Winter Contingency:
Just a disclaimer, I do not own the halo series nor am I affiliated with bungie. I am simply making a story using their world and characters. The only thing that belongs to me are my OC (which technically is Six in a way as bungie intended us to mold him/her to be what we wanted.) My OC will be much later down the line. Love halo from the bottom of my heart.
July 24th, 2552, at Visegrád
We were off, going somewhere in this beautiful mountain range to get a relay back on the grid. Seeing all these forests takes me back, to when I was training to become the ultimate survivor. That man was turning me into a one man army, a man who could make a ghost town. I read things, studied them until I could write them from memory. Worked so hard that my body felt like it was going to break any minute. I did all of this and for what? Under whose order was I supposed to do all this for? Some higher up in Oni is all I can say. He picked me from beta company during the Spartan III program to go and do his form of training, which at the time was considered harsh and unnecessary. It still is as a matter of fact.
No one really knows that I even exist other than some selected few at Oni, Halsey, and now noble team. Carter and Kat know from my file, and that's what scares me more than anything. I am a Spartan no doubt, but would I really be considered a III? Once I was proven to he capable of becoming a three, my abilities and scores were passed along. I only worked with a team once, and it's been so long ago, that I can't even remember their names. My C.O. just plucked me out while the picking was good, and shaped me into the soldier I am today. However, I feel so vastly different compared to the other threes. Even this Noble team seems so different. All the things I had to learn and do might not match up with any other Spartan… to my knowledge anyway. I don't know, this was the one thing my C.O. couldn't get under wraps. My vast overthinking when time gives me the chance to do so, but I'll never doubt my ability nor my reputation, I thank him for that.
Carter starts looking over at the other Falcon. Six noticed it and glanced over at his remaining team in the other falcon. Carter broke the silence between the team, to give us a quick little debrief.
"Listen up, Noble Team. We're looking at a downed relay outpost fifty klicks from Visegrád. We're going to introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, then Kat's going to get it back online." Kat responded to him rather quickly.
"Just get me under the hood, Commander."
"Sir, why would rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of the colonies?" Jorge asked in his gruff tone.
"You get a chance, maybe you can ask them, Jorge." He replied, then looking over to Six. "You remember what I told you right Six? I know you mean well, and are very capable to be labeled what you are, but we are a team. I need to be sure that you understand that through and through. I know how your mind might tend to be, especially in the presence of others." His tone was serious, but he could tell he was just looking out for his team as a whole. Despite his off way of wording it, he knew exactly what he meant.
"I know what my file said sir, I have been through a lot under that program. I can reassure you, if I'm assigned to Noble team, then I will do everything I can to make sure we stay a team. I'm sorry about Thom, I know I can not replace him. That is not my goal. I can say with an honest heart that I will do my best to protect everyone, and complete my mission flawlessly. That's all sir." He couldn't see it, but Carter smiled under his helmet. He liked the attitude of Six, despite the rather cold and straightforward one he seemed to have.
"Glad to hear it Six, I'm sure the rest of Noble is at ease upon hearing something like that." Six glanced over to his teammates, and sure enough, they nodded at him. Six was already starting to feel a lot better about being on this team. Kat entered the comms after a few more seconds of silence.
"Commander, we just lost our signal with HQ."
"Backup channels?" Asked Carter with not even a bit of concern in his voice.
"Searching... Nada. Can't say what's jamming us." Kat said back as the two Falcons are now nearing the outpost.
"You heard her. Dead zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company this trip." The team didn't seem to be too phased by this. They really were one battle hardened team.
"I'm lonely already." Replied Emile, that Spartan with the badass skull on his visor. Six chuckled quietly to himself, already starting to like Noble team.
The Falcons bank left and hover over the outpost. "Shoot down attempts are likely, so keep your distance pilot."
"Yes, sir!" Said the pilot responding to Carter.
"Let's stay focused. Watch your sectors." He ordered as the two Falcons head in opposite directions. The Comm Relay Hub is now in view, and Six can already see some things he doesn't like about this scenery. He would investigate once he got closer.
Jorge peers out and sees something. "There's the communications outpost." Kat followed up by saying, "Reading a distress beacon." Six's HUD places a waypoint that reads "Distress Beacon - Investigate." I think I can tell where it might be already, there is an exploded warthog sitting near some other things that he needs a closer look for.
"Could be the missing troopers. Let's check it out."
"Roger that Noble one" I decided to say. It seemed to have no weird reactions to it, so I suppose I am doing alright… for my first team anyway.
"Put us down on the bluff."
The Falcon circles for a landing upon hearing the commanders orders. Carter followed it up shortly afterword. "Jun, I want your eyes in the sky."
"Sir." He replied rather monotone. 'That sniper is rather creepy to me. He has spoken the least out of the team. Guess he is the strong silent type' Six thought to himself.
The Falcons land side by side, and Carter jumps down.
"Let's go, Six."
Six exits the Falcon along with Carter, Emile and Kat. Six noticed however that Jun and Jorge remain in their Falcons, most likely to provide air support. He kept his MA37 assault rifle on his back when he got off, instead reaching for his M6G magnum, and drawing it.
"Alright, Noble Team. Spread out. Watch the approach."
Six follows Noble Team down the hillside with his magnum at the ready. Halfway down the hill, Six broke off to the left and went to a rocky peak, looking down and very well seeing bodies, fire, and an exploded warthog. Emile followed behind a few seconds after, standing beside him as Six crouched down. "You must have read my mind and copied me or something Six, I planned on taking this vantage point. Smart play."
Six chuckled, still looking down at the damage. "You'd be surprised what kind of things I do all thanks to the training I underwent."
"Hmph, I suppose we will all see what you were trained to do. Just don't try to show off, Hyper Lethal Vector." Six was surprised he called him that, it's almost like Carter and Kat told Noble everything about him. Sure they may have heard some things from Noble 1 and 2 but to be called that by anyone other than Halsey, it made him downright shiver.
Emile crouched down next to Six and peered out, surveying the landscape. "Structure point three-four, looks clear from this angle."
With that, Six jumped down from the rock, doing a roll once he landed. His shields did not glow, despite dropping from such a height in heavy armor. Emile followed suit, leaping down from the rock. His shields, however, drained from the impact. "Damn, it didn't seem that bad when you did it Six." He got up and walked over to Six, who has his pistol drawn and ready. "That's because I rolled, you didn't. Quite a difference when the weight is distributed elsewhere." replied Six, not even looking at Emile but instead, eyeing his surroundings. He likes double check when it comes to seeing if the coast is clear.
"Damn, I feel so bare without a dmr or a sniper. I suppose I can't complain, I have a gun. That's all the matters." He mumbled to himself. Carter and Kat take another route around the cliff.
"Distress beacon is coming from just south of here, Commander. We're close."
"Roger that Kat. Eyes peeled." Six then replies to Carter. "Already on it Sir."
Soon they all come to the burning vehicle that Six had spotted next to a small building. Emile begins inspecting a palette on the ground.
"Found the beacon."
Emile picks up the beacon and tosses it to Kat.
"Make out any ID?"
"Negative, but it's military."
Kat drops the beacon on the ground, readying her pistol much like Six.
Jorge cuts in from the comms. "So where are the troopers?" Kat followed up Jorge with another question. "Why are we not seeing explosives residue?"
"Noble Three, can you confirm any EX residue in the area?" Carter asked on comms, with Jun responding in short time.
