Melee chapter. I need to practice writing hand to hand combat more, as I'm not very good at it. I can generally picture in my head how I want a fight to go, but trying to translate that mental image into words is difficult, especially as I'm not familiar with the names for all the fighting moves and whatnot.

Clifton Orbital Defense Platform
Atlas, Valence System
2538

Petty Officer Third Class Maria-062, Spartan Team "Argon"

Maria fired two shots and immediately ducked back behind the corner as the sound of two bodies hitting the ground filled her ears, followed by the shrieks of anger and cries of fear from the rest of the patrol. With the level of stoicism people had come to expect from a Spartan, Maria barely blinked as a barrage of plasma shredded the corner, and instead, checked her HUD: she had five rounds left, and twelve Covenant left to kill. A Brute Major. A Brute Minor. Three Skirmishers and seven Grunts. Piss poor odds…

… for the Covenant.

That's not to say this would be easy, of course. So far the Covenant were doing everything right, most notably, they were staggering their fire, ensuring only half their guns were firing at one time so as to make sure they didn't all run out of ammo or overheat their weapons at the same time as well as keeping a constant barrage of plasma on her position. Hardly a surprise; Covenant boarding teams usually consisted of veteran troops as battles on ships and space stations were far less forgiving on green troops when compared to planetary surface warfare. Still – as Chief Mendez had drilled into every Spartan's mind during their training years – everything had a weakness, it was just a manner of find it and exploiting it.

And so, Maria stripped the magazine from her pistol and waited, using the sound of the plasma impacts as her counter.

Thud thud. Thud thud. Thud –

There was a break in the fire, barely half a second long, but for Maria, that was more than enough. She immediately tossed her mag around the corner.

There was a moment of hesitation and then –

"AIEEEEEE! BOMB!"

The sounds of the Grunts' panicked shouts filled Maria's ears as she whirled around the corner as fast as lightning. Having already surmised what the Covenant were up to, Maria was unsurprised to see the Covenant patrol had divided themselves into two teams and had been in the midst of executing a bounding overwatch maneuver, with one team firing and one team advancing. Planting herself amongst the advancing team, Maria took advantage of the chaos and the hesitation caused by her sudden appearance to ignore them for a moment as she looked past them, seeking out the overwatch team. Her eyes immediately locked onto the Brute Major leading the patrol and she leveled her sidearm and –

- BAM. The single .50 caliber semi-armored-piercing, high explosive round she had in her chamber exited the end of her muzzle and sped downrange, not towards the Major, but towards the Brute plasma rifle he carried. The rifle exploded, destroying the most dangerous weapon in the patrol and temporarily removing the Major from the fight. Then, she went to work.

Twirling around her empty sidearm so that she was holding it by the barrel, Maria whirled around and pistol whipped the Skirmisher closest to her. There was a sickening crack as the Skirmisher's jaw shattered, and the alien dropped like a sack of potatoes. In the same breath, she front-kicked the other Skirmisher in the head with enough force to send the diminutive alien head over heels down the corridor and straight into the trio of Grunts, knocking them all to the ground like a bowling ball.

A loud war cry filled her ears as the Brute Minor darted forward, trying to skewer her with his Spiker's bayonet; ducking under and sidestepping the blow, Maria slammed her pistol down on his hand – causing him to drop his weapon – then kneed him in his exposed stomach, once, twice in rapid succession. As the Minor doubled over in pain, Maria hammered the Brute in the base of his skull with the grip of her magnum, sending the alien sprawling to the deck, a sizable dent in his neck.

FWOOZ!

Maria snapped her head to the side as a radioactive green spike hissed by her helmet and she dove forward into a roll, snagging her magazine off the ground and popping it back into her magnum before the Skirmisher could draw another bead on her. Landing on one knee, she thumbed the slide release and as soon as her sidearm was back in battery, she pulled the trigger.

BAM BAM BAM BAM.

The Skirmisher visibly flinched as the four Grunts that surrounded him fell over backwards, all dead with a single bullet in each one of their heads. Hurtling her now empty pistol and causing the Skirmisher to recoil and instinctively grab his face as the heavy paperweight hit him in the snout, Maria surged to her feet and launched herself forward. The Skirmisher let out a squeak of alarm as he realized Maria was now standing within arm's reach in front of him and attempted to bring his carbine to bear, but Maria calmly grabbed the barrel with her right hand and pulled while at the same time, delivered a vicious uppercut to the Skirmisher's jaw with her left.

