Chapter 4

Agent Maine had come to the conclusion that his AI, Sigma, was even more deceptive and devious than Wyoming's AI, Gamma. The fiery virtual being always seemed to have some ulterior motive to his actions and words, most of which Maine couldn't really think about much for some reason. He was left to his own thoughts; Sigma's kept locked away somewhere. Still, the AI used Maine to carry him around, and he in turn was Maine's voice.

So when Maine saw Washington in a hallway alone, peaking around another corner, it was Sigma who appeared in front of the other agent and voiced Maine's question.

"Agent Washington, what are you doing?" the flame-covered figure asked.

Washington jumped and made a loud startled noise as he turned to face Maine, breathing heavily.

"Don't do that," he gasped, a hand clutching his heart. He turned his head around the corner again for a moment and ducked down, cursing. "If you must know, I was…trying to find someone…from maintenance."

"Is there a problem with something?" Sigma asked, while Maine cocked his head.

"No; actually, it's like everything is much more right than it used to be. Our rooms are actually CLEAN for the first time since we got here, everything is shinier, and it's all because of…" Wash trailed off mysteriously, turning to look down the hallway again. "…her."

"You mean Agent Delaware?"

"Yeah, her. She's so nice to us, even when you and Carolina and Tex beat her in that fight. Well, I guess not really nice. More just, a level above tolerant or something…" Wash was babbling pretty badly, and Maine hit him across the head gently.

"Thanks; I needed that. Anyways, I'm just trying to see what she does in her spare time."

Curious, Maine and Sigma chanced a glance around the corner. There, Delaware sat against the wall below a long window, perusing various data pads and speaking with Chi in a low voice. The amber AI caught sight of Sigma, however, and growled at him while pacing in front of Delaware as an angry cat. Never before had another of his brothers and sisters indicated a dislike to him, and Sigma could not help but feel apprehension towards his mysterious, powerful sibling. He would never let it show, though.

"A-Anyways, I should probably…be going now. Bye!" Washington ran off in the opposite direction, leaving Sigma to ponder in Maine's mind. What was the mystery behind Delaware, and why did Agent Washington have a fascination in her?

As it turned out, Wash was not the only one that had an interest in Delaware or her well-being. York always made sure to keep the more antagonistic members of the team (i.e. Wyoming and South) occupied while she passed by their way so as not to cause a confrontation; and whenever that troublesome maintenance person, Kilt, would turn up in the same vicinity and approach Delaware, North would stand up to his tallest height a short distance away and flex his muscles, or even growl, to fend off the bullies. Even Texas was taking an interest in what Delaware was doing involved in the project and made an effort to TALK with her on occasion, either in the mess hall or just in the hallways. Whatever the case might have been, Delaware still remained as silent about herself as well as the nature of her AI.

All of that changed on the day that everyone onboard the Mother of Invention both anticipated and dreaded: mail day. The day that a courier from one of the colonies would dock on the station to deliver hand-written letters, data pads, and care packages to the staff. The day was both a celebration for hearing from the families that they had left behind, and a dreaded day for the note foretelling the passage of a loved one.

So, the day found everyone filed into the main hangar as the UNSC Pelican coasted in for a landing, carrying several off-duty ODSTs with large bags of mail. The Freelancers (sans Delaware and Texas) were all lined up in the back as names were called out to pick up the mail.

"Oh, man. I hope that I got just a letter from Ma and not another sweater because 'space is cold,'" Washington mumbled as he shifted from foot to foot anxiously.

"What are the odds that Mom and Dad just included us in the same letter again?" North asked his sister, who simply shrugged noncommittally. York was bouncing slightly in his armor at the prospects of a care package from his girl back home: cookies, pies, cakes, and all the books that he could read for a few months. Carolina, meanwhile, was thinking of mail from her brother, who worked within Admiral Hood's fleet.

Eventually, all of their names were called and they went up to collect their packages excitedly. North and South exchanged their letters between each other while Wash grumbled at the mass of lumpy yarn in the cardboard box marked 'With Love.' York munched on a cookie as he started looking through the letter from his girlfriend, and Carolina merely stood as she read about her brother's recent adventures on an Elite battle cruiser.

There came as scraping noise as the ODSTs pushed a large crate off of the Pelican and had Delaware sign for it, glad to have the burden off of their backs, it seemed. The dark-haired Agent pushed the enormous box away from the Pelican so that the craft could take off, and the Freelancers went over to investigate as she began prying off the lid with a crowbar with the help of a small crowd around the box. No group of people on the ship had ever gotten so much mail while they were there, and it never came in such huge, expensive containers. Whatever was in the box, the sender was pretty wealthy.

"What's in the box, Delaware?" York asked as Delaware continued to bend the nails holding the box lid shut.

