Derek Sighed as he walked down the center isle. The room was nearly empty, with but a few sleeping forms occupying their beds. After a few minutes his armor lay in a neat stack on his bed, and he was heading towards the showers, It had been a very long mission.
 
The hot water poured over his tired and scarred body, slowly relaxing him. As he ran a hand over the numerous scars on his chest, his mind danced with memories of battles past. This had been one of the more...difficult ones. They had almost lost a member of the team and that always left him feeling...unsettled. He sighed once more, and turned the water off. Sleep sounded amazing right now.

Derek was soon dried and changed into his black fatigues, and resting on his bed. His life had been nothing but grenades and gunfire , and he honestly didnt have any complaints. Sure he had his fair share of injuries but no more then some, and alot less then others. His thoughts began to revolve around the last mission he had been on before this one, and slowly he drifted off to sleep, visions of driving warthogs through office buldings dancing in his head.

Spook hobbled into the barracks supporting a freshly bandaged leg. It was nice to know it wasn't going to fall off now that a Spartan knowledgeable surgeon had looked at it. She was out of armor but under a pair of olive drab marine BDU's she was still wearing the under armor. The doc had ordered her to leave it on to aid her recovery. Damn thing was it meant Spook couldn't have a shower yet.

She found her bunk and flopped ungraciously down, trying to act as if that hadn't just shot a gazillion volts of pain threw her newly surgafied leg. She fluffed up the thin excuse for her pillow and attempted to find a comfortable lounging position.

Tavish emerged from the doors, his armour covered in a thin layer of oil and grease from his work on his baby. She might have some difficulty flying straight, but she'd manage to get around; and that wasn't the first time he'd said that. He paused when he noticed Spook in her bunk, grinning to himself and standing beside her "Hey, how you doing?"

"I'll be fine." Spook said mashing her pillow under her back "The doc says I'll be back to work by the end of the week. Techs should have me a new leg panel for my armor by then."

"Ah, good good" Tavish said, a wide grin on his lips as he removed his helmet slowly, gazing down at Spook as she leant back on her bunk. "Nice to see you out of your armor again" he laughed, scanning for his own bunk; he hadn't been here for a while, but he found it after a second. "Ha, looks like we're practically bunk buddies" he pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the bunk opposite her own.

"Good then maybe we can stay up late and paint each others toenails!" Derek said in a groggy voice."Cmon you two.. take it else where..Some of us need sleep." He said rolling over, to face the other way.

Aaron walked into the room and threw his helmet onto his bunk. "All right Gentlemen..." He stopped talking when he saw Spook laying on a bunk. "Since when do you sleep in here?" he asked crossing his arms.

"She only arrived a little while ago sir, they wouldn't have a bunk set out for her yet... and I thought Spartans couldn't bunk with anything else but Spartans, where are they gonna put her?" Tavish asked, standing up for the woman as always... he was trying not to grin too much, dripping oil and grease into careful pools where he stood "Low on space in here as it is."

Derek sat up in bed, not sure if he should stand at attention or not."New orders sarge?"

Aaron just waved the issue away figuring that it wasnt important. "We are leaving again tomorrow for something called shore leave. Apparently its something all other soldiers get and they want to try it out for Spartans. I can give you more info when I get back." With that he walked into the showers.

Spook had never minded sharing the barrack with the boys, she'd done it on several occasions, but the words shore leave sounded completely unfamiliar "Leave sir?" Certainly she'd heard of the concept before but never addressed to a Spartain, much less a whole team. "To what shore?"

Aaron came back out of the shower wearing only a towel tied around his waist. This showed all his scars and a large tattoo over his right pectoral of a Scorpion tank, surrounded by bloody broken Covenant bodies and firing off a round. Even outside of his armor he was an imposing figure. He used another towel to dry off his short cut blond hair. "I dont think the Admiral meant a literal shore but something about going into a civilian town and...enjoying ourselves."

"Sureley this frozen rock isn't civilian populated... is it?" Spook asked. She'd forgotten trying to squash her pillow into a comfortable shape and was now more concerned with where they'd be going.

"Shore leave? WHY?!" Tavish asked in honest confusion; he knew about that, he used to watch old movies with his dad about marines before he was drafted. He didn't forget everything before his training. "We're Spartans, we're not gonna fit in in a civilian town, specially if we're not wearing armour. I mean the people round HERE get confused if I take off my helmet..." He sighed and shook his head "I'm going for a shower too." He managed to get past Aaron without getting oil on him and went for a shower with his suit on, it needed the wash after all.

"No there isnt a town on this hunk of ice so we have to take a shuttle in to someo other continent or something." Aaron said as he tossed one towel into the hamper, he turned to his dresser and pulled out a pair of boxer-briefs and slid them on under his towel before untieing it and tossing it into the hamper as well. "The way I figure it is either command got a heart and feels like trying to repay us all for nearly killing us, or its the opposite and they have no heart and want to make us suffer for complaining about or mission."

