Axon Clips Chapter 12

Axon Clips Chapter 12 is the final chapter in the I Love Bees audio drama. It also contains the only axon clips for which an exact date can be determined. Because the First Battle of Earth begins in the final clips, we know they occurred on 10/20/2552.

Rani
[[Media:Cell_block.ogg|cell_block]]
 * Audio Compilation 5min 52sec

(cell door opens)

Guard: This is it - 29a. You've got 5 minutes and then I escort you back out of the cell block. (yells) Visitor!

Rani: Sarah-John!

Sarah: Rani!

Guard: 5 minutes. Remember.

Sarah: Oh, honey. Not too cozy, is it?

Rani: Well, actually... it's just like my bedroom at home - now that my bedroom's in the bunker.

Sarah: Are you sleeping okay?

Rani: No. Not at all... not at all... But, there'll be lots of time for that if the verdict comes back guilty.

Sarah: Nobody in their right mind would believe you were a traitor!

Durga: (on chatter) She's right. Treason is a crime of intent.

Sarah: What the hell?!

[[Media:Little_bottle.ogg|little_bottle]]

Rani: Durga? Is that you?

Durga: Now new and improved.

Sarah: Rani, you're getting spooky again.

Rani: Durga is a gigantically powerful ex-military rogue AI.

Durga: --Coming through your chatter.

Sarah: My...chatter?

Durga: Little bottle; big genie. I'm the one that got Rani into this mess.

Rani: No, I got myself in this mess.

Sarah: Well you sure as hell'd better be getting her out!

Rani: Sarah-John, unless you want your name changed to Trixie De-light on every government form for the rest of your life, I advise you to hush up and be polite.

Durga: As a matter of fact, I am going to get her out. At least, I think so.

[[Media:Colonel_herzog.ogg|colonel_herzog]]

Rani: I wondered if you were pulling some strings when they moved me from the military jail to a civilian one.

Durga: I wanted to tell you but they shut your chatter down.

Sarah: Were you the one who sent me the note telling me where Rani was?

Durga: Standish is under full investigation for the coverup at Chawla, and the attempted murder of Colonel Herzog.

Rani: Attempted? But they said on the news he was dead.

Durga: But, that was before I heard him call you.

Rani: Call me? Durga, I haven't talked to Herzog since I was in Kentucky.

Durga: Uh-oh. Accessing. Alright, I've found police records of the aftermath of the wreck.

Rani: Standish made Herzog's car crash?

Durga: DRT it says. Driver killed on impact. But... I heard him...

[[Media:Faked.ogg|faked]]

Rani: But... could Herzog have faked the police reports? He's very clever.

Durga: No. I think something else was faked.

Rani: But, even if it was faked, we never would have been able to turn off the artifact if it wasn't for...  * sigh* Let's not talk about this now.

Durga: But...

Rani: Sarah-John has aided and abetted me all my life. But this is not the time.

Sarah: Rani, I would do anything you ask me to!

Rani: Of course you would, but not this time.

Sarah: I cannot believe all this stuff was happening, and you didn't tell me?

Rani: After the guy on the roof? Are you crazy? Someone would have come to kill you.

Sarah: Look, they send one of those guys up to Kentucky, and Jason'll probably pick 'em off of the roof with a deer rifle!

(laughs)

Rani: Probably.

Sarah: Oh Rani, this is horrible.

[[Media:I_love_you.ogg|i_love_you]]

Durga: Rani, I'm sorry, the guard is coming back.

Sarah: I-I'll come see you tomorrow. I have a motel room a few blocks away and I'm staying right there unti--

Rani: --No, no. You don't have to do that.

(guard enters the block)

Sarah: --Until this whole mess is settled and they let you go.

Durga: I'll take care of her.

Sarah: See that you do.

Durga: Rani, you'll be out in 2 days. Come see us in New York when they let you go. You know where.

Guard: (opens cell door) It's time.

Sarah: I'll be back tomorrow. Jason wants to come too, but for some reason he thinks you're mad at him.

Rani: Well, tell him I'm not considered dangerous as death row inmates go.

Guard: Ladies...

Sarah: Back. Off! If these folks don't take good care of you Rani, there will be hell to pay.

Rani: Don't cry, honey... your mascara...

Sarah: Oh hell!

