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Searching for 87, Chapter 4: Meeting
Posted By: McHaggis<RBVMcHaggis@aol.com>
Date: 15 January 2006, 1:17 am
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Chapter 4: Meeting
0230 hours, September 14 2553 (Military Calendar)
On planet Reach.
Warrant Officer Walters eased the drop-ship into its station at Zulu Base on Reach's surface. "We're landing now, lieutenant." he said to his only passenger. Lt. Billy McHaggis gave a him nod and got ready to exit the ship."
"Thank you, Warrant Officer." he said
"All in a days work, sir." Walters gave a polite nod and opened the back hatch. Billy got off of the drop-ship and watched it fly away into space.
He looked at his watch. It read 2:30. Good he had some time until his meeting. So, he strolled around the hangar of Zulu base. To his delight, a frigate was in one of the stations. It was called the Atlantis, and it was the most beautiful ship Billy had seen in his life. It was being worked on by an army of engineers and technicians because it had sustained some damage in its last skirmish. Probably pirates or rebels. Aside from it's damaged hull, it had a huge MAC gun mounted on it. Also, it had a teal-blue stripe going down the length of it's hull. Although it was non-regulation to have such insignia, Billy really liked it. It gave the frigate it's own personality. "The captain of that ship doesn't know how lucky he is.", Billy thought. Then, he realized that he had been looking at the ship for almost 15 minutes. Quickly, he grabbed his things and made his way up to the Chief's office.
"Good morning, sir, Are you here to see the Chief?" the woman behind a desk said to Billy as he walked by her.
"Oh," he said, startled. "Yes, I am."
"Can I have your name, please?" as she said this, she started to tap the keys on her computer.
"Lt. Billy McHaggis." he said, very professionally.
"Ok, lieutenant, you may go in." she said after clearing his 'appointment'.
"Thank you, ma'am." Billy said as he entered the office. The steel doors opened with a woosh sound and, in the back of the round room, was the Master Chief behind his desk. The Chief saw the young lieutenant as he saluted. He returned it and thought "This kid looked like he could have been a SPARTAN."
"Good morning, Master Chief." said Billy, nervously.
"Good morning. We have a lot of things to attend to lieutenant."
"Yes, sir." Billy said, quickly getting rid of his nerves.
"You know why you are here, don't you?"
"Yes sir, to discuss the progress of my mission, sir."
"And to discuss Spartan-087." he added.
"Yes, sir." Billy said, trying to keep his emotions down.
"As you know, she and Dr. Halsey went missing a year ago. And, we have no trace of them at all." He scratched his head. Billy had never seen him without his armor on. He was very muscular and tall. Taller than Billy, even.
"Yes, sir." He leaned against the wall. Suddenly, he realized the answer to Kelly's disappearance was that Dr. Halsey took her for one of her crazy experiments. His mission was to find them both.
"Now, I called you here to tell you that your being promoted to Captain."
"No way." exclaimed Billy. He couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes. And you are assigned to the frigate Atlantis." He handed Billy his new badges. He was a Captain of the Atlantis.
"Thank you sir."
"Now, Captain, your new mission is to take a fleet of ships and search the nearby planet of Korolith. We think Dr. Halsey has a secret lab in the asteroids that surround it. You have permission to search the system. But, just no fireworks, ok."
"Yes, sir. And how many ships will be in my fleet?"
"Besides yours, 2 cruisers. It's not much, but that's all the UNSC can spare right now."
"Thank you, sir."
"You leave at 0500 hours, Captain. So, go and get some rest." Realizing that he was dismissed, Billy saluted and turned to leave.
"Uh, sir, one more question. What ever came of Xavier?" he asked wearily.
"Xavier? Captain, he died about 2 months ago. He was ordered to eradicate a band of pirates with 2 other SPARTANS. None of them survived the detonation of the pirate base. Here, see for yourself." The Chief pulled up the list of SPARTANS on his computer. Billy came over and saw that he was indeed dead. It said "SPARTAN-066, Xavier-MIA." He knew that 'MIA' meant that they had been killed. The UNSC wanted the public to think that SPARTANS were invincible. So 'MIA' meant 'missing in action.' He couldn't help looking down at Kellys name. It also read 'MIA', which was true. She was missing, for now. He would find her.
"Thank you very much, Chief."
"Good luck, Captain." The Chief saluted, and Billy saluted back. Then he turned and left the office.
After the steel doors shut, Billy let out a big breath. He was exhausted and overwhelmed. The meeting seemed like it had been a dream. But it wasn't, and he knew what he had to do. Continue searching for Kelly and now Dr. Halsey. He had 3 ships to do this with. Not as much as he would have hoped for, but it was enough. As he headed to the hangar to check out his ship, a young girl came up to him. She was wearing a grey jumpsuit and looked like she was a lieutenant. Her black hair was tied into a long pony-tail that was streaked with yellow. Her slender frame made her look more like a model than a lieutenant.
"Are you Captain McHaggis?" she asked.
"Yes I am."
She saluted to him. "I'm Lt. Camchoa."
He returned the salute and said, "So, you here to give me a tour of our ship?"
"Yes, sir." She said with a smile. They entered the ship, and went up to the bridge. Once they got to there, 3 people were standing, ready to meet him. They all saluted.
"Sir, I'd like you to meet Lt. Tisdale, Lt. Aster, and Lt. Winters." Billy returned their salute and shook each of their hands. He wanted them to feel as comfortable as possible. Lt. Tisdale was a little shorter that the rest of Billy's crew. Her shoulder length, sandy blonde hair and kind smile reminded him of Lt. Thorne. Next, was Lt. Aster. He stood straighter than the other lieutenants. He seemed to be the kind of person with a lot to prove. His brown hair was cut in a flat-top. And his face was as hard as stone. Finally, Lt. Winters had a very nice look about him. He smiled as he shook Billy's hand. His red hair was cut very short. He was the tallest of the lieutenants, but not taller than Billy.
"Alright, lieutenants, I want you to know a little about myself before we get to business." He looked at each of them. They all seemed to relax a bit. "I'm very laid back and casual. But don't think you will getaway with anything. I only expect the best from each and everyone of you. Just do your job. Now that I've said that, I want Lt. Camchoa to debrief me on the situation inside the ship. The rest of you, get to your stations." They all scurried. Lt. Winters went to the weapons station, Lt. Tisdale to communications, and Lt. Aster to radar. That left flight controls to Lt. Camchoa, who was waiting to debrief Billy
"Alright, lieutenant, proceed." He eased into his chair at the main command station.
"Sir, we have 58 engineers, a battalion of marines, and 15 pilots on the ship. We also have 9 Longsword bombers and 7 Pelicans."
"Good."said Billy, satisfied.
"And, sir, we have 2 SPARTANS on board, also."
"What!? We have SPARTANS!?" he exclaimed.
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you, lieutenant. You're dismissed." She saluted and went to her station. Billy pulled the SPARTAN roster up on his computer. SPARTAN-104 and -058. Good. He would call them up to the bridge later.
"Oh, Lt. Camchoa, we don't have an AI do we?"he asked, suddenly.
"We will be getting one, sir." she said.
"Ok, thank you." He was satisfied with his accommodations. His crew seemed like they do their jobs. Now all he had to worry about was his mission.
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