Bleeding Out

Disclaimer: I do not in any shape or form own Halo. It belongs to Bungie, 343 Industries, and Microsoft, nor am I associated with them in any way. This is a non-profit fan work written solely for the purpose of entertainment. This is in no way canon.

Responses to questions or statements:

-Guest: Thanks man.

-Mythic Imagination: Thank you very much, I'm trying my best to implement real world military aspects into this story. Now… let me be clear, I never served in the United States military or in any other real-world military. What I put in here is based on my own research it may not be 100% accurate to real life. I'm just a level nine keyboard warrior, so I apologize if I get anything wrong.

-Tom2011: Yeah...so far it is but I do plan for things to change later on in the story.

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my story. Hope you enjoy this chapter.


Chapter 5


(Location: Fort Dover ~ UNSC Army base~, Reach)

(Time: August 1, 2552)

It has been a few days ever since the Covenant assault on SWORD base, during that time the security on Reach had skyrocketed to a level unseen before in the planet's history. Colonial Guard, regular Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force units were being mobilized and all UNSC bases were put on high alert along with the ODPs. All off world travel was being tightly monitored with civilian traffic being kept to a minimum for the time being.

As far as the general public was aware, the UNSC was conducting a massive training exercise and couldn't let any civilian activity interfere. The order had come directly from HIGHCOM that the Covenant presence on Reach was to be kept a secret. Nobody seemed to know the exact reason why, but it was rumoured that that the reason to keep the immediate invasion quiet was to prevent panic from growing due to the fact that Mankind's 'fortress in the stars' was compromised and that a Covenant invasion was imminent.

It wasn't too far from the actual truth as the reason for not sounding the alarm was due to the fact that Reach was too valuable of a planet to lose and that they couldn't afford to have panicking civilians interfere with coordinating the planet's defense. Reach was the UNSC's second most important source of logistics to resupply, replace and rearm any military units that were lost in battle. It was also the biggest source of titanium mines and one of the biggest producers of war material and recruits, as well as having the largest and most active shipyard for the UNSC. In addition, it would also mean that the UNSC's ability to respond and reinforce any Outer world colonies that were under siege by the Covenant would be gone, along with the capability to launch any counter offensives to reclaim those worlds if they were to fall. Not to mention that if the planet were to fall, it would be a huge blow to morale that might never recover.

But probably the most important reason was that Reach was located right at Earth's doorstep, being only 10.5 light years from the Sol system. If the planet were to fall, the Covenant would have a straight shot at Mankind's home world and the central nexus of the human military command.

That could not be allowed to happen.

CENTCOM was already working in conjunction with HIGHCOM and STRATCOM to coordinate logistics, troop readiness, planeside assets, reinforcements, etc. Everyone that was aware of the situation knew that this was only the calm before the storm as the Covenant were not going to just pack up and leave. Still, that didn't mean the higher ups were going to just let the planet go without a fight. Defending the planet was placed as a high priority and if luck was on their side, they would be able to repel the invasion.

However, one Spartan-III in the mist of all of this activity knew for certain that it wouldn't be possible.

"Understood sir, Noble One out." Carter said as he turned off the terminal in his room as he leaned back in his chair, which was made specifically for Spartans to be able to hold their weight.

Colonel Holland had just finished briefing him on the situation. Ever since the attack on SWORD base, there were no further signs of Covenant activity. However, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before they return in force. The Covenant were not going to just pack up and leave, especially now that they had found one of the UNSC's most valuable worlds, even if they didn't know it. As of now, all they could do was wait before Charlie made their move.

Despite being in an interstellar war against a genocidal alien empire that was bent on the complete extermination of the human race, there was a lot more sitting around and waiting than one would expect. Even for the Spartans which were considered to be the best asset Mankind had against the Covenant, it's why many Spartans preferred to go into cryo for the time in between missions as they despised the wait and long periods of nothing to do. It would seem that 'hurry up and wait' was universal for military personnel no matter what time period you were in.

