Chapter Thirteen: Triangulated

Dinner was awkward. If only because Allan and Jena had just admitted that they loved each other, and then immediately had to go to dinner. Given the tense circumstances, they didn’t want to let anyone else know that they were actually an item. So, really, they just tried to do their normal thing and sat across from each other at a relatively isolated table in the corner and talked about all the ususal stuff they talked about.

“I wonder what Arthur would be doing right now.” Jena murmured, picking at her food. The mood was decidedly dreary, but people were at least trying to be cheerful.

“Probably making awkward passes at you.” Allan replied. Jena smirked and chuckled briefly. She looked up at him.

“I feel bad now, for turning him away. I mean, not cause I liked him, but I guess, just cause he’s dead now. Too many people don’t deserve to die the way they do, fighting this stupid war.” Jena muttered.

“Yeah, I know how you feel. But think about it, Hayes really is right, you know. We’re going to be offering thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people their lives back. We’re going to be sacrificing ourselves to give them the time they need to get away.” Allan replied, trying hard to raise her spirits and at the same time believe in it himself.

“Yeah, maybe. Or maybe we’ll buy them time just to get slaughtered by a lot more Covenant that come in a little later. I can’t help but feel we’re just delaying the inevitable. Even after all that crying, I still don’t feel much better.” Jena admitted.

“Well, at least they aren’t coming this way yet. Hayes says they’re still mobilizing, preparing themselves. We’ll probably have at least tonight left.” Allan replied.

“Speaking of tonight, what should we do with our one night together?” Jena asked. Allan thought about it, and immediately decided not to dance around the subject.

“Um, well, I’ll just say it. We should probably have sex.” he admitted. Jena stopped playing with her food and actually looked straight at him.

“Wow.” she said.

“What?”

“Well, I don’t know, I guess I expect something a little different. Maybe a more subtle approach. But, I mean, it’s true. We’ve already gotten to know each other, and under different circumstances, I probably would want to wait longer...oh hell, who am I kidding? I finally found someone good enough to lose my virginity to, why wait?” Jena replied.

“You’re a virgin?” Allan asked.

“Yeah. I told you, I never ask first. And rarely did any guys ask me. And none of them that even did ask me were even remotely dateable. What about you? Are you still one?”

“Yeah...actually.” They both stared at each other in silence.

“Well, gee. This feels like a movie. Or a bad romance novel.” Jena stated. Allan laughed.

“It does. It really does. I can just see the back of the book now, ‘Starcrossed lovers reveal their feelings to each other mere hours before their untimely death.’ Or some shit like that. You get the feeling that it’s what’s expected in something like that, but let’s be honest; reality isn’t that far away from fiction sometimes. I guess things are cliched for a reason, cause that’s how it really does happen. And, I guess, nothing’s cliched when it’s happening to you. I mean, love is like the most cliched thing ever...”

“Yeah,” Jena said as Allan paused for breath. “But that doesn’t make it any less memorable to each and every person it happens to.” she said. Allan laughed.

“Now we’re finishing each other’s sentence. Hell, now we really are in love.” he said. Jena laughed along with him. She stood up suddenly.

“Come on.” she said, encouraging him to stand up as well.

“What?” he replied.

“Let’s go and do this before we run out of time.”

Allan came awake blearily in the darkness. Her side of the bed was still warm, but empty. Allan rubbed the mattress where she had been and blinked rapidly, trying to focus. He rolled around for a moment and eventually found his watch. It was approaching three in the morning. He was tired as hell, but he stayed awake for the moment. Figuring that Jena must’ve gone to the bathroom or something, Allan rolled over on his back and reflected.

They had done it, and it had been awkward. Losing his virginity had been really frustrating at first. For all the stories he’d heard and all the porn he’d watched, it didn’t seem to amount to much when it came to the really hands on approach. But, eventually, they’d gotten it down good enough and after what felt like hours and had actually amounted to almost a whole hour, they finished and immediately fell asleep.

Allan tried to see if he felt different, and had to admit he didn’t. Yeah, having sex had been great. But...honestly, he’d expected to feel...different somehow. Maybe like more of an adult, or something. But he still felt the same, just happier. And maybe a little more content with his upcoming demise. Two less virgins in a world where there were so, so few of them left. At least it hadn’t been a one night stand.

Allan hesitated at that thought. It actually would be a one night stand. But he was content with the fact that had they more time, it would amount to so much more than a one night stand. Allan heard rustling and looked over, expecting to see Jena. How impossibly surprised was he when he spotted Sergeant Kate Gray in her actual uniform and not her combat armor stepping in through the doorway.

Through sheer habit, Allan jumped up and saluted.

“Sergeant.” he said. And then realized he was stark naked. His eyes bulged almost as much as Kate’s did and he immediately pulled on his boxers and pants. He was half way through buttoning up his shirt when Kate said,

“At ease.” Allan hesitated, then relaxed slightly. He finished buttoning up his shirt and then stood before her.