"Oh, stuff from home. We don't get much mail often, being from an Outer Colony," she muttered loudly as with a final *crash*, the lid toppled over the side and she vaulted into the box. The crowd around the box got out of the way for the curious Freelancers while muttering excitedly. All had their helmets off, and they had some tattoo similar to the wings on Delaware's face. There came much scuffling and sorting through items before Delaware's head popped up again, leaning over the side of the box. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," York said hurriedly just as packages started flying towards the crowd of Off-worlders and they caught them excitedly with shouts of thanks. The packages continued to fly until Delaware called out that there wasn't anything else in the box for anybody. By then, everybody had received something and had retreated to either open their packages to go about their duties. South took the reprieve to get Delaware's attention.

"Who sends you that much mail?" the blonde girl demanded, almost accusingly.

"Oh, all of our relatives send us this one package since we're all stationed on one ship," Delaware trailed off, untying something in her hands. She pulled out a dagger in a fine leather sheath from fabric wrapping, admiring the handiwork. "And since I'm here and in a kind of leadership role, I'm charged with distributing the mail to everyone once it gets here from home."

Suddenly, she whipped around and caught something pale with five fingers that was inching over the edge of the container, placing the dagger against freckled skin as a whine came from somewhere.

"Kilt, what have I told you before? DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF!" Delaware snarled in the most threatening manner possible, and the red-haired young man looked up at her.

"Just because you don't like to share-" he tried to complain, but never got the chance as she bent his wrist back further and further, and she didn't look like she would stop. North and York made a move to stop her while the others stood frozen, but someone beat them to it.

"Delaware, no!" Chi blossomed into being on the Freelancer's shoulder, her shimmering orb figure blinking randomly in distress, wisps of light dancing around a polished surface. Delaware ignored the AI and stared Kilt hard in the face, anger clearly etched amongst premature aging lines. "Delaware, please stop. He didn't do any harm…it's not right," the AI whispered desperately, trying to soothe the agitated woman. At the mention of the words "not right," Delaware released the offender's hand so that he could scramble away from the crate, clutching his bruised hand.

"I don't know why you constantly try to annoy me, or why you think that it's fun to hit on me. But if you keep this up, I don't care what my AI says next time. If you know what's good for you, leave me alone," Delaware hissed at the guy as he scrambled away, cursing her out as he made his way out to get his wrist checked out. She looked so angry that no one seemed willing to talk to her at the moment, so Delaware just grabbed a cardboard box, vaulted out of the crate, and left with a muttered "Excuse me."

"Does she seem a little…off to you?" South asked with her arms folded.

"A bit," Carolina said slowly, and North rounded on her.

"Hey, ease up," he snapped, turning to leave for his next training session.

"Oh, sounds like someone has a crush," Carolina sneered as North started marching out the door.

"I said, ease up," he growled in response, helmet secure over his face to hide a rising blush, but South started to bait him as well.

"At least you don't have a conscience that has to appear on your shoulder and fight your battles for you, North," she called after him, but North just ignored her as he stalked off angrily.

"North, why are you so angry?" Theta asked curiously from inside North's head, but not bothering to appear on his host's shoulder per usual.

"Sorry, Theta. I just…I guess that I don't know what went on," North replied to his AI, taking a few deep breaths.

"Perhaps you have developed a relationship with Agent Delaware that has warranted unwanted attention from your fellow agents," Delta remarked as he started walking along North, York running to catch up with his friend.

"Basically, they think that you have a crush on Del, which is normal, and they want to get you riled up about it," the tan Freelancer remarked to his purple fellow.

"Yeah, but I don't see why I get so-" North stopped as the sounds of a struggle reached his ears, and everyone stilled in the near-abandoned hallway. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

"I sure do," York replied gravely. "Let's go check it out."

RECEIVING DATA…UPLOAD COMPLETE…

IAOC CASE FILE TO OPERATOR CODE: BLACK PHOENIX.

Evidence: On 25 September 2563, a UNSC classified frigate, call name DOGS OF WAR, entered the outer rim of IAOC-protected territory in the area of lunar satellite colony JANUS-2. Frigate halted by passing unidentified star cruiser for unknown reasons. 20 minutes after initial halt, at 0538, DOGS OF WAR was destroyed by an explosion emanating from the main engine and ammunitions storage units. No survivors located. Unidentified star cruiser entered slip space, has not been classified with a specific organization. Requesting immediate analysis and action.

SENDER: OPERATOR CODE: RED STALLION.

Origin of message: location data will undergo automatic deletion…

36% complete…79% complete…100% complete.

ORIGIN DATA SUCCESSFULLY DELETED.

Sorry for the late update, guys. Been really busy with school, work, and a minor case of writer's block.

The ending may seem a little bit choppy, but it will continue from here. Also, the report at the end WILL have meaning within the story.

Read and respond, please. No flames, please.

Love to you all,

anna1795