KIA

by Darkswirl

Sierra B312

It's an endless fucking forest. Noble Six thought disdainfully as she carefully stepped over yet another large root.

She had been limping along for the better half of the day, and the sun was now beginning to set- attempting to hide behind a large, single mountain whose peak only barely reached over the tops of the trees.

The forest floor had darkened considerably, now, but thanks to one of Six's many augmentations, and not to mention her helmet-mounted flashlight, she had little trouble navigating.

She would need to stop for the night, soon, however. She didn't like the feel of this forest. There were things inside, lurking just beyond her motion tracker and vision, but they didn't feel like insurrectionists or Covenant.

They didn't feel like something Six was comfortable or able to fight, even though she was fully capable of fighting despite her current condition.

Six gave a short, frustrated sigh and slid her back down along the side of a tree in order to avoid agitating her leg, which she figured had been broken in a fall, since a few pieces of the Corvette were embedded in the ground and trees so deep that the only plausible explanation was that the slip-space drive sent her a few yards above the ground.

She gave another sigh and, although she had done so earlier, checked her ammunition count.

Her HUD read twelve rounds left, and zero grenades.

Made every shot count. Six thought idly, recalling the battle for the Corvette before learning and accepting her grim fate.

At least she was happy, here, now, knowing that the rest of Noble Team was safe and sound on Reach, and that the Covenant had been successfully repelled.

Bastards didn't think us much of a fight, did they? she mused, remembering their pitiful force compared to other battles.

But they had done it. They had reduced every alien that stepped foot on their planet to lifeless, bleeding bodies.

So why did Six feel so... Wrong?

Before she had time to think anymore on the matter, a slow moving yellow dot lit up on her motion tracker- about 19 meters behind her and closing the gap.

There's no way a friendly made it with me.

Not in any condition to run, Noble Six slipped her finger against the trigger of her DMR and held the shroud of her rifle against her chest.

13 meters...
12 meters...
11 meters...

Tensing her muscles and rolling over onto her stomach and out form behind the tree, Noble Six aimed her rifle through the forest and locked her reticle onto the chest of a...

A horse? Wearing... Armor? Six hesitated, letting her target neigh in fear and turn galloping away back into the forest.

Noble Six lay there, bewildered, for a moment or two, before returning to her comfortable position against the tree. Now, she was utterly confused.

Horses hadn't been used in the armed forces for well over six hundred years, or so... So why did that one have armor? It confused Six even more when she recalled seeing a pair of wings along its side, but she pushed the thought out of her head in disbelief.

That rupture must've done a number higher than I can count on me... Six thought with a last glance at her motion tracker before clutching her rifle tightly and closing her eyes...

---

"Well, I have good news, and bad news. This bird took some fire and her thruster gimbal is shot to hell, which means the only way off this ship is gravity." Noble Six said with an irritated sigh.

"And what's the good news?" Jorge piqued curiously.

"That was the good news."

After a few moments of silence, and Six looking at the makeshift bomb, she turned to Jorge.

"Bad news is: the timer's fried. It has to be fired manually."

"That's a one-way trip, Six." Jorge pointed out grimly, to which Noble Six smiled within her helmet.

"We all make it, sooner or later. I never was much of a team player, anyway, but it was fun while it lasted." Noble Six said, mostly to herself, as she prepared the bomb for detonation. "You'd better get going, Jorge- they're going to need a big gun down there."

A moment of awkward silence fell over the hangar of the Covenant Corvette as Jorge simply stood behind Six, watching her fidget with the bomb. After a moment or two, he jogged over to the hangar's shield door and slowed his pace, turning his head back to Six.

"Goodbye..."

"Don't say goodbye." Six whispered to herself, letting a small tear roll down her cheek inside her helmet as Jorge stepped out of the Corvette. "Goodbye means going away... And going away means forgetting..."

---

Noble Six woke with a start, sweating underneath her armor and panting from the depressing nightmare.

She had just relived the moments before her death, and it was not something she had planned on doing in the first place.

As she tried to reach her hands up to pull off her helmet, Noble Six found that she could not move her arms or legs, as they were bound rather tightly with thick rope.

She glanced at her motion tracker and eyed seven yellow dots, changing them to red before trying to figure out where she was, and why she felt as if she were in the back of a very slowly moving warthog.

Against her chest was strong, reinforced wood. Against her back was what she could only guess as being some sort of cloth or tarp.

She bounced and bobbled around slightly as if they were traveling on an uneven road, and Noble Six felt her rifle bump against her side.

Now, she was at a complete and total loss; the likes of which she had never experienced before.

Survive a slip-space rupture: Check. Encounter medieval-era war horses: Check. What, did the fucking drive send me back in time? Six thought quietly, not being able to come up with any other reason for her predicament. They obviously must not know what I am, since they left my rifle... And in today's galaxy, it's impossible not to know what a Spartan is...

As Six continued struggling in her binds, her captors eventually came to a halt and Six froze as the tarp was pulled back to reveal the glowering snout of a dark blue coated horse with a seemingly ethereal mane and a rather long horn silhouetted against a clear night sky.

Encounter mythological beings: Check...

Comments

[X 865]

Those must be some pretty damn strong ropes to make a Spartan struggle to get out of them.

[Slaughterstone]

The Halo stories take place in around the date 2550 so horse would only have been out of wide use for all of 600 some years. Not 2000.

[One fat apple]

KIA? Im pritty sure there was a story called MIA with Jorge's POV.
Buuut.. other than that seem pritty original
keep it up! :3

[bloodwolf432]

You do know Spartans weigh in close to a ton right? There's no way a simple wooden cart would be able to support her. Add in the fact that nothing gets the jump on a Spartan, not even when their sleeping. She would've woken up the moment they reached the range of her motion tracker.

[Ignis Mortis et Doloris]

2623218
Magic could be an explanation for the cart and getting the jump on her.

And author, the average spartan is 7'1'' and their Spartan Suit is a bionic powered by a nuclear reactor, she could probably just break the ropes with the bionics.

[Nopony in Particular]

2623172This is a spin-off based upon a nightmare Jorge had in chapter 12.

[Shadow Lance]

the fuck noble six died in a lone wolf fight killing a never ending war and jordge is the one who set it on why not six survived the battle then saw a blinging light as the plasma tuched her body and now she was gone

[JunebugTheBug]

3571311
hey genius ever herd of fiction?

[Tyler-B003]

At least she was happy, here, now, knowing that the rest of Noble Team was safe and sound on Reach, and that the Covenant had been successfully repelled.

Ah, the bliss of ignorance.

Still, gotta wonder how the battle of Reach would have ended if it was Jorge to survive UPPER CUT.