“Um...what can I do for you, ma’am?” he asked.

“Um...well, I need to talk to you.” she said quietly. There was something extremely wrong with her voice. She sounded...frightened. It was something that Allan was absolutely sure that he had never heard before coming from her. He nodded.

“Okay.” he said quietly. Kate let out a long sigh, closed her eyes, then opened them again.

“Alright, um, this is really, really hard for me to say but...I’ve got a lot of problems. I really don’t know where to begin...um, I guess the first thing is the absolute isolation that my life has become. I, um, I’ve almost killed myself seven times in the past month. I don’t talk with anyone, except to give orders. I don’t have any family or friends left, and, I only ever had one lover. So long ago. I’m...I’m so lonely. And this whole thing tomorrow...” Kate had been looking at the floor the whole time, now she looked up at Allan; and he was amazed and almost terrified to see her eyes moist with tears.

“I don’t want to die alone.” she whispered. Allan didn’t know what to say. He actually had absolutely no idea what to say. And then he blurted out,

“Why are you telling me all this?” Kate licked her lips and looked back down at the ground. It was still a mind screw to see her acting so...nervous. Shy, almost.

“It’s because, I think, um, I think I love you.” she said quietly.

“You think what?!” Allan cried. He couldn’t believe life at the moment. Life, as a whole, had simply lost its mind.

“I do, I really think I do.” she replied, looking up at him, pleadingly almost.

“But...why? Why me? I thought you were in love with Hayes.”

“I am. I mean, I was. Oh shit...I don’t know anymore. I just got it into my head that he was just too good for me, untouchable. So high up there he didn’t even have those thoughts anymore. He’s so...confident, he’s so strong. It’s like his inhumanly paragon. And I saw you and started thinking that maybe I should look for someone else. There’s always men around, and I know some of them want to screw me. But...you just seem so, innocent I guess. And I realized you were the kind of guy I used to like, back when I was younger.” Kate explained.

“Wait, wait, wait. You don’t understand, I just-” Allan simply stopped speaking as Jena walked into the room.

“What? You just what?” Kate asked. She realized he was staring at something behind her. She turned around. Allan realized that he might have to leave rather quickly and immediately pulled his socks and boots on.

“Oh...” Kate murmured softly. Jena stood in the doorway, her arms across her chest. Allan had to admit, he had never seen her looking so pissed before. Somehow, the thought of his life being a novel felt so accurate. He supposed that some people were just blessed that way, or cursed in this situation. Brokenly blessed, maybe.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Jena asked, her voice dangerously calm.

“I was, um...oh, wow. This is really, really awkward.” Kate replied. She began talking again, but whatever she said was lost immediately.

“Shut up. Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get him?” Jena asked. And then, she must have just lost her mind. Kate opened her mouth again and to Allan, it looked like she simply snapped right there. Jena dove at Kate and they both went crashing to the ground. For a few seconds, as he watched them wrestle about, screaming at each other, he was frozen. Stunned. He couldn’t move because he was honestly so extremely shocked about what he was witnessing. And then he found his senses and tried to break it up.

Several loud moments later, everything came to a screeching halt as John Hayes’ voice, not in their comms unit, but right there in their ears, screaming,

“Silence!” And everyone froze, and looked over. The el-tee stood there, seeming to tower in the doorway, with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Now,” he said as the others sat there on the floor, just trying to catch their collective breaths. “Can someone kindly tell me what the hell is going on here?” he asked. No one knew what to say, really.

“Um...catfight?” Allan replied inquisitively. Honestly, it was the only thing he could think to say.

“Oh really?” Hayes replied. He looked from Kate to Jena, and then shook his head slowly. He sighed.

“Listen, I know things are extremely tense around here, but...we can’t be fighting each other. For any reason. We need to save every last bit of energy for the Covenant whenever it is that they arrive.” Hayes stated. He began to say something else, but abruptly stopped speaking as all the power went out.

“Oh shit.” Allan whispered. Both women scrambled to their feet.

“Another Covenant infiltration team?” Kate murmured softly. They all listened intently, and could hear running feet. But no gunshots, no yelling. Only confused questions, and running feet.

“Come on, we’d better-” Hayes turned as he spoke and suddenly found himself face to face with Miller.

“Lance Corporal? What’s going on?” he asked. Miller didn’t say anything, he simply stared and smiled at Hayes. Two men stepped in behind him.

“Miller, what the hell is going on? What happened to the power?” Hayes demanded. And no one was more surprised than he when Miller punched him straight in the face and knocked him cold. Even when Hayes’ body hit the floor, it still took the others a few seconds to attack. Allan threw himself at the men but crashed to the floor, rolling over Hayes, from a shotgun butt to the face. As his world was fading to black, he heard,

“Take the bitches to command. Secure the perimeter. And take the men to the lockup.” Miller’s words faded with the rest of existence as Allan slipped into unconsciousness.