Change one event, or six, and another timeline appears before thee….
Six cursed inwardly as she threw off her helmet. The Elites were gaining on her. She turned, picked up a sword and kept running. At the top of a hill, she found herself cornered. Emptying a magazine into one Elite, she knocked another out, and then executed it with her pistol. She kept fighting, but their numbers were slowly gaining on her. She threw away her rifle; its ammo depleted, and drew her sword. More Elites fell. Her pistol clicked empty, and away it went. The sword in one hand and her knife in the other, hopping from Elite to Elite, she sliced and hacked her way through the pack.
But one Elite was lucky enough to grab onto her leg and throw her to the ground; where a red Zealot drew a dagger.
"Com'on ugly. Make my day" she taunted.
The Zealot looked her over for a second, adjusted its grip and stabbed her in the abdomen. It seared, and she chocked back a scream. A light appeared in the darkening sky. She thought of the rest of Noble Team, Carter, Kat, Jun, Emile, and Jorge. Heroes, all of them. She failed them, not living to see the mission through, to fight another day, to win the war for them. She felt time slow and tears roll down her cheeks. Before she began to walk into the light, she heard a voice, the voice of an obnoxious Spartan-III who journeyed with her when she was assigned to Noble, "The one thing that would make you a better person, to me personally, is if you gained a bit of humor instead of growling at me like a deranged jungle cat." Then the light opened fire on the Elites, and the whine of engines was heard. Obscure armored figures jumped out of the sides of the loud noise, and killed the rest of the Elites. Six was about to fade away when something shocked her into consciousness. Jorge. His helmeted face appeared before her, working a medical pack. She began to feel the biofoam course through her veins as it countered the poisoned plasma dagger. Emile's shotgun boomed in unison with Jun's rifle, and Kat was retrieving Six's helmet. Six looked perplexed. This wasn't supposed to be happening, they died…
Kat looked over at Jorge and Jorge gave a thumbs up. Good to go. He picked her up and carried her onto the Phantom dropship, where Carter and Rosenda were busy keeping the Covenant away. After strapping in, it boosted for altitude. Jorge tended to Six, while Jun and Emile fended off Covenant reinforcements. Carter gunned the engines, and the Phantom clawed for altitude with a hefty whine in the engines.
After evasive flying for half an hour, Carter took the Phantom down to 3,000 meters, and set the cruise control. Kat came forward when the engines slowed to Carter. She leaned against the opposite side of the cockpit from him, and watched him relax for a few minutes. She smiled to herself, for even seeing him relax, the first time since she found him amongst the wreckage of the Pelican and Scarab, and coming up with this harebrained plan to find and rebuild Noble, then to get off the planet.
She began to ponder the highly classified comms she had sliced before she got shot. Apparently, a small UNSC Mako-class corvette had been secreted away into a highly armored bunker, safe from ALL prying eyes and sensors, including the Covenant's highly developed ones. Apparently not all the orbit capable transport was gone. This time, everything hinged on Command lying to them. Her smile returned. Wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy, as Carter would say.
Jun looked out through the viewports as the Phantom cruised past Noble Base, or the slag heap that was left of it. He shuddered, thinking of the beautiful landscape that bordered it, and of Christmas, now long past. He smiled in remembrance, and was glad for the helmet concealing his face from Emile and Jorge who would have most certainly pestered him about why they slunk off to the armory. He glanced over at Emile; the assault specialist was contemplating joining Kat in the area behind the cockpit, slouched in one of the harnesses that he managed to half way configure to something resembling comfortable, and sharpening his precious. He saw Jun wince as they passed Noble base, so he looked as well, and also winced. He looked at the kukri, carefully examining the blade for imperfections, then re-sheathed it. He smiled at the memory of when Carter caught him and Rosedna on the floor of the armory, then Kat came in and his mind was slapped back into reality.
Jorge was almost calm. Six wasn't in good shape, but at least she was stable. For the time being. That plasma dagger did more damage than the wound let on, and he had to have Kat slice her armor for him to work properly on her. Now that he was done, and the drugs were taking their effect, he tended to his machine gun, cleaning the ammo feed, made sure that the barrel cooled properly, and then thought about modifying his gun to match a covenant machinegun.
Six was in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. Noble team…alive? How? Jorge went on a one way slip-space jump, Kat was sniped, Jun disappeared, Carter crashed into a Scarab, and Emile died with an Elite's energy sword through his chest. Six remembered checking him to make sure he was dead, then booby-trapping him to ward off Covenant treasure hunters. Then she snapped into full consciousness as the medical drugs boosted her self-repair system into hyper-overdrive and the bleeding stopped, organs began to heal themselves, etc. Jorge looked up from his gun in surprise as she sat up and shook her head, clearing the cobwebs.
"Six, I thought you'd be out for at least another day with the amount of drugs I pumped into you," he said, a warm smile on his face. The rest of Noble looked over at her as well. There was a bit of a reunion as they celebrated surviving against impossible odds, then to find each other. Then came the stories. Jorge, being the first to kick the bucket, was the first to go.
