Beware the colors OF DOOM!
This is the first chapter of Aftermath. forgive me if it's a little long. I cut it down some, but it's still huge.
A group of trainees from the Human/Elite Alliance had just received the instructions for the final phase of their training, and they weren't too happy about it. The trainees consisted of two Grunts, two SPARTAN IIIs, two Elites, and one Hunter. They all departed from their commanding officers and walked towards the Pelican dropship set to take them planet side. This is where they bumped into each other.
Cha Cha, a female SPARTAN III, tried to start a conversation with her new teammates. "They've got to be crazy! Sending seven trainees down to a Flood-infected planet and expecting us to clear the planet! I mean, even the Master Chief or the Arbiter would be overwhelmed!" She threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes as she spoke. "It's madness I tell you!"
The loud, nutty Grunt Zippity says "This sounds creepy and dangerous. Let's go for it!!!" Zippity was a hyper little Grunt. He was willing to try almost anything crazy once. He was braver than every other Grunt and frequently louder.
Kei, the other SPARTAN, took one look at the Grunt and decided it was crazy. "What crack are you smoking?!"
Defarree, the shorter Elite, made a rather strange face. "Do I even WANT to know what you meant by that?" He rolled his eyes. "Humans..." He turned and looked at the other Elite. "Are we really forced to deal with them for the entire mission?"
Seraphee, the other Elite, just looked at the floor and didn't say anything. He was very quiet and frequently depressed. Due to previous experiences, Seraphee became very distrusting and it is almost impossible to get him to really open up.
Myram, the lone Hunter, glared crossly at Defarree. "Our commander specifically stated that we all had to work as a team. So try to be more tolerant of the Humans." Defarree didn't say anything else, but he did huff and start pacing. The Hunter ignored him after that. "We had better get inside the dropship. Then we
can talk all we want."
A second Grunt approached, took a look around and tried to run off. "I'm not going! This will be far too scary!" Zippity grabs his arm and drags him into the dropship. Doodah knew Zippity from training. Doodah was usually afraid and almost never spoke up for himself. He hid behind Zippity, the bravest Grunt he’d ever met, whenever a dangerous situation arose.
"Running away is only gonna get us in more trouble. And maybe arrested." Cha Cha spoke calmly to the little Grunt as she stepped into the dropship. "So let's try and avoid that. I'd rather fight off the Flood than deal with my commander when he's angry."
Kei followed her and sat down in one of the seats. "Ain't that the truth..."
"What's the problem? This is going to be easy. I hope we have chocolate." Zippity says and looked around at everyone. "We're a motley bunch. I'm Zippity."
"My name is Defarree. I was hand-picked to lead this team, so you better listen to me!" He'd pointed at everybody else for effect. "So be sure to keep alert and attentive when I give you peons orders!"
Myram scowled again, which made him seem even more terrifying than usual. "Shut up, Defarree. His Excellency didn't hand-pick you for anything except getting punished for insubordination." He stopped grumping at Defarree and spoke much more cordially to the others. "For those who don't already know, I'm called Myram."
"I'm Doodah." The other grunt paused. "What's with that other Elite over there? All he does is look at the floor."
Myram shrugged. "I don't know much about that one. I only know Defarree."
"I'm Cha Cha." She took off her helmet as she spoke, letting her poofy blonde pigtails out of the confining piece of armor. "And the other guy," she pointed to the male SPARTAN who wasn't paying attention, "is Kei." She turned and looked at the still-silent Elite. "You know, it's kinda rude to not introduce yourself to your new squad mates. We all told you our names, so now it's your turn."
"I don’t think he’s listening." Zippity said as he got up and walked over to the Elite. He looked at the Elite for a moment and then without warning grabbed his head. "Hi! What’s your name?"
Seraphee looked shocked. "I’m Seraphee." Then he returned to his thinking, this time staying slightly more alert.
"You are quite possibly THE most annoying Grunt I’ve had the misfortune of working with." Defarree groaned aloud, and shook his head. "And I’ve had to deal with plenty of them." With that comment, everybody else rolled their eyes.
Myram spoke up again, in an angry rumbling voice. "Shut up already. You’re ten times more annoying than everyone else I’ve seen so far." The Hunter started to pace back and forth in the Pelican, trying to control his volatile temper. Myram had already been in trouble more than once for getting into fights.
"WE’RE
ALL GOING TO DIE!!! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!" Doodah started screaming as the Pelican started to land. He ran around in the dropship until he almost hyperventilated.
Kei shook his head. "Psychotic little furball…." He picked up Doodah. "We’re not gonna die, fool. Stop freaking out." Cha Cha started laughing
.
"You know, the appropriate time to panic would’ve been when you first got the assignment. NOT when we’re about three seconds from the location." She shrugged, and then picked up her helmet and her other gear. She put the helmet back on, smashing her pigtails around to fit inside. As soon as the neck seal clicked and hissed, she gave a thumbs-up to everyone else. "We may as well hit the ground running."
"Hey, do we have a place to stay on this planet. I wasn’t told anything about that part." Zippity asked. "We had better or Doodah and I will be in trouble."
Kei turned to Zippity and nodded. "They were nice enough to make sure we had a base with enough gear and ammunition for everybody on the dropship." He checked his HUD momentarily. "They sent me the maps, with the base location marked."
"Does it have areas full of methane for us?" Doodah asked looking nervously around. "It’s not full of Flood, right?"
The male SPARTAN III shook his head. "I don’t know what sort of shape the base is in, but it won’t be full of flood and it will have proper accommodations for everybody. That includes areas with methane atmosphere for you two Grunts. They also have a stash of methane tanks set up. They can’t have any trainees dying due to lack of proper supplies."
"No, they’re just hoping we get eaten by Flood because we’ve all annoyed them one too many times." Cha Cha said sarcastically. "I’m pretty sure that’s why there are only seven of us." She
giggled as she remembered what she’d recently gotten into trouble for.
"Well that’s just great. I get to die with a bunch of rejects." Defarree threw his hands up in the air. "I must be the unluckiest Elite alive." Myram didn’t even glorify the comment with a response. He was too busy trying not to punch Defarree’s face in. Finally, the Pelican landed on the surface of the planet.
It looked peaceful, and maybe a little too peaceful. There were all kinds of foliage, and the climate seemed to be sub-tropical. They had landed in a large patch of grass, which was surrounded on all sides by dense rainforest-like trees and plants.
The second the door of the Pelican opened Zippity ran out and began to roll in the grass. "This is fun! The grass is so soft. Hey, a hill!" Zippity ran to the hill and rolled down.
Myram couldn’t help but laugh at the goofy Grunt rolling down the grassy hill. And Cha Cha doing cartwheels in full body armor was equally amusing. His bad mood forgotten, Myram lumbered out of the ship and out into the sun. "The cartwheels and giggle fits kind of ruin the tough image of the near-legendary Demons."
