A/N: hello loyal readers, here's the third chapter of MLP:AOR. Now in this chapter, I'm slightly going off the path of the Halo Canon where the Spartan-IIs and IIIs are sociopath that only talk to other Spartans and making them more open to others, as well as be a bit more...open to civilians, conversation wise. Other than that, see ya at the end of the chapter!


Chapter 3: Free time

-Tuesday, August 23rd, 2552(28 hour after the evacuation of Reach, 8 hours before arriving in Zeta Leporis System)-

UNSC Arcadia, military quarters

The three teams that were on separate missions are now relaxing in their own section of the military quarters. Carter and Viper was talking about different scenarios about the location they're going to, Kat, Callie and Carris were talking about different ways to make improvised weapons, Jorge and Blake was reading books, Emile, Andrew, Luke and Marcus was playing Five Finger Filet, Jun and Noble six was on separate bunk beds and the rest went to get food for the others.

"Look, there's no possible way we can avoid the Covenant. They always seem to find us everywhere we go, regardless of how far we are from UNSC space." Carter said to Viper.

"I know that, but look at it this way, even if the Covenant find us and had the time to send a fleet to kill us, I mean, I doubt that they'll win. I mean, we have a ship armed to the teeth with weapons that can gut a Covenant Assault Carrier with full shields, and that's this ship alone, imagine the amount of Covenant ships they would need to destroy this fleet?" Viper asked the leader of Noble team.

"Okay, that's one possibility, but what about terraforming worlds if there's none that is suitable for human life?"Carter suggested, until Jun groaned.

"Will you two relax? I mean, we're on this ship for six hours and both of you are making almost thousands of different things that could be waiting for us, just let the eggheads handle that." Jun said as he tossed and turn in his bunk.

"He's right Carter," Jorge said, as he looked up from his book, "the coordinates that Doctor Halsey herself put in, shows that whatever we're going, it's far away from the Covenant, and like Viper said, this ship alone can take on several Assault Carriers and win, just imagine the amount of Covenant casualties they'll have before they can get through our shields?" Jorge said, before going back reading.

"He's right, if what Jorge saying is right, then we have nothing to worry about." Emile said as he took his kukri and continued the dangerous game.

Carter looked at the others, before sighing.

"Guess you're right, maybe we should relax, for once." Carter said as he stood up and went to the other side of the room, where a machine that removes their heavy armor resided as he stood in place when the machine activated and started to remove his armor, until he was left in his skin tight undersuit.

"I admit, it feels weird being outside of my armor." Carter said as he sat on one of the chairs in the room.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Kat said as she and the other three Spartan females went back to talking about improvised weapons.

"Jeez, with their minds working together, we are in more danger being around them than the Covenant." Jun said as the others shuddered at the thought of them teaming up.

"I suggest we don't give them more ideas, they're already dangerous with their collective knowledge of everything." Noble Six said as she laid in her bed. As soon as the room got quiet, the six members of Rogue Squad came in, pulling several carts of food, ranging from premium cuts of meat to desserts that look delicious.

"Finally, what took you so long?" Carris asked as the other started to pull their chairs and some tables towards the center of the room.

"Well, we have been waiting for a bit longer, since they were feeding the civilians and other military personnel first, that and we had to get amount of food necessary for us to eat." Isaac, Rusty's second in command, said.

"Honestly, I don't care, let's eat." Emile said. As soon as he did, the nineteen Spartans started to eat the food that they were given and with them eating rations for a long time, they were savoring the foods that they ate.

"God, this is good!" Callie said as she ate her second bowl of salad and went to get more.

"Jesus, Callie! Save some for us!" Andrew said as he ate his T-bone steak. The Spartans were talking about different things that happened earlier in their careers, Emile and Blake having a contest of who can sneak the most food off of Jun's plate, overall, they were acting like a family, if you consider nineteen augmented supersoldiers who can beat the ever living shit out of anything a family.

"Hey Emile." Marcus said.

"What's up?" Emile asked.

"Who would you rather face, a platoon of Gators or a squad of Apes?" Marcus asked. Emile chuckled.

"The Gators, of course." Emile said, as he ate his salmon.

"Fine by me. The Elites are a bitch, but they're smart right? makes them predictable. The Brutes though, just look at them sideways and they'll lose their heads. Makes them fun, like picking on an emotionally stunted twelve year old." Marcus said.

"You were a bully as a child?" Jun asked.

"Me? No, I was the twelve year old." Marcus said.

"That must at least teach you sympathy…" Jun said, but was interrupted by Marcus.

"Sympathy? If you were the one getting your ass beat, it was best to be the bully than the one being beat on." Marcus said.

"You are one enlightened individual, you know that?" Noble six said, as she ate her lemon garlic chicken.

"Tend to think that I turned out okay." Marcus said proudly.

