On My Orders

And just ever so gently, a weight was lifted from his shoulders. He watched as she wandered back to the kitchen to put away her cup and followed her to do the same. The spartan was walked close but kept his distance from Iliana, in case something wierd happens between them. The more Radd looked around, the more he came to understand how she felt about it. No sounds of roaring aliens, blasting lasers, or the sheer shouting of a tank round. To just come to where you call home and relax. Truely pieceful to put it in words.

He walked back over to the door and looked over shoulder smiling at her. "Its about time I let you gt back to sleep." he said, as he tilted his head with a gentle grin. He took in a deep breath of the soothing atmosphere before he waked out of the kitchen. "Rest up, we've got to hit the training yard at daylight." he added. As he walked to the door he felt relieved and was ready to rest for the night.

It soon occured in his mind that not having his helmet felt amusing, it felt enlightening. He'd always wear his helmet so that nobody would see his face after battle, or the pain in his expressions. Radd always thought people would look at him as a weapon instead of a human, so hiding his face made him feel that way. A weapon 24/7.
 
"Great. Training. Daylight. Lovely."she joked, walking from the kitchen and into the living room, following her captain to the front door. His stay was strange and brief, but it helped her. It reminded her that every spartan has a good side to them. Even after the animosity he showed on the battle field, he was still human.

"I appreciate your stopping by, sir."she said, running her fingers in the ends of her hair, eyes landing on his for the second time that evening. His expression didn't appear anything like Iliana imagined it would. There where soft creases around his eyes, but a thick, hard jaw line that made him look strong. The rest of his features were also new to her. The muscles that spilled through the lines of his tee and the strong calf muscles that were defined by the curve of his pants. In all, he looked just as intimidating out of armor just as he was in! She smiled once, eyes leaving his as she made her way over to open the door.

"Sleep well. I'll be there bright and early, sir."she said, crisply standing at attention before him, though the action felt strange due to their lack of armor.
 
The lack of armor didn't reduce any respect that he had for her at the time. Happily, he saluted her to be at ease and proceeded to the door way. "I'm glad to be here." he replied, as he smiled at her and ruffled her hair. He didn't expect her to be so welcoming to his visit, but he could only guess it was luck.

Radd slowly opened the doow and stepped out the door way, "Rest up, I want to see you at the top of the scoreboard." he joked. He wasn't really ready to go just yet, he wanted to stay and learn a bit more about his partner, but he didn't want to end up restless. So no sleep was not an option.

The corse in the morning was a military version of laser tag, not plasma, but electric waves of magnetic energy. They augmen your armor to where you take no physical damage beneath the armor. Once you're hit in a vital spot, you feel a slight shock and your armor locks on you. It was tough training, but efficient for battle. Radd was always coming at first or second on the roster. The only one to beat him before was Iliana, anyone else couldn't keep up.
 
Iliana was there bright and early, not because she wanted to be. The night before was quite restless, even for someone like her. Normally, she could doze off into a slumber fairly quick and wake up full of energy and prepared for anything the day ahead of her held. Last night sleep was a struggle. Ever since Captain left her barracks, Iliana paced half of the time trying to sort out the thoughts that scorched through her head. Thankful as she was that he came to check on her, to know him on a personal level was something that had to get some taking use to. She had finally succumbed to sleep after lying on her back in the bed, staring at the ceiling.

She needed the sleep, however. The morning's training was laser tag. It was one of her best fields, but also a very strenuous one at that. Going toe to toe with captain on the training grounds was always a challenge and Iliana was never known to back down. But the fatigue was bad!

"S-sir..."she sputtered after grabbing at her armored chest. "I know this...this isn't protocol...b-but can we...have a break, p-please?" She hated to beg and even worse to sit out on the action, but the game had barely begun and she was already hyperventilating.
 
It caught him bye surprise at first. Usually, bright and early for laser tag she'd be the most pumped up in the group. It was odd, but after yesterday's awkward occasion he had to understand. "Sure Iliana, rest up and we'll start when you're ready to begin."

Radd escorted her over to a bench and gently sat her down, whatever was wrong was new to him, so he just put his hand on her shoulder. He noticed her hyperventalating and just continued to say "Breath, just keep breathing and you'll perform just fine. From the way she spoke to him, he had a hunch that she was exhausted to her limit from last nights visit. Dammit was all he could think to himself at the time, he just put one of his best out temporarily. "You need rest," he said, as he took off her helmet. Whether she approved of him taking it off or not didn't matter for now.

As Raddlooked at her eyes he could see the fatigue apon her face. She seemed like she had taken only a few hours to sleep, the fact that she pulled herself this far was a large display of dedication to command and conqure. In one word, impressive would sound it out without any other addition.