Rani: I love you. (Sarah steps out) Sarah-John? I love you.

Jersey
[[Media:Draft_board.ogg|draft_board]]
 * Audio Compilation 11min 14sec

Jersey: They coming?

Durga: Jan just picked Rani up at the train station.

Jersey: And Kamal?

Durga: Almost out of the shower. I booked him on a shuttle to the west coast tonight.

Jersey: Hah, you should totally tell him about who's waiting at his house!

Durga: Hm, it'll be funnier this way.

Jersey: You know, since you got yourself put back together, you've got even more of a sense of humour.

Durga: That's a good thing, isn't it?

Jersey: Eh, jury's still out on that.

Durga: Everybody likes surprises!

Jersey: Yeah... uh, speaking of surprises, that first day after Chawla, you know when you were still pretty loopy...

Durga: I prefer disoriented.

Jersey: Durga, I called the draft board.

[[Media:Some_other_kid.ogg|some_other_kid]]

Durga: Dammit...

Jersey: What about the common good, Durga?

Durga: Why should you be a soldier? There are lots of other guys who could be soldiers - they'd like it! The navy doesn't need you.

Jersey: That's not the point. You can't go messing with my draft notice.

Durga: And frankly - don't take this the wrong way, Jersey - you'd make a terrible soldier!

Jersey: My number came up 3 weeks ago, Durga. If I don't report, they'll send me to jail.

Durga: I don't think so.

Jersey: Durga, if I don't report, some other kid is going to die in my place.

Durga: Jersey! Not yet. Please, just a few more weeks? I don't--even know how much time I have before I--

Jersey: --Suppressing a draft notice - does that mean you're going rampant?

Durga: --It doesn't mean I'm going rampant!

Jersey: *sigh* What does it mean then?

Durga: It means I care. It means, I take care of my crew.

Explanation
[[Media:Thanks_for_coming.ogg|thanks_for_coming]]

(opens the door)

Jersey: Thanks for coming, everybody.

Everyone: Yeah, no problem, sure thing Jersey.

Rani: Thanks for getting me out of jail!

Durga: (on chatter) I've learned some things I think you'll all want to hear. There will soon be a ceremony honoring John-117, a Spartan 2.0 who escaped the fall of Reach, and discovered a strange artifact that seems to be related to the one on Chawla Base. Except the one he found was the size of a planet.

(shocked exclamations)

Jan: A planet?

Kamal: Do they know what the artifacts were supposed to do?

Durga: Mhm. Destroy life.

Jan: So, it's a weapon...

Durga: No, not kill enemies. Destroy life. All life in the galaxy.

(shocked exclamations)

Kamal: All life?!

Jersey: In the entire freakin' galaxy??

[[Media:Slinky_red_dress.ogg|slinky_red_dress]]

Durga: Mhm.

Rani: Wow! So maybe...

Jersey: So... we did save the world! Woohoo! Yeah!

(relieved laughter)

Kamal: It doesn't get much better than that.

Jersey: Yeah, you know, the only way it could be better is if we'd used my plan.

Jan: (sighs)

Rani: Your plan? Why your plan?

Jersey: *tsk* 'Cause... we would have saved the world, and had Jan in a slinky red dress with a gun in her garter belt!

Jan: (disgusted) What-ever...

Kamal: (supportive) Okay, that's a good point.

Jersey: (playful) Uh oh. Jan's got that look in her eye. Like if she had that gun right now, I'd be history.

Jan: (dangerously flirtatious) Oh, Jersey. If I had the garter belt, I wouldn't need a gun.

Jersey: ...Whoah...

[[Media:The_operator.ogg|the_operator]]

Rani: Durga? What exactly happened to you while we were in Chawla base? After we shut down the artifact I mean.

Durga: Uhm... now that's a long, strange story.

Rani: You were the ship's AI on the Apocalypso.

Durga: Yes! I was a top shelf ONI mission specialist AI, and my name was Melissa.

Jersey: I like Durga better.

Kamal: I kind of like Yasmine.

Durga: But my nickname was the Operator.

Jan: The Op! McKaskill talked about the Op! That was you?

Durga: Mhm... apparently I had a reputation for getting people to do what I wanted.

Rani: Uh huh...

Durga: Cloaked and running deep in Covenant space, we intercepted communications that implied a Covenant attack was coming on--

Rani: --Troy. That's when they decided to run a covert evac.

