07:03 Sea Tranquility

The skimmer had initially ignored John, they were keyed in on the pair of MEVs. John’s burst of gunfire toward them was unusually accurate. Each of the bursts he had fired was true with at least one of the three rounds striking the skimmer. The high-explosive rounds blasted out chunks from the armor plates.

The shrapnel had damaged but didn’t kill any of the three hostiles onboard the skimmer. Just as they began to give John a broadside three rounds very nearly killed two of them. That was enough to really grab their attention. The skimmer banked sharply, off their attack run, and focused on the lone suit of power armor that was shooting at them.

The gap between the skimmer and John continued to shrink. Both sides continued to fire at one another, though John was the more accurate of the two. Despite that, his first kinetic shield had flared out because of the incoming fire. Thankfully he had pulled the psychic amplifier and replaced it with a second kinetic shielding module.

John was closely monitoring the distance between him and the skimmer. He fired the main thruster to close the gap more quickly. Then the directional thrusters fired and sent him vertically, above and outside of the range of the skimmer’s guns. The third man in the rear dropped the turret’s gun and began shooting the assault rifle he drew from his back.

The skimmer banked hard to try and either strike John where he landed or at the very least get their guns on him. John, not overly keen on getting hit or killed this day, had other ideas. He switched his battle rifle into fully automatic mode.

The song and dance continued several times over. John rockets up from the surface after narrowly avoiding being pancaked by the skimmer. While his limited shooting at the skimmer was still more accurate than not, he wasn’t slowing it down any.

That was until the tide of battle changed for John in a significant way. He rocked up, above the skimmer, but his boot just rubbed the surface of the upper armor plate. That was far too close for comfort. John’s return fire onto the skimmer was accurate once more, but this time the navigator took an explosive round to the helmet, killing them instantly.

The thrusters cut off and John was being pulled gently back towards the surface. The bolt locked back suddenly, signaling he was out of ammunition. It shouldn’t have come to him as a surprise since his HUD had a round count in the magazine, but it was disconcerting nonetheless.

John pressed the magazine release button on the receiver which caused the drum to fall out. He reached for the spare magazine on his chest and slammed it into the gun. His trigger finger reached up to press the bolt release button.

He flicked the safety button back to three-round burst mode and continued to fire at the target. They were lining up to turn him into roadkill when he landed. Unfortunately for the gunner, despite being able to use the turret gun again, two things happened that the hostiles didn’t expect to occur.

John fired his thrusters again to radically change his direction at the last second, but instead of rising high up from the surface, he sent him off to his right only a couple of feet above the regolith. The second was a well-timed, placed, and a lucky burst of fire from John. The driver was struck with three rounds of high-explosive fire in the chest. The combat suit and armor plates he was wearing saved him from a quick death.

Because the rounds came in from the side, the drive and control systems of the skimmer weren’t protected from the shrapnel. The engines and gravitic systems shut down abruptly. Without either, the skimmer was effectively a ballistic missile. John hopped to his right, then turned to face the skimmer when he landed and fired the thrusters again. He wanted to be on the hostiles before they had a chance to react.

The skimmer was being pulled down to the surface towards a rocky outcrop. The pilot was fighting a desperate, but hopeless, fight to restart the engines. It then touched the regolith, slowed down rapidly while it dug into the ground. It struck a buried lava rock, crushing the front in and spearing the driver through the chest and legs by a couple of support beams. As it toppled over the gunner was violently thrown out of the turret run and sent flying to the ground.

John landed six feet from where the hostile came to rest and pointed his gun at them, “Just give me an excuse to kill you.”

“John, coms are back. The Marines are five minutes out. We let them know that you're a friendly out there,” Andern shouted through the line.

“The gigs up, the cavalry is on its way here. Now, who the fuck are you?”

The hostile was slow to rise from their position laying down, they were clearly injured. Whatever fight was in them was no more. But they refused to speak. They slowly rose their hands.

“Not the talking type, eh?” John said over the open channel, “Your loss I suppose.”

John took several steps back but kept the gun aimed at the hostile’s center mass. It must’ve been an oddly uncomfortable feeling to see a giant in armor pace back and forth for several minutes before the cavalry arrived on the scene.

He slowly walked towards the skimmer. John looked at it and gave a quick once over. Blood-ice could be seen beneath the driver. Though the small I-beam that was poking through below his left shoulder meant they have had a rough ending to their day and life.

John’s next target was where the navigator was. They were laying face down in the regolith twenty feet behind him. The third hostile fell to their knees but kept their hands up, John wasn’t expecting that movement and stopped. They shook their head, still refusing to communicate verbally with him.

The first kinetic shield flared back to life suddenly. John wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but when the shields come back online it always causes a minor jump scare reaction within. The sound or sensation of when it happens always unnerved him.

The navigator wasn’t moving, John presumed they were dead, but he needed verification to feel more comfortable about his situation. He grabbed one arm and pulled the individual over. The faceplate was shattered in several places. The skin that was visible was peppered with shrapnel, blood was frosted over and the skin itself looked like it suffered a wicked freezer burn.

