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John sat in the empty mess hall of Infinity, happy to find one place to have solitude. The one thing that was more difficult to deal with than the Covenant and a living Forerunner was a giant ship with a large number of Spartan IVs, who all wanted a chance to talk to him. He only had peace right now because they were all in training in some sort of holographic simulation room. That meant for now the mess hall was empty of all but him.

"Well, well, the great Master Chief sitting all alone." John looked up to see Palmer walking toward his table. Not a woman he was particularly happy to see. It wasn't that John didn't like Palmer but she could be abrasive and he wasn't in the mood for her kind of attitude. "Why you sitting alone, big man?"

"I wanted some time to myself," John answered simply. "This space was empty." He hoped she'd get the hint and leave him be. He had just lost the last of his teammates, Cortana, and he wanted time to think about his lost friends, all of them.

"Broken up over that AI of yours? You do know she was a program and you can't really date a bunch of code. Well, an egg head can but that's because they can't get real girls. You can get plenty of real girls." There was a bit of a suggestive tone to her words which made him uncomfortable.

"Cortana was my friend, and the last of my friends. They told me about Doctor Halsey, Blue Team isn't on board and I know what that means, they're gone as well, and Cortana is gone. If you don't mind I'd like to have time to myself." John scowled behind his helmet, hoping that being blunt would get her to leave him be.

Palmer didn't even seem to realize. "You are a sulky one. I've served twelve tours during the war, I know what it's like to lose friends. You get used to it, get over it, and make new ones."

"They weren't just friends." John couldn't help the threatening tone in his voice. The idea that some teammates that Palmer maybe knew for a few missions at all was the same as the Spartans, who John knew since he was six, annoyed him. "I lost my best friend in the first year and now I've lost the last of my friends, not to mention my..." John shut his mouth, keeping himself from saying something he'd regret. Though what was there to protect anymore? "I would like to be left alone," he tried again.

Palmer ignored him again. "Tell me about these Spartans." Palmer leaned forward and crossed her arms on the table. "I know who the members of your former team are, and I've always wanted to know more. You answer my questions and I'll answer yours." John frowned but decided he couldn't pass up a chance to get some answers. Because he'd been missing for so long he didn't have access to a lot of systems as they were all classified. John finally nodded, agreeing. "Wonderful, so how about we start with Linda. I heard she was a great sniper but what was she like? I did hear a few rumors about you and her. Any of them true?"

"She wasn't great, she was the best. I've seen her snipe the pilots out of speeding banshees." John remembered First Strike, the mission that had taken Grace and introduced him to Brutes. "As for what she was like, she was cold, distant, but she was still like a sister to me. Linda just worked better on her own, as close to a lone wolf as there was in the Spartans."

"But in the final months of the war, the Halos and the Ark, you did all of that on your own," Palmer pointed out.

"Not by choice. We had to flee Reach and I had to leave all my friends there. Linda was dead in a cryo tube and the other Spartan that had gone on the space op with me was gone. My team was there for First Strike and I couldn't have done it without them. When we got back to Earth I was taken to a ceremony for actions on Halo and from then on the rest of Blue Team was simply deployed somewhere else. We didn't think we'd find a Halo when we chased Regret and when I got back the rest of the Spartans had gone off on a mission without me. I'm not sure if it was luck or not that they weren't with me."

"I get what you mean. The sort of 'if they were with me it would have been easy but they might be dead' dilemma. Well the past is the past and you get to ask a question," Palmer reminded him.

John considered the many questions he had, but he could only ask one of them for now. "The Spartans here are IVs, but my class was IIs. We're there IIIs?"

"Sure were, and they were worse then you guys kidnapped at six. The IIIs were orphans from the war that were trained for way shorter time, some going into the war before they were even teens. They were large classes, and usually sent on sort of suicidal missions. Very few of the hundreds of them that served are still alive." Palmer frowned, obviously disapproving of it. "My turn. Tell me about Fred. He led the Spartans after you. What was he like?"

"Fred was a good man. He would have been the greatest Spartan but he didn't like the focus being on him. He was a good leader but always took it so seriously. Second guessing choices and it would lead to slip ups. He's got a good heart though, was a good friend, and a determined Spartan." John had to admit it felt good to talk about the Spartans. He missed them, and he regretted not getting to say goodbye, but he still enjoyed talking about them. "If there was one person who could lead the Spartans other than me it would be Fred."

"He was a Lieutenant Junior grade when the war ended," Palmer informed him. "He has one of the best records. Even I was impressed, over one-hundred-twenty battles. So he was better than you? Even in intimate situation?" John knew what she was doing, she was trying to flirt but in the sort of crude manner that marines did with other soldiers. It wasn't always serious and although Palmer was suggesting things he didn't feel like she was really trying to hit on him.

John nodded, satisfied with that information. If anyone had deserved and could handle being an officer it was Fred. "Now my question. When I went into cryo we had a truce with the Covenant. What happened?"

"We didn't have a truce with the Covenant, just your buddy the Arbiter. Long story short, they're split. Those that are on the Arbiter's side and want peace and those that still want to kill us. What we found on Requiem weren't Arbiter allies. Now, tell me about your second-in-command, Kelly."

John froze at the mention of Kelly. The enjoyment from talking about his old friends vanished, replaced by the sorrow of the realization he'd never see Kelly again. "I don't want to talk about her."

"Odd, because when I met her she was more than happy to talk about you." John's gaze shot back up to Palmer. She had met Kelly?

"When, where?" John asked, unable keep his voice from being eager. He knew that he was too emotionally compromised by all the loss in order to hide it so he decided not to. Kelly was gone and they couldn't get mad at him for a past relationship. "Please," he added.