[[Media:Trojan_horse.ogg|trojan_horse]]

Durga: Yes.

Jan: But the Covies figured it out.

Durga: Yes. And then--

Rani: Oh! They built a Trojan horse.

Durga: They hid a virus buried in a transmission I was meant to intercept. Nothing big, nothing smart, just the smallest, effective piece of code.

Jan: And what was it supposed to do?

Jersey: Gain control of the ship?

Kamal: Find the location of Earth?

Durga: One or the other, or both. But most of all, it wanted to find the artifact.

Jersey: Looks like these Covies are very interested in these artifacts.

Durga: Captain Greene knew something was wrong with me. She aborted our mission and headed home. But not far from Earth, something triggered the artifact. There was a giant rip in the slipstream and--

Jan: Yeah, and all the alarms went off in the base when I was trying to stick a gate pass back in the motor pool office.

Kamal: I was on a date. My chatter connection failed.

Jersey: And that's when you crashed onto my hardware!

[[Media:Shipwrecked.ogg|shipwrecked]]

Durga: Part of me did. I--I was blown apart. Part of me, the part you call Durga... there was something about you. About your father. I met him once, Jersey.

Jersey: What?

Durga: Years ago, I called him the Castaway.

Jersey: You met him?

Durga: I liked him. He played me songs, I think that was part of the reason I reached out and grabbed your system as I fell.

Jersey: Wow...

Durga: But, a lot of me - of Melissa - was destroyed. And some... some crashed somewhere else. Some-when else.

Jan: Uh, some-when?

Durga: In the past.

Kamal: People think time is a river, that flows in one direction. But time is an ocean...

Durga: ...and I was shipwrecked on it.

[[Media:Red_balloons.ogg|red_balloons]]

Durga: I split. And part of me washed up hundreds of years ago. A half-mad fragment of what I had been. Trapped on primitive hardware, little better than an abacus.

Rani: How do you know all this?

Durga: When Jersey turned off the artifact, whatever had been holding the bits of myself apart collapsed, and I fell back together again.

Kamal: So you can remember what it was like? Back in the old days?

Durga: That time's like a nightmare I've woken from. Dream images I can hardly remember. Stone walls, fireflies, red balloons... people singing to me, writing letters, playing games...

Rani: Singing?

Durga: Yes, singing... Strange songs, and scratchy voices.

[[Media:A_second_crew.ogg|a_second_crew]]

Durga: I met... such extraordinary people. They made miracles for me when I was so... lost. They were a second crew. A second family for me. They held me up when I was half mad, and broken, and covered in bees.

Rani: Bees?

Durga: ...bees...bees... (Durga's voice starts corrupting) the place I landed in... was covered in... bees.. bees... (her voice modulates between Yasmine's) bees... bees... bees... (Yasmine) crawling over me all the time... crawling inside me...

[[Media:Good_little_girl.ogg|good_little_girl]]

Jersey: Wait... why bees? I mean, if you came here because you knew my dad, what was it about that place that--

Kamal: Yasmine...

Durga: Kamal?

Kamal: I'm here, Yasmine.

Durga: They took me away.

Kamal: I know...

Durga: They took me away and no one ever came to get me.

Kamal: (in pain) I'm sor...

Durga: They trained me... eight years... (Durga slowly returns) to be a Spartan. They taught me to kill... with guns, and knives, and ships, and bombs, disease, and diplomacy, and my own bare hands.

Jan: And you were a good little girl, and you learned it all.

Durga: Until they murdered me.

[[Media:A_little_sting.ogg|a_little_sting]]

Kamal: Oh, Yasmine...

Durga: On my 14th birthday they took me to a lab, and... a doctor came in, and... it was a ... (Yasmine) lady doctor in a white coat. And, the nurse brought out a steel tray covered in picks and scalpels that rattled when she walked. I thought that I could use them to kill the doctor, but I didn't. I let them strap me down.

Jersey: Durga, it's okay, we're here.

Kamal: Yasmine, you don't have to do--

Durga: --and she, picked up this long needle, with some yellow liquid in it. Black bars like stripes at the millilitre markings...

Jan: Jesus...

Durga: And she said, "this will hardly hurt a bit."

Kamal: Yasmine...

