Jorge

Shar sat on a crate, packing her armor with all the supplies she would need for the upcoming mission. She packed up extra DMR ammunition and was now inserting high caliber rounds into magazines for her sniper rifle. She'd often taken down entire Covenant camps with a sniper rifle before they even knew what was happening.

A shadow appeared over Shar and she froze in her activities. Ice blue eyes stared up to meet warm hazel. Shar shifted, frowning up at the large man. "Can I help you?"

"You're Shar-312?" The larger man set aside his machine gun turret.

Shar looked over the man. She could tell he was much older than her. At least ten years. She'd never seen armor like his Mark IV armor. It made him look like an actual walking tank. She felt awkward and small in her ODST armor. "I am Shar-312."

A smile spread over the man's face. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jorge-052, I'll be working with you. Hope you don't mind me tagging along." Jorge shifted his helmet to pin it between his side and left arm, his right hand extended.

Shar looked at it for a moment before she reached out and shook his hand. She'd have to be careful around this man. He was a Spartan II, not a III like her. She'd been ordered to use a cover story in order to maintain the secrecy of the Spartan III program. Her story was simple enough to maintain. She was a Spartan II from the second class trained. In reality, there had never been a second class. Funding had been cut, and there'd been no time as the Covenant had arrived and resources were shifted. The Spartan IIs had been told there would be, making for a perfect cover.

Jorge stared down at her. "Don't talk much do you?"

Shar hadn't realized she'd zoned out. "I'm a woman of few words." She returned to her task of putting rounds into the magazine.

"That you are." Jorge frowned as she basically ignored him. Seemed he wasn't used to that. "So you're from the second class?"

Shar stifled a groan of annoyance. "Yes." She really wasn't big on talking. She was used to being alone, working alone, eating alone, being left alone. Jorge didn't seem to get that.

"Never met a Spartan from the second class. Hope Mendez taught you well." Jorge leaned back against the large crate. "How long you been in combat?"

Shar stared at the full clip in her hand. She remembered Mendez. The man had come up with almost every obstacle to throw at her. He'd made her life hell, and was someone she held great respect for. "I've fought enough."

Jorge shifted, seeming a bit uneasy. Shar could only guess he didn't like her answers. "Ever worked in a team?"

Shar looked up at these words. "No, I work alone."

Jorge seemed to relax. "Well, that explains it." Shar raised an eyebrow so Jorge explained. "You're not big on talking and you don't give direct answers. Common with lone wolves in secret projects." Shar tensed. She had taken part in plenty of secrets so far in her career. She had a lot to hide. "Don't worry, I won't ask."

Shar stared at him, trying to decide if he was lying or she'd have to keep her guard up. He didn't seem like he had anything up his sleeve, but she wasn't going to let him have any chances. "I'm not really a people person."

Jorge nodded and moved away from the crate he was leaning against. The Spartan II moved to sit on a crate across from Shar. "So what can you tell me about our mission?"

Shar's blue eyes looked up at him. Finally, a subject she was comfortable with. "Covenant camp. Right now it's the location that they are using to produce weapons. We're to go in, blow up the factory, and kill every alien that we can."

"Sounds like a good time." Jorge grinned and Shar kept the grimace from her face. He really was trying to make friends. He was trying so hard it was almost painful to watch.

Shar stood up and slipped the magazines of sniper ammunition into her armor. "Come on, we should get to work." She reached down and grabbed her ODST helmet, slipping it on.

Jorge nodded and put on his own helmet. "Might I ask you one last thing?"

"You just did." Shar's voice was cold, trying to hide her annoyance.

Jorge seemed to ignore her. "Why do you wear ODST armor? What happened to your Mark IV armor?" He grabbed his turret and followed her toward the waiting pelican.

"I just like ODST armor." Shar moved up into the rear of the ship and sat down in one of the seats, checking over her weapons. Jorge settled down across from her and they fell silent as the pelican took off.

Jorge tried several more times to try to get Shar to talk but she said as little as she could. She took point as they left the ship and moved toward their target. They stopped at the edge of the field that the Covenant had set up the factory in. Crates of what they could only guess were plasma weapons were being moved about the location. Shar pulled out her sniper rifle and looked over the area. If she could figure out if any of the crates had plasma grenades in them she could easily try to hit one and cause a big explosion. It would at least give them a good chance to be able to make an assault, maybe take out the main part of the factory.

"Want to tell me what's in that head of yours?" Shar looked over at Jorge as he spoke. "I'm not a mind reader."

"Not used to having a partner." Shar shifted a bit. She'd have to get used to having someone with her who she had to tell what was going on. "Planning on hitting a case of plasma grenades. The grunts huddle around them well enough it would kill a large number, draw their attention. Then I'm thinking…" Her scope swept over the factory to land on a group of purple single person vehicles. "We steal a couple of those ghosts and play a little death race."

"What is death race?" The larger Spartan looked at the ghosts. "You ever driven a ghost before?"

"Death race is when you take a vehicle, ghost, wraith, warthog, tank, and run over every covenant you can find." Shar shrugged slightly. "I've driven one a fair number of times. Easy controls to understand. If a grunt can do it, we can."

Jorge didn't reply right away. He stared at the ghosts. "I've never driven a ghost before, and I'm not much interested in finding out if I'm a natural like you."

