Chapter 3- Preparing

"It's unfortunate that you were not able to get more information than what you got Six, but I'm glad to have you back at the base. Having Noble Team at full strength is a top priority." Colonel Holland says over the vid screen and Six stands quietly in the presence of her superior and Nobles one and two. Commander Carter S-A259 and his second in command Kat S-B320 stood on either side of her and listened as Jane gave her report to Holland. She had been lucky to find all of Noble packed away in the hasilly set up barracks that would hold them and several other squads of ODST.

"For now, take a few hours and get some rest. In 24 hours I am sending you and Noble Three out to scout Szurdok Ridge. It's gone dark and I want to know what has happened. Holland out." their superior cuts the feed after the three Spartans snap off quick salutes and Kat is the first one to round on Six.

"So tell us what really happened." she says and Six feels a wave of anxiety flow through her. Ever since she has known the smaller Spartan, Jane has felt as if Kat already knew far too much about her. It made her uncomfortable for others to know what all she had done in her lifetime. Before Noble, she had worked for ONI. Doing their dirty work could put a toll on your mental health if you did not know how to work through it. Jane had done enough missions to know how to; whether it would come back to bite her though? Six had no idea.

"That is what really happened." Jane says and tries to keep the exhausted irritation out of her voice. The treck from Teda to Sword Base had taken well over two hours and even with her augmentations, Six was tired and in dire need of some food and at least six hours of sleep.

"Then tell us how you are feeling. You were a prisoner in a Covenant Super Carrier for over sixteen hours Six." Carter says and Six watches as his hand comes up and tries to land on her shoulder. She moves at the last second and can't help but feel bad for dodging her commander like that. She can't understand why she doesn't want him to touch her, but the feeling is almost overwhelming.

Jane must be projecting her emotions because suddenly she can feel Teda. His own, much calmer, emotions envelop her and Six has to fight to not sag in relief. She can feel his curiosity and an underlying anger at not being there with her to protect her from what is causing her distress.

"Six?" Carter asks and she focuses back on her Commander. He is giving her a concerned look and she tries to not let it affect her. She had never been close to the others in Noble Team, but even before she had been captured and met Teda, Six had still tried to have some companionship within the team. She must look crazy to the others right now if she isn't even letting their Commander touch her.

"I'm fine, sir. Just would like to get some food and sleep for a while." Jane says and before they can say anything, she beats a hasty retreat to the mess hall. Inside she grabs a tray from the line and goes down until her tray is heaping with the gruel that they call food. When she sits and begins to eat, Jane finds the food tasteless, but fills her up enough that she is content and could easily fall asleep. Jane is startled out of her meal when another body plops down across from her. When she looks up, it is to Jorge the only Spartan-two of Noble team.

"Heard you were back. Wanted to see how you were." he says and something about his accented voice makes Jane relax a little in her seat. It was deep and a similar pitch to Teda's own voice. Jorge would probably hate her if he knew that she was comparing him to her other half who just so happened to me a Sangheili. The Spartan two hated the Covenant with a passion and fire that could rival the sun.

"Could be better if I am honest with you." Jane says and it feels nice to actually be honest with someone. She could trust Jorge. For all the training the man had gone through in his youth, he had still retained enough of his empathy to make him more man than machine. Six knew that some of the other Spartans had not been so fortunate. "A lot happened on that ship and I could really use some sleep to try and get through it."

Jorge huffs a laugh at her and she cracks a smile back at him. Out of all the Spartans on Noble, she had found that she liked the Two the most. She supposed spending a few long days fighting alongside each other would do that. Jane continues to eat what little is left on her trey and Jorge falls silence across from her. She can tell that he wants to ask what happened and appreciates that he doesn't. Once she is done, she moves to throw her trey away but stops when Jorge clears his throat and says her call sign. "I'm not going to ask what happened. But if you want to talk then you have my ear."

Jane sends him a soft smile and smooths her red hair away from her face, "Thank you Jorge. I appreciate it." she turns fully form him then and places her tray on the rack with the others to be washed later. Out of the cafeteria and down the hall, Six arrives at her designated bunk and carefully sits down on the reinforced bed. The room in mostly empty and she is glad that she is alone for the most part, it would give her plenty of time to think on what had happened to her in such a short time.

