For the next few hours, Valhalla was immersed in an intense fight fo survival. The Reds and Blues had the invading UNSC ODSTs outnumbered but Speartip's troops fought viciously.

The struggle took place among multiple hotspots around the landscape, several war fronts temporarily dividing both the Reds and Blues and Speartip's ODSTs. Speartip looked on from a clearing near the woods as a small squad consisting of Tucker, Caboose and Grif held off Fest, Corellia and Tatooine.

Speartip smiled at her troops' tactics. Dividing and conquering was a specialty of her squad, but in this case, dividing the native troops set the individuals up with people they would rather not be teamed with. None of the Reds and Blues necessarily liked one another, but they worked surprisingly well as a team. Dividing their forces, if such a term could be used, benefited Speartip's team and she knew it.

She did not celebrate for long. Soon she heard the crunch of rocks and twigs revealing the approach of enemy forces. Speartip brought her rifle up as two power armored soldiers approached.

Carolina was quicker as she lifted her hand, knocking Speartip's weapon away from her in the process. The rifle fell out of Speartip's hand and to the ground as Carolina lunged at the white armored woman.

Speartip blocked Carolina's uppercut and executed a handspring away from the teal armored woman.

"Carolina." she groused, landing on one knee, her hand touching the ground in front of her for support.

"Why, Arkansas?" Carolina wondered aloud.

Missouri moseyed toward the duo and stood ready a pace behind Carolina.

"You don't understand, Carolina," Speartip started and Carolina knew she could hear her voice crack.

She used to be the picture of confidence. What changed? Carolina thought. She didn't have to wonder for long.

"They have Bradley. I won't explain, not to you. You were always so superior," Speartip said with jealousy coating her words, "You figure it out. Fuck you if you think you deserve anything from me."

"Why kill Missouri though? I thought UNSC forgot all about him, didn't think he was a threat."

"All I'll say is this, someone from the universe's government wants to tie up all loose ends. Other than that, fuck off."

"Listen to me, Ark. We can help you." Carolina beseeched. Speartip snorted a laugh.

"Don't call me that. Ark, Arkansas... we are not friends. And as for your little 'offer', wake the fuck up. You were a decent soldier in your time, before your insanity and injuries. But you can't take an army out by yourself. And as for those ragtag idiots, they wouldn't stand a chance so I won't even consider it. You could hardly defeat two beaten down armies on a planet nobody cares about."

Speartip laughed.

"What makes you think you all can kill the army that defends the galactic government?"

Carolina couldn't answer.

"Exactly. Lucky for you, they only want one man and one single AI entity eliminated. Hand him over and your part in this is finished. I won't even mention the fact that you are still alive."

Carolina was silent. Missouri took a step back.

"Carolina..." Missouri whispered. She shook her head.

"I don't see the point of killing him. He isn't hurting anybody." Carolina tried.

"Weren't you listening?!" Speartip railed, "I wasn't exactly in a position to ask why they wanted him dead!"

"That ODST squad fighting your friends is only one of the UNSC's hundreds of specialty squads. Can you and your friends last against even ten of them?"

"I've been the source of a lot of problems for a lot of innocent people." Carolina said, looking down at the dogtags she had closed her hand around. They read New York, Leonard Church and her own, Carolina. She only wished her mother had bothered to carry around dog tags. Carolina's ownership of them would have reminded her of all of the times she couldn't measure up, but she would also be reminded of the happier memories as well.

"So what is one more to your conscience?"

"You can't hand Lambda over to her. We can beat her!" Missouri shouted.

"But can you beat him?" Speartip asked, gesturing behind the two former freelancers.

Carolina and Missouri spun around to see a seven foot mountain of muscle behind them covered head to toe in forest camouflage armor. A gruff sound emanated from the specialist's throat. Carolina didn't know what it meant, but she knew it wasn't friendly.

