- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
It was easily the largest hull on the ship, spanning nearly a kilometer in length. The design was ceremonial, and once again Johnson found himself wondering why the Covenant had to always create so much circumstance whenever they did something.
His musings were cut off however, when his eyes fell on what was situated at the end of the chamber.
“What the hell?”
----------------------------------
Jan knew she had to have been crazy when she asked to give the Spartan a lift back to Cairo station. The chances of some military official asking what the hell a 17 year old girl was doing driving a Spartan around were probably pretty high. What made her even more crazy, was that she wanted to stay with the Spartan instead of returning to the yacht with Kevin and the others.
Fighting in space, driving around just waiting for a Covenant ship to obliterate her with one shot, was not the way she wanted to fight. Fighting with a gun in her hands was just about the only usefulness she’d have in this war. That was why she’d told Kevin that she wouldn’t be coming back after dropping the Spartan off. Durga was going to continue supplying them with information, which was pretty much the real reason she’d been asked to come along in the first place.
“Thanks for the lift,” the Spartan said as he got up from the co-pilots seat and began to exit out the back.
“Wait a sec!” Jan called after him as she hastily unclipped herself and followed after him. The Spartan was standing with an air of impatience, though it was hard to tell since she couldn’t see his face.
“Something wrong?” the Spartan asked.
Jan suddenly found the floor very interesting as she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.
Why the hell am I acting like such a stupid ditzy schoolgirl for? He’s a goddamn Spartan, its not like I need to skirt around the issue.
“I would like to continue on with you. I’m more use as a soldier than a pilot.”
The Spartan stared at her a moment before turning away.
“Its too dangerous, go back to your friends.”
“Ah, hey at least give it some consideration!” Jan shouted as she hopped down out of the Pelican to follow him. The Spartan stopped, turned and looked intently at her.
“There, I’ve considered it. Still too dangerous, go home,” the Spartan said simply. Though Jan knew better, she swore there was a hint of amusement in his deadpan voice.
“But, um…ah,” she struggled for something to say before falling on the perfect excuse. “You owe me!”
The Spartan looked down at her and seemed to shake his head. Jan wasn’t much for getting talked down to, even if it was a Spartan.
“Don’t shake your head at me buddy. If it weren’t for me pulling your mangled corpse off the Pelican when I did you would have died. I think I’m entitled to a little leeway here.”
There was a long silence as the Spartan considered her words, or at least that’s what Jan was hoping he was doing.
“Fine, but don’t expect this to be a walk in the park.”
Jan inwardly cheered over the victory but placed a solemn look on the outside.
“I can hold my own.”
The Spartan merely turned and continued on his way, Jan tailing close behind. The Cairo Station had taken quite a beating for the past few days, and maintenance crews were scrambling to get it patched up for whenever the Covenant decided to rejoin the fight. Jan and the Spartan were forced to cross several maintenance walkways as they headed for the bridge.
“I’m Jan James by the way,” Jan said, realizing that she hadn’t introduced herself yet. The Spartan gave no sign of having heard her. “Um, do you have a last name, or rank?”
“Master Chief,” he responded shortly. Jan came to the conclusion that the Spartan wasn’t one to mince words.
“Master Chief, got it,” Jan said, nodding self-consciously. “You can just call me Jan.”
“Fine,” the Master Chief responded, entering the next room and after seeing what was inside, decided to pick up his pace. Jan hastened after him, confused, until she saw the other soldiers. They were ODST soldiers, if her memory of military units was correct, and from the way they were glaring at the Chief they obviously didn’t think too highly of him.
“Would you look at that,” one soldier remarked to another close by, just loud enough for them to hear. “We risk our balls protecting the MAC guns while he’s out gallivanting around picking up some entertainment for later.”
Jan was already turning to let the jackass have it the second the words left his mouth, but was stopped when a hand clamped down on her shoulder.
“Let it go,” the Master Chief warned, but Jan shook him off and stalked up to the soldier.
“Excuse me,” Jan said, her voice purposely sweet. “I couldn’t help overhearing your observations there, and I was wondering if I might be able to help clear a few things up.”