The Skirmisher's head snapped back from the blow and he reflexively let go of his weapon, allowing Maria to grab the carbine with both hands and swing it like it was a baseball bat. The Skirmisher was literally sent flying a few meters down the corridor before his impromptu flight was rudely interrupted by the bulkhead wall. The alien pancaked against the wall before collapsing to the base in a boneless heap.

"ROARRRR!"

Were she anyone else, that bellow of rage may have caught her by surprise but Maria's heart barely skipped a beat as the Brute Major emerged from nowhere and tried to grab her from behind. Instead of fighting it, Maria let him wrap his arms around her as if he was merely giving her a hug, but before he could tighten his grip, Maria was already darting forward, forcing the Major to follow least he lose his hold. Dashing at the wall, she leaned back into the Brute's clutches as she took two steps up the wall and backflipped over the Brute, smoothly slipping out from his grip at the same time.

Before the astonished beast could recover, she kidney punched him twice in rapid succession before grabbing him by the lower jaw from behind and yanking downwards, wrenching it out its socket. As the stunned alien dropped to his knees, Maria grabbed his head with both hands and twisted.

Crack.

The Brute slumped and sagged forward, his head hitting the wall and leaving him leaning there, completely still. Without breaking stride, she snagged one of the incendiary grenades the Brute had attached to his belt, primed it, and casually tossed it over her shoulder.

"AHHHHHH!"

The horrific screams of the three remaining Grunts filled the corridor as they were set ablaze by the flaming liquid. They ran around in a panic, trying to put themselves out, but it wasn't long before all three of them were collapsing to the deck, dead, the smell of charred flesh replacing their cries in the now empty corridor. Maria didn't like Brutes, but she had to hand it to them: they knew how to design weapons.

Bending over, Maria quickly recovered her pistol while also snagging one of the many plasma pistols littering the ground; it would have to do as a substitute until she could find more ammo. Keying her mic, she reported, "One this is Three: Security Romeo-01 is secured."

"Copy that," the voice of acting Spartan team commander, Lieutenant Carter-A259 sounded in her headset. "Three, Security Forces personnel are requesting Spartan assistance at Armory Alpha-01; make your way over there now, over."

"Affirmative, One, I copy your orders. Proceeding to Armory Alpha-01," Maria replied.

"Three, be advised, security cameras have picked up on the presence of a Brute Chieftain believed to be leading this assault on deck five heading towards Firing Control. Jorge and Kai are already headed down to intercept, but remain vigilant in case- "

The hairs on the back of Maria's neck stood up and she immediately leapt backwards.

CLANG!

A massive blade passed through the air where she once stood, slicing through the muzzle of her confiscated plasma pistol and rendering it useless. She immediately hurtled the remains at her attacker to give herself some breathing room and braced herself for the follow up attack. No such attack came though and instead, a bulky Brute wearing the ornate crimson armor of a Chieftain and hefting a massive falchion sword-like blade on his shoulder came strolling around the corner. The Brute was nodding and even with its alien face, Maria could see the Brute had a look of approval on his face. Then the creature opened it mouth and said something foreign, and it took a moment for her helmet's auto-interpreter to kick in.

[Excellent reflexes; good, this will be a challenge.]

Maria stared at the Brute.

"Three, report."

"Found the Chieftain," she simply said, and pinged her location before switching off her radio.

It was pretty self-evident what the Chieftain wanted: a one on one dual. Normally, Maria would be all for the challenge, however there was a time and place for such a thing and the battlefield was neither. However, studying the Chieftain, it was clear she didn't really have a choice: upon closer inspection, the 'sword' the Chieftain was carrying was actually the rotor blade from a UH-177 "Falcon" helicopter, fitted with a hilt and sharpened to an edge. It was obviously a trophy weapon, as the hilt was fitted with a human skull for a pommel, possibly belonging to the poor pilot who had flown said Falcon. That alone told everything Maria needed to know about the Chieftain as this was going above and beyond a Brute's normal habit of trophy collecting: this was a self-aggrandizing warrior who took great pride in his own fighting ability, constantly looking for the next challenge to conquer.

And apparently, Maria just happened to be that next challenge.

