Chapter Twenty-Nine: Trials

Everything looked to be in rough shape after the unexpected fight with the Prometheans. Now more than ever, I was convinced that my contingency plan of rigging the underground chamber to blow at a moment's notice was necessary - one minute we'd been safely scrutinizing the old ruins beneath the surface, the next we'd been driven out by a veritable army of AI-bots intent on decimating our forces. And if it hadn't been for Brewer's Marines and the Mantis, they may well have. I didn't want anything like that to happen again, but if it did, this time, we'd be more than prepared.

I went to look for my younger brother first after the skirmish ended. Before I could move on to anything else, I knew we needed the area secure. I wasn't going to send the scientists back in until I was sure it was safe to do so, and we needed them down there again as soon as possible to continue uncovering the chamber's secrets.

Strangely, I found Travis standing near the entrance with Matt, both keeping their rifles low but ready in hand in case anything else jumped out. I nodded to them as I walked up, still gripping my DMR in my hands.

"Hey, Nat," Travis said. "That was the last of them, right?"

"We think so," I replied. "Only way to know for sure is to send down a team."

"I'll go."

"No. Before we do anything else, we need to make sure those portals are as secure as we can make them."

My brother let out a snort. "Come on, sis. You know the only way to do that is to let us rig the place. If you blow those robot fuckers to kingdom come, ain't none of them making a problem for us again."

"Travis - "

"Natalie," he countered. "This is my job. Let me do it." He gave me a light jab in the arm. "Just 'cause I'm your little brother doesn't mean I need protecting all the time. I can do this, and my team and I will handle the Pros if we wake more of them up."

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "'Pros'?"

"You know, the Prometheans. That's what I'm calling them."

"Right...don't be offended if that doesn't catch on."

"I hate to butt in, Nat, but I think he's right," Matthew said then. "Quickest way to make sure that place is the safest it can be is to get it ready for the worst."

I cradled my gun against my torso armor and frowned. "I'm not saying we shouldn't rig the ruins. I think that's what's needed at this point, too. I just want to be sure you'll be okay while you're down there doing it, Trav. The Prometheans came out of nowhere. They can easily do that again."

"Then send us back down there with a bigger team," Travis suggested. "They'll watch, we'll rig."

"Yeah. And I volunteer to stand guard," Willis's baby brother chimed in.

I snorted. "Will would love to hear about that when he wakes up. No."

"But - "

"Matt, you like to tell us every chance you get that you're all grown up, but sometimes you channel your little nephews too much. I said no, not as long as I'm in charge. You can help outside the ruins, but you're not going back inside where we barely got out alive just now. Got it?"

Matthew released a sigh. "Yes."

"Good." I looked to my own brother then and relented. In the end, we all knew this was the only way to do it. "Fine, Trav. I'm giving you and your team the go-ahead. Rig the whole damn place down there to blow. You'll get two platoons of Marines to go with you this time - that's about all we can fit without things getting too crowded for maneuvers. But listen, the very second you suspect anything might be coming through any of the portals - Storm, Prometheans, whatever the hell else - you haul ass out of there. Everyone, no exceptions. And send someone ahead to warn the rest. I won't ask the scientists to go back down there until I know we're in the clear."

"Or as close to it as we can be," my brother amended.

"Right. Understood?"

Travis nodded. "Yes, ma'am. We'll get to work."

"All right. Well, you both know what to do next. Just promise you'll stay safe, for me and for Willis."

What none of us mentioned was the fact that we still didn't even really know if the explosives would work. The ruins were ancient but the place had proven to be formidable during the skirmish nonetheless. But like I'd told Travis before, I was determined to at least try. And for now, it was all we could really do to keep things contained.

The Covenant had glassed the other half of Khan during the War. This was the only half left. I'd be damned if I let the Storm have it now – or the Prometheans.

Once I'd spoken to Travis and my brother-in-law and made arrangements to keep the entrance to the ruins covered for the foreseeable future, I started to head back to the medical tent. I figured most if not all the scientists who'd made it out would be nearby, hopefully being kept safely by the command tent. I wanted to talk to Doc Reynolds about our dead and wounded as well - and see how Doctor Leedom was doing.

On my way there, I made sure to contact Majors Harris and Warfield to get a sitrep on their sectors, too. It seemed like most of the excitement had been in our neck of the woods. I was grateful for that, since I wasn't really sure I could handle much more crisis at this point. One invasion, one dead scientist, one husband in a coma, and one big surprise attack - plus a hefty hangover - were just about all I could take on at one time.

I paused just before I went inside the medtent to sling my rifle over my shoulder and took a long gulp of water from my canteen. This was the first time since landing back on the island that I'd had a minute to collect myself before moving on to the next task. Captain Rhodes hadn't been kidding when he said things got worse the further up the chain you went. Hope we see you back soon, sir, I thought to myself. We could really use the help, because somewhere up there, we've still got a Storm ship on our ass.

Once I'd downed all I could stomach, I steeled myself for more headaches and walked in.

