Augmented Heart

2

A hangover pounded in my head the next morning. Emma shook my shoulder to wake me up. I wouldn't have her wake me up after this morning. I needed to get my shit together.

I put on my uniform and hugged Emma goodbye. She would be leaving today.

I rushed over to my posting and set my backpack in my new dorm room. Other marines leaned against the Warthog. I don't think any of them were from my graduating class. They were all older than me and all men. Though, there aren't many women in the UNSC to begin with.

"Hey," One of them said to me. "It's been a while since we've had a new recruit. What's your name?"

"Sage Amos."

"Nice to meet you. Name's Garcia. Noah Garcia. Heard you were pretty talented."

"Also heard she's crushing on the master chief," Another one of the men chuckled. 

I'd hoped that wouldn't follow me everywhere I went, but it seemed like it would at this point.

"I met him once," Another chimed in. "By met him, I mean he walked by me in a station like three years ago."

The commanding officer walked in and everybody stood at attention.

"Amos, it's a pleasure to have you join us. I'm Sergeant Martin," He shook my hand aggressively.

"Nice to meet you too, sir," I nodded.

He cleared his throat, "So here's the deal. Amos and Garcia, as the youngest part of our squad you'll be joining the war effort against the covenant. You are to assist in repairs and drive."

Noah glanced at me with nervousness in his eyes.

"Oh, and try not to die. Get to the Pelican."

"Yes, sir," We said in unison.

We rushed to the other end of the station together to board the Pelican.

"I'm sorry you're being sent to die on your first day."

"Why send the younger soldiers?"

"Chances are we're stronger and faster. Maybe our senses are still up to code. I don't know," Noah scratched his head and pulled himself into the Pelican.

"Sage," A familiar voice said from the other end.

"Henry," I looked at him, wide-eyed.

"Well at least we'll get to die together," He chuckled.

I found my seat and buckled myself in. A man walked through the middle of the seats as if he were taking a role call. I assumed he was a commander of some sort. Another man came through, handing an AR and a sidekick to each of us. The metal felt cold in my hands.

I dozed off as soon as the Pelican took off, only to be woken up later by the sound of crashing.

"Breach detected," The ship's AI repeated. I put my helmet on and flipped the visor down. The pilot fell out of her seat with a thud. Nothing could be seen to explain this.

"Elite, full camo," the commander said. "Get down!" He threw a plasma grenade into the cockpit. The grenade knocked the elite to the ground, stripping him of his invisibility. The commander shot him in the head twice with his sidekick. "Get that door closed!"

"Automatic piloting failure, manual control required," The AI now repeated. Henry closed the airlock.

Noah and I ran for the cockpit.

"We gotta land this thing," He seemed panicked as he flipped switches and pushed buttons.

"Noah, you have to call down," I corrected his mistakes. "It's just this switch." I switched the Pelican to manual mode and took control of it.