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Searching For 87, Chapter 2: Message
Posted By: McHaggis<RBVMcHaggis@aol.com>
Date: 2 January 2006, 10:07 pm
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Chapter 2: Message
0200 hours, September 14 2553 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC Battleship St. Patrick orbiting around planet Reach.
"Billy I want you to know something."
"What is it, hon?"
"I want you to know that I love you and not even a war can tear us apart."
"I love you to, Kelly. And thank you."
Billy suddenly woke up. He was drenched with sweat. He had that same dream again. The one about the last time he saw-
"You up yet sleepy head?" Lt. Thorne said. She was always nice. Too nice sometimes. But right now, Billy needed nice.
"Yeah, I'm up." He said. He yawned, then went to the wash room to clean up. Man, I wish Kelly were here right now, Billy thought as he turned on the shower. He unclothed and jumped into the luke-warm water. He stood there for about 5 minutes then turned off the water and dried off.
As he was putting on his light grey jumpsuit, Lt. Ellsworth entered the washroom. "Good morning," Billy said sleepily.
"Oh, hey Billy," He said. He looked as if he were about to cry.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, I know your on this mission because you wanna find this 87 person. No offense, but I could care less about this mission or 87."
Ouch. This hit Billy hard. But he could understand the pressure that Ellsworth was under. He was being evaluated by Captain Washington. All captains are required to evaluate each of their officers individually. It was Ellsworth's turn. And this was not an easy mission. Just 2 days ago they had encountered a fleet of pirates. Ellsworth had failed to spot them before the Captain. Ellsworth was the Tracking and Radar specialist. He should have spotted them light-years away from them. So, he was in a bad position to start off. "I can understand your feelings, man, but lets refrain from saying that number."
"Alright," Ellsworth said, obviously sorry. "We'd better get up to the bridge. Captain wants us as soon an possible."
"Ok, meet you up there." Billy said as he ran to the bridge. He could be nice to Ellsworth for now. It was clear that he also needed nice.
On the bridge, the Captain was talking to the St. Patrick's AI, Orcus. Orcus was what officers called a 'smart AI', meaning that he wasn't made to do just one task, he was like a human. This thought disturbed Billy and he pushed it out of his mind. "Lt. McHaggis reporting for duty, sir." Billy said as he saluted.
"Ah, yes. Lieutenant I want you to look at this."
Billy walked up to the Captain's computer. There was a message on it.
"Read it, son, it's for you," he said, grimly.
Billy read the message:
Encrypted Messagecode number 339002
Sent: September 13 2552
Dear Billy,
I regret to tell you that something terrible has happened. It seems that while stationed on the Ascendant Justice my SPARTANS and I have lost SPARTAN-087. Dr. Halsey has also gone missing. We assume they were together when they departed Ascendant Justice. We will use our best efforts to find her. I am sure you are devastated at the loss, as are we. Kelly is very important to us and to you. We will find her.
Sincerely,
Master Chief, SPARTAN-117
Message Endedcode number 339002
Billy quickly wiped a tear from his eye. The Captain had gone and was now fiddling with the radar system. Lt. Ellsworth and Thorne had both entered the bridge. They both sat at their stations. The Captain turned and saw that Billy was done reading. "I'm sorry, son. I got this message about 10 minutes ago. I see that it was sent a year ago." The Captain looked at him sympathetically and went over to him and put his hand on Billy's shoulder. "I have scheduled an appointment with the Master Chief as soon as we get back." He was cut off by Orcus.
"We will be arriving on Reach in 15 minutes, sir." Orcus said in his deep, monster-like voice. Orcus was a pale white skull with 2 holes on the top of his head. Billy looked at Orcus as he floated there. Interesting choice, thought Billy.
"Thank you Orcus," the Captain said, breaking Billy away from his thoughts. "So, as soon as we hit the ground, you're off to see Chief, ok son."
"Yes, thank you very much sir." Billy said. Then he took his seat at his station. The weapons were offline. Good. MAC guns were chilled. Good. And he was almost home. All was well. But he couldn't help to think about what the Chief would have to say in their meeting.
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