Chapter Fifteen: Times Like These

1204 Hours, February 19, 2558. UNSC Staging Camp, Near the City of Redwood Falls, Planet Khan. "The Rough Start," Outer Colonies. Day One of the Dawn of the Prometheans

The midday sun was warmer than usual on the mainland. Dressed in full gear, I'd rolled up the sleeves of my battledress jacket underneath my body armor, taken off my helmet, and put on my sunglasses instead to keep cool. With my DMR slung over one shoulder, I walked alongside Major Dani Brewer as she took me through the camp, showing me the progress Alpha Company of the 8th Engineers had made with the construction, and telling me how the Marines of her 213th Infantry Battalion were settling in.

"Here's the mess tent, Colonel," she said as she pointed out a large canvas structure ahead of us. "That was the first to go up. And that other big tent down there is the field hospital. It's already been completed, too – and stocked with medical supplies and a few of the doctors from the Ex. We've already brought most of the ammo crates and equipment down as well, but those are all stacked up on the far side until we can build a makeshift armory for 'em. The temporary barracks – "

"Alpha's still working on that, I see," I said, cutting her off again.

Brewer seemed to like being very thorough in her reports, whereas I liked being told only what I needed to know to get the gist of things. I wondered if her previous commander had been a real hardass about that, or if it was just her personality. Either way, I wasn't annoyed with her. She'd only just arrived. I knew she'd learn how things were run under my charge with time.

"What about the motor pool, Major?" I asked.

"That's still in the works as well, ma'am. We should be getting three more MTBs and four extra 'Hogs from the Excalibur tomorrow afternoon. Alpha's focusing most of their energy on personnel accommodations now."

I nodded. "As they should."

I knew that wouldn't take much longer, either, as the "barracks" the engineers were putting up were such in name only. They wouldn't be as sturdy or complete as Outpost Columbia's had been, with beds and closets and desks. The Marines here in the staging area would get a roof, a cot, maybe a thin partition, and not much else. Still, it was better than sleeping in the dirt under the stars like we did on the island.

I finally stopped walking then and Brewer came to a halt beside me. Glancing down at my watch, I saw that twenty minutes had gone by since we'd started our trek. I didn't want to spend too much more time here on the mainland, and I had a few other things I wanted to get done before I returned to Qamar, so I turned to face the major again to wrap things up.

"Thanks for the tour, Dani," I said to her. "Keep up the good work. And be sure to keep your men on their toes, too. We might be needing them soon."

Major Brewer nodded in acknowledgment. "I will, ma'am. Thank you."

Gripping my helmet in one hand, I walked off to the side then and met back up with my pilot for this trip, Captain Brandon Heat. He was grinning beneath his own sunglasses when I approached, and he quickly fell into step beside me.

"Damn. I thought she'd never shut up," he said. "Thought I'd have to leave you here and come back tomorrow to pick you up, Colonel."

"Be nice. She's just trying to do her job right. We all get nervous under new COs sometimes – you never know who the hell you're going to end up with. For all she knows I eat this shit up. She'll come around." I gave him a sharp look. "She's also your superior officer, Brandon. Show some respect."

Heat sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

"Why aren't you hanging out by the bird, anyway? This can't be very exciting for you."

"Neither's sitting around in the cockpit waiting for you, ma'am, but that's not it, either." He looked at me like he was trying to decide how much he should say. Finally he added, "I promised Willis I'd keep an eye on you this time. Because of what happened with Laraza and the reb. He wants to make sure you get back to Qamar in one piece."

I smiled weakly. "It's a nice thought, but if Laraza really wants to tag me, the bastard already knows he can. If someone had me in their crosshairs right now I wouldn't even know it, and I'd be dead on the ground before you did, too." I shrugged. "It's all luck of the draw sometimes."

"Yeah? I hear you survived the last sniper who got you."

"I did, but I don't bet on that happening twice." I frowned then. "Let's talk about something else. That's not really something I like to remember."

