"Six! Can you here me? Six! We have to get out of here!" the voice broke my throbbing headache, Jun's voice, "Ju...ughh," I mumbled, "wh-what happened?" "You just survived your first glassing, not easily done" the sniper replied, "I'll explain later; right now we have to get to the pelican."
I felt like crap for the majority of the next week, spending most of it lying in a med-bay bed. My forearm was badly burnt from plasma and was wrapped in a bandage; I must have a broken rib because every time I try and sit up I'm greeted with a jabbing pain. "how are you feeling today?" said the doctor in the nicest possible voice, "I could be better, I'm just happy to be in one piece," I replied, "where am I though?" it felt like a stupid question but it had to come out one at point or another. "After you ordeal you are very lucky to be alive, and you are currently onboard 'the last dawn', a UNSC cruiser, medical deck." he said, "I'm going to give you another booster to speed up the healing process." I nodded, the needle entered my arm and I let the darkness take me again.
The next time I awoke I didn't get the sting when I touched the bandages on my forearm nor did I feel like I was being stabbed in the chest every time I tried to sit up, it was all gone. "Good to see you up and running again, just in time too. Dr. Hasley wants to see you." the voice made me jump at first but when I realized it was just the doctor I relaxed again, "Hasley is here? Why-" I was cut short, "best not to keep her waiting, you owe her you life after coming back for you" and with that the doctor left. I pulled a pair of combat boots on and made my way down to the laboratory where I thought Hasley would be waiting.
To my surprise Jun was waiting for me outside the lab door, "you can scrub up pretty well can't you," he said with a laugh, "Dr. Hasley is waiting up in the landing bay, she wants to see you." I nodded and started for the cargo elevator that leads directly to the landing bay, "are you coming?" I asked before I entered the open lift, "I am no longer in the same squad as you, I now run recon" he replied, a wave of sadness washed over me, another Noble gone…
I hit the activation panel and the door hissed shut. I began to speak to myself "I guess I'm the last Nobel, lone wolf once mo-" the door opened and a woman entered, similar height, similar build, she turned to enter a destination on the control panel, it was already selected, she had a robotic right arm, my eyes widened, "no..your.." I trailed off, "excuse me?" she replied, "but..your dea-" I stammered as I took a step back, "Six?" she questioned, "Kat? what-how..." I stuttered. She smiled "you didn't think a simple electrical shock would keep me down did you?" I managed to reply, "I saw you get shot, I carried you into the bunker, and you were dead." She looked down briefly and then gave me the full story, "I asked the medical staff about what happened and they said that I was electrocuted by that shot as it severed some of the wiring in my armour, having this (she emphasised her mechanical arm) only made things worse." It didn't completely soak in
At first, just seeing her alive was keeping my brain occupied, "right, I think I get it but how did you end up here?" I asked, "after being lifted out in that pelican I was taken to an outpost somewhere well outside New Alexandria, they realised I wasn't dead and I came with them when the evacuation order was given." I nodded, the door opened to reveal the landing bay, strewn with crates, and several small vehicles were located around the room.
"I'm glad to see you're up lieutenant," Hasley said by way of greeting, "your armour was nearly destroyed in your little skirmish with those elites, I had a new set made." Kat and I followed Hasley past a pelican and into a small room, I guessed it was the ships armoury, "lieutenant, you have here by been promoted to the rank of captain, your new armour in that room there." she said in an official voice, "lieutenant commander, you have also been promoted; to the rank of commander, you two will now be working together and of course if you need another set of hands I can have Jun reassigned." I looked to Kat and give her a look saying she should get Jun back, she seemed to get it. "Getting Jun back would strengthen our team, but we would be odd numbered, Spartans work in even groups." Hasley nodded and replied, "I have the answer to your numbers problem, but he only just finished his training when the covenant attacked the planet." "We'll take him" replied Kat. On that note Hasley left, leaving Kat and I to ready ourselves for the coming operation, we moved into the armoury, where our new armour was waiting.
Kat gathered her gear from her locker and departed, "I'll see you on the cargo deck." I nodded in reply.
My new armour was of different specifications to my original set, my new helmet was no longer Mk. V but instead it was a modified pilot variant, with a separate COM and a UA visor. It all felt different but in a good way. I gave my shoulders a roll as if to get a 'feel' of the new armour then walked back into the cargo hold, Kat was already there, standing along side Jun and Dr Hasley, except there was a fourth figure that I did not recognise. I came up along side Jun, "did I miss anything?" Hasley looked to me; "this is your new noble," she said, "and I hope you like your new armour configuration, I modified it myself." "Yes, the viewing angle of this helmet is considerably better, I'm guessing this isn't all for show." I replied, "you are now the teams pilot and whenever needed, air support" Halsey said in her flat tone. "So I don't participate in groundside ops?" I questioned, "No, no, no" came the reply, "you will be carrying on you duties from before but with the added duties of the teams pilot." I nodded, only just getting her reasoning. Halsey continued, "As I was saying this is 383, your newest Nobel, excelled in combat exercises and mechanics. You have already been briefed on your mission so here are the codes" she handed Kat a datapad and left the bay.