"Hmm... Negative, sir."
"Sir, it's most likely plasma damage." Six said, getting rather worried at would they would end up finding here at this outpost. His instincts were telling him to scout ahead for his team, but he reminds himself of what Carter said. Jorge came in on comms again, but his voice was filled with anger and worry. "Can't be. Not on Reach."
"There's a lotta blood on the ground." Emile responded.
"All right, Noble, looks like there's nothing here. Let's move on." With Carter's order, Noble Team heads off to another cluster of buildings. This time we had a new objective: Investigate local Structures.
"Smoke at the next structure, boss."
"Copy that Kat, circle west and check it out. Noble Team: you have permission to engage, but be selective. We don't need to telegraph a presence." Ground team responded in unison to their commander. Sun's voice began to blend in with his teammates when they all shouted, "Roger that."
The team arrives at a house overlooking the cliffside. Six peered out over the edge and he could feel his stomach churn. He never liked heights, even with his training removing all fear within himself. Carter put a hand on Six's shoulder to make him snap back into it. They both nodded to each other.
"Noble Six, move into the house. Go in quiet. I'm right behind you." I did what he asked, checking the house as stealthily and quietly as I could, turning on my night vision for a better view of things. You could barely hear my footsteps despite the heavy armor, and the black camo and visor helped out tremendously with stealth. "Clear sir." After Noble team eased up a but, Jun bursted into their comms.
"Noble Leader, I'm seeing heat-sigs in the structure ahead!"
I go up a short flight of stairs and emerge on the other side of the house, pistol drawn on the front door. The second Falcon lands in the courtyard long enough to drop Jorge off, then takes off. A door opens, and a civilian make steps out. Six aimed his pistol at the man standing in front of them, being cautious as to who he is. Other civilians can be seen remaining inside. Emile shouts out upon seeing them. "Woah, woah!"
The civilian who stepped forward came out of his silent treatment and spoke."Én nem csináltam semmit!" (I didn't do anything!)
Emile aims his shotgun at the man as he and Jorge question him, but he appears to speak only in Hungarian. "Great… a language I am not familiar with." Six mumbled to himself again.
Emile was rather hostile to the civilians, trying to be as cautious as possible. "Move! On your knees, now! The farmer spoke out yet again, frightened by the armored man pointing his shotgun at him. "Ne lőjön! Ne lőjön!" (Don't shoot! Don't shoot!)
"They're not rebels, they're farmers. Look at them." The Spartan II said to Carter and Emile, trying to calm them down. Carter looked over at Jorge and then back at the Civies. "Ask him what they're doing here." Jorge does as ordered, questioning him in Hungarian. The civilian begins talking as Jorge translates.
"Mit kerestek itt?" (What are you doing here?) The Farmer responded swiftly, with fear in his voice. "Csak nem akartunk meghalni." (We just didn't want to die.)
"Hiding, sir. Neighbors were attacked last night. He heard screams, gunfire. It stopped around sunrise." The Farmer had continued telling Jorge the situation. "Valami megölte a fiamat." (Something killed my son.)
"He says something in the fields... killed his son." Six lowered his weapon and shook his head. "Damn…" was all he could really say. He wouldn't know what would happen if he were to lose a son, if that were possible anyway. No Spartan can have a kid. Carter tilted his head to the side a little bit in a confused manner, "Some-thing?"
Jun came in through our comms yet again. "Commander, be advised. I'm reading heat signatures in the structure directly east from your position. Over."
"Copy that." He looks over to Jorge and points at the house. "Get them back inside."
"Azt mondtam, befelé!" (I said get in! Get in!)
Sure enough, they listened to Jorge and headed inside. Six turned over to the building in question and saw a little waypoint appear on his HUD. "Alright Noble let's get to the building, double time!" Carter shouts out. Emile, Kat, Carter, and even the big man himself set off in a sprint to get across the bridge and to the building. Six was delayed slightly but took off, bypassing all of Noble team and making it to the building first.
"Hot damn, new guy is fast isn't he?" Jorge said as he slowed down with Emile. Emile looked over to Six and back at Jorge. "No kidding. I think he will be alright. Feel bad for him though, lots of pressure and expectations. Try not to be too hard on him big man. Lord knows he has been through rough shit just like any of us."
Jorge scoffed at Emile, eyeing as Six made it to the entrance way and peered around to make sure there were no tangos. "I was gonna say the same thing to you. Come on then, let's get a move on." They all caught up with each other, and Jorge pushed in the building with Six.
"We're moving in, Commander." Said Jorge upon clearing out the room. What Noble finds, is straight awful. The group finds several human corpses, including two uniformed ones pinned to the wall.
Carter spoke out at the ghastly sight. "Damn..." "Fill me in, Commander, what are you seeing? Over." Said Jun as he circled the place in the Falcon. Carter kneels down over the pools of blood and examines them. Avian-like footprints can be seen in the blood. Six came over and examined the footprints. "No doubt about it anymore… that's T'vaoan footprints, a sub-species of kig-yar." Six said to himself and Carter quietly. Carter looked over at him and tried to just push that thought aside.
"We've got military casualties, two of the missing troopers. Looks like they were interrogated... It's messy." Carter stands back up and signals the team to keep moving. They enter an adjacent room with another dead body. Movement is suddenly heard on the roof, and a brief hostile contact is detected on the motion tracker. Six we sat the ready, having a bead on the tango located on his motion tracker. With the noises he heard and the movements he saw on the tracker, he knew it had to be a skirmisher.
"Movement. Watch your motion trackers." Noble Team heads outside, but the contact suddenly disappears. Six got a glimpse of it, but his hunches were right. He was just gonna wait for a battle to pursue before initiating a "I told you so".
"What the hell was that?" Asked Emile as he waved his shotgun in the places the contact should have been at. Carter looked around with his DMR ready. "Jun, you see anything?"
"Negative. Thermal is clean."
Noble Team heads into a nearby building, and suddenly, Jun once again bursts into the comms once again. "Boss, I see movement, outside your structure!"
"Noble Two, move up to the west. We're about to be flanked." Noble Team moves to a set of windows, where they see the contacts: Grunts and Skirmishers. One of the Skirmishers sees Noble Team and begins squawking in alarm.
"Huh?" Said Jorge in response to seeing the contacts.
"Damn it!" Shouted Emile.
"It's the covenant! The covenant is here on reach!" Yelled Six as he immediately opened fire on the Grunts and Skirmishers, dispatching one tango with each bullet, landing precisely onto their head. 'I knew it… I knew it dammit!'
"Contact, contact! Spartans, assist!" ordered Carter. Jorge gave out a snarky "Here we go."
Noble team begins their assault onto the covenant from inside the house. Some Skirmishers bolt towards the building, running into the basement level of the building. Carter and Six noticed this, and Carter spoke to his squad.
"They're heading into the basement. Move down to the lower levels!" Near the end of his sentence, Six reloaded his magnum and ran towards the stairs, jumping down them and yelling out to Carter. "I'm on it sir!" As soon as he touched down, he began to clear the basement effortlessly as the incoming plasma pistol shots and needles were disposed of thanks to his shields, and he opened fire into the heads of the skirmishers. Six reloaded his magnum. Jorge gave out suppressing, heavy fire with his big MG from up above while the rest of Noble moved downstairs. Six moved to the door for cover when Carter came into view, with Emile and Kat following behind. Carter saw the scene that Six had left and commented on it. "Nice job Six, alright Noble let's mop up!"
