Ballista

August 3, 2558

Meredith Adrian found herself coming awake. She stirred, moaning as pain ached throughout her limbs and a knot on the back of her head began throbbing. The vision was blurred, forcing her to well tears and blink them back for better clarity. She was in a bed inside a spacious room, the walls a solid white and grayish equipment in the corner holding two packs of Optican medigel. At the far end, there were four individuals and she nearly jumped upon seeing much more detailed pictures. The one on the far left was the complete odd one out, his features were much different than the normal human and he towered over the other three. The sangheili, or elite glanced at the other three humans, hoping that their presence would not convey as less threatening. At first she had thought that the elite was there to take her life, but then recomposed herself, if the elite wanted to kill her, he would have done it long ago.

The humans, two male and one female nodded. She wore a blank white lab coat that was just as spotless as the walls and had gray eyes that radiated compassion. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail. The older man had more weathered features and the light in his blue eyes shone of a gruff hardened veteran. There was no doubt that he was involved in the war. It was the second man who held her attention. He was in his mid-thirties with lines chiseled into his features. However they were done by hardened experience rather than age. She noted a hint of humor in his black eyes that resembled voids; obviously this was a man who had won the majority of his life struggles.

"Rise and shine." The woman was the first to speak. Her voice indicated that she had come from Northern Europe. "How are you feeling?"

Meredith tried to speak, but her throat wouldn't allow her. The older man reached to the nightstand producing a cup with a straw. He held it out to her mouth, letting her latch on and sip greedily at the water, enjoying how it dissipated the dry roof of her mouth. She emptied the entire cup, watching as the man handed it to the sangheili to refill it.

"I'm okay. Really cold."

"When the team that got you out had brought you here, your core temperature was a couple degrees lower than what most medical charts say is survivable. You're very fortunate."

Meredith looked down, now realizing that some blankets covered her body with some of them being warmed. She shivered, but now could feel some of her toes and fingers.

"This is the ship's infirmiary." The woman moved to a portable panel that was displaying her vitals. "I'm Sofia Inselton, chief medic. The elite is Vaal Talam, the older man is Drew Rayson and our commander here is Trip Aegis." She looked at the man, who stared back unblinking. A tug on his lips upward gave no more resolution to who he was, but his name felt so familiar.

"He was the one who rescued you from the depths of the ship." Vaal's deep voice came out like a threatening deity, seeming to boom throughout the section everywhere at once. However it was rimmed with an honorable aura, even if she didn't know that he had killed humans in the past.

"Do you remember anything from what had happened on your ship?" Sofia asked.

"I remember hearing lots of gunfire and hiding. A bunch of pirates, I think were ragtag skirmishers had looted the ship. They killed everyone…so many bodies."

"It's okay." Commander Aegis held up his hand, "You've probably been through hell and back, so no need to rush."

"Other than the whole crew being dead, I don't remember much else." She buried her face in her hands.

"I'm not surprised." Sofia said, "The body can be exposed to excessive amounts of trauma and often have defenses to prevent any attempt to bring the subject back."

"We had come across the two pirate vessels that must have been trying to salvage the ship you were hiding on. Because it was caught in such an erratic orbit around the moon, we had to work fast to get you out. You're very lucky, due to minutes after we left, the ship had crashed on the surface and that wouldn't have been survivable."

Her eyes widened in realization, "You! You were the one in the suit that had come to my rescue! I remember that you attempted to get in the hatch! I thought that you were going to have me killed, but really, you needed to equalize the pressure inside the ship so that your extraction could also arrive without any problems!"

Aegis smiled, "It was no big deal. As long as you're alive and well, that's all that matters to me."

"God, I've never been so cold in my life. I'm surprised that my teeth weren't chipped from chattering so hard."

He chuckled, the sound warming her heart. "Also, coming from last night, you spoke to Leah Roush, the ship's third officer. Do you remember anything from that?"

"No." Her voice shook as she spoke. "I may have just been delirious and tired." Aegis shared a wary glance with Sofia. She narrowed her eyes and made a near imperceptible nod towards Meredith.

"You told her that there were two more ships during the initial attack on your ship. One of them was among the largest ships you've seen and another that seemed to be another captured ship."

Their guest coughed, graciously accepting the cup of water from Vaal who had just returned. "If I don't remember what has happened two days ago since they attacked, then I likely won't know anything about ships." She turned her head to look at Sofia. "I think I would need some sleep now." She regarded Aegis as he reached the exit. "And Commander? Thank you for saving my life."

The Spartan medic nodded, dismissing the three males, "Of course. At the end of your nightstand is a switch that will send a signal that I will respond to. Call me if you need anything."

The three Blades founders exited the medical district, heading back to the operations center.

"Man, she was just perfect for you." Drew whistled, "I bet the rest of her body is just as good."

"Well her way with words is pretty feisty as well." Trip responded, Vaal who had been a couple paces ahead practically groaned. "I'm just glad that Leah had the idea to debrief Miss Adrian last night. I certainly wouldn't have thought of it."

"Well regarding the shape that you were in, I'm astounded that you managed to reach your cabin."

"Either way," Vaal now turned to both of them, "She said that her description of the pirates and their ships indicate that she may have some of your military training."

"Or maybe that the ship had been owned by a scientific organization and she's merely applying her observational skills."

Vaal stepped into the bridge door's field sensor so that it soundlessly slid open. "So then why would she have anything to hide? There's much more to this than what we've been given. Nobody, not even Leah has told her how long she was trapped. Yet here she knows the exact number of days spent in the wreck."

"I don't like it either." Trip passed his chair on the bridge, which was currently occupied by Leah and strode over to Dan Tyler. Riley was not at his station presently which was perfectly fine. Aegis needed answers and they would instead combine jargon to scramble his head.

"Tyler, up for some research?"

"You got it boss." He minimized his current screen on his datapad. The commander chuckled at his helmsman's embarrassment as he hid the online dating window. "What am I looking for?"

"I'm searching for a ship that is about the size of a UNSC cruiser with large holds and enormous locks. She had five triangular engines in a V formation."

Dan cocked his eyebrow, "That's all you have?" He had wanted something more challenging to go on with.

"I'm afraid so. Other than that it may have been spotted in this area as long as two days ago."

Tyler typed something on his keyboard, "Well judging from what you said, she may have been a heavy freighter, tanker or even a UNSC carrier, but I doubt the latter would be correct seeing how we'd be informed by Navy unless they're on a classified op. I'll punch it into the system anyway."

"Good man." Trip left his cabin to answer a hail on his pad. It was Laura McGarrett.

"Commander, we've finally cut open the container. You may want to come take a look, because it ain't a pretty sight."

"Couldn't imagine it to be." He hung up before jogging the distance to the hangar. The pilot had moved the pelican onto the overhead cables so that it could be tended to. The phantom droned overhead as a pair of elites inspected the engines and plasma cannons.

Laura McGarrett, Rex Armes and a few others were around the closed container. All were wearing surgical masks. As he approached, the shorter ODST tossed him one for himself.

"You may want to put that on."

He didn't complain when smelling a faint foul stench that increased when he got closer to the container.

"Do I dare ask?"

"No sir. It's exactly what you think." Armes held one of the doors while Aegis pried open the second. Like a wall of toxic gas, the smell seemed to ignore his barrier and go up his nose. He forced back the bile in his throat as the sight slowly came to him. When he finally realized what he was looking at, all the thoughts on the stink had vanished.

Inside the container were dozens of dead, naked human bodies.

Woah! That's nasty!

Enjoying it? I hope so. In addition, I finally got a job! Very excited!