[ He turned his head to look at her, a soft, relieved smile on his lips, though there was still a hint of sadness to it. ]
Yeah. We came out of it okay, somehow.
Once Naomi got me and Amos patched up - we headed for the Behemoth together. They'd spun up the drum, and were offerin' medical assistance to everyone in the Ring, so the Martians and the UN were sendin' people too.
A lotta stuff happened after that... Holden had a vision, while he was on that thing, about what it could do. Saw it wipe out whole solar systems, in an effort to stop somethin' from spreadin'. Only you know how humans are, Gunny. They saw what the sphere did to all the ships, how it killed so many people - and figured they needed to destroy the ring, before it could take out the solar system, too. They'd done a test with a nuclear bomb on a skiff, to see how the sphere would react - and of course that just woke the damn thing up, and made us all look like enemies.
Things god pretty bad, pretty fast, after that, and I'll be honest, it's all kinda a blur.
Right, well - Holden managed to get a hold of Miller, and Miller said that we needed to show the sphere that we weren't a threat, and to do that, we needed to power down every drive core in the ring.
At the same time, the UN and Martian and Belt commanders were hatchin' a plan to do the exact opposite, and use the tight beam laser as a weapon by hookin' it up directly to the drive and then usin' it like a surgical laser to slice through the ring.
So Naomi and Drummer and Holden went to go get control of the drive, and me and Amos and Monica and Anna - the reporter and a really sweet priest who was really damn good at calmin' people down - went to hijack the comms systems, to send out a broadcast to the whole fleet to power their drives down.
Obviously, the powers that be didn't like that much, and sent down some Martian Marines to deal with us.
Hell, Gunny, if you'd had your armour with you, I think you woulda managed to kill all of us before you even knew it was us. But without it, we were firin' down the hall at each other without knowin' who was on the other end of the gun.
[ There was a pause, and then, very hastily - ] We didn't shoot you. You called out, and I recognized your voice, so I called back. Was surprised as all hell and damn lucky to boot. If it hadn't've been you, I'm sure we'd be dead.
Hell if I know. I was gonna ask you the same question, but - I got pulled here just after we got back on the Roci.
[ He wet his lips. ] Anyway, we uh - I came out without my gun and you lowered your weapon, and I was tryin' to tell you what the hell was goin' on, but- the two other marines that were with you didn't like it. They jumped both of us. Amos got one of them when he smacked me down, and you got the other-
... I don't think they made it, Gunny. [ His voice was incredibly soft. Apologetic. ]
I didn't actually see 'em - I was a little distracted. You got shot an' we weren't anywhere near a medic, and we were expectin' them to send more people down to get us at any second - so I was kinda spending the whole time tryin' to keep your blood in.
[ He can't actually look at her, when he says that, because if he thinks too hard he can still feel her blood welling up under his fingers. He tries to suppress a shudder, but it shivers down his spine anyway. ]
They listened, though. The fleet. We bought enough time, everyone shut their drive cores down. The lights went out, so someone up on the bridge of the Behemoth managed to get them to do it. It wasn't really the first thing on my mind, anymore.
But it meant that we managed to get you to a med bay, before you bled out.
[Just the implications of that are staggering—she can barely wrap her head around them. Everyone is going to be scrambling to get through those rings and lay a claim. It's going to be a mess.]
Couldn't tell you - we were just on our way heading back to the ring, before I got here. Think we were all a bit shell shocked.
You uh - you were with us, by the way. We hadn't actually talked about whether you were stayin' or not, but. You decided to take the flight back with us.
[ He watched her for a moment, his heart aching with empathy. ]
They betrayed you, Gunny. [ He said softly. ] They were gonna get everyone in the entire system killed. You've proven over and over again that you can figure out the right thing, even if it ain't what you're bein' told.
They'd be idiots, to not welcome you back, if you wanted it.
[ Not that he had any faith in Mars not being made of idiots, anymore... ]
They fired on us just 'cause we were tryin' to talk it out, rather than shoot each other.
[ He wonders if he should feel worse, about their deaths. But he doesn't. There were a lot of dead people who'd done everything right, for him to mourn.
Shooting Gunny was enough for him to write them off completely. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[And she assumes she's going to stay okay—he would have had a much different reaction upon seeing her if she wasn't.]
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Yeah. We came out of it okay, somehow.
Once Naomi got me and Amos patched up - we headed for the Behemoth together. They'd spun up the drum, and were offerin' medical assistance to everyone in the Ring, so the Martians and the UN were sendin' people too.