The ODST looked at her in amusement before smirking and motioning his hands.
“Go right ahead.”
She grabbed his outstretched left hand and had firmly planted her elbow in his solar plexus while she pivoted on her right foot and hefted the soldier, flinging him over her shoulder to slam into the bulkhead. The soldier that had been the recipient of the others comment took a wild swing at Jan but his fist was knocked aside and she kicked him hard in the pubic arch. She didn’t hit it hard enough to crack the bone, but he would certainly be sitting funny for the next couple of days.
“Anyone else got something to say?” Jan asked the other ODST’s, who were too surprised to really offer an opinion. She smiled sweetly at them and walked briskly back to where the Master Chief stood waiting for her.
“Your pretty good,” he said as they resumed walking.
“You should see me with a weapon,” Jan said, her voice smooth and confident. They walked in silence for a while before she remembered something that had bothered her. “So why aren’t you liked by the regular soldiers?”
The Master Chief was silent but then let loose something akin to a sigh.
“I have no problem with the regular Marines, it’s the ODST’s that have a problem with me,” he explained.
“Well that’s bull, what’s their problem? An inferiority complex?” Jan asked, surprised that the thought of some group of soldiers despising the Spartan simply because of his skills made her so upset.
“Its not their fault,” the Master Chief said, surprising her. “They’re trained to believe that their the best there is. Something that challenges that belief, especially a controversial group of soldiers like the Spartans will most likely cause for some conflict.”
“But what does it matter who’s best?” Jan asked. “Aren’t we all fighting for the same cause? Who the hell cares about that stuff?”
The Master Chief didn’t comment right away, and Jan was sure that if he wasn’t wearing that helmet she’d see a smile plastered on his face.
“There are many who wished the Spartan 2.0 project would never have seen the light of day, Jan,” he explained, using her name for the first time. “If it wasn’t for the outbreak of the Covenant war than I doubt us Spartans would have been around for very long.”
Jan was silent, trying to understand the implications of what the Master Chief was telling her. Maybe her dad hadn’t been so paranoid as she thought.
“But that should be all moot now right? The Spartans are what’s keeping us alive in this war, your track record is the best in the entire military. You guys are invincible.”
“No,” the Master Chief said, so forcibly that Jan was taken aback. “We aren’t invincible. The Office of Naval Intelligence has put on a propaganda campaign to keep the true facts of the war out of civilian knowledge. When Reach fell, I was the only Spartan to escape. The others died in combat.”
“What?” Jan felt the color drain from her face. “You’re the last one?”
The Master Chief didn’t respond, he merely increased his pace as they neared the bridge. Jan followed him, speechless, her mind repeating his words over and over again.
“Ah Master Chief, its good to see you.”
Jan quickly came back to reality and looked around. They were now standing in the bridge of the Cairo station. The man addressing the Master Chief stood at the far end of the room glancing at a hologram of the stations infrastructure.
“Its good to be back sir,” the Master Chief said, his hand snapping reflexively up into a salute.
“When that Forerunner ship exploded and then disappeared we were worried that you’d been killed,” Admiral Hood said, waving them over. He noticed Jan for the first time. “Who is this?”
“A civilian sir,” the Master Chief said bluntly. “She picked me up in a Pelican before I hit reentry in Earth.”
“Good work young lady,” the Admiral smiled. “You’ve protected our greatest asset.”
“Yeah,” Jan remarked, uncomfortable with the attention. She wasn’t impressed with the military itself, but this admiral seemed to almost command respect with his persona.
“Have you been brought up on what’s happened so far?” the Admiral asked, turning his attention back to the Chief.
“I received a brief run through sir.”
“I’ll take you through again just to bring you up to speed then,” Admiral Hood said, moving towards the hologram map of the defenses surrounding Earth. “About four hours before that Forerunner ship showed up, a Covenant armada entered the far end of the system from Slip Space. We had mopped up the previous force the a few hours earlier and were in the middle of repairs when they arrived.”
[Edited on 2/3/2005 8:58:25 PM]