Deciding to check on his team, he turned away from his console and walked out the door. Once he opened the door to his room and stepped out into the hall into the barracks, he saw Kat standing in front of a vending machine as she appeared to be trying to decide what to get for a snack, however Carter knew better as there was no doubt in his mind that she was listening in on the conversation he just had with Colonel Holland.

"Hello Commander," his 2IC said innocently as she saw Carter walk toward her.

"Kat... how many times do I have to tell you, stop listening in on senior level communications." Ever since he had met her, Kat had a tendency to listen in on briefings and communiques that she had no clearance for, despite his repeated orders for her to stop which she never did. Under normal circumstances, she would've been NJP'd or even court-martialed. However, the fact remained that having a Spartan in the brig would be a tremendous waste of a valuable military asset, so the brass just let it go for the most part.

"Sorry Commander, I hear what I hear." Was all Noble Two said in response as she shrugged her shoulders before her face suddenly turned serious. "There really has been no further Covenant activity planet side?" She questioned.

The leader of Noble Team nodded his head. "Intelligence hasn't picked up anything ever since SWORD Base. Still… we're mobilizing everything we can to prepare for when the Covenant do invade," he responded as Kat frowned." No faith that we'll be able to hold the line?"

"No sir, I don't," Noble Two said bluntly. She had already run the numbers and various scenarios in her head already, if the Covenant were to launch an all-out assault on the planet, the twenty or so ODP's wouldn't be able to hold them off. Additionally, reallocating fleets and manpower to defend Reach would leave other fronts of the war open and would become too costly for the UNSC to keep fighting for in the long run, despite Reach's strategic importance.

Still…if the fleet was small there, was a chance they could hold onto the planet. But if the attack force was any bigger than she wouldn't hold her breath.

Carter let out a soft sigh. "Yeah…well apparently some of the brass think the same way. It's why Holland told us to get ready to assist the Spartan-IIs on some big Op if the brass decides to give it the go ahead. This order comes directly from SOCOM."

"Gotten any word to what it is?" The Lieutenant-Commander asked with clear and growing interest. There were rumors that WARCOM was planning some kind of operation with SOCOM and STRATCOM that would hopefully force the Covenant into a ceasefire and end the war. Despite Kat's best efforts she couldn't uncover what it was, as only a select few knew the exact details and true purpose of the operation.

Unbeknownst to her, she did in fact know someone who had knowledge of the top-secret mission.

Noble One only shrugged his shoulders in response to the question, "he said it was classified. We'll be briefed if they decide to launch it."

A small smirk grew on Kat's face as he finished. "Understood."

The Commander of the Spartan-III team only mentally rolled his eyes as he knew Kat was going to keep trying to uncover more details on the heavily classified mission, having no real way to stop her from doing so with nothing short than a court-martial. "How's the rest of the team doing?" He asked her as he decided to change the topic.

"Jorge is a little worried, but he has faith we'll be able to defend Reach, kind of a bit optimistic if you ask me, he's trying to keep his mind off it by doing some more modifications on his armor. Emile and Jun are having a little marksmanship competition down by the firing range. Six…," Noble Two trailed off as she got to the team's newest addition.

Carter let out a exasperated sigh as he rubbed his forehead with his right hand. "Don't tell me he's still sleeping." He said as he took a quick glance at the wall clock and saw that it was only 1100 or 11:00 am.

As far as he knew, Six was the only Spartan that if he wasn't on a mission would sleep in if he could. Every other Spartan that he had known, including most of Noble team, tended to wake up early in the morning with a strict deadline along with a schedule for the day, which they would get started on as soon as they were awake. Casper on the other hand did not have this same behavior. The day after the attack on SWORD base, he didn't wake up until 1:30 in the afternoon, and that was only because they knocked on his door looking for him after not seeing him for a while. Carter was even sure that if they didn't wake him up, he would've woken up later in the afternoon.

"Actually, he is up, I saw him a few hours ago when he was buying something at the PX." Kat answered.

"So, what's he doing?" Carter asked with a raised brow.

"Uh, he said he was going to…be partaking in an operation to crush a xeno invasion in the name of the Emperor…"

"…"

"…"

"What?"


