Greetings. Here, we will read what truly happened with Blue Team. I must admit, I initially had one hell of a writer's block, thinking with what I was supposed to Write here. in the end, I decided for this: Mostly, it's the same story, only a few minor changes when it comes to what the Spartans at Onyx do. In addition, this is one of few stories I'll write that has a large amount of Flash-backs, to various time periods.

Also, as I read my stories, and compared it to both the books and other works of fiction on this site, I noticed my Spartans are more... talkative than usual. I decided to include an explanation in it: Conroy.

Also, since the Elites are defecting to the Human's side en masse, they won't be the enemies. instead, it is a new one. one from shadow, and mystery... and ruin.

as for all the additional Spartan's I'm naming, that's part of a set-up for one of my later stories.

Per my usual advice, I suggest you read my previous stories in order to understand this

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Request: I want reviews. I feed on them just as much as George R.R. Martin feeds on the broken souls of the characters he kills.


Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

Chapter 1

Chiroptera Stealth Ship, En-route to Zeta Doradus system

Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey sighed, as she woke up.

They had been traveling inside that Chiroptera for barely a day, and yet, she had found not a single moment she could have properly rested. The Ship, due to a lack of maintenance over the years, had been falling apart around her, and she'd been busy during her entire stay aboard it to fix the small vessel up from the inside. She was, if she was honest with herself, surprised the inside was still pressurized at all.

She'd just finished ensuring that the small SlipSpace drive wouldn't overheat during their journey, when she'd fallen asleep from exhaustion. And now, she had just woken up.

She still needed to know what was going on there, on that planet near Zeta Doradus. She had read all files linked to it, including the S-III files, and she knew Spartans were trained there. But the Planet, while very close to UNSC space, wasn't on any regular charts. In fact, it seemed like ONI had tried to erase it from the charts. And Halsey needed to know why.

She wouldn't risk hiding the Spartans there if there was anything dangerous about that planet.

She needed to hide them, not for themselves or the UNSC, but because she needed to save her own consciousness. As Conroy had warned her during the Augmentations of the Spartan-II's, she had needed to make plans in order to save her own mind. But, the fool that she'd been back then, she hadn't listened, and Conroy had disappeared shortly after the Program was completed. And now, she was without guidance.

She put that out of her mind for the moment. For all she knew, that spy from Graves could already have hijacked a ship, and be on her tail right now. She was blind at the moment, as her Sensor were inoperable during Slipspace. And she didn't know what she would find once she arrived at Onyx.

She made her way back to the Cockpit. Kelly would be waking up soon, and she would want an explanation as to why she was drugged and kidnapped, for all intends and purposes.

As Halsey arrived, she could see the Spartan was still asleep. Halsey, to reassure her once the Spartan woke up, had placed her shotgun and Assault Rifle on her lap, and removed the restraints she'd initially used when the Spartan was moved, to avoid her tumbling away in the zero-gravity of the ship.

Halsey grabbed a chip she'd put in a drawer on the Chiroptera.

Kalmiya.

She would be pissed as hell that she was moved without her knowledge or consent. But Halsey would need the both of them in the upcoming days, as John would need Cortana on that Covenant Space station. She inserted the chip into the slot at the back of Kelly's helmet. They would come out of Slipspace soon, and Kalmiya would be able to help accelerate the Spartan's awakening. As she waited, she thought back to her conversation with the young Conroy that day.


HIGHCOM Training Facility, Reach, 02-03-2525

Halsey was reading the report Admiral Jeromi had made about the upcoming Augmentations next week, that had been forwarded by Deja, when someone knocked on the door to her office.

"Come in." she said, as she put the report away.

It was Doctor Lee van Conroy, her fellow researcher, and, alongside her and Mendez, one of the leading people in the Spartan-II Program.

While Halsey had seen to the biological changes in the children as they would grow, in preparation for the Augmentations, and Mendez had seen to the training of the future Spartans, Conroy was the one involved in all psychological matters. He had been the one to oversee the kind of material the Spartans would read, and he was to shape the way how the Spartans thought. And so far, despite the fact they were loyal, and were willingly committing to the Spartan Program and the UNSC, she had… doubts about him.

Oh, she didn't doubt his competence. Asa matter of fact, he was the very best in his field. But every time the Spartans weren't training, she could see they were socializing a lot. More than she would expect of Child soldiers, and certainly more than ONI would like. Codename: ACTUARIAN had made that very clear. And yet, despite Conroy's insistences, they hadn't stopped socializing. Rather, they had even increased their amount of talking and spending time together, with only a few exceptions. And even these were more friendly than they should be.

When confronting Conroy about it, the doctor had insisted that, while Cold-blooded Soldiers were efficient, they had no idea why they were fighting, or who they were fighting for. He had insisted that the Spartans needed a cause, and so, he encouraged that they should for friendships, so that they would fight for eachother. But, as Halsey looked back upon it now, she thought he did it for more than that. Likely to save his own consciousness. Making the Spartans a bit more human, so he wouldn't feel as guilty in his old days.

Of course, the fact that Spartan 017, or David, as his friends called him, had shot the ACTUARIAN only six month before in anger hadn't helped his case. But, only a week ago, Conroy had finally convinced Parangosky to let David out of the Brig, because they would need all leader figures in the Spartan ranks they could get. And David, alongside John, Fred, Jerome, Kurt, Margaret, Jai, Jack and Cassy, was one of those figures. He had never seemed to regret that decision.

And, as he walked into her office, she could see he didn't regret it now.

"Doctor." He said respectfully. "I realize that I don't really see Eye-to-eye with you. But have you considered the legacy you will leave behind?"

"Come again?" Halsey asked, confused.

"Think about it." Conroy persisted. "The Spartans see you as their mother, for all intends and purposes. But The rest of the galaxy out there doesn't see it that way. They'll see you as a child kidnapper. A Frankenstein. Not the monster, by the way, but the doctor. You operate on them. And with the risks of the Augmentations… you know as well as I do over half of them won't walk out of that. They'll hate you."

He grabbed a Rubik's cube that stood on her desk, solving it in less than half a minute as he talked. Halsey silently cursed the young man. She had been busy for days trying to solve it, and he did it in under a minute.

"Which brings me back to my point." He said, as he put it down, solved. "What will you do to change that image? What will you do to show you still have some humanity left?" he asked, and he raised his glasses a bit.

Halsey looked at the man. "I don't need saving. ONI cares too much about my research to open me up to the public like that."

"We all are expendable, Doctor." Conroy retorted. "It's just a matter of when ONI is prepared to actually cut us lose. Besides, all Secrets will come out. Especially the nasty ones."

He turned to leave. "I see now that you are too delusional with your own importance to plan ahead for stuff like this. Still, if the roof starts collapsing around you, don't claim I didn't warn you."

And with that, he left, closing the door behind himself.

Halsey sighed. She had found him very annoying, since he was, like her, a child prodigy. But, while she had reached her maximum potential, going through all the studies and fields she could, he had just wasted time socializing with the Spartans. Like he wanted them to be human.

She huffed. As much as she joined him in wishing they could be so, she realized that would never happen. They were too indoctrinated now to try and reach out for what was rightfully theirs.

She went back to reading that report.


She hit herself on the head. Oh, Conroy, if you'd just hit me on the back of my head, and made me listen, this wouldn't have happened.

During the course of the war, too many people had died for her, and because of her. Noble Team, Isaac and Vinh, Li, Anton, Solomon, Arthur, Sheila… the list, as usual, went on. It had slowly made her realize that Conroy was right, and that she should think about her own consciousness. Ok, he had worded it more in the terms of how people would think of her, but the acts of making both more positive were the same.

