A/N: Happy New Year everyone! In a belated Christmas gift to you all, here is the second chapter of Noble's Eye. I apologize for it taking so long to get finished, as I have two other projects to work on plus my job in the real world.

DISCLAIMER: I own nor take credit for any of the characters created by Bungie Studios and 343 Industries or Lucasfilm.


The moment Jun was tackled into the alien portal by the Elite Commando, Jun felt the firsthand effects of a Slipspace transition. His body stretched and flattened itself beyond all possible recognition. His tendons, bones and muscles were being strained past any reasonable point, the distorted effects of gravity and physics tugging and pulling on him without mercy.

The world around him burst into a spectacular display of colors and patterns; flashes of red, spots of gold and blue, streaks of vibrant purples and greens. It felt as if here were being flattened into a piece of paper, body collapsing and folding in on itself until there was nothing left but an entirely flat surface.

Jun was just as tough as any of the other SPARTANs, but this pain was indescribable. A distorted shout of pain escaped his lips as he fought to keep his vision from fading.

Suddenly, as if the Universe decided to shine light on the darkness, bright blue sky and yellow sand replaced the mixed colors of Slipspace. Jun felt his entire body stitching back together as he exited the wormhole, falling about ten feet onto the sand and rolling for several seconds down a seemingly endless sand dune.

When the SPARTAN stopped rolling, he shook the sand off his helmet and quickly readied his DMR, scanning the new desert. He tried to key a COMM line to Halsey, but all he got was dead silence. In fact, his Head's Up Display was offline, and so too were his shields. Nothing was working, but that wasn't what frightened him.

What frightened Jun was that he couldn't locate the Sangheili he was sent through the rift with. The blaring sun and coverless desert couldn't hide the Elite for long, no matter how well its stealth camouflage worked.

Jun's search abruptly ended when he dodged an energy blade that materialized out of thin air. The SPARTAN ducked just as the blade swiped through the air, the sword of pure energy missing by mere inches.

Jun fired a trio of rounds from his DMR, crashing three feet in front of Jun and revealing the menacing alien in front of him. One of the bullets must have punched through its tough hide, as purple blood oozed out of the wound.

The commando Elite roared a challenge at Jun, who tossed aside his own weapon and unsheathed his combat knife. Very rarely did Jun rely on his last line of defense, but he was just as lethal with the knife as he was with any other weapon at his disposal.

The two circled in the sand, measuring each other up before making the first move. While a direct hit from the energy blade would cut right through him regardless of having his shields functioning properly, Jun missed the extra layer of protection. But he remembered that Mendez told him to not rely solely on technology in battle. Jun had to make sure his strikes were precise and deadly, because he wouldn't get another chance against the veteran Elite.

The split-chinned alien bellowed another roar, mandibles wide and spittle flying, and attacked Jun. While the loose sand prevented the Elite from charging at Jun, it also prevented Jun from lunging. Jun would have to carefully move inside the Elite's reach and do the damage from there.

The Elite made its already impressive reach greater with each swipe from the white-hot energy blade, quickly closing the distance between the SPARTAN and itself with its aggressive advances and attacks.

Jun continued to dodge and evade the swift strikes from the Sangheili, boots sinking deeper and deeper into the sand as the beast showed no signs of slowing down or tiring out. Jun had to wait for the right moment to strike or else he would be done for.

Jun's patience soon paid off when the Commando's footing slipped in a loose portion of sand, opening its once perfect base to attack. Jun did his best to explode from the ankle-deep sand and lunged for the Elite, form-tackling it into the burning sand, expertly transitioning to a full guard and utilizing the ground-and-pound.

As the SPARTAN's armored fists collided with the Elite's angular face, the beast's silver shields crackled until they finally shattered. Jun continued to rain blows upon the split-chinned alien, purple blood, spittle and sharp teeth flying each time a gauntlet of the MJOLNIR armor connected with the Elite.

With the beast dazed, Jun pinned the sword-holding wrist of the Sangheili and plunged the 20 centimeter combat blade straight into the Elite's throat. The Elite's orange eyes bulged as it snapped its jaws at the SPARTAN while purple blood flowed uncontrollably from the neck wound.

