Alto Valeur, Fleurdelis, New Corsica
March 16, 2558
Gabrielle feared this day would come.
The two of them were enjoying dinner where Austal had broke out his grill, spying a pair of juicy tenderloin filet mignon at the grocer. The sounds of sizzling meats and faint trails of smoke went hand in hand in one of his favorite sights and ears of sweet corn and foil covered potatoes were also on the irons.
As long as the smoke was with wood. On metal was a whole different story and he hoped the sound would never be his own flesh.
While she loved cooking, there was no objection to him insisting that he wanted to try out their new grill by the pool. So she decided that when she came home from one of her showings, she would go for an evening swim.
He often cast approving looks in her direction as he worked and threw a towel her way when she stepped out in her bikini. She brushed hair out of her face and wrapped herself inside. The air was cooler, not chilly with the sun setting in the west with another spectacular showing.
So he lit some of the torches aflame when she came back out, fully dressed this time and they settled underneath the canopy. The conversations were lively and she suspected that he was getting ready to deliver unsettling news.
It came when the dishes were cleared and he cracked a bottle of Sauvignon from their cellar. They sat across from one another, bathed in the orange light made by the torches and enjoying the breathtaking view of the Kadar Ocean as well as part of downtown Alto Valeur. In the distance, there was a UNSC frigate that had completed its descent over the ocean before making her way over to Turbin Island, where the drydock was located.
Looking at his wife and the saddened look on her face told him that she already knew what he was about to say.
"I have to go back out on duty," He finally said.
"When?"
"Tomorrow. Ross is coming to pick me up." This was definitely an uncomfortable subject for him, especially when he refused to make eye contact, "We're heading underway at two in the afternoon. Mamore. The natives are getting restless again."
Gabrielle sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and shivered. "You know I hate it when you leave."
"I know," He crossed over, putting his arms around her. "I'm sorry I have to do this every time, but somebody has to play cowboy to rescue beautiful women and teach the bad guys not to mess with the UNSC."
She chuckled, "I bet that's why every lady you show up to rescue instantly falls in love,"
"More than you think. Actually, the only one that matters to me is the one in my arms," He kissed her on the cheek. "You shower?"
"I did not,"
"Good. We can have enough action for both that and the bedroom,"
He awoke the next morning with his arms draped over Gabrielle's bare backside as they slept. Looking at the clock reading 0852, he realized he had slept for nearly eight hours. Rarely did he ever go lights out for that long. It felt like two minutes.
Rolling out of bed, he quickly threw on a fresh pair of military fatigues before brushing his teeth and a quick shave. He took one long look at everything. To be honest, he had no idea how long he was going to be gone or even if he would see his home or wife again.
He brewed himself a cup of coffee, a local brand called Ayunean Coffee Co and sat at the table, sipping thoughtfully and going through his datatablet on news. In the middle of that, his stomach growled so he got to work on the range and was flipping pancakes with white chocolate chips.
"Hey," Her voice drifted from the kitchen.
Looking up, he saw Gabrielle dressed in nothing but a blue silk bathrobe. She had another cup of coffee in hand and sat across from him.
"Hey," He grinned at the robe, a present from her best friend Kate. "You hungry? I made enough for us both."
"Yes of course." He had found out that his white chocolate pancakes were her favorite and the best way to start a first day without him.
"I'm leaving you one of my guns in case you need to defend yourself,"
"Why?" She gave him a puzzled look, "Are you expecting company?"
"I don't know. I just want you to be safe. I've taught you how to properly handle one and you know where I keep all my weapons and ammo. Only thing is that you don't have a conceal carry license, so no taking it outside the house. We'll work on that when I come back," He chuckled, trying to make light of the situation.
A knock at the door got both of their attention and Marcus went to open it.
Ross Pine was standing at the door dressed in sniper camouflage pants, a wavy pattern of gray, green and blue as well as a tank top. His dog tags hung loosely around his neck and a pair of aviator sunglasses were on top of his head.
"Hey brotha," The two greeted one another by shaking hands and then pulling forward to give a friendly slap on the back, "You ready to go?"