"Well Six, you remember those Sabres that you flew in? Landed on the top deck? Yeah, I had Auntie Dot slow the cruiser so I had enough time to scavenge parts from the Sabres to get the timer working. Then I took a bird myself, and got outta there before I was swallowed by the slipspace vortex. Played the devil's game with my transponder though. Comms too. Took me a few days to make it back to UNSC lines after my bird crashed," He recounted. He smiled at Six, as she scooted over and leaned against him, content for the first time in days, still listening to the stories.
"Alright, my turn," Kat smirked from the doorway, "Well, that sniper wasn't as good as he thought he was. My shields failed, that is true. The bullet passed through my helmet, that is also true. What isn't true, obviously, is that I didn't get hit. My bio monitor didn't like getting shot, so it passed the shard out the underside of my helmet, and I passed out. None of you bothered to check on me for days. I woke up as I was about to get buried, surprised the bejezzus outta the poor marines, and everyone else in fact," another smug smile, "But then comes the question, why didn't I return? Well, at that moment, I was at planetary command. What better place to look for a Spartan Team deployed in the field than to follow classified comms? No better let me tell you. Ran into Jorge on his way to civilization. Offered him a ride, and he foolishly climbed in."
"Kat, I still don't forgive you for these pains I'm waking up with. I've got bumps and bruises from all the rocks you intentionally hit," he shifted, easing pressure on his backside to emphasize his point. Noble Six had a few laughs.
"So anyways Six, Me and Jorge are riding along in this godforsaken wasteland, and who do we find? Jun. Says that you guys left him to guard Doc Halsey without his sniper rifle."
"Yeah, Carter tells me to watch Doc Halsey without my rifle. And I'm glad he did. Otherwise I've been a click away watching her through my scope, making sure she was ok that way. She did not stop complaining. Cake eating civvie," he muttered.
"Can it Jun. That lady is the one who gave you your armor," Carter half-growled as he walked into the troop bay," I dumped all my energy into my shields and locked my armor on impact. I woke up a while later, when who else but Kat, Jorge, Jun and Rosenda show up in a Phantom with a wild story about finding the rest of Noble. Then we found Emile with a plasma grenade hooked into his sapper harness. Six ,that was a devil of a time to unravel. But enough story telling for now Noble, our next objective is to get off the planet. Kat will tell you how. Afterwards you can get back to how we somehow survived certain death." His arm was already around Kat, and he let it cling to her as she walked out of arms reach to the center of the pack.
"Listen up, cause I'm only going to say this once. We've got a shot at getting off planet; a Mako-class corvette was laid up for Special Purposes, i.e ONI was turning it into a spy ship. Spy ships are what class?" she asked.
"Invisible to enemy radar and other sensors, but never visual," Noble replied in unison. Kat smiled a hunter's smile, the one Carter liked the best. She had ideas coursing through her head, and every one of them involved lots of dead Covenant.
"That's right class. Everything but visual. This one's called the Bramblefin. Brand-spanking new, complete with AI. And not a "dumb" AI like Dot, but a smart one. We've hit the jackpot. We can't find another ship like this on the planet or in existence. Let's get down to specifics….."
By the end, Six had recuperated at an astonishing rate, even for a Spartan. Her part of the plan would be to play scout with Jun to cover the dropship's approach to the bunker entrance. Sensors would be useless inside, due to the nature of the facility, and its shielding. The rest of Noble would put down a couple klicks north, in the mountains and hide out there, waiting for the go signal from either Six or Jun. Once the go signal was sent, they'd move fast to get to the facility before any Covenant traced the signals. Inside, they'd start up the ship and leave for orbit. Simple, but nothing with Noble is ever simple.
She picked up a DMR and an assault rifle and the appropriate ammunition. She stayed by Jorge's side until it was time to drop, then she followed Jun thought the hole in the floor. No one had noticed that Rosedna had slithered silently to Emile's side, where they were sharing a few moments of them-time.
Six hit the ground and sprinted for the tree line. "Six, don't move so loudly. We're trying to stay quiet, remember?" Jun said from his tree branch. She double clicked her mic acknowledgement. Jun climbed down and they moved out, silently, waiting and watching, alternating who walked point and who had what sensors active. After a half hour, Carter clicked his mic. The rest of Noble was in position and awaiting the go code. She nodded to Jun, and they attached silencers. Triple click into the mic to tell Carter what's going on. Double click back. Hand signals exchanged. Move forward; silently; no dip, I thought we'd be parading in; go soak your head.
