You can take this to be the 'better chapter' I mentioned last time if you want. It's not, but go right ahead. Enjoy this mediocre chapter.

Blake slumped down against a wall, breathing heavily and letting her now empty SOCOM fall from her hands. After everything she went through in New Mombasa, this is how she dies. One lucky shot from a Grunt that hadn't even been aiming at her. She was attempting to sneak through a group of Covvies when a number of Grunts got into a fight and started shooting at one another. One of the Grunts was holding a Brute Spiker, a much more volatile and explosive form of a Needler. Three rounds punched through a section of her armor and went right through her right side.

Blake had gone unnoticed until the Grunts had started fighting. When Blake got shot, every Grunt had taken notice of her. Naturally, the Grunts posed little challenge to any soldier with experience, so Blake made little work of them with her SOCOM before the adrenaline wore off. Here she was now, potentially bleeding to death due to the incompetence of a Grunt.

Blake gripped the pair of silver dog tags that hung next to hers and laughed painfully. "I'm sorry Adam. I failed you…" Blake's hand slipped from around the dog tags and she felt the world go distant as a pair of voices approached.

(Linebreak? Why not!)

Blake clutched her head in pain as she felt things come back into focus. When the pain died down a bit, Blake opened her eyes slowly, wincing at the bright walls around her. "Glad to see you awake Helljumper," a voice said to Blake's left. Blake turned her head to see her current commanding officer standing there, a smirk on her face. "Ruby? Where am I?"

Ruby pulled a chair up and sat down next to the bed Blake was in. "You're on the UNSC Beacon. It's a Charon-class light frigate fresh from the workshop. The old ship transferred us to this one due to needed repairs. We're now under the command of Admiral Goodwitch." Blake had heard of the woman before. A fierce fighter and a frightening leader. The last person to try and mess with Admiral Goodwitch had been a UNSC general who thought it would be a good idea to try and betray her. She threw the man out of an airlock and shot anyone who was allied with the man.

"Here." Ruby handed Blake a cup of water and some medicine. "Take this and we'll get you back into your uniform and I can show you around." Blake did as Ruby instructed and stood up from the bed, swaying slightly as the world spun for a few seconds. When Blake grabbed her uniform, she noticed something was missing. "Where's Adam's tags?" she asked, slightly panicked. Ruby placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "We can ask the Commander. I'm sure she'll know."

(It another Linebreak)

Ruby and Blake walked into the command center to see an interesting sight. A man in a formal uniform was raising his voice and pointing at a Spartan in white and gold accented armor that was holding a helmet in her hands. "I don't care what you think, Spartan! You answer to me! You are nothing more than a glorified MACHINE!" All chatter in the room stopped as everyone looked at the ONI man in surprise.

Faster than the majority of people could see, the Spartan rushed forward, grabbed the man by his neck and slammed him into a wall so hard, it formed a dent. "Allow to make this clear. I answer to nobody." The Spartan threw the man to the right and walked towards where he fell. When the man pushed himself onto his knees, the Spartan pulled what looked like the hilt of a medieval sword from her hip and activated the blade, the blade of contained plasma hovering very close to the man's face. "If you prove yourself to be a threat to any one of my soldiers, I will kill you." The Spartan deactivated her weapon and punched the man in the face, knocking him out.

The Spartan turned away from the unconscious man and towards Blake and Ruby. "Sergeant Rose. Good to see you. I see our new addition has finally decided to join the land of the living." Ruby chuckled. "Let's not rush her into things Commander. She's only been awake for about half an hour." The Spartan held her hand out towards Blake, who accepted the handshake.

"Commander Joan Arc. You must be the Helljumper I pulled from the Covenant compound. I do believe these belong to you." Joan handed a pair of dog tags resting on a broken chain to Blake. Blake grabbed the tags and closed her hand around them tightly, whispering a thank you.

"Don't worry about it." Joan gave Blake a small smile. "Welcome to the crew of the Beacon, Helljumper."

Well… I have no idea what I was doing when I was writing this. I just had the idea of ODST Blake being saved by Spartan Joan. I could do more with the scene, but I'm somewhat satisfied with it. Might continue with this AU, might not. Until next time… Dys.