"Crazy"

"They say that in space, no one can hear you scream."

This was the only response "173 Foxtrot"(Fox) got from his brother after bragging to him about enlisting in the Coalition Space Forces. Growing up under his brother's inescapable shadow, becoming a war hero seemed the best way to get out of it. Fox imagined all the humble ways he’d gloat his incredible glory over him. Knowing the goal could cost his life, Fox still figured he wasn't risking much. Still, his older brother's foreboding words and grave expression had haunted Fox from basic training to today, his first mission.

"Nervous?" His suit technician asked.

Fox contemplated the attractive tech running a final diagnostic on his suit's systems. She was smiling, but Fox could tell she was scared. He couldn't blame her.

Fox gave her his practiced war hero smirk and calmly asked "What's there to be nervous about?"

His teammates guffawed in the background.

"Bullshit", 173 Charlie, said in a thick country accent. "Fuckers scarder than a dog inna barrel with a mule."

Fox glared at Charlie, wanting to respond, but not knowing how to.

173 Echo, who was never shy about flaunting her inept social skill, laughed louder and agreed, "Yeah fuck and scare her with a barrel!"

Sitting in between Echo and Charlie, 173 Delta just sighed.

The Tech chuckled in a cute, awkward way that made Fox want to know her name, so he read the nametag all regular Coalition forces wore.

"Sorry about them." Fox said, trying to recover whatever confidence he had. "Zhou, right?" Asking with a tentative half smile.

"Not bad pronunciation". She noted, appearing more comfortable. "Most people get it wrong."

"I traveled a lot growing up."

"Is that why you joined?"

"Nah, I heard Coalition's Space units had the prettiest women." Fox made sure to look her in the eye and wink. All the while he hoped she wouldn't notice he was a virgin.

She laughed while Charlie gagged.

"You didn't have to join the "Crazies" to do that though." She said, referring to the nickname given to the Quick Reaction Assault Combatants, or “QRA-Cs”.

Fox had a response ready, but Delta beat him to it. "There’s a reason “Quick Response” is part of our branch’s title.”

Zhou chuckled again and gave a questioning look at Fox that made him blush.

"Don't worry darling I can go riddin’ long into the night" Charlie teased, "and that was before the mods."

Zhou was blushing now, making her more attractive to Fox.

There was a familiar beep that signaled the end of the diagnostic. She gave a sigh of relief, but smiled at Fox. "It's ok, you can tell me why you joined when you get back. And maybe even your real name."

She winked at him and left the room.

"You believe that shit?" Echo said. "First day on the job and he already has a date."

"It's easy when you're not obnoxious, you should try it sometime." Delta responded.

"Yeah, I don't know,” Charlie wondered, “is it me or is the Coalition gettin more fine phillies than a fall season auction at the county fair."

"It's part of their new retention program" said Delta dryly and entirely straight faced.

Echo looked like she was about to say something particularly uniformed and debased when 173 Bravo came into the room.

"Hey! How are you guys doing?" He said affably. "Ready for this?"

The four other "Crazies" gave their assent.

"We're readier than pigs in heat rollin’ in shit!” Charlie shouted.

"Yeah, looks like it," Delta said, already tired of Charlie.

Bravo looked towards Fox. "How about you, Fox? You feelin frosty?"

"Hostile, mobile, and lethal" Fox said, regurgitating the QRA-C motto that was as redundant as the name of the organization that used it.

Bravo smiled wider and amicably clapped Fox's shoulder. "That's what I like to hear. Don't worry, Fox, stay cool, let your training takeover, and you'll get out of this. These pirates aren’t supposed to be much more than disgruntled employees."

"Beautiful pep talk Bravo, but how's the other new addition to Team 173?" Delta asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry about being passed up for the Alpha slot." Echo said with as much tact as could be expected of her.

"Had a drink with em last night" Charlie said. "Seems like a swell guy. Kinda acts like a sheep dog herdin durin a full moon though."

"Swell?" Echo asked. "He's an O' series survivor. None of those poor bastards are right in the head.

Delta looked into the souls of Echo's eyes "This morning you jerked off with a gun magazine."

"So?" Echo asked defensively.

“Ain’t so weird.” offered Charlie.

Delta looked back at Charlie, "It was an AIRSOFT gun magazine"

“Christ on a stick!”Charlie yelled.

“And holy fuck, don’t get me started on the last Alpha.” Delta continued.