…well, better her than anyone else on this station, she supposed, as she knew if she were to reject this challenge, the Chieftain would undoubtedly go on a rampage and attempt to kill every other human aboard this station. No, better she dealt with this now.

She minutely tensed as the Chieftain lowered his sword so that it was pointing at the ground at an angle, and spoke once more.

[I have heard of the fighting prowess of you Demons,] her helmet helpfully provided. [And I have longed to test my mettle against one of you. Today, we shall see who is the true champion.]

Maria immediately sidestepped and then ducked and not a moment too soon because as fast as a viper, the blade was slicing upwards and then horizontally as the Chieftain launched into his attack without any warning. And them they were off.

Almost immediately, Maria realized two things. One: as a Spartan, she was very good at melee combat. Two: not only was this Chieftain was better, he was also a master swordsman.

The Chieftain's blade weaved an intricate web of moves as he cut, slash, and jabbed through the air, forcing Maria to remain on the defensive as she frantically tried to avoid getting cleaved in twain. Maria had spent her entire life training for a wide variety of combat scenarios, but this was not one of them, and she was quickly discovering she did not care for it. At all. And worst of all, she was pretty sure the Chieftain was toying with her.

She snapped her head to the right as the Chieftain jabbed his sword towards her face. Her body soon followed as she was forced to sidestep to the left as the blade was suddenly launched downward, only for it to stop at waist height and shoot sideways as the Chieftain attempted to slash Maria's stomach open. Fortunately she was able to raise her left arm in time and hit the blade on the flat edge with her forearm, deflecting the blow, only for her to immediately realized the Chieftain had been planning for her to do that as he was able to use the momentum from the impact to spin the sword around his back, switch hands, and complete the loop by attempting to diagonally cut her in half.

Trying to dodge, Maria ducked, darted to the right, planted her foot against the bulkhead wall and used it as a springboard to flip over the sword as it swung back in her direction like a pendulum. However, halfway through her flip, the Chieftain abruptly lurched forward and drove his shoulder into her, sending her flying backwards a few meters. She hit the ground but was fortunately able to use the momentum to roll backwards, a move that proved to be fortuitous as a moment later, the sword came swinging down from above, slamming into the deck with enough force to leave a deep gash.

Maria was given no time to recover as the Chieftain began sweep to floor with his sword, requiring Maria to scoot backwards on her hands and butt to avoid getting cut by the sharp blade. As she quickly backed down the corridor, she abruptly touched something and without hesitation, she grabbed the object and hurtled at the Chieftain.

That "object" turned out to be the corpse of one of the Skirmishers she had killed earlier. Nevertheless, the body flew towards the Chieftain, but the body didn't even come close to connecting as the Chieftain cleanly cut the body vertically in half, causing guts and blood to splatter all over the place. Still, Maria was able to take advantage of the half second the Chieftain was distracted to leap backwards, grab a carbine lying on the ground, and surge upright.

FWOOZ!

Maria got up firing, for all the good it did. The first round, the Chieftain deftly dodged. The second, he blocked as he spun his sword around and skewered the barrel, causing the third round to go straight into the deck. A slight twist of his wrist somehow caused the carbine to go flying out of her hands and straight into the wall where it shattered into pieces.

…okay then. She needed a new plan; she had to get on the offensive.

Abandoning all caution, she threw herself at the Chieftain, trying to take him by surprise while at the same time, trying to get into his sword swing. If she could get close enough, the Chieftain wouldn't be able to use his sword at all, given her the advantage. Yet, that proved to be far more difficult to accomplish as the Brute was able to dance back, jabbing his sword forward like it was a spear and forcing Maria to abort more than one attack, least she accidentally impale herself on the blade.

Seeing an opportunity, she feinted right before immediately throwing a hammer punch with her left fist, only to fall for his feint as the Chieftain blocked the blow with his blade and smashed her in the face with the hilt with enough force, it cracked the outermost layer of Maria's visor. Half blinded by the impact, she reflexively lashed out with a kick, catching the Chieftain in the stomach, though it was a weak blow and only caused him to take a few steps back instead of bowling him over like she had hoped.

Still, it bought her enough time to reassess her situation. And her strategy.

