A Spartan's War

This chapter has been edited as of Aug.2011

Chapter 2: Midnight Meeting

PILLAR OF AUTUMN-12:00 HOURS

John walked down the long hallways of the Pillar of Autumn until he found himself in front of room 57. He knocked, but no answer came from inside. John knocked again, a little louder than the last, and he heard a muffled, "Come in."

He opened the door and slid inside. The room was dimly lit and warm. He closed the door quietly and allowed his eyes to adjust from the harsh hall lights to the soft glow of the room.

Jessie was sitting at her desk, data pads cluttering the entire surface. She set the one she was reading down. She must have been filing a report based on the amount of 'pads she had with her.

"What can I do for you, Chief?" She turned to face him.

"I came to see how you are doing."

"I'm fine."

"You okay with Tiffany? Did you finally decide to make a friend and play nicely?" He leaned against the wall.

"Eh, she's different. There's something about her I don't like. Something that gets under my skin." Jessie shrugged.

"She asked you to stay after we finished talking with her. What was that all about?"

"She wanted from 'girl time' to talk to me one-on-one. Lucky bastards, you, Fred, and Will got out of it." She moved a data pad to make for her elbow.

"Does she know-" Jess cut him off.

"Yes, she does. She touched me, I told her no, she did it again, little bitch." She paused then looked up at John. "You came here to talk to me to make sure I don't kill your little admirer." she accused.

John ignored her last statement and said, "Cortana and I did a bit of research on Tiffany. She is no Spartan. She might have gone through the augmentation, but that was because her Father paid big bucks for her to become a super-solider, and then again for her to be put on my team." He paused and let Jessie take in the first bit of information.

"I wouldn't have guessed. Money. If you have money, you can go anywhere in the world." She shook her head disappointedly. "And what kind of father does that to his kid?"

"Her Father and Mother are millionaires on Earth and the war hasn't done a thing to affect them. She was warped ideas about the roles men and women play and is new to the whole Human-Covenant War thing. Don't let her get under your skin, Jess." John shifted his position on the wall.

"Tiffany has handled a gun, but she has only dealt with dummy targets let alone a person or Elite. She'll be easy prey when we compete with Tango. Tell me you'll watch out for her. You are the best at stealth and surprise." He explained.

"Wait. We have a capture the flag game? I thought that was only for trainees?"

"Tango Company has received a large batch of replacements and Mendez wants us to help them learn a thing or two about the finer points of fighting someone stronger and smarter than you. I learned of the game on Reach a day ago. I should have told the squad sooner."

Why me?" She turned back to the previous topic of aiding Tiffany during their time on Reach.

"Do it for me, Jess?"

"I'll do it, but only for you not her. I could care less if she was captured and not the flag. Tango Company will be craving a chance to get back at us. They'll probably beat whoever they capture and use live-fire rounds."

"Probably. Hey, you hungry? Want to go to the mess?" John straightened and offered, realizing they had pretty much exhausted their conversation topic.

"Yeah." Jessie straightened her shirt and joined John.

PILLAR OF AUTUMN-1:00 HOURS

John and Jessie had almost made it to the mess when Tiffany appeared on the Master Chief's other side. She seemed to be in an abnormally jolly mood when she greeted Jessie.

"Hey, Jess." She half smirked and half smiled at Jessie.

"Don't calm me that." She said slowly.

"Why not, Jess? You can call me Tif." She smirked again.

"I don't want to call you Tif and you don't know me well enough to call me Jess." Jess' jaw clenched a bit.

"You are so rude!" Tiffany widened her brown doe eyes at Jessie.

"Do you need something else from me?" said Jessie, sounding annoyed.

"I was going to-"

"You have something in your hair." Jess said before Tiffany could finish her excuse of why she needed to be with the Master Chief at this time of night.

Tiffany screeched and streaked down the hall, looking for a mirror.

"What was that for?" John questioned.

"She was annoying me." He watched her tighten one hand into a fist.

PILLAR OF AUTUMN-1:10 HOURS

Jess slid into the bench opposite Fred and Will as John went to sit next to the other men.

"What are you two doing up this late?" Jessie asked Fred and Will.

"I could ask you two the same question." Will said.

"We got hungry." John responded and picked at the food in front of him.

"Where is Tiffany?" Fred asked.

"I told her there was something in her hair and she freaked out and had to go find a mirror.

"You don't like her do you?" Fred took a drink from his water bottle.

"Can we talk about something other than Tiffany and why I hate her so much?" Jess rested her elbows on the table.

"Sure how about the ODSTs you and Fred ran into today." Will offered.

John listened silently as the three discussed the Helljumpers that were mad at Jess for beating them all up and the ODST John almost killed a month and a half ago.

His thoughts were on the upcoming Capture the Flag game. He would have to do his usual responsibilities and get used to the layout of Reach again. They were going to be wearing minimal Marine armor, but they would still have to make timed moves and not make suicide runs. What he really pondered on was preventing Tiffany from walking Jess into danger or a trap, talking the whole way pissing the poor girl off and Jess using Tiffany as a living shield.

"Chief?" Will waved his hands in front of his eyes.

"You were spacing." Fred recalled.

"I was just thinking about the Capture the Flag game. Don't use Tiffany as a living shield, okay?" He looked at Jessie when he said it.

"If you say so. I can't wait to see her reaction when we hand her a gun and she sees us in our true nature. She will be out of her element and a weakness, though." Jessie thought aloud.

" I wonder if Tango's even going to try. If we could beat them at 14 when they were using live-fire rounds, how could they expect a win now? We are bigger, stronger, and more war-hardened than before." Will pointed out.

"Live-fire rounds? What are those?" Tiffany slid into the spot on the bench next to Jessie.

"Fatal rounds. Bullets that can kill you, not knock you out cold like training rounds." Jessie answered and rolled her eyes.

"So if they use bullets in games, what do the enemies use ?" She asked innocently.

"Super heated plasma gas and many more methods that your little pink head couldn't handle." Jess looked straight over Will's shoulder at the wall, her chin still resting on her fists and her elbows on the table.

"But we could die trying to get the flag! And the aliens could kill us real easy!" She exclaimed.

"Exactly. The Covenant wants to kill us and us them." Jessie's knuckles started turning white as more of Tiffany's stupidity showed. Tiffany's doe eyes turned on Jess and she glared at her.

"How many aliens have you killed? I don't think many, they are so much stronger than us." Tiffany commented. Jessie just grunted in response before Fred answered.

"I'd be more worried about yourself. The Covenant has a knack for picking out the new meat in a squad and focusing on them." He said to her before standing and bidding good night.

"Too much drama for me. I'm gonna hit the hay." Will rubbed his eyes and followed Fred from the mess. Jessie glanced at Tiffany over her knuckles.

"Are you going to lead the team in this um…capture the flag game?" Tiffany crossed her legs and batted her eyes at the Chief.

He straightened in his seat and turned to look at Tiffany. "Yes, I will. I will work with one other Spartan and give instructions via com." He tilted his head a bit. Jessie just rolled her eyes.

"Good. But what happens if one of us gets captured by the other team?" Tiffany feigned a look of slight horror, hands spread on the table.

"Then the team will make an effort to get the other back." He smiled calmly. She smiled and batted her eyelashes again.

"Okay, you two enjoy your little chit-chat. I'm going to leave before things get mushy." Jessie pushed open the mess hall door and let it close behind her. Letting out a huff of air at Tiffany's little act with the Chief.

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