"Just about," He gestured to the door, "Come on in. I'll just be a few minutes."
They headed inside and Gabrielle had walked to the front. At first, her face turned red from being only in a bathrobe, but she played it off. "Hey Ross,"
"Gabrielle," He gave her an approving nod, "You're looking beautiful today as always,"
"Thanks,"
"Here," Marcus handed off his duffel and turned to his wife, cupping her face in his hands, "Soon enough I'll be back and around so much, you'll wish I got called for another mission again."
Gabrielle smiled, but still couldn't hold back a pair of tears trickling down her cheeks. "Be safe. Please."
"Of course. I love you Gabs," He gently kissed her on the lips before joining Ross in the car. They backed out of the driveway and waved at her for as long as possible until they were out of sight.
"So," Ross began to say when they turned onto the main highway. The traffic delays were lightening up as the day progressed and they comfortably went to cruising speed with roadware engaged, as required by law. Eon's resident sniper flipped on the "aggressive" mode for the car and they immediately shifted left to the passing lane to head around slower cars.
"So what?"
"Are you gonna tell me or Brett?"
"Tell you about what?"
"Gabrielle of course,"
Austal glared at him, "Right. Christmas came early I guess."
"Christmas? Nine and a half months early huh?"
"I've been good all year right?"
"Tony won't agree and Bailey is probably the same too."
They both chuckled at that. By now, the highrise buildings of downtown Alto Valeur could be seen to their right and on their left side was the enormous Turbin Island military base. At the far end by the water was a large quintet of drydocks capable of accommodating small warships up to the size of a Halcyon-class cruiser. Next to it was a single runway airfield with multiple hangars on the side and a series of highways that ran from the rest of the island, which held the remainder of the base.
"So how good is she?"
"She's good." A pause, "Where did you tell Marissa you were going?"
"Glabetov. You?"
"Mamore,"
Pine scoffed, "You're avoiding the question. Do I need to elaborate it?"
"No."
"Then answer it, or I will both elaborate and get Brett to pester you."
"Fine," Austal shook his head, "She's amazing in bed. Fucking amazing. A thirty out of ten."
"I think she spoiled you."
"You got that right."
Half an hour later, Austal and Pine had boarded a Pelican that raced across the sky. Their destination was not one of the ships in drydock, but one that hung farther away south from Fleurdelis' coastline.
She was about the same size as a heavy frigate and similar to the modern Halberd-class, there were two long lines of armor plating atop her dorsal bow, each one bent at an angle and separated at the very front so that it loosely resembled a catamaran boat. At the ship's center was a narrow glass dome and more sleek armor covered the back areas. Four primary engines were arranged in a "V" shape and backed by two auxillary powerplants in the center. They were approaching her starboard side and could see three large hangars that spanned approximately one third of the length combined.
Their transport headed inside the middle hangar which was a beehive of activity. Pelicans were also arriving in the other hangars, dollies carrying crates were scurrying everywhere and the overhead crane was shifting to the bay on their right, moving a sixty ton M920 scorpion tank to the main hold. Crewmembers moved about, doing their jobs smoothly like a well-oiled machine.
A ground crew quickly secured the aircraft when it touched down on a metal deck and the ramp was extended out with an audible hiss.
As the few other passengers, mostly lower ranking officers were with them and they headed left, where a Lieutenant was waiting for them. Lusana, already dressed in his Spartan undersuit was standing in front.
The Spartans quickly disembarked and saluted their team leader, who stood next to an older woman with the four bars and single star insignia of a captain.
"Spartans Pine and Austal reporting for duty as ordered sir," They said in unison.
Lusana returned their salute as did the woman, "Adese," She said, "I'm Captain Kristina Barrett. Welcome aboard the Vociferous. We'll be getting underway once the last of our supplies are aboard and accounted for. Let's grab some lunch in the mess hall. Spartan Lusana and I will fill you both in on your mission and side duty."
"Side duty?" Pine asked.
"I asked the same thing once I came onboard," The corners of Tony's mouth curved in a smile and any further inquiries were going to be met with silence, so they let that one go.
The Captain led the way down the entrances at the hangar's rear as multiple moving vehicles and personnel stopped and saluted their CO as they passed.
