Wash followed north as he went into the canteen he spotted the bottle on the table and inspected it. He sat down removed his helmet and poured a glass. Alaska was hesitant at showing her face but eventually came around. And poured herself a glass she wasn’t much for drinking as she knew she was a bit of a light weight, but she still went for it. When North toasted to the mission the siblings followed suit. “To ever more future missions” Wash added, “And to a load more dead bad guys” Washington sipped his glass and put it down, whilst Alaska who’d been on ration packs for quite a while hadn’t had whiskey in some time. She downed the glass. She put the glass down with some force, “Son of a bitch!” She exclaimed coughing, “That was some fucking strong stuff, I think my throat is on fire.”. Washington couldn’t help but laugh as he got up to get some water. “Drink this, you’ll be fine” he said presenting the water to her. She downed the water but it seemed to make no difference. “Flipping hell Doc what was that?”

“Agreed, to future missions” Iowa took a sip then nearly burst out laughing when Alaska downed it. “That was Tehran whiskey Alaska,” Iowa chuckled to himself “apparently it had aged 150 years. So I can understand why you might struggle with downing it. I was in Tehran with my squad investigating claims of terrorism with my squad, we found nothing except a whole stash of this stuff we each managed to scavenge 3 or 4 bottles with each. I’ve only ever finished one bottle and that was with my old CO he was as hard as a rock. ” he refilled his glass, "What about you north, any tales from your career that you’d like to share.” Iowa was relaxed, he was open with everyone, he felt at home for once, he hadn’t felt that feeling in a long time.

South looked at him for a while, nodding slowly eventually. “As long as you don’t go on any more suicide missions!” She eventually offered in exchange. “Sorry Cal, but you’re my friend and I’m not just going to let you go off and get yourself killed. None of you guys. But at the same time I’m really not looking forward to North yelling at me again… especially considering I know he’d do the same thing, given the opportunity.” She shrugged slightly before standing, giving him a look. “I think it goes without saying we don’t mention this to the others.” The girl said quietly before motioning her head towards the door. “Wanna go find em? I think I heard talk of food and I’m starving.” North chuckled again, sitting back slightly. “Now you’re asking something.” He said, thinking over past missions. Surprisingly nothing leapt out at him at first. Sure there was the odd mission here or there but nothing spectacular. “Oh! I got it!” He said putting the glass to the table with enthusiasm. “Perhaps not my finest moment, but probably the one I think about the most. My squad and I had been sent to this really primitive planet at war with itself, the original, primitive inhabitants were give the modern settlers a bitch of a time so we had been sent to see if a treaty could be reached.” The place was full of thick jungles, you couldn’t walk in a straight line the trees were so think. Anyway, we’d had our talk with the settlers, gotten what they wanted and were trying to find the original inhabitants, who were very at one with their environment. It was proving difficult. Now, they had no clue who we were, so I can understand why assumed us to be enemies too, especially since they had no doubt seen us talking to the settlers. They ambushed us during the night and my squad was scattered and I found myself on my own.” “I didn’t last long. After an hour or so I heard this really ominous click right under my foot before my world exploded. Now, remembering that this was a primitive planet the blast wasn’t enough to kill me thanks to my amour. But I was down, injured and all but out. I was bleeding heavily thanks to a bit of shrap and all I really remembered seeing were those natives hovering over me and these vague… nonsensical images between bouts of darkness. The next thing I really remember was waking up in an infirmary.” He went silent for a long time after that, for a while it looked like the story was over before he eventually continued, though something had changed in his voice, the carefree happiness was gone, replaced by a serious tone of contemplation. “They said they found me naked, no sign of my amour, covered in this strange substance and leaves of all things. Apparently none of the rest of my squad were found. I never said anything to any of them but I honestly think those natives saved me… for whatever reason. And whilst I can’t say for certain… I think the rest of my squad didn’t want to be found and I like to think they’re still out there somewhere with those strange beings.”