Bravo turned towards Fox, “She used to get a bit too attached to her girlfriends.”

“Yeah, that's a way of putting it.” Delta said

Echo leaned towards Fox like she was going to whisper, but rarely seemed capable of the feat. “She’d get a tattoo of them after the first date and then she’d use her hull-knife to carve it off after they broke up. Put the next tattoo in the same place each time. Shit was hot.”

“Shit was metal,” Charlie agreed.

“Shit was fucked” Delta insisted.

"Anyway" Bravo began, trying not to recoil and keep a positive attitude."I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason he's the new Alpha. Afterall, you earn your place as a QRAC."

173 Alpha came in with his helmet already on. The matte black of his visor took everything in.

"I'm sure whatever's going on here is real cute, but we got ten minutes before launch." said Alpha with a dryness that Delta could appreciate.

As the team was putting their helmets on and loading up in their own respective launch pods Bravo said, "173 has a tradition of saying a battlefield prayer before each mission. If you're not re-"

Alpha cut him off "Yeah 173 also has a tradition of getting BUORed, but you can go ahead and say one.”

Fox overheard Charlie whisper to Delta, “Looks like you got competition on who's the biggest sarcastic asshole."

"Nonsense," Delta said. "Bravo's always gonna win that one. His fat head's up there so often, how can he not win?"

Fox got in his pod and as the hatch closed he tried his best not to think of it as a coffin. His brother's grave face came to mind along with his foreboding words. He tried not to think about how statistically one in eight "Crazies" are Blown Up On Route without being able to do anything about it or that most people joked the "C" in QRAC stood for casualty, because of how many were suffered each mission. Instead, he tried thinking of the girl he just met and went through various scenarios of what their date would be like. Through the G-Force inhibitors, Fox could still feel his stomach lurch as the ship entered combat. Vibrations intensified, and Fox's anxiety started to get the better of him. "Death or Glory" he tried reminding himself like a mantra, but his hands were shaking more and more.

Suddenly, Charlie's voice cracked through the team channel. "Alpha, Bravo, if it's right with you it'd be my honor to say the prayer."

"Sure Charlie, go right ahead." Bravo said.

"No big words or idioms, they scare Echo." Delta chimed in.

"Oh heavenly Lord Father!" Charlie bellowed. "Give us the strength and speed needed to reach thine enemies and smash their asses so that we may revel in the entrails of the wicked. And dear Lord, if it isn't too much trouble we all would like to humbly ask for you t’ bless Delta with a tolerable personality. Amen.”

Delta was in the middle of what was assuredly a sarcastic retort, but was cut off by the Series channel: "Pods 170 to 175 prepare for launch"

Fox clenched his teeth, quickly muttering "fuck" repeatedly to himself when he heard a ding and felt a large lurch. Fox's pod sped through space towards the enemy ship. Each pod had a porthole to look out of, but Fox kept his eyes shut, hyperventilating. No noise could be heard except for his own panicked breathing. He got a hold of himself and checked the impact time; less than 5 seconds. Fox never prayed to a deity before today, but he prayed to at least make it to the ship; he didn’t want to get BOURed on his first mission.

His prayer was suddenly interrupted by a chirping sound that notified him that 173 Alpha was just BUORed himself. Remembering Alpha's last words, Fox gave up on prayer and rapidly went back to his "Fuck" mantra. Soon enough he felt his pod punch through the bulkhead, and he let out a sigh of relief. Fox got a hold of his magnet powered “rail-rifle”, and hit the lever that caused the pod doors to retract. As the doors opened, Fox stumbled out of the pod and into a shocked crew-woman. Instinctively, and to his own surprise Fox, punched her in the face so hard he could hear her neck snap.

From behind, Fox heard another woman yell, "No!"

He turned just in time to see a stocky woman in overalls swing a fire extinguisher at his head. Running off of instinct again, Fox barely dodged, raising his rail-rifle and squeezed the trigger three times, shredding her head apart. Her blood splattered across his visor and armor before quickly sliding off its nonadhesive coating. Breathing heavy with adrenaline, Fox scanned the rest of the corridor, but saw he was now alone. He regarded the bodies of the two women; "Real fucking heroic" he thought bitterly. Above, the ship messaging system warned of the boarding parties and was actively coordinating a defense.