She looked up, as Kelly finally moved. She immediately, as soon as she became coherent, grabbed her weapons, and aimed around with a service pistol Halsey hadn't seen earlier.

"Doctor." Kelly said, as she lowered her weapon upon seeing the doctor. "Where are we headed?" Halsey noted that Kelly was ignoring the fact, for the moment, that she had taken him away from John and the others. Halsey grabbed her data pad.

"A Planet in the Zeta Doradus system, one that ONI has ignored for a very long time, despite its habitability. In examining the S-III files with Kalmiya, as she likely informed you, I began to suspect they were being trained there. And I'm going to get them."

Kelly nodded. "Good. We'll need all the reinforcements we can-"

"Not just for John and Earth, Kelly." Halsey interrupted. "ONI has ignored it for too long for it to be a mere training ground for the Spartans. Otherwise you would be trained there as well. No, there's something else there. And I need you and Kalmiya to find out what."

Kelly nodded, satisfied with that answer for the moment. "Any idea what it could be?"

"Beyond my suspicion it is Forerunner, I have no idea, to be honest. The files didn't elaborate enough for me to create a theory as to what it is."

Kelly nodded. "Alright."

Halsey grabbed her datapad. "One more thing: During my examination of the map, I came across this acronym. You tell me what you think it is."

Halsey selected the right map, and held the title clear for Kelly to see.

Map to Zeta Doradus, sent to CPOMZ

Kelly leaned forward in interest. "So that's where Mendez has likely been off to. Interesting."

Halsey nodded. She then turned to the navigational display. "We'll soon be coming out of Slipspace, in orbit over the planet. No matter our landing, however, this ship was in a shoddy state of disrepair when I found her, and I took her before Tends to Rise or his buddies could look at it. We won't be able to take off again once we touch the ground."

Kelly grabbed her arm rests, as she sat down again. "I've faced worse odds. Let's do it."

Halsey nodded, and after a moment, she pushed the right sequence to get them out of Slipspace. As soon as they did, however, multiple alarms went off… too many to attribute to the state of the ship.

"Multiple contacts, unknown hostiles." Kalmiya reported from her place in Kelly's helmet. "Their design, upon visual, appears forerunner, but is different from that of the Sentinels and Enforcers John and Blue Team encountered on Halo."

Halsey looked at Kelly. "You are a more capable pilot than I am. Try your best to get us on the planet, preferably in this sector." She showed Kelly the area she suspected the training grounds for the Threes would be in.

Kelly nodded, and she grabbed Kalmiya's chip, and inserted her into the controls. "This is where the fun begins." Kelly said, as she maneuvered the ship in more directions, and at sharper angles and turns than Halsey suspected she ship was meant to make.

After a moment, as the blood rushed to her head from all the maneuvers, she lost consciousness.


Kelly smirked, as she maneuvered the ship around. While she wasn't particularly skilled at flying, and in no way superior to what she heard Six could do, she enjoyed flying: the freedom of it all, to move and fly as you wish. It exhilarated her.

Of course, at the moment, she couldn't due to the fact these drones were still firing on her. She turned to Kalmiya's avatar, who was sitting cross-legged, like she was merely meditating.

"Kalmiya, does this ship have a Head's Up Display in the view screen of the Cockpit?"

Understanding what Kelly wanted, a course that would take her to the desired Sector appeared in front of her. Kelly smiled. "Thanks."

Kalmiya nodded, and merely continued sitting cross-legged, as she adjusted the output of the engines enough to Kelly's needs, powering down the left engine, and putting more in the right, as Kelly steered the maneuvering fins so she would go left, effectively making sure Kelly got at her destination faster.

After a moment, they were past the firing of the large swarm of Sentinels, and making their way into the atmosphere of the planet. The hull heated up with the friction, and Kelly had more and more trouble keeping the ship in a controlled descent.

After a minute of tough flying, Kelly managed to level out, just as they broke through the clouds.

Satisfied they were out of immediate danger, she pulled up the status of the ship.

Halsey was right: the Ship had already been a wreck to start with, and Kelly's flying and entering the atmosphere hadn't improved it one bit: Landing gear's gone, Com and sensor are now down, Engine 1 was overheating, and two was already gone, the Slipspace Drive was melting from how hot it had gotten, and she even noticed there was a minor Hull breach. It fortunately wasn't in their sealed compartment, but she had to be careful, or it would become bigger by the minute.

She noticed they were arriving at the needed sector, and she maneuvered the ship so it landed on a soft patch of dirt, so the jolt at landing wouldn't hurt the doctor.

Kelly shut down the engines, and let the ship glide to the spot where she wanted to land, with Kalmiya lending a hand, so to speak.

After a moment, she felt they were touching down, and Kelly extended what was left of the landing gear to increase air resistance and slow them down. Kalmiya also extended all flaps and steering fins there were, and activated the maneuvering thrusters in reverse, so they were slowed down even further. After a moment, Kelly saw that they were coming up on a rock wall over a hundred meters high she hadn't noticed earlier, and they were coming up fast. They must have traveled faster and further than Kelly had expected they would.

She immediately yanked Kalmiya, picked up Halsey, her weapons and Halsey's datapad, and made for the starboard exit hatch she'd seen earlier. She kicked it open, put the Weapons on her back slots and thigh slot, put the datapad in a pouch on her armor, grabbed Halsey, and jumped.

She landed in a roll, though she ensured there was always something between the doctor and the ground, be it an arm or her back, as Halsey had no protective gear.

After a minute of rolling, they finally came to a stop. Kelly checked if the doctor was alright, and, satisfied she had no injuries beyond a few bruises, looked up.

The Chiroptera flew for a few more meters, before it slammed into the wall, and violently exploded. Multiple pieces flew everywhere, and once or twice, she had to dodge a larger piece, or catch it to prevent it hitting Halsey.

The majority of the ship, however, fell to the ground at the bottom of the wall into four different pieces: The wings, the bow and the stern.

"Another happy landing."Kalmiya said jollily. "Shall we pick up the doctor, and make our way towards where she suspected the S-III camp would be?"

Kelly nodded. "I'm sure you always wanted to meet the guy that made Six as crazy as she appeared."

Kalmiya chuckled. "I'd rather not. Who knows the others aren't as crazy?"

"Jun turned out okay?" Kelly pointed out.

"Fair enough." Kalmiya said, as she displayed a small map of the terrain at the lower right corner of Kelly's HUD. Kelly picked up the doctor, swung her over her shoulder, and brought up Oathsworn, her own customized Shotgun, which she'd painted as well. She then made her way into the woods, seeing there was no path visible going from the dirt patch.

She was traveling for about an hour, when the ground underneath her gave way. Kelly jumped back just in time to avoid falling in. she looked in.

And immediately jumped in. it seemed to be someone's underground stash of supplies.

As she landed, and put the doctor down, leaning against the side of the dirt wall, she looked around.

The place was very small. As a matter of fact, it was a small wonder Kelly hadn't hit her head yet. It was about 5 by 5 meters wide and long, and a small hole in a wall opposite her indicated where one would normally enter the room. The room itself was filled to the nock with supplies, although they were not orderly put away. MRE's lay strewn across the floor, First-Aid kits lay on the their sides and each other. It was too small for tall adults, but i-

Ideal for Spartan Trainees in their youth.

Kelly rummaged around in the two crates that were in the room. One contained nothing but empty packaging and other forms of thrash. Clearly, it was their garbage bin. The other, however, contained something interesting.

A datapad, and a pile of numerous Datchips.

She went through them, sorting them all. All had dates, and a number assigned to them, the number either being 170 or 312. She sorted them in neat rows on a blanket that lay on the floor, and, after fifteen minutes, she had sorted them all. Out of curiosity, she grabbed the earliest of the 312 pile, and put it in the datapad. The pad, however, was empty, so she pulled it out.