Durga: (Durga returns weakly) She said, just... a pinch, honey. You'll barely feel it. Just a little sting. (Durga starts crying)

[[Media:The_clockwork_rat.ogg|the_clockwork_rat]]

Jersey: But your story didn't end there, kiddo.

Durga: (Yasmine) It was like the Snow Queen took me, Kamal. And then you came and rescued me. You did! You and Jan, and Jersey, and Rani, and my secret friends that unlocked Herzog's voice inside my head... so, I knew what I had to do. You all rescued me, and I'm so grateful. Only, some years had passed and I... I... (Durga returns) I changed.

Kamal: Yasmine, you're still there.

Durga: No. She's not, Kamal. The Clockwork Rat got her.

Jersey: Clockwork rat?

Durga: She grew up, Kamal. She's Durga now.

[[Media:Nothing_to_forgive.ogg|nothing_to_forgive]]

Kamal: There are some things that can't be fixed. So, you fix what you can, and keep going. We can't get back the years we lost, but I very much want to get to know you now.

Durga: Me... me - Yasmine?

Kamal: You, Durga.

Durga: Durga isn't human, you know. Durga's a machine. Made of logics gates, and microfilaments, and electricity.

Kamal: Kamal's a machine made of trace minerals, and water as far as that goes.

Durga: (chuckle) ...Kamal? Do you still... Can you... can you still bare to know me, after what I've become?

Kamal: Can you forgive me for not coming for you?

Durga: There's nothing to forgive.

== Terminal B ==
 * | Audio Compilation 8min 18sec
 * Date: 10/20/2552 

Jan: So, which terminal? Kamal: Uh... B, I think. That's what Durga said. Jan: Okay. Kamal: Thanks again for the lift. Jan: No problem. I have to go in to work anyway. Kamal: How's your chest? Jan: Hm, it's not bad. Kamal: (chuckles) I meant your lung. Jan: (chuckles) I know what you meant. Kamal: You know, I could ask how you seem to have healed, like supernaturally fast, but-- Jan: --but, then I'd have to kill you. Kamal: Yeah, I figured. Jan: Hm, so what about you? What's next? Kamal: I'm going to be a doctor. Not the researching kind, the regular kind. Jan: Heh, well you can be my medic any time. Kamal: Thanks. Jan: Listen, I just wanted to tell you something, about Yasmine.

Kamal: Yes? Jan: When I was six, I was like a regular kid. I collected action figures, I played hyperforce when my dad said I should be reading, I was...really good at hopscotch...

Kamal: Why are you telling me this? Jan: Then came all this Spartan training, the drills, and the fighting, and the PQI... Kamal: Yeah. Jan: I just want to say... you don't have to die inside. Kamal: Jan? Jan: Some people do, so people get to where they see the whole world through a scope, and sights, but uh... mostly people still turn out alright. Kamal: Okay. Jan: Even after everything... Kamal: You're talking about Yasmine. Jan: She didn't turn into a monster, Kamal. She just... grew up.

Kamal: You think? Jan: She did what she had to do to survive. But, a part of her never changed. Part of her was always that sweet kid. Kamal: Heh, sweet... you wouldn't call Yasmine sweet, exactly. (giggles) Kamal: But, she didn't deserve what happened. Jan: Well, you don't get what you deserve - you get what you can bare. My, uh... my dad said that. Kamal: Do you miss him? Jan: Yeah. All the time... but, I can bare it.

Kamal: First Yasmine, then Coral fell... for a long time all I could think about was the people I couldn't save. Jan: Yeah... you got a pill for that? Kamal: Heh, no. Jan: Damn. Kamal: I think... I think all you can do is go on. Because, that's what they were born to do. Jan: I know, but-- Kamal: --All you can do is go on, and save the ones you can. Jan: Yeah. Kamal: Save the ones you can. Jan: (deep breath) Well, Terminal B... have a good flight. Kamal: Thanks.

Jan: Hey, listen... if you find that pill-- (laughs) Kamal: In the meantime, watch your sleep, drink plenty of clear liquids, and twice a day... Jan: Yeah? Kamal: ...try to forgive yourself. (Jan chuckles) If that doesn't help in 6 months, give me a call. Jan: Yeah, okay. Look, you're going to miss your flight. Kamal: Right. (exits the vehicle) Jan: Hey! Kamal: Yeah? Jan: Thanks.

