The Shield World formerly hidden within the artificial planet Onyx was a place of great mystery to the UNSC. Although they had maintained exclusive control over the area since the end of the Human-Covenant War, most of the livable terrain within had yet to be explored.

Because of that, all official military personnel were expected to dedicate significant man hours to manual patrols of unexplored sectors of the Shield World. The task was typically seen as a chore - adding yet more work to the already full schedules of the UNSC staff - but there were very few who hated the standing order more than Tom-B292.

The Spartan trudged through the spindly grass with a disgusted fervor, kicking clumps of dirt whenever possible. "This is ridiculous," he grunted, glaring at the horizon as he marched. "This entire facility has been mapped a dozen times by drone. Why do they insist that we waste our time doing what's already been done?"

His partner kept pace in silence. Her silence was far from unusual, as Lucy-B091 had been mute since she was twelve years old. However, while the smaller Spartan may have matched Tom's pace, her attitude could not be more different from his.

Lucy turned in a circle, eyes wide and a large grin plastered to her face, to take in her surroundings. While the Shield World's internal biome was not far removed from that of Onyx, the new location was thrilling to the young soldier. She lived for the spontaneity of her weekly explorations with Tom.

Usually, Lucy's happiness was enough to keep Tom satisfied. But not today.

"I have too much work to do," he continued to grumble as he trudged along, disintegrating another clump of dirt with a powerful kick. He barely registered that the sparse grass they had been marching through was giving way to looser dirt, so focused was he on being disgruntled. "I have personnel to train, security measures to improve, and materials to requisition. I can't waste my time on these ridiculous little walks just because some suit ordered it."

From the corner of his eye he saw Lucy shake her head at him, her body language clearly expressing bemusement even through her full Semi-Powered Infiltration armor. She pointed at herself with a thumb, then pointed out ahead of them before taking off at a jog. She crested the low hill ahead of Tom and barrelled down the other side.

Confident that his partner would communicate if anything went wrong, Tom continued complaining as he began climbing the hill himself.

"They cut down the time to do our job, but increase the responsibilities. They expect us to play nice with every one of their stupid regulations. They even took our MJOLNIR, stuck us back in these SPI suits for no reason. It's absolutely ridicul -"

His train of thought cut off when the ground beneath him gave way. He barely managed to keep himself upright as the loose dirt beneath his feet turned to sand and slide down the hill like water, carrying Tom along with it.

When he came to a stop, Lucy was at his side in a moment. She put a steadying hand on his shoulder, but he could see by the way her own shoulders shook she was laughing at him. He shook his head, but allowed a small grin to cross his lips. He looked up to realize that the reason the loose dirt had suddenly transitioned into sand was because the biome was now an ocean - he and Lucy were standing on a tiny beach, overlooking a vast ocean.

Lucy removed her helmet, grabbing the point of her chin with her thumb and forefinger and pulling her hand away from her face. Watch.

"I get it, I get it," Tom said with a sigh as he removed his own helmet. "Watch where you're going."

Lucy nodded once with a satisfied grin. She took a step closer to Tom then, bumping him with her shoulder as she turned out to look at the unnatural sea facing them. They watched together in silence, their armor arms resting against each other, for several long moments before Lucy started to move again.

Rather than turn back up the slope to continue their day's exploration like Tom expected, his partner began detaching pieces of her armor.

"What are you doing?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lucy turned back to him wearing an expression that clearly communicated he had just asked the most idiotic question of all time. She then held her hands out, palms down, and made circular pushing motions with them. Swimming.

Tom watched in silence as Lucy finished discarding the rest of her armor. She then turned toward him, wearing a bemused smirk to see him standing stock-still and staring at her. She stepped in close, leaned up on her toes, and planted a gentle kiss against his cheek. Then she was off, gleefully racing toward the gently crashing surf.

Tom sighed. They had to finish mapping their sector, not to mention their regular responsibilities that would need tending to after they returned. He needed to drag Lucy back and get back to work.

Then his partner turned back and used one hand to gesture for him to follow her, and Tom could do nothing more than sigh once more before quickly getting to work removing his own armor.

Mendez was always telling them they needed to take some time off once in a while. They deserved a beach day.