"Marcus, all of us, including you, are essentially a government sanctioned sociopath, that's not normal and most would say it's far from okay." Viper said, as Marcus felt his pride being wounded.

As soon as they reached for dessert, the door slides open and standing in front of it is the brainchild of the S-II and the successor of Colonel Ackerson, who was relieved of his duties after being accused of throwing away precious war assets, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, and on her sides were three Spartan-III, no doubt her escorts, but something was not right.

First off, they all were 7'3, which is four inches below the standard height of Spartan-III after augmentation, with the exception of Viper. Second is the one on the left has serious muscular thighs that looked like it's about to burst out of her armor plating, while on the right had a larger chestplate that meant for someone like Jorge and third, the three only carried pistols, which is very unusual as all Spartans carried a variety of weapons.

" , what a pleasant surprise. We thought you were at the science deck." Carter said as he wiped his face clean.

"Sorry for the...interruption, but I have three new Spartans to add to your team's." Halsey said as she looked at her data pad.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but how are they Spartans? They barely come up to the standard Spartan-III height. "Jorge said. All the other Spartans agreed, as they don't fit their standards, much less ONI's standard.

"Because their mutation make them smaller than you, they're still considered Spartans." Halsey said. Viper decided to speak up.

"Look, I don't care if they aren't at the height of normal Spartan-III, they are still Spartans, so shut up, and let Halsey talk." Viper said, as the other Spartans, including the S-II, look at him with surprised looks.

"Thank you ,Viper. Now, back on the subject. This is Chun-Li-B318, next is Laura-B026, and the last one is Minami-B114. These three are from Beta Company." Halsey said. As soon as they heard Beta Company, Viper and his team looked at Halsey with shock.

"Wait, you mean that Beta…"Callie was about to ask, but Halsey cut her off.

"Was wiped out? Unfortunately, yes. Last I heard was they were defending a shipyard that was being used as a evac site, but stayed behind when a Covenant force that outnumbered them five hundred to one attacked and these three, along with several others, survived." Halsey said in a stoic tone, but that tone covered up the real tone that Halsey was using, sadness.

"What about Alpha Company?" Viper asked. Halsey shook her head in sadness as well. The Spartans took the news hard.

"So, you're telling us that we might be the last Spartans?" Callie asked. Halsey looked up after getting her composure.

"That is unknown, but some Spartans were aboard civilian ships before Reach was attacked and majority of the Spartan-III were off world at the time." Halsey said. This assured the Spartans that were in the room, excluding the new arrivals.

"Viper, I need to speak to you about some sensitive information, alone." Halsey said as she left the room. Viper looked around, before sighing and exiting the room.

-Observation Deck, fifteen minutes later-

Viper and Halsey was walking towards the empty observation deck, as they wanted to speak without an ONI agent eavesdropping.

"What do you want Halsey, and don't think about lying about what you want to tell me." Viper asked, as Halsey slightly smirked at Viper's attitude.

"Still the same get to the point attitude, anyways I wanted to talk you about Phantom Squad." Halsey said.

"Look, if you are talking about my Squad, it should have them included as w…"Viper didn't finish as Halsey raised her hand.

"I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about the original Phantom Squad." As soon as Halsey finished her sentence, Viper tensed up.

"Why do you want to talk about them?" Viper asked, straining his voice a tiny bit.

"Because, Viper, I have some items of value that Phantom-One wanted to give to you when you recreated the team." Halsey said.

Once she finished finished, she pulled out four items, two of which looked like Kopis hilts, but was modified to fit a Spartan's grip and the other two was white cylinder hilt with gold guard that had a mask, with one side white with a solid black eye and vice versa for the other side, along with the second one hilt, but painted black. Viper knew those items all too well, weapons of Phantom-One and Phantom-Three.

"So that's why you want to talk to me alone, without their attention." Viper whispered as he saw the weapons of his former teammates.

"Yes, precisely. Right before Phantom-One succumbed to his injuries, he asked me to give you them when you recreated the team, and since you did, I decided it was time to give them to you." Halsey said as she handed the four hilts to Viper, who took them and activated each blade, one at a time.

The Kopis hilts had a black square button on the grip and once activated, made a snap hiss noise, similar to the energy sword, but instead of the blue color energy blade, it was a bronze color blade, which almost looks like the real Kopis blade used in Ancient Greece, but if one looks closely, they can see a faint wisp of energy coming off of the two blades. Viper swung the blades to get used to the new weapons.

Once he was done, he attached them to his side's and pulled out the two cylinder hilts that belongs to Phantom-One, and activated the blades. Once he activated them, the white hilt produced a flat red blade that was similar to the claymore used by Scotsmen of the 14th Century, showing that it was a weapon meant for war and it showed strength. The black hilt produced the same type of blade, instead colored black, giving it a mysterious feeling, along with it obvious negative connotation, death.