Noble Team engages the Covenant forces. Suddenly, Banshees begin to move in and the Falcon pilot takes notice.
"Banshees! Heads up, Charlie One!" Six pulled his blade out from its sheath while Noble team reloaded their weapons and Jorge kept down cover fire from up above. Carter was about to object what he was about to do, but instead just shouted, "Suppressing fire!" as Six rushed outwards, scoring precision kills and stabbing a skirmisher he had closed the gap on. He noticed that a plasma grenade was on its utility belt, so after tossing its body aside, he scored four more precision kills before sheathing his knife, and tossing the plasma nade he nabbed at a group of grunts. He rolled into cover and reloaded his pistol, and he noticed he was starting to run out, so he switched over to his assault rifle after hearing the "boom" from the nade. Bright blue blood had spattered on the farm ground, and when he peaked up with his rifle at the ready, there were no more withering aliens to kill.
Jorge had jumped down from the window, and Noble 1, 2, and 4 have come out of their cover spots. Six took a minute to catch his breath when he felt a hand on his shoulder and it made him jump a little. "Easy Six, you did a good job. Glad to see you know your stuff. Let's get a move on. There could be more up ahead." Carter motions for Noble team to get moving, and they notice a spirit approaching from across the bridge.
"Noble Leader, enemy dropships inbound!" Jun shouted to the squad through their comms.
"Falcon, moving to assist." Said one of the Falcon pilots. "Ah hell, more of these bastards." Emile groans. Carter went in front of his squad and gestured them to kick it into high gear. "Let's take these bogies out noble." Kat said as they all took off into a sprint into cover as the forces of jackals, grunts and their commanding Elites dropped in. Six once again managed to gain a lot of momentum and started firing at them as soon as his line of fire was clear. Soon, all of Noble began their assault onto the ground forces, tearing into the Grunts and the shields of the jackals and elites were getting pulverized. One elite, one that appeared to be a Sangheili Major, screamed out and charged at Six. Kat and Carter were focused on their forces to the left, and Jorge was already pushing the creek, so they failed to notice the charging Elite. "Woah, watch out!" Shouted Emile as he aimed his shotgun, but Six was in the way.
Soon enough, Six took off and closed the gap, dropping his assault rifle and full on tackling the Major. Purple blood was seen flying out of its mouth from the pure force behind that truck. Six grunted fiercely as he decked the Elite hard in the jaw, and grabbed his knife. It tried to shake him off but eventually, a large piece of metal went into its throat, causing a gurgling sound to come out from its mouth. Without hesitating, Six knelt up from the body and drew his pistol, unloading all of his rounds into the faces of any tango in sight, including one Elite that Jorge had stripped of its shield. Soon enough, that side of the farm was clear, and Noble was free to head across the creek.
"Stand down, Noble, stand down. Contacts neutralized."
"Contacts? Commander, it's the damn Covenant!" Jorge retorted.
"Cheer up, big man: this whole valley just turned into a free-fire zone." Emile sneered, loading his shotgun and pumping it.
"Kat, we've got to warn Holland. I need you at that relay outpost now." Carter Commanded.
"Boss, I'm showing more activity to the east!" Yelled Jun through the comms.
"Copy that, Jun, we're on it. Six?" He walked over to Noble Six who has now stood up completely, with his pistol now in his holster. He knows he was gonna get yelled at for disobeying and doing that reckless lone wolf shit, but he can't help doing what he was trained to do. Carter picked up his assault rifle and upon hearing Six, holds it out for him to grab. Noble Six was surprised by his commander, figuring he would have been getting berated by now.
"Six, your reputation exceeds you. You have skills, and you can handle yourself well. You just can't be so damn reckless. We are a team. Coordinate with us and we can make things work without needing to put anyone in danger. That includes yourself. Making bases disappear is no easy task, but I would like to keep noble squad up and running, with no man left behind. You got me?"
Six clutched a fist, he doesn't know why he can't just listen to him. He feels better doing what his instincts tell him. 'I should start listening to him, I need to cut back on that shit. I will try my best.' he thought to himself. Grabbing his assault rifle back, he looked him straight into where his eyes would be.
"Yes sir."
"Good, let's get a move on then Noble. Six, you take point." Six nodded and went ahead and led the trek to cross the creek. 'little high up, hopefully there isn't anything to crazy on the other side' he thought to himself as he slid down the banks. Meanwhile, Emile and Jorge were discussing what had just happened.
"You see that shit? Dude is crazy big man. I'm telling you, either he is stupid and crazy, or he is a show off. Just went ahead and tackled him to take him down. I could have blasted him, but nah." Emile chuckled as he slid down the banks with Jorge following behind.
"Don't know, but he definitely knows what he's doing, despite his recklessness. I don't think he is doing it to show off. I think he is doing what he is trained to do, just like any other Spartan. Being taken out of his company to serve as some kind of testing Spartan must have been hard. Especially with the adjusting period."
"At least you guys have Halsey big man. Us threes are military picked. We didn't have a "mom" to train us and have us genetically picked for greatness." He scoffed. Jorge seemed pretty agitated by the way he addressed Halsey.
"Watch what you say Emile. Halsey is a great woman. She did all she could for us and humanity. She still is." Emile laughed as he starting going up the embankment.
"See what I mean? She don't care about us Jorge. She just loves her beloved two's."
"Lock it up, Six spotted something up ahead." Ordered Carter as he and Kat made their way to the top, hiding behind a hay bale. "What is it Six?"
"Commander, we have two Sangheili Ultras, backed up by some Unggoy troops. I suggest we use a converge tactic, without main suppressors staying back while our mobiles close the gap. They are fast, and heavily armored. They have what seems to be a covenant grenade launcher. Proceed with caution and use Armor lock if possible… Sir." Six took his position and looked to Carter for a plan.
"Well done Six, we will go with that. Jorge, I want you to lay down heavy fire and push up slowly, keeping their shields at bay. Kat, you and me will lay down precision fire, taking out the Grunts and the Ultras if they don't move in time. When the opening shows, I need Emile and Six to close the gap. Clear?"
"Yes sir." they said in Unison, all making sure their weapons were ready to go. Jorge made the first move, taking the center stage and raining lead on them. "Hahahaha! Come and get some!" he shouted as Emile moved left, and Six went right. Kat went left with Emile but stayed back, placing accurate rounds from the magnum into the skulls of some grunts. Carter went with Six, placing his shots onto some grunts as well, but mostly targeting the Ultras, who starting raining down fire onto Jorge and Carter.
Almost in unison, they both used their armor lock to take the impact, and then Carter hauled ass into cover. Jorge began his push yet again with his nonstop onslaught of bullets. Emile moved up to one of the Ultras with Kat giving covering fire, and nearly barrel stuffed the poor ultra with his shotgun, before tearing his face into shreds, with a loud yell of pain coming from what used to be it's mouth. "Boom! Down you go ugly." He kicked it down as he pumped his shotgun. The two of them then focused fire on Jorge's ultra, who was snarling and growling at them for killing his comrade. He kept up his fire with his plasma repeater, but the spartan's shields took the brunt of it all. With the Grunts no more, it just left the two ultras, and his shields were depleting fast thanks to Emile and Kat helping out. Soon enough, the Ultra couldn't get away fast enough as his purple blood began to spill from the vast amount of holes hitting his body. "Damn you, demons!" he groaned in Sangheili, falling to the ground.
