At the Office of Naval Intelligence "Olympic" Tower:
Kat was pacing back and forth uneasily around the executive office of the Olympic tower. Carter was slumped with his head in his hands, sitting in the broken leather chair that had been previously owned by the Head of ONI Operation on Reach. The legs of the chair had already snapped off, the cushioning was coming out the back but Carter had still found it comfortable; and surprisingly solid considering the fact that it was support his weight while still in full armor.
They had already broken the news to the rest of Noble team a few hours ago. Jun was silenced when he heard the news. He then grabbed a pair of high power binoculars and proceeded to scan the sky of Covenant areal movement. This was just a ruse to make him appear busy, so the rest of Noble team wouldn't see his tears. Emile went down to the floor below and proceeded to smash out all the windows before moving onto the floors below in his rampage all the way down to the ground floor.
Kat knew that the worst was yet to come. She found that moving around helped her think and she would need all the thinking power her brilliant mind could muster. Noble Six was her main concern. She was never any good at dealing with emotional problems. A barely functioning door junction with plasma damage she could fix with no problem. But consoling an emotionally compromised hyper-lethal Spartan III? This would prove to be a challenge.
"Look we have to be very, very delicate with Noble's situation here." Kat said to Carter. "The loss of Jorge has already hit the rest of the team hard; but we especially don't want to antagonize Six any more than he is already."
Carter raised his head and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean from the way I saw him before, back at the landing pad, he may be one wrong remark short of an emotional breakdown." he said sitting up in the chair. "So what do you think we should do from here?"
"Well, we aren't leaving until those communications jammers are taken out," she said continuing her pacing, "but I don't want to shake him down first thing when he gets back. I mean Six has done more than his fair share in the past few missions we've had here on Reach. Hell, he practically completed Operation UPPERCUT all by himself. I mean he was the one who led the fire teams that took over that Corvette. Jorge basically just babysat the slip-space bomb in the meantime. Besides, you don't just ask point blank someone who just lost his friend through an unforeseen complication, what went wrong? Right"
"Well, yeah that's true. But what is our contingency for him? I mean you have got to appreciate what an explosive element Noble Six could be." He asked, turning to Kat.
"Well put yourself in his boots for a second." She said as she walked over to where Carter was sitting. "We should take in mind that it was Jorge who insisted that he set off the Slip-space drive instead of Six. He wouldn't have expected that. After all Jorge was a Spartan II, whereas the rest of us Nobles are Spartan IIIs. We have to remember that we IIIs are the most expendable of the Spartan generations."
"Yeah I guess." Carter shrugged in acknowledgement, "But aren't you worried about how he'll act when we do confront him?"
"He's going to have to vent somewhere that I will concede." She said as she leaned on the chair. "That's why I sent him out into New Alexandria to take out those jammers. Hopefully, by killing off the Covenant forces that are hampering our progress, he will be able to vent out the bulk of his rage before returning to us." she made sure to point out to him.
"Well let's hope he doesn't get too brutal. I've read that he once made whole militia groups disappear with nothing but a stick of gum and a rock the size of an orange. So on the off chance we do upset him, we have to be prepared. I mean there's no telling what he'll do. Alright?" he asked looking up to Kat
"Understood, when you talk to him, make sure to emphasize that Noble's loss was not his fault. You always were the better at relating to people than I was." She assured him, patting him on the shoulder with her bionic arm.
As she began to walk towards the elevator Carter suggested something she never would have expected. "Actually, Kat, I think that you should be the first one to talk to Six once he gets back."
Kat was stopped in her tracks. Turning her head to Carter she asked "Wait, what! Why me?"
"He seems to have the 'hots' for you."
Kat felt her face slightly redden at Carter's statement. "Wha-, what the-, what the hell are you talking about Carter?" she said trying to sound oblivious to the idea.
It didn't work. Carter simply rolled his eyes at her response. "Oh please Kat, you can't honestly tell me you haven't noticed." he said tilting his head to one side while giving her an incredulous look. "It's pretty obvious Kat." Carter said as he began counting off his 'evidence' on his fingers, "Like how he always perked up whenever he heard that he would be accompanying you on a mission. Or how he listened oh so intently to whatever you had to say during the debriefings. Let's not forget that in each instance where Six had saved one of us from being over whelmed how he neutralized the Coveys threatening you by dismembering them."
"So? That doesn't necessarily mean that he-"
"Or my personal favorite and by far the most noticeable indicator. How he has blatantly stated, on several different occasions and in which the rest of the team was present, how he finds you very attractive and how he immediately defends himself with…" He retorted, adding with a mock personification of Noble Six "What, am I wrong?"
"Carter, I hardly think that-" she started trying to sound professional before being cut off by Carter.
"That what, Kat? That it's impossible our newest member could develop a crush on a brilliant, tough, independent and beautiful young woman such as you?" he said defending himself with another "Am I Wrong?"
"But, I don't-"
"And don't you dare, say that the feeling isn't mutual Kat." Carter said pointing an accusatory finger at her in mock seriousness.
"WHAT!"
"What was that closing line you said to Six, before you sent him on his way? Something about him 'falling in love with your voice', Kat?" he said raising one of his eyebrows, that same arrogant smile still on his face.
Kat turned away from Carter in a huff to make sure he couldn't see her ever reddening face. As she stormed off to the elevator she could hear Carter chuckling behind her. Upon entering the elevator she quickly hit the button to close the doors. Before they closed she heard Carter say in an 'innocent' tone "Hey suit yourself, I'm just saying that it may not be such a bad idea for him to hear some reassurance from a desirable source such as yourself, that's all."
Kat had heard enough. Her cheeks now glowing crimson, she hurled her helmet at Carter, in an attempt to shut him up. Carter easily ducked away from her projectile which only amused him more. Seeing the rise he had gotten out of her, his chuckling grew into a full blown laugh. As the elevator doors shut she could still hear Carter laughing.
In the elevator as it went traveling down, as Kat tried to calm herself she stood there recalling those moments Carter had mentioned. Contrary to what she said to Carter, she had in fact taken particular notice of Six during those moments.
When Noble team first received the Lieutenant, she personally had found Six's presence on the squad to be a bit insulting, given the loss of Thom just a few weeks prior. She had initially giving him the cold shoulder. Over the next 4 weeks she grew less and less hostile towards him. Six had acted very differently that what she had expected from reading his dossier.
She had actually come around to enjoy having Six on the squad. He had a very inquisitive, sharp and understanding personality. He was also a very insightful tactician as she would find out in their later missions together. She found it refreshing to have another intellect she could relate to. He had further impressed her when Noble had partaken in the evacuation of local civilian orphanage. She had seen this keen, almost savage warrior turn into the equivalent of a Spartan teddy bear. It was rather funny to see the true nurturing persona of Six emerge from his shell for the rest of Noble to see, and later bust his balls about. He had been all that Thom had been during his time on the team… and more.
As the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Kat thought about the last thing she heard Carter say. "You had better be right about this Carter." She thought to herself. "Otherwise, there will be Hell to pay!"