The Elite continued to squirm in the sand, trying desperately to stop the blood-loss as it sunk deeper and deeper into the dune while Jun held the knife firm. After a few more of squirming and clawing at Jun's orange-red visor, the Elite's motions ceased. Jun removed the knife from the dead alien's throat and began wiping away the purple blood.

As Jun cleaned his combat knife, the Elite broke the silence with one last attack on the SPARTAN and swung the still-active energy blade. But the human was faster; with lightning-quick speed, Jun grabbed the Elite's wrist with one hand and delivered a powerfully quick jab to the forearm, shattering the bones within. The Elite shouted in pain, dropping the energy blade. Jun caught the blade in one hand and sunk the weapon deep in the Elite's chest. The alien's head lurched up before crashing back to the sand, lifeless.

Jun retrieved the energy weapon from the Sangheili's chest, deactivated it and clamped it to his free hip clamp. He was no hand-to-hand combat expert, but it couldn't hurt to keep it close just in case.

Jun went to pick up his DMR and sniper rifle from the golden sand and check his bearings. Even with his HUD, communications and shields offline, Jun knew something wasn't right.

For starters, there were no deserts on Reach, or at least none with this kind of sand. Most of the wastelands on Reach were more rocky and arid compared to where this desert was pure sand and little else.

Second, none of Reach's mountain ranges were visible in the horizon. Despite being a relatively young planet, Reach was littered with vast mountain ranges, none more famous than the towering Highland Mountains in the Viery Territory. In fact, there were no noticeable planetary features in any direction; just sand, sand and more sand.

Third, there were no signs of a battle taking place on either the ground or in the space surrounding Reach. Just minutes ago the entire Covenant fleet was descending upon Reach, with thousands upon thousands of Covenant infantry and armor battling it out with the brave men and women of the UNSC. There were, however, no skirmishes being fought in the distance or overhead. Nothing but blue skies were all that could be seen.

Except for the dual suns.

Jun couldn't help but stare at the two blazing suns overhead in the searing heat. It was the telltale sign that he was no longer on Reach. Hell, he wasn't even in normal UNSC space; no system in the known galaxy that had human colonies had two suns.

Jun sighed and looked for any signs of civilization in the vast desert. The two suns played hell with the shadows, so Jun couldn't even tell what time it was. All of Jun's tracking skills were useless when he didn't even know where he was.

Suddenly, Jun heard a pop and smelled a strong layer of ozone. He saw a golden wave envelop him as his HUD returned to life. His motion tracker, shield bar and digital compass winked online as he could hear the hum of energy build up in his armor. Jun ran a diagnostic on his armor, and mostly everything was running at 100%. The only systems that were either still offline or not functioning properly were temperature control and communications. Although Jun suspected his COMMS were just unable to pick anything up rather than being damaged, he played it cautious and shut them down.

Jun continued to look around for signs of life when he thought he found something a few feet away. He jogged over and found a trail of what looked to be footprints leading south. The trail of footprints seemed to go on for miles, over several large sand dunes and well into the horizon.

Jun gathered his DMR from the sand, flipped its safety on, and started following the trail. While he doubted he could find any help, Jun knew he had to do something before he ran out of supplies.

Jun had been traveling for miles across the desert when the suns were setting. As the dueling suns dipped below the horizon, Jun could feel the temperature drop with each passing second. He checked tried switching his temperature moderator on and noted that it was still not functioning properly.

Jun knew that the temperature would continue to drop as the suns went down until it was below freezing, and with no signs of shelter or fuel for a fire anywhere, he was stuck in the open against the elements.

When the suns finally dipped below the horizon, the temperature dropped exponentially. Jun silently swore that it was the temperature control that shorted out and not something less useful like his GPS chip.

With the light all but gone, Jun switched on his night-vision and continued on the trail, not stopping or resting until he found something that could help him get back to the UNSC and Reach.

The thought of returning to Reach filled Jun with a mix of anticipation and apprehension. On the one hand, it was sworn duty to protect Earth and all her colonies against the might of the Covenant Empire, even if it meant sacrificing himself so that Reach may live on. Even if he died with a rifle in his hands, his last wish was to see Reach live on.

On the other hand, Halsey herself said Reach was a doomed planet, regardless of the defensive stand the UNSC put up; no matter how much humanity won on the ground, they would always be outmatched and outgunned in ship-to-ship combat.

