Chapter 8 NAME "Shit Happens" Part 4

(Jason)
Oh, you think?
=I backed away from the window, and got ready, for if or when Dormii did break through=

(Dormii)
=i lunged at the window again, stabbing it again, widening the cracks=
You didn't even bother to learn their names! WHAT KIND OF CREATURE ARE YOU!

=Xazhi gets another comm, this time the signal is stronger=

Xazhi! Prepare for combat! ETA Less than three hours!

=The comm goes a bit static=

----....... Tro--ae-m.......A--ack! p------ ...................

=The comm cuts out=

Alright then.

=He sits on a crate and waits nervously for Delta's signal=

(Jason)
Dormii, last chance man: Back away from the window, right now!
=I felt as the shield formed along my left arm, and a soft blue light began to pulse from my left=

(Dormii)
=i stabbed at the window again and again, widening the cracks but not breaking through=
WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?

(Jason)
Really? No shit Sherlock! Look, we'll just have to do what we can, and hope to God that my Security teams' stunners work.
=Speak of the Devils and they shall appear: My Security team rounded the corner Miri and Molly left from, and they got into position=

=walks to a nearby wall and leans against it=


it's all yours then lets see what ur guys can do

(Jason)
=I just stared, slack jawed at Zeru=
Are you fucking kidding me?

=I turned back to the window, words like "lazy ass bastard," coming to mind=

(Jason)
I never said I could do better. I said, 'we'll have to do the best we can.' "We," meaning you and me. The Security team is Plan B. They don't stand a chance against a berserk Spartan.
=most of the security team members traded uneasy glances when I said that=

(Dormii)
=i took a step back and then stabbed at the window again, this time breaking a small hole in the window. The hole was only large enough for my forearm to go through. I try to reach through it but my arm get's stuck=
I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!

-Siege of Al'murath-

Nolan - Get those vehicles ready!

Soldier - Yes sir.

=All the vehicles; Warthogs, Falcons, Pelicans, Wolverines, and Vultures get started, and prepare for an assault. The frigate, holding most of the pelicans for attack, would be attacking from the side. The Covenant have overtaken Al'murath, the capital that the UNSC forces held, where the Rebels had their bomb facility, among various other things. The UNSC forces would go straight through a valley, where the water has become ice, then air forces would stay above them, the frigate, heading in from the northeast, would get close enough while the other forces are attacking, release a few pelicans, letting them land, and attack from the side, using the pelicans as weapons as well; The pelicans, falcons, and vultures launch, as the warthogs ans Wolverines start heading toward the valley=

Nolan - *Static* Good luck out there..

=The storm seemed to get bigger and stronger, and hiding most of the vehicles, yet, making the ground forces and air forces hard to drive in the storm=

Command - The frigate is in place, the pelicans are ready to launch

Nolan - We are hitting the valley now. E.T.A 10 minutes.

Command - The Covenant are not doing muc--.. O--.. I suggest falling back, I repeat, fall back.

(Dormii)
=i swing my arm, trying to hit something=
YOU! SHALL! DIE!

To avoid confusion, they are almost at Al'murath, the pelicans, about 30 seconds away


Nolan - *Static* I missed th--..

= A bomb hits the pelican, the pelican slowly spins, it ends up hitting in a building, hanging out of the side of the building. The warthogs and Wolverines get of the ice, cracking behind them, they were soon attacked by ground forces, the frigate released the pelicans, they all landed, and slowly headed to attack from the side as the air forces were attacked, losing air dominance fast, the vultures, who attacked with the pelicans, slowly went down, only keeping twelve left, they tried to retake air dominance.=

Nolan - Eugh.

=Nolan walks to the busted pelican door in the back, seeing the battle from the building, there is little to no chance they can win=

Nolan - Command, send a pelican back to the troops to the northeast, send them to the bomb facility, send another pelican to my crashed pelican for extraction, then we will go to the plant as well. The only way we can have a chance at winning is by using big things.

=Covenant forces appear on the rooftop next to the crash site, they start to fire at the pelican=

Nolan - Awh shit, is anyone alive?

-No responce

Nolan - Joseph, Christopher? Anyone?

Marine - Gah, I am.

Nolan - Get a rifle, and get over here.

=Nolan grabs a sniper rifle, as the marine grabs his rifle, they start to shoot at the covenant on the rooftop=

Nolan - If we keep taking this much fire, we won't last long!