QRAC boarding operations usually constituted "Crazies” attempting to quickly secure vital systems before the enemy crew could pick them off. Fox unsuccessfully tried to review his communications (Comms), his location on his “Heads Up Display”(Hud), and his team’s status. The pirates weren't supposed to have that capability, but every soldier was used to being disappointed by intel. Instead, Fox tried to go off of his modded memory and rounded a corridor on the way to what he hoped was his team's assembly point. He ran up to a bulkhead that was sealed shut. Through the porthole Fox could see a man give him the finger. Fox could hear footsteps behind him so he quickly pivoted and raised his rifle. He hesitated when he saw there were three other "Crazies". Their armor designations showed they were 172 Bravo, 172 Delta, and 172 Foxtrot.

"Fuck" Fox thought. If 172 was here then he was five decks below his planned entry point.

"They sealed the bulkhead. I was just about to cut my way through."

"Don't bother" 172 Bravo said, "It'll take too long. Their security response should be near."

"Check this shit out" 172 Delta said and used his wrist laser to start cutting through the bulkhead wall to the outside, with the rest of his team.

The "Crazies" all started activating their boot magnets except for 172 Delta. The process to cut through the hull went by fast as they worked together to create a circular outline in it. Right after, 172's Bravo and Delta simultaneously kicked the middle of the circle. The weaker indented circle gave way and the piece went flying in the vacuum along with 172 Delta. Against the backdrop of space, Fox could barely see him use his grapple to bring him back to the ship.

"Just in time" 172 Foxtrot said, backing away from the door as Fox followed suit.

Through the porthole, Fox could see a suited squad on the other side taking a defensive position.

"Set", 172 Delta said.

"Fuckin waste them" 172 Bravo responded.

Fox could see a flash as he felt the deck shake. 172 Delta had put an explosive on the outside of the bulkhead and blasted the pirates on the other side. Fox was watching as 172 Delta methodically moved in and executed the stunned security team before opening the door.

"Hey" 172 Bravo said to Fox and gestured at the hole in the ship. "Quickest way to team 173's rally point is through here."

"Good luck brother" 172 Foxtrot said, putting several rounds into a pirate struggling in zero-g to reach his rifle.

"Yeah" Followed 172 Delta. "Have a blast".

Fox figured it took about a minute of him walking on the outside of the ship before he completely regretted his decisions in life. He tried to focus on the path ahead instead of the battle "above". Fox glimpsed flashes and detritus that sped past his vision faster than his modded mind could track. He thought about Zhou and wondered if she was half as scared as he was right now.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pain as his right arm was yanked up by the wrist. Fox looked and saw a large maintenance droid was trying to, essentially, rip him off the ship by his wrist. Fox grabbed his knife with his left hand and stabbed it into its wrist. The robot's grip tightened and Fox panicked and stabbed the blade meant to cut through ships' hulls into its head. The grip tightened further, and Fox could feel his wrist shatter. He screamed, and inside his helmet he could hear it just fine, disproving his brother’s words. The Droid, however, stopped functioning and remained frozen, holding him in place. Fox noticed another droid was moving towards him and he struggled to pull his rifle from his right hand. He pulled the rifle free, but it slipped his grip and floated away. He then pulled out his knife and began to frantically stab at the droid. In his panic, Fox missed a swipe and stabbed through his own wrist. In desperation he cut his whole hand off to get free and his suit automatically closed. Fox was fading, and was stumbling away from the droid that was nearly on him. He remembered his side arm and pointed it at the droid and started firing rounds but kept missing. Fox thought that this would be the end when a rod from a rail-rifle suddenly burst through its head taking it out of commission.

A "Crazy" walked around the droid and faced Fox. "Fuck me, Fox. You alright?"

Fox did a double take and saw it was 173 Alpha. "173 Alpha? That really you?"

"Holy shit, those were some fuckin janitor bots." Alpha went over and went through Fox's medical pouch and injected him through one of his suit slots specialized for it. Fox immediately felt a burst of energy and checked again to make sure it was 173 Alpha.

"Shit Alpha, I thought you BUORed."

"Nah, I just hit some fuckin debris. Gotta say, it was real fun making it over here. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime, let's just get out of here before more of those bots show up."

Fox agreed, and considered thanking some type of deity before settling on just buying Alpha a drink.

"Hey, the fuck happen to your hand?" Alpha asked.

"Janitor bot sawed it off" Fox lied.

