Chapter LIII: Smells Like…
September 10, 2541 (UNSC Calendar)/
West Maruca, Concordia, Zama System
"You son of a bitch!" she yelled at me after she slapped me for the fourth time. Maybe it was the fifth, I don't know. I tend to get slapped a lot sometimes, and it is usually by hardened military women that can seriously pack some punch with their open palms. At least they were ladylike enough not to punch me in the nose, that could've probably been very bad for my male ego.
As unfair and embarrassing as it was to be slapped in public by a woman at least seven inches shorter than you, I took it. I knew she would apologize later and that she would regret doing it, but if this was the only way for Marina to vent her emotions, then so be it, I loved her enough to let her punch me in the face. Hell, I'd die for her twice if it was needed. I stood there, half dressed and half armored. The nurses and the other patients were giving the angry pilot and me a wide berth so that we could have some privacy. Of course, curtains don't really stop noise from traveling all that much, so I just took the verbal and physical abuse for a couple of minutes.
"You done?" I asked after a couple of minutes of the blonde yelling and crying.
"I think so," she replied, her quiet voice a contrast to all the previous shouting.
"Good," I said and kissed her. I didn't do it for any particular reason other that I was happy to see her and really wanted her to shut up for a couple of moments.
"I'm just glad you're alive," she said.
"What a coincidence, I'm glad to be alive too!" I said with a joking tone. "Although my cheeks have been stinging lately…" I said.
"I'm sorry…" Marina said sheepishly.
"For what?" I asked as I grabbed my own ass and squeezed. I winced and groaned in fake pain.
"You're a pig, " she said after laughing.
"And you're bipolar."
Marina Bogdanovic, Warrant Officer, the most beautiful girl I knew and certainly in the Top 3 Hottest Women in my Life list, gave me a lovely smile that bumped her a place up in that list. I actually pictured her shoving Layla of the first place podium and receiving a crown and flowers from some random dude. I laughed out loud at the thought.
"I'll see you later," I said after I kissed her once more. "Gotta report to a certain Major Albaf right now."
"I hate that bitch."
Well, I think I've mentioned the disadvantages of talking about someone behind their backs. I think I focused mainly on being caught in the act of speaking shit about someone. That exact same thing almost happened. It wasn't as bad, but it was a close second.
"Staff Sergeant," the familiar voice of Wilkins said.
"Yes lieutenant?"
"Since Ms. Bogdanovic is inside there with you, I'll assume that you're presentable and will walk right in."
He did just that.
I already had my armored boots on and had just finished putting on my shirt, so it wasn't an uncomfortable situation for me. I knew it wouldn't have been for Wilkins, he was a rock. I swear that the man could shoot a puppy with a shotgun with absolutely no emotion other than a sense of accomplishment. Fortunately, humanity needed men like him right now, men who would stop at nothing to get the job done. Unfortunately, we needed men like him in combat related posts, not as spooks that rarely ever went groundside to complete a mission. Perhaps he would've been more useful planning ops.
"The Major is impatient, she instructed me to get you to her office immediately."
"Yessir."
"Follow me."
I grabbed the rest of my armor and said goodbye to Marina as I synched in step behind the lieutenant. I managed to put on some pieces of equipment on the way to Albaf's office, so when I got into the elephant that ONI had commandeered for her, I was only carrying the thigh protection and my helmet in my hands. I entered the behemoth of a vehicle (see what I did there) and found myself in the middle of a bunch of wiring and consoles with a couple of holotanks spread here and there. Albaf didn't get her own 'office', but she had a couple of servers positioned so that she could have some privacy. She was obviously the ranking officer here, all these spooks were under her. Militarily speaking, you dirty perverts.
"Well, well. Well."
"Ma'am," I saluted.
"Don't you ma'am me, you know what your little trip behind enemy lines did to the plans for this battle?" she asked angrily. "We had to relocate three different Special Forces units to fulfill the roles you and Sergeant Klaus were supposed to play! When two of them were killed, we had to send Nezarian's rangers to your planned sabotage missions in addition to their own, and then, you pop back on our radar just in time for a group of fucking SPARTANs to be actually redirected to rescue you and your little friends who managed to get themselves surrounded by a fucking battalion. Then, you had to collapse due to exhaustion, dehydration, and micro shrapnel."
Well, you can't avoid that.
As Albaf went on and on, making some very offensive comments to the Marine unit that had been reduced to a single man and criticized my performance and whatnot, I did the only sensible thing a man could do in this situation. I started wondering that the Major would look like naked. I think I've mentioned that Albaf was naturally pretty, even if she chose to not wear any make-up and to keep a grimace on her face by default. Not to mention the bitchiness that actually seemed to affect how I saw her physically.
I was lost in though for a few instants, only reminding myself to keep from smiling as to not attract a mean and invasive question. After finally deciding that if Albaf had been less bitchy and worried more about her appearance, I definitely would've wanted to spend some 'quality time' with her.