Defarree looked like he was going to kill all of them. "THIS IS NO PLACE TO BE FOOLING AROUND!!!! HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?!" He was fuming now, and stomped out to continue his tirade outside. "YOU ARE DISCIPLINED SOLDIERS! NOT A BUNCH OF CHILDREN!" His words fell on deaf ears once again. He gave up on screaming when he realized that no one was listening to him anyway. "That’s it. We’re doomed."
"HOW CAN YOU GUYS BE HAVING FUN AT A TIME LIKE THIS! WE NEED TO GET TO THE BASE!" Doodah said as he looked frantically around like the Flood could attack at any time.
Kei grabbed a large pack of navigation equipment and his favorite weapons. "Apparently it’s pretty easy." He looked at the ones who weren’t playing in the grass. "Can we get the rest of the gear out of the Pelican? We’ll need it to get there."
Doodah grabbed what he could carry and brought it out of the pelican. "Can’t you guys give us a hand so this will go faster?" He set the gear down and went back into the Pelican for some more.
Seraphee walked out of the Pelican with all his gear and started to walk away from the others and toward the Rainforest.
Myram shouldered a massive pack that looked like it could hold a scrunched up Elite. Then he yelled to the two still playing around. "HEY! GET YOUR GEAR AND QUIT PLAYING AROUND YOU TWO!" Mid cartwheel, Cha Cha changed it into a back flip and landed a few feet from the side of the dropship.
"Oh okay." She darted into the craft and grabbed another bag of gear. She pulled something out of one of the pockets in the pack and looked at it. She was holding a massive key ring with all sorts of key chains and at least fifteen keys. Under the helmet, she had broken into a huge grin. "WOOHOO! I CAN’T WAIT TO GET THERE!!!" Kei, upon hearing this, muttered two words into his helmet radio.
"Uh. Oh." Was all the SPARTAN III could say. Defarree just grumbled and grabbed his gear, then followed Seraphee. Kei looked at the Grunt duo. "Get your stuff guys. We’re moving out."
"I already have mine. Shouldn’t Seraphee slow down so we can catch up?" Doodah said as he picked up his gear and began walking.
Zippity had just scampered into the Pelican quickly grabbed his gear and ran after the others. ALRIGHT!! We’re off! Um…I just thought of something. Who’s in charge? There should be someone right?"
Cha Cha giggled. "You have a very good point, Zippity. We’ll sort that whole thing out when we get to base. Or a convenient stopping place. Whichever comes first."
"Are we going to have to walk the whooole way?" Doodah asked as he struggled to catch up with the others. "Why couldn’t they send some vehicles with us or something?"
"
Well, they already sent enough vehicles for us to the base. So it wouldn’t make sense to send more with us. Besides, it’s not that bad." Cha Cha tried to console the terrified and whiny little Grunt. "Why don’t you just ask Kei how far away the base is? He’s the one with the maps."
"If he’s the one with the maps then why is Seraphee ahead of everyone? Does he know where we’re going?" Doodah had a puzzled look on his face. "What’s Seraphee’s problem anyway? He’s quiet, ignores everybody and does whatever he wants."
"I suspect that’s WHY he’s here," Kei interjected. "Every last one of us seems to have a personality quirk that command doesn’t like. I’m pretty sure that’s why we were
all chosen for this mission." Kei tapped his HUD, and then pulled out the map. He turned on his radio and broadcast to all other radios within a quarter mile radius. "Okay, guys and gals, we got to head due northeast of here to get to our new ground HQ. It’s about a fifteen minute jog from here, if you’re running like a SPARTAN anyway. I don’t know how long it’ll take us, but it shouldn’t be more than an hour."
Seraphee broke into a run, leaving the others behind. He needed to get to the base as soon as possible. His shoulder was throbbing worse since he had his gear. His commanding officer had stabbed him earlier for questioning orders. Now it needed medical attention and it was safe to get it.
"Well, he’s going to be fun to catch up to." Myram sighed. "What does he think this is? A race?" The Hunter broke into a run, to try and catch up with the quiet Elite at the head of the pack. But Myram was behind everybody, including the Grunts. He also sounded remarkably like some kind of huge beast chasing them down.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!" Doodah screamed and ran as fast as he could. "I KNEW WE WHERE GOING TO DIE!!!!!" He jumped on Defarree and continued to scream unintelligible nonsense.
Defarree was startled by the Grunt leaping on him, and yelled. "AAUUGH! GET OFF ME YOU STUPID GRUNT!!!" He started running and flailing his arms, trying to dislodge Doodah. He just happened to be going the correct direction as he did. The two SPARTANs fell into step with Myram, too busy laughing to say a word.
"What in the world is Doodah screaming about?" Zippity looked at the Hunter and the SPARTANs. "Did he think you were something else, Myram?"
The Hunter stopped laughing long enough to answer. "That’s probably what happened. Unless he thought I was going to step on him." Myram couldn’t help but snicker again as Defarree continued to run towards the base, screaming at the Grunt to get off of him. "I’m not about to say anything though. It’d ruin the moment."
"That’s so true; we wouldn’t want to ruin the moment. How are we supposed to catch up with Seraphee though, two of us aren’t fast enough. Why’s he running anyway?" Zippity looked at Doodah and Defarree. "That is truly hilarious."
Myram shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he just wants to get there fast. But since he won’t talk to us about it, we don’t know." Then he looked at the still screaming Elite and Grunt. "Is it possible to record this and embarrass them both later?"
"I’m waaay ahead of you there Myram." Cha Cha went into a fit of giggles. "I’ve been recording since it started. Defarree’s gonna kill me though." She tapped her helmet. "These babies are equipped with recording equipment. It’s generally used for combat assessment, not blackmail or general harassment."
"How long will it take at this pace? I want to tease those two as soon as possible. We should also talk to Seraphee about being more open with his teammates too." Zippity checked his methane tank and looked at the others. "I think we should tell Doodah and Defarree when we get in the base. I thought it was going to be boring when I first got the mission. Boy was I wrong."
"Should I even ask how training on a planet full of Flood could possibly be boring?" Kei shook his head and put his hand on his helmet visor. "Oh, whatever." He checked the map again. "We should be able to see it really soon at this rate." He checked the horizon, but it was too full of foliage. "If it weren’t for all this foliage, we’d be able to see it already. It shouldn’t be more than five more minutes. Seraphee’s probably inside by now. God, that Elite moves fast."
"Hey… I have an idea. Myram, how far can you throw me, without hurting me?" Zippity looked at the Hunter. "I want you to throw me. I need to get to the base now. I forgot to check my methane tank before I left and its low."
Myram thought for a moment. "If you have something soft to land on, I can throw you a couple hundred units without leaving a scratch. Any farther than that, and you might have a few bruises." He looked over to Kei. "How far is it to the base from here?"
