Searching For 87
Posted By: McHaggis<RBVMcHaggis@aol.com>
Date: 1 January 2006, 5:42 am
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Chapter 1: Flashback
2330 hours, September 13 2553 (Military Calender)
Abord UNSC Battleship St. Patrick orbiting around planet Reach.
"Lets finish scanning those remaints, over there, and we'll call it a day," said Captain Washington to his Junior Officers.
"Aye, sir," said Lieutenant Billy McHaggis sleepily. He yawned widely and scratched his head. He looked over his controls. All was clear. The weapons were offline. Good. He gave a quick glance over his right shoulder to check on Lt. Thorne. Her fingers moved in fast, precise taps on the keyboard. She then leaned back in her chair and streched out her arms and legs. Her blonde hair was tied in a knot on her head and Billy could tell that she, like everyone else on the bridge, was exausted. He felt like he had to check on her because there was something about her that really reminded him of-
"Sir, I'm picking up something," blurted Lt. Ellsworth.
"Ok then, what is it then Lieutenant?" the Captain said. He was startled by the young lieutenants panicked tone. Oh no, nothing now. Not now...
"Its nothing, sir, just a far away ship. I can't tell if its a friend or foe. Probably one of ours, sir." said Lt. Ellsworth, relieved. He probably just made the captain furious at him for the false alarm.
"Forget about it, it's not in our sector anyway." the Captain shrugged off the interuption and started to doze off again. Lt. Ellsworth looked at Lt. Thorne nervously and she gave him a freindly pat on the back.
Lt. Ellsworth was a sleezbag, to put it nicely. He was an inexperienced lieutenant who had a knack for messing up virtually everything. He had a very colorful history, though. He was born and raised on the rebel colony of Undul 7, a planet notorious for war. He had participated in the Undul Rebellion a year before he was accepted into the Naval Academy, where he graduated at the top of his class. This was bad because he had done nothing but loaf around all his years at the academy. Billy graduated a year before him, and had been the victum of his jokes and pranks. But that stopped after he and Ellsworth got in a fight. It was more like a brawl where Ellsworth gave Billy his respect, because he was afraid of Billy.
Billy also didn't like Captain Washington very much. He was very old and thought he knew everything. He was lazy and also rude to his crewman. He was also the leader of this mission. The mission to find a SPARTAN-087.
Billy had heard of the SPARTANS before. They had defeated the Covenant and saved Earth. Or that was what Billy had heard from the higher ranking officers. But he knew this SPARTAN-087, Kelly was her name.
He had met Kelly on Reach almost a year ago. He was just out of the Naval Academy when he was invited on the Pillar of Autumn by Captain Keyes, his uncle. While on the bridge watching his beloved uncle at work, a SPARTAN was ordered to be debriefed on a new mission. The SPARTAN was the Master Chief. He looked like a statue carved from granite. Not paying attention to what his uncle was saying to him, he stared at the warrior in awe. Then to his delight, his uncle invited him down to debrief the other SPARTANS. Once down where the other SPARTANS were, he saw the most beautiful person in his life. She was perfect. She moved with quick precision and made fast, precise moves. Her dyed, blue hair was tied in a knot on her head. She was not much older than himself. Maybe 22 or 25 at most. And then her crystal blue eyes met his hazel green ones. The moment seemed suspended in time. They both knew that this was love at first sight.
From that moment on, they had tried to meet togethed as much as they could. Billy was stationed on Reach for the longest time during the war, and that was where the UNSC was keeping the SPARTANS. After Reach, they had trouble meeting each other. While Kelly was off fighting on the ground, He was off in space somewhere. They kept in contact with each other until exactly a year ago. Xavier, a SPARTAN and one of Billy's good friends, somehow contacted him while stationed on the carrier Teddington. He sent Billy a message saying that Kelly had gone missing.
So, this is where he is now. A volunteer on the St.Patrick. All of the people on this ship, on this mission were volunteers. This mission was now the most important thing in his life. He had to find his beloved Kelly.
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