As Grim as the Reaper | PREQUEL Simon 'GHOST' Riley

EIGHTEEN

Standing in Shepherd's office, the booming voices were just a mumble.

Muffled, echoing.

You couldn't focus.

Your eyes stared forward, vision blurred, glazed over...

Numb.

"I want to know, why the hell that mission - that simple recon mission - turned into me sending four letters of condolence to families?!" Shepherd yelled.

Laswell was sat at the round table to the side of him, while you sat at the opposite end, Graves on the seat beside you.

Various other officials and tech workers who were involved in the mission were also present, but you couldn't care less.

You felt dead inside.

They replayed the footage, trying to pinpoint the faults, the blame, why Graves interpreted your words as permission to fire on a plan that you had no knowledge about whatsoever. Over and over, you watched the body cams, watching your team die, watching yourself fight to get to them.

All angles were covered, and it was agonising.

Silent tears had fallen and dried, leaving tight, stained streaks down your cheeks. But you didn't have the energy to wipe them away.

"What happened, sir, is your personal lap dog dropped a missile on them!" Laswell spat back, sending a glare to Graves.

"I followed orders!" he yelled back, turning to Shepherd for defence.

Laswell rubbed at her temple, looking between the two men, "I did not give you orders to fire on that. You knew as well as Echo 6 that this was recon only!"

"I gave those orders, Kate."

"What?"

"I gave Shadow Company the orders to fire on the warehouse in case of emergency. I did not, however, give permission for this to happen while our men were inside."

"Well, with all due respect, General, it fucking did." you spoke up, voice low and gravelly.

He turned to you, then. "And who's fault was that, hmm? If you weren't getting so god-damn hysterical about being ambushed then-"

You cut him off with an amused scoff, "Hysterical, sure. Giving my team a heads up as a dozen AQ soldiers flank 'em is so hysterical."

"Watch your tone, Lieutenant." he growled back.

"Sir, please." Graves interrupted, taking one of your hands in his, "Lieutenant Price has been through enough, may she be excused?"

You rolled your eyes, yanking your hand from his grip. You didn't miss the flash of hurt in his eyes as you pulled away, but you couldn't care less. You'd been listening to him deflect fault for nearly three hours.

To you, it was simple; he fired when he shouldn't have, and actions have consequences.

"No, Commander. She may not be excused from a meeting that concerns her, and her future here."

Laswell's head shot up, looking between you and Shepherd, "Her future?! What the hell is this?"

"Her team died on mission, she is the sole survivor. It needs to be investigated."

"Those orders need to be investigated! Not my girl!"

You rolled your eyes, happy to continue listening to every person in the room talk as if you weren't even there.

As long as you didn't have to say shit, that was fucking fine.

Have at it.

"Those were my orders, and I will not have you questioning my authority, Chief."