"Well, now that I have given you the weapons, I wanted to give you something as well." Halsey said. Viper looked at her.

"And that would be?" Viper asked. Halsey reached for her coat pocket and pulled out a small rectangular card that Viper recognized immediately.

"An A.I chip?, but I thought those were given to selected Spartans?" Viper said.

"I know that, but under dire circumstances, I know that you, besides Noble team, are the only Spartan-III that I can trust." Halsey told Viper, as he grabbed the A.I chip and looked at it, before placing it into his helmet on the back, which he felt like someone poured icy cold water down his back, until the sensation stopped.

Viper then noticed that his suit diagnostics were being checked by the A.I in the chip.

"Uhh, hello?" Viper asked, albeit hesitant about the new occupant inside his suit.

"Hello, Commander, my name is Kalmiya, your new A.I."Kalmiya said. Viper then saw on the upper left corner of his HUD a background that had tiny numbers going down, along with the A.I, who looks like a Greek Goddess, wearing the clothes that were used in Ancient Greece. Her hair flowed down to her back, similar to that of a waterfall.

"Hello, Kalmiya, my name is Viper-A258 of Alpha Company, but everyone else call me Viper." Viper said. Kalymia acknowledged him, before the screen blinked out of existence.

"Okay, quick question, who is Kalmiya?" Viper asked. Halsey sighed.

"She's the A.I that I used for in Sword Base to help with my research." Halsey said. Viper was about to speak, until he got a message from Callie, saying that Emile was getting into a argument with a civilian. Knowing him, it'll escalate into a fight that'll be one-sided.

"Look, I have something to do, but after I come back, we're going to finish our conversation, okay?" Viper said, as Halsey nodded. Viper walked away to go to the mess hall, where the fight was happening.

-Mess hall, several minutes later-

Emile was being held back by Jun and Carter, who almost lost their grip twice, trying to hold back the S-III.

"Emile, just calm down!" Jun yelled. Emile didn't listen, as he wanted to kill the civilian, who was being held back as well.

"Tsunade, just let it go!" A girl with Pink hair said, as she and a dark blue hair girl was holding the blonde woman back. The three were Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyūga and Tsunade Senju.

The three were grabbing a bite to eat, when Emile bumped into Tsunade, spilling her food. Tsunade turned around and started to yell at Emile to apologize, but didn't get a response, which she then tossed a glass cup at the back of his helmet, and the situation got ugly really fast.

The Spartan and Civilian were almost through their friend's grasp when they heard a voice that would have struck fear into any Covenant forces and Marines, even the three Spartans were scared shitless.

"Emile-A239, what the hell are you doing?" The very pissed off voice asked. Emile turned around and started to freak out on the inside, as he was trained to not show emotions on the outside. In front of him was Viper, who was clearly not happy with him.

"Come on, Viper, can you listen to what I have to say?" Emile ask Viper, who still kept up his glare.

"I don't care what you have to say, Emile. I'll decide what's your punishment for later. Now, get out of my sight!" Viper said, which Emile compiles as he ran once he was out of Viper's sight. Viper turned to Tsunade.

"I'm sorry for what he did, he's not used to being around civilians." Viper said as he apologized for Emile's action. Tsunade gave a little smile and said to Viper.

"I accept your apology, though his actions cost me my food." Tsunade said as she looked down, still angry at Emile's actions, but sad as she has to wait in line for another meal. Viper looked at her, before looking at the line. As soon as he was done, Viper tapped Tsunade's shoulder who look at him, as Viper nudged his head to the door that leads to the officer's lounge that was filled with fresh food. Tsunade decided to follow his lead, as she needs to get back to her room before two certain kids will try to kill each other.

-Thirty minutes later-

After getting her food, Tsunade left to her quarters, but before Viper gave her something as she left. The item that she received was a clearance badge that'll allow her to go to the Officer's lounge if she wants to. Tsunade couldn't help but smile at Viper's actions, as she only seen them coming from certain people, speaking of which.

"Dammit Naruko, give me my ramen!" A blonde male yelled, as he was giving chase to a blonde woman. These two are Naruko and Naruto Uzumaki, twins of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

Naruto, the older twin, has blonde hair that was spiky, blue eyes and three 'whisker' marks on each cheek. Naruko inherited her mother's hair color, red and long hair that reaches her shoulder, and the same color eyes as her mom and had the same marks as her brother. As the twins were chasing each other, the other occupants of the room was laughing at Naruto's futile attempt to retrieve his ramen.

"Give up, Naruto. You know that Naruko won't ever give up the bowl." Sakura said, as she ate her own food, which was a chicken Caesar salad and some bread sticks. She, along with,Hinata,TenTen,Temari,Mei,Naruto, Tsunade,Anko,Ino,Naruko and Kakashi were taking on a class-A mission after the Fourth Shinobi War when they suddenly disappeared halfway to the mission location.