"Right, Colonel. Sorry."

I spent the next half-hour going through the camp to talk to some of the men and women, stopping to ask how they were doing, how the work was going, and what they thought of the amenities so far. It was just small talk, but it got their minds off the mission for a moment and gave me a chance to gauge the collective mood. I made a conscious effort to include both engineers and infantrymen in my interviews, and junior officers as well as enlisted Marines. I already knew how the upper echelon felt; I wanted to know how the bulk of the boots on the ground were handling things.

Morale seemed pretty level for now, and the Marines I spoke to seemed grateful that I'd asked after them. I passed around words of encouragement and praise, too, then turned to head back to the Pelican with Heat.

That's when we walked by a group of Marines that looked a little different from the rest. Their uniforms weren't crisp and clean like the others', but already covered in mainland Khan's red dirt – and even blackened in some places, like they'd been scorched. They were also busy cleaning their weapons with special care rather than lounging or training or unpacking. Curious, I stopped to speak to a lance corporal among them when I saw him.

I couldn't believe my eyes for minute, but I knew that face anywhere. Our parents' brown hair that all us Cooper kids had inherited, shaved close to his scalp; our mom's brown eyes that contrasted sharply with me and our older brother Mark's green ones – the ones we'd gotten from our dad; and the twin silver bars of a captain on his uniform collar. He was sitting on an empty crate on the ground, scraping the last of his MRE into his mouth when I said his name.

"Travis?"

The Marine's eyes went wide as he glanced up at me. "Natalie?"

An excited laugh escaped me as I stepped forward to give him a huge hug the instant he got up.

"Holy shit, Trav! It's been a frickin' year since I've seen you!"

Travis smiled wide, too. "Heh. Yeah, it's been a while."

Behind us, Captain Heat just stood there confused.

"I…take it you know this guy?" he asked.

Travis and I turned at the same time, an arm around each other's shoulders. I beamed at Willis's friend.

"This is my little brother, Heat," I said. Not moving my arm from my brother's shoulder, I used the other one to point to his name patch, where the word "COOPER" was sewn in big letters. "See? My kid brother's a bona fide company commander now."

"Not quite, big sis," Travis said then. He turned to the small group of Marines around him and gestured. "This is it, Natalie. This is my team. Fourteen of the best guys and gals you've ever seen rig shit to blow."

"You mean you're not a tanker anymore?" I asked.

"Nope. Switched to demolitions after the war. And I couldn't be happier." He pulled me off to the side then, away from the others, and said, "There's more, too."

"What?"

My brother grinned wide again as he produced a small picture from his breast pocket and showed it to me. "My girlfriend had the baby just before I shipped out to come here, Nat. I've got a son."

I grinned, too. "Another nephew for me, huh? Now I've got two of each." Our late older sister Jenna had also had a boy a few years before she'd been KIA, and Mark had two daughters. I knew this was Travis's first, though. I lightly touched his arm, still smiling. "He's a cutie. Congrats, Trav. How's it feel to be a papa?"

"Scary. Amazing. I only got a few weeks with the little guy before I left, but it's…it's really something else, sis."

I chuckled. "Yeah. Your first can feel like that. What's his name?"

"We named him Adam Roy Cooper. Kelsey insisted."

Emotion momentarily welled up inside me – not enough for tears, but enough that I felt it. "You guys named him after Dad."

"Yep."

"He would've liked that."

There'd been five of us Cooper kids at our father's funeral nearly twenty-seven years ago. Our older siblings Jenna and Mark had been ten and eight, respectively. I'd been four, Travis had been one, and our little sister Allison had only been a couple months old at the time. Our mother had died five years ago during the War, too, but Jenna was gone by then, and the rest of us had been spread around the globe on Earth fighting the Covenant and the Flood. There'd been little time after the war either to remember our parents, and for that I felt sad.

