"When they said I'd be wearing a special helmet for 'thought control' I had images of freaky wires coming out of my head or something!" Benji was laughing as he punched at the controller, narrowly dodging out of the way of Lily's frag grenade.

They were having an Xbox party because...well why the fuck not. Playing war games whilst there was a real one going on outside because....okay Bay didn't have an answer for that one.

Bay guessed it was something to do with the fact that the characters on screen were humans vs. alien and it just felt nicer to imagine that that would be the case, humanity together to defend the earth.

"But it's just like a space helmet!" Benji continued, "And I've always wanted to go to the moon!"

Benji sounded drunk, he wasn’t, alcohol consumption was strictly not allowed whilst on the cerebral link program, Benji was just always like this when Merit was around.

The Xbox party may have also been another excuse for Benji to hang out with Merit. Bay had even smuggled a whole load of snacks from the stores for them, Bay was such a good friend.

"Ugh why can't the Teams have weapons like the Halo Banshees?" Lily grumbled.

Because that was what Lily needed, more ways to inflict bodily harm.

Sydney sighed, she hadn't quite warmed up to Lily the way the others had, "The SADAARS is primarily a stealth helicopter, not an attack one, it's about avoiding detection, not mindlessly running into conflict."

The death stare Lily gave Sydney really didn't need to come equipped with missile launchers.

"So! How are you doing with the cerebral link induced nausea Lily?" Bay started, he wanted to avoid a catfight right now, mainly because there was no mud or jell-o handy.

Lily flicked her gaze to Bay as if she had forgotten he was there…in his own room. Yeah. Most people did.

"It's okay I guess. I only really feel it directly after landing. Jenkins says I have an unnaturally high tolerance for the Nectar."

"Plus you're not spending every freaking free minute in the sky like some people," Brent grumbled from the armchair.

Why the hell was Brent there again? Why did Sydney invite him?

"Do you mean Luca?" Benji asked, "He let me go up with him and Bay yesterday in Ibis, it was awesome!"

Bay grinned at his friend, it had been Benji's first flight in Ibis. The pilot had been up with Lily before in Bobcat but Bay convinced Luca to let Benji ride with them yesterday.

At first, Luca had been incredibly cold towards the idea but after a while Bay suspected Luca had shown off a bit in front of the other pilot.

They had dropped into a steep sided rocky gorge with no lights, just synthetic vision, travelling at 220 Kts and 50 feet off the bottom. Even Bay had been impressed and he had seen Luca fly some pretty tight situations before.

However, after they had landed, Luca had been swaying a bit on his feet exiting the aircraft, Bay had even started to rush towards him when Luca had looked up with a glare that made him stop in his tracks.

Brent looked unimpressed, he hadn't gotten to go up in Ibis yet, but then again he had been regularly flying Bobcat on routine missions.

Bay was pretty glad Jenkins hadn’t put Brent as a sub on Ibis, Bay really didn’t want Brent as his pilot, he would just be too darn tempted to hit that self destruct button mid-flight.

Luca wasn’t with them that night, even if he weren't sick this wouldn't have come as much of a surprise. The pilot’s demeanour practically screamed asocial.

Bay stretched and stood up, he nabbed a pot noodle and some wrapped watermelon slices from the kitchens earlier to take to his grim-faced captain.

Bay convinced himself that it wasn’t necessarily because he cared about Luca. It was just because Bay didn't feel comfortable putting his hands nightly in the life of a guy with a zero blood sugar level.

"Going to check on your boyfriend?" Brent sneered at Bay smugly from the armchair which Bay vowed he will never sit on again on principle.

Bay pulled a face that he hoped conveyed 'Bite me you unfairly handsome but strangely reptilian cold-blooded douchebag.'

"Oh leave him alone, it's good Bay understands that it's important to look after other members of your team," Sydney murmured taking the controller from Benji's proffered hand.

Brent raised an eyebrow but remained gratifyingly silent as Bay scurried out the room.

Bay stood outside Luca's door and knocked softly.

Do you ever knock and no one answers and you regret knocking so softly because they might not have heard you but it's embarrassing to knock again?

Yeah, well that's what was happening to Bay as he stood awkwardly in the corridor clutching the pot noodle and hoping Luca had a kettle. If his coffee consumption was anything like Bay's, he would have a room kettle.

Bay sighed and knocked again, he would rather look like a needy dork that have Luca pass out from hunger or something.

Bay waited another thirty seconds, still no answer. Perhaps the pilot was out?

Bay knew Luca couldn’t be flying, he had checked the roster earlier and both Ibis and Bobcat were grounded that night and the next day for engineering checks.

Bay put the food on the floor next to the door and pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen from his combats' pocket to write a note.

For the attention of Capt. Luca Jeong

Mission: Eat this food before you have to order a smaller size flight suit

Bay lay it on top of the pot noodle and ambled slowly back down the corridor. When he got back to his room Angelos was trying to teach people how to juggle.

Just don't be that guy Angelos. Just don't.