"Meet ODST specialist Coruscant. He's going to crush your face. Missouri, you are mine." Speartip said. Her voice sent a chill down Missouri's spine.

Carolina would have tripped Speartip when she sped toward her and rolled on the ground past her feet, but her attention was diverted as a massive pair of hands wrapped themselves around her body. One grasped her chest plate and the other squeezed her wind pipe. Coruscant lifted Carolina above his head before throwing her through the air, her armored body colliding with a thick green tree. Her vision blurred as she coughed, her lungs greedy for all the oxygen that had escaped her from her collision. Her green eyes stung with unwanted tears as she sat painfully up.

Missouri had slightly better luck as he feinted to duck only to wrap his golden arms around the white-clad former freelancer pilot's body, rolled to the left and threw his quarry to the hard, mossy ground. Missouri moved toward her, knife drawn, but was met with the sole of Speartip's boot to the visor. Haymakers and uppercuts followed, connecting to their targets. It was hard to think, hard to breathe as Missouri blocked several retaliatory shots from Speartip, only to miss several more.

Carolina was ducking, rolling and running to stay out of Coruscant's grasp. She ran toward the same tree that had caught her when she was thrown, only to run up the rough surface, flip backward and land behind the giant man. She grasped his waist, lifted him and threw him bodily to the ground. He landed with a grunt, but lifted his enormous boot and kicked her in the visor, staggering her.

Coruscant leapt up and lifted Carolina again into the air, this time by her back. As she struggled, he dropped her spine first across his massive thigh. The air left her completely, her bones crying out for relief although her armor absorbed most of the shock. Enough remained, though, to cause her eyes to go dim. She was lifted from Coruscant's knee and thrown like a ragdoll to the left and she impacted the ground enough, heaving for breath as Coruscant slowly approached the fallen woman for the kill.

Missouri's lungs burned after only a few minutes. His weakness showed as his peaceful lifestyle meant he had no time or inclination to train his body for more combat related avenues. His brow sweat as he swung his combat knife downward. His arm was caught with both of hers and she outmatched his strength.

Lambda shone her bright pink just as Speartip dislodged Missouri's knife and poised to strike her adversary down. Her abused retinas caused her to hesitate with her free hand covering her visor to block the sudden light filling her skull. She cursed as Missouri brought a hand up and knocked the knife from Speartip's hand.

Suddenly, Lambda's brightness faded to nothing and Missouri recoiled as if struck. In Speartip's mad, blinded lunge she had grabbed Lambda's storage unit and yanked with all of her strength . The unit now sat clutched in her hand, wires and connective ends dangling with the pop and spark of electricity making the severed connections jump and sway. Lambda's power pack went dead and the faint crimson lights of her storage unit faded to black.

"No!" Missouri screamed, lunging at her in a fury.

Speartip gasped as she looked up from Lambda's spent storage unit. She dodged Missouri's volley of hand to hand attacks. Blocking and dodging his attacks were far easier than she had anticipated. Although he was fueled by rage, he was exhausted and his swings were erratic and predictably slow.

On Speartip's fourth consecutive block, she swung her right fist with all of the fury she had fueled by all of the frustrations and fear the UNSC director had forced upon her. Her fist connected with the soft covering that wrapped around Missouri's throat. She felt his windpipe burst beneath her fist and he fell, clutching his neck and wheezing.

Speartip secured Lambda's unit into her right gauntlet's storage space and tapped in a quick numeric key she would have no trouble remembering. As she bent to retrieve the knife in order to kill Missouri, she was blindsided by a swift punch to the side of her helmet, staggering the white armored woman.

Specialist Coruscant had been momentarily knocked down when Carolina swung the thick branch of a tree into his helmet. The wood splintered and he went down long enough for Carolina to sprint toward Speartip and interrupt her killing blow.

Coruscant, now risen, dove toward Carolina and grabbed her arm, throwing her again to the ground. She felt her broken ribs and bruised spine and found her legs not responding to her will to rise to her feet. She hoped it was temporary.