A lotta stuff happened after that... Holden had a vision, while he was on that thing, about what it could do. Saw it wipe out whole solar systems, in an effort to stop somethin' from spreadin'. Only you know how humans are, Gunny. They saw what the sphere did to all the ships, how it killed so many people - and figured they needed to destroy the ring, before it could take out the solar system, too. They'd done a test with a nuclear bomb on a skiff, to see how the sphere would react - and of course that just woke the damn thing up, and made us all look like enemies.
Things god pretty bad, pretty fast, after that, and I'll be honest, it's all kinda a blur.
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Just tell me what you can.
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At the same time, the UN and Martian and Belt commanders were hatchin' a plan to do the exact opposite, and use the tight beam laser as a weapon by hookin' it up directly to the drive and then usin' it like a surgical laser to slice through the ring.
So Naomi and Drummer and Holden went to go get control of the drive, and me and Amos and Monica and Anna - the reporter and a really sweet priest who was really damn good at calmin' people down - went to hijack the comms systems, to send out a broadcast to the whole fleet to power their drives down.
Obviously, the powers that be didn't like that much, and sent down some Martian Marines to deal with us.
Hell, Gunny, if you'd had your armour with you, I think you woulda managed to kill all of us before you even knew it was us. But without it, we were firin' down the hall at each other without knowin' who was on the other end of the gun.
[ There was a pause, and then, very hastily - ] We didn't shoot you. You called out, and I recognized your voice, so I called back. Was surprised as all hell and damn lucky to boot. If it hadn't've been you, I'm sure we'd be dead.
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They sent me? Why didn't I have my armor?
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[ He wet his lips. ] Anyway, we uh - I came out without my gun and you lowered your weapon, and I was tryin' to tell you what the hell was goin' on, but- the two other marines that were with you didn't like it. They jumped both of us. Amos got one of them when he smacked me down, and you got the other-
But not before she got a shot off into your gut.
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[She feels a sudden thrill of dread, and swallows.]
What happened to them?
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I didn't actually see 'em - I was a little distracted. You got shot an' we weren't anywhere near a medic, and we were expectin' them to send more people down to get us at any second - so I was kinda spending the whole time tryin' to keep your blood in.
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...How bad was it?
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[ He can't actually look at her, when he says that, because if he thinks too hard he can still feel her blood welling up under his fingers. He tries to suppress a shudder, but it shivers down his spine anyway. ]
They listened, though. The fleet. We bought enough time, everyone shut their drive cores down. The lights went out, so someone up on the bridge of the Behemoth managed to get them to do it. It wasn't really the first thing on my mind, anymore.
But it meant that we managed to get you to a med bay, before you bled out.
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So you saved my ass, huh?
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If it hadn't been you, I'd've been dead. No question. But yeah, like hell I was gonna let you die on me, Gunny, not if I had anything to say about it.
[ There was a pause, and then he figured he needed to finish the story. ]
Somethin' else happened, though.
When we all powered down.
The sphere did what it was supposed to.
It opened all of the other rings.
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Other rings to where?
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... Everywhere.
Tens of thousands of them.
And each one leadin' to a different habitable system.
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[Just the implications of that are staggering—she can barely wrap her head around them. Everyone is going to be scrambling to get through those rings and lay a claim. It's going to be a mess.]
Has the arguing started yet?
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You uh - you were with us, by the way. We hadn't actually talked about whether you were stayin' or not, but. You decided to take the flight back with us.
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Yeah, well, I'm guessing Mars wouldn't want me anywhere near one of their ships after that.
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They betrayed you, Gunny. [ He said softly. ] They were gonna get everyone in the entire system killed. You've proven over and over again that you can figure out the right thing, even if it ain't what you're bein' told.
They'd be idiots, to not welcome you back, if you wanted it.
[ Not that he had any faith in Mars not being made of idiots, anymore... ]
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Even if it was the right thing, they wouldn't welcome me back after disobeying orders and killing two of my team.
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... Amos got the other, before he got me.
I don't know, Gunny. Like I said, we didn't exactly get a chance to chat about it.
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If they were trying to kill you, then it was worth it.
[Still. What the hell is she supposed to do after that?]
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[ He wonders if he should feel worse, about their deaths. But he doesn't. There were a lot of dead people who'd done everything right, for him to mourn.
Shooting Gunny was enough for him to write them off completely. ]
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I'm glad you're okay.
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I'm glad we're both okay.
You had me pretty damn scared for a little bit, there.
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I guess it takes more to kill me than a bullet.
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