History of Terra

Chapter 4 - New Brothers

Three weeks had passed since Sven had been found floating in the wreckage of his Heron fighter. He could barely see the scar where the doctors had to reattach his left arm, and with any luck, the creams they gave him should make it practically invisible.

He had woken up to find hisbrother, sleeping in the chair next to him, the nurse told him that he had been visiting his bed every few hours to see if he was awake. And for the past few weeks spent his nights asleep in case he awoke.

Upon seeing that Sven had finally woken up, Jude looked at him silently before telling him to be more careful, and leaving the room. He knew that was Jude's way of showing he cared, the attention that was borderline obsessive, then once the threat was over, everything goes back to normal. Though, ever since he joined the Stellar Core, Sven always assumed the next time he and his brother would see each other was when either one or the other were in a coffin. Jerry came by to congratulate Sven on surviving the massacre. He talked animatedly, it almost felt like he was back on the Vanguard.

"We never had a chance, it's a good thing I was there. Or else we never would have made it out." He joked.

Sven didn't know what to say. When he questioned Jerry about survivors, Jerry seemed to withdraw, and then he excused himself shortly after.

Since his previous ship had been destroyed, Sven was given a temporary bunk near the aft of the ship with the native pilots. The first thing he did was palm through the personal computer in his room to see who else made it off his ship. As he scrolled through the names of the deceased many of the names saddened him, of the ten thousand crew only twenty two of those survived, all of them pilots.

Regret flowed through him, of his inability to do anything, the idea that this place which he had imagined was going to be his new home, new friends, vanished in a battle. One of many he had expected to have, and to be able to talk about with bravado as he gloated over his most recent kill in the mess hall. Again he was torn at the feeling of how there should have been more that he could have done.

He could have flown back, he thought, taken a shuttle and saved one hundred, maybe even two hundred people. Of the listed named was the pilot he remembered not being able to name as he came out the docking bay. Chuck Ramsey was the man. It made him sad that he didn't know even his squad mates well enough to recognize them, he had only noticed because of the Obsidian Squad tag next to the name. The second name, Harris Dunbar. Though he only knew the man a short while, during that time they spent a majority of their time together, isolated. But, he knew very little of the mans life, there had been no time for small talk.

With a heavy sigh Sven moved a finger to shut off his computer, he felt exhausted after having read the list of the dead, but his eyes strayed to his message in box where he saw he already received his first order. Tapping the icon, a small list of his old and current mail was brought up on the screen.

"New."

The voice activation pulled up his newest and only current message.

REPORT FOR DEBRIEFING 1400 HOURS

ROOM AC-251

-Cpt. GRADY

"Time."

Sven was answered by a smooth female voice. "The time is- 1149 hours."