She then had an idea, and put it in the only other slot in her helmet. EVA Spartan Armor, by design, had two slots for data recording, as in Space there were more readings to register for missions, like radiation.

She put the log in the other one next to Kalmiya, and her HUD went black.

It immediately lit back up, with the same room as Kelly herself was now in in the background, showing a slightly pixelated young girl in front, about 12 years old, of brown, shoulder-length hair partly pulled back in a top-knot, with the rest just loose, covering her cheeks and the sides of her face. She had a few scars, likely resulting from fights, though they seemed like they were old. It was the eyes, however, that drew her attention. They were the oddest of colors for eyes Kelly had ever seen.

Her right was so light blue she could mistake it for ice. The other, her left was a fiery orange.

Kelly listened, as the woman talked about the S-III training.


This is Sierra B312, training here on Onyx. I have just completed a record of twelve medical procedures I practiced. And yes, B170, using a gutted avian imported from Demeter as a test subject counts.

"Ah, come on." A male voice in the background groaned.

Yes, it counts. Anyway, I completed the tests, thereby passing the exam needed to become a combat surgeon. That puts my amount of unofficial certificates on Six: Combat Surgeon, Mechanic, Electrical Engineer, Combat Pilot for all aerial vehicles Ambrose and Mendez could offer, Close-quarter combatant and skilled Cook. Next stop: Teamwork.

"Which you suck at." The voice from earlier retorted.

The woman sighed. Premature end of Log 31, as B170 needs his ass handed to him.

"Which you can't do right now. Ambrose will call the end of the exercise in three minutes, and it takes two and a half to get to the right positions."

Dammit. Well, I'll need to end it anyway. B312 out.


Kelly pulled the chip out, and she put it down. She looked around at the rows. There were a total of sixty chips, thirty of each. These two trainees must have hid here during exercises when they finished early, so they could have some down-time on their own. But something bothered her. She knew she had seen that number, B312, before. But she didn't know where.

"Something bothering you?" Kalmiya asked. "Your Brain activity's a bit higher than usual."

"Just trying to figure out something." Kelly explained. "I know I've seen that tag, B312, before. But I don't know where."

Kalmiya was silent for a moment. Then, supplied by Kalmiya, an image played across her mind, from her short time on the Gettysburg.

Her, Linda and Six, listening to that music Six had gotten from an ODST, with Linda making a bit of fun at Six' Spartan tag.

B312

"Damn." Kelly said, amazed at the coincidence. "I just stumbled across Six' personal diary."

"At her training ground as well." Kalmiya added. "Still, the logs only go from 31 to 60. And the date only goes from years three and four. Which means there are likely two more cache's. and about sixty more logs."

Kelly nodded. "Then we have no time to waste. Halsey can go and search whatever she likes, but I want to find these logs, and see how our… friend grew up."

"Ah, so she's a friend now?" Kalmiya teased. "Where only hours ago we called her crazy."

Kelly nodded. " as insane as she is, she saved my, and the others' lives, multiple times. And we get along very well. There's no reason, beyond the fact I only saw her for three days, that I can't call her one."

"Indeed." Kalmiya said, and she appeared instead of the HUD. "Still, you haven't answered the question from that Forerunner cave system yet, have you?"

"What Question?" Kelly asked, pretending not to know. She didn't want to think of him right now. Not that she didn't want to, but if she did, she knew she wouldn't get him out of her mind for hours. Hours she would be less attentive to her surroundings.

"I'll repeat it." Kalmiya said. "who's the future ms. Kelly? Your pulse and brain activity elevated in that central room when you saw Spartans rescuing you. I already crossed out the Admiral and the civilian, as you didn't know them well enough, and I don't see you as a lesbian. On that regard, Six, Linda and Grace can be crossed out as well. Also, you only saw the Elite upon that moment, and didn't seem to know him, so he can be crossed out as well. That leaves John, Sam and Anton."

Kalmiya smirked. "So, which of the three is it?"

Kelly sighed. "As long as you don't tell this to anyone. You're the first one I'm telling about this."

"Across my heart." Kalmiya promised. "Or, in lieu of one, my datacrystal."

Kelly nodded. "Fair enough." She then activated her blink control for a touchpad, ensured no other devices were around to pick it up, and typed John's name.

Kalmiya nodded. "What do you see in him? Not that it's bad, but I'm just curious."

Kelly had to think very hard about that. And for a long time as well. And, in the end, she didn't know for sure.

"I don't know." She said. "Could be because we know each other for so long, could be because we work so well together. I don't know."

"Fair enough." Kalmiya said. "As promised, I'll shut up about it in front of others. But I have to note this: I had a conversation with Cortana earlier."

Oh, please don't. Kelly thought. Don't tell me this now.

"And from what she overheard, John has taken a liking to you, too."

Aaaand there goes my concentration for the next few hours.

"I appreciate the thought. But keep the details for later. The Doc will be waking up soon, and it's dusk."

Kalmiya nodded. "Time to make a fire."

Kelly chuckled. It made her think back to one of their missions, back in training.

When Allison had still been alive.


Emerald Cove, 23-01-2520

Kelly smiled, as Allison and Fred returned with a fresh supply of Clams. They were fresh out, and, since they spent the majority of the day surfing, and it turned out they didn't have enough clams to go round. Allison had volunteered to go out there gathering more, and it looked like she had found enough.

After all, she doubted they would be on short supply if they had four baskets full.

Allison put them down. She then moved off, likely to start a fire. She saw Linda smirk. Ever since they had given Allie the lighter they'd found, they had been unable to separate her from it. She was willing to do all that stuff for them, but never has it separated from her. Even after Jack had been stupid enough to try and take it.

After five minutes, Allison returned with torches, a large supply of wood, and the Jerrycan filled with oil they had stolen from Mendez, back when they'd also stolen the Air tanks.

Fred got up, and helped Allison put everything right for multiple Bonfires. After all, one wasn't enough for about seventy five children.

In the end, after all the fires were lit, however, most stayed by their own teams, despite the fact they can get along very well with each other.

Kelly saw, however, that Allison, Fred, Linda, Kurt, Jack and Malcolm were making their way to her, John and Sam. Sam looked up in the middle of eating a clam, and he smiled. "Ah, our favorite Pyromaniac! Come and join us, along with the next victims of molotov cocktails?"

Allie smiled. "No, not victims. I'm getting lazy getting the necessary ingredients, and I need people to get it for me. Like you."

Sam's look soured. Linda and Jack laughed, as they sat down with the group. Allison grabbed a clam of her own, and pried it open with the bottom of her torch, which they'd all sharpened in case Mendez's instructors found them. Even if they obeyed his orders, they wouldn't let themselves be taken without at least a token show of resistance. And what better token than a sharpened torch?

Malcolm smiled as he pulled out the pocket knife he'd taken from an instructor, and pried his own open. After they all ate something, Sam grabbed his improvised surfing board, basically a plank of wood, like all of their boards, and lay down on it. "As much as I like this vacation, I can't help but look forward to seeing the ACTUARIAN again. The look on his face will be priceless."

"Go over to Holetown and take a picture." Kelly joked, throwing the shells of her clamps at him. He caught them, and threw them back, missing due to her dodging it. John shook his head, looking at Kurt in mock-exhaustion. "See what I have to put up with?"

Kurt chuckled. "You think these two are any easier? I constantly have to take away a new blowpipe from Linda because she always seems to find a new one. To even be silent about Fred's constant arguing about new decisions."

Allison laughed. "You think any of the leaders have it easy?"

