Love KIA (Damon Baird x Reader)

Chapter 7: Damsel

It wasnt very long before I was back on my feet and shoved into the field again. Mostly back to training more recruits, including Carmine. His aim had gotten better, but he was still clumsy.. something I worried would get him killed once Hoffman decided to send him into the fight.. but unfortunately, there wasnt much I could teach him that he didn't already know. The rest of his training would be up to Marcus to handle.

Currently, I was held up in the barracks, cracking jokes with a few other soldiers. Locust sightings had been low the past few days, and with Hoffman still trying to decide our next course of action, there wasnt much for Delta to do, aside from get some much needed (and deserved) rest. As the laughter died down, I heard Cole over my TAC/COM.

"Hey (l/n)'s! Got a minute? You're requested at the Baird Labs." Cole laughed.

I laughed a bit, replying, "Yeah. On my way."

I bid farewell to the men in the barracks, and made my way to Bairds usual workspace. There, Baird and Cole were both looking over a journal, a few artifacts, and some weird rock. I walked over and glanced at the journal. It was written in the locusts language, so I couldnt understand a damn thing it said. Baird was writing something down in his own journal.

"So, what did you guys need me for?" I asked, making my presence known.

"Hey, good, you're here." Baird said, looking up at me, "I wanted to show you this. Thought you'd find it interesting." He said, gesturing to the stuff on his desk.

"As interesting as it looks, I cant read that journal.. and I dont know what all that is."

"I know. Which is why I'm gonna show ya. Told you I was gonna teach you some of what I know, and where else to start then with this stuff." He said, gesturing to an empty chair. "Pull up a seat."

I grabbed the chair and seated myself between Baird and Cole, looking at Bairds notebook. Seems he was translating the locust writing, but he wasnt very far into it.

"You can read locust?" I asked.

"Well, no. Not from memory. That's what my translator is for. Go through, translate each letter, then bam. Locust to english." He remarked, showing me the translator.

"How did anyone even figure that out?" I asked, taking the translator and looking it over.

"Dunno, and dont care. All I know, is that it's accurate, and helps give more insight on to why these assholes are assholes."

"Bairds big on lore and stuff. He acts all tough, but hes a huge nerd." Cole laughed, smackimg Bairds back.

"Haha, yeah, laugh it up, Cole. What I do helps. Sort of. Knowing the enemy can help you beat the enemy." Baird said, taking the translator back.

"So does blowing up the enemy." Cole stated.

"Well.." I intervened, "I think knowing their history is a good thing. Who knows, maybe it could help us see the real reason they came to the surface in the first place."

"They came to the surface because they're just war driven." Cole stated, "They're invasive."

"Well we dont know that. Humans had lived here a long time before the locust made themselves known. We've been to their turf, they have buildings, agriculture.. history. Being underground seems natural to them." I stated, "Maybe they only invaded because we were drilling into their territory."