Stories

The three Spartans sat in silence. There was an odd feeling in the air between them. The Spartan II fidgeted for a moment. "So, what were you and the Commander fighting about?" Jorge was trying to be casual with the question, but from how Kat had shouted at Carter to leave her alone it wasn't really a casual question.

Kat glared at him, still a bit mad from her argument with Carter. "Just a question he's been asking me since we first became teammates."

Emile chuckled. "I can think of several things I'd ask you to do the first time I saw you." He leaned a bit on the table. "Though considering it's the Commander, I'm guessing you he keeps asking you to marry him."

Kat glared at him. "You seriously need to shut up." She was obviously not in the mood for Emile's teasing. "He's asking the same thing that most of you damn Alpha Company Spartans seem to ask me."

"Oh, So you mean he was asking you about your old teammates again?" Emile relaxed a bit. "When will he learn to let that subject go with you? The last time he asked you about that I thought you were going to smack him."

"I was going to smack him. I don't think he will ever learn. He's been asking since we became teammates and brings it up every once in a while." Kat leaned onto the table, shaking her head.

"Wait, you didn't like your old team?" Jorge didn't seem to understand the idea. "How could you not like your old team? Were they different from who you trained with?"

Kat shook her head. "No, Spartan IIIs go into the field with the same teams they train with." Kat looked away from the others. "I don't want to talk about them." She decided to change the subject. "So then I guess you liked the people you trained with and were on a team with before this."

Jorge nodded. "Yeah, the people I trained with were good people, like family to me. I actually don't know which of them are still alive." Jorge frowned at the realization.

Kat leaned against the table. "Tell me a bit about your training with the Spartan IIs. I'd like a perspective on how you were trained compared to our training. What were your fellow trainees like?"

Jorge shifted and glanced over at Emile. The cared eyes on the EVA helmet seemed to bore deep into him, waiting to hear whatever Jorge was willing to tell. "Well, I don't think I want to talk about my team. It just…I just don't want to talk about them. But I can tell you about some of the trainees that weren't  on my team."

"That sounds fair enough." Kat shifted, getting herself comfortable so that she could take in all that he was willing to tell her.

Jorge hesitated for a moment, looking over at Emile who was still waiting to hear information. "All right, I'll tell you about the Spartans you usually see in the news vids, Blue Team." The others leaned in a bit more. "There were four basic members of blue team back during training. There was Linda. She's basically the Jun of blue team. She's a great shot, was way better than anyone else. Could hit almost anything, even quickly moving targets. She was an all right woman, but she was always so distant. She didn't really need the team to operate."

"Well that sounds like the standard sniper. A lot of them are independent." Kat nodded as she processed the information.

"Then there's Sam, he's like the me of the group. Big guy, he was really strong, and he was really nice. He was the best friend of the Spartan IIs leader. I do remember that he's gone. He died the first time that we fought the Covenant. We tried to board a Covenant ship. I wasn't a great shot, but when it wall was over, he hadn't made it." Jorge hung his head a bit. "He as a good guy, loyal friend."

"That is an honorable way to go down, Jorge. I bet him taking down that ship really shook the Covenant." Kat was trying to comfort him at least a little.

Jorge shrugged. "It was the first time someone had managed to take down a Covenant ship." He raised his gaze, getting back to his focus. "So, then there was Blue Two, basically the Kat of Blue Team. He name was Kelly, the fastest woman I've ever known. She was always faster than everyone else in training, and after the augmentations, she was untouchable. Unlike Kat, she listened to her team leader. She was the best person to have at your back. Never let you down."

Emile chuckled. "And was she also banging her team leader, or was that why she listened to him, cause he was holding out on her?"

"Next time that someone has to do something suicidal on a mission, you're doing it." Kat glared across the table at Emile. He didn't seem at all effected.

"Why do you antagonize her? I really don't want her to get you killed." Jorge frowned at the Spartan III beside him. "You know she will do it."

"No one said I would listen to her. If the Commander orders me to do it, than I have to, but she ain't the commander." Emile leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Yes, but if I have the Commander wrapped around my finger as you keep saying I do, I don't see how I couldn't convince him to send you on a particular assignment." Kat smiled innocently but Emile froze.

Not wanting the conversation to continue, as it was likely only going to become more violent, Jorge changed the subject. "The Blue Team leader is a lot like Carter." The two snapped their attention back to Jorge. "He's serious, takes his job seriously. He's not the strongest, the fastest, or the best shot. He is loyal, and he doesn't like to lose. He always wins and he tries to get all of his soldiers out alive or unharmed. His name is John, and he's the Master Chief that you usually see in the vids."