=The evac pelican fires at the rooftop, killing the covenant, and twists, the back of the pelican opened, and Nolan and the marine try to get the still bodies in the pelican, the marines from the pelican jump into the other, and help, they get the bodies in the pelican, and take off for the facility. The ground forces, being destroyed, fall back to the cliffs, the warthogs stay there, mostly destroyed, and the Wolverines follow the marines to the cliff, taking down Covenant air support=

=chuckles too low for anyone to hear=

wonder how their amor can handle

(Jason)
=I watched as Dormii's arm, the robotic one, reached through the hole in the glass. It actually got stuck there, and if it wasn't for the fact that that my friend was going berserk, it would have been comical. That said, I did not laugh, or let a single grin cross my lips. In fact, I was considering activating my energy blade, and slicing off that robotic arm=

(Dormii)
=i pull my arm out and retract the blade. I start punching at the glass, causing small chips to fly off, but not breaking. All of a sudden, blackness takes over. I fall over, backwards, and pass out=

(Jason)
=Dormii fell unconscious, and fell back down to the floor. I motioned for the guards to move fast, and they opened the door, their security badges allowing them to enter the locked room. I followed them, and directed them to lift Dormii back onto his bed, and restraints were placed around his arms, legs, and midsection. Hey, we were dealing with a Spartan here. What you might call paranoid, I call standard Spartan treatment. Jeesh, treatment. That could be taken out of context, and technically, I was a Spartan. Oh, the irony if the context of that statement were misinterpreted. Anyway, getting off track. We strapped Dormii to the table, made sure his restraints would hold, and for the time being, I had to leave the Security force with him, two inside the room, and four outside. Hey, he punched a hole through solid, plexi-glass. Made by Forerunners! I think I was giving him the bare minimum, on security=

(Dormii)
=i woke up what felt like hours later, but was probably only a short amount of time. I tried to get up, but found myself restrained. I looked around the room to see two security guards, or what I assumed was security guards, and a hole in a window. I could instantly tell what was wrong. I put my head back=

Gah, fuck....

(Jason)
=I was outside the room, and courtesy of the hole in the glass wall, I heard him loud and clear. Didn't stop me from pressing the intercom button though=
Gee, you can say that again. So Dormii, care to share with the rest of the class?

(Dormii)
=i sighed=
Might as well get everybody so I don't have to say it more than once. But, before you do, did I hurt anyone?

(Jason)
=I looked from Dormii, to the glass, then back to Dormii=
Well, I think you hurt the windows feelings. But, nothing some windex can't fix.

=I commed Miri and Molly, told them it was okay, and asked them to come back. It took them a few minutes, but they came back=

(Miranda)
=when I saw the hole in the glass, I felt my face gain an expression of fear=
Is he okay?

(Jason)
Is he okay? By the look of things, he should be fine, but he's still restrained. Come on, he wants us in there.
=I saw Molly's look. She was scared, but worried. Dormii was as much her friend as he was mine. She feared for her friend. We walked inside, and I walked next to Dormii's bedside=

So, care to explain?

(Dormii)
You ever see something, or do something, that makes you lose all sense of control? That you just act without thinking, without taking into account others?

(Jason)
=I remembered my time with Vigil, and after that, the time that Miri got shot=
Yeah, you could say that.

(Dormii)
Well, then you know how I feel, only I relive those events constantly. It's random, when it hits, but it's always there, always present. I can't escape it, them...

(Jason)
Them?
Dormii, I know this can't be easy to talk about, but whose "them?'

(Dormii)
My old team. They were still in training. We were going to be a demolish-and-burn squad. Point us at a target and it goes down, minus the appropriate personnel. Anyway, Reach happened, and our camp was overrun. My orders were to destroy Covenant tech as I found it. They didn't stand a chance...

(Jason)
=In a flash, I remembered, what Dormii had said, during his......moment=

Dormii wrote:

So you know what I see, Covie? I see a monster. A monster who kills those who can't fight back. I see something born out of legends, designed to kill and kill until nothing remains to kill. You didn't even bother to learn their names!

WHAT KIND OF CREATURE ARE YOU!

I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!

=I shuddered for a brief moment, the truth dawning on me=
The Covenant killed your team?

(Dormii)
=i nod=
Then I went on a killing spree. I killed every Covenant troop in the base. But, even then, I wasn't under it's gods damned influence.

(Jason)
I see. So, you still don't know what triggers these attacks?

(Dormii)
I have an idea. But nothing for certain.

(Jason)
Well, that explains what you're talking about during the....episodes. But what about earlier today? Something happened at the celebrations. If that was an episode, you would have gone berserk long before now. And Molly told me you were muttering, a list of names. Now, maybe they're your old team, or maybe they're something else.

(Dormii)
Their names were Emily, Lee, and Christina.

=i tried not think about Emily, my first real love. Even so, my arm rippled a bit at her name=

(Jason)
=I sighed. I didn't exactly enjoy putting my friend through this, but I had a feeling it might help. Either way, enough was enough: he needed rest=
Alright Dormii. I believe you. So, you'll be free to leave tomorrow, but, for the safety of the patients in this hospital, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you in those restraints.