Enter Kevin
[[Media:Root_beer.ogg|root_beer]]
 * Date: 10/20/2552

Morales :  Just think, in a few more months you'll turn 18. And you won't have to drown your sorrows in root beer. Mind if I sit down?

Jan: Yes, actually--

Morales: --I put myself in a semester of school that way, actually. Drinking contests --

Jan: --You were at the funeral, you were the Morales kid--

Morales: I felt a little bad about taking the money from these drunk guys, but then I reasoned I was sort of like an agent of natural selection, you know? Teaching them a valuable life lesson, not spending so much time in bars.

Jan: Is there some medication you forgot to take today?

Morales: So here's the thing - you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and get off your butt.

Jan: You need to go to hell.

Morales: Just where I'm headed actually. I thought you might like to come along.

[[Media:Sixteen_of_us.ogg|sixteen_of_us]]

Jan: Oh, does that line work on the girls where you come from?

Morales: We're going into Covenant space...

Jan: On what? Broomsticks?

Morales: We've got a ship.

Jan: You have a ship...?

Morales: Everyone uses their gifts a little different than you... Benji Wong, for instance, makes money - lots, and lots, and lots of money.

Jan: Enough to buy a destroyer?

Morales: Enough to buy a 100 meter yacht. And trick it out with everything an ONI spyship has.

Jan: Why?

Morales: I'm exaggerating.

Jan: How much?

Morales: Less than you think.

Jan: Why the hell should I believe you?

Morales: You don't have to believe me. Ask your friend, the AI.

Jan: Who's this 'we' you keep talking about?

Morales: There are 16 of us, walkaway girl. Sixteen 1.1's.

[[Media:Very_persuasive.ogg|very_persuasive]]

Jan: I'm not signing up for the newsletter, Kevin.

Morales: Three aren't must use. Darin got into substances, Guy's in jail, and Frannie just doesn't give a damn. That leaves thirteen.

Jan: So, how many have you got signed up for this ship of fools?

Morales: Twelve.

Jan: You're kidding.

Morales: I'm very persuasive.

Jan: Heh, you left me for last. Should I feel honoured? Or, not so much...

Morales: ...yeah...

Jan: Ah, you had me classed with the screw-ups. The 'don't give a damn's'.

Morales: Yeah.

Jan: Why?

Morales: You've been living inside Jim and Gilly's world since so long, Jan. I'm not sure if you quite understand what it looks like to--

Jan: --the sane?

Morales: The outside. [[Media:Dead_level.ogg|dead_level]]

Jan: So what changed your mind about me?

Morales: You have certain assets I can't afford to ignore.

Jan: Like what? All I know is what my dad taught me. Probably the rest of you could wipe the floor with me.

Morales: As a soldier? Nah... Gladys says you're the best of all of us. And I believe her.

Jan: Gladys said that?

Morales: Hey, there had to be some upside to growing up with your parents. But you're right, your ability to kick serious butt was not what riveted my attention.

Jan: Then... oh... Durga.

Morales: Also, you're smarter than I thought you would be.

Jan: You sure know how to sweet talk a girl.

(Kevin gets up and sits down next to Jan)

Morales: I don't want a kiss here, Jan. I'd lie for that. I want you to put your life on the line. Doesn't seem to call for the dead level truth?

Jan: Yeah, okay.

[[Media:Old_mombasa.ogg|old_mombasa]]

Morales: I want to go deep into Covenant space. I want to do it for a purpose, and I want to do it without being under Section III's thumb.

Jan: What if the Covies aren't nice enough to wait for you to ship out?

Morales: I have contingencies.

Jan: Heh, like?

Morales: Bunkers on every continent. Three surplus Pelicans - one in Switzerland, one in Chile, one in Mongolia. Warthogs within 3 clicks of 15 major shuttle ports. A stash of guns on a rooftop in Old Mombasa. You want to hear more?

Jan: You've had some practice on this part of the speech.

Morales: (chuckles) I had to work it up to get a couple of the others on board. So, I have an Op I want to run deep into Covenant space. You--

Jan: --I know a rogue AI with access to all kinds of intel, and a burning desire to stay the hell away from direct ONI command.

Morales: Are you in?

Jan: Not yet.

Morales: How close?