"No." Malcolm said, his mouth half-full with a clam. "But it is entertaining for the rest of us to watch you guys try to cope."

There was more laughter. After a moment, saw a clamp land next to their fire. She, along with Jack, looked at where it came from.

Jai, along with the other members of Gray Team, were throwing Clams at each other, some filled with sand.

Jack sighed. "And I thought Allie and 'Colm were annoying."

Kelly nodded, then went back to eating her own clam.

Then, one hit her lower back. She grabbed it, looked at Gray team, who didn't seem to have noticed, and contemplated throwing it back to annoy them.

But another team beat them to it. Black team, led by Margaret, started throwing all of their clams at Gray team, who were surprised and overwhelmed by the sudden assault. As soon as it stopped, however, they sat up again, and started throwing back. One of them, however, missed, hitting Jerome, who sat two fires away. He looked back, saw the two groups, and started throwing his own.

Soon, everyone started joining in, including David's group of odd balls, Clyde and Romero.

All except Green Team, Yellow Team and Blue Team, who were watching the exchange with amusement.

"Shame we don't have recording equipment." Allison said. "Excellent blackmail if we want something from them later on."

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah."

"Just watching is good enough for me." Jack said. "Still, part of me wants to join in."

John just shrugged. "You are the oldest of us all. You decide what you do."

"Hey, don't use that on me." Jack defended. "You think I like being around people two years younger than me due to an administrative error?"

"No." Fred said. "But the man from Saxon is always older." he took on the typical Saxon accent, descended from old Scottish. "Oy, want want an ale?"

the others all laughed. Then, Allison got up, as their fire was almost out, and she went to grab more wood. Linda went over to join them.

After a moment, Jack gave her a kick in the leg. "Go on, join the ladies. Us men can enjoy ourselves."

Kelly laughed. "As long as I don't see you guys joining the foodfight." she said, before she got up and walked after them.

After a moment, she caught up. Allison looked back, and she smiled as Kelly caught up. "Come on. Time for us girls to make a real fire."


Kelly shook her head, to clear it. She could remember the past and the fallen later. Jack was missing, Kurt, Malcolm and Allison were dead, and the others would think she was missing.

Still, she smiled. Kelly, along with Linda and Allison, and Cassy who'd gotten tired of the foodfight, had gathered a large amount of firewood, drenched it in a bit of the oil, and lit it with Allison's lighter. They had forgotten, however, that there was a lot of vegetation near their fire, and it had spread out of control due to a wind shift. In the end, the interior of an entire cave had been burned out, Allison had gotten a burn scar on the side of her face trying to save Cassy, Linda had lost her eyebrows, and Mendez had found them a day sooner than expected, finding them due to them showing up on his Thermal scanner.

Still, it was one of the most fun days she can remember. They actually had fun that day.

Kelly sighed, and grabbed the necessary firewood for her own fire. She grabbed a lighter from her pouch. She thought about Allison for a moment.

Allison was the first recorded Spartan to be killed, and all of them had mourned her passing. She had also been their expert on everything involving fire. Fred had gotten along with her incredibly well, even more so than the rest of them. Kelly had once heard Kurt say that Fred and Allison were practically twin brother and sister, considering they always sought each other out.

She looked up, as Halsey stirred. The doctor grabbed her head. "How long was I out?" she asked.
"Only a few hours." Kalmiya answered. "We... crashed, and Kelly got us all away from there. We found this cache, where we found a number of logs you might want to see."

Kelly pointed to the logs. The doctor lit up once she saw the rows of them.

"They're logs of a pair of Spartans." Kelly answered. "They're incomplete, however. I believe there are two more caches with the first and last parts. We only have the middle parts."

Halsey nodded, her eyes still fixed on the chips. "Still, it's worth something."

Kelly nodded, and watched, as Halsey viewed all the logs. They all were only a few minutes at the most, but there were about sixty of them. In the end, it took nearly three hours to watch them all, with both Kelly and Halsey taking turns watching the other's Spartan. In the end, their training wasn't all that different from her own training, only tougher. More and more challenges had been added to each exercise, and Six even claimed that she had to fight three squads of fellow trainees on her own, while outgunned and in a bad position.

B170 and B312 got along very well, it seemed, despite the fact they annoyed each other constantly, according to the logs. Both always talked about the exercises they successfully completed together. Yet, at the very end, she had heard them arguing about something called 'Zone 67', and how B170 wanted to go there, yet how Six told him to wait, as a Lieutenant Ambrose would take care of it. B170 had claimed they didn't have the time to wait, before they noticed the log was still playing, and shut it off.

Kelly wondered for a moment. Halsey, according to the files Kalmiya showed her, didn't know what Zone 67 was, but all of them had a hunch that whatever was in that zone could contain what Halsey sought as well.

She briefly shut her eyes, as it was nearly midnight, and she needed to be fit once they moved out of their shelter. She dreamt of another memory, back when they had learned of Cassy's… change.


HIGHCOM training facility, Reach, 12-01-2524

Cassy was different now. There was no way around it, even for her.

In the past, Cassy had been curious, slightly unruly, and always eager to learn. Always did she manage to escape, yet every time the base personnel had found her, it was always either in a database or in the motor pool. Also, every time she and her team went on training exercises, they always stayed behind for a bit, to admire the nature and view of their surroundings. She and Randy, her teammate, had also been close friends, to the point Kelly sometimes envied what happiness they had, despite the fact she saw nothing in either of them in that regard. But Cassy, despite all of this, was also the most sociable person, to the point Kelly thought she talked more even than Sam. Of all of them, Kelly considered Cassy the most… human.

But ONI had taken her over six months ago, and they had done something to her. When she'd returned, she was nearly always silent, speaking only when spoken to, and always in short answers, unless she was to give orders. She also remained within the base's confines, an she never tried visiting the motor pool or the database again. Also, when an exercise was over, she was always the first of her team to leave, no longer staying to watch the view.

In short, ONI had changed her, to the point that they all barely recognized her anymore. The only reason Cassy had social interactions at all was because of her two teammates.

Kelly tried approaching her fellow Spartan about it, but she was always busy nowadays, either training, eating or sleeping. And the occasional conversation with her teammates. But for some reason, she stayed away from Clyde.

Jack and Chris, the two most senior Spartans in terms of age, due to administrative errors when ONI had selected them for the program, advised the others to let it be, and to let Cassy sort it out for herself.

And yet, Kelly still felt sorry for the little girl.


Kelly woke up at that moment. In the end, Sam and John, before she could approach the girl, had called her away, due to Mendez pitting their team in another exercise against Red team. She had never considered approaching the girl again after that: The Covenant War had started about a year later, and they never had the chance to meet up again. And when they'd all been recalled for Operation: RED FLAG, and the Covenant had assaulted Reach, Cassy had been one of those to stay behind and defend the Orbital Generators. So, there was no doubt Cassy was dead, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to find out what ONI had done to her.

She suddenly looked up again, as she heard that noise: the sound of a twig breaking.

It was the only clue she had about the intruders, but Kelly was ready. She raised her shotgun at the only exit, as they'd blocked off the original entrance with the crates.

Briefly, she saw the end of an Assault Rifle's barrel stick out from above, pointing around. After a moment, it withdrew, before an armored figure dropped down, hitting the floor below.

It was clearly a Spartan, though the armor seemed terribly downgraded, even compared to the Reach Armor systems. It looked like if Kelly gave one punch, she could shatter it.

It did have Photoreactive coating, as the armor started mimicking the colors of their surroundings. But, with Kalmiya enhancing Kelly's Visor, and outlining the figure, Kelly had no trouble seeing it.

