(Mc Pov)
Walking out of the doctor's office keeping his warning in mind I am joined by Miranda who had nothing else better to do than follow me around. She had been waiting outside while I was getting my check-up doing god knows what on her datapad.
She approached and began walking beside me on my right side, "So what did he say?" asked Miranda as I began directing our stroll to my next destination.
The hallways of the supply station were somewhat crowded as we walked. It was to be expected seeing as this station was staffed by thousands of staff and defense personnel. Add onto that the thousands, maybe even tens of thousands that are moving around preparing for the upcoming deployment from Battle Group 'Leviathan' and it's more surprising that we were able to move fluidly at all in the chaotic corridors.
The station itself was quite large. It was bigger than most orbital defense platforms and though it didn't have a MAC cannon for defense it had a considerable amount of point defense cannons and had its own contingent of fighters and even a frigate for defense. More than most other stations can boast about with the scarcity of Naval resources. The most prevalent color was of course gray with little to no differences except for select facilities like the medic ward that had the usual red cross and had a large amount of white as well.
Tilting my head towards Miranda, "He said that I should be fine as long as I don't experience any residual pain. Otherwise, talk to some other person medical-related," I paraphrased to shorten my speech.
She seemed to have accepted that answer, "That's good to hear," she nodded before turning to me, "What's the next chore on today's to-do list?"
Ignoring her comment about my tasks being chores, "Our next destination is the maintenance side of the hanger aboard 'The Reliant'. I want to check my 'Eagle' and make sure that if I need any replacement parts I get them while we are still at this supply station. I also would like to talk and get in the good graces of the technicians and some of the other pilots in the squadron I will be linking up with," I stated
Getting in the good graces of the technicians is something everyone should do. They are the ones that prep the equipment, repair it, and modify it if you ask them. Similarly, it always helps to be friendly with your teammates even if I am only going to be flying with them only once. We will be watching each other's back and it would help to get an understanding of each other so that we would be more efficient.
"I understand why you would go and make friends with the technicians and fellow pilots of the 'War Pigs'. But if you go through all that effort, why do you still decide to check it for yourself?" she asked with an interested expression. She already had her own guess as to his reason but wanted to hear it from him first.
"Redundancy. Though the technicians are trained for this and are very good at their job, so am I. The human error tends to always find its way to screw someone up when they are the most vulnerable. So by both me and the technicians giving it a look one of us may catch something the other missed and vice versa," I responded explaining my thought process.
I tend to operate under the term "Victors are those that look to the future and plan ahead". So knowing my terrible luck I dealt with it by doing my best not to leave anything to chance. By limiting the possible negative outcomes I would therefore have a higher chance of more preferable ones. All in all, it's just balancing risk vs rewards.
"So you are just paranoid huh," Miranda lightly joked. She looked as though she wanted to say something but was cut off when someone entered the conversation.
"It's good to have a healthy amount of paranoia in his line of work, Miranda," said a voice from just behind our back. Both of us looked at each other confused as to who it could be. After a moment Miranda seemed to recognize the voice as her eyes widened and she quickly faced the person.
Turning around I was greeted by a man in a gray Navy uniform wearing similarly colored pants. He had graying black hair indicating his older age and stood a good bit taller than Miranda but was still a little over a head shorter than me. On his uniform were badges and a couple of medals and a rank insignia showing that the man was of the rank 'Commander'. On his right chest was another badge that said the name of the ship and read 'Hello my name is: Jacob Keyes'.
I must admit seeing Captain Keyes or Commander Keyes at this time surprised me. I honestly didn't think that I would meet 'Captain Exposition' so early, but I am not displeased. From the games and what I remember Jacob Keyes was an honorable man and could be someone to count on.
'It's truly a shame about what happened to him on Alpha Halo. If those events play out the same and I am somehow involved with it. I will be damned if I let that happen twice, hell if I can, the flood will not see the light of day again,' I told myself.
While I was in my head thinking the other two hugged and greeted each other. They made small talk and talked about what they had been doing since the last time they saw each other (Which had been a couple of years apparently). Though their conversation about their occupations was a bit short seeing as both were classified by ONI, however, they were smart enough to get a general idea of what the other did from the tidbits said.
"I see this is your..co-worker," said Jacob stretching out his hand toward me.
"It is nice to meet you, Commander," I, in turn, greeted him and shook his hand.
"I hope my daughter hasn't been in too much trouble. When she was growing up she always seemed to be a magnet for trouble. In that regard she is just like her mother," he said with a smile.