"Last one! Commander, let's take it out!" Six shouted as he sprayed his final contact with bullets from his assault rifle. Soon, Jorge began to join in and the two of them shattered his shields, with Carter placing a nice hole in between the eyes of the Ultra. "Down you go big guy." Jorge laughed as he and Emile went to look out into the rest of the fields.
"Nice work Noble. Reload and let's catch our bearings." They all regrouped near a little cliff side, and Six could see a vehicle just sitting down below. 'Probably the Civie's vehicle.' He thought to himself as he reloaded his weapons.
"Commander, I'm seeing more hostile activity to the northeast." Said Jun, highlighting the area for us on our HUD.
"Roger that Noble three. Emile, you're with Kat. Six and I will run interference on the ground. We'll meet you at the outpost."
"Noble Three, requesting air-lift, over."
Said Kat over the comms.
Carter, Jorge, and Six all walk over to a rocky peak, and look out at the civilian vehicle. "Think they'll mind if we take it sir?" Jorge asked, fully picking up his chaingun. "They won't be worrying about it. Come on. Noble six, you drive."
"Yes sir." They all hopped down and made their way to the vehicle. Carter would give firing support from the passenger seat and Jorge hopped on the bed, placing his chaingun up top and using it like a warthog's turret. When the car started, they took off.
"Get to work, Noble." Carter said upon seeing enemy forces up ahead.
Noble Six, Carter, and Jorge drive around, eliminating all Covenant appearing in sight. They never even needed to leave the vehicle, seeing as Carter plucked off all the enemies he could with his DMR, and Jorge tore into any enemies that Six put into his sight line. Six kept weaving them in and out of cover to keep them safe while granting them good enough angles to take them out.
Jun came through comms after some mopping up of the covenant. "Noble Leader, I'm picking up a distress signal."
"Mayday! Three Charlie Six, does anyone read? We were attacked by Covenant forces. The Covenant is on Reach. I repeat: the Covenant is on Reach."
"The troopers?" Questioned Jorge.
"Let's move, Six. We've gotta find the source of that distress call." Carter ordered, before Jun patched through yet again.
"No disrespect, but don't we have more important things to do than round up strays?"
Six knew where Jun was trying to stand by, but he just couldn't let that one slide. "It doesn't matter if they are strays. No one left behind, that's how we do things. That's what I was taught and I'm pretty sure somewhere down the road you all were told the same thing. Always follow and complete the mission, but that doesn't mean you can't save people!" Six shouted into the comms, which most of Noble was not expecting.
"Six is right. We don't leave people behind. You see those troopers, you let me know." Carter followed up, which made Six feel a lot better, considering he could have made a huge mistake bursting out like that.
"Noble Leader, I'm seeing possible friendly forces under attack south of your position, over!" Jun shouted, as the marine signal came through yet again.
"We're under attack, repeat, mayday, mayday, Three Charlie Six, we're under attack by the Covenant, I've got wounded, cannot hold this position."
"We need to find those troopers now. Step on it Six." Carter demanded.
"Got it!" responded Six, with determination to find those troopers coursing through. Jun marked a location onto their HUDs and Six followed it. This eventually led them to a house. They hopped out of the car and they entered from the basement with Jorge and Carter following straight behind Six as they tried to find their way to the garage on the other side. The location of the troopers was close by.
"Noble Three, we've located the trooper squad. Request immediate evac. My coordinates." Carter said into comms as they weaved through the abandoned house.
"Solid copy, Commander. Recalling Falcon Charlie Two. Hold that evac position."
Six, Jorge, and Carter were met with some troopers firing into some elite minors and their respected grunt and jackal squadrons when they finally reached their location. Without any hesitation, Noble team opened fire onto the covenant forces, with extra support from the Marines who, at first, couldn't believe what they were seeing. They were making quick work of the foes. Six, firing his rifle down range, grabbed his grenade off his belt and chucked it at the minor as his shields started glowing bright. The grenade went off, and in turn spread colors of blue and purple blood onto reaches green landscape.
"All clear for now, ceasefire." Carter said as the forces were mopped up. Six looked around like the scavenger he was, and upon looking in the garage, found a DMR, and some pistol mags. He set down his assault rifle when walking over and picked up the DMR as well as the ammo for his pistol. He had a big smirk on his face when he aimed down sight and made sure the scope was adjusted. Jorge was laughing at him when he started looking a bit too giddy under his helmet.
"What? Precision and CQB weapons are my go to. Nothing like having sniper rifle with shotgun as a backup. Man, what I would do to get my hands on one of those Energy swords that Zealots and generals use. I will die for one of those." He joked. Jorge laughed as he went over and nudged him with his big armor.
"You really will die for one, after it's stuck into your chest. Don't worry, me and Emile will make sure to bury you with both the sword and the elite." He continued to laugh with him as Six nudged him back with his shoulder. It was nice to find the some peace in the midst of upcoming chaos.
"Noble Leader, be advised: I have visual on inbound Covenant dropships."
"Evac transport, keep your distance! Six, hold this position. Clear an LZ." Carter ordered, as both Six and Jorge got locked and loaded.
"Spartans? Corporal Travis, Three Charlie, sir. It's the Covenant..."
"We know, Corporal. Let's get you out of here. Everyone get into portions now, covenant forces are about to touchdown." Carter got behind a little barricade and Jorge made his way to the front, protecting the Marines behind him. Six got a good distance I'm between Jorge and Carter to make sure he could make nice precision shots.
Soon enough, the Covenant forces began to jump out of the spirits as they neared their LZ.
Noble team and the Marines opened fire onto the Covenant, with a few Minors and Majors leading a jackal and grunt squad. Six was aiming down his sight, taking out the heads of anything that came into his sightline. One by one the jackals and grunts would fall, and Jorge focused fire onto the elites in order to get rid of their shields. After reloading, Six spotted something he didn't like as he continued to take out the forces. A grunt, heavily armored and taking position near a place he doesn't have a shot at.
"Carter! Jorge! Heavily armored Grunt with a fuel rod, about to fire at us. He is at our two o'clock! I don't have an angle!" Jorge saw the area he was talking about and rushed over as Carter went to get a better angle. Six began clearing out The covenant in the open in order to make it safer for Carter and Jorge, and soon enough, a little white grunt was in view. It shot as soon as Jorge walked in front, activating his armor lock and sending it right back at the group hiding behind cover. He was amazed by the timing of that armor lock, as Carter went ahead and mopped up the remaining forces behind that cover. The fire from the Marines ceased, and they were all safe and intact. No plasma had come their way. Our shields took the brunt of it.
"Transport, LZ is clear. Move in for evac."
"Affirmative Noble Leader. Transport inbound." Jun came through as the group started to relax.
"Spartans, me and my fellow marines thank you. Without you guys, we would have been goners…" Spoke that marine known as Corporal Travis. Jorge went over and placed a hand onto the marine. "Don't worry, we are just doing our job."
Two falcons touchdown, with the Marines hopping into one, and Noble team hopping into the other one with Jun already aboard it. Six sat next to Jun, Jorge sat in front of Six, and Carter sat in front of Jun. "Nice job here team, let's get to Kat and Emile." Carter said as they took off.
"Noble Two, sitrep."
