Chapter Text
“Have you ever wondered why we’re here?
…
Well right now, I’m wondering why I’m here. No, this question isn’t as existential as the last one. I’m wondering why in the actual fuck am I here, waiting behind this stupid crate instead of being on a goddamn ship already!!! What’s taking so long for takeoff,” I whisper scream into my audio journal.
“Now boarding, flight TM-18-5-4 to the MOI,” I heard on the PA System. I peeked out from my hiding place to see UNSC soldiers moving to get ready for flight. I had been planning and executing this hitchhike plan for quite a bit. It took me a while to get from earth to this random military complex on and what I’m looking for better be I‘m going.
“Looks like my flights here. This is (Y/n) Church, Logging off,” I ended my journal entry. I looked across from me and saw a crate labeled “Cargo”.
‘Really,’ I thought. I looked both ways and when the coast was clear I rushed across and jumped in the crate. The crate was filled with dry food rations and packing peanuts. I waited silently and eventually heard footsteps and the crate went dark when they put the lid on. I felt weightless for a moment as they moved the crate onto the transport ship. The sound of footsteps and the ramblings of soldiers faded. I must I’ve been put in the cargo hold. I let out a breath of exhaustion and decided this was a good time to take a nap. In all the haste and stress of getting to this point, I forgot just how vital sleep was to humans. I hadn’t slept for about a week. I tried to make myself comfortable. My mother’s voice echoed in my head. It reminded me of something.
“Can't I skip it this time?” I ask the voice. I am too tired to make fun of myself for talking to myself. The voice came back stronger and I had to comply, “Okay, Okay! Fine.” I shift myself into my best kneeling position.
I close my eyes and put my hand together “How’d it go again? Um, Now I down to sleep, I pray for my heart?- No - my soul to keep. And if I die before I get up, I pray for god my soul to have.”
...That wasn’t even close to right. Whatever. I deemed the makeshift prayer good enough and fell asleep.
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“(Y/n),” her voice called out, “(Y/n).”
“What is it, mom?” I ask. I felt like I was floating and falling at the same time. My head felt like it was scattered and all my thoughts were drifting away as soon as they came. I saw stars and planets all around me moving peacefully or maybe not moving at all.
“I love you (Y/n), I always will. He would have loved you too. I know he would’ve.” Her usually cold voice held warmth in it. It was a warmth only reserved for me and maybe even him too.
“That’s what I want to find out mom,” I say to her. “I have to find out for sure. I have so many questions for him. Why did he leave us? Or did we leave him?” I ask her. These were questions I would ask her almost every day and yet her answer was always the same.
Her answer was always depressed and cryptic silence.
Suddenly the world around me seemed to implode toward me I was suddenly pulled upward.
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Thonk!
My head hit the top of the crate, “Son of a-,” I suppressed my words with a groan, remembering that I was hiding. We must have landed. I heard the sound of the Cargo hold door being opened.
“Unload the cargo and prep it for storage at base camp.
I felt the crate being moved and I had to adjust myself quietly so that my head would stop meeting the walls of the crate. I tried to listen to what the soldiers were saying:
“So what’s the deal with this place anyway dude.” I heard some carrying the crate say.
“I don't know man. It was this, like, really elite training and mission facility. It was called project Freelancer.” His partner said
“I heard of that thing. Wasn’t it shut down?”
“Yeah. Turns out the dude in charge was a crazy son of a bitch. He did some illegal stuff. We don’t know where he is.”
“Huh, cool.”
‘Thank you, convenient exposition soldiers.’ I say in my head. They uncaringly dropped the crate and I held in another curse from impact. ‘I take my thank you back. You’re both fucking retards.’
I sit up and wait for them to walk away. After about an hour, it seemed like everyone was off somewhere else so I try to pop the lid off the crate to get out. I can’t pop the lid off…. dammit!
They must have sealed the lid while I was asleep. I reach into my backpack and pull out a plasma knife. A purplish-blue glow illuminated the crate and I watch as the knife burns and helps me cut a hole in the side of the crate. When I finished, I popped a me-sized whole out of the crate, and I slid out of the crate along with some of the crate’s contents. I put away my knife and gathered my backpack up. I stole a couple of dry food packets just for the trip home. I made my way out of the storage area. The hallway was weirdly empty, but I heard UNSC soldiers walking around nearby.
‘I’ll head in the opposite direction of that,’ I decide. I made my way through the halls of the rumoredly powerful frigate, that was home to the legendary ‘Freelancers’.
‘Some legend they were,” I thought, but I know that they're a big piece of this puzzle of a trail. “It better be here,” I whisper to myself. I peeked into a room and saw a classroom looking place.
“Nope,” I whisper.
I peek around another doorway and saw a mess hall full of UNSC soldiers, “Double Nope, Nope.”
I see a control looking room with a giant screen, “Bingo.”
