| abstract
| - Buck: Private, grab a seat. Buck: Under the table is a marker. Apply it to your right temple please. Buck: Now, we're gonna think of a base line image, a river. Buck: That'll work. Buck: State your name and rank. Private don't, don't touch the marker. Buck: Son? Name and rank? Mickey: My name's Mick- Michael Crespo; Private First Class. Buck: Why are you here? Mickey: Well sir, you've got something that needs flying or you need somebody to do some topside zero-g operations. I've done 3 HEV drops - nothing in the "big black." I aced EVA training - top nineteenth percentile of my class and before that I was a Crew Chief on a Pelican. So I have- Buck: That's fine. But that's not exactly what I meant. Buck: Your file says that you were a mandatory enlistment at 18 years old. Why mandatory? Mickey: When I turned 18, mandatory military service was a condition of release from foster care. Buck: What happened to your parents? Mickey: They died when I was pretty young. Buck: What happened to them? Mickey: They died in an explosion, sir. They were trying to wire a bomb to a government building. Buck: Your parents were Insurrectionists? Traitors? Mickey: Yes sir, they were traitors. That's what I was told. No, I don't remember them. I was very young. Buck: Now, after your two years of mandatory service, you could have gotten a job flyin' civi shuttles, earn good money, but you reenlisted? And then you put in for ODST? Why? Mickey: I don't need much, sir. The corps takes pretty good care of me. If I'm gonna be fighting anyway, I want to be fighting with guys I know can cover my six. ODST is home. Buck: You've been the new guy with most of the squads you've operated with. Mickey: Yes sir. Buck: Last pod in the drop's going to be a Rookie. Someone who's seen action, but I need somebody to keep an eye on him. Mickey: Sir. Buck: That's not a promotion. But you're not the new kid in school anymore. Mickey: Sir. Buck: In your file, you've got the standard personality indicators for a pilot your age: high creativity, risk-taker, daredevil pathology. Mickey: Yes, sir. I mean, I haven't seen my file, but I'd agree with all that. Buck: That you all the way through? Mickey: I run the missions, sir. As ordered. Buck: That's good, private. That's very good. But, we need a little of that creativity before we're done. Mickey: Yes sir, of course. Whatever you need. Buck: Thank you, private. Are you educated, private? Mickey: Yes, sir. There were courses at the facility. Buck: What kind? Mickey: Everything, sir. Work productivity tech. UNSC History. Buck: What philosophers did you study? Mickey: Sir? Buck: Philosophers. Thinkers. Mickey: There were speeches. Recordings from famous leaders. Buck: Have these leaders ever talk about what comes after? Mickey: Sir? After? Buck: Private, can I assume that, were you put in the position to save the lives of every human being drawing breath today, you would do so? Mickey: Yes, sir. Of course. Who wouldn't do that? Buck: Dismissed. Take off the marker.
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