This is the original Spartan Vacation. For those of you who have stuck with me since the beginning, I don't suggest rereading this as I didn't change anything. But for those of you who haven't, please enjoy the original version of Spartan Vacation!
"Noble Team, ready to respond, sir.", Carter told Holland over the telecom, "What's the situation? Rebels? Or are the Covenant-"
"Slow down, Noble One" Holland said patiently, "There is no mission today, but you are being ordered, you and all of Noble Team, to take a long vacation."
There was a silence, heavy with disbelief. Then, Emile broke into a laugh, jeering at Holland, "A vacation? What would I do on a vacation?! Please, Spartans are killers, not tourists!" The rest of Noble stayed silent in agreement, but none of then were as bold as Emile, so they stayed quiet.
Holland ignored Emile and addressed Carter again, "Rosenda is to come with you as well. Be ready to leave at 18:00 hours. Holland out." The telecom shut down, leaving Noble Team to think about what Holland had said.
"Was he joking? He was kidding, right?", Kat said from behind Carter, "He didn't give us much to believe he was telling the truth. We don't know where we're supposed to be going at 18:00, much less where they're shipping us off to!"
"He's probably handing us over to Halsey again, so she can do the same kind of experiments she did to Jun. . .", Thom said, glancing at his Spartan comrade, who was huddled in the corner, shaking. If a civilian had been there to see it, they would have laughed at the seemingly stoic Spartan, over six feet tall, shuddering like the world was out to kill him.
"I don't know what this is about. Kat, can you look into this-", Carter was interrupted by the telecom, which had switched itself back on as someone tried to talk to them. A blue glow brightened the dimly lit room.
"Um, ah. . . Noble Team? This is Amaya. I'm going to show you around Seattle while you stay. I was told by Mr. Holland to give you instructions. You need to pack a lot of clothes, and I will give you money once you arrive. . .um, please board the six o'clock plane to Earth. I will meet you at the airport. Um, goodbye." The hologram of the teenage girl fizzled out.
"Yeah, and we trust her?", Jun asked, emerging from his corner.
"We have to.", Carter said, "Or face the consequence for disobeying orders."
~##~
Noble Team waited in line very patiently to purchase their tickets at the airport. Holland had decided to contact them and give them the details, finally, and he had made it very clear that they use a civilian airline. Emile was sure that he only did that to make him nervous. After buying their tickets, the six giants headed over to security. For all of them, being at close quarters and having their things looked into was an extremely uncomfortable situation.
First up was Jorge, who removed all metal objects as told and even chatted with the personnel. He passed through like a breeze, grinned at the rest of his quaking team, and gave them a thumbs up. Jorge watched his commander, Carter, go through fairly easily, but a little uncomfortably. Rosenda, the curly haired brunette, came next, all smiles and sparkles, as always. Sometimes she was even better than he was at dealing with civilians. The problematic one that turned everyone's stomachs inside out was Emile. He passed through the metal detector without doing anything he was supposed to. After ten minutes of quarreling with the guards, he finally agreed to take of his shoes, belt, and anything else metal. Emile walked through the metal detector and grimaced like a boy who had been caught chewing gum in class as the siren wailed and the security officer finally caught sight of the biggest problem—Emile's precious kukri.
"Knives are not permitted in carry-on bags or on person. They have to be in a suitcase and paced in the-", the guard started to explain, a little impatient.
Emile turned on the guard and muttered, just loud enough that the guard and all the Spartans with superhuman hearing could hear, "Nobody separates me and my baby, unless they want their heads separated from their bodies." With that, the guard moved on to Kat, who had all sorts of gadgets and knives stashed on her, but passed through without setting the alarm off.
"How did you do that?", Emile hissed at her, while Thom went through the menial security tasks with Jun.
"Do what, Emile?", Kat asked coyly, slipping on her high heels. They were the same color as her armor, robin's egg blue. Her skirt hit her a little too far up on her legs, but she was graceful. Her shirt was a tank top that accentuated her muscular arms, earning her quick glances and some prolonged stares form passerby.
"You got through without setting the alarm off. We all know that you have more tech and metal stashed on you than I've killed Covies. What did you do?", Emile pet his kukri in the long pocket in the side of his cargo pants.
"Just a little frequency interference. That's all.", Kat answered, then she whistled. Jun had just tried to pass through the metal detector, which beeped for apparently one time too many. An alarm went off, and two guards came up to seize Jun. None of his comrades got up to help him. Jun wasn't as threatening as Emile, so he was dragged away by the guards, sobbing the whole way.
"I've heard that in civie airports, when you get taken away by the guards, you're never seen again." Thom sat down by his teammates, tying his converse.