"…and don't even mention that incident with Brooks' daughter."
I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing.
"Dismissed."
What, that's it?
"You want more?" Albaf asked in an annoyed tone.
"No ma'am," I said and left.
We had pretty much won the engagement here in Concordia, the covvies were being pushed out of important areas while their ships desperately tried to get them all out of the planet before they were destroyed by the navy. It seems like we were succeeding and they weren't otherwise there wouldn't have been so many people enjoying long rest periods in the hospitals. So right now, I had nothing to do other than get back in touch with Marina. Yes, it's exactly what you think.
We were winning, I said that before, but we rarely ever win against the Covenant. Sure, we had occasional victories whenever battles in space lasted long enough up in space for us to make our job properly and thoroughly, but that only happened once every year at the most. Right now, I was lucky enough to be experiencing what you could only call a curb-stomp victory over the covvies. True enough, this could probably be considered a pyrrhic victory by future historians, but right now it could be called successful in comparison to the previous UNSC engagements in the war. Us human soldiers had a bad tendency to be decimated (or worse) in battles.
"Doesn't it feel good?"
"Where?" I asked.
"In here," Pavel said as he patted his chest overdramatically.
"Sure does."
Pavel had gotten the same treatment I had during our little stint behind enemy lines. He was lucky enough to be a rank lower than I was, otherwise he would be the one getting all the heat from Albaf. I'm pretty sure I would've gotten some crap from Brooks had I not saved his daughter from being killed just a short while ago. He'd gotten some bruises in contrast to a few cuts that I had gotten myself. Well, who cares, more scars to impress Marina with. She had this thing for scars.
The craft shook briefly in turbulence. We were currently the only ones on board other than Zekalwe, the crack pilot who I had only seen get shot. Fortunately we were going up to the Inconvenience to be deployed somewhere else when needed. That meant that I was going to have at least a couple of days to rest and do absolutely nothing whatsoever. Or, you know, have sex with my girlfriend. Yeah, living the life.
The craft shook once more, this time in the familiar shaking that told me we were leaving the atmosphere of Concordia. The small window on the back of the pelican switched from the dark blue sky of upper atmosphere and switched to the deep black of outer space. It actually happened rather quickly, it never ceased to surprise me how quickly the sky switched colors. Or the fact that one moment you're firmly planted to your seat and then you were floating. Literally floating.
"That's all folks, thank you for flying with UNSC air," Zekalwe said as soon as we arrived to the Inconvenience.
We thanked our pilot after he told us we could cash in our miles at the nearest station, forcing the joke and completely killing it. We hopped off into the hangar after it was pressurized and headed towards our sleeping quarters. This time we would go straight to our respective bunks and would actually use them for sleeping.
"Pavel!" someone shouted.
Well, at least I would use it for sleeping. Who knows, maybe I'd be force to actually sleep outside if Pavel insisted on taking the room.
"Hi Frank," Chloe said.
"Chloe," I acknowledged.
"Frankie, see you later, you can take the room."
Thank God.
"Thank God," I said.
Pavel was already leaving and Delacroix was playfully punching him in the shoulder for being so obvious about them getting laid. It couldn't have been any more obvious, but Pavel could've been slightly more subtle. Just saying. Well, regardless, I headed back toward my room, duffel bag slung over my shoulder while some techie got to bring me my armor and weapons in a couple of minutes. I wouldn't answer and he'd be forced to leave it outside my room. Then I'd probably give him shit for it, just for kicks you know. I opened my door, took in the beautiful sight of my cramped room for six and fell my shoulders relax. I was actually glad that Marina wasn't here right now, I all I wanted to do right now was rest for a long time. For once, I actually got to do it.
When I woke up, there was a sense of peace all around me. It wasn't only physical, I actually felt good mentally, and even spiritually, like something great had happened. Call me corny or something, but I actually felt the 'good vibes' as soon as I woke up. There wasn't any fresh pot in my system, so I was good on that. For a moment I was worried on account on how good I felt. Eventually I confirmed that I was alive and still on board the Inconvenience and decided to take a shower. I cut it just short of five minutes and now I not only felt good, I also felt fresh. The only way I figured I could solve that was by running half a marathon or something. Well, half a marathon is a stretch, but with my super strong leg muscles, my lungs didn't need as much air and neither did my heart, so I could run a good fifteen kilometers daily with almost no repercussions other than the hour and a half afterwards during which I felt like shit.
I headed towards the gym and was not that surprised to find it empty. All or most of the infantry people guys were planetside while the navy boys and girls were probably having good long naps while they waited for the last covvie ships to be attacked en masse. Or well, you know, relieving each other's tension. There were a lot of attractive women on board this ship that weren't army or marines, so the navy men had it good. I was halfway to the gym when I heard feet stomping. I saw a man dressed in a navy uniform running towards me.
"Whoa, what's the rush?" I asked.