She contemplated attacking the figure. But with what Halsey had told her, this figure was supposed to be friendly. She hesitantly put Oathsworn on her backplate again, and stood up.

The figure must have heard something, because it whirled around to face her, his weapon aimed at her. Kelly raised her hands slowly, to indicate she was a non-hostile. Then, on a hunch, she whistled the Olly Olly Oxen Free tune.

Immediately, the figure lowered his Assault Rifle, and depolarized his visor. Kelly saw it was in fact a young woman behind the visor, no more than 18 years old. She was surprisingly short, likely even shorter than Six. And yet, Kelly could see she already had all her Augmentations, and that she was already fully trained. But she didn't show the clear, muscular structure Six and Jun had shown when Kelly had first seen them. Clearly, this wasn't a Cat-II, as Jun had called them: Spartan-III candidates with the genetic profile of a Spartan-II. The Figure whistled the tune as well, and did the gesture of a Spartan smile. Kelly returned it, then pointed at the still-sleeping doctor. The woman nodded, and moved more silently.

Kelly opened a com to her. "How many more of you are up there?" Kelly asked.

The woman raised 8 fingers. Kelly nodded, and remained silent. The fact the woman hadn't answered her question vocally, she either suspected their coms would be overheard, or she had had a traumatic event in the past, and had gone mute because of it.

The woman moved to the crates, silently put them down, and opened them. She was surprised when they were empty. She could work with that.

Kelly, understanding what the woman wanted, raised a few of the datachips, holding them between her fingers. The woman, upon seeing them, let her shoulders fall in relief, and stopped searching.

Kelly moved over to the doctor, and carefully prodded her with the tip of her boot.

"Get up, Ma'am. We have a visitor."

The woman signed that Kelly should pause, and she jumped out of the hole. After a moment, she returned, with someone else behind her as well.

The figure wore the same armor as the woman, although it was a bit taller than the woman. But, as he depolarized his visor, Kelly could see this was in fact a young man. He smiled, and held out his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Spartan. I'm Tom-B292."

Kelly shook the man's hand. "Kelly-087. Care to explain what's going on here?"

"Maybe later." He pointed at the doctor. "Is your Friend fit enough to walk?"

"She should be." Kelly answered. "No major injuries. We survived a crash, but we only got away with a few bruises."

The man nodded. He then, carefully, prodded the doctor as well. This time, she woke up.

She looked around, and, upon seeing the two Spartans, immediately stood up. "So I was right after all. There are more Spartans out there."

Tom nodded. "Glad to know at least someone cares enough about us to come looking."

Halsey smiled. "I have to admit, I only learned about your branch when I ran across Noble Team."

Tom, and the woman, looked up. "Noble's alive?"

"To the best of our knowledge, yes." Kelly answered. "Though the team only consists of Jun-A266 and B312 at the moment. The other members died when Reach fell."

Tom nodded. "I'm sure we've been out of the loop for a while. But we should get going. These alien drones will find us if we stay here."

Kelly nodded, remembering the attacks they suffered on their way in. they all got out, with Halsey receiving a helping hand from Kelly, and they all moved on, into the bushes.

After about half an hour of walking, Kelly saw they were nearing the old training center. Tom shook his head when he saw her looking at it.

"The Drones hit that the moment they emerged. We're headed to a secret bunker beneath it."

Kelly nodded, and she followed the Spartan. After another ten minutes, they came at a metal hatch, which the woman lifted open. Tom turned to Halsey. "Be careful. It's a pretty long drop for non-Spartans."

Halsey nodded. "I'll ride on one of your backs, if you don't mind."

Kelly nodded, and went on one knee, so Halsey could climb on. Tom jumped in first, and after a moment of moving out of the way, Kelly followed him. It was a short ten-meter drop, and so, Kelly wasn't seriously affected. Lucy jumped in last, after carefully lowering the hatch down. They followed a short hallway, before they entered the main chamber.

Inside, as the Woman had said, were seven other figures, includi-

Chief Mendez.

The chief, upon seeing them, smiled, and put out his cigar as a sign of courtesy. Kelly depolarized her visor, and smiled at her former Training Officer, the closest any Spartan-II had to a father.

"Spartan." He said. "I'd ask why the hell you are here, but I think you will explain that later anyway."

Kelly nodded, and pulled out her collection of datacards. She lay them on the table, and, after a moment, saw they had also found a supply of the cards. She pointed. "You guys found another hideout as well?"

Mendez nodded. "Three klicks north of here, in a natural cave out of the normal training zone." He paused. "What's your interest in them anyway?"

Kelly shrugged. "I ran into B312 earlier, and she never said much about her training. I wanted to find out more.

Mendez smiled. "So Our psychopath's alive, huh?" he turned to one of the other figures, who was talking with Tom and the other woman. "Lieutenant Commander, I owe you ten bucks. B312 is alive."

The man turned, and she saw he was happy with winning the bet, and held his hand out. Mendez threw the owed Credits into the man's hand, and put them in a pouch. Mendez walked over to them, and Kelly followed.

Halsey, who was engrossed with the other figures, who were clearly Spartan-III's as well, looked up, and examined the Lieutenant Commander.

"I recognize my own handiwork, Lieutenant Commander." She started, as the Lieutenant turned to her.

"You are a Spartan-II." The man simply nodded. Kelly looked at him in surprise.

Indeed, he had the right height and physique to be a Spartan-II, and he communicated silently, just like one. She hit her own head mentally for not seeing it sooner. But that left the question: who was it underneath the helmet?

"Despite ONI's directive to declare every Spartan MIA instead of KIA," Halsey continued "I managed to keep track of which Spartans were actually 'missing'. There are Kurt, Randall and Sheila. Sheila is dead, killed in the battle of Miridem to protect me. That leaves Randall or Kurt."

Halsey paused, looking at the other figures. "I know the Threes look at you as a leader, similarly to how the Spartan-II's looked at me as a mother-figure. That makes you the Program's leader, regardless of Ackerson's oversight. If I wanted to have someone in charge of the Threes, I would pick Kurt. You always were even more Empathic than the others, and you always went the extra effort to understand people and their feelings. You also made the effort to know the marines under your command. Therefore, you must be Kurt.

The Lieutenant Commander's helmet depolarized, and she was pleasantly surprised to indeed Recognize Kurt underneath it.

She vividly remembered the day she had last seen him. When he had floated away due to a malfunctioning Propulsion unit. Clearly, ONI had faked his death, to get him to train the Spartan-III's.

She polarized her own helmet, and smiled as well.

"Is there anything you don't know, Doctor?"

Halsey smiled. "It's good to see you alive Kurt. But let's return to the situation at hand."

Kurt nodded. "As you can see, I was training the Threes here, with Mendez. Ackerson tried to find Conroy, by the way. But he's disappeared."
Halsey took on a sad expression. "He was at ONI SWORD base on Reach when it was bombarded, as was I. I was lucky enough to make it to the underground research facility. Conroy wasn't as lucky."

Kurt looked down. "My condolences Doctor. But anyway, I was coordinating a training exercise, when suddenly these drones emerged, and started attacking us. We recovered supplies from the camp you likely spotted earlier, and made our way here. We've been making hit-and-run attacks ever since, but we haven't made much progress."

Kelly frowned. "Why?"

"The Drones are Coordinated." One of the Threes answered. " They work in groups of three. Two are scouring the floor below, hunting us. The third is on over watch. The lower two can be taken out, but the over watch is out of range. And as long as the over watch is still there, it can easily call for reinforcements."

Kelly nodded. "So you remained here, out of its sight, until it could be dealt with."

Kurt nodded.

"How many more of you are there?" Halsey asked. "On the Planet I mean."