He quickly did the conversion to Covenant measurements. "It’d be approximately three hundred units." Kei paused. "You’re not REALLY gonna throw him are you? That’s dangerous!" He looked at Zippity. "We’re three or four minutes away. Can it wait that long? Wouldn’t it just be
better to have somebody carry you the rest of the way, so you don’t use up so much methane?"
"Well, if someone carried me I could wait, but it’s so much more fun to be thrown. I already have a pretty good idea as to what I’ll land on if I’m thrown now so go for it. I’m ready and so is my landing." Zippity brace himself to be thrown by the Hunter.
Myram set down his pack with a really loud THUD! Then he picked up the comparatively tiny and light Grunt. "As long as you’re sure about this I’ll do it. Just make sure to roll when you land. You’re less likely to get hurt." The Hunter spun his arm around, and then threw Zippity as hard as he could towards the base. The Grunt went sailing over the tree tops and hurtling straight for the back of Defarree’s head. They were just outside the base at the time.
"COOOOLLLLL!! THIS IS FUN!!!" Zippity hit Defarree hard enough to knock him over and fling Doodah off. "Now to exchange my tank." Zippity ran into the base.
"OOOF!" Defarree got the wind knocked out of him by a …flying grunt?! He lay there for a minute, waiting for everything to quit spinning. "Did that really happen?" He slowly turned onto his side and saw Zippity dart into the base. "I guess it did." Defarree stood and brushed himself off, then walked inside.
The interior of the base was mostly a drab grey, but quite spacious. There were some creature comforts, like chairs designed for everybody and a decent sized television screen. It was also equipped with a fully stocked fridge and pantry. It was still designed to be a military installation, so there weren’t a whole lot of windows. There was a parking garage with a Ghost, a Wraith, and two Warthogs. The living quarters were comfortably spacious, but not huge. Everybody had their own room at least. Several rooms had airlocks and methane atmospheres.
Seraphee had dropped his stuff in the middle of the floor because he couldn’t carry it anymore. He knew the others were probably going to be furious. He didn’t want to have to run from his own teammates anymore but it looked like he would be soon.
Defarree groaned, rubbing his head where Zippity’s foot had left a big purplish-black mark. He dumped his pack in a corner of the main room and flopped down in one of the chairs. Then he noticed Seraphee already inside. "Whatever," he groggily mumbled.
The next one inside was Cha Cha. She took off her helmet and tossed it onto the table in front of the TV. Then she threw her pack into the same corner as Defarree’s. "Hey, Seraphee! Mind telling us why you were in such a hurry? It’s not like I really care, but I would like to know." She flopped down on the large couch and sprawled out across it. "Damn… This is one really comfy couch." She sank partway into the cushions. "I bet it’s made to accommodate any possible users. Give it a try sometime."
Myram came barreling in and promptly tripped over Seraphee’s gear. "AUGH!" He hit the floor really hard, shaking the base and bouncing Cha Cha off the couch. She crashed to the floor in an uncoordinated flailing maneuver and landed on her backside, much to her surprise. "What did I just trip on?" He got up and saw Seraphee’s pack in the middle of the floor. "Oh." He picked it up and moved it over by the other packs where it was a lot less likely to trip people. Then he dropped his pack there as Kei came running in.
"What the hell was that?! It sounded like somebody dropped a tank on the roof!" Kei exclaimed. "And why is Cha Cha on the floor?" He carefully set the navigation gear on the table. "Where are Zippity and Doodah?"
"Seraphee accidentally left his pack where somebody could trip over it." Myram explained. "I just happened to be the one who tripped. Apparently that shook the place enough to make Cha Cha land on the floor."
Zippity ran into the room. "You tripped on Seraphee’s gear didn’t you, Myram." He turned to Defarree. "Sorry about nailing you in the head Defarree. Is that what I think it is on Seraphee’s pack? It looks like blood from an Elite." Zippity pointed at the pack.
Seraphee walked into the room knowing he would have to face them sometime. He had bandaged his shoulder before entering.
Everybody had turned to him. Cha Cha noticed the bandaged shoulder. "I think the blood is his," she told Zippity. Then she looked right at Seraphee. "You could’ve said something, you know. We’re not gonna bite your head off or anything."
Defarree just grumbled. "I just want to punch whoever threw that Grunt…" He stopped talking when he realized that it had to have been Myram. Myram grinned, as if daring him to do just that. "Erm, never mind."
Doodah walked in. "How did I end up in a bush?" He looked around. "What’s going on? What happened to Seraphee?"
Seraphee looked at the floor and began to walk out of the room.
Kei got in his way. "Sorry Seraphee, but you aren’t going to just avoid us." He put both arms up, blocking the doorway. "We need to talk. Or more specifically," he pointed to Seraphee, "YOU need to talk to us."
"There’s nothing to say." Seraphee took a few steps back. They weren’t going to let him off that easy and he knew it.
"That’s a big, fat lie and you know it." Kei was getting mildly annoyed with the Elite now. "Now sit down somewhere. You have some explaining to do. Like why you didn’t just ask us to hurry because you were hurt? Or ask one of us to carry your gear at least?" He pulled off his helmet and his short, jet black hair fell in his eyes.
Myram chimed in. "We’re not your enemies, Seraphee." He walked over, gently grabbed the Elite, and sat him down on the couch. "We are trying to help. But we can’t do anything if you don’t let us know."
Seraphee grew visibly nervous. "You mean just like my last team? Who almost killed me and then tried to leave me behind? Or maybe like my commanding officer who stabbed me?"
Cha Cha looked at the floor. "That explains a lot." Then she looked back up at Seraphee. Defarree looked at his fellow Elite with a mix of pity and respect. "Well, none of us are anything like them. But you probably aren’t listening to me. So we’ll just have to show you."
Myram spoke up next. "We aren’t like any of them. We’re the rejects. The ones nobody wants to deal with, because we get into fights with those people." He took off his helmet, revealing a nasty scar on his face that could only have been made with a razor-sharp blade. "If you think this is bad, you should’ve seen the other guy."
"Or because we screwed up and broke something we shouldn’t have." Cha Cha put her hand on her chest. "Like a certain captain’s car that was smashed by a Scorpion driven by yours truly."
Then Kei spoke up. "Or because we couldn’t hit the targets fifteen feet away, but hit the DI’s toe just fine." He stopped and looked at Cha Cha. "Wait, that was YOU that crushed the captain’s Rolls Royce?!" She just grinned sheepishly and nodded.
"Well I got in trouble for accidentally parking a Ghost on an Elites foot, and then while I moved it off his foot I crashed into the Arbiter." Doodah piped in.
"I do believe Doodah’s stunt beats just about everybody’s. Even mine." Defarree said, chuckling. "And I navigated a Phantom…right into a stationary asteroid." He looked at Doodah with a new respect. "I can’t believe you’re still standing here after you did that."
Kei laughed. "Even I heard about THAT one." He took a bow to the Grunt. "Nice work, Compadre."
