- The Munchies
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P. 16
Boomer helped his superior out of the flipped warthog, and let go of him. Next, Boomer took a hold of Canine, and pulled him out. "On your feet comrade."
Canine squinted in confusion behind his cracked visor. "Did you just call me comrade?" Boomer ignored him, and went on to Saline. He grabbed her unconscious body, and pulled her out. Blood trickled down her face from a large cut on her head.
Shadow looked at the girl with a worried face, "Will she be okay?" He was oddly nervous. He had already lost one man, and he wasn't up for losing anyone else.
"I don't know," Boomer replied, "I'm not a medic."
Canine looked around. "We should probably get going guys. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to die."
Boomer took another look inside to hog, "Chief, it's time to go." There was no response.
Shadow leaned down next to boomer, and looked at the Spartan. "I know what you're going through. Five years ago, when I first inlisted, me and everyone I had met at boot were sent on a mission. We thought we had a good idea of what was going to happen. It seemed simple. We didn't know it was a suicide mission. I saw every one of my friends die, every one of them. The mission failed, and their deaths were in vein. Did I let that stop me, no. You know what I did? I fought harder."
Dante was still for a moment, but after a moment, he crawled out of the warthog. "Where's our ride?"
"I think this chick knows." Canine said, pointing at the unconscious ONI officer.
"Great," E18 looked around the hangar, and spotted a ship that struck his fancy, "That." He said, pointing at it. It wasn't very big, but it had a weapon's system, a small MAC cannon, and even a Shaw-Fujikawa engine.
"Can you fly it?" Shadow asked.
"Yeah, I've seen that class before, it's like flying a long sword."
"Alright, let's do it." Shadow picked Saline up, and they boarded the ship, and ran to the bridge. The Master Chief sat down in the captain's chair, and powered the ship up.
Canine removed his helmet, revealing his sweaty face. "Uh, the airlock's closed."
"Not an issue." Dante powered up the engines to 140 percent, and it tore off of its bindings, and slammed through the airlock. "Allright, I'm initiating a random jump."
"What?" Shadow said, coming back from dropping Saline off at the sleeping quarters.
"If what the ONI officer said is true, somebody on that ship wants us dead."
"We have nowhere to go!"
"That's why I said random." The Chief retorted. His voice wasn't that of an aggravated person, or angry. It wasn't cold either, it was bland. Something had happened to him in that asteroid. He had lost everything. Everything was numb, Dante was dead inside. At least he didn't have to worry about becoming a monster anymore.
Shadow snarled at the Chief's reply. Who did this Spartan think he was? Before Shadow could reply, the ship jumped.
CRITICAL ERROR!!!
Slipspace drive malfunction: Type C//Magnetic Vortex Interfierence [Exit Not Possible]
Duration estimation...Attempt 1...Attempt 2...Attempt 3...Unable to determine.
2 months later
Everyone but Dante sat on the bridge in silence. They had moved a table onto it to make it an area for socializing while watching the slipspace monitor. This seemed like the end to all of them, an unfortunate way to die. Canine shifted in his seat. "Well, I think it's safe to assume that we're all dead. We're almost out of this dry processed sh1t for food, and it's been a month in slipspace. It's probably time to-"
"Shut it Mike." Shadow said.
"Terry, we all know it's true. It's just that nobody has had the balls to bring it to words."
"He's right." Boomer said, "At least about this being the end of us."
"Thank you Alek." Mike said, smiling with satisfaction. There was a brief period of silence, then Canine continued, "I think it's time for confessions."
Terry slammed his fist on the table. "Mike, shut it! That's an order!"
"No no no, I'm not under your command. Canine was under your command, and after a month of being in slipspace, Canine is dead. I'm Mike, me, the free guy who isn't enlisted in a branch of people looking for assisted suicide. Boomer's dead, Shadow's dead, It's just Mike, Alek, and Terry."
"Now you're starting to sound insane." Saline stated, resting her head on her fist.
"Oh yeah? We'll you're hot."
Alek let out a short laugh, "Yes, he's definitely insane."
Saline sighed, "Screw you."
"It doesn't take a sane person to see that she's pretty." Mike stated matter of factly.