Coruscant neared her fallen form and she closed her eyes, hoping her end would be quick.

Speartip looked back down at the heaving gold-armored man at her feet. She contemplated killing him right then, but she needed escape. Carolina was otherwise preoccupied with Coruscant standing over her prone form so she picked up her knife and retrieved her rifle and sprinted into the trees.

"Hey, big guy!" a male voice caught Coruscant's attention.

The clearing leading toward the open area of the landscape was interrupted by a tall man in black armor, yellow accents interrupting the darkness of the armor here and there. His appearance was not nearly as intimidating as was the plasma arc he held in his hands. The weapon seemed to throb with glowing green energy.

"Don't I know you from somewhere? You look just like a guy I used to work with." Washington said.

Coruscant rose and lifted his arms to attack Washington but with a three second squeeze of the trigger a tremendous flash of green arced toward Coruscant, bounced off the ground and slammed into the giant's chest piece blowing a large hole into the armor. Coruscant fell the the ground with a yell.

Washington walked toward the giant clinging to the last vestiges of life. He readied his magnum and pointed the death end at the hole in his armor.

"I am so glad I learned how to use that bouncing gun." Washington snipped before he emptied his six rounds into Coruscant's chest, killing him.

He turned and took Carolina's hand, lifting her to her feet. She tested her stance, bouncing on her feet and twisting left and right, wincing as she felt her tortured spine pop.

"Are you alright?" Washington wondered, steadying her with his hands on her shoulder and hand.

"I'm alright. Where did she go?" Carolina asked.

"To the East." Washington said, pointing.

Carolina was off like a shot, following Speartip through the trees.

BBBBBBBB

Carolina limped up the ramp to Blue base's concrete outer deck, head down and holding her back. She was wounded not only bodily, but her pride was bruised as painfully as her spine.

"You seem hurt, Carolina," Doc piped up, "Maybe I should scan you."

Carolina shoved him angrily out of her way as she approached the center of the room where the conglomerate of simulation troopers were gathered, some sitting, some standing. Missouri was patched up, his helmet removed to allow for easier breathing. His throat had been nearly broken, but with Doc's help he would make a full recovery, but much like the Meta would never speak again.

Missouri's short, wavy brown hair stuck up in places and his dark brown eyes seemed to bore a hole into the concrete floor. He shook bodily and his steady breathing was shaky as well. His golden helmet was dented from being thrown against the wall. It was clear which wall had been abused by the crack that had formed in the concrete that seemed to pervade the area.

An hour had passed since his and Carolina's defeat at the hands of Speartip and Coruscant. Carolina knew that as bad as her body was hurting, Missouri was hurting more. She had long felt that her capacity for compassion was dead, but in the last few years she had never felt more human. More full of emotion and sense of fairness and patience than she ever had been.

But then, that's what the Reds and Blues did. That was their job. To make anyone connected with them understand that to err was human. They themselves had been erring for most of their adult lives. But in their own quirky way they made Carolina smile more than once, several times when she really wasn't supposed to. They brought to mind her own failures and the way they did so was so unlike her father... or the director as she had come to "know" him. When she saw them failing their way to the top, she thought of her failures -her defeats- and came to realize that it's okay.

The world wasn't over with the death of Project Freelancer, with her defeat at the hands of her mother - or Texas - or even with the death of the man she had never had time to realize she had loved, New York. As frustrating as they were and as personally heart-wrenching as York's death had been she borrowed a phrase York used to love to say, it was all a part of what makes us human. There was a simplicity to that thought that gave Carolina peace.

Carolina approached Missouri and knelt before his nearly broken form. She placed a hand on his knee.

"I'm sorry, Missouri. I tried to catch her. I did. But I was too late."

Missouri stood and embraced her.

"You did... everything... you could." he choked out. "You're hurt... Go to the infirmary and get patched up."

"For what it's worth, I've never seen any of us bond to our AI the way you did."