"Aside from Tom and Lucy," Mendez answered, pointing at the two that had picked up Kelly "There were three Five-man Teams: Gladius, Katana and Saber. Saber's here. Katana briefly sent a com, indicating they were herded into Zone 67 before we lost Contact three days ago." He paused. "We found Gladius dead, overwhelmed by the Drones."

Kelly nodded. "As much as we want to help, we didn't bring a lot that can do about the overwatch. Or that can get us into that zone."

"Why would you want to go in there?" one of the Threes that hadn't spoken yet asked. "The Drones own that place."

This time, Kalmiya spoke, through Kelly's armor. "There's ruins of an ancient civilization in there. A civilization that was a thousand times more advanced and powerful than even the Covenant." She paused. "We came across some files of them on Reach, and we believe there is Technology there that can help us win the war."

Kurt nodded. "That might explain why ONI flash-transmitted me those files, upon the alert of the Drones."

Halsey looked at Kurt, curiosity in her eye. "What files?"

"Mainly Onyx History." Kurt answered. "The Planet was declared off-limits upon discovery of the ruins. After I managed to wrestle this place as an area for a training ground, about Five Spartans have gone missing, disobeying orders and heading into that zone." He paused.

"None have returned, and ONI told me they saw 'a glowing eye', before it sent a beam at them, killing four of them and making the fifth go missing."

"Only missing because we've failed to uncover a body." Mendez added. "That of one person of those logs."

"B170." Kelly answered knowingly.

Mendez nodded. "He was the sanest guy there was among that company. I don't understand why he went. If anything, upon seeing those files, I expected B312 would have gone."

Kelly shrugged. "Despite her recklessness at times, she seems wiser than that."

Mendez shrugged. "I don't know. But anyway, that's all we have on that zone."

Halsey nodded. "Is there a way to reach HIGHCOM?"

Kurt nodded. "Yes. There's a Slipspace Drone linked to the com relay of this place But if we use it, the Over watch will listen in, and pinpoint our location. We'll have nowhere else to go."

Halsey nodded. "If we want to make progress, we'll have to take that risk. Kalmiya, compose a message, and send it to Hood."

"Right away." Kalmiya said. "What do you want it to say?"

Halsey thought for a moment. "Hint at the technology, and ask him to send Spartans."

Kalmiya nodded. "Done. I'm sending whenever you're ready. I'm linked to the array, so you can move out before I send out that call."

The others, understanding they needed to move, all grabbed their gear and moved out. After ten minutes, they were all packed with rations, medical supplies and ammo, and were about five kilometers distant.

"Do it." Kelly said, as they all stopped to look at the area where the bunker was located.

"It's being send. And… done. Will arrive at Hood in about thirty minutes."

Halsey frowned. "we don't have Superluminal Comms, right?"

"I intercepted a com message through Slipspace, as the drone linked to the relay. It's from Cortana. I'll fill you guys in later, but the short of it is this: Elites are defecting, along with a few other species, Brutes are bad, Covenant Capital station of High-Charity has fallen to the Flood, Cortana recommends NOVA-bombing it, and John's hunting the last Prophet."

"That's it?" Kelly asked sarcastically. "I expected more."

"Oh, and I forgot to mention: They've discovered another Halo."

At this, Kelly and Halsey looked at the AI.

"Can you repeat that?" Kelly asked, astonished.

"Your hearing's fine" Kalmiya said. "John discovered Halo numéro deux."

Kelly deactivated her helmet speaker, and let out a string of curses even Six would frown at. Although, come to think of it, she realized most she actually got from Six. Kalmiya laughed. "Oh, that's nasty. Sure don't let Mendez hear that."

Kelly sighed, and reactivated her speaker. Halsey was filling the others in.

"I won't go into detail, as I wasn't there. But the gist of it is this: Halo's a weapon, an artificial ring-world 10.000 Kilometers in diameter, designed to wipe out all life in the galaxy. Built by the same beings that built those ruins at Zone 67."

Mendez frowned. "Ok. But one question: why would anyone want to wipe out all life in the Galaxy?"

"To deal with a parasitic lifeform that was spreading across the galaxy. They were desperate, and activated the rings. John, Sam, Linda and B312 already destroyed one, but it looks like John found another."

Kurt nodded. "And let me guess: The Flood mentioned in Cortana's message is the name of said parasite?"

Halsey nodded.

Kurt sighed. "Let's hope John manages to take care of it."

Halsey nodded, and Kelly couldn't agree more.

Still, she cursed herself. John was out there, likely in danger again, and there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it.

She thought back to the last time she'd seen him and could actually speak comfortably with him, without interruption and interference from others outside of the Spartan Program.


Ascendant Justice/Gettysburg, Eridanus Star System, 11-09-2552

John, Fred, Linda and Jun just emerged from the Air lock, as they finished their shift of helping the Huragok move the last large pieces. They had been helping build that Energy Projector in the place of the MAC cannon for the last twelve hours, and, now that it was done, they made the last adjustments, before heading back inside. Since the Huragok were miracle workers concerning technology and retrofitting, she figured the Spartans were only truly necessary to keep the parts in place while the Huragok worked. It would likely have been a boring day for them.

Kelly, just looking from one of the many duels Fol and Wil were having the last few days, saw them enter the cargo hold. Her chest wound from the defense of the Ascendant Justice barely two days ago, she limped over, and helped them remove the bulky additional Air tanks, and set them down in the right lockers for later use, while one of the Huragok, Tends to Rise, filled them up.

Afterwards, they all moved back to the Cargo hold, where they all, except six, who was busy modifying her new Grenade Launcher, spent their free time, now that they were stuck in the star system thanks to that crystal Halsey had recovered.

John, instead of joining the majority in watching the duel between Fol Katarn and Will, moved a bit back into the bay, studying something.

Kelly moved to the other side, as Jun had made an improvised Kitchen there. That is, if the afterburner of a Longsword could be counted as a stove, an overheated Fusion coil could be counted as an over, and the water used to clean the ships, along with the drain, could be counted as a sink.

Kelly sighed. During the initial disabling of the Gettysburg, the energy beam that had disabled it had ravaged many areas… including the kitchens of the mess halls. And while Fol had managed to locate a Covenant equivalent of a kitchen somewhere in the Ascendant Justice, none of them felt inclined to taste the covenant's food, which smelled like spoiled Dogfood. And so, Jun had improvised, using the parts around the hangar to make a kitchen, using the smallest of containers as cooking pans

She prepared meals for all of them, as Six, after a moment, joined her. It helped a bit, as the food was done faster, and, Kelly realized, Six was a great cook.

"Where did you learn to cook this well?" Kelly asked, to pass the time as they waited for the water to boil for the rice.

"My teammate couldn't cook for shit." she answered. "And I didn't want to be poisoned during our training exercises, so I taught myself to cook well."

"really?" Kelly asked. "All on your own?"

"It took about fifty tries to even get an egg boiled properly." Six admitted. "And I can't make Tacos for some reason. But everything else, I managed to learn through trial and error."

Kelly nodded. "Still, you seem very good at it now."

"During my time infiltrating insurrectionist towns, you tend to pick up hints here and there." Six said. "Let's just leave it at that."

Kelly nodded. Six tilted her head. "So. When are you going to talk to him?" the smaller Spartan finally asked.

"Talk to who?" Kelly asked confused.

"Oh, come on. You think I don't see those looks you sent to John the entire time? I'm not blind."

Kelly mentally cursed Kalmiya, for if she had told her…

"But seriously, why hold out?" Six asked, as she prepared a few Spare Ribs for herself. "You obviously like him. Why not tell him?"

Kelly sighed. "He's a good friend. I don't want to ruin that."