"We're at the relay outpost. Door's locked. Mechanism been flash-fused."
"Can you beat it?"
"I dialed up my torch, cut a way through. Going to take some time Commander."
"Okay, we're en route to your location." Noble Team gets locked and loaded as they make their way to the relay.
"We're approaching the com outpost." Said the pilot. Carter looked down and saw covenant swarming the entrance way, trying to get to Emile and Kat.
"Drop us in the courtyard."
"LZ's a little hot, sir-" The pilot tried to change his mind, but Carter wasn't having it.
"Put her down, pilot. Six, break's over."
Jun and Carter began to open fire as the Falcon was landing, with Carter taking out the fodder, and Jun sniping the heads of the Elites, watching and chuckling as their heads crack. "Noble, let's clear out this area!" Noble team hops out of the Falcon and all start attacking the covenant trying to get to Kat and Emile. One by one, foes begin to drop as Noble tears into their forces. "Reloading!" Carter shouts out as Jun covers his six, Jorge going on the frontal assault. "How do you like that huh?" Jorge shouts as his chaingun shreds the shields of a minor and then killing it. Six took a left flank, taking out some jackal marksmen and some more grunts. Six reached the door, where Emile was guarding it while Kat works on a panel of sorts.
"Push to the room! Move!" Carter shouts to the rest of Noble while Six and Emile clear the entrance area. When they finally reached the room, everyone except Jorge and Hun entered, guarding the entrance to ensure Kat's safety. With Jorge and Jun taking potshots at anything that moves outside, Emile, Carter, and Six stock up on Ammo for their weapons. With Shotguns and DMRs on the walls, it was perfect for the three of them. Six wanted to get a shotgun real bad, but he didn't want to be running around with too many weapons. All he needs is a knife, a dmr, and a pistol. A sniper would be a lot better in his mind… or an energy sword.
"How we doing, Kat?" Carter asked.
"Taking a little longer than I hoped, Commander. I've cut about halfway through the door." She responded back, rather annoyed with the doors functionality.
"Contact!" Shouts Emile, as Jun and Jorge hone in to a spirit inbound to their location. "seems like Emile is more cautious then Jun and Jorge. They should have spotted that before Emile. Guess they were to focused on the conversations."
"Hold them off until Kat can hack the controls." Carter said as the team pushed out into defensive positions with Emile guarding the door yet again. Carter and Jun got into marksman positions, with Six and Jorge going for frontal assaults. Spirits began to come out of the wetworks, dropping skirmishers, Minors and Majors leading their grunt and jackal teams. Noble Team took their positions and engaged the covenant forces. Rounds of ballistics and plasma were being launched throughout the Visegrád area. Jun and Carter fired upon anything that showed their vital points, with Jun mostly aiming to blow the brains out of an Elite. Jorge, of course, was acting like the tank he is, shredding just about anything in his sight line. Six covered a flanking route over to the right, and many enemies kept trying to get to him.
"Hahahaha! The bodies just keep piling up. Bring it on!" Jorge laughed as he continued to lay waste with his big machine gun. "You'd think they would take the hint. We don't need any company." Jun added as he lodged another sniper round into the head of an unsuspecting convent pawn. "They are sending all they have at us. We must have pissed them off." Carter said, smug that he and his team shook the covenant so badly that they end up sending squadrons upon squadrons to stop them. Six, dispatching all that moved in his area, didn't say a word. He just laid down fire with his DMR, not letting anything catch a break. Every now and again, someone would toss in a frag to spice things up a bit. Although making quick work, spirits just kept coming, bringing more ground forces. They would need to pull back soon.
"Kat?" Carter asked through comms as he reloaded his weapon behind cover while being supported by Jun and Emile.
"Just about... there! We're in!" Kat shouted into comms, causing the Spartans to get a jolt of energy.
"Everybody inside! Go, go, go!" Carter yells, as Noble team begins to make a hasty retreat. Jun and Emile made their way inside and Jorge made it to the door, but as Carter backed to the door next to Jorge, he saw Six. Six had his DMR on his back, with a blade in one hand and his pistol in the other, taking out anything in his vicinity. His shields were beginning to shine brightly as he began to get overwhelmed. Slicing up the grunts and jackals weren't cutting it with the amount of enemies in the area.
"Inside, Lieutenant! I'll cover you! Get moving!" Carter yelled out to Six. Jorge and Carter laid down heavy fire as Six sheathed his blade and hauled ass to the door, while firing behind him at the skirmishers making chase. As he neared, Jorge and Carter backed in, and Six slide into the room as the sliding door shut behind him. With Noble Team withdrawn to the relay's entrance, the covenant had been completely shut out.
Everyone took a moment to grab their breath and gather some resources. Jorge lightly shoved Six, chuckling at the crazy behavior he exhibits. "What made you go off and do some crazy stuff like that Six? Do your old habits just not die hard? You could have been killed you know." Six looked at him and chuckled himself. "You were going on a full frontal assault too you know. You were tearing into their forces like it was nothing." Jorge and Six kept conversing as Noble gathered their thoughts and grabbed ammo. "Yeah, well you quite literally, teared into the covenant with just that basic knife of yours. It seems like you love to grab a blade and just go berserk. Not to mention your marksmanship is amazing. It could very well be a runner up to someone like our very own noble three."
"Woah, woah now let's not go that far." Jun gave a tiny chuckle as Jorge and Six continued laughing amongst themselves. Even Kat thought that comment was funny coming from Jun. "You have to be more vigilant Six. There were way too many out there for you to handle alone. Had we not been there, you could have died, like Jorge said. Be more mindful of your surroundings and as I stated before, no lone wolf stuff." Jorge and Six straightened up after hearing how serious Carter was.
"Forgive me Sir. Know that I do not do it intentionally with the intent to directly disobey. Being the personal grim reaper for a C.O. means that my body listens to instincts. When I see the enemy, I just have to kill them. Forgive me sir." He repeated in sincerity. Carter just waved it off. "Forget it Six. Just be more careful next time. We will be able to make you a tactical team player before you know it, while being able to retain what made you that grim reaper." Carter finished off, and with the mention of a grim reaper, Emile had to say something.
"You know, you are pretty damn crazy Six. You did all that with a simple little blade. Imagine what you would do if you had your hands on something real, like this bad boy right here." Emile remarked as he pointed to his Kukri. Jorge and Kat seemed to sneer a bit.
"Well, I meant what I said Emile. If I ever see an energy sword, it's mine. Bladed weapons have been my forté since I was a kid, with precision weapons coming in a close second. It's not just the energy sword that I fathom, it's also the Sangheili as a whole." Six replied, holstering his pistol after reloading it. 'During training, I learned a whole lot about the covenant and had to learn their roots. Sangheili and their origins to sanghelios have been by far my favorite to study' he said to them, but kept it to himself inside his thoughts.
"Whatcha mean by that?" Emile asked, very puzzled by what that could mean, but Six let it slide just like Carter did. "Nothing, another time maybe. It's not too important. It won't get in the way of our missions if that is what bothers you." Six retorted, but Emile responded like normal. "Nah Six, just a weird thing to hear is all. We all learn things about each other every once in a while." Emile thought it was pretty cool how Six gave no fucks about his surroundings, and he could respect that as he himself tends to do that. Jun didn't have much to say on it, seeing as he just wants to see the enemy dead, even though he does not hate them.