The rest of the walk to the bunker was uneventful. No Covenant in sight, but the door was blown in. Jun signaled Carter, and the pincers closed in. After Carter arrived, Noble stacked up on either side of the door. Jun swapped his sniper rifle for his DMR, and Six took out her assault rifle. Emile checked his shotgun, Jorge his turret, Rosedna her Spartan laser, rocket launcher and pistol, Carter his DMR and pistol, and Kat her pistol. All silenced. Carter signed GO. They went. Six took point, then Emile, Jorge, Jun, Carter, Kat, and bringing up the rear was Rosedna. After clearing and finding nothing, the Team began to get disheartened. They gathered in the mess hall and dug out some rations before planning their next move. Emile was leaning against a wall, Rosenda half on top of him. She began to slip, and put her hand out to catch herself. Her hand brushed a switch hidden in the wall, and she continued her fall to the floor until Emile caught her by the front of her armor. Even behind his helmet, she could see him smiling as he said "Gotcha babe."
The switch opened a door, little small for a fully armored Spartan, but manageable. Six reluctantly broke off from Jorge's side to take point, this time, Jorge walked second. The door led into a tunnel, which lead into a massive chamber, which a matte-black Mako-Corvette occupied. Noble team smiled and thanked the gods that the corvette was even here.
They boarded the corvette, and were greeted by the ship's onboard AI "Well, well, if it ain't Noble Team. About time you showed up. I'm warming the engines now, prep for sudden accell. And one more thing? I don't care about relationships. Have 'em if you want 'em but don't let it interfere with your work. If someone dies cause of it, you're getting spaced."
Carter looked at Kat. Kat looked at Carter. Jorge looked at Six. Six looked at Jorge. Emile looked at Rosenda. Rosedna looked at Emile. Jun looked around, sighed, and went to find a room to clean his rifle. Carter and Kat went forward to inspect the bridge, Emile and Rosedna went to find the armory and the galley, leaving Jorge and Six in the main hallway, standing kinda awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
At length, Jorge spoke up. "Six, I know you care about me, and I care about you. But to me, you're the daughter I never had."
Six was greatly relieved. She smiled under her helmet. "Jorge, I wouldn't have it any other way. I hope you know that."
She removed her helmet, and he did his. She smiled a warm smile and said "I'm going to go find Jun."
"I'm going to inspect Medbay. After dinner, come and see me, and we'll finish patching you back together, alright?" he replied. Relief was evident in his face.
"Sure, after dinner." Six turned and walked silently down the hall after Jun.
Carter and Kat were enjoying themselves in the bridge of the corvette while the AI handled takeoff. The others would think otherwise afterwards, but Carter and Kat were really behaving themselves. Carter sat in an accel couch, and Kat sat on him, her face buried in his chest, and her arms around his neck. Carter held her close, gently stroking her back, basking in the warm serenity of having his family back together and to relax with the woman he loved. The AI promised to warn them before he accelerated past the Covie defenses.
Emile and Rosenda? Well, let's not bother them just now. There's a little more than pots and pans banging in the kitchen. Let's go bug Jun.
Jun was in the compartment he chose for himself, wide panoramic view of space, and filled with nothing but a cot he liberated from a bunk room, and some supplies from the cargo hold. He sat on the floor, rifle disassembled in front of him, delicately inspecting, cleaning and lubricating each and every single part before finally reassembling the rifle.
After putting it back together, he picked up a few empty magazines and ran himself through some drills to help him improve reloading under fire from the prone position he thought about. Somewhere in the middle of the drills, he became lost in his little imaginary world, when he rolled a little too far and hit something solid, with a metal on metal KLANG. Rubbing his head, and got up and looked around. His room was still empty, but he thought he saw a shimmer of movement on his sensors…
Six looked at Jun from her position on his cot. After a methodical search of the room, save for his cot, he seemed satisfied that his shoulder piece must have made the noise. She allowed herself a smile as he went about the search, careful to not make too much noise. All those years of stalking other humans, then the Covenant Elites are finally paying off.
Jun returned to his rifle drills, a little miffed that he missed whatever he had hit. It's not like him to miss something, but he felt that his search was sufficient. He was alone once more. But then Six climbed off his cot, intentionally squeaking it. Jun whipped his rifle around, temporarily forgetting it wasn't loaded, and aimed it directly at Six, even though she was cloaked. She crept forward until she was about to touch the muzzle break of the powerful anti-material rifle, then she deactivated her cloaking device. Jun leapt about a meter off the deck with a yelp of surprise and almost dropped his precious. Six looked at his disheveled state, and couldn't help chuckling. Jun removed his helmet and glared at her. Although he was mad on the outside, on the inside he was doing a bit of thinking. I wonder how long she was watching me. Is this her own weird way of flirting? Would I be best to leave this be or to take this up with Jorge? She had a thing for him a while ago...
"Jun, you look like you've seen a ghost," Six whispered huskily, making him all that more uncomfortable. This elicited more chuckling as she turned to leave. "Jun, you poor, poor, semi-deranged sniper you." With that, she was gone, her footsteps silent on the decking while she hunted for a room to crash in before dinner.
(Author's note: The previous scene switches happened in a matter of about a minute, just enough time for the AI to prep the Bramblefin for takeoff. Keep reading!)