Hearts of War [Being rewritten]

The Gauntlet

AN: Small update, Walker's helmet is now like Gates' but color black with white highlights.

***

Nicholas Walker had spent the time he'd been given since enlisting into the Militia by doing absolutely nothing besides waiting, waiting for Briggs' answer. Gates had told him to just keep on waiting and spend time getting to know the ins and outs of his new superiors. And that's exactly what he did. Throughout his time on this ship, he'd learned a lot by just walking around.

He found a metal bench at the side of the hangar and decided to take a seat. But, only a moment after he immediately stood back up with a disgruntled grunt. He was better off walking around.

Such a beautiful ship, but such a shitty bench...

Nick had been moping around the Militia fleet's flagship for about an hour now; he'd found himself in its hangar bay about five minutes ago. The MCS Morningstar, quite a fitting title for a ship like her.  He remembers the time when the Militia fleet was nothing more than a bunch of repurposed freighters and transports that had their logo painted on the hull. It was almost laughable to think of. But, the only thing Nick could think about this ship was: damn. He'd heard of the Militia's capability of building their own warships. The James MacAllan class of carriers were among the first of the Militia's homegrown arsenal. They were impressive, yes, but they are nothing compared to the Morningstar. Hell, most IMC ships aren't much different either.

The Morningstar is a solid 1000 meters long, protected by up to 6 inches of composite armor in some places as well as an energy shield protecting the ship. She also sports a vast array of advanced weaponry from the simple point-defense lasers to large high-caliber turreted gun mounts to friggin VLS cells capable of launching nuclear missiles, of all things. She also has a carrying capacity of about 90 aircraft, 60 Hornet fighters, 20 Crow dropships, and 10 Widow heavy dropships. It also has orbital insertion capabilities in the bow, giving it the ability to drop down up to 60 Titans and drop pods into battle. She is essentially a supercarrier; a capital ship unlike anything else in the Frontier and beyond. Hell, even only just the bow of the ship is already intimidating; looking more like a battering ram which is made to literally blow through enemy ships.

Just a bunch of fun facts for him so that he'd have something to think about as he waited. He was bored, there was no doubt about it, but he wasn't in any position to complain, especially since he was the one begging. And he was grateful to have some rest, anyway. Besides, there was not much to do anyway.

The TV provided to him required a signal, something that they didn't have in the middle of anywhere, or a connection to another device. He packed a bunch of movies in his helmet's hard drive but they haven't returned it to him yet.

He also found a crew lounge on the ship where all anyone could come and have some fun. There was a pool table, even. But the moment he entered, he was flashed a bunch of nasty looks from the people in it. Not wanting to get in any trouble, he just decided to back off and get away from there. He forgot he had no friends here. The only one he thinks would come close to that in this part of the Frontier was-

A silhouette appeared, catching his eye, about 25 feet away directly in front of him, entering the hangar. They had a feminine build and moved swiftly while scanning the area around her.

Shit...

He hadn't seen Gates since he closed the door on her approximately 36 hours ago, and he'd 'inadvertently' been avoiding the woman since then as well. The way he got her request was through a written note which was slipped under the door of his room. She had tremendous handwriting, though.