Chapter 7. A Simple Skirmish
Unlike the first day, the second day dawned stormy and gray. Chief tossed Jess her helmet and she put it on, cringing as it settled over her damp hair. She hated days like this. Not only was the weather crummy, but she felt exhausted from tossing and turning all night. She shook her head as she tried to clear out the negative thoughts and focus on the trip ahead. The fine hairs at her nape prickled.
"Covenant forces are close." Chief murmured. "And they're in our way." Jess glanced at Chief as he prepared his DMR for the impending battle with the Covenant. "You know, Chief, you do not need to just barge in there and throw your weight around. We could just avoid them." Chief glanced over at her, opened his mouth to argue and stopped. She was grinning and opening her throwing knife kit and preparing her invisibility armor.
"You know I always take the direct approach."
She nodded, tossed a cheeky grin over her shoulder and disappeared, her invisibility armor activated. Chief had a knot in his stomach. While he was thrilled that she was not going to stop him like she had before, he now worried that she would be hurt. He was a Spartan. He could take a lot of hits and keep going. She was an ordinary human woman. She could not withstand the damage that he could. He shook his head and sought focus. Jess had survived this long, so if he could keep the attention on himself, she would be fine. And she was anything but ordinary; he was beginning to realize that.
He ran up to the rocks and took aim at the nearest Elite only to see a throwing knife sink into its neck as it dropped silently. Chief began taking down the grunts and drawing the attention of the elites. Jess continued to throw her knives with deadly accuracy and also threw out a few grenades she had pilfered from the grunts. Chief rushed into the fray to push the Covies further back, not relenting until the last grunt fell. No reinforcements appeared on his radar and Chief nodded to indicate to Jess that the area was clear. She turned off her invisibility armor and Chief started in surprise. She was standing right next to him. Her stealth abilities were even better than he had imagined.
"Are you sure you have not had any formal military training?" he asked. She tossed her long blonde curls, which still somehow looked appealing to him despite the fact that her helmet had turned it into a tangle. "Not formal training, but I did learn a few things from my family." He waited. She did not elaborate.
"Well you do need to learn how to shoot because you are not going to be able to pick up your knives after every battle."
"Why not? You never leave any survivors."
Chief paused. She did have a point. "Ok. Well, I'll feel better if you knew how to shoot so you can turn to guns if you run out of knives."
She shrugged. "Alright. We can investigate the area a bit further and then practice. I know how to shoot a gun by the way; I just have not practiced much with precision weapons."
Chief could not suppress a tightening in his gut. This lesson was going to be fun.