Chapter 4

Noble Team

Jorge- Noble Five

Noble Six and Jorge-052 and the remaining UNSC squad that accompanied them had succesfully defended the slipspace bomb against the crew of the Covenant Corvette. Jorge set to work starting the timer, but when he pushed the button, the screen said 'ERROR'. "Dammit" Jorge cursed, he tried again, once again the screen said 'error'. Unfortunately the skirmish in the hanger had damaged not only the Pelican transporting the bomb but also fried the timer. "So, it's going to like that?' Jorge said to himself. He gave the timer a final whack before turning to Six, "alright", he said "I got good news and bad news". "This bird took some fire and her thrusters are toast so the only way off the slag heap is gravity". "What's the good news", Six asked, "that was the good news" Jorge replied. "Fifty three seconds to impact" warned Auntie-Dot "yeah, yeah, yeah" said Jorge already annoyed at the situation. "Bad news is, timer's fried, I'll have to fire it manually". "That's a one way trip" said Six, Jorge shrugged "we all make it sooner of later". "That won't be nessesary", said one of the remaining troopers. Jorge and Six looked at them, SPC J. Jones and B. Law were standing next to the Reactor. Jones, the one who spoke, said "Reach is going to need every single Spartan it can get, we can do this, you two go". "Are you sure" Jorge asked concerned. "Well it's not like we can go anywhere" said Law. "As you said, our ride home is toast and we don't have a life support system like you guys". "Good luck then" said Jorge, "tell them to make it count" said Jones. With that, Six and Jorge turned to the hanger enterance and jumped. As they freefalled back to Reach, they saw the explosion and watched the Supercarrier get ripped apart. Moments later they saw a covenant battlecruiser appear out of slipspace, then another, and another. The few became dozens, then hundreds. "NO", Jorge cried out "NO, NO, NO". It seemed like the entire covenant fleet had decended on the planet, "It was all for nothing" Jorge said in despair, "but it's not over yet" Six replied "it's not over yet".

Kat- Noble Two

Six regrouped with the rest of Noble Team who had just finished their own objectives in New Alexandria. He looked out the window and watched as the city was glassed. "Look at this place" Jun said as he looked through his binoculars. "It use to be the crown jewel, hmph not anymore". He turned and saw Six had returned "hey, you made it". "It's a regular family reunion" Emile said sarcastically. "Sir, is it true Gauntlet, Red and Echo team have been assigned to civilian evac ops?" Jun asked. Carter turned to Kat "I hear what I hear" she told him. "I need that link to SATCOM Kat" Carter urged. "Chasing it, but the console's got more shrapnel than the transeivers" Kat replied. "So what now" asked Jorge. "You want to know if we're loosing?" Carter asked, "I know we're loosing" Jorge said grimly, "I just want to know if we lost"? "Got something" Kat announced, the voice of Colonel Holland crackled over the console. "Sierra Two Five Nine, this is a priorrity one hail, if your receiving, acknowlage immediately". Kat handed Carter the communicator "keep it brief" she said. Carter took it "Carter here, yes sir, understood". Just then June spoke "boss covenant forces are leaving in a big hurry". "How often do you see that happening"? Emile questioned. Kat figured it out "Their going to glass the area, and it's close". "How close" Carter asked, suddenly a huge explosion ripped through the building knocking everyone off their feet. "That close" Kat yelled. Everyone got up and rushed to the elevators, Carter, June and Emile took one, Kat, Six and Jun took the other. Kat pushed the button and began the decent. "Your first glassing"? she asked Six, Six nodded, "Me too" she replied. "Everyone check your shields", Six advised "The blast may have disabled them". The Rest of Noble Team complied, "good call" said Kat, "mine shorted out". "Mine too" Jun reported. "Our best option is a fallout bunker on sub-level 2" Kat reported. "Any orders from Holland commander?" she asked. "We're being redeployed to Sword Base", Carter replied. "SWORD?" Jun questioned, "the covenant own it now". "Which is why their sending us for a torch and burn op. Prevent Dr. Halsey's data from falling into enemy hands" Carter answered. The elevators stopped and everyone started running towards the bunker. But Six, ever vigilant quickly scanned the area and spotted the Phantom with a Field Marshal on board. "Everyone heads up, Covenant sniper" Six yelled. He took aim with his DMR and fired, the shots kocked the elite off balance and caused himto miss the shot and hit Six in the shoulder. Six grunted and continued shooting at the Field Marshal and manage to take out it's shields. Jun took aim with his trusty sniper rifle and pulled the trigger just as Six did the same. The rounds went right throughthe Field Marshal head killing him instantly. Six watched as the Field Marshal dropped to the ground mere inches from him. After that Noble Team made it to the bunker and awaited transport. Jun and Six heartily argued over who took down the elite before Jun gave Six the kill. "You did good Six" Carter commented. "Yeah" said Emile 3 Zealots and now a Field Marshal, Hyper-Lethal indeed. Later Kat walked up to Six, "thank you" she said softly before walking away. Behind his helmet, Six smiled "all in a days work".

Carter- Noble One, Emile- Noble Three, and Noble Six- B312

After successfully defending Halsey's Lab from a Covenant attack, Dr. Catherine Halsey and Noble Team headed to the Hanger where 2 pelicans awaited. Jorge volenteered to escort Halsey the CASTLE Base. Before leaving Six decided to take a jetpack he had used during the skirmish at the lab, anticipating that it would be more useful. The rest of Noble Team boarded the other pelican and headed straight to the Pillar of Autumn. However it became clear that the Covenant owned the sky so they opted to go on foot. Along the way, Noble Team encountered a couple of Scarabs. Six used his jetpack to fly up to the Scarabs rear and used a rocket launcher to destroy the core. He repeated the same process with the other Scarab thus buying the remaining UNSC forces more time. After jumping the bridge, they encountered a third Scarab which Six made short work of that on as well. Finally they reached the Ship Breaking Yards after fighting their way through Shade Turrets, Ghosts, Hunters and high Elites, Noble Team finally reached the Pillar of Autumn's docking bay, Six manned the Onager cannon and Jun gaurded him while Carter, Kat, and Emile cleared the landing pad, Six was deadly on the Onager, covenant aircraft where dropping like flies. Six prioritized, targeting the Phantoms first. Soon the Covenant waves died down and the path was clear for Jacob Keyes' pelican to land. Six leaped out of the Onager to meet him, Jun took his place."Good to see you spartans" said Keyes "Halsey assured me I could rely on all of you". Six handed Keyes the A.I, then Keyes spotted the Covenant Battlecruiser. "Cruiser heading for the Autumn, Three take it out or we ain't getting out of here" Keyes ordered. Six and the other Spartans went to Onager to assist June. A Phantom appeared overhead and dropped off a few Zealots. Fortunately Noble Team was able to fend them off and Six took Jun's place on the Onager. After shooting down more Phantoms and a number of banshees, Six open fired on the Battlecruiser's energy projector. The hit severly damaged the ship, causing it to crash to the ground. Keyes' pelican returned, hovering near the Onager. Everyone jumped aboard and the pelican arrived at the Autumn just as the count down ended and the Pillar of Autumn. After evading the covenant blockade, the A.I made a 'random' jump into slipspace. Upon coming out of slipspace Six and the rest of Noble team looked out the window of the bridge and saw only one thing before them. A giant ring.