Jupiter's Halo Book One: The Lies

Chapter Ten "The Closest Friends"

Aitkin watched on with a practised eye, as his marines helped each other into their armour and ran final checks in preparation for their mission to GS-114.

The void-safe suits they wore were bulkier than the regular pattern and each man and woman needed the assistance of another to ensure every seal was properly in place and airtight.

He lurched forward suddenly.

“Bloody hell, Johs!” Aitkin said over his shoulder.

“Sorry, sir,” Johs replied. “Just making sure you’re done up tight. Can’t have you leaking air can we?”

Aitkin rolled his shoulders, experimenting with the limited movement the armour caused.

“Any tighter and I won’t be breathing at all!”

Johs gave a little laugh and patted Aitkin on the shoulder as he stepped around to his front. He looked Aitkin up and down and nodded to himself.

“Yep, I think that just about does it, sir.”

“Oh, you think so huh?” Aitkin asked with a laugh. “Well don’t go to the trouble of actually being sure on my account, will you. I’m only your Lieutenant after all.”

Johs’ face creased in consternation.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you'll be alright."

“What a relief,” Aitkin replied dryly. “I feel so much better knowing you’re pretty sure I’ll be alright.”

Johs gave the armour an experimental prod.

“Nothing to worry about, sir,” he said. “Once your helmet’s on it’ll tell you if there’s anything to worry about.”

"Once my helmet's on?" Aitkin shook his head. "You mean when we're about to step off the dropship into Luna knows what? That's when I get to find out if your attentions have been half-arsed?"

Johs looked hurt.

"Not half-arsed. I'd never give you half-arsed, sir." His face broke into a grin. "I mean it might not be the whole arse, but it’s definitely a significant portion.”

Aitkin laughed again and rubbed at his face with one gloved hand. Johs turned to face the rest of the busy marines, his eyes following Aitkin’s gaze.

“You’ll be the bloody death of me one of these days, Sergeant, you know that.”

“Always thinking of promotion opportunities, sir,” Johs replied with a straight face.

“Ha!”

Aitkin knew his armour would hold. For all his joking Johs was a professional, a dedicated marine and his friend. He wouldn’t do anything to risk the life of a fellow marine anymore than Aitkin would.

He took a step forward, seeing the drop in activity as his marines finished their checks. They stood straight-backed and waiting for his appraisal. Aitkin began to walk the line, aware of the last few moving bodies where the stragglers were still finishing up.

Three rows of dark helmets faced him. Each one matte black and menacing in it’s angular, eyeless design. Dressed in their full armour the marines of First Company were a fearsome sight to behold.

Aitkin’s own helmet was hitched at his belt; locked in place by a powerful magnetic clasp. Where those of his marines were black to match their armour, his was the light grey of Luna’s dust. It marked him out as an officer, showed his rank clearly and demanded respect. That’s what Command said anyway. Aitkin always thought it just made him a more obvious target.

He stopped to look over a marine and then resumed his walk, satisfied that all was in order.

“I don’t have any dazzling rhetoric for you, marines.” He called out as he came to a stop. “I’m no poet and you have no need of flowery language to boost your spirits or galvanize your resolve. You are marines of the Six Companies.”

He saw a few slight nods as his eyes scanned the rows of armoured bodies.

“Our mission today is simple. We sweep the station, find the science team and get them back to the Pride for debriefing.” He glanced briefly at Johs standing beside him. “We know nothing is ever that simple though, don’t we? Our mission intelligence is sketchy at best, just for a change.”

There were sniggers and he smiled. He raised his voice to carry on.

“But whatever waits for us on GS-114 will not prevent us from doing our duty. You will act as you always do. The finest the Deorum has to offer. The strongest, the smartest, the best fighting force the solar system has ever seen.”

Aitkin heard the agreement of his marines through their voices and his comm-link. Some shouted, others simply spoke their accent.

“Good.” Aitkin nodded to himself. “You have your orders. We go in via the loading bay and I want it secured in record time. It’s a big space and Captain Lanad warned we might face gravity issues, but I don’t want to hear any excuses. I don’t care if you have to float out of the damn Peregrine, securing that beachhead is the first priority, so I want it done.”