"I never really knew he had a name. Just always thought of him as the Master Chief." Emile tilted his head to the side. "Honestly they all look the same in their armor." Emile pounded his fist against his chest. "We have personal style."

"Well I don't think the Spartan IIs really get a choice." Jorge looked down at his own armor. "I think I could only do this because we have two officers who can authorize modifications. John is the highest ranking Spartan II, so there aren't any officers."

Kat perked up a bit. "So then Carter and I could order around Spartan IIs?" She seemed to like that idea. "You got any good stories about this Blue Team?"

Jorge thought about it for a moment. "Oh, I'll give you an example. So Chief Mendez drops us off in the woods. He gave each of us a map and then dropped us off. So I we all planned on meeting at this lake. Well they drop me off and I had no idea where to go. I just started to head west cause that was supposed to be where the river was. So I was walking for some time, and suddenly I realize that something is following me. That's when I realized there are about five wolves walking around me. So I have no idea what to do. They are all around me."

"Did you have any weapon to defend yourself with?" Kat asked.

Jorge shook his head. "Nope, just a jacket, boots, and the map. So I'm stuck, have no idea what do to. Then suddenly another trainee comes running out of the forest and tackles one of the wolves. The others all scattered like crazy. It turned out it was Kathleen, a member of Red Team. She was a lot like you, Emile. She was violent. Turn out she had been watching and had noticed which one seemed to be in charge. The one she'd tackled was the alpha and when it went running so did all the others."

"Wait, so Emile is a woman in the Spartan IIs." Kat glanced over at Emile. "The question is which is more of a bad ass."

"Well the answer is obvious," Emile stated.

"Yeah, Kathleen was more of a bad ass." Emile turned to Jorge, not believing what the larger man had said. "Sorry, buddy, but if you met her you would agree with me. Sadly you can't. She died during the augmentations. That took out about half of our class."

Kat nodded. "I wish I could get some information about the augmentations you Spartan IIs went through. I'd like to know why there was such a high failure rate."

"Wait, there wasn't a large failure rate for your class?" Jorge looked between the two younger Spartans, surprised by the information.

"None of us died from the augmentations." Kat shrugged. "We all made it through with no issues."

Jorge frowned. "There must have been improvements. I would like to know myself what were the differences." Jorge wished that they'd had such safer augmentations back when he was in training.

"Now, Kitten, it's your turn to tell Jorge some stories about back when you were in training." Emile chuckled lightly as he leaned back in his chair.

"Emile." They all turned to see Carter enter the room. He moved to stand behind Kat. "You know not to call her that." He narrowed his gaze a bit at the violent man. Kat stood up and grabbed his arm, pulling the commander out of the room.

Emile tilted his head to the side. "She forgave him faster than I expected." Emile looked over at Jorge. "You finally going to admit it?"

"That I love you, I've already admitted that, Emile." The teas was halfhearted. Jorge was staring at the door the commander and lieutenant commander had left through. "You know you were right. John and Kelly were an item back when we were in training." He frowned a bit. "Kat and Carter are even more like those two then I realized. Kelly loved John, we all knew it and she never put a lot of effort into hiding it. He though, he was out leader, the head of our squad. He never let himself be free enough to express if he felt the same way."

Emile chuckled. "Well then they are only sort of alike. I mean, this John guy, he seems like he probably would never change, even that Kelly lady couldn't change him." Emile looked toward the door. "I was friends with Richard, a guy that not only trained with Carter but was with them from the start of Noble. Said that Carter used to be a lot more stiff, but that he's sort of relaxed over the years." The EVA helmet titled to the side. "Always said that was because of Kat."

Jorge smiled. "Well you know what they say. A good woman can change a man." He paused for a moment before he spoke again. "I think that Kelly could change John, if she wanted to. Though even if she didn't try I think that he would change." Jorge looked over at Emile. "You know I'm really not the Sam of Noble?"

"If you aren't Sam, then who are you?" Emile asked.

"I would be Fred, except without the leadership skill. Fred isn't the strongest. He's like John, even in just about everything, but he doesn't like to be in the spotlight. The most important thing though, was that he loved Kathleen."

Emile groaned. "You are sad sometimes, Jorge." Emile stood up and so did Jorge.

"Sometimes, yes, but you love me anyway." The Spartan II followed Emile as the left the room.