Like I thought might be the case, Reynolds was hard at work on a patient, so he didn't look up when I entered. It was only when I was standing a few feet away and pulled off my helmet that I noticed who he was tending to - the head scientist herself.

"Doctor Leedom, ma'am," I said. "How are you doing?"

The expression on her face said she was a little shaken up from what had just happened. Reynolds looked to be almost finished patching up the gash on her head, though, and the rest of the wound had already been cleaned up as well. She looked over at me with hollow eyes.

"Fine, Cooper. Just a...scrape."

Beside us, the medic scoffed and gave me a pointed glance. "Trying to take a page out of the colonel's playbook won't work with me, Doctor - or her, either. She's a master at attempting to cover up how bad off she is. And I'd say your 'scrape' was more than moderate."

I folded my arms across my chest. "How bad?"

"No concussion or fractured skull, but it bled a hell of a lot. I just finished putting in nine stitches."

"A piece of the ceiling came down on my head when the Prometheans arrived," Leedom explained. "I was dizzy and disoriented and I saw them coming and I thought..." She swallowed, then shook her head. "I've seen a lot in my line of work, but this...this is as close to the 'action' as I ever want to get."

"You were lucky Lieutenant Lloyd came to rescue you."

"Yes, Colonel. Please let him know his help was very timely...and much appreciated."

I smiled a little wearily. "He just saved my ass out there, too, from a Knight. He's a good guy." I shifted uncomfortably then, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. But someone had to tell her, and Reynolds didn't know. "Doctor, there's something...one of your colleagues didn't make it out."

The shock registered instantly on her face. "Who?"

"Doctor McGuinness. I'm really sorry."

"Oh, no. Patrick," she breathed. She shut her eyes tight and was silent a moment before taking in a deep breath. "The research will suffer without him. He was brilliant in his field." The head scientist gave a sad sigh. "And he was a sweet old man. I know he had his...personality quirks. But he meant well."

It was quiet for a while after that; it seemed neither Reynolds nor I knew what to say for comfort. The two of us were in a profession where death was just as much a part of things as life - if not more so. Hell, it'd been only a month ago now that my best friend had been killed in the fighting against the Storm. I'd lost many before that who were close to me, too. And my husband was still completely unconscious back on the mainland. I took in a steadying breath myself.

The medic seemed to sense my disquietude and, having wrapped up now, said to Leedom, "Ma'am, that should do it. Just take it easy for the next couple days and get some good rest. We'll try to keep the remainder of our...extraterrestrial neighbors out of your hair. And I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Corpsman. And you too, Cooper, for getting us out."

"That was all Lloyd, ma'am. I'll extend the thanks when I see him. Take care."

I'd already started to turn to go when a sudden thought came to mind. "Wait a second. I had another question, if you don't mind."

Reynolds gave me a warning look. "Colonel. My patient needs her rest now."

"I know, I just..."

"Go ahead, Cooper," the scientist said.

I nodded and went on. "Did you happen to see which of the active portals the Prometheans came from? Or is there a chance it may have been an inactive one?"

Leedom quickly shook her head a second time, then frowned and winced when the motion seemed to bring her pain. She must've momentarily forgotten her injury. Reynolds made a move to help, but she held up her hand to stop him. "I did not, Colonel. I'm afraid I wasn't much aware of my surroundings at the time. But to answer your second question, no. There is no way they could have come from an inactive portal. Yet more than one active one is a definite possibility. Especially for a group their size."

"Right. Thank you, Doctor. That's all I wanted to know."

I walked away thinking about what she'd said, and wondering where the Prometheans were really coming from. It could've been anywhere from Sanghelios or Requiem - wherever that was. Or, like she'd said, both. I shuddered to think that the Prometheans were somehow connected to the Elites' homeworld, but I'd seen stranger shit in my lifetime. I supposed only time would tell.

After talking to Doctor Jill Leedom, I took another few minutes to sort out the list of casualties from the battle with Reynolds. We hadn't lost as many Marines as I'd imagined, which was a relief, but it was upsetting nonetheless to have any of the men and women under your charge be gone. I went around and spoke to several of the wounded next, but though I thought about it, I never told the medic about what had happened to me when I'd emerged from the ruins. I wasn't sure why; I guess I didn't want to worry him or divert his attention to something else when he had so many others to focus on right now. I told myself I'd talk to him about it later at some point, then moved on to the next thing now that I was feeling okay again.

The next thing was making sure the rest of the scientists were free from harm after the fight. I found out from Major Brewer's XO that they were, just shaken up like Leedom had been. I figured that was the best I could hope for right now, so I went to speak to them briefly before wandering over to the command tent.

Inside, I was greeted by an oddly empty makeshift HQ - no doubt since everyone had left to join the fight - and an urgently glowing holo-table. It was scrolling endlessly with icons and announcements from the just-finished skirmish with the Prometheans. Since the blinking lights and attention-grabbing wails were making my pounding head even worse, I walked over and shut it off, then took an extended moment to marvel at the quiet. Slowly, I eased my DMR off my shoulder, set it and my helmet on the ground, then leaned my hands across the inanimate table and closed my eyes. For just that second I was aware of every tiny movement in my body, every ache in my bones, and every beat of my heart. Then I thought of Willis again, still lying in a coma in his hospital bed on the mainland, and it all came crashing down.

