Forward unto Death

Chapter 4

-Begin transmission

Apologies for my absence. Several issues came up that had to be addressed immediately. One of these issues was my files were not converted from my old terminal to my new one, therefore, compiling this report took slightly longer then anticipated. However, I digress. This report is, as before, focused on Kain, better known as Noble Six. Due to circumstances beyond my control (i.e. the now confidential debriefings of Noble Team) (see ONI archives for debriefing report if authorized.) It is also worth noting that the reports I acquired to compile this made mention of Katherine, better known as Noble Two, treating Noble Six in a much more...shall we say affectionately.

Kain let out a quiet sigh as the ONI debriefing had finally ended. He spent the last two hours being debriefed, as usual after a mission. But what really unnerved the Spartan was that they actually debated switching him in with Rosenda, despite how long it would have taken for her to transfer, thus putting Noble Team into an inactive status. "Not that it matters now, considering we are on standby until further notice" Kain fumed as he stepped into the base that was serving as the teams quarters. Inside, Kain could see the garage, with Emile sitting on a crate, polishing the chest piece of his armor. Kain went to make his way to speak with the CQC Spartan when he was approached by a young man wearing a mechanist uniform.

"Uh...are you...Lieutenant Kain...sir?" He asked, his eyes wide as he looked up at the Spartan. Kain nodded and the mechanic snapped off a crisp salute. "Corporal Oliver Valdez sir. The Gunnery Officer has asked me to tell you that the armor you requested has come in. She wanted you to come and modify it however you need too."

"Thank you Corporal. Dismissed." Kain replied as he walked away. Deciding that talking to Emile could wait, the lone Spartan went deeper into the base towards the armory. In theory, he could put his armor situation off for at least a day, but he had no idea when the team's next mission would be, so he wanted to get it out of the way now. Approaching the door he was looking for, he faintly heard the sound of yelling from inside. Arching an eyebrow, he pushed the door open and was met with the, if he was honest, rather terrifying sight of Kat yelling at a technician who seemed to be working on her prosthetic arm.

"Are you saying that I don't know what I can and can't do with this thing? I had to recalibrate this damn thing as soon as I was out of rehabilitation because the idiot who attached it didn't know what the hell he was doing." Kat shouted at the trembling technician. Kain shuttered as he remembered her outburst at him for jeopardizing himself and his mission. He heard a chuckle from behind him, causing him to turn around to face a tall woman with black hair pulled into a ponytail.

"She normally does this when she gets agitated. I wouldn't worry about it sir. I assume your Lieutenant Kain?" She asked, standing with her hands on her hips.

"Yes ma'am." Kain replied politely, finishing his turn to face her fully.

"Good to see you this soon. The names Ashley, but I just have everyone here call me Ash, so that goes the same for you too mister." She said, poking him in his chest as she spoke. Kain nodded in response, and Ashley spun around, gesturing to follow her as she wandered into a separate work room. On the far side of the room, up against the wall were several crates that were mostly used to transport ballistics armor, a computer terminal next to the crate for stock documentation, and an operating table with his silver armor laying on it. "Well, we set up your new armor in the crates near the terminal. As you can see, your current armor is on the table, so feel free to customize it however you want. If you want to change into your armor to test it out immediately, I can get another techi and myself to help you zip the thing up." With that, she walked out and closed the door. Kain spent a moment looking over his armor for any sign of damage that he wasn't aware of, but was proud that he found none. Turning his armor's left arm over, he frowned as he saw the sliced part of his black bodysuit, a not-so-subtle reminder of his previous mission.

Shrugging it off temporarily, Kain approached the crates and opened them carefully, inspecting the contents of each crate. The crates were separated out by armor pieces, making it easier to look through them. After pulling out a select set of pieces, GUNGNIR knee guards, UA/NxRA utility kit, Tactical/UGPS wrist guard, UA/Multi-Threat chest armor, Commando helmet, and UA/Multi-Threat shoulder armor, and a new black bodysuit Kain placed the pieces next to his current armor, and proceeded to remove his former armor, piece by piece, carefully, almost lovingly. After removing his silver armor pieces, he set to work putting his new armor on the new black bodysuit slowly, making sure that each piece fit perfectly before moving on to the next. While he was trying to set his knife on the Multi-Threat chest armor, Kain heard the door behind him open up.

"Hello Six." Kat spoke up softly from the doorway.

"What do you want Noble Two?" Kain asked coldly, his back turned to her as he clipped the sheath onto the magnetic clip attached to his armor. He heard Kat sigh behind him.

"Is it so wrong for me to check in on a fellow teammate and Spartan?" Kat asked wearily in response.

"Considering we were almost at each others throats earlier, I think my reaction is justified." Kain answered, turning his head to look at her.

"Look, Six...about that...I am sorry I snapped at you like that." This admittance surprised Kain enough to face Kat fully. "You and Jorge were taking longer then was necessary, so I came to look for you two. When I saw you dueling the Elite I...panicked. I didn't want another death when I could have stopped it." Kat explained, her voice low and sad. 'She must be talking about Thom' Kain thought, his teammate's face having a far off look on it.

"Kat...what exactly happened before I transferred?" Kain asked cautiously, wary for any outburst from the fiery woman.

"Why? Too lazy to read mission reports Six?" Kat asked, knowing that the mission report was classified and covered in black ink. She sighed before actually answering. "I fucked up on a mission. A Covenant carrier was above a city on Fumirole, and Noble Team was called in to blow it up. I was given a nuclear warhead to carry to the ship to blow up. I set the codes and started the countdown when we were close to it." While she explained, Kat had moved over to an unopened crate and plopped down on it. "I didn't know a Banshee was flying towards me before plasma hit the ground next to me and knocked me down. I couldn't get up, my armor had locked from the impact, and I knew my right arm was shattered."

