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Undeniably a Tragic Universe of Tie-died Proportions Chapter 2
Posted By: Grantix Techno
Date: 29 May 2008, 8:52 pm
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Smoke clouded my lungs as I stared at the ceiling. My breathing, and that of those around me, was sharp and raspy, tearing at my ears. The ceiling, here, was a dark grey and was barely lit by the blue tint of the numerous screens in the frigate's control center. I sighed, tilting my head forwards to look at the rest of the crew. My hand dropped, lazily, towards the makeshift ashtray, the sole of a boot.
"Max," one of the shadows started. "Where'd you get this stuff?"
I stared talking, trying to figure out who spoke, but colors flashed before my eyes and I couldn't tell light from dark. "I got it while on leave on Reach…" I said, taking another slow drag of the joint in my hand.
A face suddenly appeared over me, with scrunched eyebrows and piercing blue eyes. I stared a moment, a smile creeping across my face. I could tell, by the reflection in his eyes, that mine were bloodshot.
"Captain?" I asked, blowing smoke into his face.
"Smith!" the captain yelled, grabbing my collar and pulling me to my feet.
"Sir?" I asked, dropping the joint into the boot's sole and letting my face's expressions drop completely.
The captain stood before me, still grabbing my collar, with a face so angry that it was unrecognizable. I thought I could see spit peeking out of the corner of his mouth and a blood vessel burst in his eye.
"Pack your fucking bags," was all that he said.
The memory stopped and I found myself staring into a screen. A wire frame representation of Io floated across, with the listening station circling it. I stared at the screen, wiping the drool from my chin.
"You okay?" The voice, clean and crisp, rung out in my ears for a moment before I realized I actually heard it. I spun around, facing Darcy with a confused face.
"Yeah…" I said, dropping my gaze to the ground and letting my voice trail.
She had combed her black hair neatly behind her head and then tied it in a bun. She was always orderly and prepared. If anyone had been given the change to leave the station on good behavior, it was her.
I continued staring at the ground until she spun around. "You've been awfully silent," she said, her face showing concern.
"I…" I looked up at her eyes, which always shocked me. She had two different colored eyes, something I couldn't get used to. "I was thinking about how I ended up here," I finally said, straightening my face.
"Yeah?" she begged, her eyebrows rising.
"I… I just wonder where I'd be if I hadn't been a junkie," I told her, turning back to my work.
"Maybe you'd be a commander," she said, sighing.
"Yeah right," I replied, disbelief flowing through my words.
"Who knows…" she said as I heard her chair swivel around.
Silence permeated the air once again, leaving me to stare at a screen which never changed much. Io floated around Jupiter and Station 7 floated around Io. Something caught my eye though, something irregular.
"Rad…" I started.
"Ahead of you," Darcy replied. I could hear her fingers tapping at the keyboard.
"Any idea?" I said, spinning around to her with one raised eyebrow.
"It's the frigate. They're requesting a docking order," she replied, furiously typing.
"Dock Two's full," I told her. "Jack's supervising an EVA in there. The frigate's gunna have to use Dock One."
"Got it," she said.
I listened carefully as muffled voices came through over her ear piece.
"Get their code first," I ordered, turning back to my screen. The wire frame showed it as having a frigate's shape. Nothing was certain though, given the Covenant's position.
"Code confirmed," Darcy said, almost mechanically.
"Let 'em in. Radio Jack, inform him, I'm going to assemble a defense party," continued, standing up.
"Aye sir," she replied, tapping at the keys still.
I moved towards the door, hearing the air hissing in expectation.
"Max," Darcy started, spinning in my direction. I turned to her, raising my eyebrows at her. Her face surprised me; I had never seen such a mixture of fear and uncertainty in a face before.
"Yes?" I asked, half of my body out of the room.
"No one's going to be able to help you. There are only ten people here. You and I are here, Lucy's asleep, Casey's a medic and only used a gun in basic, and the rest are in Dock Two. You're the only one who will be there, unless I leave post," she explained, standing up and offering me a sincere look.
"Well, fuck me sideways," I said, spinning around and heading out the door.
My hand was shaking, it was shaking too much. Am I nervous? I'm never nervous, I thought. I stared at the docking bay doors. They were white, like everything else, but they had a large black "1" painted on them. They, just like every other door on the station, opened via compressed air.
I am going to die. Whatever, I don't care if I die. Shit! What about Lucy? Fuck. I couldn't stop thinking about all the worst case scenarios. Covenant aboard the ship. The newly seen "Elites" would pop out and slaughter me and everyone else aboard. Jackals and grunts would pour out first though and I'd be able to kill one before being wiped out by plasma fire.
I stared, nervously peeking at all the corners over and over to see when the plasma torch was going to start cutting. Shit, shit, shit! I thought, keeping the assault rifle's barrel in line with where I looked.
