Interlude I

Alpha didn't like elevators. They felt too cramped. Even the cryopods felt much more spacious. He shifted away from the other three in the elevator- well, as much as he could, anyway. Hard to get space when you're a massive super soldier in heavy armor. Alpha looked back at Commander Helms and Lieutenant Reeds.

"Someone's uncomfortable." Osiris' voice echoed through his helmet with a playful tone.

After making sure that his external speakers were off, he replied. "Too awkward with the Captain."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you don't like regular people. Or real girls." She added jokingly.

He chuckled. "You must be the only AI that makes fun of her user."

The elevator came to a stop. The door opened, revealing an officer's club. Captain Killgore nodded in goodbye, then stepped out. For an officer's club, the placed looked quite empty. Then again, Taffy-3 had just narrowly survived an attack. Most of the fleet's personnel were probably in medbays, so the officers were either taking stock of their ship's damage, tallying the dead, or tallying the living. Alpha let out a small sigh.

The elevator came to a stop on an unmarked floor. The doors opened, revealing an empty briefing room. Helms entered first. Alpha and Reeds followed. Alpha approached the holotable, which had a display of the station and surrounding vessels. It also displayed the station's resources. Ammunition, supplies, fighters, nukes, personnel. He was almost surprised by how detailed this specific holotable was. Then he realized: This was a Special Operations room. It was likely some sort of Faraday Cage too.

"Why are we here?" He asked.

"We need a strategy for the next engagement, both defensive and offensive. This room is the most effective location to make a plan." Mark replied.

"Plus, we know all of the resources that we can take from the station." Maya added.

Alpha nodded, looking over the display. "Osiris, any ideas?"

Her hologram appeared over his palm. "Hmm... the nuke was only effective when you three dragged it aboard a ship. It's likely that the larger enemy ships can easily take a hit from one..."

Mark extended his hand, a feminine hologram appearing over it. "Daisy?"

"Osiris' analysis is correct. However, they have to open their shields to launch their fighters."

"Their offensive strategy involves boarders. We got our hands on several of their weapons as well as a surplus of bodies. If scientists are given enough time, they might be able to reverse engineer ammunition and tell us where the alien's organs are." Alpha noted.

"Their technology is far superior to ours. They took down the Hood in one shot, and likely destroyed the destroyers that the U.N.I.C. sent up." Osiris said.

"But the Montgomery was able to overload one of their ship's shields and cleave it in half." Daisy replied.

Alpha thought. All these variables. And not even every possibility had been addressed yet. Then again, they had been able to repel the boarders even when unprepared. It was likely that they'd be able to fend off boarders once more, but that said nothing for the space battle. They would have to trust Captain Killgore.

Alpha gritted his teeth as he began to feel the pain from his injuries. The adrenaline that helped keep him on his feet was gone from his system. However, he made the decision to stay until the planning was over. After all, Alpha would need to work alongside Maya and Mark.

But Osiris had other plans.

"Your heart rate's spiking. I'm calling the station's medics."

"I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth, "I just need to take a deep breath."

"Joshua, you need a medic. You can't keep going with those injuries."

His vision and hearing began fading in and out as she spoke. But he could hear the shakiness of her voice, the urgency she spoke with. The fear. Osiris rarely had a serious tone.

"You really do care." He joked through gritted teeth as his vision continued fading in and out.

He was tired. Maybe he could...

His vision blacked out.

. . . . . . . . .

Joshua awoke in a hospital bed. He sat up, looking down at his body. The wounds he received were gone, repaired by doctors. He looked down at the IV that had been stuck into his arm, following it up to a bag of liquid, probably some sort of cocktail of drugs that was keeping the pain away. Joshua took a moment to fully gather his senses and take in his surroundings, noting that his helmet was next to him. He tapped on it and it projected a life-sized hologram of Osiris.

As soon as she was projected, she began speaking rapidly. "Youfainted and yourheartstopped and Ididn't knowwhat to doand-"

"Woah there, slow it down." Joshua said.

"You- you were clinically dead, Joshua."

"Oh, that's just Tuesday."

Osiris pouted, and Joshua slightly chuckled. "Look, this is far from the first time I've nearly died. You've just been lucky enough to never see those times."

Osiris shook her head, then looked at her feet. Joshua almost wanted to put a hand on her shoulder, though he of course knew that it wouldn't be possible. She looked back up and him, then approached the counter that his helmet was on.

"There's a clipboard here that lists everything the doctors had to do. Your liver and your left lung were so damaged that they had to completely replace them. Other than that it's mostly just patching holes."

"How long was I out?"

"Two hours. You weren't even supposed to be awake until tomorrow."

Joshua gave a small smirk. "Guess I'm just itching for a fight." He joked.

Osiris gave a glare that said to stop being so nonchalant. Joshua shook his head and sighed, then ripped the IV out of his arm, then began taking all of the other monitoring devices and climbed out of the hospital bed. He began digging through the drawers, looking for bandages.

"Joshua! Stop it, you'll hurt yourself!"

"I won't be stuck in a damn hospital while Helms and Reeds defend the Amber Clad alone."

"Joshua, please!"

He located the bandages, wrapped some around his arm, then turned to Osiris.

"Look at me, Osiris. I'm fine. No injuries, no pain, completely able to fight."

Osiris pouted again. Joshua opened his mouth to keep arguing, but, for some reason, he couldn't. He simply stared at Osiris, unable to speak. It took him a moment to even think of words.

"Alright, I'll take it easy. But I'm not staying here."

He grabbed his helmet, and Osiris' hologram disappeared. Joshua put the helmet under his arm, then stepped out of the hospital. He was immediately met by Mark and Maya. Alpha Nine nodded in greeting to the pair.