Missouri lifted a hand before sitting down again.

"I don't like... human company" he breathed, his words failing him even now, "Trusting you was risky... But... I'm glad... I did."

With that he was silent and as Carolina headed toward a private area in the base, she didn't realize that those were the last words Missouri would ever speak.

BBBBB

Carolina hadn't allowed herself to cry in years, since she was a teenager. But the tears flowed and she sniffed. Mostly the pain was getting to her as she shucked the last vestiges of her armor. Her breasts were wrapped in a tight fitting athletic wrapping and her bottom was covered with bloomers the same black as the wrap. She sweat as the pain nearly overwhelmed her but she sat in the dark as she looked down at her armor, barely visible in the darkness. A soft knock came to the door.

"Come in, but I'm not the most decent right now." Carolina said.

"Well, you know I'll be respectful." Washington said. He sat beside her on a chair next to the single bed in the room.

"I'm just glad you're not Tucker."

"That's new."

"What?"

"You're joking with me. I don't think I've ever seen you like this."

"What, half naked?"

"No, well that too... But I mean genuinely kidding. It makes me feel like you're human."

Carolina sighed and nodded.

"I need to say sorry. To you, and to them for everything I put you all through." Carolina said sadly.

Washington unwrapped a combination healing unit and a shot of morphine. He asked her permission and she gave it. He turned the healing unit on and injected her gently with the painkiller. She sighed and thanked him softly.

"And you don't need to apologize. Not to me. I forgave you the moment I saw you were different. I really respect your leadership and I appreciate..."

Carolina locked lips with Washington. His words cut off by her lips. His eyes opened wide as she clenched his long light brown hair in her fingers. He felt the wetness of her tears on his cheeks and he held her, kissing her for a long time. Finally she released him and sat back against the wall.

"What just happened?" Washington wondered.

"I needed that. Unconditional forgiveness after all we've been through... it is more than I could have asked for." Carolina answered.

"But there's more, isn't there?" Washington asked, "You can't just kiss somebody who longs for you and just leave it at that."

"I don't know. I just don't. I can't say, there is just..."

"Too much going on."

The sound of his voice pierced her, sounding sad. But she couldn't get involved. Not now. She didn't know when and it would have been even crueler to promise Washington the world and the universe and then never be able to give it to him.

"I'm sorry, but that's the best I can say."

"I understand. I'll be outside if you need anything. But you should rest." Washington said.

Carolina wanted to call him back, to kiss him again, to love his worries away but she was not confident in herself and if everything ended before anything could happen between them with a promise on the table, then one of them would be left wanting for years to come.

BBBBBB

"This is a message to former Freelancer agent, Missouri."

The voice came over the radio an hour after Washington had returned to the common area of Blue base.

Missouri looked to Washington and he nodded.

"This is agent Washington. Missouri's throat is damaged and is unable to speak, but he is sitting here with all of us."

"Good enough. Listen closely Missouri and do exactly as I tell you." Speartip said seriously.

"The AI designated Lambda is still online. Her unit is dead but her code still exists within it. I know the code and it is affixed around my neck in a locket. I am heading to a planet you know very well. It's the location of your first peace talk failure that resulted in a war that devastated the planet to ruin. Uninhabitable, every resident still alive abandoned every city and it is now a Ghost Planet devoid of life, it's very existence denied by the galactic government. A failure of yours that killed an entire planet."

Speartip paused to let that sink in.

"Meet me on Yelliton in one standard week. Come alone. If I do not see you by twelve midnight standard time then I will throw Lambda's unit into the radiation poisoned ocean. Hear me and know I am not lying. Does Missouri understand and will he comply?"

Washington looked to the aforementioned freelancer. Although he loathed the woman and did not trust her, Missouri nodded his head slowly, his eyes taking on a new determined hardness.

"He understands." Washington breathed into the microphone.

"One week." Speartip replied.

The line went as dead as the citizens of Yelliton.