Chapter 8 NAME "Shit Happens" Part 2

=Vatel walks over to a Warthog where an ODST is manning the gun. he gets into the drivers seat and fires it up=

-Freemont-
-Bravo-

Darke-Wake up

=He punches Warren=
=His eyes open slowly=
=As they focus he sees they are in a small room=
=He can hear Sarah behind him=
=They are sitting in chairs, back to back=

Darke-I said, wake up!

=Darke goes to punch him again. Only to have his fist caught by Ian=

=His eyes focus on the two=

Warren-Darke...Ian...How did I know you fuckers were helping them..

Ian-We go with the winning side.

Warren-The scales...always tip...

(Dormii)
=i follow and sit in the passenger seat, or the "Triple Kill seat" as I heard one particularly depressed marine say in my brief walk around the camp=

-Freemont-
-Bravo-

Ian(looking at Sarah)-I doubt it. The young ruler will have a replacement.

Warren(spits out some blood)-Who.

Ian-Doesnt matter. What matters is that we havent killed you.

Darke-Yet.

=They depart=

Warren-This...could not get any worse

=He puts his head down=

Warren-I have failed...

=They head off across the seemingly endless fields of grass towards one of the destroyed covie bases=

So. How did you ever make it all the way out here without the UNSC, if you dont mind me asking. I dont think many Rebels are too eager to harbor a Spartan.

(Dormii)
Found some others like me. We get by. And you're right, most Rebels don't like harboring Spartans.

=a drone flying to an area's camera records a lone warthog driving before crashing into the ground due to a malfunction and blowing up=

(Jason)
=The Council and I were overseeing the formation of the army. So far, everything was looking good, especially considering the fact that most of the people we had were never really soldiers. David and Nagasae and I helped out in the training of both troops, and training drill instructors. Other than that, things were going well. We were still waiting for a reply from Zeru on as to when he and the Troph would be showing up=

-Freemont-
-Bravo-

=The Falcon nears the secondary building=
=Landing just outside=

Calen-Keep it tight. We dont know if they are still here.

Carson-Right.

=They head out into the building=

-Freemont-
-Hidden base-

Sarah(groans)-Ahhh.... =yawns= Warren...what the hell happened?

Warren-Im so sorry, my lady..

Sarah-Hmm...Dont worry, the others will be here. Only wish I could reach my MP3..

=He begins trying to break the ropes tying them=

=Vatel totally ignors the Drone and continues driving=

So, there are other Spartans like you out there?

(Dormii)
=i look at the Drone as we drive past it. The plates on my arm reverse positions, so the half that was open, closed, and vice versa=
Yes, and don't think about trying to bring us in. We're done working with the UNSC, we want to live our own lives.

Sarah-Warren. Calm down.

Warren-I need to get you out of here.

Sarah-The others will come.

Warren(sighs)-Alright.

-Freemont-
-Bravo-

Calen-Spread out.

=They go out into the building, covering everything=
=Leaving nothing unturned=

Carson-Nothing!

=The other two yell out=

Clear!

Calen-...not a trace

=drones start making higher damaging strafing runs against the target=

Calen-I want everyone on this.

=He looks out a window=

Calen-I want them found.

Carson-Sir, we have nothing.

Calen-Do you think I care. Find something. I want them back.

=Carson salutes and heads out=

Calen-Warren...Youre in deep...

-Hidden Base-

Sarah-Hmm...

=She sighs=

Sarah-If I could reach my comm unit...and MP3...

=Warren continues to work the ropes=

I land the Ship down on the Grasslands planet, in the middle of what looked like a UNSC Landing platform. I was curious to see what they were doing here. Having no prior knowledge to events in the region, I could only speculate. As I walked off the ramp onto the planet, the Dragon followed me. Matt scared the hell out of a Marine coming to check out who we were. He took off, I could see a wet spot forming on his trousers. I looked around. Waiting to be greeted.

=starts dismantling a parked drones main gun to swap it out for another one=

=They arrive at the destroyed Covie base, where many Marines and Helljumpers are hard at work dismatling and loading up useful bits of tech for salvaging. Vatel shuts off the Warthog and steps out=

ONI may want you back as a UNSC Spartan, but as far as i'm concerned, everyone has the right to live their lives the way they want to. Nobody can take that away.

(Dormii)
=the plates ripple and lock open=
If only the last few UNSC commanders felt that way.

=i hop out of the warthog and follow Vatel=

=As they walk, Vatel sees Cort with some Marines=

Well, im glad to say that as a Spartan, i do have some influence in the higher-command. Granted, not enough to change anyone's view 180 degrees, but i can still put in a good word.

(Dormii)
Now, that surprises me. In my experiance, Spartans equal the bottom rung. Little more than tools to be used and thrown away. Well, at least my generation.

(Jason)
=Two days later, the Council met again. Today's topic: the progress of the army. I was giving a status report=
Well, so far their training has progressed smoothly, though there have been minor bumps along the way. A few fights have broken out, but that mostly seems to be stress. Another dozen accidents due to accidental weapon discharge, but no fatalities, and the injuries were minor. I've yet to see these guys in action against real troops with experience, but I'm confident in saying that with a little more training, these guys will prove to be a deadly force.

(Carolyn)
Excellent. And I trust that not all of them are purely soldiers?