Carolina smiled. "Well I'll do my best, but people die South. I've seen people die that I cared for, so if it comes to it yes I'll put my life on the line in place of any of you. Now lets grab some food, you can have my desert." He got up stretching. His mind was running at hundred miles an hour, she'd get the full story later right now he was just happy to have made a good friend, he could trust Penn but South was much more his speed. His nervously ran his hand through his short hair. "Hey South, if your brother ever gets on your nerves let me know, I know a couple psychiatric tricks you can use to shut him up."

Both siblings listened intensely to North’s story, “Well that certainly put’s my one to shame,” Alaska replied, "I don’t really have many stories, I’ve only seen the end of them,” Alaska thought for a moment and remembered an event:“No there was one time back in the old days; I had just been transferred to the helmsman of a Frigate. We had just finished scouting an unknown sector, all of a sudden we saw a ship fire up from an asteroid belt and belt towards us, I tried to go into slip space but they fired at our thrusters, it was a scouting vessel so our gun weren't equipped for anything of their standard. They boarded us and sent the surviving crew into the depths of the ship; we’d been abducted by pirates.” Alaska said. Alaska paused as wash interjected “What did you do?” “I volunteered my services, I was only in the UNSC for a small time, I joined up with the ‘pirates’ They taught me skills of combat without regulation, no Rules of engagement, and some amazing flying techniques.” Wash was taken back; he’d never imagined his sister as a space pirate “How’d they get you in the program then?” Wash asked taking another sip of his Whisky.“Simple, I was arrested but apparently my skills were too good to been thrown into a prison so I was re-employed as a pelican pilot. And now I’m here.” “I wish I could share my own, but the likely hood is that I’ll get assassinated for doing so I had to go ‘off the grid’ for quite a while” He got a Glare from Alaska, “Don’t start sis we've been over it, the moment has passed. You don't seem like the kinda guy not to be alone North, anyone back home looking at the sky for you?"

South looked at Cal for a long time as they walked, not sure if she exactly liked what he was telling her. However she smiled and decided to let it drop when he offered to help her with any more problems from North. “We’ll be fine.” She assured him. “To be honest it’s probably one of the first fights we’ve had in a long time… even before he left for the army.” She said, though there was this small hint of sadness in her voice, like there was more to the story of ‘before North left’ that she wasn’t going into. Wash’s question caught North off guard for a moment and a small blush could definitely be seen for a few seconds. “I um… well… you know what I don’t know honestly.” He said with an embarrassed laugh. “Whilst South and I aren’t twins we’ve always had an exceptionally close relationship. She got sick when she was very young, you see. So she wasn’t allowed to go outside much, so I was really the only friend she had. And when I wasn’t around she spent all her time on the computer, which is probably where the hacking started… anyway, it was a very expensive illness to treat.” “Curable… but we just didn’t have that kind of money. So as soon as I was able I joined the UNSC, hoping to be able to pay for her treatment.” He shrugged slightly, figuring it was just something anyone would have done for their family. “I’m not saying there isn’t a girl back where I’m from missing me… but honestly if there is she never said anything to me. Up until a few weeks ago I thought she was still back there.” He laughed. “You can imagine my surprise when I found out the UNSC had picked her up and already gone through with all of the treatment and thrown her into a secret program.” “What about all of you?” He asked suddenly. “I guess you all know my and South’s story about how we got here… what about you? And not why you were picked for this Freelancer stuff, I mean what drove you to join the UNSC?” South and Cal entered the Mess and she easily spotted her brother and the others and it brought a smile to her face, despite the fact they had parted on bad terms. South wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to stay mad or upset with North honestly. Seeing him was just too much of a good memory in her mind and she waved happily at them.

Iowa shouted over at south and Cal, with a beckoning gesture “Hey you two, come sit down, we’re having a get-together!” he was a little but tipsy at this point, he grabbed the bottle and held it up “If that doesn’t excite you enough we’ve got drink!” He put the bottle down and replied his voice very slightly slurred “For me it wasn’t exactly a choice, I used to work in the biochemical industry, I helped make stims safer for soldiers. The military took note of achievements and threw me in medic school I aced the classes and got in, a few missions later and now I’m here. I was quite lucky I had one of the best trainers in the UNSC, he never told me his name. On my last mission my squad” he paused “Never mind, anyway I got leave after that mission and ended being transferred here.” Iowa put his drink down and decided he’d probably had enough to drink for today.

