Ramirez felt half in a dream as he ran through Empyrean's halls and towards the lifepods. The ship was mostly evacuated now, and he ran with the few remaining stragglers to what remained. The ship rocked and shook while psychic wave after psychic waved assailed his mind. He reached the lifepod deck, watching as doors closed and pods detached. He could see them spilling like a swarm of Bees into the darkness of space. He paused where he stood as the last men and women moved past him to the pods.
He just, couldn't make himself move.
"We should go.
Ramirez jumped in surprised turning his head to look down only to find krill standing at his side. The little doctor was still wearing his white coat with its golden strips of energy, and instead of looking angry he looked almost sad.
"Doctor! I .... Thought you'd have gone by now."
Krill sighed, "I thought..... I might stay but, they are going to need me more elsewhere."
"That's.... what Adam said to me." He paused watching as the last lifepod detached, "I guess it's going to be up to us to keep things running?"
"I guess it is?"
"Aren't you angry."
Krill turned to give him a look ,"I'm always angry, but this was an expected outcome. I could have seen this coming from a mile off."
"We'll have to be ready when he gets back."
Krill nodded, "We will be ready when he gets back."
The two of them stepped into a life pod just as an announcement was going out over the speakers. Ramirez watched the door slide closed, and felt the seatbelts tightening around his chest, as they were shot into the cavum of space and away from the Empryean. There were no windows inside the pod, all the better to avoid Behemoth, but he could only imagine the scene that unfolded behind them as they flew.
The empyrean descending towards the maw of the beast.
The pod rattled slightly, and he gripped on tight with both hands squeezing his eyes shut.
A single tear rolled down his cheek as he waited.
The explosion registered on their monitor as a radio spike, and immense radio spike that was akin to something like a star's signature. Neither of them knew what happened until the Omen passed by to pick them up, going slow as it trolled for survivors.
***
Ramirez stood in front of the viewing window with his hands behind his back and stared out at second burning sun. They could not approach, the heat was simply too high. Chunks of behemoth were being expelled from the star at odd intervals, as if piece by piece, they were escaping the gravity well.
It was almost as if , it were still in the process of blowing up.
Ramirez reached up a hand to touch his cheek where the light of the false star caressed his skin.
Adam and Maverick were in there somewhere.
His two best friends in the whole of the universe, and somehow, he managed not to be with them,
Would he ever see them again?
Or did he make his final goodbye on the bridge of that ship, never able to..... articulate how he really felt to someone important to him. Ramirez had never been known for shyness, almost the opposite, but standing here looking at the infant star he wondered if he had missed an opportunity hiding from himself what he was feeling.
Still couldn't acknowledge it.
He bowed his head.
All around them, the ship was silent .
What was he going to do?
After a moment, Ramirez turned on his heel and started for the bridge. When he made it there, the room was quiet men and women sitting at their stations with their heads down. The ship was awash with their confusion and their grief.
The command chair remained empty.
A sudden tone came from the communications station, and the woman sitting there turned in her seat towards the empty captain's chair. She opened her mouth unsure who to speak to.
The group of them just looked so lost.
No one to report to.
No one to get things done.
She continued to look around in confusion unsure of who was next I n command. Adam had used up all his second in commands to pilot other, existing ships, and now there was no one left to take over. Ramirez watched all of this in silence unsure of what to do himself.
He was just a marine, not even an officer at that. He had enlisted on a whim maybe eight or more years ago. Once upon a time he had been a winter Olympic hopeful, king of the ice, but Architect knew he was meant for something else. He had loved the ice, but he loved being a marine any more, and he had never aspired to be anything else.
He had been happy where he was, a simple Sgt, Alpha team leader, a man who never really had to command because Adam was always around to do it for him. He had coasted by for a very long time, and now Adam was gone and there was no one to take command.
No one to take the chair.
But....
He had made a promise, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to keep it.
Angel Ramirez stepped forward and sat himself down in the captain's chair head held high, feeling the plush memory gel conforming around his body as he sat. The entire bridge turned to look at him in shock as he took the seat.
He felt small, sitting in this chair, a pretender to the throne.
