2115 Hours, August 15, 2552 (Military Calendar) /

Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach

Spartan Carter-A259 was no stranger to mud. Over the course of his life he had operated in every type of mud, from the slick soup of a desert in a flash flood to the saturated silt at the floor of half a dozen oceans across the galaxy. This mud, however, was a different thing entirely. It was a thick, deep clay that seemed to suck at his feet with every step he took, nearly threatening to pull him under completely on a few occasions.

After fighting through the mud - and through a full battalion of Covenant ground troops - for a full day, the Commander sank to the ground with a tired sigh. Then he sank into the ground, the weight of his MJOLNIR armor driving his body down into the mud.

Carter sighed tiredly. There were other things he needed to be worrying about than mud. He had two Spartans as yet unaccounted for. He had to be prepared to take care of the rest of his team under any circumstance, and those circumstances were becoming increasingly impossible to foresee.

He almost felt like his mind were slipping under the mud as badly as his body. Two teammates as yet unaccounted for, and a massive conflict going on literally anywhere in the entire system. At times like these, he didn't know what to think. He didn't trust his own thoughts. They were clouded, muddy . . . emotional.

His mind was still stuck on his missing teammates when he felt something land in the mud behind him. Rather, he felt some one fall heavily into the mud behind him.

"Lean against me, Commander," a familiar Slavic accent told him. "You lean on me, and I'll lean on you. Between the two of us, we should be able to keep our heads above the mud."

Though her voice was confident and unbothered, Carter could tell something was wrong. Kat didn't ramble like this unless there was something on her mind that she was desperately trying to keep off of it. She kept up her quiet ramblings for several moments, pressing against Carter's back to ensure that he was really there.

"We've got to stay out of the mud as much as we can," she plowed on, regardless of whether he was listening to her or not. "If we get too much mud down into our armor then I'll end up needing to do a full diagnostic and that could take us days. Of course, maybe if you . . ."

Finally, Carter wordlessly reached his right arm back until he caught hold of Kat's left hand. Even through two layers of MJOLNIR armor he could feel her body tense at first, then almost immediately relax. She entwined her fingers with his and leaned her head back to rest it on Carter's shoulder.

"I'm worried," Carter admitted through gritted teeth. "I'm worried about Five and Six, I'm worried about the mission overall, and I'm worried about Reach." He shifted a little bit in the mud until he could just catch her in his peripherals when he turned his head. "I need to know you're here," he finally admitted, squeezing Kat's hand. "I can't lose you."

Kat squeezed back, tracing some kind of pattern over Carter's gloved wrist with her fingertips. "I'm here," she assured him. "I'm not going anywhere unless you'll be there with me, Commander." He could see her looking at him from the corner of her eye, and when she moved her head a part of him expected - and a lot of him hoped - to feel her soft lips press against the side of his face. Instead, she silently lay her head back down on his shoulder, and he turned his own to gently press it against hers.

Then, hand-in-hand and shoulder-to-shoulder with his most solid support, Carter-A259 closed his eyes, and felt grateful for the mud.