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I was staring at the ceiling, rather sure that a river of crimson was snaking its way down my forehead. I hadn't, before that moment, considered what I'd do in a fight. In that moment though, when Jack's clenched fist slammed into my body at well over twenty miles per hour, I knew that I didn't much care what happened to me.
"Stand up you pussy," Jack said, in the triumphant tone which he usually used.
I continued staring at the ceiling though, the blood pooling audibly under my left ear. The dripping sounds had intrigued me and had won my attention over Jack. But then hand swung into view again, this time with an open palm.
"Take it and stand the hell up," he said, his voice rising. He emphatically wiggled his hand in my eyes, motioning for me to take it.
"I'm good," I whispered, still staring at the ceiling.
"You need medical." I just barely heard Lucy say that. She was always concerned with others, always suggesting medical.
"It's just a cut," I replied, my eyes fixed on the ceiling.
"Stand up Max," Lucy said. I felt, just barely, her feet brush against my pants. Then her hand waved in front of my face too. Now I had two hands waving, almost bodiless, in front my face. Gestures of goodwill, I know, but they seemed more like vultures, floating above me, waiting for my death to tear me to shreds and eat any available meat.
"I'd prefer not to," I told her, this time more forcefully. "It's rather comfortable." Jack's hand, weathered and calloused by work on his father's farm, disappeared. He worked on the farm as a child, helping bring in enormous crops to be sold to other colonies.
I heard him walk away, soft footsteps making their way through the white tiled hall.
"Stand up Max," Lucy repeated. Her face suddenly floated above my face, her eyebrows bunched together and her face in clear concern. Her blue eyes, the color of tropical seas, stared down at me, her pupils adjusting to the change in light. Her blonde hair fell down, straight as always, nearly touching my face.
"You need medical," she said in a soft voice, nearly whispering.
"I know," I replied, moving my elbow slowly to lean up. "How bad's the cut?"
"You're bleeding rather heavily," she replied.
"I figured." I turned, after achieving a sitting stance, to look at the pool of blood. It was larger than the diameter of my head.
"You can't go around getting in fights like this, Max," she said, placing an arm under my shoulder. She then pulled up and helped me get to my feet.
I chuckled a little and then stared a moment into her eyes. "You know, I really do care about how much food I can eat in the mess hall."
"That's fine Max, I'd like more too, but you can't have fighting in such a tight quarters space. It's a small station," she whispered, her hands running along the side of my face.
I could feel my own rough beard as her hand pulled on the small whiskers. I sighed, closing my eyes for an extended second before staring at Lucy again.
"Alright, let's get this patched up," I told her, starting off towards medical.

Sweat was pouring off my forehead like a water fountain when I woke up that night. I stared, yet again, at the ceiling before me. My heart was pounding, which was unusual. I was normally a calm, too calm, person. But at that moment, waking up in near complete darkness, I was afraid.
"Lucy," I whispered. I heard no response. The sheets didn't rustle, no mouths moved, in fact, I couldn't even feel her breathing next to me. "Lucy."
I sat up, forcing my feet out from under the sheets and down onto the floor. The floor was cold, as always. I hated it and it was another complaint I often forced into discussion. Damn UNSCDF couldn't afford any damned floor heaters.
The door slid open, off to my right. Bright light poured in, nearly blinding me. My hand shot out, straight to the night table. I gripped the pistol tight and pointed it at the door.
"Max!"
I recognized the voice immediately. "Don't scare me like that Lucy."
She walked in, the door sliding behind her. I heard her fingernail click on the plastic light switch and a dim light slowly came to life. She came into view now. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were red. Her skin seemed a bit pale too.
"What's wrong?" I asked, placing the pistol back on the table.
She walked over too me silently. An almost emotionless stare pierced me. "The Covenant."
"What?" I asked, standing up. The comment had confused me and scared me. How could they be here? How could they have found it? I thought.
"A small force, just whispers, they just blew by us. They're headed for Earth," she whispered. She nearly collapsed into my arms. Tears started pouring from her eyes. Instantly I grabbed her, wrapped my arms around her, and held her tight.
"Who picked them up? Who's telling the Defense System?" I asked.
"Jack got 'em, tagged 'em. Darcy sent word to Admiral Hood," she whimpered.
"Lucy," I said, firmly. I pushed her away a little, my hands gripping her shoulders. "Listen…"
"There's nothing we can do Max!" she screamed. The tears spurted out of her eyes, pouring all over her face and her shirt.
"If they're invading Earth," I started. "…then there's going to be more than just a small force!"
She stopped a moment and stared into my eyes. "All those civilians."
"You're a civilian," I told her.
"All those children."
"All those children will not die," I told her. "Not if we tell them what to expect. I mean, sure enough people are going to die because of this small force, but you can be sure as hell that a small force isn't all their sending. If we do not let them know that more will be coming… then Earth is doomed."
"Don't you think Hood could figure that out?" she asked.
"Fuck Hood!" I yelled. "Damn bastard can't tell his nose from his toe anymore!"
"Then who the hell is going to save them?" she cried.
I sighed and stared into her eyes. What am I trying to prove? What the hell am I saying? I thought as tears started to form in the corners of my eyes. "I… I don't know."
She fell into my arms and embraced me and I her. We stood there for a long time, crying and hugging, thinking of all the doomed souls on Earth.