"Ha! You think that’s good. I decided to give some Elites who were picking on me a piece of my mind with a Wraith. I got them good! Unfortunately… I blew up Master Chief’s Warthog and the Arbiter’s ghost. WHILE they were in them!!!!! To make a bad situation worse, I almost ran both of them over with the Wraith! They decided to send me here instead of killing me." Zippity said with pride.
"…Wow. That’s got to be a record breaker, Zippity." Cha Cha remarked. "It takes a real talent to goof up THAT bad. Hell, Alliance command was talking about putting that one in the new training manual under the heading of ‘Perfect examples of personnel error’. Or maybe in the ‘Do not attempt under any circumstance’ training video." Zippity got hearty cheers and congratulatory remarks from just about everybody.
Defaree looked at Seraphee. "I don’t think you did anything to top what Zippity managed, so I really don’t think you deserved your punishment. I doubt you topped any of us. But we’re not going to attack you or leave you for dead, because we know what it feels like to be on the receiving end. So stop worrying."
Seraphee looked around at them and then back at the floor. "Whatever. Prove it." He said with almost a sad tone in his voice
.
"I don’t think we comforted him with our screw-up stories. Yeah we’ll prove we’re not like them to you." Zippity leaped into the air. "Just you wait! When are we supposed to start fighting the flood anyway?"
Cha Cha shrugged. "Probably when we decide who gets to be the commanding officer of the base. I guess they’d be our squad leader." She looked at everyone. "How do you want to decide?"
"It wont be Zippity, he’s nuts." Doodah said. "I don’t want to lead either, it’s too scary."
"What’s wrong with me? I’m controlled." Zippity looked at Doodah. "I can’t help it if you’re too chicken for my ideas."
"After the ‘Toss me to the base’ incident, I also vote no for Zippity leading." Kei shook his head. "The last thing we need is someone getting hurt after attempting a stupid maneuver like that. That was just plain crazy."
Cha Cha nodded. "Zippity shouldn’t lead." She grinned again, like she had a devious plot up her sleeve. "He should be the strategist." Kei looked at her like she’d lost her mind. "Think about it. He quickly came up with a simple solution to a difficult problem that worked out well for everybody."
"Except the Elite he landed on." Defarree said, rubbing the bruise on his head. "That’s going to hurt for a while."
Myram got a brilliant bit of inspiration. "I think Seraphee should be our ‘squad leader’ or whatever you want to call it. Any objections?"
"That works for me." Doodah said. "It’s not Zippity so it’s great."
Defarree nodded. "That’s perfectly acceptable to me. He’s not a complete maniac. Actually, I think he’d make a fine leader." He looked at Seraphee. "I’ll vote for him as well."
"Did you lose your marbles?" Cha Cha remarked. When Defarree looked at her, completely clueless, she explained. "In other words, have you gone crazy? You just nominated someone else to lead!" Then she stuck out her tongue and smiled. "I also vote for Seraphee."
"I realized how idiotic I was being earlier, that’s all."
"Or he got a smack to his ego when he realized a couple of Grunts out-goofed him." Kei snickered. "So far, Seraphee has five votes. Including mine." He looked at the final two. "What do you think?"
"Sounds great! I’ll vote for Seraphee." Zippity jumped into the air. "He better start talking more though ‘cause we’re not mind readers."
Seraphee didn’t like the idea but knew he was defeated. "Do I really have to?"
Myram turned to Seraphee. "No, you don’t have to. We’re not going to force you. We just all seem to think you’d do a great job." He put his had on Seraphee’s good shoulder. "Here’s the real question though. Do you want to lead? If you don’t want to, we’ll just pick somebody else."
"I guess I’ll try, but you’re probably going to be disappointed." Seraphee looked at them and sighed. He’d never been good at anything according to his team and commanding officer, who were probably right. These guys seemed so confident so he had to try.
"That’s the spirit!" Cha Cha threw her fist into the air and jumped as she said it. "Now let’s go kill some Flood!"
Kei shook his head. "I think Cha Cha’s the official squad cheerleader. But we should figure out what everybody else’s jobs are first." He looked at Seraphee. "What do you think, sir?"
Seraphee was shocked to be called sir. He didn’t know what to tell them.
Zippity noticed and spared him. "I’ll Scout! And Doodah could be the resident whiney chicken."
Kei laughed. "I’ll volunteer to drive one of the Warthogs, since my aim sucks but I can drive okay. I’ll also volunteer to be the Navigator." He looked at Doodah. "How’s your aim?"
"My aim’s okay’ but I can’t drive." Doodah responded.
"Then you can be a Gunner, and maybe our team’s Sniper." Cha Cha said. "I drive like a drunken chimpanzee, but my aim’s fine. I’ll be the other Gunner."
Myram nodded. "I can drive and aim fine, but I’m not all that fast. I’ll be Heavy Artillery. I’m not going to be slowed down at all when carrying a lot of heavy gear." He looked at Defarree. "What about you?"
Defarree thought for a moment. "I can drive okay as long as I’m not going too fast, but my aim’s really good. I’ll drive the Wraith. Seraphee should get the Ghost." Then he looked to Seraphee. "Any objections?" He mentally slapped himself. "Sorry. Do you have any objections, sir?"
"No." Seraphee said, still uncomfortable about being called sir.
"I’ll drive the other Warthog." Zippity said with great enthusiasm. "I can’t drive a tank but a Warthog is a piece of cake."
Cha Cha grinned. "I guess it’s settled then. Doodah and I will be Gunners, Zippity and Kei will be Drivers, Seraphee drives the Ghost, Defarree drives the Wraith, and Myram will ride on whatever vehicle he chooses." She stopped for a second. "As far as team jobs go, Myram is Heavy Artillery, Kei is Navigator, Zippity is the Scout, and Seraphee’s the Leader. That leaves Mechanic, Medic, and Sniper unfilled." She looked at Doodah. "Which would you be best at? If you aren’t sure, just tell us what you aren’t so good at and we’ll go from there."
"
I’d have to go with Sniper. I’ve never tried to fix equipment and I don’t like the sight of blood from anyone I know." Doodah replied.
"Yeah! He faints when he sees a comrade’s blood." Zippity put his two cents in.
"I’ll be the Medic." Defarree volunteered. "I’m not squeamish. That and power tools seem to hate me or something." He added.
"That leaves me to be Mechanic." Cha Cha commented. "Which is just as well. If I bend metal too far, I can just bend it back." Myram got a funny look on his face when she said that.
"I don’t think you needed to add that last bit, Cha Cha." He said. "And we all have our assignments now. And only one thing is stopping us." The Hunter stopped. "What are our orders, commander?" Myram had looked at Seraphee as he said that.
"Um…" Seraphee paused to think, he knew he needed to get over his problems but it wasn’t going to be easy. "Before we can make an offensive we need to find the Flood." He tried to sound sure of himself but failed miserably and he knew it.