Aitkin took a moment to review the personnel files, the pictures flicking before his eyes from the data stored in his comm-link.

“Any and all Deroum citizens are to be evacuated, but the science team come first. We’ll set up cordons in the loading bay to separate them if necessary, for priority evac.” Aitkin looked up and down the line. “Like I said, it’s a simple mission.” He let the sarcasm of his tone remind them there was no such thing. “Any questions?”

An arm raised in the front row. Corporal Deneminjic. Aitkin looked at the blank mask of his helmet, knowing the Corporal would likely be grinning inside at the inane question he was about to pose.

He nodded his consent for Deneminjic to speak.

"What do we do when it all goes to s**t, sir?"

Aitkin caught the muffled sniggers, but kept his own expression impassive.

“Delicately phrased, Corporal.” He replied. “Sergeant Johs, would you care to answer?”

Johs stepped forward, walking the few paces to bring him in front of the Corporal quickly. He leaned down, his massive frame dwarfing the marines around him.

“If something were to go awry, Corporal,” Johs said in low tones. “I would expect you to comport yourself with the professionalism, courage and fortitude befitting a marine Corporal of the First Company.” He stood straight and raised his voice, speaking over Deneminjic’s head. “Translation; you keep your head and kick a whole lot of arse!”

This time there was laughter and Aitkin allowed himself to smile.

“Well said, Sergeant.” He looked directly at Deneminjic. “Does that answer your question, Corporal.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Any other questions?” Aitkin spoke to the room at large.

There were no more responses. No more hands raised.

Aitkin nodded again. They were ready.

“What are we?” He shouted without preamble.

“Marines!” Came the chorused reply.

“Who fears us?”

“Everyone!”

“What will you do if I fall?”

“We’ll carry you back to Luna!”

Sergeant Johs stepped up beside him.

“Marines!” He bellowed in his best parade ground voice. “Dis-missed!”

The arming chamber filled with sound as the marines marched out, heading for the main disembarkation deck and their waiting Peregrines. Aitkin turned to watch them go.

“’Awry’, ‘comport’, ‘befitting’?” He said over his shoulder to Johs. “Been reading the dictionary again, Sergeant?”

His First Sergeant gave a little snorting noise and Aitkin knew he was shrugging his huge shoulders.

"I just figured, what with your connections up the line, it might not be long before promotion comes calling. Thought it might be time to do a bit of work on bettering myself, sir."

“Connections?” Aitkin asked, half turning.

Johs’ face split into a wide, devilish grin.

“Yeah, connections, sir. Seems to me you’ve got a really good connection with our Captain Lanad. Seems you’ve been connecting like crazy.”

Aitkin paused.

“How long have you known?” He asked quietly as the last of the marines filed past.

Johs’ eyes danced with glee at his friend’s discomfort.

“Known what, sir?” He asked with innocence so transparent it was barely even there.

“Don’t give me that, Sergeant,” Aitkin replied, “This is your Lieutenant asking.”

Johs adjusted his face to an expression of seriousness and fixed his gaze over Aitkin’s head. He pulled his body to rigid attention.

"Sorry, Lieutenant," he said crisply. "Didn't realise the Lieutenant was asking as a Lieutenant, Lieutenant. Thought given the subject matter the Lieutenant might be asking as a friend, Lieutenant. Won't make the same mistake again, Lieutenant."

Aitkin rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Are you quite finished?”

“Is the Lieutenant asking as a friend or as a Lieutenant, Lieutenant?” Johs replied, his eyes still unmoving.

Aitkin shook his head with a wry smile.

“Alright, Johs, alright. That was a d**k move, I’m sorry.”

“Is the Lieutenant apologising as a Lieutenant, Lieutenant, or is the-”

“Alright, alright knock it off!” Aitkin interrupted jovially. “I said I was sorry.”

Johs’ eyes flicked down.

“Alright then, sir.” He said, relaxing his shoulders. “Just as well, I was starting to go boss-eyed trying to keep that stare up.”