The ship we had received looked to be a larger version of a UNSC saber, 'made for passengers no doubt' I thought as I climbed up to inspect the cockpit. "The controls are basically the same." I announced, after which I decided it was not necessary. For the first time the new recruit spoke, "but you can fly this thing right?" he sounded nervous, I decided to mess with him, "we'll soon find out won't we," I climbed into the cockpit and adjusted the seat, I started to heat the engines and with that the entire HUD lit up.
Jun slid into the gunner's seat whilst Kat and 383 sat in the rear two passenger seats. "noble team ready" I announced over the COM, "received, ejection in 3, 2, 1 and clear." the 'passenger saber' was pushed from the landing bay and out into the blackness of space, "you are clear for ignition, give em' hell" came the flight directors voice, with that I fired the engines and we sped off back towards reach. "God I hate flying" said Jun as he gabbed his seat, I gave a short laugh, "it'll be a couple of hours before we hit the gravitational pull, might as well get used to it." "I hate you six" he said mockingly, "all right 383, what's your story?" Kat said, clearly already tired of our bickering. None of use knew anything about him other than the fact he had only just finished his training. "Well...I was selected by Dr Halsey as a candidate for the Spartan 3 program; I trained on reach and...that's about it." 383 said with a shrug, "easy to remember," stated
Jun, "you have a name?" 383 looked down briefly, "no, not that I can remember." "I guess that's our first point of order, give you a name" I said from the cockpit, "what do you like?" he paused again, "I don't mind Jacob" he said, "alright, Jacob it is," Kat said, "I'm Kat, the one in the green is Jun and the guy flying is Six. Welcome to noble team."
Within a couple of hours the assortment of covenant cruisers and battleships came up on the scanners, "what are the co-ordinates Kat?" I asked, "We are heading to a location within the vicinity of the visigrad relay outpost, here is the exact location." Kat leant over me to enter the co-ordinates herself, I watched her the entire time, "see something major?" she teased, I smiled and immediately blushed, 'thank god for this visor' I thought.
"Looks like visigrad has been torn to hell" I said as we dropped through the cloudy atmosphere, bring us down in that canyon, we can hide the ship and go the rest of the way on foot," Kat said, "once we are down, Jun and Jacob get the camo netting and disguise the ship, Six keep your eyes on the thermal scanners for any covenant activity and I will prepare the codes." I managed to make a smooth landing dispute the fact that I had never flown this variation of saber before, I shut the engines down completely and Jun and Jacob got to work with the netting, "I saw you watching me before" came a voice from behind me, I jumped a little, it was only Kat, "sorry, I got distracted" was all I could manage to say, "I never said it was a bad thing, try not to let it get in the way of work" she said with a smile, she picked up her helmet and the datapad and left the saber.
"We're done out here, ready to move" came Jun's voice over the COM, "got it, terminating internal power." I replied before shutting down the scanners. I grabbed a DMR as I left the saber. The canyon itself was rather large, almost big enough to fit a second saber at its base, it was quite damp, moss clung to the walls and puddles of water were scattered across the ground. "nice out" I jested, "ok our destination is about 2 clicks east" Kat said, "so what exactly are we looking for?" asked Jacob, "there is a structure set into the side of this canyon, containing critical files that we need to purge, these are the code that will give us access to them." said Kat in return holding up the datapad.
Just as Kat had predicted there was a building set into canyon, 2 clicks from our landing zone. "Kat, this isn't good, the covenant are here" said Jun through his helmet's COM, "we need that data gone. Six and Jacob take out the guards" replied Kat, the tone of command in her voice. I acknowledged her order and gestured for Jacob to follow me towards the guarded entrance. I nodded; we both ran at our chosen targets, I picked elite which left Jacob with a couple of grunts. A second later it was over, I removed my knife from the neck of the elite and gave the signal that it was all clear. "Messy stuff" said Jun as he looked at the carnage, "just the way I like it" I replied with a smile, we entered the complex with our guns up, who knew what else might lye within. My thoughts were quickly answered by a covenant scream, "Demons! Over there, over there!" after that all he'll broke loose, I dove behind a crate just before my shields were completely depleted. I pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it towards our enemies, my plan worked; it caused them to take cover whilst giving us a chance to return fire. I rounded my rifle onto a grunt and fired a couple of shots, he fell. I noticed that both Jun and Jacob were both using similar techniques, it didn't take long for us to eliminate the covenant defence, we found the data consoles and Kat got to work, "What ever your going to do Kat, do it fast, looks like our friends let off a beacon." said Jun as he examined a small flashing device. "I need about 5 minutes to do this right, I suggest taking up defensive positions to give me that 5 minutes."