As much as Jun was fiercely loyal to the UNSC, he was a realist at heart. He knew Reach would fall, but there was always a part of him that always hoped humanity would pull through and defend their world. But as much as Jun believed there was a small chance the Covenant could be stopped, he knew it just wasn't possible unless a miracle happened.

As Jun continued to follow the trail in the freezing night, he was hopeful that Doctor Sorvad's "Latch-Key" discovery and Doctor Halsey's A.I. were the answers humanity needed to beat back the Covenant war machine.


The suns finally rose on the seemingly endless desert and Jun was exhausted. He had spent the entire night following the endless trail through the frigid desert, nearly freezing to death as he continued to search for some signs of life on this planet.

With the two suns quickly warming up the air around the SPARTAN, Jun removed his helmet and took his first break since he arrived on this planet.

The sweat that had formed and stuck to his skin as he journey across to scorching desert had frozen to his skin throughout the night, dropping his core body temperature to dangerously low levels.

Jun began rummaging through his pouches, looking for signs of food and water inside, but came away empty handed. Thinking the defense of Castle Base would surely be his final battle, Jun didn't even consider packing provisions.

How could this happen? How could Jun, a SPARTAN, forget to pack something as important as food and water? He had never lost or misplaced a round of ammunition or field-tool, yet he completely forgot to pack the two things needed for long-term survival.

The past two days have not been kind to the SPARTAN, nor would the foreseeable future.

He took one last breath of the unfiltered air, put his helmet back on and continued following the trail of footsteps through the desert. He would just have to quicken his pace if he wanted to find help sooner.

Several hours passed by and Jun had come across another, much larger set of tracks. Unlike the footsteps Jun had been following, these were massive tracks that resembled tank treads, only significantly larger and grouped much closer together.

Based on the direction of the tread-pattern, it appeared the vehicle recently came through here; an hour ago, two at the most. The smaller set of tracks disappeared, so Jun assumed that either whatever made them was destroyed or abducted by the pilots of the vehicle.

With nothing to do but continue, Jun began following the treadmarks in hope that he could find someone who could help him.

Before long, the terrain shifted and Jun entered the mouth to a large canyon. Something didn't feel right about the canyon to Jun; it was as if something was watching him the second he entered it.

Faint blips on the motion tracker appeared and disappeared, but they were so rapid it was difficult to pinpoint what they were.

Jun continued through the canyon, the setting suns casting long shadows on the tall rock formations as the super-soldier kept a wary eye open for whoever or whatever was following him.

Time past as Jun continued to follow the treadmarks, the sunlight growing dimmer and dimmer until there was only moonlight. The sickly-green glow of the MJOLNIR night-vision kept Jun on the trail, while his eyes quickly glanced back to the motion tracker every now and then.

There had been sporadic red dots appearing on the fringe of his sensors' range for quite some time now, but those pings were moving closer and joined by more red dots. He knew he was being watched, but Jun continued to play dumb and allow whatever was stalking him.

Puffs of dust, falling rocks and hissing sounds kept Jun on high alert, gripping his DMR tighter as he silently followed the trail. Whatever was following him had grown in numbers and was beginning the close in on his position, as shown by the half-dozen angry red dots.

What leapt from a canyon wall and landed in front of the SPARTAN was something Jun would never forget. Even without the sickly green night-vision, it was one of the strangest looking creatures the young soldier would ever see.

Standing before Jun was a massive lizard-creature – about 10 meters tall and 30 meters long – with yellow-brown skin, acidic yellow eyes and razor sharp teeth. The giant lizard beared its teeth as it slowly advanced towards the SPARTAN commando, circling around the armored human as it sized up its potential dinner.

Soon another of the lizards dropped down, then another, and then another. A total of four of the lizard-creatures, hissing and biting at each other to get first piece of the miniscule human soldier, had surrounded Jun in an instant. Jun wheeled around as quickly as he could, aiming his DMR at each creature to ward them off.

A piercing roar was heard in the distance, and two of the lizard-creatures separated as another of the oversized lizards came out of the darkness. This one, however, was even larger than the others. It also sported red-brown skin, empty black eyes and a set of demonic horns on top of its head.

The creature was at least ten times larger than Jun, and looked at the SPARTAN as if it were an insect to be played with before consumption. It roared at Jun and quickly charged, showing its thousands of sharpened teeth as it hungered for the SPARTAN.