So far it was clear the Chieftain was a far more skilled fighter than her, especially with her being unarmed as she was. Her only advantage was her armor, as it would allow her to tank some blows she wouldn't otherwise, but based on the deep gouges being left in the metal deck and walls, she couldn't base her entire strategy around it as her armor it would quickly fall apart under his blade. She didn't necessarily mind sacrificing her MJONLIR if that's what it took to survive, but she would only do so if she could trade it for some other advantage, such as –

She paused as she noticed something down the corridor she hadn't consciously been aware of before. That… that might be worth it. Now all she needed to do was get the Chieftain in to a position to –

The Chieftain abruptly shifted his weight as he prepared his next attack and Maria realized it was now or never. Before the Chieftain could make his move, Maria struck first, lunging forward and throwing a Superman punch. The blow smashed against the Chieftain's jaw, catching him by surprise, but he instantly recovered and retaliated by viciously planting his blade into Maria's abdomen; she let out an involuntary grunt of pain as the edge cut straight through her outer armor shell and into her bodysuit, stopping just short of actual flesh, but she didn't relent. Even as the Chieftain ripping his sword free, she kicked at his knee and when he dodged that, threw a left hook that barely cuffed him across the brow as he snapped his head back.

The Chieftain retreated a few steps, swinging his sword wildly, trying to restore the distance between him and Maria, but she willfully tanked several of the blows as she followed closely in his wake. Her HUD began frantically beeping at her – and quickly upgrading to a loud shrill – as more and more gashes and breaches appeared in her armor, but she muted and dismissed the alerts as she continued her relentless attack, forcing the Chieftain further and further back until –

CLANK.

The Chieftain attempted a swing but then the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air and reflexively, the Chieftain glanced over his shoulder to see he had been backed up against the wall and that –

Maria seized the opportunity: she drew her fist back and punched forward with all her might.

CRASH!

The Chieftain outright smirked at her as he snapped his head to the side and Maria's fist slammed into the wall behind him, missing his face. Or, at least, it would have been a miss if Maria had been aiming for him…

The rest of the glass went crashing down to the ground as she ripped the fire axe from its small metal box that read "In Case of Emergency" and managed to hook the axe head heel around the back of the Chieftain's neck and pulled. Caught completely off guard, the Chieftain pitched forward, only for his face to meet Maria's knee as it snapped up from the ground.

The sound of metal shattering filled the air as the Chieftain's helmet broke under the blow. Blood pouring from his face, the Chieftain reflexively snapped his head back, only for him to smack it against the bulkhead wall. A look of shock briefly flashed across the Chieftain's face as he realized he was trapped between Maria and the wall, and Maria took a moment to savor the expression before she went to town on the Brute.

Blows rained down on every part of the Chieftain's body as Maria pummeled him, the Chieftain struggling to defend himself, but at this extreme close distance, his sword was basically useless as he didn't have room to swing it. Neither did Maria for that matter, but at least she was able to hold her axe by the shoulder and use the head to augment her punches. The cutting edge of the blade was able to slip in-between the many unarmored creases and joints of the Chieftain's armor, while Maria's Spartan strength made sure it was able to cut through fur and skin alike, seeking out flesh and drawing blood. Within a matter of seconds, the Chieftain was covered in blood and cuts, none of which were fatal by themselves, but together would begin to slow him down.

In a desperate attempt to stave off the onslaught, the Chieftain managed to bring his right leg up between them and shove Maria away. It was a weak blow, but Maria allowed it happen because as she skidded backwards, she let the fire axe handle slide through her hands until she was grasping it by the throat…

…and swung it hard, over her head. The Chieftain let out a bellow of pain as the axe tore through his pauldron, smashed through his armor, and dug deep into his shoulder, causing a squirt of blood to come spilling out. But Maria wasn't done. Giving the axe a sharp tug, the Chieftain was yanked forward and flew straight into Maria's fist.

Maria felt his nose breaking under the blow as the Chieftain was thrown back against the wall, his helmet shattering into a thousand pieces and raining down around him. She surged forward to do a follow up attack, but quickly aborted as the Chieftain blindly swung his sword in a wide, defensive arch around him. She darted back a few steps and lifted her axe in a defensive posture, but the Chieftain didn't press his attack and instead, took the opportunity to peel away from the wall.