"Thank you Mike." Saline smiled.
"Now, time for the confessions." Mike rubbed his hands together, and looked at Terry. "I peed on your toothbrush once." Even Terry laughed. Everything seemed funny after a month in literally nowhere.
Terry shook his head. "I have an odd feeling that you came up with this game just so you could tell us that."
"Maybe," Mike said, "But that doesn't mean it ends now."
"Alright," Terry thought for a moment, "I dip my fries in mayonnaise." Once again, everyone laughed.
"But really man, cough one up."
"Alright," Terry leaned back in his chair, and puffed out his cheeks in thought, "I use to steal sh1t for a living."
Alek stroked his burly beard that he had acquired over the past month. He didn't like shaving with Ka-Bar knives. "I enlisted by accident."
After a laugh from the table, Saline lifted a hand. "Wait wait wait, how does one enlist by accident?"
"I was drunk and I thought I was signing up for a golf club."
Terry huffed. "Well that must have been a surprise when the enlistment officer showed up at your door asking you why you didn't show up at the buss."
"Alright," Mike interrupted, "On to Saline."
Saline leaned forward, resting her chin on her palm and tapping her finger on the table. "I" She strained for a moment, "Kissed Terry when he was sleeping!"
Everyone was silent for a good ten seconds, then mike spoke, "Nice." Just then, Dante walked, a groggy look on his face. "Hey D, we're telling secrets, what's yours?"
The Spartan stood still for a moment. His face became softer than usual for a moment, then hardened again. "What you see is what you get."
"Buzz kill." Mike whispered as Dante went to the captain's chair.
The Spartan was slouched over at first, then sat up straight, "Wait a minute." He said, tapping in a few orders. "Incoming hole in slipspace. We've got our way out. I'm locking on to it now."
Everyone cheered, and even Dante seemed to brighten up. "We live!" Canine shouted. Boomer jumped on top of the table, and started singing something in Russian. Canine jumped on the table and danced along with him, "I have no idea what you're saying but I love it!"
Saline grabbed Shadow's shirt, and pulled him forward, pressing her lips against his, holding him there for a good six seconds before releasing her grip. The ship rumbled, and exited slipspace. Everyone was silent, looking through the glass at the stars. It was as if everyone had been holding their breath the whole time, and were finally breathing again.
A planet drifted into view, and they stared at it in wonder. None of them recalled a planet being this far out in space. Their sight was soon obscured by a large hulk of metal float in front of the ship. Shadow narrowed his eyes. "What the hell is that?"
When it drifted further away, it became clear. "Looks like half of a UNSC cruiser." Saline said in a confused voice.
"Picking up a distress signal," The Chief said, "it's coming from the wreck."
"It must be old," Boomer stated, "That class of cruiser is no longer in commission. Whoever sent out that beacon is nothing but bones now."
Shadow narrowed his eyes. "We might as well check it out. There could be food. We'll need it to get home."
"I'm not eating anything that old." Canine said, laughing.
"Space rations never go bad." The Master Chief said, "I'm putting on my suit, and going out there." He put on his MJOLNIR armor, and stepped into the airlock. He pressed his back against the wall next to the door, and activated his com. "Open it up."
"Rodger." Boomer's voice replied. There was a hiss, and the airlock's atmosphere rushed out. Dante drifted from the safe spot against the wall over the the door that led inside of the ship. He skillfully aligned himself, and bent his knees.
"What if you miss?" Saline asked.
"I won't." The Chief launched off of the wall, and shot towards the spacecraft. It was a perfect launch. He flew right into one of the decks, and stopped against the far wall. He grabbed a hold of something, and took a look around. There was a holopad, and a cryotube. First he drifted to the holopad, and checked for an AI. A chip popped out into his hand, the blue light that represented an AI was flickering.
Dante pushed off of the holopad, and grabbed onto the cryotube. There was a layer of frost over the glass hiding the figure beneath. E18 placed his hand at the top of the tube, and brushed a circle in the frost. "What do you see?" Shadow crackled over the COM.
There was a brief period of silence, then Dante spoke. "You're not going to believe this"
[Edited on 04.27.2010 1:25 PM PDT]