Being captured and watching the men under her die had been a harsh blow. She had not been inside the Super Carrier very long, but the feeling of being in that tiny cell had been enough for her. Before volunteering for the Spartan Three program, Six had come from an abusive orphanage on Alluvion in the Bhaakto System. Jane had been one of the selected Beta Company candidates of the Spartan Three program and she took the chance to join as soon as she was able to get away from that place. Anywhere was preferable to the orphanage and the owners who treated her less than trash.

When she had learned that Alluvion had been glassed in 2542, Jane had a mixed feeling of horror at all the deaths on the planet and the feeling of relief that she would never have to be forced into another closet for days on end anymore. The first time she had dropped with the ODST had taken a toll on her, but by then she knew how to compartmentalize her panic and shove it aside in favor of focusing on the mission. Her focus and determination had been one of the many attributes of her personality that got her had picked by Kurt Ambrose, the Lieutenant Commander in charge of some of the Spartan Three program.

It was also the reason she was not dead in the ground with the rest of Beta Company after Operation: TORPEDO. Jane had trained with the other 300 canidates and even became very close with some of them before the suicide mission they had been sent on. Just the thought of her once, almost, family sent a pang of grief through her chest.

She must have been broadcasting her emotions again, because she could feel Teda's emotions sweep over her once again. The warm feeling of calm and concern settled over her and this time she did not push them away. Instead she welcomed them and concentrated on her own side of the bond to send back a feeling of acceptance. She had been alone for much of her short life and she is suddenly grateful that Teda is apart of her now.

Jane is interrupted when two more people come into the barracks and sit on bunks opposite of her own. When she looks up it is to see the other two Spartans Three's that are a part of Noble; Jun S-A266 and Emile S-A234 numbers three and four respectively. Jun has his helmet tucked into his lap and Emile is staring at her through the skull on his helmet. Six questly wonders if it is hard to see out of his modified EVA helmet.

"You two here to ask about my capture too?" Jane says and can not keep the irritation out of her voice this time. She is so sick of hearing people ask about that.

"No. Wanted to see if you needed anything before our mission tomorrow." Jun says and picks up the SRS 99 sniper rifle on the other side of his bunk to check the clip that is slotted inside. He slides it back in with a harsh click and looks back up to Jane, "Will you be ready?"

"Once I can get some sleep I'll be ready for anything." She snips at them with narrowed eyes.

Emile snorts a laugh before he begins to chuck off some of his more bulky armor and then his helmet. Jane follows his lead and soon lays down on the thin mattress that is her bed. Soon the only sound that can be heard is Jun cleaning his rifle and the snores of the other occupants in the room.

Jane casts around for her bond, and once she finds the tiny line that connects her to her Sangheili other half, she sends a wave of content sleepiness toward him. She has to stifle a giggle when he sends back amusement and she grins in the dark of the room. It isn't long before sleep takes her and she dozes off to a warm feeling in her chest.

Line break

Out of sight of the humans base, Teda doesn't bother to fight back the grin that overcomes his face. His human seems to have finally accepted the bond more openly and he mournes that he is not there with her. Earlier that day when he had felt her anger and her fear, he had almost been overwhelmed with murderous rage. He hated that he could not be there for her. She was his to protect and his to keep. To hell with any other being that might say otherwise.

'Radom quickly cools his rising anger to keep Jane from waking. He knows that she is asleep and does not want to wake her with such negative emotions. Never in his life had he been assaulted with such feelings. On Sangheilios, he had been known to be a very level headed Ship Master who had never let his emotions get the best of him other than his passion for the Covenant and his will to see the Great Journey through to the end.

After finding and reading the encrypted transmission that had been accidentally sent to his communication unit, Teda 'Radom- Ship Master of the Super Carrier Honor and Supremacy, was no more. It had been a shock to find out what the Great Journey truly was. It had turned out that the transmission he had received was from the Heretic Leader himself Sesa 'Refumee. His holodrone message had been lost in communication, and had somehow ended up on Teda's own device. The Sangheili remembered being furious and contacting the other right away after clearing up the signal that the message came from.

"You dare send this slander around! Defiling the Holy Ring and spreading lies about our Great Journey!" Teda roared over the vid screen and the larger Sangheili only looked on calmly. He rants and raves for the next view minutes and only stops when Sesa puts up a hand and Teda is curious enough not to contact the Supreme Commander of The Fleet of Particular Justice just yet. What happens next is enough to shock the Ship Master to his core.