"This is just weird." Spook said to herself leaning back against her mal-squashed pillow. She'd been with the Spartan program since she was five and in training since she was six, ever since her parents where lost in New Mombasa. That was two or three years longer than most Spartans. Not once had she or any of her class been granted leave and she doubted she'd even know how to react around normal civilians any more. She felt more nervous now than she had been running from the flood without any ammo.

Derek sighed layed back down."When do we leave exactly?" He too doubted that it would be an easy transistion. Most people on base seemed to think they were frightning, There was no telling what normal people would think.

"Bright and early at about 9 am." Aaron said as he flopped down on his bunk. His was one of the few that werent actual bunk beds due to his large stature they found out early on that he couldnt fit comfortably on the bottom and no one felt safe sleeping on the bed under him. "They are supposed to give us special outfits for it or somethin'. Either way its going to be a nice helping of FUBAR."

"New threads?" Tavish asked, walking out of the showers in only a towel and his confidence; he'd left his armour in the showers to drain clean "Might not be too bad after all." He settled on his own bunk, barely fitting in but just managing to squeeze in; he'd made jokes about that before... but when a stiff breeze from outside could make you get tighter than a fightened hedgehog, and he was a stiff breeze away from the full frontal, he tended to stop making jokes. Anyway... Spook was here. While it might jog her memory it was a soft target if she was angry because it did. "Think I've got a bunch of back pay to waste anyway" Tavish said, trying not to drip too much on his bunk; they all had back pay actually, what would a Spartan do with MONEY?

Aaron let out a chuckle. "We get paid for this? Hell, here I was thinking we were doing it just for the exotic locals and women."

"Here here!" Spook said raising an imaginary beer. "But I was under the impression there would be more hot dudes." She blew the imaginary suds off her bear before taking a drink and remarked how untrue her last statement was.

derek smiled, but kept his eyes closed."And if you turn to the left side of your bunk, you will see spartan three one four lounging gracefully in his natural sleeping enviroment..Oi hes a sexy beast."

Spook scoffed and made like she'd split her imaginary beer "Awe, look, look what your ridiculous humor made me do." She added even more by slinging imaginary beer in his direction. "Waiter can I get a towel!?"

"Now now, none of that yet." Aaron said scornfully, "Save all that drinking for tomorrow!"

And get a towel she did, the one from around Tavish's waist to be exact, slap bang across the face; it was nothing new to anyone, but still Tavish made it a point to have secretly pulled on underpants beneath his towel while no one was looking. When Spook finally pulled the towel from her face and looked over at him Tavish was grinning, lounging back and trying not to look too happy with himself.

Scorch stormed in, pulling his helmet off quickly. "What the hell's all this I hear about shore leave???"

derek Laughed."Never actually had a so called drink before..this should be fun!" He said, trying to imagine what kind of hell five drunken spartans could cause. It didint look pretty."So they're truysting us in a civvie town, to get drunk and not cause a ruckous?"

Spook threw the towel in the floor and pointed at her eyes and back to Shaft a few times as if to say she had her eyes on him. "They're probably expecting us to lay low." She said finally "But how the hell are five people ranging in height from six to nine feet supposed to lay low for five days? It smells almost like they want something to happen." Then the most frightening thing occurred to her "We can't take any guns can we?"

Aaron leaned up a bit to see Scorch before giving any details away. "We got shore leave tomorrow. They are gonna take us off this ice cube to somewhere else and drop us in a civilian town to "have fun". We are the programs trial group." He did little quotation fingers when he said "have fun" as it seemed appropriate. He laid his head back down before addressing the next question. "No Spook, no guns allowed. How would it look to the civies if we are walking around with our kind of weaponry strapped to our backs?"

"Hot?" Tavish chuckled, rubbing back his wet hair so it was out of his eyes and staring up at the ceiling as he stretched out on his bed "From what I've seen girls love guns almost as much as guys... but then again..." A small moment of doubt slipped into his voice "I have only ever... addressed military women. How do you start a conversation without saluting?"

"I dont know, but I think they have manuals on it in the computer." Aaron said as he closed his eyes. "We need to be getting some shut eye soon or your gonna be tired in the morning." He couldnt make them go to sleep, but he could make the suggestion.

Spook laughed at Scorp's joke about the manuals "Don't worry Shaft, I doubt you'll even find a woman who'll talk to you." She scooted down in her bunk and adjusted her pillow under her neck and remarked at how little pain there was in her leg from only a few hours ago. If she was lucky maybe she could get a shower before they left in the morning and could loose the under suit.

