Chapter Eleven: Getting Up to Speed

Undetermined Shipboard Time, February 15, 2558. Onboard UNSC Transport Ship Suave Affair, In Orbit Above Planet Khan. "The Newest Compatriots," Outer Colonies. Prologue to the Dawn of the Prometheans

Five days later Willis and I found ourselves aboard the Suave Affair waiting for the new UNSC ship, the Excalibur, to come in. It was a day late, much to our chagrin, so we hadn't been able to spend Valentine's Day on the ship together. My husband had promised me that if we got the chance, though, he'd make it up to me today. It was the fourteenth one we'd spent together, so some sort of mark of the occasion was in order.

As for more serious matters, things groundside had thankfully been quieter as of late. When Willis and I had left the island a couple of hours ago, we'd gone a solid three days with no attacks. I hoped that would hold up when we finally escorted the scientists down, too.

Presently, we were both seated in the mess hall grabbing a quick bite to eat. It was a nice change of pace from the energy bars and, when we were lucky and had enough time, MREs that we lived off of dirtside on the surface of Khan. Officially I was here to be the welcome wagon for the new ship, and to bring the major in charge of the extra Marine contingent up to speed on groundside operations. Willis, as always, had been my ride up.

He picked at his second tray of food now, either preoccupied or stuffed. I was still working on my first.

"What's up?" I asked him around a mouthful of chicken, rice, and peas. It wasn't anything fancy, but it tasted a hell of a lot better than cardboard-flavored bars. "You look like something you just ate was bad."

My husband ran a hand over his week-old beard. "No. It's not the food."

"Then what?"

"I checked my personal messages when we got onboard, Cooper. My parents sent me one. It's about the kids."

A sharp twinge of dread went through me then. I opened my mouth to speak but found I couldn't, suddenly paralyzed with worry. Willis must've seen the look on my face and was quick to reassure me.

"Don't worry, Natalie. They're fine. It's just…that message hit me harder than I thought. I really miss them."

I slid a hand across the table discreetly, and he took it with his own. "I do, too, Will."

"My mom said…she said Liam's taking our absence the hardest. Apparently he was okay for a while in the beginning, but now he cries some nights before he goes to sleep. Mostly for you."

It was soul-crushing to hear that. I dropped my fork after a minute, all interest in my meal lost, and pushed my tray away to put my head in my hands.

"Jesus, Will. Our poor kid."

"I know. I feel bad, too."

I felt like shit myself now, wishing I could be back on Mars to comfort my youngest son and tell him it was all okay, that we'd be home soon. Though Liam was older than Olivia by three minutes, he'd always been the baby of the family since he was generally a quiet, shy little guy, and a bit smaller physically than his twin sister. I'd worried about leaving all my kids behind when we'd left, but I'd worried about Liam the most. Hearing that my fears were well-founded hurt.

"What about Liv and Gabe?" I asked.

"They're doing better. Liv misses us but she's a trooper, just like her mom," he said with a small smile, "and Gabriel's turning out to be the protective type. My parents say he's taking good care of the twins, especially Liam when he gets upset." He squeezed my hand. "We made a good set of kids, Coop."

I smiled a little. "Yeah. We did."

Slowly the hurt was replaced by relief. I felt proud of my firstborn for taking charge in our absence and watching over his younger siblings, insofar as he could at his age. Sometimes, because of what he'd been through as an infant and a toddler during the War, he seemed more mature than his seven years. Still, all the talk made me miss the three of them even more.

"So what else is on tap?" I questioned, hoping to change the subject so I didn't start tearing up in public. I checked my watch. "The ship's not due for another twenty minutes, so we've got some time."

Willis surprised me by releasing a sigh. He lowered his voice and said, "I went down to the medbay aboard ship when we landed while you went to go talk to Captain Rhodes, to ask about the meds you take for the nightmares. The Affair's all out, Cooper. The doc over there said we should try the Excalibur when it gets in."

"Shit." This wasn't good. Without my pills against the nightmares, they'd slowly start coming back. Eventually, I'd become more of a liability than a leader without their calming effect – I either wouldn't sleep at all, or it'd be restless in the extreme.

Willis saw my expression and said, "It'll be okay, honey. I'm sure the Excalibur's got more on board. Don't sweat it."

"Will…you remember what I was like without them. During the war – and when it was over, before I got pregnant with the twins…I was a fucking mess."

"I know. But it won't happen again, Coop. You said yourself the new ship's coming in with lots of supplies. You'll be fine."

It was my turn to let out a sigh this time. Because right now, the immense weight of the responsibility on my shoulders seemed heavier than ever to bear.

Though Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd had detached himself from our company once we'd landed on the Affair, he met back up with me now as we strode down the hall to meet with the top ground officer aboard the Excalibur. I assumed Willis had either gone to our quarters or was off to attend to other matters while he waited for the meet and greet to be over. As for me, I tried my best not to preoccupy myself with thoughts of being without the meds I needed, and concentrated instead on the task at hand. Sort of.