Given everything that had happened recently, I was pretty sure I would've broken down right then if Major Brewer hadn't walked in.

"Colonel Cooper, ma'am. Am I...interrupting something?"

I opened my eyes for the first time, feeling like I'd been away from here a lot longer than just a couple seconds. I heaved a tired sigh as I straightened up off the console. "Not at all, Major. Something you need?"

"You asked me to come find you when everything was squared away by the ruins, ma'am."

"Oh. That's right. Is it?"

"Yes, ma'am. I had one of my company commanders send in two platoons after Captain Cooper's demo team, and I have the rest of the 213th set up outside to back up Major Harris's men as well. We shouldn't have anymore problems keeping a tight lid on there."

"Good. Then I guess you'd like to know why I asked to see you." I turned to face her more fully before she could answer, folding my arms across my chest and leaning back against the table behind me. "I've always made it a habit of getting to know my officers when I'm not in the middle of fending off a major invasion force and not one, not two, but three different enemies." At that, I gave her a weak grin. "So tell me about yourself, Dani. You've been mostly on your own on the mainland since you've arrived, but now that you're here with us, I'd like to know your story. Beyond what's readily available on your CSV."

Brewer looked momentarily taken aback, like she hadn't been expecting this at all. Gradually, though, her expression eased, and she, too, crossed her arms over her chest as she glanced down at her boots. "I'm...not sure what to say, ma'am." Then she looked up sharply with her green eyes, a shade lighter than mine, and said firmly, "I like my record to speak for me."

"I'm not asking about your record, Major. I'm asking about you. I like to know the people I work with, not just the name and rank or the bullet-point career stats. What drives you as a person?"

"My daughter, Colonel," she answered without hesitation.

My eyebrows went up. "You have a daughter?"

"Yes, ma'am. Her name is Alexis, and she's eleven. She means the world to me." Again she looked down at her boots, as if wondering how much to say. "I grew up on Roost, ma'am. Rich colony, famed tourist destination. My family wasn't any different, loaded to the brim with credits just like everyone else there, even during the war." She shrugged. "I was kind of a brat as a kid, but that's the nature of the beast when nothing's off limits.

"My third year of college, I met Alexis's father, Kieran. I'm not proud of it, but long story short, we ended up going to a party together, got drunk, hooked up, and a few weeks later I told him I was pregnant. Kieran took off in classic asshole style, my parents disowned me, and now I was left with no money and no one but myself and my unborn baby at twenty-one years old - and a whole other year of college to get through before I'd be done. For a long time those first few months I wanted to cry, but eventually I realized that that was never going to help me get through what I needed to. So I grew a pair, went to look for a part-time job, and finished out my semester. A while after that Alexis was born, and my whole world changed."

"Wow." I leaned forward off the table a bit and scratched the side of my head with one hand. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting a story like this out of you."

She smiled faintly. "Few do, ma'am. But I'm not one to shy away from who I am, good or bad, and I don't want anyone, ever, to think I see my daughter as a mistake. I had her young, and not under the best of circumstances, but I made due with what I had and rebuilt myself from the ground up after that. It wasn't easy, but I like who I became after Alexis was born a hell of a lot more than the snobby, privileged brat I was before. Because of her, I learned how to stand on my own two feet and make my own way through life. And I like to think I made a good one for us by finishing up school a couple years later and applying to OCS."

Something about her tale had struck a chord with me - in a lot of ways, I'd had a drastic transformation from when I was young, too. I'd gone from a fragile, vulnerable girl who'd allowed an abusive relationship to continue well longer than it should have, to a much stronger, almost unrecognizable version of myself after becoming a Marine and marrying Willis. Though our circumstances had been different, I was beginning to find that Brewer and I shared many similarities in common. I leaned back again and chuckled.

"You don't know this, but I had my first son not too much older than you had your daughter. I was twenty-two, hadn't seen my husband in over two years, and after fighting on Coristal for a horrific first campaign...let's just say we had a lot of pent-up emotions to work out when we finally reunited. Nine months later I was twenty-three and had a newborn son in the middle of a colony-spanning war with no real reason to think I was ever going to see Will alive again, or that we'd even make it through as a species." I shook my head sadly and shrugged. "Yet here we are, Major. Five years post-war and it seems like here in the Outer Colonies, at least, nothing much has changed."

I felt the shift in my gut after mentioning Willis before I realized the same thing had shown up on my face. I tried quickly to cover up the deep hurt, but it was too late.

Major Brewer's expression softened. "I'm sorry about your husband, Colonel. I heard what happened to him here on Qamar during the invasion. I hope he makes a full recovery soon."

I had to swallow hard on the lump in my throat to speak. "Thanks, Dani. And thanks for telling me what you did. I'm going to try my hardest to get you back to your little girl, and to get all of us home safe."