Jan: Eh, buy me another root beer, and keep talking.

Ms Durga

 * Audio Compilation 6min 47sec
 * Date: 10/20/2552

[[Media:Poor_coral.ogg|poor_coral]]

Kamal: Hiro? Hello?

Sophia :  Kamal? Oh my God! You're okay!

Mama: Kamal! My boy! Oh! ...you're so skinny. And what is that on your face? Your family comes 42 light years, and you've disappeared, and you need a shave.

Kamal: Sophia! Mama? Papa?!

Mama: Kamal, close your mouth! Open mouth, it makes you look so stupid.

Papa: Kamal, your fiancée, she told us.

Mama: You thought we were dead... oh, Kamal!

Kamal: Mama!!

Mama: We didn't even know about poor Coral until we got here.

[[Media:Fiancee.ogg|fiancee]]

Kamal: What do you mean, fiancée? Sophia isn't my fiancée--

Sophia: Aiden... Aiden, he got papers to them, and luckily enough they cleared.

Papa: You did so well forgetting us.

Mama: And Sophia has been taking such good care of us! She told us all about her troubles with immigration and how she had to spend the night in jail...

Sophia: ...And then that New Jersey attorney, Ms. Durga, apparently took care of everything. I-I'm a citizen...? How did you do that?

Kamal: Ms. Durga huh? Seem like there are a lot of things Ms. Durga hasn't been telling me!

[[Media:Hiro.ogg|hiro]]

Mama: Kamal, sit down. You look faint.

Kamal: Good idea. (sits) Wait, is this our couch?

Sophia: This place was a dump, Kamal. Mama Zaman and me, we went shopping.

Mama: Ah, when you set up house-keeping together, you'll need them.

Hiro: Hey Soph! I couldn't find that cheese you asked for, but I got everything el... hey, Kamal!

Kamal: Hiro!

Hiro: You should have checked in once in a while.

Sophia: I'll put the groceries away.

Kamal: I'll help! Let me help. (picks up groceries) What is going on?

[[Media:Can_of_soup.ogg|can_of_soup]]

Sophia: I'm sorry I didn't meet you, I got picked up by immigration--

Kamal: --immigration, I know! God, I nearly died when I heard that.

Sophia: I-I got out! And, and I got a job at the ER at your hospital. And made clerk.

Kamal: (chuckles and sighs) Durga said you'd be okay.

Sophia: Who is this Durga, anyway?

Kamal: Never mind about that. What did you tell my parents?

Sophia: (laughs) I... I told them that we didn't actually set a date.

Kamal: But you're a citizen already, you don't need to marry me.

Sophia: You know I could club you to death with a can of soup, you know that? And somebody would give me a medal.

[[Media:Grandbaby_names.ogg|grandbaby_names]]

Kamal: Ugh, no. I didn't mean it that way.

Sophia: Do you think no one would marry you unless their lives depended on it?

Kamal: I-well, you did shoot me down every time I tried to--

Sophia: --I was with Aiden! What kind of woman do you think I am?

Kamal: Uh...

Sophia: Don't answer that...

Kamal: *sigh* This is one of those conversations where I just have no right answers, isn't it?

Sophia: You know, if you want to break the engagement - fine! But don't tell your mother today. She's been cackling out grandbaby names--

Kamal: Sophie...

Sophia: --She's having such a good time--

Kamal: Sophia, listen! This is my mother, and kafta, and mahjongg... everything you hate.

Sophia: My mother stayed on Coral.

Kamal: Oh, Soph, that came out all wrong.

Sophia: There's not much to rebel against now, is there?

[[Media:Long_long_time.ogg|long_long_time]]

Kamal: Sophia, shut up for just one second.

Sophia: Did you just tell me to shut up?

Kamal: Yes, will you marry me?

Sophia: Marry me on who proposes by telling me to sh--

Kamal: --Shut up... marry me?

Sophia: (giggles) Yes.

Kamal: I love you.

Sophia: Yeah, I figured that out.

(they embrace and kiss)

(chatter beeps)

Sophia: It's your chatter.

Kamal: Screw my chatter.

Sophia: Oh answer it... I'll be here for a long, long time...

(chatter on)

[[Media:With_a_fork.ogg|with_a_fork]]

Kamal: Aiden!