He lifted her chin to get a good look as Captain's eyes focused mostly on the more hard to see signs of fatigue. Already sure of the major loss of rest, he lended her his shoulder and walked with her back to the barracks. The best way to handle fatigue was to rest, hydrate, and as little movement as possible.
 
Iliana held contact with his helmet...and it was one of the hardest things she ever had to do! She knew that he was looking back at her behind the confines of the helmet that shrouded his facial features. He seemed sincerely worried about her due to the fact that he stopped the course to check on her. When he told her to breath she nodded and started to take deep inhales and exhales. Every breath she took in felt like heaven and every exhale was only an anticipation for the next inhale. The breathing was beginning to cool her down and regulate her heart beat back on course.

"Thank you, sir."she said, looking away from him and to the ground. Now that she was feeling better, they should return to the drill. Iliana looked down to the ground and then slowly back up to him. When she looked at the helmet again, she was suddenly reminded of yesterday. The tingling thought at the back of her head hadn't left since they entered the pelican only hours before. She backed up and slowly grabbed her helmet from his arms, tucking it into her own.

"Sir, yesterday when we were suppressing the covenant, we found that device. From the detail of it, I could tell it was a recorder of some sort. Do you have any idea what was on it?"she asked tentatively. The question was really drawn out. She new perfectly well that her captain knew exactly what the recorder said. The message was probably etched into the edges of his mind. As his partner, she had a right to know exactly what they were going up against than be in the unknown.
 
He had a grin on his face below his helmet once he heard her relax. It was comforting, quickly after he started to chill out after he felt he didn't need to be concerned.

Yet right after, she asked about the recorder. At first he didn't want to say anything about it. The mood was cheerful and the words said on it were... demoralizing. But he couldn't keep it from her and to lie would be worse, but even so she had the right to know. She's his partner, and keeping secrets during war is never the best option. He still had it with him in his utility, he'd forgotten it there on account of checking on Iliana. She was feeling better from last night from what he could tell, he just hoped she was ready for what was on the tape.

radd slowly reached into his pack as he churned and wondered about how this would effect her moral. but never the less, he had to show her. he pulled the silverish device from under three clips of sniper rounds and pressed a red button to turn on the screen.The playback started up again as he handed it to her.
 
Despair humans, despair and fester in your pettie attemps to save your world. You act according to your way of honor, acting as Heretics to the Great Journey, refusing the devine fate of your planet. You shall burn with your planet, your loved ones to dust, and homes in ashes. Not even your greatest warriors shall live to creep their way back to salvation. The Gods have deemed your destruction as immenant, and I AM THEIR WEAPON!!!


The recording ended and covered the training grounds. Iliana was tempted to press the red button again, just to listen to the recording once more for a confirmation. She didn't know much about the covenant, that wasn't in her field. Her job was, along with Captain, to eliminate as many of them as possible, especially when they roomed the lands of reach. However, Iliana didn't have to be certified in Covenant Intelligence to know that the thing speaking in the recording was a Prophet. A deep fear began to risen in the pits of her stomach. She wasn't aware that her hand had placed itself to the side of her face in attempts to sooth the headache that crept up on her.

"So...they're really coming..."she said aloud, not to anyone in particular.​
 
"Yeah, they are." he replied. He'd known that world like that are fighting words, the prophet sounded so sure of their fall. Which made him think, Is this all just child's play? Have we even begun to go to war? If this was all true, then what lied in store, really will shock the world to it's core.

Covenant are ruthless, but an armadah is lethal. Radd had killed many covies in his day, but knew that they have the potential to end him where he stood. To be warned of worse to come was discouraging, but not enough for him to forefit all hope. He placed his hand on Iliana's shoulder and strongly said, "Don't worry about it. Right after training, we take it to Inteligance and have them analyze it for anything else we can find."

He stood to his feet and held out his hand to lift her up,"We're Spartans, we never give in and we never lose hope."
 
"Right."she responded with a nod.

Her captain was right of course. They both had no reason to fear the covenant. Fear was only an open door with a sign that read "COME GET US! WE'RE SCARED AND VULNERABLE!" As long as she had been a part of UNSC'S most elite force, she hadn't known to fear the creatures. The hard training she went through was for a reason, and now, fighting the covenant was like stretching before a practice run. Iliana returned her violet helmet back on her head and she trudged over to Captain's side.

"When we tell them, they are just going to let the rest of the UNSC know about it and prepare the marines for battle. They may even call the other Spartans that are on their other missions back here for preparations. Do we really have to give it to them? The Covenant are a strong species. They may even track the device!"she exclaimed and then took a deep breath and turned her head to him and looked at him behind her helmet.

"I apologize, sir. Just a bit concerned is all."
 
"You have every right to be concerned Iliana, But there's plenty of us watching Reach as it is." he said as he looked towards the horizon, "I just hope we'll last." Radd always knew war is darkest before the dawn, but it never came to mind to live in fear.

