The people of the town have created an award, finding none more to give you. They have given you're the Leader award, for leadership not only in the military realm, but help those outside your command and giving back to the community." Sarge smiled and accepted the plaque with both hands, joining the ranks of his comrades.
"Are you crying Sarge?" Brian asked.
"Shut up."
"Now," Covesash said, "Jo, your new ship is ready and outfitted to leave in three days." Jo smiled. "You are dismissed."
"Sir," they all said, saluting. The group turned and walked outside. Brigid and Ja'naço quickly turned and went back to their friends house to meet with some old friends. After their lunch she sneaked out the back, wearing a simple pair of black pants and a green tunic. She ran into the jungle with a small bag of supplies and climbed to the top of the mountain, looking out over the untamed jungles and lakes of Ithil. She stood there for a long time and watched the sun set over her planet, processing all the events of the day. She couldn't imagine returned to Earth, she didn't think of it as home anymore, she barely even had any contacts there anymore. She hadn't seen her family in years, and she hadn't heard from any of her friends since Ku-Lita had been destroyed, though supposedly her records had been changed. She smiled and began her hike down towards home, it was getting dark quickly and Ja'naço didn't like her spending the night in the jungle. She knew that she would probably camp out tomorrow, but she didn't have the equipment she would have liked to spend the night on the mountain. She returned home to find a note that they were all having dinner at her friends house and that she should just come over.
"Cool," Brigid said, knowing that she was in for a good night. She showered off quickly and changed into a new tunic, this one was black with a blue sash that looked nice with her circle charm she always wore, reminding her that life was unending, and that her journey was also unending in her quest to bring peace to the world. She walked over to their neighbors and had a very good dinner of the local bird, equivalent to chicken on earth. The next two days passed in a fast blur of beautiful landscapes, good friends, and a relaxing time. Then she was back on the Crimson Revenge and Jo was installed on the Illusion, they had decided to only take two ships on the meeting. She smiled as she put her things back in her room and then went to the bridge, watching the stars streak by, it was a long trip to Earth and Brigid did not know what was going to happen when they got there. She watched her crew and could tell that they were nervous about going to the strange planet.
"Hey," Brian said, "You OK."
"Not really," Brigid replied, "I don't know what's going to happen. It seems like a decade since we've been back."
"Yeah," Brian said, "We'll have to slow down once we get to the inner systems and wait for the escorts."
"We're stopping near Reach, aren't we?" Brigid asked.
"I think so," Brain said. "We should be coming up on it soon." They slowed their engines down and saw the UNSC ships, what the two saw next drove them to their knees.
"Good God," Brigid said, holding onto the bar as they floated in space, "Reach…" The great military planet was dead, glassed long ago by the Covenant. Brigid quickly keyed in a channel to Jo.
"Brigid," Jo said, "Tell me your seeing this."
"Yeah," Brian said, "We're seeing this, but we don't believe it."
"Everything's changed," Brigid said, "Is there even an Earth anymore?"
"That was where we all met," Kyle said, clutching the arms of his chair, "That's where it all began."
"Ma'am," Maika said, "We are being hailed."
"Bring it through," Brigid said, standing in her armor, helmet still on. A face appeared on the display screen.
"General Admiral," the man said, "My name is Captain Dores of the UNSC Meridon, we are here to escort you back to Earth."
Brigid went to respond, but was stopped by Brain. "Brigid, isn't that the idiot who tried to attack us last time we checked in?"
"I don't know, but I'll find out," Brigid said, "Captain Dores, did you previously have the rank of Colonel?"
The captains jaw clenched. "Yes, and I know who you are, General Admiral Brigid McClain, you ended my career. I am here to escort you to Earth, not babysit a diplomat."
"One second Captain," Brigid said, "You obviously aren't a diplomat, and I don't have much experience as one – but perhaps you can help us… What happened here?"
Dores looked over his shoulder, supposedly out his window at the glassed planet, "Reach?" Brigid nodded. "Though it was obvious, your Covenant buddies glassed it."