"Just try not to crush anything in front of the normal guys Spook, they usually get nervous when they see a woman folding sheet metal like it was nothing. Too many... vulnerable parts" Tavish chuckled, relaxing back in his bed and letting out a groan as tension started to leave him.

"So they givin us clothes or do we get to go in our armor just no helmets?" Scorch asked curiously, having not heard that part of the earlier conversation

"We get new threads" Tavish chuckled softly, resting his head back on his pillow and taking a deep breath "Tomorrow we get suited up and carted out to god knows where... Lets hope this doesn't end badly."

"We get to go out and have fun, how would that end badly?" Scorch asked as he started taking his suit off

Tavish chuckled and snuggled down against his bed, resting against the pillow and turning away from Spook as he turned into the bed "Cause what's your idea of fun Scorch? Gonna hit the gym the moment we get there? Maybe get drunk? A drunk Spartan... in civilian clothes... in civilian environment... Yeah, that can't go wrong."

"I'll have you know good sir, I have no intention whatsoever of getting drunk. The impairment of one's mind by the consumption of alcohol simply doesn't suit me." Scorch told him sternly as he climbed into his bed. "If you wanted to know, I was thinking of going to see a movie."

"What? We leave the base and you're going to go sit in a room watching a film? You could do that here. I know they're old movies, but you can still do it here." Tavish yawned widely, getting sleepier by the second "Live a little..."

"I'll go to the movies with you Scorch." Spook told him. "There's something about watching a movie in a real theater Shaft. A fifty foot screen is a lot better than a holo-vid any day."

"Exactly! It's nice to know somebody here has some sense." Scorch said with a grin

"Meh" Shaft mumbled, now turned so much he was face down in his pillow "Tired. Argue later. Something something something insinuation you're half Grunt."

Spook wanted to sleep also so didn't bother adding any more to the pre-sleepy-time chatter. She finally found a comfortable configuration for her pillow when she rolled onto her left side and wadded the thin bundle into a ball. As she closed her eyes she discovered how alien she felt, she was accustomed to being in her armor and despite the base's climate control she had a chill. She squirmed until she could grab the blankets and pull them up pass her shoulder. Spook never liked the cold.

---

Silence crept into the barracks as the Spartans went to sleep one by one. The only sounds that could be heard was the footsteps of passing soldiers and the occasional click of the climate control unit kicking on. Night passed quickly for them as they dreamed various dreams of combat and one of scantly armored Spartan females. When the alarm went off for them to awaken they found a neatly hung white dress uniform complete with hat and pins.

Aaron woke up promptly at the sound of the clock alarm. "Rise and shine everyone!" he hollered as she examined the outfit. "Get yourself dressed and ready to go, the transport aint waiting for us." Truth being that the transport wasnt going to leave without them but he didnt want to say that. He took the outfit into the shower's dressing rooms to put it on.

When Aaron arose Spook wasn't in her bunk but they came face to face on Aaron's way to the shower. She almost bumped into him and quickly turned her face to the wall and tried to skirt his gaze. "Mornin'" she said in a smallish voice. She'd woken early and went to harass the medical types in the infirmary. After enough badgering she'd gotten the clearance to get rid of her armor's under-suit and had taken advantage of all the guys being asleep to shower and get into her civies.

"Morning Spook." Aaron said surprised to see her up already. "You see the outfits they got us all?" He said holding up his large, neatly pressed outfit.

"Feels weird, way too much starch." Spook said still attempting to not look at Aaron and extricate herself from the showers as soon as possible. Her head cover awkwardly atop a black shock of hair that refused to lay down.

"Dress uniforms? I thought we were getting civvies." Scorch asked curiously as he picked up the uniform to look at it

"Well I guess they want to try and discourage us from doing anything that would get us dirty." Aaron said taking a closer look at it. "Well, no sense putting off the inevitable." he added as he left Spook to go and get changed himself.

Spook had likewise decided to turn her face away from Scorch. "I gotta get my shoes." and hurried off also.

Scorch started to get dressed, wondering a little bit as to why Spook was being so evasive towards them this morning.

After a few minutes Aaron came back out with his hat tucked under his arm. He dusted off a bit of lint and straightened the top. The whole thing looked very tight and uncomfortable on him. "I think they might have given me the wrong size."

Spook forgot that she was supposed to be keeping her face hidden and looked up at Aaron as she put on her shoes. With her face revealed it was apparent that she'd made an attempt at wearing makeup. The fine blue lines around her neck and ears had been blended away with a very pale foundation. her eyes where a bit too dark and her lipstick defiantly was but she couldn't help but smile when she saw Aaron "At least your skirt didn't split down the back. Hence the trousers." She didn't bother mentioning that she'd relieved an Ensign of his only pair. He wasn't exactly pleased about the situation but he'd deal.