There was an elevator at the end which they boarded. Once the doors sealed shut, the noisy jet engine roar of the aircraft was replaced by the soft humming lull of the ship's machinery all around.
"Deck two," Barrett said aloud.
"Confirmed, Deck Two." A monotone female voice responded, moving the car upwards just moments later.
"Vociferous huh?" Austal asked, taking a look at the elevator around them. It deviated from the traditional ones found on standard warships with a more sleek stainless steel appearance. There was also a biometric scanner at the main controls next to the buttons and glass doors that looked fairly thin, but were likely made of the durable plastasteel. "I've never seen anything like it."
"She's the second of the new Thames-class," Captain Barrett explained, "Large-scale ships designed to operate close to highly dangerous regions for long deployments. State-of-the-art stealth design capable of moving a moderate sized force in enemy territory invisible to all but the most sophisticated sensor systems. We can give support from a small fireteam like yourselves or an entire occupation front. Damn near expensive too. Costs almost as much as a whole flotilla of frigates."
"Seems nice." Pine said, "I take it there won't be a lot of them built?"
"Fewer than what I believe is sufficient," The elevator stopped at the second deck and they disembarked, the doors noiselessly closing behind them. "You know these spooks. The Thames is exclusively crewed by ONI. Hood says we were lucky we even got ahold of one."
The mess hall was down another couple quarters with the title "Officers' Mess" on the floor. Unless deployed in large amounts, Spartan teams onboard ships were treated to the officers' sections of the ship. Food on a ship was always good and the menu was diversified enough to make sure everyone on the melting pot of the crew was able to eat something.
All four of them grabbed a plate and moved down the line for the lunch of the day; chicken parmesan with mozzarella, fresh baked French rolls, green beans and chocolate chip cookies. With plates full, they easily found a table and began eating.
Barrett opened up a folder and passed out identical papers to each Spartan at the table, "Your commander has informed me of your course of action and I've reviewed it and will try to help out in any way possible. In the meantime," She gestured to the copies.
Austal scanned through it and he looked up with a puzzled expression on his face, "Training duty? What the hell did we do to deserve that?"
"It's not a punishment Austal, the Vociferous and other Thames ships will be getting their own contingents of Spartan-IVs for their own operations. They won't be interfering with ours and this won't be the last time we'll be aboard one of these ships. Lots of the new Spartans being assigned are brand new," Lusana explained, "We're the ones going to whip them into shape."
"They onboard now?"
"Yes, after your first deployment, you will start the first War Games class."
"So where are we headed?" Austal asked. "I'm guessing not Glabetov or Mamore."
"Ascella IV. As many of you know, it was the site of a brutal naval and ground engagement with the Covenant with enormous ruins across the surface. We've tracked the Song of Retribution since she left Requiem and a large portion of Jul's cruisers in the system. They're likely excavating ruins for supplies, fuel and maybe even more soldiers to their cause."
Pine bit into one of his cookies, "I remember that battle. In '52, much of the attacking fleet didn't bother to glass it since they were being redirected to aid the fleet invading Reach. There are large forces on both sides that are stranded without any outside contact and they probably still believe the war is still ongoing."
"Exactly," Barrett pointed out, "We're going to be the first UNSC forces to visit since the battle and if there are survivors, we'll find them. I don't expect us to have a warm welcome so we should clear out the unwanted ones first. When we reach orbit, I'll have our UAVs begin sweeping sections of last reported Covenant activity on the surface and send you in to knock them down." She stood up, saluting them, which they returned the gesture. "Our ETA is nine hours."
"We'll be awaiting the word for boots on the ground when that happens."
The Captain seemed satisfied by this and departed the table, leaving the Spartans alone.
"Our friend 'Mdama and 'Xiva chose this planet for a reason," Lusana studied the reports again, "Supplies and new followers are good reasons, but if the Covenant have been excavating during their occupation here…"
"Then they're looking for something."
Yes, they are looking for something. Like Cortana says; it's the Covenant. They're ALWAYS looking for something.
So we're about to go back into the action. Things are about to get really interesting real quick.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.