Carolina sighed, he really never wanted to share his story but screw it, they were friends now and he need to, he grabbed a plate of food and walked over to the table. "Alright I'll go next." He spoke softly brushing his hair nervously with his hand. "I grew up on Earth, along the coastal islands just below Virginia, right inside the state I'm named for. Anyway about age 14 my parents had an IQ test set up for me, I'd been complaining about my teachers and making straight A's all my life. Turns out I was prodigy when it came back, so I started taking college classes after school the same here, of course my classmates at High school really didn't like me being the resident genius so after a couple weeks gang of about ten beat up, chucked me in a dumpster, my younger sister came and fished me out. Well after that I put some time in after school training at a local boxing gym, next time they came back well five had bloody nose's and the rest ran." He chuckled taking a couple bites of food. "So after that I sort just coast through, got a scholarship to Yale and took off, I graduated with two PhD's in psychiatry, while I was there however well my parents couldn't afford my last year at Yale so I had to take assistance from the military. So I became lieutenant, I toured the galaxy fighting battles and leading troops under one general or another. Until I got promoted and reassigned, they faked my death and moved me over to special operations where I conducted torture-less interrogations, I convinced people to help me save lives or failing that just said things and got read then went from there to beat him. I was actually about to finally get out when I got sent here, apparently the military wants to keep from returning home and telling my family I'm not dead." He pushed meal away and looked down, a hard story to tell, hell didn't even know if he family was alive.

"Hmm that seems to be a trend, Alaska and myself only found that we were going to be meeting until the transport shuttle. I didn't even know which soldier was her until training when her helmet fell off." Alaska nodded saying nothing and averting her eyes from everyone. "Yeah that's true," in her mind she still couldn't quite accept him as her brother, her brother died some time ago. Alaska could tell that Carolina was hurt when he was telling his story, she knew the families pain, telling a family that a relative has died is something the military doesn't like to do. "Hey, Thanks for sharing, you didn't have to you know, but thanks." Hell to it, Wash thought to him. "Well, I guess I have no choice now, When Alaska and I were younger we always used to be adventurous There was one time when she and I made camp in a forest, we lived in England together they had laws to keep their green areas, I joined after I was 22 And gut put into an raid team that's when I got promoted into Special operations, and it led into my 'Secret op' on a certain munitions company, they were trying to use fore runner tech into weaponry, They were the ones who tried to manufacture sentinel beams, it was amusing to see how confused they were about it. But anyway, I managed to sneak one away, I used up all the ammo unfortunately but it was a fantastic weapon none the less, Anyway I had been on this mission and after a day of R&R I got the message I had been moved to this program, and here I am." "You had a day of R&R, after 8 year mission?" Alaska asked "You're telling me, someone here must have liked my progress I suppose," He leaned back on his chair and took a sip of his drink, "I'm just glad that it's over, i hope i never do another covert op in my life, it's so tiring, waking up and pretending to be another person. It's like being an actor but if your bad you'll be killed" Washington added sarcastically. He leaned over at Iowa's data pad and stood up, "Well if you don't mind everyone I'm gonna move out, Sims really tire me out, I'll see you guys in the morning I suppose," He got up, picked up his helmet and moved out tapping Iowa on his shoulder as he leaned in "Just remember you don't need to Finnish that bottle, on your own if you ever need a drinking buddy I'm your man." Wash left to his room leaving the others behind. "If you guys don't mind I think I'll join him," she said yawning "Good night all," she stood up picked up her helmet and left. When she got back to her dorm Wash was already in the shower. She picked up wash's data pad and quickly signed into the system she quickly sent Carolina a PM it read: "Hey Carolina I realize you've had it tough, Wash has a Private Communicator if you need to use it, it's old tech so it won't be jammed by their interceptors, or the damn AI, See you in the Morning -Alaska" She was close to writing her real name for a moment, but she realized she wasn't that person any more. she signed out and lay in bed slowly closing her eyes. Washington followed shortly afterwards.