"C'mon, lets get back to the training ground. I've got to prep the other green horns for laser tag. You remebee what I taught you?' The male spartan loaded his practice rifle and stood at attention with it line against his chest, ready to march into the session. The training held four rounds, each four minutes long, and the last man standing at all of them, makes top of the roster. 99% of the time it was either him or Iliana to make the top of the roster individually, but today's session was going to be a team trial.

A marine walked form a practice base, and held up two flags, one red and the other blue.

"The two teams will have their armors augmented to theses two colors. If the enemy team takes your flag, the other loses. Vehicles will be at your disposle for this session. When the color changes have been made the session will begin." he said as he walked back to the base.

This is it, I'll sign us up for teams, you want to be red or blue?
 
Now that she had regained the little strength she had lost earlier, she was ready to train. Laser tag was one of her favorite drills, and for good reason because she was terribly good at it. It was always easy for her to navigate around the fields quickly while holding a small laser shooter. The gun reminded her so much of her pistol on the actual battle field. In this game, she was in her element.

"There's no purple option, is there?"she mumbled, looking between both red and blue. Closing her eyes, Iliana spun herself on one foot about 3 times before she pointed out to an unknown area. When she opened her eyes, her fiinger was pointed to the red flag.

"Red it is then."she said nodding towards Captain.
 
"Great, I'm on red with you then." he said happily. At the entrance of the practice field was a booth that edited the coloration of the spartan's armor to the selected team's. It was a cylinder with two rings the slide up and down to augment the color change. He hated having his armor changed, mostly because it wasn't by choice. He walked into the booth and stood still as the cylinders slid up, glowing with a bright red and switched his coloration.

He then stepped into the training area, that would simulate a battleground possible to come among Reach.
A spartan is given the honor of picking an arena for training. Today's pick belonged to Radd, and his pick was ONI Sword Base, a familiar track for him, but was still a challenge.

Looking back at Iliana, he gestured for her to prepare by twirling his finger up-right. And on sync the other trainies got into their places.
 
Iliana went through the cylindrical tube to get her color changed. She was thankful that it will only be changed for this game and then it would go back to being its rightful color. While she was preparing, she was brought back to her first time playing laser tag. She was going up against her current captain and she was also keeping up with him. Every time she detected him, instead of going for the shot, she tucked and rolled on her back, out of his line of fire. However, at the same time of rolling, she held the gun out and fired three times, sure to hit him at least one. And she did.

Iliana's armor was no a bold red and she shook her head to shake off the dizziness of the lights that changed her appearance. She saw the action Captain had given her and quickly nodded in response, standing at attention when the blue team walked up to the red. The marine in the middle took his time to explain the news. Iliana looked over the blue team and noticed that some of them were in her own squad. It was surprising to know that she advanced so quickly, even though she was still a recruit. She was chosen by Captain 259 for a reason...but it surely wasn't because she was good in laser tag was it?

"Both teams ready?"the marine called out.
 
A strong and determined look shot across his face, mind and body focussed on battle, and his skills at the ready. He stood at postion with Iliana, prepared for any tactic thrown their way. Blue team's troops were on their side of the arena, the red on the opposite, this was to be a training sesssion of massive proportion.

He could feel the tension between the two teams all were ready for a win that no other score would match. One was bouncing on his toes from anticipation, another pounding his fists together, but Capatin was visual of himself and Iliana. Whether alone or togethe he was always aiming to watch his companion's back. He slapped the energy mag into the rifle and waited for the go. The sounding of a starting magnum will announce a rough session.

3....... 2.....1

A deep breath washed from his body, as the wait for the start becconed for him. At the beginning at every training session, he'd remeber the first training session where he met Iliana. A fresh green horn back then, but had the potential of Brigadier. Back then certain Spartans wre given a special option to take on an apprentice. He was the first to be given the choice, but his reason for choosing her was different from the other's.

"Are you ready?"
 
"Yes, sir!"she answered in response and made her way to his side in a crisp position, holding up the pistol to her sights, scanning the area. She was as ready as she'd ever be. The thoughts of the Covenant really swarming on Reach was a sickening thought but it only made her want to train more. Reach needed to be defended and Spartan's were the best at doing so. If she lost Reach, she lost it all. Iliana would fight for the planet until her last breathe. However, dying in honor wasn't her first priority. Her first mission was to make sure nothing happened to Captain 259-Radd. She heard that speech so many times during her training so it was practically burned in her memory.

Iliana held the gun up to her sights and gripped the handle. Recon was always her strong suit; she could scope out movement from many meters ahead so she was always a warning for him. If anything appeared or flashed out of the blue, she'd warn him quickly and he'd mostly take the shot himself or she'd do it just as quickly. The blue team had long since dispersed and Iliana stood idly next to her Captain, awaiting orders, as usual.