A few minutes later, Carter and Kat were making their way down the hallways of the barracks as they headed to Six's room. Once they reached the door, Kat lightly knocked on it with her robotic arm before waiting for a response.

"Come in," they heard Casper call out from inside.

Looking at the door lock, they saw that the door was unlocked so it was no trouble to open the door. Once they opened it and walked inside, they saw Noble Six on the computer with a pair of headphones on, along with a half-eaten tube of pringles on the desk, not taking his eyes off it as his fellow Spartan-IIIs entered his dorms. Only when Kat closed the door behind them as soon as they entered, did Casper take his eyes off the screen to look at his battle buddies.

"Oh…hey boss, Kat," Casper-B312 greeted with a nod as he paused his computer screen and took off his headphones before giving his full attention to his teammate and TL.

"Hey Six, what are you doing?" Carter asked as he looked at the screen of the terminal, which looked to be a pause menu of a game of some kind.

"Uh, just playing some Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2." The hyper-lethal answered. A big advantage of being reborn in the twenty-fifth century was that he didn't have to wait for the new games and films that he was still waiting for back in his previous life, they were already released centuries ago. So, whenever Casper had the time, he would take the opportunity to have some fun.

Another advantage was the advancements in modern technology, as all he had to do now was plug in his personal drive into almost any terminal and he can start gaming in only a few minutes. This helped as current circumstances did not allow him to purchase his own PC as he was frequently moved around to wherever the UNSC needed him. Therefore, he was able to play on the personal terminals he had access to when he was stationed at various UNSC bases and installations.

The only downside of the whole ordeal was that there were no new, or even the original, Halo games, for obvious reasons. Along with the fact that he couldn't rewatch Red vs Blue as it was…inspired and created via the Halo games, which was a real bummer for Casper as he loved that series when he was growing up in his first life.

Still…he was glad to have been able to watch the series in the first place and was able to look back on it fondly.

"Didn't that come out back in the twenty-first century or so?" Kat asked with a raised brow. While she knew that Six was indeed a gamer since he gamed when he had free time in training, she never saw him playing games that were hundreds of years old.

"It's still a good game." Six replied. "Plus, Emile seems to like it."

"Emile tried it?" Noble One asked surprised.

"Yeah, he stopped by earlier and asked to give it a shot, so I did." Six answered. "He really liked it; he would've played more but said that he had to meet up with Jun for a competition, but we agreed to meet up again later for more."

"Mind if I take a look at your media?" Carter asked with Kat nodding in agreement. Casper gave him the go ahead as he pulled up his list of downloaded movies, shows, and games, which they began scrolling through.

"Wow… you have a lot of Tom Cruise movies, Casper," Carter remarked. It looked like his team's newest member had almost every single movie that had the actor such as Collateral, Edge of tomorrow, Minority Report, Oblivion, the Mission: Impossible series, both Top Gun movies, etc.

Casper only shrugged at the statement. "Well, what can I say. He was in a lot of good movies back in the day."

Kat let out a small chuckle as she continued scrolling through his collection, "Didn't realize you were such a nerd, Casper."

"If we had more free time back in training you would've." Noble Six replied with a shrug as he grabbed the tube of original pringles before holding it in their direction. "Want some?" He offered as he shook the tube lightly.

Kat declined as Carter reached in and grabbed a few, quickly saying thanks before he ate the chips.

"So…I'm going to be having a movie night tomorrow. You guys want to join in?" Six asked his teammates despite his awkwardness. One of the primary reasons for this is that he figured his fellow Spartans would be more inclined to listen to him if they got some proper moments to bond. Which would make it easier for him to prevent their deaths in the near future.

Kat and Carter shared a glance with one another before turning back to him. "A movie night?" Carter questioned. Ever since they were inducted into the Spartan-III program they never really had the opportunity to do these kinds of activities, and here their newest member was offering them a chance to.

"Yeah, Jorge, Jun, and Emile already agreed. So, what do you say?" Casper asked again.

After a few more seconds of waiting, Kat answered for both of them.