"Shit man, the rest of this mission is gonna be a bitch for you. Don't worry though, maybe we can get you a hook from one of the pirates."

They moved a little farther down until they could see the rest of 173's pods protruding from the hull, breaching the hull. They used the breach to enter the ship. It was all depressurized, leaving their path absolutely quiet, bloody rooms and corridors lit by flickering red emergency lights. The crew quarters consisted of a maze of hallways lined with doors to cramped bedrooms. Fox noticed some signs of battle, but most of the dead seemed to be killed by sudden decompression. It was a creepy enough setting on its own and the drugs Fox got wasn’t helping his disposition.

Continuing through the halls, Fox heard air blasting through the vents; the breaches behind them were sealed. Not too far ahead, Fox could hear a fire-fight. They came to a door and Alpha keyed his mic.

“173, this is 173 Alpha and Fox, you read?”

“"Call me swanky, and spank me in the middle of July! 173 Alpha, is that really you?" Charlie exclaimed in surprise.

“No fucking way!” shouted Echo.

“Who cares, we can use the help” Delta said with slightly less apathy than was usual of him. “We got ambushed in this corridor, but the artificial gravity panel in front of us short-circuited. Makes a nice wall to keep out grenades, but we don’t have time to go the long way. Kinda hoping 174 would reach the computer mainframe and let us into the system. These guys’ security is something else.”

Alpha was silent for a moment. “Ok, I’ve got a plan, but where’s Bravo?”

“Oh he’s around.” Echo said indifferently.

“Literally,” Delta said. “When we got ambushed and he dove on a grenade. Explosion is what set off the grav panel.”

“Holy shit,” Fox said “No time to take cover?”

“Naw, rest of us did, but that boy was always a bit fruity on the nutty side.” said Charlie. “In a way he died how he lived.”

“As a sanctioned-moneyless asshole” Echo said, failing to say “sanctimonious”.

“Yeah it's really rough seeing other people live your dreams. Anyway, Alpha, what’s the plan?” asked Delta.

“We follow protocol, and kill them all.” Alpha said, pulling out a static-bang grenade. “Prepare to give us covering fire on the flash.”

Alpha tossed up the grenade in the middle of the hallway, and used his rifle as a bat to send it speeding down the corridor, just barely clearing the wall of gravity pushing into the ceiling. Alpha followed the flash and moved through the doorway.

Suddenly having their huds scrambled, the security team either took cover or began shooting blind. With their huds specifically immune to the effects of the static grenade, 173 was able to methodically shoot the ones out of cover. While firing his sidearm, Fox made sure to not step or slip on the larger remains of Bravo which decorated much of the corridor. Alpha, however, launched his grapple to the other end of the corridor and flew across. The section of reversed gravity raised him up to the ceiling, where he activated the mag-boots and shot the security forces behind cover.

“Alright, quit gawking and get the fuck over here!” Alpha barked. “I’ll keep the hallway clear!”

Wasting no time, the rest of the team followed Alpha’s lead and began clearing rooms. In one room, a security member had taken off his helmet and tried to surprise Fox with a knife. It slid across his visor as he barely dodged out of the way. Fox then countered by jabbing his gun’s muzzle into the man’s eye and pulling the trigger, splattering his helmet again. Behind him, Charlie was stomping another man’s skull into the floor.

Charlie looked over at Fox and said “Figured you could use a hand. How’d you lose it anyway?”

“Janitor bot with combat mods chopped it off.”

“Sweet flaming petunia! Hey Delta!” Charlie chimed the team mic and spoke as he pulled a cowering pirate out from under a bunk and promptly shot him in the head. “The rookie lost his first limb! I won the bet!”

“Dammit Fox! That’s what I get for being optimistic.” Delta shouted over the sound of someone screaming in pain.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Charlie said defensively. “Echo bet you wouldn’t last the mission.”

In less than a minute the rest of the pirates were wiped out, and 173 moved to the lift to the command deck. The ship would absolutely have some sort of defense waiting, but the lift was the only way to the insulated bridge. When the doors opened, Charlie and Echo threw static-grenades. Attempting to shoot, 173 quickly realized that their rifles were inoperable. Sounds of gunpowder munitions opened up as bullets flew at them. The static grenades never popped. The hallway was almost pitch black.

“Electronics are down!” Echo cried, several rounds glancing off her armor.

“Astute as always Echo” Delta said derisively.

“These missions always this annoying?” Fox said, struggling to find cover.

