Hey all! Finally got another chapter up for you--my apologies for the delay, and for any weirdness herein (had a tough time with the whole court-martial bit). It's a little on the short side, but I promise longer chapters soon!

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo.

Chapter Fifteen: Face The Music

April 26, 2558 1130 hours

UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes JAG Building

North America

The handheld datapad flashed as Laura manipulated the few controls on it; visible on the screen were a number of variously shaped and colored blocks. A few taps of the button and the blocks rotated, a different button dropped it into place.

"They're running late," she muttered, her entire focus on the flashing screen in front of her.

"You're not the only one who's noticed this," Tom replied, his gaze regarding the 'pad curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Tetris," she answered. "It's an old game from the early 20th century, basically consists of rotating and dropping blocks to fill in blank spaces. I found it when I was a kid, and got hooked pretty quickly. It helps that it takes a lot of concentration to work with—keeps me from thinking overly much and sending myself insane."

"I'm impressed—from what I've seen, keeping you from going insane is no easy feat," Kelly chuckled.

Laura looked up briefly, just long enough to send a smile in the other woman's direction. "It can be done, if you know what you're doing." Looking back to her Tetris game, she continued, "A lot of times you just need something to keep me occupied mentally—which can be anything from a complex chore to some basic meditation. Failing that, then just give me something to let off some steam physically: sparring match, weapons practice, or just send me to Ryder's Farm. Ah, those beautiful Thoroughbreds…" she trailed off, losing concentration, and in a few seconds a loud beep hit everyone's ears.

"DAMN IT! I was so close to breaking my last record too!" She punched the power button and slid the datapad into a small satchel.

"Ahh, Tetris—easily amusing, yet just as easily frustrating," Lorienna's voice quipped from some unknown location. Laura's head snapped around before she caught the cheeky AI waving from a computer screen nearby. Dropping a curtsey, she winked and straightened up.

"They were done several minutes ago—Ackerson is purposely making them wait. It's no secret that waiting makes you antsy, I'll bet my next upgrade that he's trying to unsettle you."

"And hope I look bad in the process," Laura grumbled. "Sucker bet if ever there was one. Unfortunately for him, I thought to bring my Tetris pad with me."

"Not that it helped you much, you're still grumpy," the AI replied. "Be that as it may, you've got a lot going in your favor—most notably the security feed. ONI ran into some difficulties when they tried to erase it." She grinned evilly.

"Lorienna, remind me to work on some new upgrades for you when I get out of this," Laura grinned back. "I know I had some scrambler programs in the works."

"Oh I'll make it easy on you, Laura: just make me a Tetris program. You're not the only one who enjoys that game." The two glanced at each other before breaking out into identical grins.

"I'll see what I can do," Laura nodded, a smile still present on her face. Lorienna clapped her hands together before cocking her head; she looked like she was listening for something. "Incoming," she whispered right before she blinked off. Two seconds later Laura heard footsteps, followed by the appearance of one of the local MPs.

"They're ready for you now, ma'am," he said; Laura noticed he was slightly nervous. Probably figures I'd gut him if I got the chance—makes me wonder what ONI's told him.

"No need to call me 'ma'am', I'm no officer." Standing up, she took a few seconds to smooth her dress uniform and turned to the others. "Wish me luck?"

"We've got your back," Kelly replied, the rest of the team nodding. Dr. Halsey smiled in her direction before adding, "I doubt ONI will be able to make the charges stick."

"Thanks." A brief smile flickered on Laura's face before she turned to face the door. "Time to face the music."

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April 26, 2558 1135 hours

UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes JAG Building

North America

"Not guilty." The words rang through the chamber, but to Laura they seemed to fall and die: it looked as though no one would believe her, and the officers in front of her looked like she was already condemned.

"SPARTAN-000, you say you plead not guilty, but we have confirmed evidence that you assaulted several military personnel for no apparent reason. What excuse do you have for this?" That guy seems to be in Ackerson's pocket.

"Self-defense, and the defense of my children." She did not add any honorifics, nor did she look for any ranks; right now they were nameless, faceless officers who had broken their word, and she intended to make that clear. "Ackerson had them at gunpoint, and was threatening them in front of me. I have made it clear to ONI and the UNSC on multiple occasions that I will not tolerate any threats to my family—and I was promised that they would be left alone. When that promise was broken I acted accordingly and neutralized the threat to my children."

"There is absolutely no evidence to support—" one of the officers began.

"Actually, there is. The security tapes can confirm my story." Laura hid a smirk at the uproar this caused. This is about to get highly entertaining.

"Security tapes? Why in hell weren't we told about this?" the lead officer boomed. Because Ackerson and his ONI cronies want to convict me, she thought, but knew better than to speak her mind—no need to cause further uproar. Instead she decided to keep quiet and wait. Now that they knew about the rather incriminating video footage, there was only one possible outcome, or so she hoped.

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John waited quietly in the corridor with his fellow Spartans, Chief Mendez and Dr. Halsey for Laura to reappear from her hearing. Depending on how convinced the panel was of her guilt, she could either be discharged or acquitted.

"You worried, Chief?" Kelly asked. John shook his head briefly.

"Only a little," he replied. "Laura's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

"Most of the time," Fred pointed out. "Remember that winter when her niece fell through the ice? She dove in after her, ran soaking wet through cold weather, and came down with hypothermia? She had to try and fight off a group of Helljumpers and wasn't able to do it."

"It didn't help that they'd taken her combat knives early on," Linda said with a smile. "She was so preoccupied with getting her niece warm that she didn't even hear them come in. Fortunately for her we'd made a habit of tailing her to learn her habits, and we came in just in time to scare them off."

"Yeah, back then that was the only time I was glad to see you guys around," Laura's voice interrupted, soon followed by her strolling down the corridor. Her trademark half-smile was on her face, but her relaxed walk told them all they needed to know.

"I take it things went well?" Dr. Halsey asked, standing up to greet the smiling Spartan. This time a full-fledged grin broke out on Laura's face.

"I've caused quite an uproar, and I daresay Ackerson wasn't expecting it. They didn't know about the video surveillance." By now she was grinning from ear to ear.

"You seem to cause an uproar wherever you go, don't you?" Mendez shot; Laura's grin disappeared. I am really beginning to not like him.

"You just expect me to lay down and die? Because the minute I stop reminding people that I'm still alive, the chances that I'll die unexpectedly go up. By causing trouble and being unpredictable I extend my lifespan. I can't afford to risk playing quietly, not with ONI trying to kill me off at every turn."

"Paranoid much?" Ash asked.

"Old habits die hard, and ONI doesn't give up. And I'm not about to let my guard down." Running one hand through her hair, she sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to snap, but there's a lot of bad memories tied to ONI, it makes me edgy."

"Don't worry about it," Kelly came up and slugged her in the shoulder; Laura flinched. "We've got your back."

"Thanks," Laura smiled. Then she did something surprising: offering her hand to Kelly, she pulled her into a close hug for a few minutes before letting her loose. "It's good to have a friend or two."