Six nodded. "I understand that. I won't press you if you don't want to. Still, at least consider it." She said, as she finished with cooking the last bit of rice, and put it all on the dishes. She then added the vegetables they'd recovered from some of the supplies, and added the mix of meat and potatoes she'd made alongside it as well. Six grabbed her own plate of Spare Ribs and added the necessary ration bar to keep herself healthy.

The food they made was more for taste rather than actual nutrition. For while they were stronger and faster as Spartans, they needed a lot more proteins, vitamins and the like in order to be well-fed. And the normal meals ordinary humans ate just didn't cut it for them anymore. Still, it was the sentiment behind it that counted.

Six moved off again, to eat on her own. While she could get along with everyone extremely well, she never ate alongside them, and she always slept in her full-armor. To be honest with herself, Kelly had never even seen the face of the Spartan. But she didn't question why. She'd heard from Linda that she'd yelled down the last one who tried to order her into removing her helmet, and Kelly didn't want to alienate her fellow Spartan.

For, despite the fact the only knew each other for two days, they already were very good friends. Six always hung out with her and Linda, and the three of them even managed to keep Sam away when they weren't in the mood for company. All they had to do was play the loud epic music Six had gotten from that ODST. And, Kelly had to admit, the music had a nice ring to it, despite the volume.

And so, since she really was a friend, she seriously considered the advice she had given Kelly: Go talk to John.

Kelly decided to do so after they'd eaten. She grabbed the cart on which they'd set the plates, and she moved it to the dueling area, where the majority of them sat.

After eating, during which Fol used the improvised Kitchen to make his own food.

After that, after they'd all eaten their diner, John moved off, as did most of the others. Kelly followed the majority, as they all went to their sleeping quarters. In the end, after most of the others had entered their rooms, Kelly headed for the old mess hall. The area where the beam had cut through had been closed off by the Huragok as they'd repaired the ship, and the parts that were still accessible were used as a gaming room by the marines, namely Wilson and Johnson, who seemed to have some sort of friendly rivalry going on between themselves.

But now, since it was midnight by the ship's clock, it was deserted apart from her. She sat at one of the few round tables, her armor removed and brought to her own room earlier, reading one of the many magazines that lay strewn around the room.

After a moment, she heard steps, and she looked up. Sam entered the room, like her his armor removed, and only in his bodysuit.

He sat down across from her.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" she asked. Sam nodded.

"If you could hear Fred snoring across my room, you wouldn't either."

Kelly laughed. "You sure it's him, and not the Field-Marshal?"

Sam made a mockingly thinking pose. "Nah, it's Fred. But only because it's fun to pick on him slightly with it."

Kelly smiled, and went back to reading. Sam grabbed one of the other magazines, and, after looking at it for a moment, made a paper plane of it, and attempted to throw it into a garbage bin.

He missed about fifteen times, and he cursed. "I hate paper. So fragile. I can barely even throw with it." he moved to pick it up.

When John entered the room, and accidentally stepped on it. He looked down. "oops."

Sam laughed. "I was about to crumble it and throw it away anyway. Care to join us?"

John sat down at their table as Sam moved over a bit. "So. Why can't you two sleep?"

"Someone nearby snores. I think it's Fred, and Kelly claims it's One-eye Fol."

John tilted his head. "Ever considered you woke up from your own snoring?"

Sam took on a mock-offended look, and put his hand in front of his mouth.

"Oh, the very thought of me snoring!"

Kelly smiled. "If all it takes to wake you up is the thought of snoring, no wonder you always stay up so late."

The three laughed, and John grabbed something underneath the table. When Kelly looked up, she realized it was Wilson's deck of cards.

"Someone forgot something." John said. "I'll return it in the morning. But for now, a game of cards?"

Sam smiled. "You're on. You know you'll lose?"

"With my luck? Never."

Kelly put down the magazine, and joined them. "Bring it. Men always lose."

And so, the three played for a while, and it ended up in a tie, each one of them winning an equal number of times, though in Sam's part it was nearly over, and he only caught up due to an end sprint in winning.

After a moment, Sam got up. "well, I'm getting tired, so I'll try to sleep again. Still, don't look surprised if I show up again in half an hour."

Kelly looked at him. "Just when you've finally caught up? Spoilsport?"

Sam smirked. "As Mendez said: end the game while you're still ahead."

"You're not ahead." John pointed out.

"I'm no longer behind either." Sam retorted. "Anyway, good night, you two."

"Try the observation bay." Cortana said over the mess hall's PA. "It's deserted, and no one's in range of snoring for seventy meters."

Sam nodded. "Thanks, Blue lady." Sam said, and he exited the hall. Kelly turned to John. "Blue Lady?"

"Six' nickname for Cortana after we formally introduced. It hung a bit, but now, only Sam and Six still use it."

"I see." Kelly said, as she took on a smirk. "Wanna start a bet concerning when those two are going to come out with their… 'friendship'?"

John smiled. "I still have to cash in the winnings from the last time we bet on that. But if you want to start a new one… what are you willing to bet?"

Kelly thought for a moment. "The Shotgun I've been customizing. The winner gets to name it."

"Fair enough. As a placeholder, let's use the name Oathsworn, that we will remember to give it a proper name later."

"Deal." Kelly immediately answered. "I say within three weeks after our return."

"A month."

Kelly smiled. "That's a bet you'll lose."

John just leaned back in his chair. "We'll see."

And so, they talked about both trivial matters and more serious matters, like Halo, what the Flood did, the new armor pieces Fred had brought with them and the like.

But neither of them managed to break the ice about said matter they both were thinking about right now.

Their feelings towards the other.


Kelly just sighed. She had wanted to broach that subject later, but the next day, Sam had spotted that abandoned Eridanus Rebels base, and after coming back, she'd never gotten to talk with John alone, as Doctor Halsey had taken her here, drugged.

She just sighed, and moved on with the rest of the group.

Now, they had to wait, as reinforcements would come.


Tallo Negro del Maiz, Havana, Cuba, North America, Earth, Sol System, 03-11-2552

Fred sighed, as he tried to recalibrate his Motion Sensor. Again.

He had just fought underwater, as the Bloodied Spirit was traveling across the world, looking for something. Evidently, it had found something, as it had deployed Ground Troops underwater. He, along with Linda and Will, were tracking it across the planet, per John's orders. And so, they had cleared out the contingent it had dropped down near the Antarctic. But, due to the large amount of water, his Motion Tracker had clogged up, and half of the targets it showed weren't real, and half of the targets it was supposed to detect didn't show on the tracker.

Will hit the back of his helmet, and Fred was about to berate him for it. He had been tinkering with that helmet for an hour.

When his Motion sensor contacts changed, and he once again saw what targets were real or not. Fred made a Spartan smile at his comrade. "Thanks."

"Sometimes, violence is the best solution." Will said, amused."

"Don't let Sam hear that." Linda warned. "Or we'll never hear the end of it."

The nodded, and were about to move out. When Admiral Hood raised them.

"Sierra 104, do you copy?"

Fred answered. "This is Sierra 104. Go ahead, Admiral."

"I have just received a distress call from Doctor Halsey. She claims to be in close proximity of 'technology that can win us the war'. She specifically asked for your presence."

Fred frowned. "Me especially, Sir."

"No, Your team." Hood corrected. "Can you intercept the Bloodied Spirit while up there? Due to the rebellion of the Elites, with some even fighting alongside us, my ships are tied up."

Fred nodded. "We'll get it done, sir."

"Glad to hear it, Spartan. Also, A pelican is on its way, with reinforcements."

Fred frowned even more. "What kind of reinforcements?" he asked, curious.