He wasn't an officer, he had a lower rank than most of the people o this bridge, and he expected them to do something about it, but as he watched the crew relaxed, the silence on the bridge fading away as they sat up in their seats.
"Captain, we're being hailed by an UNSC ship."
The title caught him off guard, and he wasn't sure at first he was the one being addressed, but two dozen eyes stared at him, and he swallowed hard, "Patch them through," He ordered trying to remember how Adam sounded when he commanded a ship.
The woman did as asked, and Ramirez found himself sitting before a hologram of the entire UN joint chiefs of staff . There were enough stars in that room to constitute a small galaxy of their own, and here he was no more than a lowly marine.
There was a pause as facial recognition scans were run he assumed.
"Marine, where is your captain."
Ramirez sat up, "I'm afraid admiral Vir is indisposed at the moment."
"Who is in command of this ship."
"I am in command of this ship." He said calmly, though the words felt like a noose tightening around his throat.
There was a subtle laugh on the other end of the line as the men and women shifted.
"Angel, Ramirez Sgt. That's not in your paygrade."
"Ex Sgt." He corrected, "The UNSC has made it very clear that I am no longer a marine."
"You deserted your post."
Ramirez shook his head and laughed a little, "When I took my oath, I promised to protect earth and all her colonies from all enemies foreign and domestic." He stared the man in the face, "You and your people have divided where you should have brought together. You are an enemy to peace and to progress, the exact thing that Admiral Vir was trying to make. Call me a deserter or a terrorist or anything you wish but at the end of the day, my conscience will be clean when I rest my head down tonight."
"Stow the righteous indignation marine, and order your ship to stand down and surrender to UNSC forces."
"No."
There was a pause in the room, "What do you mean, no."
Ramirez crossed his arms, "You know what, it doesn't surprise me that a man like you doesn't understand what the word No means/"
There was a hiss around the room and Ramirez stood from his seat.
"I will not stand down. Now will this ship, nor will Admiral Vir's people." He jabbed his finger towards the star and the light streaming in from the viewscreen, "Admiral Vir faced heaven and hell to get a ship that could destroy behemoth. He looked gods in the face and told them to move. He gave himself up for a cause, and we don't know if he's coming back which is more than you or your dear president Hunt has ever done for anyone. So no, I will not stand down, until that star burns out."
"Be reasonable Marine, you're no officer. You have no authority."
He stared the UNSC members I the face, "Men and women like you prove that Authority can be taken, so let me follow in your footsteps. Until Adam can take up the mantle again, consider me his replacement." He leaned forward, "and you know what?"
Silence
"I'm not nearly as nice as he is."
And then he hung up the call.
The room was staring at him in shocked silence as he stood back straight head up.
"Patch me through to the fleet, to Arcadia's news networks if you can."
There was a soft shuffling as they went to go about his orders, following mechanically and without question, like he wasn't simply a pretender to the throne.
Someone gave a thumbs up and a countdown for him.
He took a deep breath.
They gave him a thumbs up, "Citizens of Arcadia.... Members of the Empyrean fleet today marks both a triumph and a tragedy. Only a few days ago our friend and leader Adam vir embarked on a mission to find and steal one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, in order to destroy the creature Behemoth who up until an hour ago moved to overtake Earth." He mulled the words over in his head before speaking, his voice slow and measure, "We found and infiltrated the Maker system, we navigated to the seat of the Architect, through the cradle of life, and took the Empyrean from under their noses before bringing it back here to use on behemoth." Another deep breath, "At great cost to themselves Adam Vir and Corporal Maverick stayed behind to destroy the creature, and it is yet unknown weather they survive. Until that time we must not lose hope in our mission, we must continue forward with his hopes and dreams as our map to the future. We will oppose General Kazna and the void she represents, we will work to bring the universe back together."
He straightened himself, "I will not let his works die, and until the day comes that he appears again, I will not rest. Have hope." He raised a fist, "And long live Impetus."
He allowed the camera to cut, leaning back in the seat.
There was silence on the bridge for another long moment before.
"Where to, captain/"
This time the title did not catch him off guard,.
"Back to Arcadia, we prepare for war."