(Dormii)
=i nod=
Thanks.

(Jason)
See you tomorrow Dormii. Hopefully, you'll be okay then.
=I turned around, walked out of the room, and only once I had turned a corner did I stop and rub my hand over my face=

(Miranda)
=I walked behind Jason, and came to his side when he stopped=
You know he wasn't being completely honest, right?

(Jason)
Yeah, I figured. But, it's his private information. If he feels I should know about it, he'll tell me. Otherwise, I'll just leave him alone.
=Hey, just because I was a Spartan, did not mean I didn't learn how to read people. I didn't really have the skill of a cold reader, but I could usually tell when someone wasn't being honest. I should have known that Miri would be better at it than me: Hell, she lived in the world of espionage, and made a living at getting info out of people. No surprise if she also knew how to read people=

Look, let's just pretend that we don't suspect anything. Hell, don't pretend: Believe it. For now, we let him rest, get back on his feet, and work it out himself, with help if he asks for it. Until then, we have work to do.

(Molly)
Like what?
=I was following them, and decided to finally speak up=

(Jason)
Well, we need to do quite a bit: I need to arrange a funeral, for those that died in the battle. Long term? We need to rebuild what we lost.

(Dormii)
=i put my head back as tears formed in my eyes, but did not fall. I fell asleep soon after=

--About an Hour later, aboard the Serenity--




(Jason)
=There may not have been night cycles on Haven, but after everything that had happened, I was tired, and weary. Sleep, was welcome, but I still had a job to do. Work work work, it never truly ended. And now, I was doing the hardest thing, I think I could ever really do: writing letters to the families of the deceased. I sat at my desk, in my room while Miri slept peacefully on our bed, soft light from my lamp revealing the paper I wrote on. Now, I already knew standard protocol from the UNSC on this matter. Each letter was basically the same, with only the names changed. Still, didn't make me feel any better about it. I mean, we lost almost 86,000 people. How was I supposed to find the words to say, how much I regretted what happened? I felt as if there was no way for me to justify the fact that they died to save millions. And I was their commander. It was my job, to make sure these men got home safely back to their families. I felt as if I failed, and was no longer worthy of the title, as commander, or admiral, or whatever they really felt I was. A sudden motion behind me drew my attention, and I saw Miranda sit up, staring at me, a deep knowing in her eyes=

(Miranda)
Trouble finding the words?
=she whispered=

(Jason)
Yeah.
=I responded, in the same, soft whisper=

I.....I don't really know, what I can say. I'm not sure, if there's anything to say.
=I felt my hands come up to my face, smothering it=

They.....they were my men. I was in command of them, and they're dead. I sent them, to their deaths, because I told myself that even if they died, they'd die defending their home.

(Miranda)
But something still bothers you, doesn't it?

(Jason)
There's a voice, calling me a coward. It says, that I sent them to die, so I wouldn't have to. That I hid behind men and women, braver than me. That I used them, like pieces on a chessboard.
=I heard my voice break, and a single sob escaped my throat=

It's telling me, that they died heroes, and I live as a coward.
=It was only a second after I said that, before Miri slapped me across the face. It stung=

(Miranda)
=I was out of bed, and standing over him, my hand already lowered from the slap=
Let me tell you something right now, Jason. You. Are not. A coward. In fact, you are one of the bravest people I have ever met. You've faced down psychopaths, war criminals, and genocidal war leaders. You took a whole world, as your responsibility, and then gave it to complete strangers to live on. You built and trained a whole military, and led them against the most feared enemy of the UNSC, and won.

=I knelt down, until my face was level with his, and I stared into his silver eyes=
Time and time again, you have shown your bravery, your courage. I know that you're feeling guilty over these deaths, but what happened was not your fault Jason. You knew, that you were going to lose people, yet you sent them anyway, because that's what a good commander does: he acts.

(Jason)
=I just stared into her eyes as she spoke. Tears began to form, and my vision blurred. She was right, or at least, what she said diminished my guilt. When my vision cleared, I saw her again. She never moved, and I pressed my mouth against hers in a kiss, her eyes widening in response, then closing as she melted into the kiss. I felt her mouth, warm and soft, and I raised a hand, and ran it through her hair, while my other hand ran over her neck, feeling her soft skin. I gently picked her up, my lips never leaving hers, and carried her to the bed. Things got, for the first time in our relationship, not heated or excited: passionate. The kind of passion you'd see, from two people that truly loved, not just the.....'physical' part, but the knowledge that they were loved, and they were sharing it with someone they loved, and who loved them in return. Even then, it was difficult to describe. At the end of it, we just stayed together, both of us wrapping the other in a warm embrace, until finally, we slept =

I woke up terrified and screaming. I was screaming so loud in terror that it was hurting my head, not to mention my sensitive ears. My heart-rate was high. The electric equipment in the immediate area started to flicker and cut out. A light bulb burst. I continued to scream, unnerving the hospital staff. Despite their attempts at subduing me.