The entire crew tensed, Brigid saw her weapons officer reach the missile pod activation system, she waved him down. Brigid's jaw clenched and she removed her helmet, letting Dores see her face. "You infer that we have ANYTHING to do with the Covenant again and, diplomacy or not, I will kill you. We are waiting for your coordinates." Brigid replaced her helmet and received the coordinates a moment later, along with an invitation to dinner. She sighed, head in her hand, and waved the invitation towards Sarge.
"Oh great," he said, "Diplomatic dinner, we'll have to go in our dress uniforms."
"Casual," Brigid said, "I'm not putting that fucking tunic on until I have to. We'll shuttle out at 1700, diplomatic party only and what brothers are suitable to attend." Ja'naço nodded and turned to relay the message. "Ja'naço," he turned, "Not N'Knah or R'Farh, ok?" Ja'naço laughed and nodded.
"Naturally," J'anaço said. He turned and left to go get ready. Brigid dreaded the hours until she had to go over to Dores' ship, and they seemed to come all the sooner. She strapped on her black tunic and her sash with several red stripes, straightening her gold braid and insignia. She smiled at the thought of wearing her dress uniform, it would have felt good to walk in being more decorated than she looked, even if it would have been annoying through dinner to hold her medals back while she ate. She walked up to the bridge and saw Maika downloading their docking procedures. Brigid smiled wider as the crew didn't stand, they all acknowledged her presence but they now understood that she didn't believe in leaving a station just because some brass walked on the deck. This crew was permanent now, they would stay with her. She was glad to not have to train a new crew every couple of weeks as she had been doing for the past few years.
"Ma'am," she said, "We have their docking procedures and can leave as soon as you are ready."
"Send the signal for diplomatic crews to the shuttles," Brigid said, "We leave in 5 minutes." Three minutes later everyone was assembled from her ship. Ja'naço, Brian, Kyle, Paka, Maika, and Oska were coming from her ship, and Jo was brining two of her brothers. She met in the space between them and were soon latched onto the airlock of the Meridon, opening the doors between the shuttle and the ship.
Captain Dores was standing inside in full dress uniform, though it was sporadically decorated, the look on his face was a quite distinctive look of hatred. She smiled and walked up to him. "Captain, it is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."
"Admiral," he said, saluting. Brigid returned the salute and then extended her hand, which he shook very quickly and then released.
"I would like to introduce those with me," she said, "My brother, Colonel Ja'naço, High Chancilor of the Hunters." Ja'naço wlaked down the line, shaking hands with the different officers. "My fellow commander Colonel Brian Hetington. Our head of training Sergeant Gilson, and our weapons specialist Colonel Kyle Hetington. My science officers, Commander Maika and Lieutenant Paka. Finally, my helmsman Lieutenant Oska."
"Pleasure," Dores said, "This is my Executive Officer First Lieutenant Sunatra, my Science officer Captain Pavlov, ships doctor Dr. Tibla, and our helmsman Commander Dinara." The formalities continued until the group sat down to dinner, Brigid feared that Ja'naço and Jo's bodyguards would eat the ships entire supply of food.
"So," Dinara asked, "If you are allowed to speak of it, how did you end up on that planet so far out of UNSC space?"
"We weren't as proficient at slipstream calculations back then," Kyle said, "We just made a blind jump away from Ku-Lita to get away from the Covenant."
"Now, if you'll permit me," Brigid said, "How did they get to Reach?"
"We don't know how they found the location of Reach," Dores answered, "But it was pretty much the same as the raid on Ku-Lita, they came and glassed the planet to get to our military forces. It was a sad day for all of us, how did you know of Reach."
"We were trained there," Brian said, "It's were we all met in basic training. We were in Charlie Company and our specific squad was chosen to continue training on Ku-Lita for advanced infantry and tactics."
"You guys were going to be troopers," Dores said, "They're the only ones that got sent to Ku-Lita."
"Excuse me," Pavolv asked, bashed, "But, how did you get those scars on your face if you were just in training when the planet was glassed?"
"Grenade during a live fire training operation," Brigid said, "Rolled loose when the guy got stunned and I didn't get out of the way in time."
