(3rd Pov)
In another part of the galaxy, a different atmosphere was taking place.
In the hangar of the Commonwealth, a Pelican had just landed. A crowd had gathered, containing the 28 other Spartans in Mjolnir without their helmets, along with a mix of marines and miscellaneous crew of the ship. Among them was the captain of the frigate Wallace, and beside him, in her signature white lab coat, was Dr. Catherine Halsey.
The loading ramp lowered from the Pelican, and out walked the five victors of the mission. Five Spartans of varying height descended from the aerospace transport. Their weapons were strapped to the various magnetic locks and holsters provided by their armor.
The moment the crowd's eyes locked onto the super soldier's figures, there began an eruption of applause. Some of the crew even cheered, knowing that they owed their survival to the five in front of them. The Spartans, however, with a range of mostly muted expressions from smiles to flat faces, just decided to clap, their metal gauntlets clicking with each time their hands were brought together.
From the Spartans' appearance, it was obvious that they had been through a battle to all onlookers. Though it was less than they had originally had in the hallways of the enemy ship, their armor had bits of dried blood wrapped around their boots as well as traces on the upper areas. Bits of alien flesh had hardened and dried out as chunks with fluorescent blue and purple stains.
Once at the bottom, the five stood in a line shoulder-to-shoulder saluting the Captain, "Sir, mission accomplished. All Spartans accounted for. No casualties," David rattled off as procedure.
"At ease, son," he said, and the Spartan's arms dropped behind their back. "At this point, I'm not sure I deserve to be saluted. All of us are only breathing thanks to the five of you," he seemed regretful of his earlier actions of discomfort around the Spartans.
"No, sir, it wasn't just us," John spoke up, "Had it not been for you and the crew of the Commonwealth, no one would have been able to board the ship to begin with."
Wallace visibly relaxed. It seemed the weight of his choices was dragging him down, especially his decision to sacrifice the long sword pilots in order to guarantee the nuclear detonation.
Catherine cut in, seeing a lull in the conversation, "The Spartans need to give a debrief. Captain, is there somewhere private?"
"My office would be the best," he said, shifting gears back to his professional demeanor, "It will be a bit cramped, but I know there's no risk of leaks."
"Then lead the way," she said as the seven of them filed out, departing from their triumphant return.
…
..
.
"Now, before we begin, I must thank you," Catherine said, bowing her head, "To head into a battle with an unknown powerhouse with barely an hour's notice required courage and bravery beyond measure. Though that is what we trained you for, it is not a quality to be taken lightly,"
The Spartans in the room didn't particularly know how to react. They glanced around at each other, and David decided to respond for the group as a whole. He had his helmet off now; it was placed on a small table beside him. "It's as you said. It was what we were built for," he said calmly.
"I see," Catherine nodded, gratitude still in the air, "Moving on. Tell me some of the important notes from the mission. I will recover the video recordings from your helmet cameras when we return to Reach, but I can at least begin to think about the important issues."
The Spartans looked at each other again. David stood with his arms crossed, with Daisy leaning against a wall beside him in a similar stance; her helmet was also off. Samuel and Kelly were sitting in metal chairs, while John just stood; their helmets were also off.
Eventually, John took the lead, beginning with the most important issue, "Well, first ma'am, we nearly lost Samuel,"
Catherine's eyebrows shot up, and at once her eyes snapped to the temporary sealant on his chest piece. "Elaborate," she asked, carefully studying Samuel's armor.
Samuel spoke up, "I took a hit from what appeared to be a larger version of the plasma weapon that was in the reports from Harvest. This one shot blue bolts instead of the green ones the smaller one fired, ma'am,"
"That shouldn't have been enough to kill you or critically incapacitate you," Catherine had the expression as if she was thinking hard, trying to find something out of place.
"Correct, ma'am. But the energy bolt ended up rupturing my pressure seal," Samuel corrected..
Catherine's features lit up as she instantly understood, and Samuel continued, "Had it not been for David, I would have gone down with the ship."
Her eyes flickered to David, who just shrugged, "I always come prepared."
"Moving on, were these plasma rifles, as you described them, fired by the same large ape creatures from Harvest?" Catherine said, moving back to the subject.
"No. These were big reptile alien things, most of them were taller than us, and from my experience, about as strong as us too. They also had four mandibles instead of two jaws and had energy shielding," Daisy spoke up from the wall.
