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“There’s someone coming this way!”
She had worked on various responses to give, various explanations and directions. She’d thought about this day for months and Carolina knew that whatever happened next – whatever it was – she had to get it over with fast and get back.
There were people she left behind. People waiting on her, needing her and–
The child was crying against her breastplate. The cold metal and the rough rub of her undersuit weave on her hands were the furthest thing from comfort.
Her eyes settled on the uniformed soldiers approaching her. Their armors were unremarkable but the insignia was more than just a little significant. UNSC – official military police.
Nothing to do with Freelancer, nothing to do with anything that was of Carolina’s concern and that was a cold, fleeting comfort.
“One of the colonies around here is demolished,” she informed them. “Not sure what hit it.”
They both seemed hesitant, looking at the screaming child with the sort of untrained dignity that wasn’t befit a trained soldier. It infuriated her.
“Officers, either take this child or let me pass through. I don’t have time for hesitation,” she warned viciously.
“R-right,” the younger of the two uttered before taking the baby in his arms, pulling him away.
The screaming increased as Carolina felt the swaddling cloth slip through her fingers. There was a brief anxiety that overwhelmed her and she grabbed the wrist of the soldier.
“Ma’am?”
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” she demanded angrily.
“What?” the man asked. “I mean… do you?”
Carolina stared angrily into the man’s face for a moment, glancing dow to the baby in his arms and slowly pulling the blanket down enough from his face to uncover his cheeks and run her fingers through his hair.
The baby blinked green eyes at her, stopping his crying for the first time since they started the trek.
“Yes, I’m going for the others,” she said cryptically.
“There’s others!?” the other soldier cried out. “Jesus, lady! Why didn’t you tell us!?” He began to pull out his radio while Carolina let her hand slip from the baby numbly.
Her eyes focused on the soldier holding the baby as awkwardly as possible without dropping him.
“Have you got him?” she demanded.
“Uh. Yeah? I think so?” the soldier responded. “I mean – thank god there’s a cruiser just a few miles away. Full crew, bound to be a medical team ready to handle a baby this small. You said he was from that nearby–”
Carolina took off.
No, she didn’t say that. And the pounding of her heart was about the only thing keeping her from ripping both those men to shreds and abandoning the whole plan.
That and knowing she needed to find the others.
Nine months had been too long – too much of a set back. She had to return to Freelancer, had to figure out a way to set things right.
She’d find her team. Assemble. Do what was necessary. Get York and–
And York. She’d tell York. And then…
Well, a baby with her dogtags wouldn’t exactly be hard to find. Even as big as the UNSC was. She doubted a baby found in deep space wouldn’t be well documented by a flagship.
The plan, as it turned out, fell apart without her even being on the planet.
She stared at the screen before her, but processing the list of KIA was nearly impossible.
So many names. So many good people. So many of her people and–
They had done it. They had ripped each other apart and been responsible for all of this.
She told him no.
And she stared at York’s name the longest, of course. Because they all hurt but that one… that one burned something deep inside of her.
Without him, the plan was done for. Distant, buried.
Her dogtags were somewhere out there, but after pulling up her friends’ names to look for them, she genuinely feared what might happen if she were to look into where the dogtags had ended up.
Where the person wearing them could have been. What the person wearing them could have been.
Carolina began making a new plan. A better plan for her cold and deadened heart.
Revenge.
Wash stared at her and asked the question that she should have been expecting, but truly didn’t. Hadn’t even considered it.
“Where were you?” he demanded. “All of this time, Boss. Where were you?”
She looked at him, quiet and methodical. “Something came up.”
“That’s not good enough,” he sighed, shaking his head. He was… apprehensive, matured – worried for someone beyond himself.
It kind of made Carolina think of her own parents. And how she lacked that instinct apparently – the one to protect the people she considered family.
She was missing her dogtags.
“I know it’s not,” she said simply. “But I can’t fix the truth.”
Washington looked at her, processed her expression, her worn down face. “It must’ve been something awful.”
“It was the worst thing I’ve ever had to do,” she said.
“But I guess there’s no going back?”
Carolina closed her eyes. He would have been twenty-six months old at that point. Learning. Growing. Walking. Talking. Remembering. Not remembering. Past prime adoption age if he hadn’t been.
She didn’t know which fate was better at that point.
“There’s no going back,” she said darkly, looking seriously at Wash. “Only forward. So, Wash. Will you and your men help me? Will you help me hunt down the Director of Project Freelancer? Will you help me make him pay for what he’s done to all of us?”
Wash took a breath. “It’s not just a personal vendetta?”
“No,” she said, and thinking of a little boy with green eyes, in that moment she believed it.