"Ouch," Pavolv replied. "That doesn't sound pleasant."
"It wasn't," Brigid replied, "But I don't need to lecture you guys on the histories of battle scars, I assure you my history is probably boring compared the the one on your arm."
"Research," Pavlov replied, "I was taking a sample from a new life form and neglected the creatures tentacles."
"Ew," Maika said, "I know how that is. Last mission we brought back a sample and I got huge marks all over my hands because I was just wearing normal safety gloves, we didn't know we had to wear chemical suits with these things."
"Sounds bad," Pavlov replied, "I'm the curious one here, how did you learn English?"
"We originally learned it out of a translator," Ja'naço said, "Most of us were taught English because we knew it was the language of the humans. Then Brigid came a long and we were able to perfect our study of their language through the help of Killjoy and Firefly."
Brigid smiled and spoke to Ja'naço in his own language, "Careful brother, we do not wish to give away all our secrets, which is why we made our jump pattern untraceable."
"Fear not sister," Ja'naço replied, "We're not going to tell them anything they can figure out."
"Dores is smarter than we think," Brigid said, "Do not think him dumb because he is hotheaded." Ja'naço nodded. Brigid switched back to English. "They also taught us the language of the Covenant and each respective race, though I am not completely fluent in the grunt home tongue, it is quite hard to master."
"So," Dores asked, "How many languages do you speak?"
"It depends," Paka said, "Maika and I speak about 12 languages, both human and of other species. Most people in our forces speak at least three."
"It has been a while since we spoke English," Brian replied, "After we joined the Resistance we rarely ever saw humans, more or less spoke to any." The conversation covered a very polite range of topics. Neither group discussed base locations or battle tactics, Brigid even ordered her men from conveying their advancements in technology. The group had recently combined a shotgun with plasma rounds for wide-spread destruction, but she didn't want to hand over any plans before her own troops had gotten full training with them first. They were not invited to dinner again, and both commanders were glad, Brigid had assured Dores that his troops would not be able to eat their food. Many of her own people had found human food upsetting, even Brigid had trouble keeping her heavy beef dish down. They kept to themselves and the humans remained the same until they came close to earth, and they were forced contact again, this time by an old friend.
"Hey," a familiar voice sounded, "How are you guys doing?"
"Firefly," Killjoy said as her sister AI appeared. "How are you? I hope your miserable, its been to quiet around here."
"Good," she replied, "I jumped back to Earth a while ago and wrote a partner." A male AI appeared as another sprite, this one was blue. "Meet Waterwalker." Killjoy raised her eyebrows and quickly sized her replacement up.
"Hello," Killjoy said, "I've never heard of an AI writing a new Smart AI."
"She's brilliant," Waterwalker said. "And from what she has told me, you are to."
"I would hope to think so," Killjoy said, shaking his hand, "It's nice to meet you." Waterwalker nodded and Brigid smiled.
"Hello," she said, "I think my ship is about to self-destruct from all the AI in here."
"Oops!" Firefly said, she fell silent for a moment, "There, that should fix your memory banks to support the three of us. We'll guide you in from here so that Oska doesn't have to worry about parking this thing in one of our space docks."
"Thanks," Oska said, "Why you guys bother to build those, I don't even know."
"Some security procedure," Waterwalker said, "I don't know why it exists either, but you will have to wait for a UNSC shuttle to take you planet-side."
"It'll be here about 1200," Firefly said, "I'd go get your dress uniform ready, its all top brass and you want to look nice in there. "
"OK," Brigid said, "Would one of you alert…"
"Done," Killjoy said, "Could you carry a projector with you, I don't want to be in their systems, its to easy to read me there and I don't want any more assaults by smart AI's."
"Sure," Brigid said, "I can do that." She walked back to her quarters and took out her dress tunic and sash, she sighed and felt several pounds heavier. She turned and walked towards the hanger bay, she saw her away crew assembled with the human crew. She smiled at them all, top UNSC brass wasn't as decorated as they were. The shuttle docked and Brigid entered, Killjoy jumped into the portable on her hip. She projected onto the floor and walked along with the others, taking a seat as Earth grew large in the window. Oska looked as though he'd be back on Crimson Revenge. It seemed a moment later that she was walking into the chamber to meet with the top UNSC brass. She couldn't even remember the Admiral's names as they were introduced.