Kain instinctively looked at her prosthetic arm as the pieces came together. Kat caught him looking at her arm and held it out for him to examine closer. "Yeah, that's how I got this damn thing. The bomb rolled away from me, and what's worse, the damn idiot who set it didn't set the timer correctly. It was literally about to blow up in my face. Then..." Kat trailed off, her voice sounding like she was on the verge of tears. Kain caught a look at her face and saw the tell-tale look of a person shifting through memories. "Thom came up to me and took the bomb himself to fly it to the ship. The mission was a success...but he...didn't make it out." Kat took a shuddering breath as her story came to an end.

Kain left his armor and crossed over to his fellow Spartan to embrace her. Kat froze up in surprise as his arms encircled her. "I am sorry to make you relive that. Memories like those are something no soldier wants to revisit." With that, Kain broke the embrace and crossed back over to his armor. Kat felt a twinge of disappointment when he let her go, but did not know why, so she wrote it off as her being insecure again.

Meanwhile, Kain was mentally berating himself for his little stunt, but covered it up with patching together his armor. The two Spartan's remained silent as Kain continued to work when he finally placed the last bit of his new blood red armor together. "Kat, let's forget this happened, or at the very least keep it between us." Kain said as he looked back over at his companion.

"Only if you tell me about this Jordan girl." Kat retorted. Kain, shocked at her knowledge of her existence in the first place, stood wide eyed at her.

"How..." Kain simply couldn't finish his sentence; the fact that she had access to Jordan's file was practically unbelievable.

Kat smirked before responding, "Not everything ONI has on lock-down is secured Six."

"You sneaky little...fine, what do you want to know about her?" Kain asked wearily, sitting down on another crate across from her.

"Assuming you two were close, did you know anything about her prior to Camp Currahee?" Kat asked casually, leaning back against the wall. It struck Kain how pleasant she could be around when she wasn't bristling with anger at you.

Kain looked up at the ceiling, going back through the memories before he answered, "Not much. She was born on one of the first planets glassed by the Covenant and lost everything there. Friends, family, belongings, they were all gone. She didn't explain how, but she somehow wounded up in an orphanage here on Reach, and was taken in by some ONI spook into the SPARTAN program." Kain sighed inwardly as his time spent with Jordan flashed through his mind.

"What was she like?" Kat inquired, honestly curious about this girl, though she didn't know why.

"Straightforward, down-to-buisness kind of girl. She was pretty up-front about who she did and didn't like. She was a sweet girl overall, but if you made her angry, it was like Hell was rolling up on you. I remember the first time she snapped at Commander Kurt; it was during a five mile 'jog' and it was only our fifth day, so we weren't used to it yet. The Commander had run with us that morning and told us to pick up the pace as some of us were falling behind. Jordan looked at him straight in the eye and point-blank told him off. Mendez snapped back at her to watch her mouth when speaking to a superior officer, and she told him, and I quote, 'What are you going to do about it? Court-martial me? Give me extra drills? If you want to scare me, you have to do better than that.'" Kain chuckled at Kat's surprised expression. "Yeah, everyone reacted like that. But think about it; technically, she had seen worse then being threatened by Chief Mendez. Her whole world was destroyed with everything she knew. Nothing could really faze that girl." Kain commented, shrugging.

"Was she always like that?" Kat asked, intrigued about this girl that her comrade had fallen for.

"Yup. She had fire that would put a Covenant cruiser to shame." Kain answered. Kat was about to respond but was cut off by the door opening to reveal Gunnery Officer Ashley.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you Lieutenant Commander." Ashley said while saluting the Spartan. "Just came in to check on how the armor change was coming along."

"It's fine Gunny. I finished anyway, we were just discussing past assignments." Kain replied, standing up from the crate while Kat did the same. "Thank you for the opportunity to change my armor."

"Sure thing sir. Stop by anytime you want, we have plenty of armor that is not being used since...well since the last mission. I will keep you posted on any new armor shipments that come in, see if your interested at all." Ashely said before locking away Kain's new armor in a locker.

"Thank you. Good-bye." Kain replied before leaving with Kat. They left the armory and aimlessly traveled the halls of the base, no real destination in mind. After a few minutes of contemplation, Kain spoke up to his companion, "Kat?"

"Yes, Six?"

"If you do not mind, would you tell me about Thom?" Kain asked hesitantly, uncertain if he was overstepping his boundaries. Kat sighed before answering.

"Another time Six. I need to talk to the Commander about our next mission to see if he has information yet." Kat replied tiredly. Kain nodded in understanding; the wounds of Thom's death were still fresh in the minds of Noble Team. Kat bid her comrade good-bye, and left shortly after. Kain watched her leave, disappointed to see her leave. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he left to the firing range to keep his mind busy.

Kat looked back to see her fellow Spartan leave as well. As soon as he was out of sight, Kat slammed her prosthetic arm against the wall in frustration, startling a passing soldier. Kat glared at him when he opened his mouth to say something, causing him to shrink away and turn around into another hallway. Kat closed her eyes to calm herself down before she meet Carter, inwardly cursing her indecision and emotional confusion.

Another entry is done, much to my satisfaction. However, do to the lack of proper reports available to what happened during the teams stand-by status, this file may be unsatisfactory to some. I shall do my best to finish the next part of this report as soon as possible. The recovery of the lost missions reports and files are proving more difficult, despite my authorization.

-Wingsofhermes

*Edit 4/10/2014*

Changed one word due to inaccuracies with a name.