(David)
No. We have hundreds of them training as medics, and they are proving to be fast learners. We already have some squads formed, and the squad leaders are proving to be fairly good at leading their teams, as well as maintaining team cohesion.

(Grimm)
Good. So for now, we have a fairly competent fighting force.

(Nagasae)
We still need vehicles, including air defense and deep space ships.

A Marine finally mans up and approaches Matt, the Dragon, and I. He's timid, I can see his fear in his step. Time teaches you many things. Human reactions to things unknown are always the same. His first thought was to shoot at the Dragon he saw. He was conflicted because I was standing next to the Dragon. He spoke up: "uhm," he gathered himself, "Sir, Identification please." He was bold, but he knew his duty, he did his job. "Certainly," I said calmly and wisely, "Here is my Identification." I handed over my Identification Tags, my ONI ID. He looked over them briefly, Noticing a few anomalies in my ID he told me: "Sir, your ID doesn't reveal the year you were born in. It also doesn't have the standard information about your person." He was certainly bold, not much got passed him I presumed. Nothing I would say would convince him of who I was now, I haven't updated my Photo ID in over 28 years, I had no doubt that I looked substantially different. In fact, I knew how different I looked.
"Well then, Marine, what do you propose you will do now? Will you go run the card through your data banks, contact ONI and see if they can confirm my Identity?" He looked at me stunned. I think he just realized how tall I was. He may have also noticed my apparent changing skin color. I could see myself in the reflection of his eyes. My Skin was getting ashen and blue-tinted. I wasn't sure if these changes were permanent, or temporal. But that was not of importance now, in fact, contacting ONI was. I needed to know about certain projects they were working on, well, certain cells anyway. The marine looked me over, taking my visage in, thinking of what physical abilities I had, what possible limitations I had. The gears in his head were turning, he gulped. I could see fear returning to his eyes, sweat become to appear on his brow, his heart rate rose. He didn't know what to do, I had distracted him. "You may wish to go run my ID through ONI, see if you get a hit, in the meantime, show me a place I can spend the night, same for the Dragon.
This time, He simply motioned for us to follow him. He was afraid, he was afraid of dying, of being eaten by the dragon, he was afraid of me, my presence and he feared what his commanding officer would do to him if I was in fact an ONI Agent. He felt like his back was against the wall. But he did his duty to the letter. For that, I was glad.

(Jason)
For now, the sentinels will maintain air defense, at least until we begin making our own fighters. The same goes for any deep space vessels; until we manage to make ships of our own, we will rely on the sentinels, and Haven's defensive fleet.
=they were all silent for a moment, then....=

(Alvin)
What do you mean, "make ships of our own?"

(Jason)
=I sighed, and propped my hands up on the table, folded=
This was a fairly tough decision to make, but I'm confident that it is the right one. While construction and materials will be provided for, the design and operation of all future ships, will be from us. We will build our own fleet, combing the tech of the Forerunners, with Human ingenuity, and creativity. I won't destroy what we are: adapters and survivors.

=I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw David shoot me an approving glance=

(Grimm)
And what of Haven's defensive fleet? Will it be left here to gather dust?

(Jason)
No, but it won't go any farther than Haven from here on out, except in the most extreme of emergencies. The defensive fleet will be kept on Haven to carry out what it was made for: defending Haven.

=As they walk towards the base=

Really? Thats never been my experiance. When i was fresh out of Spartan Training, i actually became good friends with the Captain of the UNSC FLying Fortress.

(Dormii)
You a 2 or a 3?

Two, technically. You?

(Dormii)
Three.

Tar:

=sleeping on a table in the mess hall=

Talfie:

=I sit on the edge of the pool humming=

Scythe:

=Sleeping with Lana=

(Lana)
=i pull Kurbis closer, starting to wake up=
mm.....

Scythe:

=i run my hand through her hair=

*sigh*...

(Lana)
=i wake up fully, if slowly. My eyes slowly blink open=
Hey...

how did you sleep?

(Lana)
Wonderfully. You?

=i smile and run my hand up his arm, lightly=

perfect...

=I kiss her cheek=

you hungry?

(Lana)
Very hungry. Wanna go get something to eat?

sure let's go

=i sit up

Talfie:

=I walk to the mess hall and see Tar on a table=

...

how is that comfortable?

(Lana)
=i sit up as well, holding his hand in mine. i get up off the table and go over to the closet, to get some more clothes on=

so, besides eat, what should we do today?

(Lana)
=i grab some pants and pull them on=
I don't know. We could always wander around the ship and wait to think of something.

=i turn my hewd and smile, joking=

we tend to wander a lot don't we?

(Lana)
=i grab a shirt=
Yea, we do.

=i start putting it on=
But I don't mind. As long as you are there with me, I don't have a care in the world.

=i stand up and put my arms around her=

i love you so much lana

(Lana)
=i put my arms around him, my shirt not fully on=
And I love you too, Kurbis. Just as much.

=i kiss her on the lips=
you ready to go?

(Lana)
=i smile=
As soon as I get my shirt on all the way, I am.

=i giggle a bit=

=i smile=

that would be important

(Lana)
Just maybe. Wouldn't want anyone else to see your pillow, now would we?

nope!

your my pillow, no one else's.

Talfie:

tar? wake up... your on a table...

(Lana)
=i pull my shirt down=
Only yours, and that's how I like it.

=i smile and kiss him=

ready?