The team was now ready to get moving. Restocked and ready to move. Six, however, wanted to get one more gun. He loved precision, but sometimes he needed to have a back up for his back up. He went over to the guns placed on the wall, and grabbed an assault rifle with all its mags. He would keep his DMR on his back just in case things called for it, but for such a close quartered area, he needs to run it with better weaponry.
"We need to find the control room. From there, Kat can get the relay back online. Emile, post here. If we flush any hostiles, they're yours. All right, let's do this. Six, you take point. We are right behind you." Carter commands, and Noble Six nodded as they walked with their guns at the ready. The room began to grow darker and darker for the team.
"Can't see a thing. Noble Team, turn on your night vision." Carter ordered, and the team did as commanded. Checking all corners, waiting for his HUD to pop up with any red outlines. As they pressed forward, Kat checked her map, and saw they were getting close.
"Control room. Go easy." She said to Noble.
Noble Six turns the corridor, checking once again for anything suspicious. The lights are on so the more they pressed on, the brighter it got. Noble turned off their night vision, and Six sees a body.
"Noble Six, search that body." Kat ordered, as noble went passed Six to search the area.
Six begins to search the body. It appears to be an older man, and he had been killed by something, but Six couldn't put a finger on what it was. Carter finds an injured trooper, and speaks to him.
"Where's the rest of your unit?"
"We got split. I don't think they... It sounded bad on the comms." The soldier responded, with the sigil of a corporal on his shoulder piece.
"All right, Corporal, stay put. We'll get you a combat surgeon." He got up and checked his surroundings some more. Noble Six continued to search the body of the man. He found nothing so far, and was only thinking about how the man was killed. That is, until he finds a data module on the body as Kat looks at the controls.
"Damn. Plasma damage!" Kat shouts after she surveyed the control panel. Six looked over to Kat.
"Found something." He extends his arm out to Kat with the data module in hand, and Kat snatches it from him.
"I'll take that, Six. Not your domain."
'Damn, grabby isn't she?' He thought to himself.
"I've got a live one over here! Come on, out you come." Jorge shouted out to his team. Jorge picks up a young female, but she continues hitting him while yelling in Hungarian. Six was starting to put some pieces together in his head, and didn't like the picture it was painting.
"It's all right, we're not going to hurt you." Jorge told her, trying to calm her down. The girl just keeps punching and thrashing, trying to get away from him while screaming in her native tongue.
"Jorge..." Carter said in an annoying tone, but Jorge responded quickly with no hesitation.
"I've got her." Jorge puts down his weapon and grabs her by the arms. "Keep still, and I'll release you."
"Még... Itt vannak." (They are still here...) she says to him in Hungarian. Six got it all put together, and shouted out to his team. (Queue badass music) "Guys! Zealots are here!" Jorge stiffens just as a Field Marshal jumps down, and Jorge barely avoids the Elite's Energy Sword while covering the girl. Jun aimed his sniper at the marshal, but he kicked Jun down, with his sniper getting launched away from him. The Marshal growls a challenge at the rest of Noble Team and charges, while two more Zealots jump down. Six aimed his rifle at him and sprayed the marshal down through his entire path, stopping when he got too close to friendlies. Right now, Six's brain was going haywire. Two Zealots and a field marshal were here at the relay, which means something very important is here. 'That was why they were sending so many covenant forces after us!' He shouted in his head.
"What's your status, over?" Emile asked over Comms.
"We've been engaged!" Carter yells back.
The Marshal nearly cuts down Kat, but Carter pushes her out of the way. Noble Six has maintained constant fire during this, and the Elite's shield finally collapses, but he charges and knocks Noble Six down as he runs out the door.
"Bad guy coming out!" Carter shouted.
Another Zealot grabs Noble Six by the neck and extends an Energy Dagger, but Six punches him, stunning him momentarily. The Elite, now unfazed, roars at Six, and prepares to stab him, until Carter kicks him off and Kat opens fire, draining the Zealot's shields. Carter then kicks an assault rifle to Six. Six didn't hesitate and dove for it. The two Zealots head for another door, one holding the shouting Corporal as a shield. The corporal and the girl kept screaming as the three Elites peered at noble team with their swords flashing. Their shields came back up, and Six stared right into the eyes of that Field Marshal. He could feel it staring right back at him. Noble Team held their fire, due to the corporal being used as a shield. The civilian girl begins screaming while the Zealots head through the door, and the Corporal's screams are heard as he is killed.
"That tango blew past me. Permission to pursue?" Emile asked over comms.
"Negative, Four, stay on the entrance. Two, handle her. Five and Six, clear the hole." Carter ordered.
"Sir, consider it done." Six said with enough anger to clear a room. He grit his teeth as he reloads. Jorge and Noble Six head into a room, and Jorge then seals it shut behind them.
Jorge throws a flare to the other side of the room, in an attempt to draw out hiding Covenant. One of the Zealots emerges from behind a crate, roaring and firing his Concussion Rifle at Jorge and Six, while Grunts and Jackals fire their weapons at Jorge. Jorge, being the tank he is, used armor lock while Six flanked left, chucking a grenade at the cluster of grunts and jackals. An explosion went off, causing Jorge to come out of armor lock and start laying into the remaining covenant. Spurts of purple and blue blood flew around the room. Six was targeting the zealot specifically, but when it's shields were about to bust, it ran off. "Dammit! The Zealot retreated! Let's mop up here!" Six shouted as he laid down headshots onto the jackals from his flanked position. Jorge pushed up and hustled to his position as the room cleared. Six grabbed two plasma grenades from the grunts as Jorge regrouped. As Six reloaded, they went down the corridor and noticed a dark area with a bunch of computers to lighten up the place. The computers or whatever the columns were, would move around, changing cover for the battle. Grunts as well as the two zealots were guarding the entrance to the power junction. 'where the hell is that marshal…?' Six thought to himself.
"There's more. Flush 'em out, I've got you covered." Jorge said as he took position on a balcony type position adjacent to where the covenant will be once the cover changes again.
Noble Six pulled out his DMR and put the assault rifle onto his back. Slowly pushing forward, he kept to the left so that the enemies would be in sight for Jorge to take out. Sure enough, the cover changed, causing both Zealots and their grunt squads to disperse, all while firing at Six's location. "Take cover Six! I got your back! Firing!" Jorge shouted over comms as he began to fire into the squads. Six went around to the right, popping the grunts that were focused on Jorge in the side of the head or in the back of their little fin on their armor. The zealots fired their concussion rifles at Jorge, hoping to stop him but once again, he entered armor lock. Six saw an opportunity, and grabbed one plasma grenade from his belt, hurling it at one of the zealots. "Heads up split lip!" he shouted as the zealot looked over at the glowing blue ball plastered on his chest. He roared out as his zealot companion rolled away. Once the explosion went off, a bunch of plasma burnt zealot went flying in the area. "Noooooooo! I'll gut you and put you on a skewer demon!" The other zealot yelled in his native tongue.
The cover changed once again, and there was only the Zealot, and Six. The marshal not in sight is what worried him the most. "Six, I don't have eyes on! There is one more Zealot, I'll watch your back for the other one!" Jorge yelled out. This made Six a little happy, since Jorge had complete faith in him. Six decided to bring up some of his past and bring it to use as the Zealot drew his energy sword, turning it on and roaring. "What was that you said? You'll gut me? Skewer me? I doubt that." Six said using the zealots very own sangheili language. He threw both of his weapons to the side, and drew out his knife. The Zealot was snarling, yet, it was startled by the fact that the demon could use his language. "How you know our language, I know not nor do I care! That puny blade will do nothing for you. This will be the end of you demon! You'll pay for killing my brother!" Six chuckled as he got into a fighting stance, blade drawn and ready to go.