A group of trainees from the Human/Elite Alliance had just received the instructions for the final phase of their training, and they weren't too happy about it. The trainees consisted of two Grunts, two SPARTAN IIIs, two Elites, and one Hunter. They all departed from their commanding officers and walked towards the Pelican dropship set to take them planet side. This is where they bumped into each other.
Cha Cha, a female SPARTAN III, tried to start a conversation with her new teammates. "They've got to be crazy! Sending seven trainees down to a Flood-infected planet and expecting us to clear the planet! I mean, even the Master Chief or the Arbiter would be overwhelmed!" She threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes as she spoke. "It's madness I tell you!"
The loud, nutty Grunt Zippity says "This sounds creepy and dangerous. Let's go for it!!!" Zippity was a hyper little Grunt. He was willing to try almost anything crazy once. He was braver than every other Grunt and frequently louder.
Kei, the other SPARTAN, took one look at the Grunt and decided it was crazy. "What crack are you smoking?!"
Defarree, the shorter Elite, made a rather strange face. "Do I even WANT to know what you meant by that?" He rolled his eyes. "Humans..." He turned and looked at the other Elite. "Are we really forced to deal with them for the entire mission?"
Seraphee, the other Elite, just looked at the floor and didn't say anything. He was very quiet and frequently depressed. Due to previous experiences, Seraphee became very distrusting and it is almost impossible to get him to really open up.
Myram, the lone Hunter, glared crossly at Defarree. "Our commander specifically stated that we all had to work as a team. So try to be more tolerant of the Humans." Defarree didn't say anything else, but he did huff and start pacing. The Hunter ignored him after that. "We had better get inside the dropship. Then we
can talk all we want."
A second Grunt approached, took a look around and tried to run off. "I'm not going! This will be far too scary!" Zippity grabs his arm and drags him into the dropship. Doodah knew Zippity from training. Doodah was usually afraid and almost never spoke up for himself. He hid behind Zippity, the bravest Grunt he’d ever met, whenever a dangerous situation arose.
"Running away is only gonna get us in more trouble. And maybe arrested." Cha Cha spoke calmly to the little Grunt as she stepped into the dropship. "So let's try and avoid that. I'd rather fight off the Flood than deal with my commander when he's angry."
Kei followed her and sat down in one of the seats. "Ain't that the truth..."
"What's the problem? This is going to be easy. I hope we have chocolate." Zippity says and looked around at everyone. "We're a motley bunch. I'm Zippity."
"My name is Defarree. I was hand-picked to lead this team, so you better listen to me!" He'd pointed at everybody else for effect. "So be sure to keep alert and attentive when I give you peons orders!"
Myram scowled again, which made him seem even more terrifying than usual. "Shut up, Defarree. His Excellency didn't hand-pick you for anything except getting punished for insubordination." He stopped grumping at Defarree and spoke much more cordially to the others. "For those who don't already know, I'm called Myram."
"I'm Doodah." The other grunt paused. "What's with that other Elite over there? All he does is look at the floor."
Myram shrugged. "I don't know much about that one. I only know Defarree."
"I'm Cha Cha." She took off her helmet as she spoke, letting her poofy blonde pigtails out of the confining piece of armor. "And the other guy," she pointed to the male SPARTAN who wasn't paying attention, "is Kei." She turned and looked at the still-silent Elite. "You know, it's kinda rude to not introduce yourself to your new squad mates. We all told you our names, so now it's your turn."
"I don’t think he’s listening." Zippity said as he got up and walked over to the Elite. He looked at the Elite for a moment and then without warning grabbed his head. "Hi! What’s your name?"
Seraphee looked shocked. "I’m Seraphee." Then he returned to his thinking, this time staying slightly more alert.
"You are quite possibly THE most annoying Grunt I’ve had the misfortune of working with." Defarree groaned aloud, and shook his head. "And I’ve had to deal with plenty of them." With that comment, everybody else rolled their eyes.
Myram spoke up again, in an angry rumbling voice. "Shut up already. You’re ten times more annoying than everyone else I’ve seen so far." The Hunter started to pace back and forth in the Pelican, trying to control his volatile temper. Myram had already been in trouble more than once for getting into fights.
"WE’RE
ALL GOING TO DIE!!! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!" Doodah started screaming as the Pelican started to land. He ran around in the dropship until he almost hyperventilated.
Kei shook his head. "Psychotic little furball…." He picked up Doodah. "We’re not gonna die, fool. Stop freaking out." Cha Cha started laughing
.
"You know, the appropriate time to panic would’ve been when you first got the assignment. NOT when we’re about three seconds from the location." She shrugged, and then picked up her helmet and her other gear. She put the helmet back on, smashing her pigtails around to fit inside. As soon as the neck seal clicked and hissed, she gave a thumbs-up to everyone else. "We may as well hit the ground running."
"Hey, do we have a place to stay on this planet. I wasn’t told anything about that part." Zippity asked. "We had better or Doodah and I will be in trouble."
Kei turned to Zippity and nodded. "They were nice enough to make sure we had a base with enough gear and ammunition for everybody on the dropship." He checked his HUD momentarily. "They sent me the maps, with the base location marked."
"Does it have areas full of methane for us?" Doodah asked looking nervously around. "It’s not full of Flood, right?"
The male SPARTAN III shook his head. "I don’t know what sort of shape the base is in, but it won’t be full of flood and it will have proper accommodations for everybody. That includes areas with methane atmosphere for you two Grunts. They also have a stash of methane tanks set up. They can’t have any trainees dying due to lack of proper supplies."
"No, they’re just hoping we get eaten by Flood because we’ve all annoyed them one too many times." Cha Cha said sarcastically. "I’m pretty sure that’s why there are only seven of us." She
giggled as she remembered what she’d recently gotten into trouble for.
"Well that’s just great. I get to die with a bunch of rejects." Defarree threw his hands up in the air. "I must be the unluckiest Elite alive." Myram didn’t even glorify the comment with a response. He was too busy trying not to punch Defarree’s face in. Finally, the Pelican landed on the surface of the planet.
It looked peaceful, and maybe a little too peaceful. There were all kinds of foliage, and the climate seemed to be sub-tropical. They had landed in a large patch of grass, which was surrounded on all sides by dense rainforest-like trees and plants.
The second the door of the Pelican opened Zippity ran out and began to roll in the grass. "This is fun! The grass is so soft. Hey, a hill!" Zippity ran to the hill and rolled down.
Myram couldn’t help but laugh at the goofy Grunt rolling down the grassy hill. And Cha Cha doing cartwheels in full body armor was equally amusing. His bad mood forgotten, Myram lumbered out of the ship and out into the sun. "The cartwheels and giggle fits kind of ruin the tough image of the near-legendary Demons."