"Your orders, sir?
 
In team training sessions his skills were a bit rocky, but was always thinking on a win. If they split up, that'd allow them to cover more ground and keep up score. But together in pairs would enable an almost unexpected strike against each adversary to come by them at once. Personally, he'd feel more comfortable staying around Iliana. He'd already been on missions with her, was easy to commune with, and she always has his back. In battle, you should always choose the option that will benefit you and your team.

No doubt,, Iliana and Radd were the team's best defense and offense, so his best option was to stay together. They were a team of six for both reds and blues. "He gestured his hands in tow different directions with two fingeres to signafy how many in a pair. "We move in twos, Iliana and I will take the left flank. Yu two take the right and the rest will have the center, any ally in trouble is to be assisted immediately. No man or woman, is left behind. Move out."

he tapped Iliana on the shoulder to signal her to move with him, his rifle aimed forward, and eyes open for attack. He was ready to assualt and protect among the field, in a metaphor, he was a juggernaut in the arena.
 
The game had begun and boy was she pumped! Pumped more than normal, one could say. With all the troubles on Reach, Spartans had to find some way to release their frustration and pent up anger towards those slithering aliens. There was nothing like a good game of laser tag to demolish any feeling of doubt from the minds of the soldiers. Iliana felt the tap on her shoulder and she snapped to attention, looking down the minuscule sights of her gun. Just when she took one step, a flicker of moment dashed from the corner of her eye. Iliana made no sudden movements but knew it was the blue team.

"The right."she whispered. It was a low enough whisper not to be detected by the enemies but also loud enough for Captain to hear him. He didn't make an acknowledge right away so Iliana made note to constantly watch that side. The other two red teammates may have been on that side also. Did they see the flash as well. Iliana crouched and backed up behind a crate, only a few feet away from Captain. As good as they were together, it wasn't wise for them both to be that close to one another. If one was shot then the other would be shot just a second afterwards. They couldn't afford that.

Iliana crouched lower against the crate with her back set firmly against it. It would be best if Captain made the first move. That way, if there was any after fire, Iliana could take the shots herself and still allow him to compete. Either that, or she'd have to shoot just as quickly.
 
Quickly after Iliana's warning two blue sprouted from behind cover, letting out as much fire as they could get. From the sund of it, the two were just spraying and praying. Radd evaded quickly behind a stone wall and pressed his back against it. It began the shake and crumble from the hot-beams of energy blasting from the barrels of their weapons. He waited paitiently for them to over heat and when they do, they'll be wide open. And right on time, the screaching sound of an over heated pratice weapon sounded. Captain stepped from behind the cover and shot down both of the blues before they could retaliate back. The possibility of more couldn't be close behind, so he didn't reload until he was sure it was clear.

"Nice eye, Iliana." he said. He moved low and slow, but quick enough to react if he needed to. In his pratice rifle's clip he had 16 shots in. That would be enough to lower a single enemy's shield enough for him to switch to a side-arm and finish them off. Before anything else came close to his and Iliana's position, he reloaded and picked up the fallen blue's practice rifle. The other teammates were going around the field doing good, but were getting sent back to spawn much more.

He held his right arm on the trigger of his rifle and hung the extra on his back. Still aiming down the digital sights, Radd held out his left hand and signalled for two teammates to clear the right. He and Iliana would follow bwhind to support them should they come under fire. As the two new comers followed his command he whispered, "Iliana, on me." then slowly followed the other two, but not too close for a multi-kill.

 
There he goes again in his Captain Mode. He was very intact and on point with his movements, kind of like a bird of prey. Iliana was crouching a little more loosely. If she were as uptight as he was she'd be on the ground right now. Iliana was more agile and flexible, letting her eyes scan over every little thing that moved. Captain had successfully taken down two enemies and now they were making their way to respond. Iliana was enjoying relaxing and doing recon. It was different from the battle they had with the actual covenant before. No pressure. Just the thrill of the game.

"Thank you, sir."she said before she heard a shot fire somewhere behind her. Like a rabbit, Iliana sprinted to the opposite side of the crate, crouching as low as she could until she was practically laying on the ground. Unfortunately, the direction of the shot was unknown, but she kept her eyes peeled in case she saw a wisp of...blue! To her right, an azure streak flashed tp her left, and her sights were already on it. Iliana fired once at the streak, and a satisfactory thud was heard soon after. She didn't wallow in her own triumph, for she knew she had just probably given away her position as well as Captains.

"Stay sharp, sir. I have enemy eyes on."she whispered, getting out of her crouched position and leaning against the crate. The dizzyness from the night before was starting to catch up on her. Her eyes were growing glossier by the second. It was only a matter of time until she falls over. Iliana looked away from Captain, trying her best to conceal her fatigue.