“It is getting late.” North agreed as he stood up, taking in a big breath. It wasn’t quite a yawn but it was getting there. “And we have to be up early tomorrow for training.” He said, giving South a pat on that back. She turned to him, giving him a face as he simply walked away, not even waiting for her. “What? But… North wait! How early is early? North!” She stood up and made a few steps to go after him before stopping, going back to the table and picking up her desert. “Gentlemen.” She said, bidding them a good night. Honestly she had no idea when she’d see them again. Hopefully tomorrow but who knew how hard North was going to train her tomorrow. And she still had to meet up with Cal later tonight. Midnight in the kitchen. That’s when he’d said they should meet up. The girl made an internal groan. North was going to have her up early but Cal was going to have her up late. Military life was hard. Still, she reminded herself. It was better than jail. Anything was better than jail. At least that’s what she’d convinced herself of all this time. After today… she wasn’t so sure anymore. Catching up to her brother the pair walked side by side for what felt like a long time in silence as they made their way back to their room, the only noise was their footsteps on the ground, echoing with each step they took. They even didn’t speak as they got ready for bed. South lay there in the darkness for a while before she eventually took a small breath. “North?” She wasn’t sure if he was still awake or not. But she couldn’t remember if she’d said something to him or not before. “I’m sorry.” Silence was her only response for the longest time as she lay there in the darkness, listening for the sounds of him sleeping before she heard something that made her smile. “Yeah, me too.”

Carolina nodded getting up. "I have to get some sleep as well. I need to hit the marksman course tomorrow, my aim wasn't to good in the sim." With that he got up giving them a wave of his hand and strolled off to his room. He arrived and set about removing and storing his armor, then changing into his fatigues. After that he decided to read for a little while picking up his old paper back copy of the art or war he gently turned the pages reading though the quotes and stories. He had always loved the book and found it an inspiration and companion throughout his life.

He spent hours reading before looking up, ten minutes to midnight. So he sighed and got up heading back towards the kitchen, carefully avoiding cameras and making it look he was heading to another teammates room rather than the kitchen, he slipped away and into the back room. Taking a seat near one of the stoves he waited for South to arrive, going over what he planned to tell her in his head.

South lay lying awake in the room. She could hear North sleeping soundly but she knew he’d wake up at the slightest noise. Mostly she was just monitoring systems. She felt bad, a little bit because she was essentially spying on people but most people were asleep at this time anyway. The time ticked by and eventually midnight drew near and she decided she should head out to find Cal. As she slid out of bed she heard North stir and he looked over at her drowsily. “Where are you going?” He asked; his voice groggy as he rolled over to look at her.

“Bathroom.” South replied casually as she walked to the door. She heard a small groan as North settled back into sleep and the girl quickly slipped out into the dim hallway. It was too late to bother putting on her amour, not to mention it would look a lot more suspicious walking around this time of night in it. As she was she just had a pair of underpants on and one of North’s shirts. It seemed much more believable if she said she was merely going to get a midnight snack this way. The hallway was dim and she was mostly relying on the map on her data pad and the dim light the screen gave off.

She eventually made it to the kitchen and peeked inside the dark room cautiously. “Cal?” South called quietly as she made her way inside, unable to see into the darkness. “Cal are you in here?”

Cal chuckled and whispered back. "Over here South." While he had been waiting he'd collected four candy bars from the ration packs. He sighed and waved her over throwing her a chocolate bar. "Here I grabbed these in case you were hungry." He said with a sad little smile. He really didn't know what to say to her, maybe he should start with the sim, or the fact that it was illegal. He told Penn but that was different, that had been hysterics and his lost grip on reality, he was here and he was talking with the real South.

He knew where to begin. "Listen, I wanted to tell you something important... I spent two years with most of you guys in a Sim and from what I can tell it was all damn accurate data they used. They wanted to test me, It was a full virtual reality test one where in my head I spent two years trapped in mountain leading you all. Fighting, laughing, trusting all of you." He sighed, it was hard to fight the memories but he did his best. "I've got brain damage, I know it. I don't think like I used to I question decisions I make, I argue over what I should do in combat, I risk my neck pulling stunts like in the sim yesterday."