The Zealot roared and charged at him, slicing and lounging at Six viciously. Six managed to dodge every single swing. He went in for a stab, but Six side stepped and grabbed his arm, and bending it in the way it shouldn't. He took a quick stab at the elites stomach, which caused purple blood to cling to his blade, and the Elite kicked Six backwards, causing him to nearly fall. He got a hold of his footing and waited for his next move. "What's wrong? No way you are a zealot with moves like that. You choreograph every move you make. No class, no grace." Six mocked in order to anger the Zealot even more. Proving to be successful, the Elite charged forward once again, slashing a big swing across Six. The elite thought for sure this one would connect, but Six locked his blade with the energy sword, and stopped it before it cut reach his body. The metal on his knife wasn't being cut through despite the raw power of the sword. "Impossible!" The Zealot shouted as he activated an energy blade on his wrist and tried to stab at Six again. Six in turn, pushed and redirected the elites hand with the sword to be shoved into the way of his other arm, and it worked. With the tiny blade slicing his sword hand, he nearly dropped it. This was enough time however for Six to drop down and sweep his legs out from under him, causing the Zealot to fall down onto his back.
Six jumped on top of the Elite and grabbed his wrist, twisting it and causing him to yell out as he dropped the sword. With his left hand still holding the knife, he plunged it into his chest and began to punch the Elite in the face, releasing all his anger built up from today. "You are here because there is a forerunner artifact nearby isn't there?! Zealots and Field marshals are in charge of anything forerunner related, so tell me what is here!" He demanded as he continued to pin him and beat up the zealot. The Zealot tried to hit him with his one good hand, but Six grabbed it, and snapped it. The Zealot roared out in all sorts of pain. "Damn you demon! I won't tell you a thing. On my honor to the prophets. I'll die before I tell you anything. For me, the great journey begins." He replied, hissing with hatred and pain from what Six had caused. Six sighed as he removed the blade from his chest, and placed it up against his neck. "I thank you for the honorable fight Zealot. I am sorry things had to end this way. May the great journey be what you dreamed it to be." He said sincerely. Deep down, Six was a killer. He was born to do no other thing. Yet, he still was very much interested in all forms of life. In a way, he is like Jun. No matter how many he kills, he does not hate them. He was the most intrigued by Sangheili, and this duel meant more to him than anyone else could realize.
The Zealot was taken aback by his words. Not only did he know the language, but he knew how they fight with honor, and duels were to be held honorable to the death. This knowledge made him feel a lot better when it came to falling at the hands of this demon. He at least knew their ways. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate without another word. With that, Six stabbed straight into his throat, causing him to gurgle his own blood before eventually dying of blood loss. Six wiped the blood of his knife and sheathed it, standing up and grabbing his assault rifle and DMR. Placing both behind him in an X-cross, he looked over at the blade that he wielded. The energy sword of a zealot. Said to shine brighter and cut stronger, all the while lasting a lot longer than others. Six didn't hesitate any longer to walk over and grab it, putting it on the left side of his waist just in case he needed it.
His silence seemed to break when he heard Jorge come over the comms. "Hey Six, you alright? Heard quite a lot down there. Were you speaking in its language? Pretty cool if you ask me. I didn't see anything from up here, so I presume that other elite turned tail and headed for his ship."
Six came out in order to look at Jorge, who was still overlooking his area. Six responded with a pretty serious tone. "I'm fine, but I know quite a bit about the Sangheili. That was a Field Marshal that got away. He isn't running away. He simply can't do that. Not with the task he has been given. He will ambush us when we least expect it. Could be later, or it could be a couple days from now. Just watch your back from here on out." He stretched out upon finishing his sentence, getting rather spent on energy for the day. "Hmm, Roger that Six. I am gonna report to the others." Six nodded and stayed put just incase anything happened.
"Noble Five reporting. Contacts neutralized."
"Good work. Kat needs you to reset a junction. Do it and get back here." Carter responded back. Six sighed as he knew he was going to have to do something else there. He could just feel it in the back of his neck. He went over into the room that the zealots had been in, and looked around for a main junction reset. Sure enough upon barely any inspection, he found it and reset it. "There we go, should be good now. Let's head back Jorge."
"Roger." He said back to Six, waiting for him to catch up. Six jogged over to Jorge as the two headed back to the main room, with all of Noble beginning to crowd the room. Kat was working on some panels within one of the computers, and Carter was looking over her shoulder. Emile was leaning up against the wall, while Jun sat in his own little area, loading up his sniper. Six took a glance at the tattoo on his face again, not knowing why he had it there in the first place. 'I will ask him one day' he thought to himself as he went over to the wall in front of Emile and leaned on it with his arms crossed.
Carter was visibly getting impatient, and decided to ask Kat, "How long?"
"Question of my life. If the question is when will this station be back online, two weeks, earliest. This is plasma damage. All major uplink components are fried." She responded, rather annoyed with her surroundings at the moment. Her mind was being clouded by a lot of things.
"Two minutes is too long." He said back still rather impatient.
"Which is why I'm splicing into the main overland bundle to get you a direct line to Colonel Holland... You're in my light, Commander." Carter backed off upon hearing just how agitated she was. He had a feeling that it had to do with today's events on top of some past ones. He turned to Jorge and pointed at the girl from earlier..
"Find out what she knows."
Jorge nodded and taps the civilian girl's shoulder, but she shoves his hand off. Emile chuckles at this, making Six look at him with concern and curiosity. He felt that maybe Emile has had enough for one day as well. Jun and Jorge were the only ones seeming to be normal right now.
"What's your name? Do you live around here?" He asked with a gentle heart, taking his helmet off.
"A nevem Jorge. (My name's Jorge.)" he spoke to her in Hungarian. She seemed rather cold and distant, which to Jorge is understandable due to recent events. She responded only with her name.
"Sára."
"Sára... szép határozott név. (...pretty definite name.) Your accent sounds familiar. Sopron?"
"Tengeri." She responded back, in her rather monotone voice.
Jorge looks at the body, wondering who the man was.
"Friend of yours?"
"Father."
Judge's heart sunk upon hearing that. He now fully understood why she was acting this way. "Sajnálom. I'm sorry."
"Why would you be?" She says with bitterness. Jorge couldn't be angry nor reply to her. She had every right to be upset.
Emile looks over to Six. "Big man forgets what he is sometimes." He says with some annoyance in his voice. Jorge had gotten up and got really close to Emile in an intimidating manner.
"She just lost her father." Jorge says coldly to Emile, causing him to move back just a bit in a fake sign of fear.
Jorge walks over to Carter. "She needs a full psychiatric workup."
"She's not the only one." Emile responded with venom, making Jorge turn to him quickly with anger built up. This made Carter a little bit angry seeing his team bicker.
"Lock it down, both of you! Get her on her feet... the body stays here." He ordered. Jorge lowered his head in appreciation.
"Thank you, sir."
Jorge walks by Emile and glares at him, causing Emile to feign back once again. He then goes over and helps Sára get on her feet, walking her out of the building. Emile and Jun shortly followed behind, but Six stayed with Kat and Carter.