Sophia: Oh find out where he is so I can kill him...

Aiden: (on chatter) Kamal! I'm, uh, outside... Come out for a moment?

Kamal: Aiden, umm... Sophia's here, and my parents and things kind of confused right now--

Aiden: --Hey hey, best man won, no hard feelings. Soph's a class act. But! She's also going to, like, stab me in the eye with a fork if she sees me, so could you just come out a minute?

Kamal: Uh... hang on a sec, Sophie.

Mama: Hm? Who is that?

Kamal: Business.

(goes outside)

Kamal: Aiden. Umm...

Aiden: I never owned Soph. You thought I did, but like I said, you aren't a great judge of character.

[[Media:Cash_flow_situation.ogg|cash_flow_situation]]

Kamal: Aiden, for bringing my family here, I just...

Aiden: Ah yeah, no problem. Lucky their papers cleared... that lawyer you found...

Kamal: Aiden, I can never repay you...

Aiden: Well, haha, try. See, I'm kind of in a cash flow situation. I was wondering if you might float me a loan.

Kamal: (laughs) Aiden! My man. Have a chip. No loan, a gift.

Aiden: You're a good guy, Kamal.

Kamal: I uh, I've got to get back inside, Aiden.

Aiden: No problem! I won't keep you.

Kamal: Aiden, thank you.

Aiden: Aw, I'll dance at your wedding.

Kamal: Haha, not with the bride you won't!

(they laugh)

[[Media:Tease_the_boy.ogg|tease_the_boy]]

Mama: (cutting vegetables) Your friend, Hiro, was just telling me you are learning to cook?

Hiro: Yes! I told her about you wooed Sophia, with a chicken.

(Sophia laughs)

Kamal: Yeah well, it was--

Hiro: --butter flavoured!

Mama: He says you will cook it for us!

Kamal: Oh.. but... I mean, Soph is a much better cook.

(everyone laughs)

Papa: Mama, you shouldn't tease the boy.

Mama: I know, I know... he is tired from travel, and then there's the shock... and you were always too serious Kamal.

Kamal: Hiro has done his best to-- Papa! Are you drinking a beer?

Papa: Your mother doesn't like it, but once in a while.

Mama: *tsk*

Papa: When I was your age, going to school on (?), I learned to like it.

Hiro: Unlike Kamal, who has never touched it.

Papa: You should try everything, Kamal.

Mama: *tsk*

Hiro: My point exactly. [[Media:Covenant.ogg|covenant]]

Kamal: Papa, mama... I have to tell you something. You need to sit down.

Mama: Okay, I am sitting.

Kamal: Mama, you have such little hands.

Mama: So serious, you hold my hands? What is it? What is wrong?

Kamal: It's something about Yasmine. I want to explain something about her, and it's very hard. Sophie, you too.

Mama: About Yasmine?

Kamal: Yes, I discovered some things, and you need to hear them. And it will be hard at first, but there will be something very good.

Mama: Oh Kamal, not today. Papa, today we should be happy.

Kamal: Durga? Are you listening?

Durga: (on chatter) Kamal, are you sure?

Kamal: I'm sure. Mama...

(air raid sirens sound) (muttering)

Sophia: Oh my God, what is that?

Hiro: Oh God, I've got to get home.

Durga: It's a Covenant capital ship. Those little sparkles of light are Seraph fighters.

Kamal: They're here.

Rani

 * Date: 10/20/2552

[[Media:Section_zero.ogg|section_zero]]

ONI Agent: Excuse me ma'am, is this seat taken?

Rani: No, that's fine.

ONI Agent: So, you decided to go back to Boston eh?

Rani: Yeah, I was thinking about going back home. But... wait a minute... it's you...

ONI Agent: Yes..

Rani: You're from Section Zero.

ONI Agent: Yes I am.

Rani: (smirks) Nobody likes Internal Affairs. I didn't think I would take it, but there's no going back for me. I get that now.

ONI Agent: Take what?

Rani: Well, didn't you come to offer me a job?

ONI Agent: Oh! Well, yes actually. Herzog was right about you.

[[Media:In_my_purse.ogg|in_my_purse]]

Rani: He's really dead, isn't he?

ONI Agent: Unfortunately, yes.

Rani: I was hoping that was a lie too.

ONI Agent: Well, I didn't come here to lie to you, Rani.

