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After speaking with a few of the Heracles' doctors, and going through various decontamination checkpoints, Teff, Dawson, and Harvey finally were admitted to Amber's room. When Teff opened the door, he was not expecting what he saw. He expected to walk inside, and see Amber sitting up. Maybe a few bruises, some biofoam in a gash caused by the attack, and maybe a little disoriented, but not this. The blow from the fuel rod must have hit dead on, for pieces of her armor had not yet been taken off. Teff looked her up and down quickly. Her leg armor remained on, tarnished, the rest of it had been taken off. There were burned, bruised, and bleeding areas all over her body. Her eyes were closed, and various pieces of medical equipment had been hooked up to her. One of the doctors looked up as the three Spartans, still in battle-hardened armor, walked in. "As you can see, she isn't doing that well," the doctor told them, standing and walking over to them. Teff had never seen one of his soldiers so helpless. For the first time since he entered the room, he took his eyes off of Amber. "Didn't the armor protect her at all?" Teff asked. "Had it not been for the armor, she would have been killed instantly. I'm surprised as well that her body is in tact, the heat can usually vaporize a person instantly," the doctor said, looking glumly at the body. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Dr. Dan Jenkins. I'm the one that's going to be looking after number 84." "Her name is Amber," Teff said, looking back at her. They had been friends since childhood, even before the Spartan program. She was the only kid that could ever keep up to him in anything. "Estimate until she will be ready for battle?" Teff looked back to Jenkins, hoping for a close date. "Well, I can't predict accurately. The state she's in now could change suddenly for better or for worse. When she was brought here she was in a coma, and she shows no sign of waking up anytime soon. Also, as you can see, the armor on her legs has melted to her skin. It could take weeks to get that off without tearing muscle, skin, or bone," Jenkins explained. "Please, just tell me. Do you think she'll survive?" Teff asked. "Survive, yes. But I doubt that her legs will be much good to her when she wakes up, with the condition they're in. And because of all the problems we're going to have taking it all off. Plus replacing the armor, and retraining her mind, if there was any brain damage," Jenkins said. Teff finally walked over to her, and began to examine the armor around her legs. Dawson and Harvey followed him, flanking him silently. They had yet to say anything, nor make any sound. Teff could tell instantly that he did not like Jenkins. He was a civilian, too used to treating civilians, he had never seen a soldier as potent, strong, or willful as Amber. He looked up to Jenkins, who stared back at the three Spartans. He obviously wasn't used to them. "Do you know what you're problem is, Jenkins?" Teff asked. Jenkins continued staring, not answering. "You don't know what a Spartan is capable of" Jenkins still looked confused. Teff raised his fist, and brought it down fairly hard on the right leg. There was a soft crack. Jenkins jerked suddenly. "What the hell are you doing!?" Jenkins screamed, running to grab Teff's arm. "I think you should let go, Doctor," Teff said quietly. The other two Spartans stepped forward. Jenkins let go of Teff, and ran out of the room. Teff brought his fist down on the armor again, and again. Jenkins came running in, with fourteen marines pointing MA5B Assault Rifles. "Stand down, sir!" One of the marines yelled, taking the safety off. Teff raised his fist, still watching the marine. He was trembling, sweating. He knew what the Spartans were capable of, and what would happen if he stood up to them. Teff's fist came down once more on the armor, and the armor finally split. Because of the fuel rod strike, the armor had weakened, but they could see that the skin had not been harmed. Amber's legs looked as they always had, covered with freckles, no notable cuts or bruises. Teff began grabbing and pulling away at the armor. After the armor was off, Jenkins stepped forward. His mouth began moving, but nothing came out. Teff put the armor in the stunned doctor's hand. "My way works, yours doesn't," Teff said, looking down on the doctor. With that, Teff, Dawson, and Harvey filed out of the room. The three Spartans reached the bridge to find Boarders speaking to Lieutenant Colonel Bates. Boarders had taken off his armor, so was now only eight inches taller then Bates, as opposed