“Naw” Charlie said “this shits more fucked than uh, than ahhh-Fuck!” He shouted as bullets pelted him.

“Hold on! I got an idea!” Echo said, suddenly excited.

“She began taking components out of her pouches and combined them together into a rifle.

“Is that a fucking airsoft rifle?” Delta asked incredulously.

“Fuck yeah it is! Who’s an ass-tute now, bitch!” Echo mocked. “Loaded with pop rocks!”

“Pop rocks? Holy shit, Echo.” Alpha said, surprised.

“The fuck are pop rocks?” Fox asked.

“Watch this shit!” Echo said before blind-firing 300 little balls per minute down the dark hallway.

Just as many flashes of light appeared as each tiny round exploded on impact. Men and women screamed in pain; the torrent of bullets subsided. Meanwhile, Charlie helped Alpha cut a piece of the elevator off to use as a shield.

When Echo ran out of ammo, Alpha barked “Charge them!” and rushed down the hallway with a piece of elevator attached to the magnet of his left hand; his right held his hull-blade.

173 rushed the hallway, several bullets still flying by. When he found someone, Fox grabbed and aggressively brought him to the floor, pinning him with his legs. He then quickly took out his hull-blade and stabbed into the pirate’s face plate.

There was a crash sound and the hallway lights flickered back on. The floor was a mess of blood and bodies. The last terrorist was being stabbed by both Charlie and Echo. Alpha was finishing off the wounded. Delta however, was pinned to the wall with what looked like a sword sticking through his chest.

“Seriously?” Delta coughed. “Fucking pirates.”

“Ah shit Delta, we can still get you out of here.” Fox said

“Dude, there’s a fucking sword in my chest and half my blood is on the floor. This is it.”

“Aw hell partner, well get you fixed up righter than a -”

“Shut up, Charlie,” Delta interrupted. “I want you to know, I’ve never understood a goddamn thing you’ve ever said. And *cough* there wasn’t a single fucking moment since…I met you, that I believed you were actually from the country. Echo?”

“Yeah, buddy?” She said getting close.

Through their helmets, Delta looked into the souls of her eyes and said “Fuck you.”

“Fox!” He continued. “Make sure Echo doesn’t take my wallet. I’m saying this assuming the mods, drugs, and battle fatigue hasn’t made you into a complete asshole yet.”

“And Alpha? Apparently you’re fucking immortal so I want you to pass a message to my mom.”

“Sure man, anything.”

“Tell my mom she should’ve got an abortion.” At this, Delta slumped over and died.

“He died as he lived.” Charlie said.

“A true asshole, through and through.” said Echo. “Anyway I’m sure he was just kidding about his wallet.”

“Not now, Echo.” Alpha said, Echo already going through Delta’s things. “We’re already behind schedule getting on the bridge and we can’t wait for 171 to reach the computer core.”

Without a team hacking into the ship's computer directly at the core, manually breaching the blast doors to the bridge was going to be a time consuming challenge. The ship’s bridge was encased entirely by reinforced material harder than the actual hull of the ship.

“We can always try “open-says-me.”” Fox offered.

He meant it as a joke, but almost right after he said it the doors opened on their own. 173 raised their weapons and sought cover. On the bridge however, it seemed a mutiny had taken place. Crew that were in uniforms were tied to rails and gagged or lay dead on the floor; the rest stood frightened

“We surrender!” Shouted several of the crew.

“We’re tired of this shit and want to go home.” Yelled another.

Charlie referred to Fox “gotta HAND it to you partner; that was a mighty fine idea”

“Charlie! Echo! Round them up! I don’t want any more surprises.” Alpha shouted, moving to access the ship’s security. “Fox! Get us comms with higher.”

Fox moved to the comms station. He ignored the sounds of the crew complaining and focused on getting a signal to their ship. In a few minutes he reached the comm’s officer and reported that 173 had secured the bridge.

“Alpha! What’s the status of the other teams? Fox asked.

Alpha didn’t seem to hear, too transfixed, looking at the security terminal.

“Alpha?” Fox asked again.

“Sorry Fox, I need a minute.” Alpha replied.

Without another word he looked around at the crew for the one in the fanciest outfit and moved towards her. A man next to her tried to protest through his gag, but Alpha calmly pulled out his sidearm and shot him in the leg. Alpha then aggressively shoved the horrified, blood splattered, pirate towards the terminal and took out her gag. The rest of 173 just watched.