"Still playing solitaire, Lieutenant?" I asked the spook as we walked.

The Naval officer just grinned. "Yes, ma'am. Why?"

"Last time I found you in the rec room on our trip up, you were playing with a deck of real cards. It's been a long time since I've seen anybody do that."

"Holdover from ONI training, Colonel," Lloyd replied.

I raised an eyebrow. "How so? Or are you even allowed to tell me?"

"No, I can tell you that much. It's nothing top secret." We rounded a corner then, and he continued, "Basically we have a period of about two weeks during training where we go completely dark. No helmet electronics, no datapad, nothing. It's to teach us how to survive in case our gear goes out, or in case the mission requires that we leave no electronic signature. I know that each branch of the UNSC military does something similar with their own recruits, too."

I nodded. "I remember us doing something like that during my first year at the Naval Academy. Our instructors told us it's even more intensive for us officers than the enlisted personnel because we rely so much more on our tech to keep things organized."

"That's right, ma'am. So you can only imagine how much more intense it was for me as a spook."

I smirked at him. "Yep. So intense you picked up card-playing?"

Lieutenant Lloyd laughed. "To be fair, that was mostly because we got bored at times without our devices."

"I bet. Intel's all about the gadgets from what I hear."

"There's a little more to it than that, Colonel, but I'm not about to reveal trade secrets."

We reached the starboard hangar bay then and waited as the Pelican disembarked a few military personnel and some gear. I couldn't tell from this distance which one was the major we were supposed to introduce ourselves to. The answer came soon enough, though, as a woman with short red hair in a pixie cut and a fresh battledress uniform strode towards us. She came to attention and saluted when she saw me.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cooper, ma'am. Major Danielle Brewer reporting as ordered."

I saluted back. "At ease, Major. So you're our new battalion commander?"

"Yes, ma'am. Straight from the Inner Colonies, Colonel."

"So I gathered. What can you tell us about your ship's complement, Danielle?"

Major Brewer seemed uncomfortable for a moment. "It's Dani, ma'am. I stick to my full name only on official papers and introductions."

"Dani, then."

Brewer nodded. "Our transport ship's not much, ma'am. Definitely not as large as the Affair. Small structure, relatively small complement, but she's laden with supplies." The major suddenly smirked. "She's even got a couple of those new Mantis machines on board, Colonel. I can't wait to use those big beasts dirtside."

I grinned, too. "Sounds great so far."

"Other than that, though, it's just me, my Marine battalion, the ship's crew – "

"What about the civilian team, Major?" I asked, cutting her off. I didn't want to get lost in the details, just an overview.

"Eight of the UNSC's best minds, ma'am. Besides those already occupied with other tasks, of course." She looked at Lieutenant Lloyd then, and I noticed her gaze lingered. With his short, dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes, the young ONI operative was a very attractive man. "We have another spook onboard, too."

That momentarily threw me for a loop; either Captain Rhodes hadn't known that beforehand, or he'd decided not to mention it to me.

"Really?"

"Yes, ma'am," Major Brewer responded. "Should be coming by soon." She folded her arms across her chest then. "I was told we'd get a preview of how things are going down on Khan."

"That's correct, Major. You'll get the full brief I gave my other battalion commanders on your datapad. I just sent it before you got here. Hopefully some intel's already made its way toward you while you guys were en route."

"Affirmative, ma'am. We know the locals have been testy and that the Storm are here. We also know you found Prometheans on the surface recently by some old ruins, and what they are. That's about it, though."

I smiled faintly. "Unfortunately that's pretty much all we know about the Prometheans, too. But Lieutenant Lloyd here's trying to expand our knowledge base ahead of the civvies coming down to scope things out for us over there."

Brewer nodded again. "Anything else I should know, Colonel?"

I shifted my stance, trying to recall the mental list of things I'd prepared to tell the newly arrived battalion commander. "The lines have actually been quiet the past few days, which I hope will continue so we can bring the scientists down to the surface right away." I frowned. "Probably the strangest thing I can think of so far is that there's been no all-out assault from either the Prometheans or the Storm, our initial landing notwithstanding. They've mostly just been harassing my other two battalions on occasion, keeping the men on their toes."

"Interesting. So either they don't have the manpower or the means, or they've been holding back for something."

"Exactly. That's something we'll continue to keep an eye on and investigate, with Lloyd's help."

"And mine."

Much to my surprise, the new voice was a familiar one, also female. I looked past Major Dani Brewer then and saw another woman walking toward us, blonde hair put up for duty like mine and contrasting sharply with her black ONI fatigues.

For a moment I was thrown off-guard again. I'd never known she was a spook.

The newcomer halted in front of me then, as Brewer had done, and saluted.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cooper. Lieutenant Commander Courtney Hayden reporting as ordered, ma'am."