to the whole foot while wearing the MJOLNIR. "Where are the rest of the Spartans?" Teff asked, the moment he walked in, interrupting whatever Bates was saying to Boarders. "They're getting some much deserved rest," replied Bates. "As your two escorts should. We need to discuss some of the things we found in that stealth cruiser." "Yes, indeed we do," Spark's voice boomed throughout the bridge. "My men are here now, they can discuss along with us, unless they need the rest," Teff said, looking specifically at Dawson. It was hard the first time one of your soldiers got hurt, especially if you thought you were the reason why. Dawson looked over to Bates, and spoke normally and clearly, although Teff knew that was not how he felt. "I will be in my quarters, sir," Dawson said, saluting Teff and Bates. They returned the salute and he wandered off. Teff removed his helmet, and Harvey followed suit. He still had his grin on his boyish face, making him look like nothing bad had happened that day. Bates turned to the tactical map, and spoke to the AI within the bridge. "Spark, display the list of coordinates we intercepted from the stealth cruiser," Bates told the AI. "Yes, sir, right away. Although I could accurately map out the -" Spark began. "Just the coordinates," Bates cut him off. The AI was silent, as a list of numbers appeared on the screen. Five sets of coordinates lined up, with one of them missing two of the final numbers. Bates walked forward, and began speaking as if lecturing a young child. "Now, as you can see, all of these coordinates seem quite different," Bates said, giving Teff time to look them all over. Boarders merely nodded, as he obviously had already received this speech from Bates. "They are all different, except for one similarity." Bates pointed to one of the numbers, concerned with a certain axis in space, and the numbers lined up on top of each other. "Now, you can see a pattern here. They are only different by an interval of two." Teff reexamined the numbers. They followed in the order - 200 - 202 - 200 - 198 - ???. "As you can see, part of this coordinate has been lost, but if we follow the pattern, we can fill in the last one as 200. Map, Spark." The coordinates disappeared, and a 3-Dimensional map appeared in the middle of the bridge, with four regions marked. "Each of these is near a planet, as they should be for military bases. But, if we follow the pattern, the fifth would appear here." With that, another marker popped up. "The only problem with this region, though, is that there is nothing around it. It is out of the way of any inhabitable planet or region around the residing five stars. We can only assume two things from this. These coordinates could be completely off the mark, or it could be something the Covenant does not want us to find. Something they don't want anyone to find." Teff stood there for a moment, and absorbed all of the information. "Are you saying that this could be some sort of research station? Or something along those lines?" Teff asked. "I have no idea," Bates replied. "Well, with the knowledge I contain, I can provide some insight," Spark suddenly came to life again, his voice chipper and irritating as always. "If there is something there, it is not natural, nor has it ever been chartered by the fore.... I mean, any human craft. It is Covenant made, if it exists." Bates looked perplexed at the map, having nowhere to see the pesky AI. "And how exactly do you know that?" Bates asked. "Trust me, sir, he's right," Teff told him. "ONI can confirm it." "The last thing I want to deal with at this point are ONI spooks..." Bates began. "I will contact Admiral Stanforth as soon as we leave Slipstream. See if I can get us support, or surveillance, on this area." "Sir, getting anything through the Covenant's region of space will be tricky," Harvey chimed in. "If we are going to move in, I say it's with a fleet. It's the only thing that would help us. If we sent a probe, and there were no Covenant flagships around but there was indeed some kind of base, their ships would be there faster then you could say 'Grunt kabob.'" "He's right," Boarders replied. "It's all or nothing. And if the war keeps going the way it is for the human race, I'd say we'd end up with nothing not trying it anyway." Teff thought for a moment. It was a huge risk, sending in the warships into what could very well be empty space, an undefended station, or a shipyard. The three men seemed to be looking at him for his opinion. "I say we go in," said Teff. "Without a leap of faith, there's no way we can survive this war." |
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