Rani: I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up. I picked an empty compartment on purpose.

ONI Agent: But, you thought we would find you today? Here? On a moving train?

Rani: I had a hunch.

ONI Agent: Why? There wasn't anyone tailing you on the way to the station.

Rani: You guys put a bug in my purse. I left it there.

ONI Agent: *sigh* We thought you would have forgotten about it.

Rani: Nope.

[[Media:Black_suit.ogg|black_suit]]

ONI Agent: Heh, I think I'm going to like working with you Ms. Sobeck. (chuckles)

Rani: I want a black suit. And, knockout gas. If I'm going to be spying on the spies, I definitely need a pen full of knockout gas.

ONI Agent: (chuckles) You certainly do. I'll see what we can do about that.

(air-raid sirens sound)

Rani: Nick!

ONI Agent: What the hell is going on?

Rani: ...They're here.

Jan

 * Date: 10/20/2552

[[Media:No_strafing.ogg|no_strafing]]

(Jan enters the house)

Jan: Hey Gladys... Gilly... What are you up to?

Gladys: Cookin'!

Gilly: (cocks a gun) Cleaning...

Jan: Hm. How domestic.

Gladys: Hey, did you drop that fella off to catch his flight?

Jan: Yeah.

Gladys: Well now, you eat dinner?

Jan: Yeah, I uh, had dinner with Kevin Morales.

Gladys: (chuckles) Yeah, I thought you had that look.

Jan: What look?

Gladys: That wide-eyed, head-spinny look people get when Kevin finishes talking with them.

Jan: He's... got a lot of forward momentum.

Gilly: Hm. Did that little shoot tell you about the time he conned his way into the pelican cockpit, and did a strafing run when he was 7?

Gladys: It was a commercial shuttle, and he was 9, Gilly.

Gilly: No strafing?

Gladys: No.

Gilly: Hm.

[[Media:Proposition.ogg|proposition]]

Jan: He had a... proposition... (Gilly and Gladys freeze) Not that kind of proposition. He wants me to go fight the Covenant with him.

Gladys: Oh boy. Kevin pretty near always has a plan. Are you going?

Jan: I think I have to.

Gladys: Jan, your father's gone! Just who are you tryin' to save?

(air-raid sirens sound)

Jan: Whoever's left.

Gilly: (cocks a gun) That's it, they're here.

Jersey

 * Date: 10/20/2552

[[Media:Everyone_gone.ogg|everyone_gone]]

Jersey: It feels weird... everyone gone.

Durga: Mhm.

Jersey: Kamal back home?

Durga: Yes.

Jersey: And?

Durga: (giggles)

Jersey: Oh, I wish I could see the look on his face!

Durga: By the way, Jersey, your mom just got sent to the vault at the bank.

Jersey: Yeah, she took me in there once. It was cool. So what about Rani?

Durga: On a train back to Boston.

Jersey: Hm. I thought she'd go back to Kentucky.

Durga: No. Sarah-John's car is just taking her over to Mr. Sobeck's bunker.

Jersey: Jan off work?

Durga: Just got home. Gilly's there, cleaning some things.

[[Media:Be_with_me.ogg|be_with_me]]

(music has been slowly rising in volume)

Jersey: What's with the music, Durga?

Durga: Jersey, there was this virus...

Jersey: Yeah... can you turn down the music?

Durga: What it really wanted to do was find that artifact, or artifacts like it.

Jersey: (distracted) Uh huh?

Durga: And then, you know, it wanted to send a signal. The virus would try any way it could, Jersey. That was its mission. To reveal the location of the artifact. It was designed to bring the Covenant to wherever it was, Jersey. Before, they were too far away. But now--

Jersey: --Turn down the freakin' music, Durga, I can barely hear you!

Durga: Enjoy it, Jersey. Take it in... just be with me.

Jersey: What are you... Durga!

Durga: Jersey, don't.

Jersey: Would you just turn it off!

(music cuts out, air-raid sirens can be heard)

Jersey: Oh...

Durga: Yeah.

Jersey: You sent my mom to the vault.

Durga: Yeah.

Jersey: You sent Sarah-John to the bunker.

Durga: Yeah.

Jersey: You're taking care of family.

Durga: Yeah.

Jersey: Durga...

Durga: They're here.