EarthFall

Chap 7 Defensible position.

It took them an hour and a half to recover all 13 of their teammates' name tags, exo suits, some extra grenades that hadn't been detonated, a few charged cells and rifles, and a new Comm unit for Tucker. Although they had had to turn down the volume on it, because he kept yelling.

They now soared in the Phoenix over the dark side of the mountain. Carson had spotted what he thought was a good landing spot on the side of the mountain. It was close enough to scout the source of the disturbance, and was easy to defend. Easy to escape.

"I think it's getting better! I think I can almost hear stuff again!"

Carson smiled and nodded his head reassuringly when in reality, he was louder then Chief now.

Speaking of Chief..

"What do you think of right there?" Carson asked, pulling up the holo map and zooming in on their destination.

Chief didn't even spare a glance.

"Hmm.. looks good Carson."

Chief had been... bleak, the past few hours while they were scouting. He hadn't given any orders, just granted permission. It was beyond unsettling.

"Yes sir. We'll be there in 10."

Carson paused..

"Chief? Permission to make a recommendation."

The chief sighed. "Yes Carson?"

"I think we should stay in-helmet for the remainder of our inflight journey. The HUD stem-buffed air should help get us all into equilibrium. Especially since we're moving to a heightened elevation. It'll also help our lungs recycle any potential contagions."

The Chief eyed Carson for a quick second, then he closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. Then, with a sigh he pulled his collar up, activating the headvisor that pulled his helmet across his face.

"Granted."~

Chief's voice comm'd over the headset, then went silent as he cut the links. And that was that. That was the beauty of the Deepspace headset. Once on, if you turned off your external mic's, you could hear nothing and nothing could hear you, no matter how hard you screamed. It shut all the noise out, fully insulated from heat and radiation and for the most part, sound. It was soothing.

Everyone pulled their collars up, slung built-in helmet over their heads, and then their faces vanished from view entirely as the smart-visor slid slowly around their eyes.

Carson opened up a direct link to everyone but the Chief.

"Ok, what was that?" Cornelius asked.

"Yea, what's going on?" Brianna agreed.

A text from Tucker popped up. It read: "Are you guys talking right now?"

"Alright," Carson sighed. "Switch on your speech-to text apps and open up a group chat for tucker. We need to talk."

Tuck: Did you see how Chief was back there

Do you think him and Tinker were a thing

Bri: Yes. Tucker. They were. And Chief's taking it pretty badly

Car: Which is why we need to come up with a plan

Corn: I can't believe it

Car: What

Corn: That they hooked up

Tuck: I know right

Car: What a hypocrite