Aitkin laughed and turned to walk from the chamber. Johs fell in beside him. He nudged Aitkin in the ribs.

“So? You gonna spill or what, sir?”

Aitkin stopped, aware this was not something Johs would let go and definitely not a conversation he wanted to have while walking the Pride’s open corridors.

“How long have you known?” He repeated his earlier question.

Johs screwed his face up and looked to the ceiling as if trying to recall an elusive nugget of information.

“I reckon about three months or so.” He said after a moment.

“Three months? And you’ve waited until now to bring it up?”

“I figured you’d tell me when you were ready, sir.”

Aitkin had thought they were more subtle than that. Three months Johs had known, and they’d been together barely a few weeks longer than that. If they even were together. He often wondered.

“So are you just knocking boots or is it something more?” Johs waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Should I be expecting the pitter-patter of little booted feet, sir? Should I get the dress uniform ready and start writing my speech?”

Aitkin shook his head and shrugged.

“I, I don’t honestly know.” He admitted. “It’s more for me. I’d like to think it’s more for her, but…” His voice trailed off.

“But she’s got that career to concentrate on.” Johs supplied.

Aitkin felt relieved and depressed all at the same time. He’d wanted to talk about it for a while. He’d wanted to be open with his friend, share his thoughts and his fears and hear the opinion of the one person he trusted above all others.

To finally be honest with Johs and admit his feelings was a weight gladly lifted, but it meant he had to accept the fear too. It made it all a little more real, a little more substantial. He worried that made it all more likely to end too.

“Yes.” He said simply. “She’s great; strong, passionate and…” He grinned at the words he’d stopped himself from saying.

Johs grinned too.

“An absolute animal?” He suggested. “As commanding in private as she is in public, but without the uniform?” His eyebrows leapt up and down some more.

Aitkin felt himself blushing, not something often seen in a marine lieutenant. He laughed, almost giggled at Johs’ expression.

“Knock it off.” He said. “I’m glad you know, but now isn’t the time. We have a mission remember?”

“Of course, sir. Hadn’t forgotten for a moment.”

“Good,” Aitkin said, resuming his walk to the exit of the arming chamber.

"But we'll talk about your bouncy naked yum yum time afterwards right?"

“Ha! Don’t bloody bet on it.”

They reached the doorway and Aitkin stepped out into the stark light of the Pride’s main thoroughfare. The ship was busy with activity, preparations for their imminent departure affecting the deck gangs, medi-techs and every crew member in between. He stepped to one side to allow a trio of grey-overalled mechanics to jog past, saluting his rank as they went.

Johs stepped out beside him.

“How did you like my menacing of young Deneminjic, sir?” He asked casually.

“It was fine,” Aitkin replied as more crew members passed them.

“I mean, I was going for commanding with a hint of menace and maybe a little brevity,” Johs added.

“’Brevity’, Sergeant?”

“Bettering myself remember, sir.”

“Oh yes.”

Johs seemed to be over-thinking his brief discourse with the young Corporal and Aitkin realised the big Sergeant was more serious about his hopes for promotion than he’d originally assumed. Johs was so infrequently serious about anything it was sometimes hard to remember that he had aspirations and dreams just like everyone else.

“It was appropriate, Sergeant.” He tried. “Commanding respect while not separating yourself from your peers in too lofty a fashion. The brevity was certainly there.” He added by way of praise.

“You really think so, sir?” Johs asked, a hint of concern still in his voice.

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.”

"Thanks, sir," Johs said. "I want them to know I'm serious but not come across as too…" he sought for the right word. "Stern, I guess ."

Aitkin smiled at the word. Johs was anything but and in honesty, if he really wanted to be promoted he needed to start creating more distance between himself and the marines he commanded. The Sergeant’s eyes were cast down to the floor in a rare moment of introspection.

“Don’t worry,” He said with a chuckle as he started walking. “Everyone knows you’re really just a big soft bugger.”

Johs nodded then his head shot up as Aitkin’s words hit his brain.

 “Soft?” He said as Aitkin grinned and walked away. “What do you mean soft? How bloody soft?”