"The Prophets have told us nothing but lies about the Forerunners. They were no gods, but a normal race with a similar system as ours. They were scientists and researchers who collected data through the years to preserve their history from the Flood. Halo is nothing but a weapon that will get us all destroyed if we allow the Prophets to continue their Great Journey." Sesa 'Refumee pauses to let it all sink into his fellow Sangheili' s mind before he continues.

"I have proof. The Orical of the ring I am stationed at has left valuable information about why these rings have been created. If you do not believe me then allow me to send you a copy of what I have."

"I should not trust you, but I will allow you to send me the data on what you have found in your time there Heretic." Teda answers and soon after receives a data pack filled with videos of the Orical speaking. One such video is of Sesa asking the floating machine questions about the Holy Ring. Teda takes his time in scanning the data and his heart plummets the more he sees. So it was true.

The next few days were spent trading information. Teda had collected quite the mass and had planned to take his findings to his most trusted members aboard his ship. He had brushed away his hesitations and Seda's warnings. In his haste to make his case known, he did not foresee that his advisors would be more loyal to the Prophets and their lies than to him. It was then that he had been accused a Heretic and thrown into a cell to await his execution on High Charity.

He might lack the honor his name once came with, but Teda had achieved what the Prophets had always wanted other than the Holy Rings. Because of his imprisonment he had found his soulmate. His other half may have been a human, but he could tell that she was one of the fiercest creatures in the Universe. He would do everything in his power to protect her for they belonged together. The two of them could end this war, possibly prevent the Prophets from completing their Great Journey and he could finally regain his honor.

For now, however; it was time for sleep. He had a feeling deep in his gut that tomorrow Jane would be back out fighting and he needed to be in top form to make sure she did not risk herself too often.

Line Break

Jane woke the next morning to someone tapping on the bridge of her nose. She knew that it was Emile, since he had done this before, but it felt as though the light taps were going through her entire body. It was uncomfortable as hell and she needed him to stop.

Her eyes flew open and her hand shot up to catch his own right before his finger touched her nose one last time. Jane's emerald gaze sharpened and Emile cackled after he yanked his hand away from her iron grip. "As quick as ever Six." he shot at her and she couldn't help but to turn her thin lips up into a small.

"Thanks." she mutters before sitting up in bed and stretching out the crick that had settled in her back. Sleeping in armor was awful, but with the Covenant on Reach they all needed to be prepared. She quickly slots her individual pieces back into place then tucks her helmet under her arm.

"Come on Six. We need to eat then you are meeting Jun by the armory to get your gear. I hear ONI sent down some enhancements for our armor that need to be tested." Emile says and joggs in front of her to the mess hall.

After grabbing their food, Jorge joins them to eat and sends Six a curious once over. He had been worried for the other Spartan last night and is glad that she is looking better this morning than she had last night. "Did you get your six hours in?" he asks with a huff of laughter.

The bad joke causes Six to snort in amusement and Emile to almost almost double over in his food. The joke really isn't that funny, but Jorge was usually one of the more stoic members of Noble. It was good to see him do this given the situation.

"She got around eleven hours of sleep I think. Needed her beauty rest." Emile says and Six grins into her grey mush that was filled with the necessary proteins and vitamins that kept the UNSC running. It isn't too much longer that Six is saying goodbye to her teammates and heading out to the armory where Jun is already waiting for her.

"Took you long enough Six." Jun says when she slides up to him. She rolls her eyes behind her visor at his tone. She was on time. She checked before she left the mess hall.

"Emile said that we are going to be given some armor enhancements. What does that mean?" Jane asks and looks to one of the doctors in white lab coats who are fluttering around the area. She is approached by a stressed looking woman with blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She has glasses perched at the end of her nose and Jane gives the woman her attention when she begins to speak.

"I'm Dr. Shelly Hargrove. Since the mission you and Noble Three are going on is in the so called "Dark Zone." and could prove to be a suicide misson given the amount of Covenant stationed there; ONI decided to give us some prototype gear for you to use in the field. We think they have finally gotten the hang of the portable stealth field generators that some of the Covenant use."