Keyes seemed to have a hint of regret in his voice as he referred to Miranda's mother Catherine Halsey. It was also evident that there was some bad blood if Miranda's narrowed eyes and scowl on her face were to be considered.
To be honest I don't remember much about why Miranda has it out for her mother. I am also intrigued to know if Catherine is as much of a …prick in real life as compared to what was shown in the books and games. Therefore I decided to poke around a bit and gauge reactions.
"Really? Miranda never talks about her mother. What's she like?" I ask curiously while bringing my hand up to hold the chin of my helmet.
My question gained a glare from Miranda and Jacob just sighed, "Well her mother is a scientist and is devoted to her work. She is easily one of if not the brightest scientific minds of the 26th century," He paused, "But let's just say that devotion to understanding and developing things led to a lack of understanding of people,"
"That's putting it lightly," I heard Miranda whisper from the side. Jacob also seemed to sigh and not argue with his daughter and defend her mother. I will admit talking about her he didn't seem angry or hateful, not even bitter at the fact that she was not a part of their daughter's life. Just sad and maybe a bit regretful. It was intriguing to see and I would like to learn more, but that's enough prying for today.
"I am sorry to hear that. Hopefully one day she turns a new leaf for the better," I said trying to find a silver lining. Miranda snorted and Jacob nodded with a sad smile.
"Anyway where are you two headed?" asked Jacob
"We are heading to the Heavy Carrier. I need to do some last-minute checks on a new piece of equipment before our next deployment," I said giving a general overview without naming anything particular so that ONI doesn't get on me.
"I see. My crew and I are here for repair and I am scheduled to have a meeting here in the next 30 minutes, so I believe I must take my leave. It was nice meeting you…" Commander Keyes got ready to leave but realized I had never given him my name.
"You can just call me Ace Commander," I said
"Well then Ace till next time," he nodded to me and walked away.
We watched him as he made his way through the corridor and eventually out of sight. After he disappeared we both turned around and continued our journey to the Epoch class Heavy carrier.
(Epoch Class Heavy Carrier)
…
..
.
A few hours later I had finished my talks with the SeaBees and had gotten them to do some modifications. Mostly I asked for a different fuel mix and a certain tuning to my thrusters, though I did ask for them to come up with something to allow me to hold a couple more bombs.
I also met with the members of the 59th Fighter Wing. There were a couple who were in the Gamma squadron, but there were quite a few missing. They like me were checking their jets and requesting any final adjustments. The pilots were all eager to talk to me and were pleasantly surprised when I told them that I would be flying with them for a bit on this deployment.
Eventually, it was late in the evening and was about time to go eat dinner. I told the pilots that I would see them again tomorrow or at least before the relief mission and left. While walking Miranda decided to bring up her experience with the Seabees.
"Well…they were something…" said Miranda as we exited the hangar.
I shrugged at her confusion/uncertainty at what she had seen, "They were what I expected to be honest,"
"Really you expected them to just be a bunch of guys sitting around drinking beer and working on things?" she asked with a 'Are you kidding me?' expression.
"Yeah," I said immediately before explaining, "Because you went to an academy for the officer course I don't think you had much interaction with the 'Grunts' of our esteemed military. You see those men in there are what make most of the things in this ship work, and if it breaks they are the ones you call to come fix it. Because of that fact, they can practically do whatever they want without crossing the line, and they especially like alcohol. That is why I stopped to grab a couple of cases for them,"
"I still can't believe you got them to make those modifications. All you did was give them beer and give them permission to paint some decals signifying that the 'Eagle' would be identified as a 'War Pig' from the 59th fighter wing," she said while shaking her head while holding her forehead.
"Well, those two and the fact that I am a Spartan that came to ask for their help. It may not seem like much but to them having the 'Legendary Spartans' coming to ask for their skills gives them a bit of pride in their work. It also gives them a hell of a story to brag about to their friends and tell their kids," I interjected
"Whatever, let's just get to the cafeteria," Miranda said, changing the subject as we continued walking along.
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Sorry for the late chapter I had a bit of trouble figuring out how I wanted the Keyes dialogue to go and insomnia creeped back up on me. Hope you enjoyed the dialogue as well.
I am going to start shortening these notes because people are not so happy with them. So leave any questions here.
The Song of the Day is "The Unforgiven II" by Metallica
I hope you all have a blessed day and I will See You Star Side.