"Spook...whats wrong with your face?" Aaron said sounding very mean on accident. "You look like someone painted you." He hadnt seen many women with makeup on and never seen Spook wearing it.

Spook's face blushed red immediately. If she wasn't already feeling self conscious she defiantly was now. "Thanks boss." Was all she said "You know how to make a girl feel nice."

Aaron raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Um...k?" he said moving out of the shower doorway. "Just wondering what happened to ya. Wont ask later."

"It's make up... dolt" Shaft added the last word under his breath, casting a glance over at Spook from his bunk "Civilians were it, all the time. Spook did a good job of it as well." He gave a small groan and rolled out of bed, finding himself glad that the dream last night still wasn't in effect "Dress uniforms? Last one to rip a hole in theirs is a square." He chuckled softly and grabbed up the uniform, moving into the showers to put it on.

"Thanks Shaft." Spook finished tieing her shoes and made sure the scrap of magazine she'd used as reference was stuffed securely in her pocket for later disposal. She didn't bother mentioning the several failed attempts she'd had while trying to apply the stuff. She could shoot the eyes out of a Jackal sniper at over a thousand units but couldn't put on lipstick.


Derek said nothing as he took his uniform into the showers, got dressed. He took a moment to give himself a once over, after he was dressed.With a sigh his eyes settled on his pins, tiny golden and red that, to the outside world, as the sum of his accomplishments. He knew that he had made much mor of an impact than most people who looked at him thought, but the fact that the majority of the people who he sa over the next few days wouldnt realize that depressed him a little. "Ready to go guys?" He asked, stepping back amongst his squad mates.

Tavish prodded his chest slightly as he came out, feeling like the uniforms were somehow tighter than the under armour they were made to wear. From the slightly jangle with every other step it was clear he'd stuffed his own medals into his pocket, not content with having them all out on show "I'm ready. Is it orders we have to wear these? Can I buy some proper civies the moment we hit the streets?"

"Well the Admiral did say we were expected to wear them and I think Command would be awful upset if we ditched them." Aaron said admiring the special pin the recognized him as a member of the Spartan program. It was gold with the original Mark VI surrounded by a semi-circle of ivy. His number was shone underneath so everyone would know he was from the first class. He looked around and noticed that everyone else's (those wearing them at least) were silver.

"Well, it looks like we are all ready. Lets head on down to the hangar." Aaron said as he did a quick double check of his uniform to make sure he wasnt wearing anything backwards or had his fly unzipped before leading the group to the Spartan Hangar.

Completely unaware that one of his service medals was stabbing him in the leg, Tavish nodded and followed suit quickly, his pocket jangling every now and then from the amount of medals in it.

Spook secured her head cover and snatched up her cane. That had been the stipulation for ridding herself of her under-suit. The doc had made her promise to walk with it or suffer armory duty the rest of her enlistment. The limp she'd had the previous day had greatly diminished and she doubted she'd need the cane by the end of tomorrow. She followed the others to the armory, unable to prevent catching sight of herself in the reflective surfaces. She looked like a stranger with makeup on, even to herself.

Scorch fell in line behind the others as they headed out to the hangar. He wasn't exactly pleased with the dress, but at least they were permitted some leave. If they had to wear monkey suits, so be it.

---

Aaron walked in with Tavish in tow, he stopped and looked around with a searching gaze. "Which ones yours?" He asked.

Tavish pointed, it was the only bunk with oil stains on; he sometimes didn't get completely clean before curling up on his bunk. He was half standing, almost doubled over and staring at his own feet.

"Ah." Aaron said simply as he walked Tavish over to his bunk and plopped him, somewhat unceremoniously into it. "You gonna be alright?"

The noise that came from Tavish was another gurble of hatred and disgust mixed with sadness and whiskey, a bitter cocktail that seemed to leave a taste in other people's mouths. It seemed he'd be alright however, so long as he didn't do anything stupid.

Aaron sighed and stood up straight, trying to look as authoritative as possible. "Now, you stay here and sleep off the alcohol and dont get up. That's an order."

"Fuh nng..." was Tavish's only reply, almost melting into the bed as he picked up one pillow and stuffed it on top of his head. It was a mix between attempted suicide by suffocation, eating a pillow and blocking out the lights.

Aaron just shook his head and left Tavish to his sobering up. He exited the barracks and towards the Spartan Command.

Tavish had an overwhelming urge to shoot something, or murder something with his hands, or a car, or all three, or possibly suicide, whatever it was there should be blood everywhere. Or whiskey. More whiskey would be nice. But he couldn't move, he was being weighed down here by his own body... his horrible, disgustingly twisted, medically freakish body...

---

- Halo C.E. RPG