Walking towards the sound of Cal’s voice South saw something flying out of the darkness, catching it at the last moment. Looking at it she smiled slightly as she moved over towards him and sat on the bench. “I’m always hungry.” She said with a small laugh. That and thanks to North’s sudden departure meant she had missed desert. Opening the bar she began chewing at it contently as Cal eventually began telling her the reason for why he’d wanted to speak with her. However as she listened she became more and more troubled. “That’s… defiantly not legal.” She eventually said softly.

“Then again I’m beginning to question how much illegal activity they’re going to subject us to before all this was over.” And she should know, she’d familiarised herself with almost every law there was firstly in an attempt to find a loop hole and then to ensure she never ended up on the wrong side of the law again. “I mean it could cause a whole plethora of mental issues. I can’t imagine what it must be like.” She gave him a sympathetic look before frowning and looking down. “Okay.” The girl eventually said softly. Really she wasn’t sure what else to say. What could she say? There was nothing she could do to make this better.

He sighed and then said something else, something he would regret later perhaps. "During the simulation I had only two casualties, an Agent whose name escapes me now and Agent South Dakota." He looked down at the ground. "I had ordered you to stay down I was going to rush a take and throw a C-12 charge, you decided they needed me more than you and rushed out instead, the charge destroyed the tank... You want down, sniper round. I ordered the retreat Penn and I dragged North away. Two weeks later I'm out scouting and come back North has killed the entire group, every one dead. He got a message, with proof you were alive and once we were all dead you two would be free to go. He killed me, he had a knife and I had rifle... I could have shot him but I couldn't... I just kept thinking about my sister and what I would do to get home to her and I..." He hung his head in his hands then wiped tears from his eyes. "Then I woke up here, everything had been a lie... I just... I broke down."

He sighed then looked at her. "The test was done to figure out how good I am. Test if I could beat a machine programmed to never let me win." He sighed. "South, I don't want to see anyone die again... I don't want to see you die again." He looked in to her eyes. "I guess that's why I'm not as good as the day we meet, I care for you all now. I heard stories about home and fought and bleed in that damn virtual hell. Hell I think I started to fall in love!" He groaned and leaned against the chair. He chuckled then sat back up. "Still you ate less in the Sim, so they were wrong there."

South had since stopped eating, too wrapped up in Cal’s story of his sim. “During the simulation I had only two casualties, an Agent whose name escapes me now and Agent South Dakota." Her breath caught and as he continued to speak it felt as if there was no air in the world. As if she had forgotten how to breathe. As he spoke she wracked her brain trying to figure out if North would kill everyone else if the simulation had been real. She knew he was loyal. Incredibly loyal. But how far did that loyalty run when it was her life at stake?

They’d all seen how harshly he’d reacted when she’d risked her life to save Cal before. “What is with these simulations and killing me?” She blurted out without really thinking about it. Three times now she’d died in these tests. Maybe the project was trying to tell her something and she didn’t like it. Sliding off the bench she walked over to him, kneeling down to look at the man. “I get that it’s hard.” She said gently, resting her hands on his knees. “I get that it messed you up. But I think what you… what we both need to start doing is to learn to separate our emotions from the situation.”

Reaching up the girl gently took hold of Cal’s head, her hands cupping either side of his face, holding it so she could look at him. “I’m here now. I’m not dead and I don’t have any plans on dying any time soon. The important thing is that we can’t let what we saw in there affect our lives now. What you saw wasn’t real, as much as they tried to make you believe so it wasn’t real. Caring is good, but not if it makes you less of a soldier when it really matters. It’s things like that, that will get people killed. Okay?”