My earpiece yelled in my ear as Darcy's voice came over. "They docked. I'm tapping into their onboard sensors."
"And?" I asked, dragging out the "d" to show my ignorance.
She sighed, too loud, obviously annoyed that I didn't understand her plan. "I'm checking their thermals. If their signatures line up with normal human temperatures then we should be good."
"Okay. I see," I replied, more confident in myself now.
"Can you get cameras too?" I asked, kneeling down. I reached around to my back and grabbed a small metal object out of a pocket on my bandolier. I unfolded the small HUD display and attached it to my helmet.
"Working on it. Thermals check out though sir."
"Alright, don't open up the doors until I get visual on my HUD."
I heard, through the earpiece, the keys click as Darcy stroke each one precisely.
"Got it. Patching it through," Darcy said, resuming her normal orderly behavior.
Images started appearing on my HUD. The bridge came up first, with the crew surrounding the captain's chair. "Next," I said. The image changed to the cargo hold, where nothing but a slew of crates was resting. I watched a moment, staring at each crate intently. My suspicious started to rise. "Keep a feed on those crates open. Make sure nothin' gets out of 'em."
"Aye sir."
The image changed again, this time to the crew's quarters. All rooms were empty.
"Alright, open the doors. If those crates budge I want these doors closed and the bastards dead. Open all ports on their ship if the crates move, have 'em suffocate in vacuum."
"Aye sir."
The doors hissed in front of me. I held the rifle up again, aiming at the center of the doors.
"Sir," Darcy said.
"Yes?"
"What's a spare frigate doing out here?"
I thought the question over in my head for a second, decided I didn't know and that I didn't want to know. "Don't know Darcy. Does it matter? Hood knew about it, obviously it was here for something."
"Sir…"
"What?" I asked, my voice rising in irritation.
"What's the name Hood gave you?"
"Titus. FFG Titus," I replied, not understanding what she was getting at.
Suddenly the doors started to close and the hissing sound changed tune as it started sucking in air instead of releasing it.
"That ship is the FFG Archimedes," Darcy said, her voice shaky and contorted.
"You're tapped into the frigate; turn all power off except life support. I want the crew alive," I ordered, backing away as the doors slammed shut. "Get Jack on his way right now, I want them all in a defense right now!" I stormed down the white hall, slinging the rifle quickly.
"Sir, your finally acting your rank," Darcy said, her voice still shaky.
"Damn it, Darcy! Stop wasting time! No one on the frigate touches the damn dock doors, got it?" I was screaming into the headset now.
"Aye sir," Darcy replied, nearly whispering in fear.
Suddenly Jack's voice patched through into my ear. "What the fuck is going on?"
"Shut up and listen Jack. Get their asses to Dock One with some fucking rifles. Meet me in Control once they're situated. No one passes through the Dock One's doors, if they see anything, and I mean anything, they open fire," I ordered, finally reaching the control center.
"Aye sir," Jack said. His voice was calm now. He was quieter that usual; I hoped it was because he realized who was in charge now.
"Darcy, crew status?" I ordered, taking a seat.
"Ours or theirs?"
"Theirs."
"They keep trying to radio in, but I've been shutting them out. I'm trying to keep our lines clean and secure. They're all in the bridge."
"Alright," I sighed, looking at the screen. "Patch me in to the captain."
"What the hell is going on?" the man yelled.
"Captain, listen. I was given word that the FFG Titus would be arriving at this time, but you're here with the Archimedes. Given the current situation, I have little to no trust in you being the ship scheduled to arrive. I want those crates in your cargo hold opened within five minutes… or we're going to eject them," I explained, keeping my eyes fixed on the image of the cargo hold.
"I can't do that," the captain said, sighing afterwards.
"Very well," I replied, nodding at Darcy. The radio connection sizzled out and it was just Darcy and me. "What do you think?"
"Eject it," she said, matter-of-factly.
I sighed, burying my head in my hands. "Why me?" I sighed again and lifted my head to Darcy. "Do it," I ordered, letting my face drop all emotion. The video feed showed the crates and the cargo hold's doors. Suddenly a man appeared on the screen, walking to one of the crate.
"Hold it!" I ordered, moving closer to the screen.
The man proceeded to open the crate.
"Zoom in." The camera zoomed in, revealing a metal device inside the crate.
"What is that?" I asked, turning to Darcy with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm searching the database. It seems to be a bomb," she replied.
"Patch me in again," I ordered, falling back in my chair.
"What is this?" I asked. "You showin' me this 'cause I asked you to, or because you wanna blow us up?"
"This is supposed to be classified information…" he sighed. "You were given an incorrect ship name on purpose."
"What?" I asked in disbelief.
"This is ONI shit after all," was all he said.
"Fuck…" I laughed. "You had me scared shitless." I turned to Darcy and smiled, "Open the doors."
"Aye sir."
"Hey captain," I said into the headset. "Welcome aboard Station 7."
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