Dr. Catherine Halsey sat at her desk going over current reports. A chime sounded and a holographic figure of a slim looking woman appeared.

"I'm sorry to bother you while you are working Doctor," Cortana said.

Dr. Halsey put down the papers she was reading and stared at Cortana. "Well, what is it?"

"It seems there was a...disturbance at an off base pub," Cortana said.

Dr. Halsey sighed. "Since when do I care about a disturbance at an off base pub?" she asked.

Cortana crossed her arms and stared at the doctor. "I think you would care since a couple of your Spartans were somehow involved."

"My Spartans?" Dr. Halsey grew serious and leaned forward in her chair. "Which ones and how many?" she asked. Cortana merely gave her a look and the doctor sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Let me guess. Those two again?" Cortana nodded.

Those two in question were now standing before Chief Petty Officer Mendez in full uniform in the chief's office. They wore various campaign ribbons on their left breast and Second Class Petty Officer insignia on their collars.

Chief Mendez stood behind his desk, looking none too happy. "So explain this to me again?" he asked.

The taller of the two stood up a little straighter and said, "We headed off base for dinner. I had heard others talking about this pub, so we decided to go check it out."

"Were you in uniform?" Chief asked. They both shook their heads. "We were in civilian attire," shorter one said.

Chief Mendez slammed his fists on the desk. "How did you two knuckle heads obtain civilian attire?" he yelled.

The two Spartans glanced at each other, then stared straight ahead. "Never mind that," Chief Mendez said, waving his hand. "What happened next?"

"Well, we went off base to the pub," the shorter one said. "When we got there, the place was only half full or so. We sat down and ordered our food. While we were waiting, a group of guys at the bar were drunk and starting to get loud."

"They were ODST," the tall one said, as if that explained everything. Chief Mendez rolled his eyes. The smaller Spartan continued. "Anyway, they started to get loud and it was bothering everyone else in the pub. About that time, our food arrived. I had the Philly cheese-steak and he had the steak sirloin."

"It was really good," the tall one said. The short one nodded in agreement. "I haven't eaten that good in a long time."

"A lot better than field rations," the tall one said.

"Yeah, but anything is better than field rations, even galley food on the Navy ships," the short one said.

"But I thought you liked the field rations," the tall one said, slightly confused.

"Who cares? Food is food. If you don't like it, then don't eat it and give it to me," the short one argued.

"ENOUGH!" Chief Mendez shouted and the two Spartans clammed up. "I don't care what you think about food! What happened in the pub?"

"Well, we were eating our food, minding our own business, when one of the ODST's started complaining, rather loudly, how the Spartans get all the glory and recognition for jobs the ODST could handle just as well," the tall one said. "I turned around and asked, very nicely, if he could keep his voice down and how he was bothering everyone else."

"So he gets up from the bar with his buddies and walks over to our table," the short one adds. "I forget exactly what happened then, but the next thing I knew, bodies were flying through the air and stuff was breaking."

"He said that 'little punk civilians' should stay out of the military's business," the tall one said. "I told him he was drunk and not to start a fight he couldn't win. Evidently, one of his buddies didn't like that comment very much and he suggested we go out side and settle this matter. I told him straight out only one of us was going outside and it wasn't going to be me."

"Yeah, he didn't like that very much," the other Spartan added. "Anyway, they started it and we ended it as quickly as possible to prevent unnecessary property damage."

Chief Mendez sighed and shook his head. "Of all the Spartans, why are you two the only ones that seem to get into trouble."

"But they started it and we were defending ourselves," the tall Spartan said. Chief Mendez silenced him with a stern look. "If you two characters were anyone else, you'd be kicked out of the military and shipped back to the sorry stinkhole you came from, but we can't exactly do that, can we?"

"But I didn't do anything!" the short Spartan complained.

"Guilt by association stupid," the other Spartan whispered.

"So this is your 'punishment'," Chief Mendez roared. "You two are going on special assignment. Gather whatever gear you think you want and be ready to depart at 0800 tomorrow. Now get out of here!" With a chorus of "Aye Chief," the two Spartans snapped to attention, performed an about-face, and exited the office. After they were gone, Chief Mendez collapsed in his chair. "Those two are going to give me ALL of my gray hair," he sighed.

"Spartans Steve-076 and Allen-013," Dr. Halsey looked through the files on her computer.

"It would seem those two are always in some sort of trouble," Cortana said. Lines of data scrolled across her holographic body as she also read through their files. "Have you considered splitting them up?"

Dr. Halsey shook her head. "They work best together."

"Why did you even consider them for the Spartan project?" Cortana asked. Dr. Halsey shrugged. "They had all the genetic markers I was looking for."

"A borderline psychopath and a hot tempered introvert?" Cortana asked skeptically. Dr. Halsey gave her a dirty look. "And they don't exactly conform to the military standards and regulations," Cortana added.

"Oh I give up," Dr. Halsey threw her hands up in defeat. "You know how important the Spartan Project is. I needed all the subjects I could find. I couldn't afford to be choosy. Besides," Dr. Halsey leaned forward and stared at Cortana. "If they are as bad as you say, how have they made it this far as Spartans?" Cortana shrugged. "I could go into any number of hypothesis about the chances of these two surviving while other...more desirable...candidates did not, but you probably don't want to hear them."

"I don't," Dr. Halsey said. "It doesn't matter if they are less than desirable. As long as they are Spartans, they can get the job done."

Cortana crossed her arms and paused for a few moments as she reviewed more of their files. "It would seem that a certain someone does not have a monopoly on the supply of what you would call, 'luck'."

"It helps to have as many different tools as possible," Dr. Halsey said. "John is certainly what you would consider a poster boy for the Spartans, but that doesn't mean the others haven't done their part, or made sacrifices."