Chapter 11:

Green Zone:

Lisa Blackwood was a lieutenant commander. She'd worked hard every day of her life to get there too, following in her mother's footsteps. She'd worked hard in school to get good grades. She'd pushed herself hard to become stronger, faster, and better than anyone expected from her physically. It had paid off. She was an attaché of the Spartan troops on board and on-location assistant to one of the most brilliant-albeit civilian-scientists of her time. Even when Dr. Halsey wasn't on board-she'd departed for another ship bound for Reach where she had more important work-Lisa was the one in charge of testing the Spartans for the doctor and reporting on their actions. As such, Lisa was no stranger to hard work. She gave 110% every day. So when Kelly had asked for help improving her marksmanship, of course Lisa had agreed. She'd heard so many others refer to Kelly as green, and Lisa wanted to help her. "So why now?" she asked once they were in the ship's shooting range.

Kelly shrugged vaguely. "Just figured it would be good?" she suggested vaguely.

Lisa, who had been checking over her pistol, set it back down and fixed Kelly with a stare. "Come on. You'll tell me the truth sooner or later, so you might as well just get it over with."

Kelly aimed her pistol at the target and fired once. She missed. Sighing, she set the gun down. "The Master Chief told me to," she mumbled.

"Oh yeah?" Lisa asked.

Kelly put her hands on her hips and glared at the other woman. "I missed more than half my shots at a grunt running at me with grenades, and after I missed an elite point-blank, he yelled at me to learn how to shoot."

"He yelled?" Lisa clarified, surprised. She'd never heard any of the Spartans yell at someone before.

"Well, not really yelled..." Kelly grimaced. "It was more of an angry-sounding order."

"Ah."

"And I don't even know why, either!" the lieutenant exclaimed, giving up on keeping her feelings to herself and just ranting. "I thought we were getting along. I mean, he's been helping me out in the gym, and I thought we were gaining, you know, mutual respect for each other or whatever. But I kill a single elite bastard—because I did kill it, Lisa—he gets all in my face about missing it once! And then, just when I think he's all mad at me, he fucking saves my life! The Spartans are running out of the damn ship like hell's on their heels, and of course I can't keep up with them, and being a failure, I trip and fall and he comes back and fucking *carries* me to the Pelican! What's up with that? Seriously!" Finished, Kelly let out a huff of exasperation.

The other woman raised her eyebrows. "He's been helping you in the gym?"

"Yeah, we've been working out."

"Huh," Lisa murmured, thinking. "Come on. I guess we should teach you to shoot then."

"But what's up with him?" Kelly's confusion burst out. "He's all hot and cold. I don't understand what he's thinking!"

Lisa shrugged. "Honestly, Kelly? I have no idea. There's a reason most people think the Spartans are just machines. They don't really show emotions very often, and when they do, it's hard to understand. They're so different about it, like they don't really understand them. So I can't really tell you." She picked her pistol back up and flicked the safety off. "You want to get started?" she asked calmly.

Kelly nodded, slipping her noise-canceling headset on. "Yeah. Let's do this."

Lisa grinned and did the same. "Okay," she said over the walkie-talkie. "Let's see you shoot some."

Kelly lifted her pistol, carefully aimed, and fired. She paused, corrected for the pistol's kick, and fired again. Lisa watched as her friend fired five times then set down the gun. "How was that?" she asked.

Lisa pressed a button and the target moved closer so the women could inspect it. Of the five shots, three had hit. One was even relatively close to the head. "Well, not too bad," Lisa said, trying to be positive. She sent the target back to where it needed to be. "Let's, um, work on your stance. Stand how you would to shoot." Kelly adjusted her stance and Lisa copied it. "Okay. You need to move your left leg forward a bit... Um, make sure your elbows aren't locked..." Kelly obeyed, but something still looked wrong. Lisa assessed her, trying to figure out what it was, but her thoughts were interrupted.

"You don't know the gun." The two women turned in surprise to see the Master Chief entering the room.

The women removed their headsets. "Excuse me?" Lisa asked.

"You don't know the gun," the Spartan repeated. Even without his armor, he looked imposing. "You need to know your gun. Understand how it works, exactly how much kick it's going to give you. It's not just a weapon you pick up and discard as you need to, it's a tool of your trade. You need to know exactly how much it weighs in your hand, exactly how you need to grip it. Hold it when you don't need your hand, just to get used to it being there. You need to get to where you know your weapon so well that you can see your enemy once and know exactly where you need to aim to hit it. May I?" he asked Kelly.

She handed the gun to him, and the Spartan fired two shots at the target. "Practice. It just takes lots of practice." He handed the gun back. "I'm sorry to interrupt. I didn't know anyone else would be in here. I'll leave you two to work now." He saluted before leaving. The women returned his salute, and as soon as the door had shut behind him, Kelly turned to Lisa.

"What the hell was that?"

Lisa hit the button to move the target closer again. "I have no idea," she admitted. "But look at that."

The target had two more holes in it than it had when Kelly had shot at it: one in the center of the forehead and one in the chest, right where the heart would be. "Holy crap," Kelly murmured.

Lisa nodded. "Even I'm not that good, and I'm pretty good, not meaning to brag."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Kelly agreed. "You are. He barely even saw the target, didn't he? He was watching us the whole time."

"He was watching *you* the whole time," Lisa corrected. Kelly looked totally baffled, and Lisa laughed. "I guess he's glad you're getting help?" Kelly sighed and Lisa nudged her. "Come on. He said practice, so let's get some practice in." They slipped their headsets back on and Kelly started firing. Lisa watched, still in awe of the Master Chief's shots. If that's what he was expecting of Kelly, he would be disappointed. Lisa wasn't that good, and there was no way in hell Kelly was. Maybe though, with enough practice, she could at least be better. Kelly stopped firing and Lisa sighted at the target, keeping herself from sighing. She definitely had her work cut out for her.