I was about to head in when I noticed a sleeping soldier. He snored and was leaning dangerously close to tipping his chair over. I snuck into the room quietly and made my way over to a computer. I take out a blank Com-extractor, from my pocket. It’s like a USB-like device I made that copies all files and automatically without disrupting or triggering any firewalls and security on the computer. They are a bitch to program but extremely helpful nonetheless. A red light flashes from the Com-extractor, telling me that it is working. I hear footsteps coming towards the door and I quickly dive under a nearby desk. The door opens:
“Parkins!” A gruff voice yells. He must be a commander or something.
I heard the sleeping man jump and he probably;y fell out of his chair, “Yes, Ma’am, I mean sir.” He corrects himself.
“Have you cracked the system yet?”
“No, sir. No matter what I try the computer won’t let me access any of the data it has on it. I can’t open it.”
“...Have you tried hacking the mainframe?”
“...Hacking the mainframe.” The soldier deadpanned.
“Yeah, you know or downloading a virus to take down the webspace.” The commander says
“Sir-”
Suddenly, the extractor beeped, signaling that it was finished. The sudden sound alerted the two UNSC people. “What was that?” The commander asked.
I heard the soldier get up and walk toward where I was. I saw his feet walk past me and toward the drive. “Where did this come from?” He asked to no one in particular. I couldn't risk them taking the drive, so I pulled the plasma knife out of my back and…
“AAAHHHH! Wha-” The soldier shrieked in agony as the knife burned and plunged its way past the armor on his leg and into his actual leg. He fell to the floor holding his bleeding leg and I quickly got out from under the desk and grabbed the extractor.
“What the hell?!” The commander guy yelled. I ran toward him and while he was confused I slid under his legs and began to run down the hall. I heard the commander yelling behind me and I knew that I was in some deep shit now. I heard an alarm start and it was time to pick up the pace. I probably should have looked for the landing bay before causing this shituation.
Yeah, I make shitty jokes when I’m panicked. Don’t. Judge. I made a couple of sharp turns here, dodged some guards over there. Some guy almost caught me but I sliced his hand and he had second thoughts. I had finally made it to the hangar of the frigate and of course, there were a couple of soldiers waiting for me. There were about six of them, but I could tell by their lack of posture and unsure movement, that they were rookies. I heard a shit-ton more behind me so decided going forward was my best course of action. I closed and locked the door before smashing the door’s control panel to prevent more soldiers from pouring in. I then ran at the soldiers in front of me head-on. They were probably startled by the fact that I was a ten-year-old and I used that moment of shock to make the first move. I ran under the first and punched the one directly behind him in the gut. As the first guy was turning around I was already heading for the next guy. I ran straight at him and he was getting ready to catch me, but the first guy in his confused state tried to shoot me and I dodged the shot. The third guy received the shot right in the chest and I stole his gun as he collapsed. I ran behind a nearby loading cart as the remaining soldiers started firing.
‘Two down, four to go,’ I thought as I checked the gun. A fully loaded gun! Jackpot! I heard the sound of burning over the sound of gunfire. I looked toward the door to see that the people on the other side were trying to cut a hole in it. Better make this quick. I waited for a gap in their firing, before standing up to fire at them. I shot two of them down. But the very first one and the other guy had already found cover. I tried my best to aim and fire but I couldn’t see them very well.
“Hold still,” I whisper as I try to line up the shot. I shoot, they dodge, “Hold, fucking, still!” I get frustrated. Screw this! I dug through my backpack and found two bombs: a sticky grenade and a knockout bomb. The knockout bomb has a minimum delay of 30 seconds, while the sticky had a minimum of two minutes. The knockout bomb had a blast radius of about ten feet, while the sticky grenade had about twenty. Choices, Choices.
‘Well if you can’t pick one, say “Fuck it” and use both’ I thought. I set it off and threw the sticky grenade at the door. The sudden action caused the last two soldiers to pause in bewilderment. I took that chance to set and throw the knockout bomb before running toward the ship. The bomb rolled toward the soldiers and before they could react, it went off. I managed to run far away enough that I wasn’t caught. I ran to the furthest ship, a pelican, and climbed aboard. I had set the delay of the Sticky grenade to four minutes. That means I have four minutes to get this Pelican moving.
Without a key, I am going to have to hotwire the ship somehow, starting the engine by bypassing the ignition system. I open up the panel I assume is related to power and start looking at wires.
Red or Blue?
Blue or Red?
Red AND Blue!
I cut both the wires and tape them together. The ship roared to life and I quickly got back in my seat.
I began to take off. I heard the busting of the door behind me and yelling, before sudden distant beeping. We’re down to a minute. I took off, the Pelican zooming straight out of the hangar. I heard the sound of the sticky grenade going off. I couldn’t help but let out a short victory laugh. After all that I think I’m a step closer than I was ever before.
I flew as far out of range from the MOI as possible. I don’t think this Pelican is quite battle-ready if they decide to come after me. Considering how long it took me to hitchhike here, I’d say it’ll take me about half a day to get back to Earth. A little in-flight nap wouldn’t hurt. I engage the auto-pilot before dozing off.