That was three years ago, now they all work on the massive Agriculture/Colony ship as cooks, medics, engineers, and other jobs they could do. As they soon learn, though, is that these humans don't have chakra, something that dumbfounded them, as they still have theirs. But they were amazed that they achieve space flight and colonized eight thousand thousand worlds.

"I'm not going to let Naruko eat my ramen!" Naruto yelled as he was right behind his twin sister, but tripped on his own feet, which he hit the ground. The others chuckled at Naruto's futile attempt to get his food.

Their antics and relaxation soon ended when they all received messages via small wrist watch, saying that their shift is about to start, which they all started to change into their work clothes, while Kakashi waits until the other's left. Once they did, he pulled out a small suitcase that contained his clothes for his work, before walking into the bathroom to change.

-Military quarters, several hours later(10 minutes before arrival at Zeta Leporis System)-

Viper was sitting alone in a room that was meant for the Spartans, as the other one from earlier was being used for civilians, as they couldn't put more in the civilian deck.

He was cleaning a pistol that was disassembled earlier. While he was cleaning the barrel of the pistol, Kalmiya, who was helping Halsey with some research, materialized in the data chip that Viper had removed from his helmet.

"Excuse me Viper, but what are you doing?" Kalmiya asked the Spartan-III, who put down the barrel as he said to the A.I.

"I'm cleaning my gun. It's a habit that's been drilled into all the Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs, you should know that." Viper said as he started to clean the firing pin. After cleaning all the pieces, Viper started to assemble the weapon. Kalmiya asked what was the gun, in which he replied,

"It's a pistol that was designed for the soldiers of the ORION Project, but was cancelled when the project was cut, but I was able to get two. It fires one type of rounds, which is a ONI prototype .454 Casull round, capable of piercing the armor on Brutes, it's designed to kill upon contact, which is nicknamed 'Party Popper' for the fact that it has Explosive Tip that would blow up upon impact on anything that it hits, killing them in a single shot." Viper said as he started to put the rounds that he described to Kalmiya into the clip.

"Why would ONI give you these weapons?" Kalmiya asked Viper.

"Well, they wanted to see if the guns can be used for a Spartan-III, before being put into service for the S-III, but that was shut down in favor of more Spartans, but they let me keep it, as I have training to use them." Viper said, as he pulled the slide back, before releasing it, loading the chambers with the rounds. Viper placed them down, but turned around when he heard his door slide open and smile at the person who entered the door.

"Hey, Drew." Viper said, as the person in question started to walk to Viper. Drew Saturday, or Drew by some, who was one of the few ONI agents who aren't the stereotypical ONI spook. Drew wore an orange jumpsuit with a belt, along with a two pistols on her sides. Despite her choice of clothing,it didn't constrict her double E-cup chest, curvy hips and large butt.

Drew smiled when she saw Viper standing up to his full height, which tower's her 6'8 height, before he lean down to kiss her on the lips. Drew groaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck. After a few more seconds, the two stopped kissing as they released each other from their embrace.

"How are you doing, Drew?" Viper asked Drew.

"Good, just that ONI is now scrambling to save whatever data that they can save, especially after Reach was attacked." Drew said, not knowing that Viper cringed slightly at her saying about Reach, but Viper kept it in check.

"I heard you have a new member added to your team." Viper said, as Drew looked away, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, but one of them is a bit, what's the word again?" Drew asked herself.

"Ditzy?" Viper asked.

"Yeah, she's a bit of a klutz,but she's a great medic." Drew said.

"Who is she?" Viper asked. Before she can answer, they heard the klaxon alarms blaring.

"This is the Fleet Admiral McKay, all combat personnel, prepare for combat, I repeat, all combat personnel, prepare for combat, this is not a drill." The Fleet Admiral said, as Viper sighed, before grabbing the two pistols from his work desk, before kissing Drew one more time.

"Be careful!" Drew said, as Viper told her that he'll be back. Then Drew sat on his bed, before pulling out a picture, which had her parents, wearing UNSCDF uniforms,her little brother, Doyle Blackwell and herself, before their deaths during the Battle of Actium.

"I don't want to lose you." Drew whispered, before putting the picture away and walking to the hangar deck to the Sahara-Class prowler.

A/N: and that's a wrap! Man, a Spartan-III and a ONI agent dating!? That's one hell of a pair. Also, the Naruto Gang is here and there's more characters from other anime's and such coming in later chapters.

Next, The Original Phantom Squad is something I'll be explaining, once i build up a backstory for them One last thing, if anyone gets the reference, you get an internet cookie and possibly a chance to have a character (Non-Spartan) on the story. Just put into the reviews of the names of two Spartans dialogue and the Story it came from, and I'll contact you. Until then, See you next chapter!