=chuckles=


wonder how those guards would feel if he had gotten loose

--Osea Hospital--

=The Hospital staff tried to calm down the man that was screaming, but it was difficult. Most of the hardwar would short circuit around him, making it nigh impossible to find out what was wrong. They tried sedatives, yet nothing worked, until one of the doctors was forced to use a numbing agent, basically a highly powerful muscle relaxant. The patient went limp, unable to move, though the doctor that used the agent felt a little guilty: whatever nightmare the guy was having, it must have been bad. They used another sedative, and this time, it worked=

(Fatet)

=as I look around the room I have a mild panic attack.=

"Who the fuck are you?? Where the fuck am I?!"

= I jump off the bed an grab a scalpel, holding it with shaking hands.=

Talfie:

=I get up and look around my room=

Rain, where'd you go?


=i step out of my room and walk around searching=

Rain?

--Osea Hospital--

=the nurse, scared by Fatets' sudden action, jumped back slightly, and held up her hands, palms open=

*Nurse*
Mr. Fatet, it's okay. You're in a hospital, here in Osea, on Haven.

ShadowHunter wrote:

=I start hearing heavy gunfire and a plume of smoke on a hill=

=My eyes widen in recognition=

Viktor: *Ah...So the gunfire was the trigger, no pun intended.*

I nearly lost two people that day because of a battlefield decision...and it cost me

Viktor:*If I recall, you lost your command for a full month. And you were livid, yes?*

@Viktor *Don't remind me. Why here and now?*

Viktor: *This is the day you had the board of inquiry meeting, the day you lost command.*

@Viktor *It seems you remember that very well. Why mention it?*

Viktor: *If you let yourself slip, remember my warning.*

=He grins wickedly, and fades away=

So much for rest...

=I wake up, the planet in view=

Out of the frying pan and back into the fire...

=I get up and get ready to land=

=I look at the message once more=

Something just doesn't make any sense, I can't be that well known that fast...Its a trap and I've swallowed the bait. Doesn't mean I can't play this problem to my favor though...

=I load my silenced pistol and SMG, and holster them=

If it hits the fan, might as well be prepared...

@Diana Could you work in my datapad for today? I'm not going to be in armor, and I smell a trap.

Diana: Fair enough. I'll keep my ears and eyes open.

=I take her out and insert her into the datapad=

Code:

Me: How is it?

Diana: It's a bit cramped here, but it'll do.

Me: Just keep your eyes and ears open, and we'll be fine

Diana: I hope so.

=Datapad shuts down=

Well, here goes nothing...

=I head to a local bar, a guard letting me in=

Here we go, time to play your part Matt...

=I see a man gesture and sit with him=

Code:

 Diana: I got something off the cameras. It's Black Team that I spotted coming in. Watch yourself.

Well...that wasn't expected

=I look at the 'middleman' and see Aaron's face=

Well, I'll be damned. This is going to be...interesting

=I shake hands and we start talking=

=Xazhi got another Comm=

Xazhi! We're less than 20 minutes out! Be ready for combat as soon as we exit! This is gonna be a big one!

Yes, sir!

=Xazhi got into the bridge of the Eirav Wing and checked to make sure it was all operating correctly. He closed the entry ramp and began prepping the ship=

=elyon detects a ship in slipspace and alerts zeru who comms jason=


zeru i've been informed of ship in slipspace about to exit near haven it's sig matches the azure comet we've got a problem

(Silver Light)
=sensors picked up a massive slip-space signature, heading for Haven. Judging by its 'speed,' it would show up in 20 minutes. I sent an alert to the ships still in orbit, and another alert to the ships still in the shipyards. As for the 22 warships, they remained near the poles, and a quick order had them move into position near the equator, where they would be facing the objects exit point. Last, I sent an alert to the Inheritor=

(Jason)
=I was sleeping, Miri wrapped in my arms, when my comm piece, set on the little bedside table, beeped and flashed. I got out of bed, slightly groggy, and picked it up, slipping it onto my ear=
Jason.

(Silver Light)
Inheritor, a massive object is moving through slip-space towards Haven, 20 minutes out. I have already alerted the fleet, and they are moving to assemble in orbit.

(Jason)
Fuck.
=that woke me up. I ended the call, and got my armor on. Miri stirred a little, but she stayed asleep. When I was done, I had Silver transport me to Alpha Base, to the airfield, where a shuttle was already stationed for me, courtesy of Silver's orders. I got on, and we took off for the Silver Hawk=