Jun brought his DMR up and fired a trio of shots at its torso, but that only proved to piss it off. The 7.62x51mm rounds penetrated the leathery skin of the lizard and lime-green blood spurted out of each wound, but the creature kept charging.

Jun fired several more shots before dodging out of the way of a downward strike from its front claw. Dirt and dust exploded where the claw slammed into the earth, and Jun looked up just quick enough to see a long tail slam into him and send him flying into the rock wall.

Jun's impact with the stalagmite caused it to crumble before he crashed to the ground, shields dropping to 25%. Jun rolled out of the way of another two strikes. Despite the large size of the creature, it was incredibly swift and agile. Even with his augmented senses and quickness, Jun had trouble keeping up with the massive reptile.

The creature charged at Jun, staggered by each bullet wound it received as it attacked the S-III. Jun went to reload when the lizard pressed and again lunged at him, swiping Jun away into another rock wall.

The force of the hit by the lizard collapsed Jun's shields, while the collision with the rock wall caused the air in his lungs to violently escape. The S-III knew bones had cracked and muscles had torn as he tried to pick himself up off the dried dirt path.

As Jun's vision slowly began to clear, he couldn't find slot for the clip in his M392. In fact, he wasn't even holding the DMR anymore. Jun was holding nothing but a fresh magazine for the rifle, and he knew he was in trouble.

Vision still blurred from the damage he'd taken battling with this creature, Jun's hand felt around for his SRS99. Although his vision was starting to clear up and he could see basic shapes and colors, it was all still blobs to him; he might as well have been blind.

The lizard saw the miniscule prey stagger around and decided it was time to finish the job. The alien charged, roaring as loud and forceful as it could. Jun could feel the earth tremble beneath him as the creature moved closer and closer to its prey.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jun grabbed hold of the butt of his trusted sniper rifle and placed it against his shoulder. The normally heavy rifle felt as light as a feather to the SPARTAN as he readied the rifle and took aim.

While his vision was still cloudy, Jun's memory was clear. He remembered that his enemy had withstood an entire clip of 7.62x51mm rounds. He remembered that he only aimed at its torso and limbs. He remembered how wide it's head was yet how narrow it's face was.

With the alien lizard quickly and angrily approaching, Jun thumbed the safety of the SRS to off and aimed slightly upwards… right where it's face would be. Jun glanced at the motion tracker and saw that the reptilian was now just a few feet away.

At this range, Jun couldn't miss. With his training and experience with the weapon, he wouldn't miss.

With quickness that surprised even himself, Jun squeezed the trigger and fired off four 14.5x114mm rounds directly into the creature's head, right between the eyes. Large chunks of skin, skull, gore and brain matter exploded out of the lizard's cranium, and it instantly collapsed to the ground with a loud thud, skidding until it stopped inches away from Jun.

The other reptilians saw the alpha of their pack lie motionless on the dirt path, green blood pooling underneath its head. They communicated with each other using short chirps and hisses, and they quickly left the area without turning back.

Jun's vision fully returned as he went over to inspect the damage. The tight grouping of Anti-Matériel rounds tore large gaping wounds in the leathery flesh of the colossal reptilian, leaving bloody and unsettling exit wounds in the back of its long head.

With the sun having already set and the threat of those creatures still a reality, Jun decided to set up camp. He could use some of the remains of the lizard as fuel for a fire, and he could use the meat for food, as he hadn't eaten in days.


Jun wandered aimlessly across the scorching hot sand of a desert he wasn't familiar with, on a planet that he didn't know existed, in a solar system that shouldn't exist.

His legs could only move forward, his rifle hung limply in his hands and his mind was lost in a fog. It had been three days since Jun had anything to drink and the meat of the lizard-creature he slayed the previous night was very salty, accelerating the dehydration process.

And if it were even possible, it seemed the sun was even more blisteringly hot today than it was the previous two days. He wasn't sure if he was hallucinating, but Jun could've sworn the suns were growing larger and closer with each passing hour.

Jun wasn't sure where he was going, how long he had been moving, or even if the large treadmarks were going in this direction. He just had to keep his legs moving so that he wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop, or else he would die on this alien world.

In the white-hot desert, with no shade except for a few stray rocks, and with nothing around him except for a pack of carnivorous-looking birds circling above him, all Jun could do was keep moving forward and hope he found shelter soon.