"Signal! It's patchy, but it's there." Kat yelled with excitement in her voice. It made her feel a whole lot better being able to at least do this.
"I'll take it." Carter said as he walked over, taking his helmet off and going to her little set up. Kat had a smirk on her face. "Best not touch anything. You wouldn't want to ground this place." Kat then walked out of the building as well. Six was following behind, but decided to stay in the corridor, waiting for Carter to finish up on his conversation so he could talk with him.
Holland came over the comms, but it had a bit of static. "... I'm barely getting you. What's your situation, over?"
"Colonel, this is Noble One. There are no rebels. The Covenant are on Reach. Acknowledge?"
"Come again, Noble One? Did you say Covenant?" He asked in an appalled tone.
"Affirmative. It's the Winter Contingency."
"May God help us all..." He said with fear over taking his voice. Carter followed up, ready to end the transmission.
"Relay is back online, I'll be it with a bit of jury rig from plasma damage. We secured the area and rescued some troopers and a couple of civilians. Nothing else to report."
"How about your new Noble Six? Has he been … as he should?" The static cut him off just a bit, but Carter understood what he was trying to say. "A couple slip ups here and there, but he is a great addition to the team. Noble is back up to full strength, and I'm sure we will knock out his bad habits."
"Understood Noble One. I suppose keep up the good work. I'll contact you tomorrow with a mission debrief. Holland out." The transmission cut off, and Carter walked out of the room, helmet in hand. As he was walking, he put on his helmet and activated his night vision, now seeing Six appear from out the corner of his eye.
"What is it Six? Something on your mind?" The two of them walked side by side as they headed through the relay to leave. Falcons would be outside waiting to take them back to base.
"Yes sir. It's the Elites that we encountered. There were three elites that attacked us. Me and Jorge only found the two zealots, and we killed them both. The leading Field Marshal is nowhere to be found. I know a lot about how they function, and Field Marshals are in charge with too big of a task to just up and retreat. We need to be watchful at all times. He could be anywhere, plotting to ambush us when we least expect it. He could bring in back up to make our day even worse."
They continued to walk at their slow pace. Carter didn't seem all too shocked by this news, but he was prepared. "Noted. I'll be sure to let the rest of Noble know. We will have extra security measures put in place back at base just in case. Thank you for sharing this info with me Six. Would have been more harmful had you kept that to yourself. I appreciate it."
Six nodded. "You got it Sir." He couldn't help but feel nervous now. He shouldn't have let a Marshal go with such a vendetta. This could seriously bite them in the ass later on.
Once they got outside, the Falcons were there waiting for them. Everyone had already gotten aboard and one Falcon went ahead and started it's lift off upon seeing Carter walk out. The other had Jun in on the far side of the falcon, sitting in the seat with three more seats empty. Carter and Six walked over many dead bodies of covenant in order to get to the Falcon. Once they reached it, Carter sat in the seat adjacent from Jun, and Six went and sat on the floor of the Falcon with his feet dangling off, using the seat as a handle to keep him in place. "Take off pilot." Carter ordered in a gruff tone.
"Roger that Noble One. Heading back to base now, over." The pilot responded. With that, they lifted off, and Six now got a real good idea as for how many they had killed. Bodies upon bodies were lain across the concrete of the relay entrance. With two zealots and an unspoken marshal on top of that, he knew that something very important had to he here. 'Maybe it was on that data chip that Kat snatched from me…' he pondered. With his thought ending, they were off and heading back to base. As they reached their peak height and right before they flew forwards, he felt something hit the falcon. It was small and barely noticeable, but he could feel the odd shift in vibrations when it did. "Could be my imagination, maybe paranoia." He said to himself.
"Noble, we will be holed up in Base a little bit closer to Sword base. We shouldn't be close enough to catch any commotion, but should we need to act, we can act appropriately. We will have round the clock Marines to make sure we are secure. Back at the Visegrád relay, Noble Six informed me that we were unable to take down a Field Marshal class Elite. With his knowledge, he warns us all to keep an eye out, and always be ready for a fight. They don't simply retreat, and he could be back with company." Carter informed Noble through comms as they flew to base. Six knew it was better if he told them, but he can't help but feel like now some of Noble might be annoyed or might get a little too paranoid.
"Roger that Noble leader." Kat responded back. "Yeah, Roger." Emile said kinda nonchalant and not caring all too much. Jorge and Jun had nothing to say on the matter. It was a "heard, understood, out" kind of situation for them.
"You did well today Six. Let's keep up the good work. We gotta be ready for whatever Holland wants for us at Sword base."
"Thank you, got it sir." Six responded with a pride filled tone. Jun then turned over and looked to Six, who's back was faced to him. Six was just enjoying looking at the landscape, wondering what kind of things he could find if he were to investigate. "Hey Six?" Jun asked, in his still rather monotone voice.
Six turned over and looked to him. "Yes Jun? What is it? I do something wrong?" Six got up and sat in the seat across from Carter to he could properly look at him. He had to lean forward a bit, since the weapons on his back would not allow him to lean all the way back. "No Six, I just had something important to discuss with you. We will keep it on private channel. I'm entering a direct link with you now." Six was confused as to what he was going on about, but he just went along with it. His HUD notified him of the direct link, and entered the channel.
"What's on your mind?" Six asked intently. Jun didn't hesitate to delve into it. "You aren't the only one with tons of black ink on their file. Although yours may be a lot fresher, I have my fair share, back when our problems were simply insurrectionists. Much like you, I was tasked with doing some high priority missions for ONI directly. I've seen a taste of your skill out there today. I just had to ask, were you tasked as a Headhunter?"
Six's heart dropped upon hearing that, with whole body becoming still. He had heard a lot about them from his previous commanding officer. He was told not to talk about it ever, but he trusted Noble team with his life, and he knows they would all take each other's secrets to the grave. "No, I am not a headhunter. I have heard much about them, but I was not tasked as a Headhunter. I did specifically what I was told, and it was against anything. I took out insurrectionist bases, as well as covenant outposts off reach." he explained hoping he would understand.
"Hmm, I find it hard to believe that you aren't one. You have the attitude, the lone wolf attitude would fit well, and you fight better than most spartans, and I have barely gotten a chance to see you at your full potential. I see now why they label you a hyper lethal vector. From what I heard, only one other Spartan has this tag, and he is a Spartan II. Consider yourself honored." Jun finished up, and ended the private channel, looking out into the landscape.
'Damn, it really is an honor. Only one other Spartan, and he is a two.' He thought to himself.
"Done with your little chat Jun?" Carter asked in a sort of annoyed tone. He doesn't like it when things get hidden from him, but with Jun he can understand. "Yes sir, sorry for keeping you out of the loop. ONI stuff." He explained. "Understood Noble three, let's keep it to a minimum."
"Roger" Jun responded. Six eventually stood up, holding onto the bar above him and peering out into Reach. They would he nearing the base soon, so he decided to enjoy this view while he could. Soon enough, he will be back out into battle with no time to take in how beautiful reach really is. There will always be a fight, so it's times like these that he cherishes most.
Well, that's it for this chapter. Longest one I have done by far. I am taking a break on Atlas's Revelation to work on his one (as well as real life things. Sorry ^^') I hope y'all enjoyed this one, Love ya.
~Red