"I guess you right, I need to focus and try to detach myself sometimes... It's hard to do that. It's why most officers stay distant from their men, makes it easier to order them forward towards death." He sighed, then stared back in to her eyes. "I'll do my best to try and be a good teammate..." He smiled gently taking her hands from his face and holding them. "I needed this South, your a wonderful friend." He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek before getting up. "Get to bed and rest, I'll give you my breakfast tomorrow as a treat for listening to a half crazy man ramble. For now here." He threw her the two remaining candy bars and walked towards the door. "And South, my door is always open... I'd like to talk with you again like this sometime, your a sweet girl." He turned and waved as he faded in to the darkness of the ship.

South sat in the dark for a long while after Cal left, felling numb. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed there before she rose and made her way slowly back to the room. North once again roused slightly at her return, but either she hadn't been gone that long or he was too sleepy to realise. Lying there she took a few moments to calm down and clear her mind so that she could eventually slip into sleep.

“South? Get up.” Even though if felt like only moments a few hours had passed when North began shaking her gently.

South groaned tiredly and looked at him with an annoyed glare. “What time is it?” She pulled looked at the clock on the bedside table. “Five AM?!” She said loudly. “It’s too early. There’s no such thing as five AM. Let me sleep.”

“Well then you should have gone to bed earlier. Get up! Get dressed. Get ready.” North repeated firmly as he pulled her out of the bed. “Training begins today and you’ve got a lot of ground to make up. You can sleep after breakfast. Which is at eight. We’ve got three hours until then. Come on.” The girl groaned again slowly climbed to her feet, pouting at him.

Agent Oregon was already up and armoured just without his helmet. His sleep habits though can't be considered the best considering he called it part of his training to go to sleep at midnight, wake up at 4am, and still operate like everyone else. So when he heard the girl complaining about it being five am, it was a new found shock. "Hey sweetheart, could be worse could wake up at 4 like me."
Walking out Oregon went to the training field starting off with stretches trying to psych his body and mind again, waiting for the others to show up.

As South and North arrived at the gym they were met with another Freelancer, South wasn’t sure if he was complaining or boasting about getting up at four but she figured, since a lot of their time here was designated for personal use unless they had a mission, he was boasting. Now before coming here South had memorised most of the Agents by their amour, since most didn’t have unarmoured pictures attached to their profiles for security reasons. She recognised the armour and was able to identify him in her mind as Agent Oregon however could not place him on the leader board at this point in time.

The girl stood there in a pair of sports shorts and a t-shirt glaring at him, clearly unimpressed. Now North knew that South didn’t often glare at people, but he also knew that she was not used to this military life style yet and having your sleep interrupted was something she was going to have to get used to. “I wouldn’t if I were you.” He said to the other guy with a friendly smile and a laugh, trying to show he didn’t mean it in a threatening way. “She can get kind of cranky before breakfast… especially when she’s tired.”

Giving him a friendly pat on the back he turned and led South off before she did anything stupid. The next few days felt like an eternity for South. North was merciless with the training regime. Every morning he had her up early for physical conditioning, all unarmoured since the amour could only ever do so much to assist your already existing physical abilities he knew South needed to improve her endurance, strength and speed if she wanted to stay alive. They were lucky, in a way, in that the way you spent your time here was mostly up to you. There was no scheduled training or anything like that, it was your own responsibility to make sure you stayed in top condition, so they could work at their own pace.

It wasn’t just physical training though; he also introduced her to most basic training skills, arms practice and the likes. However he also knew he could only teach her so much, so was working on seeking out help for other things. He had Iowa teach her some basic medical stuff, Wash covered most hand to hand stuff and was more than happy to hand her off to Cal to teach her how to driver properly. He didn’t think she was ready for flying or explosives yet. Maybe later. Everything else he had to do his best to cover, since he wanted to keep her lack of experience between those he knew well.

Over the next day’s every now and then groups would be called to the briefing room and would disappear for hours, sometimes days at a time. They were being sent out on actual missions, that’s what everyone was coming back saying anyway and he judged from the way that the leader board was changing that they were telling the truth. It was around breakfast time when they ran into the others. South sat down and simply let her head fall onto the table, her breakfast beside her ignored. She was exhausted. Physically and mentally. The girl hadn’t had any free time over the last few days thanks to North and it was starting to take its toll on her.