"Those would be very useful." Six says and steps over to the desk that have several devices around the size of her hand lined up next to each other. Hovering above each device are small holographic symbols that represent what the device does. Color coded too. Neat.

Jane goes the one a little down the table that shows a blue man, darker blue that starts at the top and fades down into a light sky blue. She picks up the device and is surprised at how light it is. Given the size of it, she would have expected it to weigh a little over five pounds but it couldn't be more than two. "That is active camouflage. The others that we have are the bubble shield and the armor lock ability. Once used they have a two minute recharge time before they can be used again." Dr. Hargrove is saying and Jun picks up the armor lock enhancement. Both would be good for the mission.

"We would like for you to put them to the test before going out in the field. With how far away Szurdok Ridge is however, we only have a few hours to run the necessary tests before you two are scheduled to fly out."

"Suit us up then ma'am." Jane tells her and grins behind her helmet. The flamboyant purple and orange colors of her armor might scream the opposite, but Jane had been trained for stealth missions after she had been singled out and taken to be the ONI's lapdog. She had more than one assassination in her black book.

Hours later, Six sneaks out of the base and into a more private area at the edge of the camp. She had told Teda that she would tell him when she would be going back out to fight. She fishes the little communications device out of her armor and flips it to and fro. The device itself is a deep maroon color with little black buttons along one side where it was smooth to the touch on the other. Jane presses the largest black button and it is a few nervous moments before Teda's voice filters through the speaker.

"Jane." the Sangheili greets and she can hear the smile in his deep voice. Her chest feels warm from his happiness at hearing from you. She pushes it down to not get too distracted.

"Teda. I wanted to tell you that I will be leaving within the hour to go scout out a zone with one of my team." Jane says and can now feel discontent alongside the joy he feels. "It is an hour and some minutes flight north of here to the drop off point. After that Jun and myself are going to be radio silent until we find what we need."

"I know the place you speak of. Have caution. Many of my brothers are stationed there with shade turrets and look outs have been placed where they were needed." Teda informs her then continues to go on while she takes in the information he has given her, "There will be a pylon deep into the settlement near what you humans call a hydro plant. That is what is generating the frequency that is halting your satellites from scanning the area."

"Thank you for telling me." Jane says and breathes a sigh of relief. No one had known about the turrets. One misstep and either her or Jun could have ended up as a burt smear on the earth. She can feel Teda's protectiveness curl up tight in her chest and it makes her feel just the slightest bit better. Jane has never been as nervous to go on an assignment before, she can only guess she is feeling this way now because she actually has something to take care of other than herself. It's an odd feeling to say the least.

"Will you be careful Jane?" Teda rumbles and she feels her chest tighten at the sound of his voice.

"I can't make a promise you know I can't keep Teda." Jane whispers and clutches the little device in her hand like a life line. Teda grumbles in displeasure at her response then sighs heavily over the device.

"Then do not promise me." He says and Jane murmurers her agreement that she will try and be more careful.

"I have to go. Jun and I still need to get some things together just in case the operation lasts longer than we think." Jane tells him and waits for her other half to tell her goodbye before she turns the device off and pockets it. It was time she got back over to Jun.

The other Three already had their pack loaded into the Falcon and Jane squashed the feeling of guilt for not helping him and instead sneaking off like a child to go and speak with Teda. He interrupts her dark thoughts with a cleared thrown and Six snapps her gaze to him.

"Are you sure you are ready for this Six? You seem out of it." he says and Jane feels a swell of irritation at herself for not paying more attention. She should be better than this damn it!

"Yes, Im fine. More than ready to go take a look at what the Covenant are doing."

"Then let's get comfortable for a long flight Six." Jun says and hops into the Falcon to wait for their departure. Jane follows him and hopes that nothing would go wrong tonight.

* Okay to explain this chapter, Thel Vadamee is already at Halo-installation 4. during that time Sesa 'Refumee, The heretic leader from halo 2 is already examining the forerunner mining facility. He is left there after Thel scrambles to get his fleet away from the Flood. During his time at the facility he meets Guilty Spark and he finds out the true purpose of Halo. So Thel is not a part of the Reach Glassing but is instead at the ring for now. I am having Sesa begin his converting of the Covenant happen at the same time Reach is getting attacked. That is how one of his transmissions get lost and end up with Teda. Goodness I hope that makes sense.