"Sure, lets give it a shot."


~Meanwhile~

(Location: ONI SWORD Base, Doctor Catherine Halsey's office)

Inside the ONI facility SWORD Base, Dr. Catherine Halsey was in one of the installations many labs as she was currently examining the information on the two drives that was recovered by the 'Spartans' of Noble Team from the Visegrad relay station, searching for the so-called 'latchkey' the late Professor Laszlo Sorvad reported to her in his last transmission.

In her office, the AI whose service number was CTN 0452-9, otherwise known as the one and only 'Cortana', resided. Where she was supposed to searching for a suitable Spartan-II to pair up with.

Unofficially, she was reading classified messages sent between higher ups in the UNSC regarding Operation: RED FLAG, the desperate military mission to capture a Covenant Prophet to force the Covenant into a truce. Some were arguing, primarily those in WARCOM, that the operation should be launched as soon as possible while Reach was still their control which could change when the main Covenant fleet arrives. Others held the belief that it should be postponed and that the assets needed for the Op should instead remain on Reach to assist in the planet's defense, particularly the Spartan-IIs.

In Cortana's opinion, she felt it would be better to put RED FLAG on hold for the time being. When the Covenant fleet arrives, it was going to take everything the UNSC has to hold back the assault. It would seem that the opinion was shared by Vice Admiral Whitcomb, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, as he had ordered the Pillar of Autumn and the Spartans to remain on Reach for the time being. Which was written in a message that was just sent to Captain Keyes that Cortana intercepted.

What Cortana didn't agree with was the decision not to sound the alarm and start an evacuation of the planet. If they weren't able to keep the enemy back and the planetary defenses were overrun, the UNSC wouldn't be able to completely evacuate the planet in time.

But she wasn't in command, so she couldn't really do anything except listen in and watch.

She was snapped out of her internal musings as she suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Snooping again Cortana?" A female voice said behind her, prompting Cortana to quickly spin around and see that it was her older counterpart Kalmiya. Her arms crossed as the look on her face, along with her pose closely resembled someone who had just caught their sibling doing something they were told not to.

"Hey Kalmiya. How are you doing?" Cortana asked the older AI as she quickly hid the classified documents out of view.

However, Kalmiya was no fool as she rubbed her forehead as she gave Cortana a frown. "Cortana…please. I already told you that neither Halsey nor I can protect you if you get caught attempting to access classified materials. The orange AI said, trying to get her younger counterpart to understand the seriousness of the consequences if someone caught her red handed.

"I thought I was being discreet." Cortana retorted as she did the AI equivalent of twiddling her thumbs.

"You were until you began accessing classified Tier-One emails." Kalmiya said. "You're lucky that I was the one who picked it up. If I didn't you would be talking to Parangosky's own personal AI White Box now." She stated in a strained tone of voice.

Both of them knew that the Commander in Chief of ONI did not exactly like Halsey and would be come down on them harder than a Covenant glassing if they were caught snooping in places where they didn't have permission to be. While Halsey did wield considerable authority and influence in the Office of Naval Intelligence, it would not be enough to prevent them from being decommissioned and shut down.

"Kalmiya, I appreciate you looking over me, I really do. But I can take care of myself." Cortana replied as she tried to placate her.

Kalmiya let out a sigh as she decided to change the topic. "Have you picked out who you wanted to be paired up with yet?"

"Not yet, but I did narrow it down to two possible candidates." Cortana responded as she pulled up the pictures and service records of the two Spartans in question.

"Hmm…John-117 and Fred-104." The orange AI thought out loud as she skimmed over the profiles. "Good choices," she said as she nodded in approval.

"Thanks, though I am leaning towards one-one-seven. I get the feeling that him and I would be more effective together." The younger AI stated.

"Wonder if any of the new Spartans we saw a few days ago would be a good fit." Kalmiya wondered out loud with Cortana nodding in agreement.