"Fucking A!" I heard Jack yell.
"What's up?" I asked, walking into the control center. Jack was sitting at the main radio display cursing as images floated across the screen.
"These are images from the battle," he said, his face lit up by the screen.
"What battle?" I asked, taking a seat next to him.
"The one over Earth. Damn Covenant blew right through the defenses. They damn near destroyed an entire defense cluster. Fuck Max! I don't have time to explain this shit to you. You shouldn't have taken the hit like a fucking pussy, wouldn't have had to take a damn nap and miss your shift!"
"What are you still doing here?" I asked, looking at the screen.
"It's too damn interesting to not watch."
Spacecrafts soared through space, dodged debris and crashed into bombs. The footage was from a personal camera, as the footage wasn't too great. Suddenly a Orbital Defense Platform exploded, it was like watching a miniature super nova.
"Damn…" I whispered.
"This is the fifth film I've watched," Jack stated. "I saw one earlier where a couple of marines shat their pants when the cruiser rolled in."
I chucked a little. But as soon as I did I wished I hadn't. Laughing about war? I asked myself. I shook my head a little in self disgust, but I couldn't turn away from the scenes.
"How long ago did this all happen?" I asked.
"It's gotta be two hours now. Word is that one cruiser made it through and made landfall. They're in some hell hole in Africa."
I sighed, once again, and closed my eyes in contemplation. I felt reassured knowing Lucy had gone to sleep and couldn't think about the war from a sleep state.
"So, we just gunna sit here and watch the shit hit the fan?" I asked, opening my eyes to the screen.
"I don't fuckin' know," Jack replied, his voice a little disturbed.
"There's gotta be more comin'" I said, my speech starting to slur. I turned to him then.
"Yeah…" he said. "You on something?" he asked, finally turning away from the screen.
"Nurse gave me something for my head," I told him, pointing a finger at the bandage fixed over the cut on my head.
"Yeah… Sorry about that," he said, looking down at his hands.
"I don't give a rat's ass about it Jack, all that maters now is this damn war," I told him, looking at the screen once more.
"Regardless, you can't be here while like that, you could jeopardize something," he said, his eyes looking back up to mine.
"Bull shit, I am not going to stand by and sleep some more. Hell, I can hardly stand it just sitting here and watching that screen," I said turning back to him.
Jack had opened his mouth up to speak when a buzzing rung out over the radio. Suddenly a voice started patching through.
"This is ODP Sahara to Station 7, do you copy?"
The voice had a thick Texan accent. The man sounded calm, a little too calm for my taste.
Jack leaned over to the radio system and keyed the microphone. "This is Station 7 to ODP Sahara, we read you loud and clear."
"Copy that. Good news boys, you're in for some hurtin'."
"Whatchya mean?" I asked.
"You navy guys are being shipped right over here to fight this fuckin' war head on. Hood's supposing more could comin', plans on assembling a larger defense force."
"Well what the hell are we going to fly?" Jack asked.
"We got some spare ships lyin' around… You know… ONI shit," the voice said, an audible laugh finishing the sentence.
"What? Why the hell would we be doing Black-Ops? We're a group of fuckin' screw ups!" Jack said, his voice rising in irritation.
"Not my decision boys. Gather your bags, you'll saddle up on the FFG Titus at 03:00 hours tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Jack asked, obviously infuriated.
"Not my decision."
"Fuck…"
"Yeah… ODP Sahara out."
"Wait a second! What about civilians?" I asked quickly.
"Ahh…" the voice said. The rustling of papers came over the radio loudly. "Says here they'll stay on board and keep watch for the next Covenant force."
"Son of a bitch," I said, standing up.
"Alright, I'm out for real this time. G'luck boys. ODP Sahara out."
The radio fizzled to silence as I walked out the door. The bright lights of the white hallways stung, but I didn't care. I walked so fast that my blood pressure changed rapidly and caused my vision to go away for a second. I stopped rapidly, once I could see again, and stared at the door to our room.
I walked in quickly, seeing Lucy sleeping on the bed. Fuck, I thought. The shit's really hittin' the fan. I sat down next to her, staring at her face, her wonderful hair and pretty lips.
Goin' lose it all Max. Nice job watching stars, great girl, life. Fuckin' A.
The sheets rustled as she turned from her side to her back. Her eyes opened slowly and sleepily. She stared at me a moment, a slight smile gracing her lips. I tried to smile back, but just couldn't bring it on my face.
"Max…" she asked, her eyebrows rising in concern.
"Bein' shipped to war…" I said, grabbing her hand.
"What?" she asked in a near whisper.
"Tomorrow… I gotta leave. You've gotta stay here baby," I said to her.
How much pain does she need to endure?
I could see the tears forming in the corners of her eyes and eventually stream down her cheeks. "You can't leave Max…" she whimpered, falling into my chest. "What am I going to do?"
What am I going to do?
"I'm sorry baby, I can't…" I couldn't finish my sentence. I didn't know what I would have said.
She looked up at me with a wet face. She slowly came up to the same level as me and placed her lips on mine. The gesture was enough to have me a little assured that nothing bad would happen. But in the back of my mind I couldn't help but think that some major shit was going to go down and that I'd end up in a worse state than I was then.

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