I woke from my slumber, the warm feeling of Jasmine's head still gracing my shoulder. I looked over at the small nightstand, three red numbers standing out in the darkness. It was 2:13, 2 hours before I usually woke up. I looked down, seeing Jasmine's head resting in the crook of my arm. I couldn't help but smile. She looked peaceful for the first time since I'd met her. Seemed content, tranquil. Happy. Seeing her this way made the same feelings wash over me. She shifted in her sleep, subconsciously draping an arm across my chest. I ran my left hand up her back, up to her head, running my fingers through her hair. She rubbed her head against my chest as I did this, smiling in her sleep. Her hair slipped through my fingers like water, so smooth and soft. The smile on her face only widened as I continued to stroke her hair. I leaned my head back and looked out the window, seeing the deep vastness of space. The only light in the void were specks of white. far off planets, stars, ships, who knew. The stars moved slowly across the window as Infinity drifted, the bridge the only asset of infinity awake at this hour. I looked back over at the clock, 3:15. I had lost track of time while I'd lost myself. I looked back over at Jasmine, her eyes were now open, looking up at me. Her violet eye was almost illuminated in the dark. She was blushing strongly, smile still plastered on her face, my hand still brushing through her hair.
She spoke in a whisper as to not wake the others in rooms nearby, "Good morning."
I smiled at her, not needing to answer.
"Wanna go get breakfast before the marines take it all again?" she asked, her smile widening.
"Up to you, I'm good staying here." I said, returning her smile.
Her blush became a deep dark red, she looked down, burying her face in my chest to hide her cheeks from my view.
"Let's just go get some breakfast." she mumbled through my shirt, embarrassed.
I chuckled, swinging my body off of the bed and standing up. I walked to the door and turned around, Jasmine, still lying in her bed, had her eyes trained on me as I opened the door and walked out, closing it behind me. I walked into my own room and looked in the small closet I had. I pulled down the standard UNSC sweatpants, slipped on some tennis shoes, and pulled a hoodie on over my tee. I looked in the mirror, my hair dishevelled, my neck sore from sleeping without a pillow. How quickly we push these small luxuries to the back of our head. I walked out of my room, snagging my toiletries from the nightstand. I walked down the hall to the shared bathroom and began combing my hair, brushing my teeth afterwards. As I walked out of the bathroom, Jasmine walked in, wearing a black tank-top and sweatpants just like mine. She had a hoodie wrapped around her waist as well. I tried not to stare at her, but I couldn't help myself. I kept watch on her as she passed out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head around to look at her as she walked into the bathroom. I'm ashamed to admit it but my eyes may have… wandered a bit. I shook my head and looked forward, replacing my toiletries in my room. I then leaned up against the wall at the end of the hall, waiting for Jasmine. As she replaced her toiletries she joined me and I pushed off of the wall, walking alongside her.
I looked at her amazingly long hair, tied back in a ponytail. Her hair reached the backs of her knees, which in retrospect wasn't that far. From my 8" height advantage over her, her body seemed absolutely tiny, small even to some of the marines, but they dare not question her abilities. I walked into the mess hall next to her, several marines already dining in the dim, greenish hue of the lights. It still wasn't four, so the lights would be dimmed for a bit longer. We walked up to the line, grabbed a tray, and walked down the mess's infamous breakfast line. Known by everyone in the ship to be the only time they served half decent food. I grabbed nothing to heavy, a banana, some grits, some apple juice. I followed Jasmine to a table where she sat. I sat adjacent her, not minding the stares from all of the marines, it was normal at this point. Jasmine had gone a little more bold with her food choices. She had gotten a plate piled high with bacon, eggs, grits, pretty much all that they served. I took a bite from my grits and watched as she devoured the bacon in no time. I chuckled a bit, taking another bite from my pile of flavorless grits.
I leaned across the table and spoke into her ear, "Don't eat the grits, they taste like shit."
She laughed with a mouthful of egg, struggling not to spit out her meal. She swallowed as I sat down and smiled a malicious smile at her. She regained her breath and punched me in the chest as I took a drink from my cup of apple juice.
She smiled, "Dipshit"
"The one and only." I responded
This sent her into another laughing fit, I wondered if she was ticklish. I would definitely have to try that out. The black eye would be worth it. Her laughter slowly died down as Athena walked over to our table, tray in hand. She sat next to me and gave a soft hello. We both gave a quick greeting before returning to our meals. Soon Athena was eating at her food too. The mess hall became more packed as the lights flickered on, the room suddenly awash with life, the green, horror movie tint being replaced with a pure white light. Soon the rest of Crimson had found the table. About four or five seats down the table sat Fireteam Majestic, both Fireteams chatting away about what had recently happened. I wished I could tell the squad what I'd recently done but I don't think Jasmine would ever forgive me.
I looked at the clock on the wall, 5:02. We'd been in here longer than I'd thought. Suddenly though, an earsplitting alarm burst through the mess hall.
"Everyone, to your battle stations. This is not a drill, Infinity is under attack, I repeat we are under attack." said Roland over the intercoms.
Suddenly the mess hall broke out into chaos. Me and Crimson team pushed our way back to our hall, each of us throwing on the jumpsuits in our closets, walking into the hall and zipping the back of whomever was in the room adjacent. We all jogged to the armor bay, peeling off as we went into different armament areas. I was the last into a bay as I watched just to my right Phoenix's MJOLNIR Mark IV helmet being slipped onto his head. I stepped into my boots, the machines tightening them on. I spread my arms as my forearms were covered up by white and green armor plates. I was slipped into my helmet, upper arms, and thigh armor following. I was then turned horizontal as my chestplate was fixated onto me. I was then turned back vertical, released, and handed a Battle Rifle. I jogged off of the platform and back into the line of SPARTANs rushing to the hangars. We grabbed jetpacks off of the walls as we passed, throwing them on and pushing the button on the straps, the straps drawing up tightly to our armor. We continued jogging until we reached the hangar bay, hangar bay 6 to be exact. This was the same hangar I had docked in every time I'd taken off or returned to Infinity. There was a pelican already there for us. Jasmine ran into the back door, running past the seats and hopping into the pilot's seat. The rest of us filed into the back of the pelican, holding onto the rails on top.
"We're up!" I screamed, Jasmine punching the throttle, the boosters sputtering to life as we were lifted into the air and out of the hangar, door still open.
As we flew farther away from Infinity I got a view of what we were up against. As we got just far enough away to see over the massive warship, a covenant Corvette came into view. We all shifted uncomfortably as we watched hoards of Banshees and Seraphs spilled out of the ship, the occasional Phantom following. The pelican turned to engage the enemy and the Corvette was removed from our line of sight. I looked around the hold, giving my infamous nod to the team, to which they returned the gesture. We were about to fly face first into the belly of the beast.