𝛃 - 014

[inmylight_comdr]

[Well. It had to happen sometime. She'd thrown herself back into routine, tried not to think about it, but her patrols had her going past the graveyard at least twice a day and it was hard not to glance over and just know I'm in there now.[Eventually she had to stop, and to look

Comments

[encryptedlock]

[York's a pretty bad liar, and he knows it, and he knows everyone else knows it, so instead of trying to strike up a "casual" conversation he'll just be wandering out there himself.]

[inmylight_comdr]

[She gives him a nod as she notices him.]

[Wry, dark tone.] We've got to stop meeting out here like this.

[encryptedlock]

[That gets a chuckle, though it's a little bitter too.]

Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm a goth.

[He's quiet for a bit, trying to work out how to phrase it.]

...Probably not any consolation, but all Freelancers get is a mark in the "failure" column and a nice explosion to destroy our equipment.

[inmylight_comdr]

You start reciting POE and I'm going to worry.

[But then that's met with silence as she thinks on it, and then the barest little shrug.]

I'm not quite sure what happens to us ... if, of course, there's anything left to salvage. [There certainly wouldn't have been any remains from Thom and Jorge. But, whatever happened to Beta? A company that big ... well ... She gives her head a shake. Better stop letting her thoughts go down those dark hallways. Her tone soft,] What your Freelancer fails to realize is not all death is a failure. [Here case, her? Yes. that's what she'd call it. But, countless were the missions from home deemed Successful that took more than one of her comrades.]

[encryptedlock]

[He keeps his tone carefully neutral.]

It was pretty much a failure in the Director's eyes. The kind of missions we got sent on--[weren't to save planets, weren't usually even against the Covenant]--it's probably things you were doing when you were ten, and succeeding better than we did.

He cared a lot less about us than he did about how his AIs performed.

[inmylight_comdr]

I'm sorry you had to go through that. [She looks over at him, regarding him carefully through her visor. What, really, was the difference between them, besides their upbringing and respective training? They both had a passion for their people, for humanity and saving it from extinction. If he'd been put through the same training she had, conscripted at a young age and augmented before puberty, what would he have been like?]

[She fancied he would have made a decent Spartan.] Yes, well. It's not like Ackerson had our best interests at heart.

[encryptedlock]

[He shrugs a little. He'd had a choice, hadn't he? And saying no would have meant he'd never have met Carolina, or Tex, or Delta, and that's not something he can really argue with.]

"Win the war at any cost" sounds a lot better on paper, doesn't it?

[inmylight_comdr]

Certainly a lot better than the alternative.

[encryptedlock]

Yeah. [There's not really much more to say to it than that, is there?]

And people bitch about this place.

[inmylight_comdr]

[She doesn't reply for a moment, glancing back down at her grave. No, even with the Losses and the magic, it was still easier than home. Which just made her inefficiency sting all that much more.]

I can only hope for their sakes we never end up taking a world visit. I wouldn't wish the Covenant on my worst enemy.

[encryptedlock]

[He nods, even if the Covenant is their worst enemy and so it kind of renders the point moot.]

It's...unlikely? I mean, the whole time I've been here, only one change was actually to someone's own version of the world.

...Except for the Covenant, though? I wouldn't mind being on a ship again.

[inmylight_comdr]

[A dry little chuckle,] You've lost me there. Never felt like much use on a ship. Granted, I didn't have it quite as bad as Four, since there were still encryptions to hack, but still ... not a Spartan's idea of a good time.

[encryptedlock]

Not in cryo, obviously. [Anyone who liked cryo was certifiably nuts.]

But goddamn, the idea of being able to go anywhere? Now that's something I miss.

[inmylight_comdr]

Okay, you've got a valid point here.

I don't think I've been in a place this long since I got out of training.

[encryptedlock]

Yeah. Never the same battlefield twice, right?

[He rubs the back of his neck, right where she might recognize the implant slot.] Speaking of which, though, I mean, we found out that those little crystal things are enough to support Delta out there. Past the border, I mean.

So if you want some backup out there next time, I could go.

[inmylight_comdr]

I would appreciate that, yes. Can never have too much help out there.

[A small, considering pause.] I've been meaning to get back out to test how the crystal handles my arm. We should make a trip out there, maybe take you two to Mineas Well? See if anyone wants to go back for a little vacation in the hotsprings.