"I don't like this," said Jun, "our scanners picked up three enemy drop ships three minutes ago, nothing has come in that door." Kat pressed a final key on the console and it started to erase all data, "Im done here, let's move out." she said as she tossed the datapad onto a nearby desk. I leant against the doorway "how are we getting out of here? If there is covenant outside that door our shields won't stay for more than a single step." "Since when did you become the pessimist?" Kat jeered, "Only one way to find out what's outside." said Jacob from the corner of the room.
We all cautiously made our way towards the entranceway, Jacob first then Jun then Kat them me. "Its all clear, I don't like this either" Jacob said as he leant out of the doorway to asses the scenario, "double time it back to the ship, Jacob and Jun you remove the camouflage, Six prep the engines." ordered Kat. I checked my rifle and loaded a fresh clip to prepare for the worst. We all broke out of the facility in a mad dash, sprinting back in the direction of the saber, once again I found myself distracted by Kat's feminine figure running in front of me, I tried to shake the thoughts but they hung in the back of my mind.
As soon as we arrived at the ship Jun and Jacob started striping off the camo netting, I ran into the cockpit and re-initialized the instruments, "Netting is clear of engines" came a voice over the COMs, with it I began to heat and prep them for takeoff. Kat came and sat in the gunner's seat, whilst Jun took her previous seat in the passenger cabin with Jacob, I hit the control to close the rear door and began the takeoff sequence. I gave the saber a little more and we lifted from the ground, I cautiously added more power and we broke the confines of the canyon, almost immediately we were pelted with plasma fire, "shit! They must have been waiting for us," I said, "hold onto your seats I'm taking evasive action!" Jun's body went rigid as he braced himself against his seat, his face would have been priceless. "Kat, I need fire on those phantoms of we aren't getting out of here." She got the message, "first missile locked on, firing" a wispy trail shot out
from the front of saber and looped itself around and made contact with one of the phantoms, it practically disintegrated from the impact and fell down to the surface. "Missile two locked, firein-" she was cut short as the saber lurched, "banshees!" Kat called, "and that hit caused the missile to loose its lock." "This day just gets better and better" said Jun, we were hit a second time by a banshee mortar, a warning light started flashing, "that's not good," I said staring at the blinking light, "I'm going to try and land, before it takes us down." we were pelted with more plasma as I slowly brought us closer to the ground, "brace for a hard landing!" Everyone braced themselves against their chair; we hit the ground...hard. I was smashed against the controls, only just keeping conscience. I then realised the chair I was sitting in had been torn from its mount and not rested onto of me; It wasn't heavy so I had no trouble freeing myself. That was the end of my luck.
The entire cockpit of the saber had been buried and crumpled from the force of the impact; I saw the thing that was once the door to the passenger cabin had been transformed into a wall of twisted metal and debris. "Six, can you help me, my arm has shorted out and it's trapped." Kat! I saw that she was sitting against the side of the cockpit; her arm was trapped in the space that was once the gunner's controls. "I can't get Jun or Jacob on the radio," she said, "I think I can free my arm if I can repair it first, can you find the hull repair kit?" I looked around the space and quickly noticed it scattered across the floor, "I got it, what do you need?" I asked as I opened the small crate, "a power cell, any spare bit of metal and a screwdriver." she replied as she looked over the circuitry of her arm. I handed her the tools and watched her work, once again. She stopped and looked back up at me before continuing with the repairs, "need something?" she said, "sorry" I replied, then turned and assessed the damage to the control panels. They had all been damaged beyond repair, much like the rest of the ship. "There, I can move it again, not as responsive but it's working." Kat said from behind me, "now if..I..just get it-" she pulled her robotic free from the debris that was once the gunners controls, she shifted he position and removed her helmet. "I would call for assistance but we were the last UNSC forces in the area." she hung her head. I sat down next to Kat and removed my helmet, throwing it to the side. Kat fidgeted and pulled my arm over her shoulder. "Its funny how things work out," she said with a smile, "we will die here...Together." "I always did have a thing for you but-" I started, I never finished, I was cut short by the feel of her lips on mine.