"Sierra 034 didn't make it on In Amber Clad when she followed that Carrier. He has been stuck in New Mombasa for the last two days. He only got back to the Cairo here an hour ago. I thought you could use the extra hand, so I sent him in your direction."

Fred smiled. "he's welcome anytime, Sir."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must oversee the defense of the planet."

Fred nodded, and he signed off. He turned to the others.

"Sam's on his way here. We are supposed to capture the ship instead, and head over to coordinates Hood sent us. Halsey called specifically for our aid."

Linda shrugged. "Glad big guy comes along. As long as he doesn't expect me to lug his Minigun around.

Then, a new voice entered their conversation.

Sam's voice.

"I can hear you, you know?" he said. "Don't worry, I'll carry my own weapons. But don't expect me to carry you up any mountains."

Linda laughed. "Good. I could use the exercise."

"Care to at least leave us a few explosives once you're done here? I want to throw a grenade or two as well." Will joked. Sam, of course, dived right in.

"One or two? Just so I know how many I need to leave for you."

Will mimicked pulling out a gun with his hand, and shooting himself in the head.

Fred sighed. "Make that six, two for each of us. And make it quick. The longer we stay here, the longer Bloodied Spirit has to get away."

"Sure thing, Boss. Or do you prefer Sir?"

"Sir will do fine in your case."

"I'm inbound. ETA: Lightning speed."

Indeed, in less than two seconds, Fred heard a pelican fly by overhead at top speed. After a moment, something jumped out, and fell. Towards their position.

Fred, catching Sam's idea early on, moved a few paces back. Linda and Will, seeing Fred do it, did likewise.

After a moment, Sam landed.

And he was armed to the teeth. He had a Minigun in his hand, a Rocket Launcher on his back, two bandoliers of Grenades across his chest, and two SMG's on his thighs.

Will whistled. "Our walking armory's arrived." He grabbed a pair of grenades from one of the bandoliers. Linda and Fred did likewise.

Sam turned to Fred. "So what's the plan, sir? Expect me to just waltz in and take them all out?"

Fred shook his head. "Negative. On our way in, we observed Brutes loading in a few Nukes, and we're going to steal that cargo and make our way up the cruiser. Then, we head for that Planet Halsey's on, and get what she claims is so important."

Sam nodded. "But how do we take that elevator? It's guarded more heavily than ONI's mainframe."

Fred smiled. "We're going to take that." He pointed to the right, which Will and Linda had already seen. Once Sam saw it, he laughed.

It was a Deutoros Scarab.

"You're kidding?"

"No. The Elites, Hunters, Grunts and Huragok are defecting. Those things are controlled by the same worms as those Hunters. I'm going to convince them to give us a ride."

Sam smiled. "Now that's what I'm talking about."

Fred smiled as well, as he thought back to one of his more pleasant memories.


Training field, Reach, 25-05-2519

Fred ducked, as Gray Team fired on their position again.

Mendez, as usual, had added another factor of surprises to this day's exercises, namely, that all teams were split and mixed, and he was now in a team with Allison and Randy, instead of Kurt and Linda as usual.

They were together in a combination of a race and a fire exercise: There was a bell in the center of the field, and each teammember that wasn't hit was supposed to ring it. But it was all out in the open, and each of them, all of the Spartan trainees, was given a paintball-gun, and they were all bent on being the first to ring the bell, even though it wasn't specifically ordered. Neither was there a time limit.

He didn't know his other teammembers all that well, if he was honest with himself. The only one he faintly recognized, for some reason, was Allison. And, it appeared, she recognized him too.

After a few minutes, They had determined the composition of the closest four teams: John, Cassy and Victor were Blue Team, who were behind them. But they were busy with Red team, consisting of Kurt, Kelly and Douglas. In front of them, however, were Black and Gray team, consisting of David, Margaret, Maria and Mike, and Romero, Jai and Jack, respectively. Fred and his team had already taken care of Clyde, Malcolm and Jerome's Yellow team, and Alice, Otto, Linda and Sam's Orange Team. The rest of their brothers and sisters had already been taken out, by trainers that had thrown themselves in the mix.

Fred thought he understood the purpose of the exercise: To teach them to all work together, not merely with those you knew well. But still, Fred couldn't help but be nervous about the prospect of his team members not following orders.

He looked at his two teammates again. Randy was keeping Black team suppressed, while Allison was eyeing a pair of sticks. Normally, if Linda or Kurt ever did that, he would tell them to focus. But one look at Allison, and he knew she was planning something. He crawled over her position. "What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I'll tell you when I've figured it out." she answered.

That didn't comfort him at all. Still, he let her think, as he fired a few pot shots at Gray Team. He was sure he heard Jack swear, as he was hit. And sure enough, after a moment, he got up, and walked out of the designated area.

After a moment, he finally heard her chuckle. Fred turned to her. "Figured out how you plan to take them all on?" he asked. She nodded. She then held her hand out. "Can I have your sleeve?" she asked.

Fred was confused by this. Why the hell would she want a sleeve? But he complied, and ripped off his left sleeve, handing it to her. Randy, pausing a bit, looked at Allison, and handed her his right sleeve. Allison wrapped them around the broken branches, and grabbed something out of her pocket. Fred saw it was a lighter.

"What are you planning to do?" Randy asked.

"Make a few torches, toss them over to their position, drive them out of cover, and shoot them as they appear."

Randy smiled. "Sounds like a plan." he turned to their unofficial leader. "What do you think, Fred?"

Fred nodded. "Who of you can throw the best? Because I still need to work on that."

"I'll do it. I can toss really well."

Allison lighted the torches, and handed them to Randy. After a moment, to make sure that they were good, he looked around. He turned to Fred. "Care to help me spot them?"

Fred promptly fired at the cover they'd previously been. After a moment, the fire returned. Fred got back into cover. "Gray's moved three meters to the right. Black's still in the same place."

Randy nodded, reared his hand back, and tossed the first torch at Gray team. Promptly, after it landed, Jai and Romero ran out, not expecting to have actual fire tossed at them. Allison and Fred promptly shot them down. After a moment, randy tossed the other at Black team's position. After a moment, four figures ran out, as well. Fred managed to hit Mike and David, and they, begrudgingly, walked out. Allison managed to his Margaret and Maria, as they got out. After seeing what they had done, Margaret smiled. "Impressive. Though I wonder how you made a fire so fast."

Allison smiled, as she grabbed her lighter. "Instructors really should be careful with their lighters. I'll have to give it back once Mendez finds out, of course. But that doesn't mean I won't enjoy it while it lasts."

with that, the three of them moved to ring the bell. The other two teams, too busy taking each other on, didn't notice as Randy, Fred and Allison slipped past them. Fred rung the bell first, and immediately aimed at the two groups. As expected, they'd heard the ringing. And all looked up. Allison hit it second, partially leaning on Randy, as she was the shortest of all their 72 siblings. The others, determined to stop them, rose from their cover. Randy hurriedly rang it last of them, and they all turned.

They were outnumbered two-to-one, and Fred knew they wouldn't go without being hit.

But he smiled anyway. And so did Allison.

They'd rung the bells first. They'd won.


In the end, although they'd hit over half of their siblings, they'd been felled in the end. But Allison and Fred had gotten close in the end. It wasn't as close as he and Linda were now. But it still was something that reminded Fred of a twin siblings relationship. He had, back then, been closer to her than to anyone else.

Then he refocused on the situation at hand. He and the others had a job to do.


There you go, the first Chapter of Ghosts of Onyx. I will admit, this story will likely be shorter than the others due to a lack of inspiration. as compensation, I will write four Epilogues instead of my usual two. I hope that will satisfy the haters. until then.

Gharst Omenlumin.