It was why I'd chosen to remain a Cooper when I'd married Willis. I'd wanted to do something to remember my dad by, and I hadn't wanted to let go of my link to our large, close-knit clan. So I'd decided to keep my last name rather than change it. Willis had understood my choice and had never had a problem with it.

"So what else is new, Trav?" I asked my younger brother, forcing the thoughts aside.

Travis shrugged. "Nothing much besides that. Now I'm here and apparently under the leadership of my older sister," he said with a smile. "So…I'm at your disposal when you need it, Colonel." He gestured again to his team. "All of us."

I wanted to stay longer to catch up with my brother, but knew I'd already lingered here long enough. I gave Travis one last hug, told him to keep safe, then took off with Heat again towards our ride – and Qamar.

I put my helmet back on just before we landed on the island, then said my goodbyes to Willis's best friend and disembarked. Seeing that things were still oddly quiet over here, I went and sought out Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd first to see if he had any updates.

"Colonel Cooper, ma'am," he said as I approached. "Back from the mainland already?"

"Yeah. Wasn't much to it out there yet. The engineers are making good progress though, and Commander Hayden said the rebs've been keeping to themselves so far."

"That's good, ma'am."

I nodded, then glanced at him and grinned. "Your lady friend asked about you, you know."

Lloyd's cheeks immediately went red. "I'm sorry, Colonel. I know Major Brewer's my superior and I'm not supposed to – "

I barked a laugh. "Lighten up, Cal. I'm just giving you a hard time. But thanks for confirming what I thought."

The spook looked upset at himself for slipping, even in front of a friend. I put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

"Listen. Your difference in rank is small, you're both officers, and you're not in each other's direct chain of command. Under the circumstances, I've been known to look the other way with things like this. Just make sure you keep it professional on-duty – as I know you will – and as far as I'm concerned, there's no problem. Okay?"

The ONI operative nodded slowly. "Yes, ma'am." He furrowed his brow then. "So does that mean she didn't ask about me?"

"No. She did. Brewer was just more subtle about it – which is strange because you're the spook."

"Ha ha. I get it. I'm bad at this."

"Maybe a little, but you'll get the hang of it." I folded my arms across my chest, still smirking. "So. Business talk now. What's going on with the scientists in the ruins?"

Lieutenant Lloyd seemed relieved to be back in his element. "They've been busy the past few days, Colonel. They haven't found any more passages out of the chamber yet, but they have been able to identify some of the symbols on the walls. No translations on the locations, but it looks like there's at least five portals down there – two are confirmed to be active, three aren't."

I frowned. "Shit. Somehow knowing but not makes it worse. I want to find out where the hell the Storm and Prometheans are coming from already."

"As do I, ma'am, and I'm sure the brains do, too. They've only been planetside three days, though. I bet – "

Both of us nearly jumped then as several Marines let out ear-splitting screams at once. Caleb and I both brought our weapons to bear at the same time, fearing a renewed attack by the Remnant or Prometheans on our lines. Instead, when we scanned the area for the source of the commotion, there was nothing.

Then the Navy lieutenant pointed his battle rifle upward and bumped my shoulder. Hard.

"Colonel, look! Up there! Holy – !"

I looked up at the sky where he was pointing and saw it. I gripped my rifle tighter in my hands and simply stared for a moment.

A huge explosion had just erupted in orbit up above. Though we obviously couldn't hear it, we could definitely see it, and that's why some of the Marines had cried out. I kept an ear on the general COM channel to hear what had happened, but no one was broadcasting anything yet. I turned back to the spook.

"Cal? What the fuck is going on?"

He held up a finger. "Wait one, ma'am. I'm receiving a message from Hayden right now. Encrypted." There was a long pause, then, "Son of a bitch."

"What?" I asked, more urgently this time.

Lloyd looked at me then, his expression hard. "That thing that just went up in smoke was the Suave Affair, Colonel. We've got a Storm ship right above us."