"We won, we fucking won!"
"What?"
I've got to tell Kelly," was the last thing I heard from the guy before he turned the corner.
"We won?" I wondered out loud.
I placed my hand on my chin, which was already sporting some stubble and hummed to myself. More like hmmmed, but you get the point. After about ten seconds of holding that pose I sighed and stretched my arms.
"Yes Eliza, I am talking to you," I said.
"Yes Staff Sergeant?"
"That guy over there…"
"Ensign Pike," she interrupted.
"… was yelling that we'd won. Did we by any chance actually win against the Covenant?"
"Technically, this was isn't over."
"Eliza," I growled.
"Yes, their last three warships have been destroyed and the remaining ground forces were encircled and are currently being heavily bombarded. Reserve troops are already being called back to their respective ships and civilians are starting to return from the shelters already. There is now only two battalion-strength Covenant units still active, and their numbers are decreasing rapidly."
"We won."
"Yes Frank, that's what I just said."
"Thanks Eliza," I said. "When is the rest of our complement getting here?" I asked.
"Around two hours."
"Bummer."
Well, at least I had some time to kill, so I walked to the gym and did a few kilometers before heading back to my room for yet another shower. Once I was done I wondered whether it was actually worth it to get dressed up or if I should simply go to bed and sleep for a day.
"Frank!"
"Yes Pavel?" I asked.
"We won!"
"Yes."
"No, you don't get it, we WON!"
Yes, comma, I know."
"Oh," he said.
Pavel scratched his head for a second, obviously angered that I had found out before him or that he didn't get to break the good news to me.
"Well, if this was the good old days we'd have a drinking contest and a frat party," he said. "I guess we'll have to settle for some stolen liquor."
"Agreed," I said as I approached one of the empty closets and opened it to reveal several crates. I grabbed the one on top and produced a new bottle and produced a '79 Colbert. I don't really know what that meant, but the thing was good as fuck and I could sell it for about a thousand creds if I wanted to. A crate of these babies had helped me buy my second shoulder pad. They had also helped me forget. Seriously, they had. War is hell, but right now, I didn't care.
"To victory," Pavel said after filling a tin glass with the liquor.
"To being alive," I said.
"Ain't that right."
Having said that we both poured the alcohol down our throats. I was already reaching for the bottle to get another shot of the strong Colbert. I'm not entirely sure what it was, where it was from, or anything else about the drink other than it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
A bottle of 80% alcohol liquor later and several attempts at teaching Pavel how to throw a knife without stabbing himself in the foot, I was smiling on my bed, the ceiling was moving side to side, but I didn't care. I felt like I was being rocked side to side on a boat, but I didn't care. Pavel was groaning in the bathroom at just having thrown up for the sixth time. I smiled and wondered where Marina was right now, I clearly remembered something about a rain check and I planned on making her cash it. Very thoroughly.
As I realized that nothing other than my drunkenness was stopping me from going to find my girlfriend, I stood up from my bunk. I let the dizziness subside and then I walked out of the room after telling Pavel my intentions. He only retched in return. Now that I was right outside of my room, I faced my first dilemma, whether I should go to Marina's quarters or try to find her in her pelican. I decided that I had a better chance of finding her at her quarters, besides, if she was there we would probably end up heading towards the craft to achieve some sense of privacy.
I made my way through the hallways of the ship while managing to keep walking in a straight line and not give away any sign of my inebriation, I was dangerously good at that, I had even memorized the alphabet backwards just in case. Well, the point is that I finally made my way across the ship and to the female sleeping quarters. It was surprisingly crowded in the hallways and I even spotted a few people sneaking in and out of bedrooms, I don't know whether it was for the obvious or if some of those rooms had several illegal items such as drugs or alcohol, there was about a fifty-fifty chance. Finally, I was standing in front of Marina's door.
I knocked.
"Who is it?" a familiar voice asked.
"Frank."
"Marina!"
A couple of seconds later a tired, but happy-looking Marina emerged from her room. Surprisingly, she was wearing a regular pilot uniform instead of her usual tank top.
"What's the occasion?" I asked.
"My roommate keeps borrowing my undershirts," she said.
"You mean shirts, you barely ever put something on top of them," I reminded her. "Or below for that matter," I added.
"Hey," she said as she punched me in the shoulder. It was that playful, flirty punch that women in general seemed to love. It also hurt more than a playful, flirty punch should have.
"Let's go someplace quiet," I said.
"Oh, I have a place in mind," she joked. There was only one place we could go.
I smiled at her and offered her my arm, then she placed her own under mine and we headed towards the hangar bay.
Victory, alcohol, love, and even adult only time. For a time I was genuinely happy.
Hey, I want to apologize for any and all grammar and spelling mistakes in this chapter. I only gave it a quick once-over before posting it here. Also, hope you don't mind too much me taking so long to update. Anyways, hope you enjoyed.
-casquis