For a moment, the two combatants just stood there, breathing hard as they took stock of one another. Both Maria and the Chieftain were covered blood and cuts, but whereas Maria had managed to avoid receiving too many critical injuries, blood was pouring from the Chieftain's broken face and the nasty gash in his shoulder, weakening him. Furthermore, now that Maria was armed…

She took a moment to quickly glance at her axe, to get a better grasp of just what she was working it. The axe was a wicked looking tool, measuring closed to ninety centimeters in overall length - making it just a bit shorter than the Chieftain's sword - while the handle was made of metal and wrapped in a thick, non-conductive material to provide a better grip and protection. Overall weight was probably around three kilograms, with roughly half the weight belonging to the axe head itself. And speaking of the axe head…

As a fire axe, it was designed for two things: hacking, and prying. As such, the head came with two ends: a thirteen centimeter front axe "bit;" and a long, pointed "pick" extending out from the butt. The axe bit had already proven to be quite effective, but Maria knew it would be the pick that would ultimately end the fight.

The Chieftain abruptly grunted, and Maria automatically tensed, but the Brute didn't attack. Instead, he continued to grunt and growl as he started to thump his chest, and Maria recognized the signs of a Brute preparing to go berserk and she subtly dug her feet into the ground, bracing herself, as the grunts and growls became outright screams and howls, and the thumps became punches and the Chieftain began foaming at the mouth as he glared at Maria through bloody eyes-

With a hair-raising shriek, the Chieftain attacked, swinging his sword straight at Maria's head.

She was ready for him.

Maria swiftly ducked under the blow and chopped down with her axe at the same time, aiming for the Chieftain's right foot. The Chieftain quickly took a step back, and Maria's axe slammed into the deck leaving a deep cut and she ripped it out and stabbed forward, catching the Chieftain in the shin with the wedge before jerking upwards, hooking the pick under his kneepad and ripping it off. The Chieftain twirled his sword and stabbed downwards, but Maria rolled to the side, swinging her axe. Sparks flew as the two weapons collided and the Chieftain's sword spun upwards, exposing his guard for a second, but from her position on the ground there wasn't much Maria could do to take advantage of that fact but nevertheless she grabbed her axe by the pick and slashed diagonally upwards, leaving a nasty looking cut across the Chieftain's ribs with the axe's pointed toe.

As Maria surged to her feet, the Chieftain managed to nail her in the face with the pummel, sending her reeling, but she was still able to lift her axe and catch the follow-up sword swing with the body of the handle, the blade biting into the metal. Wrenching the axe down she hooked the blade with the beard and forced it to the ground, giving Maria the opportunity to headbutt the Chieftain in the face. The reinforced brow of her helmet cracked under the impact but it sent the Chieftain stumbling backwards. She swung her axe after him, trying to nail the alien in the neck with the pick but the Chieftain was able to block the blow with the face of his sword so Maria reflexively kicked him in the face but doing so exposed her leg and she let out a grunt of pain as the Chieftain was able to cut the inside of her thigh, drawing blood.

Snapping her head back to avoid getting her throat slashed open and then retreating a few steps to dodge the jab, she regained her footing and surged forward once more, ducking under another blade slash and swinging her axe, aiming to hit the Chieftain in the back of the knee with the pick. The Chieftain hastily lifted his leg and allowing the axe to passed under his foot but Maria immediately reversed course and managed to chop the Chieftain's exposed knee with the cutting edge.

Instead of reacting, in a surprise move, the Chieftain dropped his sword, seized Maria by the shoulders and hurtled her straight up into the air. She just barely managed to retain hold of her axe as she smashed into the ceiling with enough force to leave a crack and went plummeting back to the ground, hitting the deck and immediately rolling to the side as the Chieftain's massive foot came crashing down into the spot she just was as he attempted to curb stomp her further into the metal. Using the momentum from her roll, Maria leapt to her feet and spun around in time to see the Chieftain rolling his sword onto the top of his foot and kicking it straight up into his hand like it had been summoned. He swung downwards and Maria just barely managed to catch the blade with the axe eye, but the blow still sent her down to one knee. Taking advantage of his greater mass, the Chieftain began pushing down, down, down, aiming his sword for her neck and Maria did her best to resist but she had no leverage to –

"SPARTAN, WE – HOLY FUCK!"

A bulkhead door at the end of the corridor abruptly slid open as reinforcements unexpectedly arrived: UNSC Air Force Air Parachute Commandos, who had been assigned to assist Maria and the other Spartans in recapturing this station.

