"Six," Seven acknowledged.
"Seven," Six replied simply.
That was it. They stood next to each other, but neither of them looked at the other as they spoke. Cool, subtle, professional. Spartans of a new age.
This struck Burke, who was something of a glorified all-star in a time long since past, as strange as he stood behind them in the small elevator car en route to the first floor. It wasn't just about ego back then, though there were no shortage of that. It was about letting the civvies and even Marines know that humanity still had some champions standing up to fight.
He idly wondered if that would fade the further and further these Spartan programs went on. Of course there were still champions, but how much of the humanity part still remained? Emile for example, was an antisocial wreck who trusted only a few people outside his immediate teammates. Burke knew that sometimes being a man wasn't about how hard you could make a fist, but also being able to soften that fist to comfort a newly orphaned child.
The building suddenly shook and snapped Burke out of whatever train of thought he was on.
"Corvette's hittin' this base hard," Emile commented over the COM channel.
"Where's our orbital support?" Kat asked him. "Got to be at least four platforms that could take it out with a single MAC round."
Burke turned to her and squinted.
"That'd be a bit danger close, don't you think?"
"Danger is already close, Major."
Another impact shook the building, as if on cue.
"Point taken," he relented.
The elevator doors chimed open and an automated voice came from the room's public announcement system. "Welcome to the Office of Naval Intelligence. An ONI representative will be with you shortly."
"I doubt that," Kat chuckled. "Very much."
Their electronic host must have had some sort of voice analysis in place, because it moronically replied, "Thank you, Lieutenant, you have been cleared for access."
A red blip flashed up ahead and Six instantly fired off a rocket. An Elite Minor and a handful of Grunts came hurrying around the corner to discover who had just arrived in the elevator. Just as they appeared in view, the rocket plowed into them and exploded. Kat and Seven advanced and swept up the survivors. As they did, Six loaded another rocket into the smoking SPNKr tube. She turned to Burke to say something and stopped when she saw what he was holding.
"Trade you," she offered.
"Sure, I could blow some shit up," Burke replied handing over the shotgun.
"Wait... there's only one rocket left," he observed a few seconds after the trade.
"Make it work, Burke!" Six called back as she jogged after Kat and Seven.