Chapter 1
"Ok, sir, looks like you're all checked out," said the field medic in his slightly rumpled uniform. He stepped back and ran his portable scanner over Carter's prone body, checking against the bio monitors on the wall.
The Spartan sat up slowly and lifted his legs over the side of the bed. He flexed his surgically reconstructed arm and ran a hand over the left side of his face, where they had grafted cloned skin to repair the gouging burns. The mirror showed scars down his side and across his chest, where the medics had pulled out metal shards the size of meat cleavers.
He stood inch by inch, mindful of his crushed and reconstructed ribs. He remembered how he got those, the breathtaking burst of pain as the concussive force of the explosion slammed him backwards, the inferno that roared around him, blinding him, even as his faceplate polarized to maximum tint, and then… nothing.
He didn't remember being rescued. He didn't even remember screaming in pain before everything turned black.
There was a brief dizzy spell as he took a step, and for a moment, he saw the flank of the Scarab as he rushed towards it in the damaged Pelican. He put a hand to his head and closed his eyes. It had almost been liberating to rush towards death, to know that he would no longer be haunted bythe image of her body crumpling in mid-run and dropping to the ground in an eternally long fall.
He shook his head to clear it. He was alive. Any Spartan should be happy to live to fight another day, to fulfill his duty as a protector of earth.
But the memory of his teammates came, unbidden, to him and there was a pain in his chest that had nothing to do with his injuries. They had told him about Emile and Six while he was in recovery. And Jorge was gone too. And Kat.
As quickly as the grief came, he tramped it down. He wouldn't think about her and what she meant to him. He couldn't afford to, not when he still had a job to do. He would honor her, and the rest of Noble, by living and fighting. He wouldn't think of her, he couldn't think of her…
"Sir, is there something wrong with your eyes?"
The medic peered at Carter and flashed a penlight into his face.
"It's nothing," he said hoarsely. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as casually as if he were rubbing away dust. The medic offered him a helping hand but Carter brushed him off, preferring to walk on his own.
There was the familiar subsonic thrum of the spaceship under his feet as he was led to a curtained-off room, where he shaved, washed, and dressed with stiff fingers.
Jun was waiting for him in the corridor.
"It's good to see you, Commander," said Noble Three. The slight softening of his keen sniper's eyes and the hand he laid on Carter's shoulder was as emotional as he ever got. Tiny as the gesture was, Carter's heart stirred with gratitude and a latent satisfaction that the Covenant had yet to take all his family from him.
"Likewise, rifleman," said Carter. He smiled his first smile in a long time. "Glad you made it out okay."
They started down the narrow corridor with Jun leading the way. There were a few marines passing by but they averted their eyes and didn't speak to either Spartan.
"I see they managed to put you back together," said Jun. He gave Carter an up-and-down glance, then nodded, as if satisfied that the Commander was still in one piece. "Looks like the all the king's men and all the king's horses did a good job."
"More or less," said Carter. His eyes flicked to a featureless door at the end of the hall, where they were steadily heading. They would have to wait until later to catch up. "What's this briefing all about?"
Jun shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know much, except that they brought in one of ONI's top scientists for the meeting. Dr. Leonard Church. Something about a new experimental program with AI's."
"The name rings a bell," said Carter. He smiled ruefully. If Kat were here, she would have hacked into Dr. Church's personal files before even leaving recovery, and arrived at the briefing armed with a full background check, psych profile, and family history down to the doctor's grandmother's cholesterol levels.
They reached the conference room and the two guards stepped aside as the door slid open. There was another set of doors within and they paused for a biometric scan of their retina and handprints.
"There's one more thing," said Jun, turning to him as the wall monitor chirped and turned green to grant them access. "There's someone we're going to meet. Someone you'll be happy to see."
"Really? Who?"
The door opened with a hiss. Carter took a step inside, turned to look at the occupants, and froze. His stomach had dropped to his feet and he was sure his face had paled to bone-white.
"Kat?" he said disbelievingly, his voice cracking like it never did during high-stress situations on the battlefield.
There she was, standing next to a distinguished-looking ONI scientist and a few other officers. He barely noticed the rest of them. His vision narrowed to her face, her eyes and how they slanted upwards in a smile, the confident set of her shoulders.
His jaw was slack as he started toward her.
"Wait Commander, it's not what you think!" Jun called out in warning, but Carter paid him no heed.
His self-control dissolved in an instant and the emotions he had tried so hard to keep down came up like an undammed river. She was alive! She was alive and he had to touch her, to feel the skin of her face and the warmth of her hair, to make sure she was real.
"Kat," he said again as he reached her. He cupped her face and found it warm and real. He didn't care who else was in the room. He brought her face to his and kissed her living, breathing mouth.
"Commander!" snapped Jun, from somewhere behind him.
The kiss felt wrong. Her lips were pliant and soft, but only for a second before they grew cold. He barely had time to register the warning signs when she jerked back her head, her eyes blazing, and smashed her forehead into his face.
He fell back with a grunt, bleeding from the nose, and found himself expertly grappled, flipped, and slammed down onto the table. Five robotic fingers of her right hand crushed his windpipe.
"Kat…?" he gasped. The eyes that stared down into his confused face were merciless, unrecognizable, and unrecognizing.
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Notes: Hope you liked the beginning! Just an idea I had one day as I was contemplating my favorite couple. Please let me know what you think!