“I’m sorry miss.” Alpha said with mock sincerity, “But what the FUCK did this?”

“Oh God! It got out!” She yelled.

Fox came over to see what was on the terminal. A security camera outside the ship’s science labs showed a grizzly sight; a dozen ship security and 174 lay dead. Most of the bodies were torn to pieces or had their heads removed and bodies crushed. All of the bodies, pirate and 174, seemed to have been facing the now ajar science lab door.

“Guess that explains all the extra security measures.” Alpha said. “But what exactly got out?”

“I don’t know!” She yelled. “I swear! The colony was having trouble a while back. People going missing, and showing up just like those bodies! We were tired of waiting for the Coalition to do something. We waited, but we-”

Alpha cut her off, “Decided to take up arms and kidnap the Nile Optimus’ company system CEO. Didn’t work out so good did it?

The woman just kept staring at the screen. “The Captain said we had hazardous cargo. That if we gave it over to the Coalition, then we’d be able to leverage them into a peace deal.”

“Where’s the Captain now?” Alpha asked.

“He uh. He shot himself an hour after he told that to his command team.”

“Ok.” Alpha said, letting her go. “That’s more than enough red flags for me.”

With the ship-wide communication scrambler gone, Alpha keyed the Series Frequency, “This is 173 Alpha to all remaining QRAC personnel; I’m initiating protocol three and scuttling the ship in ten minutes.”

“Sure, Alpha?” Charlie asked. “Command ain’t gonna appreciate you blowin' up a whole ship ‘cause of a ghost story.”

“Command can appreciate my ass.” Alpha said, inputting the necessary commands to set the ship on a course to burn up in the local planet’s atmosphere. “I’ve learned that the thing space and war have in common is that you don't make it far into either field if you're more curious than cautious.”

“What about the crew?” Fox asked.

“Don’t worry.” Alpha said on the team mic, looking at all the tied up crew members, “they’re not going anywhere.”

He then finished setting up the commands, and started to leave.

“Echo!” He said, “Take her with us. She might be able to help expedite our exit.”

The bridge crew, not able to hear most of what was said, looked on, confused as 173 made their exit with the female officer.

Alpha had shut off the alarms and other security measures of the ship, leaving it eerily quiet, except for the random sounds that Fox struggled to convince himself was normal for the ship and not some abhorrent predator. Suddenly, from behind, Fox’s right leg was grabbed below the knee by a large clawed hand.

“Oh shit!” shouted Charlie, “It's the decapitating demon! And he’s going after Fox’s dick!”

“Not on my watch” Alpha said, firing into the large, deformed human-looking monster that now held Fox upside down.

Fox couldn’t get a good look at it, but still tried to shoot it. The monster roared and slammed him into the ground. Fox looked down horrified to see his right leg ripped off below the knee.

“Charlie!” Alpha shouted. “Grab him and lets get the fuck out of here! Lifeboats are just down the hall.”

Fox started to go into shock, and hardly realized it when Charlie picked him up and started running. From behind, Fox could see the monster grab the officer, bite off her screaming head and spit it out. It then began to squeeze her body upside down in the air, drinking the blood coming out of her severed neck.

He couldn’t tell when it happened, but they had reached the lifeboat. Charlie was getting it prepped while Alpha hit Fox with another cocktail of drugs.

“I don’t know guys, I’m pretty sure he’s a goner.” Echo said.

“No! Don’t leave me!” Fox struggled to say through the haze.

“Ok Fox, we won’t leave your dead body behind.” She replied.

“No, I can make it.” Fox said feeling less lucid.

“Sure?” Echo said, “Just one more cocktail and you won't notice a thing. No big deal for me, really.”

“Too late, Echo!” Charlie yelled back. “Mission is technically over. You lost the bet!”

“Ah, hell. There’s alway next time.” She said making room for Alpha to treat Fox.

“Alpha.” Fox said, darkness closing in.

“I’m sorry to tell you this, Fox, but youre gonna be just fine,” Alpha said. “So fine in fact, I doubt you’ll get out of the next mission in what’s definitely going to be a long and shitty campaign.”

“Cool” Fox said, slipping into unconsciousness. “Tell me something though.”

“Sure.”

“If a tree falls in space, and no one can hear it scream, how much of an asshole is my brother.”

Alpha’s matte visor just stared at Fox, and watched him drift asleep.