Defarree looked like he was going to kill all of them. "THIS IS NO PLACE TO BE FOOLING AROUND!!!! HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?!" He was fuming now, and stomped out to continue his tirade outside. "YOU ARE DISCIPLINED SOLDIERS! NOT A BUNCH OF CHILDREN!" His words fell on deaf ears once again. He gave up on screaming when he realized that no one was listening to him anyway. "That’s it. We’re doomed."
"HOW CAN YOU GUYS BE HAVING FUN AT A TIME LIKE THIS! WE NEED TO GET TO THE BASE!" Doodah said as he looked frantically around like the Flood could attack at any time.
Kei grabbed a large pack of navigation equipment and his favorite weapons. "Apparently it’s pretty easy." He looked at the ones who weren’t playing in the grass. "Can we get the rest of the gear out of the Pelican? We’ll need it to get there."
Doodah grabbed what he could carry and brought it out of the pelican. "Can’t you guys give us a hand so this will go faster?" He set the gear down and went back into the Pelican for some more.
Seraphee walked out of the Pelican with all his gear and started to walk away from the others and toward the Rainforest.
Myram shouldered a massive pack that looked like it could hold a scrunched up Elite. Then he yelled to the two still playing around. "HEY! GET YOUR GEAR AND QUIT PLAYING AROUND YOU TWO!" Mid cartwheel, Cha Cha changed it into a back flip and landed a few feet from the side of the dropship.
"Oh okay." She darted into the craft and grabbed another bag of gear. She pulled something out of one of the pockets in the pack and looked at it. She was holding a massive key ring with all sorts of key chains and at least fifteen keys. Under the helmet, she had broken into a huge grin. "WOOHOO! I CAN’T WAIT TO GET THERE!!!" Kei, upon hearing this, muttered two words into his helmet radio.
"Uh. Oh." Was all the SPARTAN III could say. Defarree just grumbled and grabbed his gear, then followed Seraphee. Kei looked at the Grunt duo. "Get your stuff guys. We’re moving out."
"I already have mine. Shouldn’t Seraphee slow down so we can catch up?" Doodah said as he picked up his gear and began walking.
Zippity had just scampered into the Pelican quickly grabbed his gear and ran after the others. ALRIGHT!! We’re off! Um…I just thought of something. Who’s in charge? There should be someone right?"
Cha Cha giggled. "You have a very good point, Zippity. We’ll sort that whole thing out when we get to base. Or a convenient stopping place. Whichever comes first."
"Are we going to have to walk the whooole way?" Doodah asked as he struggled to catch up with the others. "Why couldn’t they send some vehicles with us or something?"
"
Well, they already sent enough vehicles for us to the base. So it wouldn’t make sense to send more with us. Besides, it’s not that bad." Cha Cha tried to console the terrified and whiny little Grunt. "Why don’t you just ask Kei how far away the base is? He’s the one with the maps."
"If he’s the one with the maps then why is Seraphee ahead of everyone? Does he know where we’re going?" Doodah had a puzzled look on his face. "What’s Seraphee’s problem anyway? He’s quiet, ignores everybody and does whatever he wants."
"I suspect that’s WHY he’s here," Kei interjected. "Every last one of us seems to have a personality quirk that command doesn’t like. I’m pretty sure that’s why we were
all chosen for this mission." Kei tapped his HUD, and then pulled out the map. He turned on his radio and broadcast to all other radios within a quarter mile radius. "Okay, guys and gals, we got to head due northeast of here to get to our new ground HQ. It’s about a fifteen minute jog from here, if you’re running like a SPARTAN anyway. I don’t know how long it’ll take us, but it shouldn’t be more than an hour."
Seraphee broke into a run, leaving the others behind. He needed to get to the base as soon as possible. His shoulder was throbbing worse since he had his gear. His commanding officer had stabbed him earlier for questioning orders. Now it needed medical attention and it was safe to get it.
"Well, he’s going to be fun to catch up to." Myram sighed. "What does he think this is? A race?" The Hunter broke into a run, to try and catch up with the quiet Elite at the head of the pack. But Myram was behind everybody, including the Grunts. He also sounded remarkably like some kind of huge beast chasing them down.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!" Doodah screamed and ran as fast as he could. "I KNEW WE WHERE GOING TO DIE!!!!!" He jumped on Defarree and continued to scream unintelligible nonsense.
Defarree was startled by the Grunt leaping on him, and yelled. "AAUUGH! GET OFF ME YOU STUPID GRUNT!!!" He started running and flailing his arms, trying to dislodge Doodah. He just happened to be going the correct direction as he did. The two SPARTANs fell into step with Myram, too busy laughing to say a word.
"What in the world is Doodah screaming about?" Zippity looked at the Hunter and the SPARTANs. "Did he think you were something else, Myram?"
The Hunter stopped laughing long enough to answer. "That’s probably what happened. Unless he thought I was going to step on him." Myram couldn’t help but snicker again as Defarree continued to run towards the base, screaming at the Grunt to get off of him. "I’m not about to say anything though. It’d ruin the moment."
"That’s so true; we wouldn’t want to ruin the moment. How are we supposed to catch up with Seraphee though, two of us aren’t fast enough. Why’s he running anyway?" Zippity looked at Doodah and Defarree. "That is truly hilarious."
Myram shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he just wants to get there fast. But since he won’t talk to us about it, we don’t know." Then he looked at the still screaming Elite and Grunt. "Is it possible to record this and embarrass them both later?"
"I’m waaay ahead of you there Myram." Cha Cha went into a fit of giggles. "I’ve been recording since it started. Defarree’s gonna kill me though." She tapped her helmet. "These babies are equipped with recording equipment. It’s generally used for combat assessment, not blackmail or general harassment."
"How long will it take at this pace? I want to tease those two as soon as possible. We should also talk to Seraphee about being more open with his teammates too." Zippity checked his methane tank and looked at the others. "I think we should tell Doodah and Defarree when we get in the base. I thought it was going to be boring when I first got the mission. Boy was I wrong."
"Should I even ask how training on a planet full of Flood could possibly be boring?" Kei shook his head and put his hand on his helmet visor. "Oh, whatever." He checked the map again. "We should be able to see it really soon at this rate." He checked the horizon, but it was too full of foliage. "If it weren’t for all this foliage, we’d be able to see it already. It shouldn’t be more than five more minutes. Seraphee’s probably inside by now. God, that Elite moves fast."
"Hey… I have an idea. Myram, how far can you throw me, without hurting me?" Zippity looked at the Hunter. "I want you to throw me. I need to get to the base now. I forgot to check my methane tank before I left and its low."
Myram thought for a moment. "If you have something soft to land on, I can throw you a couple hundred units without leaving a scratch. Any farther than that, and you might have a few bruises." He looked over to Kei. "How far is it to the base from here?"
