Chris Kennedy - With Your Shield

Sergeant Markus Spartan Nicolos opened his eyes, then closed them instantly as the light threatened to make his head explode. He grunted and opened them a sliver to look around.

Take it slow, Spartan; you took a pretty good blow. He heard a female voice he recognizedone of the medicsbut he couldnt remember her name.

Okay, Spartan said and relaxed back onto the bed with a sigh. Why are we back on the ship? What the hell happened?

Were in hyperspace on the way home, and youve been out for about a week. We kept you in a coma due to a head injury so we could give the nanites more time to work. You should expect to be groggy for a few more hours, but hey, at least you woke up. Thats a start.

He remembered being ambushed while on patrol and calling for backup, but after thatnothing.

The rest of my unit?

Im sorry, Spartan; you were the only survivor. From what I heard, you were hit with overwhelming force.

Another voice he recognized chimed in, Thats enough, Hannah. Lieutenant Jacob Hazard Quinn, his platoon leader, added, Well debrief him later.

He heard footsteps moving away and dared to open his eyes again. It hurt a bit less this time as he looked up at Hazard. Sir, I dont know what

Well cover it later, Spartan. Take a day to get back on your feet, then well go over what we know. We completed the contract, and were on our way home. Contrary to what you might be thinking, you did just fine. With that, he turned and walked out of the sick bay, leaving Spartan alone with his thoughts.

Spartan worked back through the engagement. He was on patrol on the last day of the contract; it should have been a cake walk. There were no indications of an attackand then they were ambushed. He remembered being hit from behind, but nothing after that.

* * *

A few days later, Spartan sat in the ready room and went over the after-action report. He shook his head. How the hell did we not see them? I know we had active sweeps going, and there wasnt supposed to be any resistance!

Hazard spoke up first. Spartan, we dont know. Thats the problem. They must have had some sort of jamming technology we havent seen before; even the sensors at base didnt catch them, nor did we know we were being jammed. Second Squad managed to take half of them out before the primary force withdrew, but apparently there was another group that completely eliminated the squad.

Spartan looked down at his hands. So, Im responsible for the loss of two squads, and yet I somehow made it out?

Thats enough! This was not your fault, and I dont need you dealing with survivors guilt. You did your job. You are not responsible for this.

Right. He didnt see how that could be. Hed lost people before, but always in a straight-up fightnever to something like this. Is that all, sir?

Hazard sighed. Dismissed, Spartan. Youll be on light duty until we get back home and can get your head fully checked out. Meanwhile, the techs are looking over the information we gathered to see what we can do to prevent it from happening again.

Spartan nodded and stoodbarely hearing anything else that was saidthen exited the room and headed for his bunk. He spent the rest of the journey home handling the duties he was assigned, but his desire for combat was gone.

* * *