The Marines arrived on the scene in a shuttle suddenly. It flew over the crater walls and slowed rapidly. They landed violently into the regolith; the vibrations were felt even in John’s suit. The rear door fell open and out came eight marines. They looked far less threatening than John did, and to the unnamed and unknown hostile they were a welcome sign.

“We got it from here Cadet. Afraid to say, but your expedition has been cut short.”

John switched the gun to safe and locked it to the small of his back, “Everyone’s or our two MEVs?”

“Just your two groups. Since you were involved in the incident, they want everyone involved to make a statement. We’ve already sent out recon teams to ensure everyone is safe and will have troops on the ground ensuring y’alls safety.”

John reached over to his left forearm and pulled out a data slate, “Here’s a copy of everything that happened while I was in the suit.”

“Much appreciated, you should head back to your MEV.”

John nodded, turned and set the thrust to the max, and rocketed off. When he got above the crater wall the directional rockets fired to make him travel roughly parallel to the ground. He could the MEV a couple of miles ahead on the horizon. John was disappointed that their expedition was cut short, two more days with Patrice and Richard were much more welcome compared to the questioning that was to come.

20:45 Lunar Vehicle Storage

The interior of the MEV appeared to be fully cleaned. John and Patrice both insisted on it being as clean as when they boarded it. The last thing they needed in the clusterfuck of the day was being put on some sort of disciplinary measure because of a mess they had left behind.

Patrice and Richard were the first ones to exit the MEV. Andern followed shortly behind them. John could see them from the interior speaking with an officer in the vehicle. The girls weren’t there so he figured he had time to make a call.

John’s bag was packed and resting on the floor. He was waiting in front of the terminal, hoping that his communication request would be accepted on Alice’s end. He could hear Andern outside whining about the change in plans.

Finally, after what felt like a small eternity the communication connected, “Hey honey.”

Alice looked like she just woke up, “Ugh, do you know what time it is?”

“20:45,” John smiled as he answered the question directly.

“I love you, but I’m so tired right now I can’t handle your sarcasm.”

“Well, I’ll cut this short then. There was an attack on another MEV. Naturally, we came across it.”

Alice snorted, “Then what happened.”

“Did an EVA, patched up their bullets. Oh, there were four girls, they were all in the bridge and not wearing their void sheathes. They were uncomfortable in them.”

“You know it feels really uncomfortable in the boobs dear.”

John rolled his eyes, “Your boobs being uncomfortable beat dying to the void.”

Alice grunted once more, “Does it though? I’m glad your safe but I’m tired.”

“Rest up and be safe. I’m told the Marines are out and about.”

“Mhmm, good night honey,” Alice clicked off the channel.

“Dude, hurry the fuck up,” Andern instantly changed John’s mood.

John shrugged and picked up his bag. He jumped off the bag porch of the MEV and jogged over toward Andern and the others. There was an impatient-looking officer waiting in front of the two groups of cadets.

“Thank you for gracing us with your presence cadet,” the officer said sarcastically.

“Apologies sir,” John said as he quickly saluted the officer.

“I’m Commander Janus Chloros. You are to follow me to the investigative wing. We’ll be taking your statements there. None of you are in trouble, we are simply trying to figure out how and why you all were attacked.”

The cadets, except John, felt somewhat uncomfortable with the words. This was far from the first time John was on the receiving end of an investigation and would certainly not be the last in his career either. Despite their misgivings, the cadets were compelled to comply and followed the Commander through the facility.

21:30 Interview Room 12-B

The room John found the misfortune to be sitting in was painted a drab green. He had been assaulted with idiotic questions for thirty minutes already. All John do was thank the lord that he took a piss before this shitshow began, otherwise he’d be in a world of hurt.

“So you made the decision to go out. Why didn’t the other cadets join you to repair the disabled MEV?” the investigator asked.

“We only had one suit of power armor, which is code locked to me,” John paused and leaned back in his seat, “I also didn’t want anyone else risking themselves for what could be a trap. We had no idea if there were life signs or if it had been boobytrapped.”

“And the repairs went smoothly?”

“Sure did. Never did that before but the puck and epoxy system worked as intended.”

“How would you describe your discussion with the female cadets?”

John smiled, “Testy and acrimonious. Not too dissimilar to this conversation.”

The sarcastic tone flew right over the investigator's head, “Were you in any position to order them to head back to the base?”

“Not technically but given the situation, it seemed appropriate to tell them to return to base. The fix should protect them, but I wouldn’t want to risk a patch like that unless I absolutely had to.”

The interview continued like this for another hour. John was less than impressed with the agent that was assigned to him. The same questions were being asked as if it were a criminal investigation where they were hoping to get him tripped up.

That was problematic for multiple reasons. They already had his power armor’s logs, which while it didn’t have the conversation in the MEV did record everything he did and said while the suit was powered up. Secondly, there was no reason to take that angle in this as it was fact-finding.