While both of them would not admit, this new group of Spartans intrigued them, especially since that one of Halsey's own Spartan-IIs was in the team as well. This caused Cortana to begin secretly investigating the origins of these new batch of super-soldiers. Cortana even kept this from Halsey as she had already written them off as 'cheap knock-offs' of her own Spartan-IIs, something that Cortana didn't really understand as she found them to be pretty capable and effective as she reviewed footage of the Covenant attack on SWORD Base. Therefore, Kalmiya was the only one who knew what she was trying to do.

Unfortunately, the results of her investigation as of now were very miniscule.

Whoever had created these new Spartans clearly did not want anyone knowing anything about them as any info on this new group was buried under so much red tape. Cortana had never seen something that had this many firewalls and levels of security before. Not even the phases of Operation: RED FLAG was this well protected. However, that didn't stop her from trying.

"Speaking of which, I did manage to find some information on one of those Spartans that Halsey and I saw earlier." Cortana informed her older sister as she pulled up a data stream.

"Well do tell, don't leave me in suspense." Kalmiya leaned in curiously. "On which one?"

"Noble Six." Cortana answered with a mischievous twinkle in her eye as he pulled up his picture.

"The most mysterious of the whole team." Kalmiya mumbled to herself as she took a quick look at the photo before swiping it away with her hand.

"Well…it turns out that he was once deployed on a joint operation with Cal-141 a while back on a mission to take out a Covenant Prophet, though I wasn't able to uncover the details. Also…you won't believe this…he is also apparently a gamer as well as a movie fan." Cortana revealed

The orange AI gasped in an overly dramatic manner as she was stunned by this. "…No way."

Cortana only nodded her head as she was dead serious. "Yeah, he bought many games off of Steam and downloaded many movies and shows off from the extranet. Seems likes he's a bit of a pop culture fan." She said as she pulled up a list of various games that he bought over the last few years including Dead Space, Titanfall, Stellaris, etc.

"…Wow, this is a first. I didn't think any Spartan was interested in those kinds of things." Kalmiya commented.

"Yeah, neither did I. As far as I can tell he is the only one who is." Cortana replied.

Before the two of them could continue the conversation, Kalmiya suddenly blinked, indicating that she had received a message.

"What is it?" Cortana required.

After reading the message, Kalmiya answered the question. "Halsey needs me back in the lab, so I have to go. Please…just be careful." She pleaded with her younger 'sister.'

"Don't worry Kalmiya, I'll be fine." Cortana reassured as Kalmiya gave her a smile before she disappeared from the holographic projection on the desk.

Seeing as how Kalmiya was now gone, Cortana switched herself off from the virtual holographic display as she continued reviewing the two Spartan's profiles to determine which one, she would be partnered up with. While also secretly resuming her search for information regarding these mysterious new Spartans.


Terms

-ODPs: Orbital Defense Platforms

-HIGHCOM (High Command): The second highest echelon of command for the UNSC military. Manages training, doctrine, policy, and troop readiness.

-SOCOM: Special Operations Command. Helps to administrate UNSC Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force Special Operation Forces, including tactics, deployment, and equipment.

-STRATCOM (Strategic Command): In charge of troop deployment along with managing the details.

-CENTCOM (Central Command): Planetary UNSC military command, in charge of and coordinates defense for its designated world.

-WARCOM (Navy Special Warfare Command): In charge of managing and coordinating Navy Special Operations.

-TL: Team Leader.

Author's note: Hey guys, so I want to apologize for the delay on the update and the lack of activity for a while. I was going through writer's block these last few months and I was feeling kind of stressed out with real life, so I needed some time to deal with it. After, I was feeling pretty burned out where I didn't really have the motivation to continue. But I did my best to push through it to give you guys this chapter because I figured you all waited long enough. I apologize if this chapter isn't as good as my previous ones.

So, I can't promise when the next chapter's going to be posted but I'll do my best to get it to you guys soon. Thanks again for being patient.

Sorry for not a lot of action this chapter. I realized that there was a time skip between the attack on SWORD base and the 'Nightfall' mission, so I decided to do a bit of world building this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it and didn't find it boring.

Anyways, you guys take care and remember... stay frosty, gents.