"Strange…" her voice trailed off as she began to consider the information, "Perhaps the two races of larger aliens do not get along?" she seemed to ask to herself aloud before shaking her head, "Questions for later, is there anything else?"
"Yeah, I also ran into another weapon that the small aliens shot. It was pink and shot crystals that could embed into battleship armor and would explode," Daisy said, getting a raised eyebrow from David.
"They shot a pink crystal gun at you?" he asked, repeating what she said back to her.
Daisy gave him a wry look, "Couldn't make it up if I tried. The thing also looked like a boomerang, and the needles were stored in the top, making spikes essentially poke out the top of the gun," she added
"I see," Halsey let out a long sigh, "it seems I will need to begin reconfiguring the armor for heat distribution over anything else. I'll also look into seeing what I can do to reinforce the pressure seal, so such a situation should never happen again. For now, all of you are dismissed. We will be entering slip-space soon. I suggest you get some rest before cryo," Halsey said
The Spartans nodded, grabbed their helmets that had been strewn about the room, and departed through the door.
The group moved through the hall. Daisy and David were talking together on one side, while the three from Blue team conversed on the other, a bit behind the pair.
"David, can I talk with you for a moment?" David stopped and turned to John, who called out to him. He paused before turning and nodding for Daisy to go on ahead of him. Kelly and Samuel did the same, and soon it was only the two team leaders left.
They stood by a viewport looking out into space. The stars flew by as the ship glided lightly through space. The heavy glass panes of the window were slightly cracked along the edges; they would hold, but the damage from the previous battle ran deep. It was clear the Commonwealth would need extensive repairs once it got back to friendly space.
"What do you need, John?" David asked. The pair had talked more than a couple of times. Before augmentations, each team was ranked based on performance throughout training. Blue team and Alpha team had been neck and neck in a dog fight for the top spot for years at this point. But it was overall a friendly rivalry; they were on the same team overall, and if one pulled ahead, then the other would grow to overtake them, bringing both teams to new heights.
"I wanted to thank you. You saved Sam's life today," John said earnestly.
David half-chuckled, "Oh, that? Don't worry about it. It's not that big of a deal," he turned to face the viewport.
"But it is," John said seriously, "I'd gotten overconfident thinking we were invincible because of our training and these new suits of armor, and that should have been me who got hit, but Sam pushed me out of the way. Without you, I would have gotten one of my best friends and teammates killed over something stupid-something preventable,"
David looked at him and honestly was lost for words, "...I don't really know what you want me to say, John. Don't make the same mistake again? At least that's what I think Chief Mendez would say,"
John's face hardened, "You're right,"
David paused for a moment as something came to mind, "Mind if I ask you something now?"
John looked over with a flat expression, "Shoot,"
David collected his thoughts before beginning to speak about something that weighed down his thoughts, "Up until recently, I was always against the idea of putting this mission over the lives of my team and others, but Benjamin's death changed that." John watched silently as David began to speak beside him
"Ben's death showed me that even if I put those lives first, they would die anyway. Mendez told me when I woke up that this was why he always said to prioritize the mission. And now, I'm not so sure what I should believe," David's face was conflicted as he considered the options.
John sat quietly for a long moment, taking in all that was said. His face peered into the dark as if he were searching for the answer among one of the distant stars. Trying to find the words on an unknown planet, but a sigh showed that his search came up empty.
"I don't know," John admitted, "I'm not sure I ever thought of it that way, David. I don't have an answer for you."
"Yeah," David said, disappointment flickering in his eyes as he looked at his reflection in the glass, "I thought so,"
John, sensing the mood, took a dive and lightly punched him in his arm, "But don't worry, no matter what happens next, all of us have each other's backs."
David gave a small smile, "Right, no matter what happens, we'll stand ready."
The two soldiers took another look into space with a new resolve, ready to face whatever comes next. Unfortunately, neither knew of the horrors that they would experience in the year to come.
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Yeah that ends volume 1.
I decided that I would name it INITIATION. I think that would fit the themes of the story.
Now I must say that there will be about a 1-2 week break as I try to recoup some chapters.
Yeah yeah I'm the worse tell me how much you hate me and such.
Anyway I'll be in the lab cooking, see you then.