"Who are you?" The Admiral in the center asked. Brigid sighed, the entire room was dark but for a spotlight on their group. She rolled her eyes and sent a key in through her portable. Killjoy smiled and the message was relayed to Firefly, who brought up the lights so they all could see each other. Brigid smiled, they were in their dress uniform and severely less decorated than she was, even less than half.
"General Admiral McClain," Brigid said, "Formerly Private First Class McClain of the UNSC. Let me get through the specifics, three of my squad members and out leader were abandoned on Ku-Lita, separated from our platoon in the chaos that followed the arrival of the Covenant Fleet. We made a blind jump and landed on a planet outside UNSC boarders, no I can't tell you the location of said planet. We've been fighting with the Resistace ever since. Any questions?"
"Why did you not follow UNSC protocol?" The man asked.
"I do not understand the question," Brigid replied.
"You were driving a top security clearance, prototype ship with experimental armor on board – then you did not call in and request further instruction. Did you honestly think we were just going to let that drop?"
"We did not contact UNSC because we were out of range," Brigid replied, "and we did not know where we were, it was impossible to do so. And you seem to have done a fine job ignoring us the two or three other times we've tried to clear our names after we rescued your troops."
"The self-destruct and memory-wipe protocol was not followed either," he said.
"We have not broken the Cole Protocal," Brigid said, "The Cole Protocal states that contact must be made with the Covenant, which we did not." There was a stunned silence. "Now, we ask permission for those who wish to stay on planet a week allowed to stay and tour the city. I'm also sure that those who have been absent for six years wish to see their families. You sent us a communiqué stating that we were welcome to join the UNSC forces a co-combatants, we will contact you before our departure in five days as to who will remain on Earth." There was another stunned silence. "Any questions?" A pin could have dropped in the room and echoed like a tank shell, Brigid smirked. "Very well, we take our leave. I will meet with you in two days to discuss the terms of our peace contract and what technology shall be given to you, Firefly will know how to contact me should anything come up. Good day, gentlemen." The group saluted and turned without being dismissed, they even managed to keep straight faces until they were outside.
"I think you could have showed some mercy Brigid," Kyle said, "I think hey were intimidated just when they saw your uniform." Brigid swung her cloak around her shoulders and fasted the clasp, smiling.
"Yes," she replied, "But there's nothing like the smell of fried diplomats in the morning." She stretched and walked with the marines assigned to them as they were escorted to their hotel for the stay. The group parted at the lobby and Brigid took Ja'naço to their suite.
"This is nice," Ja'naço said, "what do you want to do while your planet-side."
"Absolutely nothing," Brigid said, taking off her dress tunic and sitting on the couch, "I want to relax."
"Don't you want to find your family?" Ja'naço asked, sitting next to her.
"No," Brigid said, "I don't, they probably don't even know I'm alive."
"Let me rephrase," Ja'naço said, "I called your parents and your meeting them tomorrow."
"WHAT?!" Brigid screamed, jumping up. "Ja'naço why did you do that?! You had no right to…" Brigid was cut off mid-sentence as Ja'naço placed his large paw over her face, muffling her cries.
"Because it's the right thing to do Brigid," Ja'naço said, "And you're not getting out of it. You will see your parents and your twin sister tomorrow, that is the end of this discussion." Ja'naço released his sisters face and saw tears running from her right eye, the left bionic one unable to produce the show of emotion. Ja'naço had never seen his sister cry before, and he decided that he didn't like it.
"You don't know Ja'naço," Brigid said, "They aren't like me." Ja'naço smiled and set a hand on her shoulder.
"That doesn't matter," Ja'naço said, "But they are still your parents, and Rebecca is still your sister. They have a right to know that you are still alive." Brigid looked out over the sunset that night and dreaded what would happen in twelve hours.
More is coming soon, I promise.
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Tenna' ento lye omenta
(Until we next meet)
Verya