Luke rolled over in his bed, looked at his timer and groaned. He laid in bed for a few minutes more before Uncle Owen called to him.

"Come on, Luke! You've got to go and check those moisture vaporators before you go into Mos Eisley today!"

Luke groaned again as he picked himself off of his uncomfortable bed and readied himself for yet another mind-numbingly boring day working on his uncle's moisture farm. It's what he'd been doing since he was a child, and it's what he'd be doing for the rest of his life unless he found a way off this rock.

"Luke," Owen shouted from another room. "Get moving right now!"

Luke fully readied himself for the daily chores around his family's moisture farm. It was needed on planets with arid climates where fresh water was a scarcity, for farming and life in general.

Luke went over to check a panel on one of the vaporators. The small spire-like object's panel opened up to reveal a display of over a dozen separate blinking lights and dials.

Luke pressed a series of buttons and sparks flew, causing the farm boy to jump back and shield his face from the electrical discharge.

"Uncle Owen," Luke said, looking lost and flinging his arms in the air in confusion. "When's that damn Jawa transporter coming with the droids? I can't make heads or tails of the binary readings on this thing."

"Should be here tomorrow. And not a moment too soon, I might add."

Luke sighed and shut the maintenance hatch. He went to head back inside when he saw something in the distance. It was a large shadow, slowly moving across the white-hot Tatooine sands, loosely holding some sort of weapon.

"Uncle Owen," Luke called out, unsure of what to do.

Owen looked up from his sensor display, shielding his eyes from the rising suns. His eyes widened when he saw the same shadowy figure Luke saw. The figure continued towards them, slowly. It staggered in the intense heat, before abruptly stopping and collapsing a dozen feet away from the two.

Luke raced out to where the figure collapsed and stopped a few feet short when he saw what the figure really was.

"Luke, get back here," Owen exclaimed, trying his best to bring back his nephew. When the foolish boy didn't listen, the elderly Owen sharply huffed before racing after Luke.

It was a massive, pale-green armored creature, holding one weapon while two others, a knife and a strange metal object were attached to various parts of its body. Dirt covered most of the armor, and what wasn't covered in dirt showed dents and dried-up purple and lime-green liquid.

Whatever this thing was, it had just been through one hell of a journey. Luke looked to the direction it came from, but couldn't see anything past the blinding glare of the suns. Instead, he took a few cautious steps closer to the figure to get a better look at its armor.

Luke had never seen anything like the armor lying before him. It was nothing like the sterile-white plastoid armor of the Stormtroopers, nor was it as patchwork and intricate as the Mandalorian armor he had heard so much about from his friend Boshen. Upon closer inspection, Luke saw that there was a black bodysuit underneath the dull-green armor.

A helmet of matching color hid whatever creature was underneath. As Luke went to remove the helmet, catching a clear reflection of himself in the orange-gold visor, the young farm boy thought against it and moved away from the helmet.

As Luke moved his vision downward, he saw red liquid slowly dripping from a puncture wound around its thigh area. As Luke went to take a closer look at the wound, a haggard cough and weak groan were heard from the figure. The cough was so sudden it made Luke jump back several feet.

At least it's an organic…

"Luke," Owen shouted, holding a large wrench. "Luke, get back from it!"

Luke regained his composure and pointed back to the leg wound "But it's hurt! It needs our help!"

"And whatever trouble following that thing will come our way. Best leave it and pretend like nothing happened."

Luke, being the stubborn person he was, refused to let this person lay here and die. Disobeying his uncle, Luke went over to drag the armored man into their hut.

"It's going to be alright," Luke whispered, placing his arms underneath the man's arms.

Luke tried with all his strength to move the creature, but it weighed a ton. The boy's arms nearly popped out of their sockets trying to unsuccessfully move it before he gave up.

"Uncle, help me," Luke said, struggling mightily to move the man in armor.

Owen turned, saw that his nephew had disobeyed him, and shook his head.

Stubborn, just like his father.

Against his better judgment, Owen hurried over and did everything he could to drag the armored being inside their hut. It took thirty minutes just to get him on a power loader, plus another ten to get it inside, but the two finally moved the heavily armored creature inside the shaded shelter.


A/N: Don't forget to review and follow/favorite after reading.