Hello, everyone! Ashleigh here, and I finally get to dive into all the Halo stories I plan to do!

Here's something I've wanted to do ever since I found out that everyone's favorite sniper handpicked Palmer to be in the Spartan-IV program. Before Halo: Initiation came out, my imagination ran wild, but I writing a Darksiders fic at that point, so I had to wait until I could finish that and perhaps even wait until the comic came out. Now that Issue #2 came out, I decided to make it a *little* to canon, but with a little things of my own (courtesy of my wild imagination).

There will be some info that I took out from a Noble Team story I plan to write in the future, as well as some characters from another Jun story, but I'll inform you guys when I write something in here that's meant to be from another story.

Also, I had planned for this to be a one-shot, but considering the length of this one journal entry alone, I think it's be more than one!

So enjoy! :)

Halo – Jun-A266 – "In Black Ink"

Location: HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6
Sydney, Australia.
17th January, 2553

January 17th, 2553

Surprised?

I know. I'm not the kind to write. But I think that recent events make it justifiable to keep a little journal.

Where shall I begin?

I'm alive, but hurt. In fact, I'm unfit for active duty.

After I said my goodbyes to Carter, Emile and our newest recruit, Misha, I escorted Dr. Halsey to CASTLE base. It was only a matter of time before the Covenant would strike. They attacked after a few days. The remaining UNSC soldiers didn't make it. It was all me. So I told her to seal all doors and I fought them off the best I could.

The last thing I remember was facing a red and purple sky, and then I passed out. When they found me, they told me I was lucky to be alive.

'Lucky'? I don't think so.

But perhaps I should be grateful. At least, that's what Death always tells me.

Death is my little personal A.I., and the only one I've got left. I was told that the rest of Noble Team didn't make it.

While I recovered, I was seeing a therapist. And you know how I feel about therapists. Not like I had a choice, anyway. I would always come back to my office in a bad mood. But once Death was created, I always spoke with him, and he made things a lot better. He understood.

Of course he would. He was created from me.

Last month, while I recovered in a medical facility, a Commander approached me. His name was Musa. He used to be a Spartan-II, just like Jorge. Good ol' Jorge. Miss him like hell. I miss all of them. Anyway, Musa told me he was going to propose a new batch of Spartans, the Spartan-IVs. He wanted me to help him. Be the second-in-command if it's approved. I said yes.

At the beginning of this month, it was approved! We were going to create the Spartan-IVs, full of only consenting adults. My job? Run around and grab some potential recruits, oversee their process through and after the augmentations and put them in teams.

Musa told me I could have an A.I. to assist me, if I wanted to. To me honest, I was a little skeptical. Considering the fact that the whole of Noble Team was destroyed all for one A.I., you gotta understand. But when Musa told me that the A.I. would be created from a flash clone of my brain, I supposed it was okay, in a way.

He calls himself 'Death'. His avatar color is the same shade of green I used to have my armor in. He's wearing a hooded cloak with the hood up, but he's actually faceless – just a black, gaping hole. Underneath that cloak is, and I never would've guessed it, is an exact representation of my armor. NO KIDDING. In addition, and it gets better: he's carrying a large scythe that's as tall as he is.

His personality? He's exactly like me, and that's not even weird. He speaks in a Slavic accent and is very formal. And he has every single one of my memories. Every. Single. One. When he's mad at someone, he screeches at them. Really deafening, mind you. And he has the ability to appear life-sized. Cool, right?

"Jun?"

Before he could write a new statement, he glanced up at the A.I. console that beamed to life.

"It is getting rather late. Come on. Go get some rest. We leave for Lockhart Medical Station first thing tomorrow."

Jun flashed a grateful smile at the A.I. "I suppose, Death. Thanks. Good night."

"Sweet dreams."

I interview my first potential recruit tomorrow. Her name is Sarah Palmer. Let's see if she's up for it.

As I was saying, well in this case, writing, Death is amazing company and I appreciate everything. But I guess a guy's gotta be alone with his own thoughts every now and then. And I think I'd like my more personal thoughts to be pinned down in black ink.

A/N: Here's part 1! I hope you guys liked it and stay tuned for more :)