He quickly did the conversion to Covenant measurements. "It’d be approximately three hundred units." Kei paused. "You’re not REALLY gonna throw him are you? That’s dangerous!" He looked at Zippity. "We’re three or four minutes away. Can it wait that long? Wouldn’t it just be
better to have somebody carry you the rest of the way, so you don’t use up so much methane?"
"Well, if someone carried me I could wait, but it’s so much more fun to be thrown. I already have a pretty good idea as to what I’ll land on if I’m thrown now so go for it. I’m ready and so is my landing." Zippity brace himself to be thrown by the Hunter.
Myram set down his pack with a really loud THUD! Then he picked up the comparatively tiny and light Grunt. "As long as you’re sure about this I’ll do it. Just make sure to roll when you land. You’re less likely to get hurt." The Hunter spun his arm around, and then threw Zippity as hard as he could towards the base. The Grunt went sailing over the tree tops and hurtling straight for the back of Defarree’s head. They were just outside the base at the time.
"COOOOLLLLL!! THIS IS FUN!!!" Zippity hit Defarree hard enough to knock him over and fling Doodah off. "Now to exchange my tank." Zippity ran into the base.
"OOOF!" Defarree got the wind knocked out of him by a …flying grunt?! He lay there for a minute, waiting for everything to quit spinning. "Did that really happen?" He slowly turned onto his side and saw Zippity dart into the base. "I guess it did." Defarree stood and brushed himself off, then walked inside.
The interior of the base was mostly a drab grey, but quite spacious. There were some creature comforts, like chairs designed for everybody and a decent sized television screen. It was also equipped with a fully stocked fridge and pantry. It was still designed to be a military installation, so there weren’t a whole lot of windows. There was a parking garage with a Ghost, a Wraith, and two Warthogs. The living quarters were comfortably spacious, but not huge. Everybody had their own room at least. Several rooms had airlocks and methane atmospheres.
Seraphee had dropped his stuff in the middle of the floor because he couldn’t carry it anymore. He knew the others were probably going to be furious. He didn’t want to have to run from his own teammates anymore but it looked like he would be soon.
Defarree groaned, rubbing his head where Zippity’s foot had left a big purplish-black mark. He dumped his pack in a corner of the main room and flopped down in one of the chairs. Then he noticed Seraphee already inside. "Whatever," he groggily mumbled.
The next one inside was Cha Cha. She took off her helmet and tossed it onto the table in front of the TV. Then she threw her pack into the same corner as Defarree’s. "Hey, Seraphee! Mind telling us why you were in such a hurry? It’s not like I really care, but I would like to know." She flopped down on the large couch and sprawled out across it. "Damn… This is one really comfy couch." She sank partway into the cushions. "I bet it’s made to accommodate any possible users. Give it a try sometime."
Myram came barreling in and promptly tripped over Seraphee’s gear. "AUGH!" He hit the floor really hard, shaking the base and bouncing Cha Cha off the couch. She crashed to the floor in an uncoordinated flailing maneuver and landed on her backside, much to her surprise. "What did I just trip on?" He got up and saw Seraphee’s pack in the middle of the floor. "Oh." He picked it up and moved it over by the other packs where it was a lot less likely to trip people. Then he dropped his pack there as Kei came running in.
"What the hell was that?! It sounded like somebody dropped a tank on the roof!" Kei exclaimed. "And why is Cha Cha on the floor?" He carefully set the navigation gear on the table. "Where are Zippity and Doodah?"
"Seraphee accidentally left his pack where somebody could trip over it." Myram explained. "I just happened to be the one who tripped. Apparently that shook the place enough to make Cha Cha land on the floor."
Zippity ran into the room. "You tripped on Seraphee’s gear didn’t you, Myram." He turned to Defarree. "Sorry about nailing you in the head Defarree. Is that what I think it is on Seraphee’s pack? It looks like blood from an Elite." Zippity pointed at the pack.
Seraphee walked into the room knowing he would have to face them sometime. He had bandaged his shoulder before entering.
Everybody had turned to him. Cha Cha noticed the bandaged shoulder. "I think the blood is his," she told Zippity. Then she looked right at Seraphee. "You could’ve said something, you know. We’re not gonna bite your head off or anything."
Defarree just grumbled. "I just want to punch whoever threw that Grunt…" He stopped talking when he realized that it had to have been Myram. Myram grinned, as if daring him to do just that. "Erm, never mind."
Doodah walked in. "How did I end up in a bush?" He looked around. "What’s going on? What happened to Seraphee?"
Seraphee looked at the floor and began to walk out of the room.
Kei got in his way. "Sorry Seraphee, but you aren’t going to just avoid us." He put both arms up, blocking the doorway. "We need to talk. Or more specifically," he pointed to Seraphee, "YOU need to talk to us."
"There’s nothing to say." Seraphee took a few steps back. They weren’t going to let him off that easy and he knew it.
"That’s a big, fat lie and you know it." Kei was getting mildly annoyed with the Elite now. "Now sit down somewhere. You have some explaining to do. Like why you didn’t just ask us to hurry because you were hurt? Or ask one of us to carry your gear at least?" He pulled off his helmet and his short, jet black hair fell in his eyes.
Myram chimed in. "We’re not your enemies, Seraphee." He walked over, gently grabbed the Elite, and sat him down on the couch. "We are trying to help. But we can’t do anything if you don’t let us know."
Seraphee grew visibly nervous. "You mean just like my last team? Who almost killed me and then tried to leave me behind? Or maybe like my commanding officer who stabbed me?"
Cha Cha looked at the floor. "That explains a lot." Then she looked back up at Seraphee. Defarree looked at his fellow Elite with a mix of pity and respect. "Well, none of us are anything like them. But you probably aren’t listening to me. So we’ll just have to show you."
Myram spoke up next. "We aren’t like any of them. We’re the rejects. The ones nobody wants to deal with, because we get into fights with those people." He took off his helmet, revealing a nasty scar on his face that could only have been made with a razor-sharp blade. "If you think this is bad, you should’ve seen the other guy."
"Or because we screwed up and broke something we shouldn’t have." Cha Cha put her hand on her chest. "Like a certain captain’s car that was smashed by a Scorpion driven by yours truly."
Then Kei spoke up. "Or because we couldn’t hit the targets fifteen feet away, but hit the DI’s toe just fine." He stopped and looked at Cha Cha. "Wait, that was YOU that crushed the captain’s Rolls Royce?!" She just grinned sheepishly and nodded.
"Well I got in trouble for accidentally parking a Ghost on an Elites foot, and then while I moved it off his foot I crashed into the Arbiter." Doodah piped in.
"I do believe Doodah’s stunt beats just about everybody’s. Even mine." Defarree said, chuckling. "And I navigated a Phantom…right into a stationary asteroid." He looked at Doodah with a new respect. "I can’t believe you’re still standing here after you did that."
Kei laughed. "Even I heard about THAT one." He took a bow to the Grunt. "Nice work, Compadre."