Their sudden appearance caught the Chieftain off guard and as he half turned to face them, Maria quickly took advantage of his distraction to break the deadlock, wrenching her axe to the side, only for the Chieftain to almost absentmindedly knee her in the face, sending her sprawling as he turned to face the new arrivals…

Time seemed to slow as Maria quickly took in the scene. The Commandos were yelling and raising their rifles to engage while the Chieftain was drawing his arm back as he prepared to hurtled his sword at them like a javelin, and Maria realized she needed to end this before friendly forces were killed so in desperation, she smashed her axe over her knee, breaking it in half. Seizing the broken handle, she darted forward-

- and drove the jagged edge straight into the Chieftain's heart. The Chieftain let out a loud gasp, his sword flying out of his hands and there was a loud cry of alarm from the Commandos as the sword embedded itself into the wall right beside them, but Maria paid them no heed as she watched the Chieftain attempt to remove the broken handle from his chest, but she hit it with the palm of her hand driving it further in…

Maria grabbed her axe as the Chieftain dropped to his knees, gasping for air as blood poured from his wound. Maria was no xenobiologist, but even she could tell that the wound was fatal. The dual was over. Victory was hers. Yet, the Chieftain didn't seem quite ready to call it quits.

[You fought well, Demon,] the Chieftain rasped out between breaths. [But this victory means nothing in the end. The Covenant shall prevail! We will burn your worlds down to their base atoms, and your people will be nothing but a forgotten- ]

Maria calmly beheaded him. It wasn't a clean beheading by any stretch of the imagination as with only half a handle, she didn't have the leverage she needed to remove his head in one go, even with all her strength. The first blow caused the Chieftain to squeal in pain. The second silenced him forever. The third sent both his head and body to the ground, and Maria couldn't help but tilt her head back and let out a long exhale of victory.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

Maria's gazed snapped to the speaker, the leader of the Commandos, some sort of technical sergeant based on his insignia. His visor was depolzarized and she could see him staring at her with a bit of concern and no short amount of awe.

"Technical Sergeant."

The Commando snapped to attention. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Take a picture of this," she ordered, grabbing the Chieftain's head. "One, this is Three."

"Go ahead, Three."

"Transmit this image across all channels, UNSC and Covenant."

"Done. Wait one, we're getting a signal… Covenant forces are ordering an immediate withdraw from this station. Well done, Spartan."

Maria grunted and terminated the channel. Without another word, she limped to the end of the corridor where the Chieftain's sword was still embedded in the wall, quivering, and she was vaguely aware of all the eyes of the Commandos watching her as she reached out and gently removed the skull that acted as the sword's pommel.

"Tech, find out who this was and ensure they are buried with all due honors," Maria ordered as she carefully handed the skull over, as to avoid damaging it. "The rest of you, with me."

"Ma'am, shouldn't you go see the medic?" one of then cautiously asked.

"Negative," Maria firmly replied.

"We still got to take this station back."

General Notes

I've always been a fan of axes, but I couldn't tell you why; I just think they're cool and they don't appear in movies or films enough as a hero's primary weapon. No doubt because swords are sexier and culturally a sign of strength and wealth as swords are solely a weapon of war unlike an axe, meaning historically, those who had swords meant they could afford them which in turn meant they could afford to dedicate time to master them.

The Brute Chieftain's sword is inspired by the 2014 science fiction movie Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. In the film, Emily Blunt's character, Sergeant Rita Vrataski, is seen carrying a sword around which, according to the internet, is (in-universe) actually a modified helicopter rotor blade.

All Spartans mentioned in this chapter are canon Spartans, though two of them are mentioned only in passing:

Maria-062 is a Spartan-II whose only official appearance to date is in the Halo Graphic Novel "Armor Testing."

KAI-A019 on the other hand is an Alpha Company Spartan-III who made a short appearance in the live-action promotional short "Birth of a Spartan."

Despite being shown in this chapter as working alongside Carter and Jorge, both of Noble Team, it should be noted that in canon, there's no indication Maria or Kai were ever associated with Noble Team. That's something I made up for "my" canon. I also want to point out that Noble Team as we know hasn't been assembled yet. There's no canon date for when the team was created, but Beta Company wouldn't undergo augmentation until at least 2541, and wouldn't be deployed until 2545. Hence, the different unit name in use here.