"All right, I hit the crate, take a ghost, and while their backs are turned trying to shoot me, you place the charges. When you're done, come out and cut what's left down." Shar tracked a particular crate as it moved across the camp. There was a single grunt on the top of the case digging around inside. The familiar blue of plasma grenades peeked out. "I have my target. We're going with the plan."

Jorge stiffened. Whether he was ready for battle or surprised by the decision, Shar couldn't tell. She focused fully on her target, squeezing off one round. The sniper round shot through the opening and the crate erupted into a ball of brilliant neon blue. The surrounding grunts were vaporized by the explosion and those close by were sent flying.

"Killionair." Shar shoot off over the ground toward the camp, leaving Jorge behind. The grunts and jackals had all turned toward the explosion, giving Shar her opening. She jumped into one of the ghosts and turned it on. The purple alien vehicle rose up off the ground a couple inches as the antigravity kicked on. The jackals and grunts shouted in surprise and turned toward the source of the noise. They turned just in time to see the hood of the ghost before it slammed into them, sending limp bodies flying.

The ghost sped across the field, knocking grunts and jackals aside. Shar circled around a few times before she spotted a couple grunts setting up turrets. She opened fire with the plasma guns of the ghost and the turrets heated before melting. The grunts tried to run but she chased them down, running them over and painting the front of the ghost an odd blue with alien blood.

Shar circled the field one more time before the bulky figure of Jorge appeared moving out of the main factory. He hefted his turret and as the grunts and jackals shot at the fleeing ghost the Spartan II fired, bullets cutting through the enemies like paper.

Shar turned around and moved back toward her teammate, intending to lead more of the aliens toward him. Jorge shifted oddly, looking off into the distance. As she neared him he suddenly dropped his turret and moved forward. Shar felt him grab the front of her armor and roughly pull her from the ghost. She was just about to shout at him and ask him why when her ghost erupted as a ball of brilliant blue light hit it. Shar turned her attention to the familiar source of the projectile. The wraith moved over the grass, nearing the Spartans.

"Keep its attention." Shar moved off leaving a confused Jorge. The Spartan II moved back to his gun and grabbed the turret. He swung it around and opened fire on the wraith. It turned toward him and moved closer to the Spartan II. The gunner opened fire and Jorge aimed for the grunt. The turrets faced off but while the grunt struggled to track Jorge as the tank moved forward Jorge stayed steady. He finally killed the gunner.

There was a loud banding noise that echoed across the field as Shar climbed aboard the back of the wraith and started to pound away at the metal. The wraith tried to turn, to find its attacker, but it was too late. Sparks flew and Shar dropped from the wraith. She darted toward Jorge and knocked him to the ground. Heat washed over the Spartans as the tank exploded. Shar felt her skin blister under her armor but she pushed the pain aside for now. She scrambled to her feet and looked around. The remaining grunts ran around like scared cockroaches while the jackals struggled to try to regain order.

Shar turned to Jorge as he moved to his feet. "You set the charges?" The Spartan II nodded. "Then let's go. No reason to sit around." Shar took off at a run toward their evac point. She saw the yellow dot on her motion tracker and heard the heavy footfalls of Jorge behind her. At least he could still run and he was keeping up with her.

The two soldiers didn't stop until they reached the evac, hunkering down in the shadows to wait for the pelican to arrive. Shar stared up at the sky and waited. She glanced over at Jorge and frowned as she realized he was staring. "What?" She turned her full attention to him and waited for an answer.

Jorge's large shoulders shrugged. "Nothing really, just thinking about if there's an entire other class of Spartans out there like you, then humanity might have a chance." Shar grimaced behind her visor. She didn't have the heart to tell him that most of the other Spartan IIIs were not like her. They worked in teams, and even then it took about three of them to match up to someone like her or him. On top of that the entire first class had died—well, most of them. She'd heard rumors that some of them were still alive, at least that's what Kat had said. Kat had a way with getting classified information, so Shar believed it. Shar had wondered many times in the past if the surviving Alpha Company Spartans were like her. Lone wolves, better than the rest of their classmates. She was never sure.

"Lost in your head?" Jorge's words caused Shar to look up. "You're staring and I can't imagine that the ground is that interesting."

Shar looked back down toward the ground. "I'm used to getting lost in my head." Shar turned her gaze back toward the sky and spotted the pelican. She stood up and moved out into the open area as the ship.

Jorge moved up to stand to her right. "Well, I have to say this was a bit fun. Maybe one day you can teach me to drive a ghost. Though any time you need back up I'm more than willing. Haven't had a thrill like that in battle in a while." The pelican landed and Jorge moved aboard. Shar frowned after the Spartan II. She wasn't sure how much she liked the idea of working in a team again. She did like having someone watch her back, but she wasn't sure if she was cut out for it.

The female Spartan moved into the pelican and motioned to the pilot. The pelican rose up and when they were a safe distance she detonated the charges that Jorge had set. The Spartan II stared out the back, watching the explosion while Shar stared up at the sky above the planet. "Not going to watch the fireworks?" Shar turned toward Jorge who was watching her.

"I've seen it before." She looked back up and Jorge followed her gaze to one of the cruisers in the sky. "I'm more interested in seeing what kind of fireworks one of those would make."

Jorge looked down to Shar. "You are a bit of crazy." He chuckled and Shar frowned. She didn't like being laughed at. "Nothing wrong with that though. Have to admit though, love to see what it looks like myself." The Spartan II leaned back as Shar hit the controls in the back, sealing up the rear of the ship as they rose up.