"Ha! You think that’s good. I decided to give some Elites who were picking on me a piece of my mind with a Wraith. I got them good! Unfortunately… I blew up Master Chief’s Warthog and the Arbiter’s ghost. WHILE they were in them!!!!! To make a bad situation worse, I almost ran both of them over with the Wraith! They decided to send me here instead of killing me." Zippity said with pride.
"…Wow. That’s got to be a record breaker, Zippity." Cha Cha remarked. "It takes a real talent to goof up THAT bad. Hell, Alliance command was talking about putting that one in the new training manual under the heading of ‘Perfect examples of personnel error’. Or maybe in the ‘Do not attempt under any circumstance’ training video." Zippity got hearty cheers and congratulatory remarks from just about everybody.
Defaree looked at Seraphee. "I don’t think you did anything to top what Zippity managed, so I really don’t think you deserved your punishment. I doubt you topped any of us. But we’re not going to attack you or leave you for dead, because we know what it feels like to be on the receiving end. So stop worrying."
Seraphee looked around at them and then back at the floor. "Whatever. Prove it." He said with almost a sad tone in his voice
.
"I don’t think we comforted him with our screw-up stories. Yeah we’ll prove we’re not like them to you." Zippity leaped into the air. "Just you wait! When are we supposed to start fighting the flood anyway?"
Cha Cha shrugged. "Probably when we decide who gets to be the commanding officer of the base. I guess they’d be our squad leader." She looked at everyone. "How do you want to decide?"
"It wont be Zippity, he’s nuts." Doodah said. "I don’t want to lead either, it’s too scary."
"What’s wrong with me? I’m controlled." Zippity looked at Doodah. "I can’t help it if you’re too chicken for my ideas."
"After the ‘Toss me to the base’ incident, I also vote no for Zippity leading." Kei shook his head. "The last thing we need is someone getting hurt after attempting a stupid maneuver like that. That was just plain crazy."
Cha Cha nodded. "Zippity shouldn’t lead." She grinned again, like she had a devious plot up her sleeve. "He should be the strategist." Kei looked at her like she’d lost her mind. "Think about it. He quickly came up with a simple solution to a difficult problem that worked out well for everybody."
"Except the Elite he landed on." Defarree said, rubbing the bruise on his head. "That’s going to hurt for a while."
Myram got a brilliant bit of inspiration. "I think Seraphee should be our ‘squad leader’ or whatever you want to call it. Any objections?"
"That works for me." Doodah said. "It’s not Zippity so it’s great."
Defarree nodded. "That’s perfectly acceptable to me. He’s not a complete maniac. Actually, I think he’d make a fine leader." He looked at Seraphee. "I’ll vote for him as well."
"Did you lose your marbles?" Cha Cha remarked. When Defarree looked at her, completely clueless, she explained. "In other words, have you gone crazy? You just nominated someone else to lead!" Then she stuck out her tongue and smiled. "I also vote for Seraphee."
"I realized how idiotic I was being earlier, that’s all."
"Or he got a smack to his ego when he realized a couple of Grunts out-goofed him." Kei snickered. "So far, Seraphee has five votes. Including mine." He looked at the final two. "What do you think?"
"Sounds great! I’ll vote for Seraphee." Zippity jumped into the air. "He better start talking more though ‘cause we’re not mind readers."
Seraphee didn’t like the idea but knew he was defeated. "Do I really have to?"
Myram turned to Seraphee. "No, you don’t have to. We’re not going to force you. We just all seem to think you’d do a great job." He put his had on Seraphee’s good shoulder. "Here’s the real question though. Do you want to lead? If you don’t want to, we’ll just pick somebody else."
"I guess I’ll try, but you’re probably going to be disappointed." Seraphee looked at them and sighed. He’d never been good at anything according to his team and commanding officer, who were probably right. These guys seemed so confident so he had to try.
"That’s the spirit!" Cha Cha threw her fist into the air and jumped as she said it. "Now let’s go kill some Flood!"
Kei shook his head. "I think Cha Cha’s the official squad cheerleader. But we should figure out what everybody else’s jobs are first." He looked at Seraphee. "What do you think, sir?"
Seraphee was shocked to be called sir. He didn’t know what to tell them.
Zippity noticed and spared him. "I’ll Scout! And Doodah could be the resident whiney chicken."
Kei laughed. "I’ll volunteer to drive one of the Warthogs, since my aim sucks but I can drive okay. I’ll also volunteer to be the Navigator." He looked at Doodah. "How’s your aim?"
"My aim’s okay’ but I can’t drive." Doodah responded.
"Then you can be a Gunner, and maybe our team’s Sniper." Cha Cha said. "I drive like a drunken chimpanzee, but my aim’s fine. I’ll be the other Gunner."
Myram nodded. "I can drive and aim fine, but I’m not all that fast. I’ll be Heavy Artillery. I’m not going to be slowed down at all when carrying a lot of heavy gear." He looked at Defarree. "What about you?"
Defarree thought for a moment. "I can drive okay as long as I’m not going too fast, but my aim’s really good. I’ll drive the Wraith. Seraphee should get the Ghost." Then he looked to Seraphee. "Any objections?" He mentally slapped himself. "Sorry. Do you have any objections, sir?"
"No." Seraphee said, still uncomfortable about being called sir.
"I’ll drive the other Warthog." Zippity said with great enthusiasm. "I can’t drive a tank but a Warthog is a piece of cake."
Cha Cha grinned. "I guess it’s settled then. Doodah and I will be Gunners, Zippity and Kei will be Drivers, Seraphee drives the Ghost, Defarree drives the Wraith, and Myram will ride on whatever vehicle he chooses." She stopped for a second. "As far as team jobs go, Myram is Heavy Artillery, Kei is Navigator, Zippity is the Scout, and Seraphee’s the Leader. That leaves Mechanic, Medic, and Sniper unfilled." She looked at Doodah. "Which would you be best at? If you aren’t sure, just tell us what you aren’t so good at and we’ll go from there."
"
I’d have to go with Sniper. I’ve never tried to fix equipment and I don’t like the sight of blood from anyone I know." Doodah replied.
"Yeah! He faints when he sees a comrade’s blood." Zippity put his two cents in.
"I’ll be the Medic." Defarree volunteered. "I’m not squeamish. That and power tools seem to hate me or something." He added.
"That leaves me to be Mechanic." Cha Cha commented. "Which is just as well. If I bend metal too far, I can just bend it back." Myram got a funny look on his face when she said that.
"I don’t think you needed to add that last bit, Cha Cha." He said. "And we all have our assignments now. And only one thing is stopping us." The Hunter stopped. "What are our orders, commander?" Myram had looked at Seraphee as he said that.
"Um…" Seraphee paused to think, he knew he needed to get over his problems but it wasn’t going to be easy. "Before we can make an offensive we need to find the Flood." He tried to sound sure of himself but failed miserably and he knew it.