“Yes, I decided to attack them,” John sighed as he answered.

“Why would you attack a skimmer by yourself?” the intelligence agent asked.

John shook his head and showed a questioning look on his face, “You’re a daft idiot, aren’t you? Let me ask you something, do the MEVs have guns?”

The agent shook his head, “Obviously not, what difference does that make.”

“Holy Christ,” John said before taking a drink of water, “I, unlike the MEVs, had a gun. The skimmer could’ve taken both MEVs out pretty easily. Possibly resulting in deaths this time around. I had to act.”

“And you believe you were justified in the use of force against the skimmer?”

The line of questioning was really confusing and out there. Too much so for John to comprehend. Why the agent was asking these questions was confounding him. The answers to the questions were simple, but there was this circular reference back to whether or not he believed it was within the regs to attack.

John exhaled loudly, “Are you trying to ask me whether or not an attack on a hostile skimmer was legitimate?”

“Yes, we don’t really know if they were actually hostile. You did fire first.”

“I did fire first, that is a fair point. However, actually know they were hostile. They were actively targeting our MEVs and were on an attack run. They broke off said run when I started to shoot at them. The skimmer had no markings of any kind, nor did the surviving combatant. I’m pretty sure that skimmer was also the one that disabled the MEV.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Did you or your peers pull the sensor logs from the first MEV? I would be floored if they weren’t the aggressors.”

“Yes, we did.”

“And was it a match?”

“Yes, but you had no way of knowing that at the time.”

“I didn’t need to, they were going to attack not one, but two MEVs. One of which was mine.”

“I’m not convinced that outcome was as certain as you believe it to be.”

John closed his eyes and took a deep breath to lower his blood pressure, “I’m reasonably confident monkeys could tell the difference between a hostile action or some jackasses joyriding. Not the smart kind of monkey either. We’re talking the shit-throwing monkeys.”

The agent looked down at the terminal’s screen built within the table then looked back at John, “Do you have anything else to add?”

“Yes, please for the sake of the Navy, quit your job. You suck at,” John paused and gestured, “All of this.”

00:15 Deadbeat Terry’s Bar

John and Andern were joined by an unlikely duo in Patrice and Richard. They may not all be friends, but after today's experiences, drinks were in order. The four cadets bellied up to the bar. John immediately eyed their top-shelf selections, or what qualified for the top-shelf in this establishment. They had opted for the closest bar, not the best bar in the city.

“Dunno about you guys, but I’ll take a triple of that Lagavulin 16,” John said to the bartender.

Andern looked at the bottles and spied one he liked, “I’m feeling destructive. Tequila, bottom shelf kind of stuff.”

John looked disgusted, “You are one filthy fucker you know that right?”

Andern smiled, “Yup, and don’t care.”

“Bourbon coke here,” Richard said, “Heavy on the bourbon.”

“I’ll take a double of Lucid Absinthe please,” Patrice caught the looks of John and Andern with his order.

“Barkeep, start a tab for the four of us and give me the bill when we’re done,” John smiled as he spoke, “Never figured you for an absinthe drinker. Wine yes, but in any case, that’s a cool drink order.”

“Andern’s order doesn’t surprise me. I figured you were into tequila or harsher bourbons,” Patrice sat up on his stool.

“I had a bad run-in with tequila when I was sixteen. Haven’t gone back to that shit since. Love me a good scotch though,” John took a big swig and smiled, “I’m classy as fuck.”

“Where are you headed to after graduation Richard?” Andern asked.

“The Victoria, heavy cruiser attached to the third defense wing of the First Fleet,” Richard said before having a drink, “When Patrice brought it up to the crew, we all thought you were fucking crazy.”

“Jury’s still out on that,” Andern smiled as he sassed his friend.

“Even if it was certifiably crazy, it worked. And we’re all a few steps ahead of our classmates and recent grads,” John was smiling as he leaned back, “The reward sure was worth the risk.”

“It was crazy and risky as hell. I have to admit you were right,” Patrice sipped on his absinth, “I’m still shocked that the Navy outright told us all where we were heading.”

“The admirals were like a bunch of hungry sharks looking for their next meal,” Andern laughed, “But I am not complaining. I got assigned to the battlecruiser Triumphant in the second fleet. Hell if I know what I’ll do there.”

“Probably find a way to slack and get your dumbass in trouble,” John winked at Andern as he finished his drink, “Barkeep, another round please.”

The cadets laughed, Patrice and Richard a bit more than the other two, and continued to enjoy their drinks. It was an odd pairing but given the circumstances the camaraderie was welcome. They stayed for another two hours before heading back to their rooms.

John walked into the room and kicked his boots off. He left a line of clothes in the living room leading to the bedroom. The shirt was the last thing he pulled off himself and left at the foot of the bed. Then he sat down on the bed.

“What a fucking day. Lights off,” the weight of everything finally hit John as he crawled under the covers.