"I met her some years back when they were shown the Spartan IVs. From the way she and Lasky talk about you I expected you to be ten feet tall. Or maybe it wasn't height that Kelly had been talking about." Palmer smirked suggestively. "She came in and showed up all of my Spartan IVs." Oddly there wasn't the bitter tone to her voice.

"You seem happy about that," John observed. "What happened?" He admitted to himself that he wanted any information he could get, any hint as to what Kelly had done before whatever had taken her from him for good.

"I met her several times, we sort of became friendly, and she told me all kinds of things when we would talk. She showed up my soldiers the first time I saw her and she was amazing. She told me about this Spartan III she knew who she said was just like you, but was an actual loner. She said that Spartan III was just a kid compared to the Spartan IVs and if that Spartan III could be as good as a Spartan II, then so could my Spartan IVs. We talked about the inequalities in the military and how hard it is to be a female Spartan. She told me some stories about you."

"That was always Kelly's skill. Not her speed but the fact that she was still so human. She always had the right words or actions. She could make friends with anyone. I loved that about her." John turned his gaze to the table. "I loved a lot about her."

"Yeah, I got that feeling from her. There's a way that people talk about those they're screwing, and that was how she was talking. Not to mention she just blankly stared at one of the fours when they tried to hit on her. That sort of forceful 'I'm taken now leave me alone' look." Palmer laughed. "Poor guy was scared silent."

"I've never really thought of Kelly as being scary," John admitted. Though, when he thought of it, if Kelly wanted to she could probably kill him. She was fast enough she could probably stab him before he could react, though he knew she never would.

"Maybe she just isn't scary to you. To a Spartan IV she's a seven-foot-tall, faster than they can understand, walking tank in battle armor. You don't see her as scary because to you she's Kelly, the woman you're in love with. You probably don't have to look up to look her in the eyes, do you?"

"No, I'm taller than her, but she'd never been intimidated by me," John answered.

"Well no woman is ever afraid of the man she's sleeping with, well as long as he's not abusive but I can't see you raising a violent hand against her, not that you could probably touch her," Palmer reasoned.

"I would only ever spar against her, though for that she did have to slow herself or else no one would ever stand a chance." John smiled a bit. It felt good to be focusing on the good times. "Is Lasky ever afraid of you?"

"Plenty, but that's because he's not really a front line guy. He's not afraid that I'll ever turn my skills on him, just sort of not used to how violent I can be against my enemies." Palmer shook her head a bit. "We're we that obvious?"

John shook his head. "He said your first name, and it was the way he said it," John explained. "Though you might want to wear your helmet. Those glances toward Lasky will be harder to notice."

Palmer let out an amused snort. "You know you have a question to ask."

John considered the question that was on his mind and feared asking it. He feared what possible ends they had met so he focused on something else. "How did you get Lasky command of Infinity? Will they find a new Captain or let Lasky keep it?"

"We made our report to FLEETCOM and Lasky put in his objections to Del Rio's orders. When push comes to shove Lasky is a good leader, keeping calm under pressure. He's a bit protective, always telling me to be careful when I go into a fight, but he's the best leader to handle the responsibility of Infinity. I'm sure that they'll recognize his actions and, maybe with the good word of a couple Spartans, they'll realize that he's the right man to command Infinity." John nodded, understanding what she meant. He made a note to mention Lasky's excellent leadership in his report. Now my question," Palmer said as she grinned. "I've had this question for a while and Kelly couldn't answer it. Why didn't you put her in charge of Red Team on Reach?"

John shook his head. "She wouldn't have known why. We often can't see our own faults or what might be possible problems. I split myself from Kelly for the first time in years. She'd always been at my side and I knew that she would be distracted. I know that not having her on my team for the space op felt odd but I put her on the planet because I thought she would be safer there." John tapped his finger on the table. "I'll also admit that I was so used to putting Fred in command he was the obvious choice. Why?"

Palmer shrugged. "How many female leaders can you think of, and I don't mean sit behind a desk leaders, I mean leaders like military leaders?"

John paused for a second and thought it through. "Miranda Keyes, the leader of Black team, and you. I can think of a few marines but I don't remember any of their names."

"Now think of how many male leaders you can think of," Palmer instructed. John thought of Fred, Jerome, Kurt, Keyes, Johnson, Lord Hood, Lasky, Vice Admiral Stanforth, Whitcomb, and himself. "Notice how many more of them there are than the women?" Palmer crossed her arms and scowled. "Notice how big of a difference there is?"

John frowned, not having ever really thought about that. "I never really noticed that. Are you saying you think that there has been discrimination in the UNSC?"

"Kelly told me she didn't think you had ever discriminated but yeah, I'm saying that the way they give out command is biased to your gender," Palmer answered.

"I would never treat the female Spartans differently than the males. I will admit that those given command were a much higher percentage male but that was not the choosing of any of the Spartans. I gave people command based on skill, not gender," John asserted.

"Except for Kelly," Palmer countered. "Didn't want your little rabbit getting too far away? Wanted to keep her close in case you got in the mood?" The Commander grinned.

John was a bit annoyed by the tease. He knew she didn't really mean to insult him but he felt an anger at being accused of only caring about Kelly for her body. "I love Kelly, and I kept her close because that was where she belonged. She was the Spartan I trusted the most at my back, and she was creative, saw the things I might miss. The first time we were on a Covenant craft and we came to a door I was just going to force it open but she thought of using the door controls. That was why I needed her with me. She was the best second-in-command a leader could have, even Fred found it obvious when he made her his Red Two on Reach," John argued. "She deserves to be treated with more respect than to be talked about like I owned her. She was an amazing soldier and an amazing woman you were honored enough to speak to." John didn't known why he didn't just stop himself but the idea of the woman he loved, who he was sure gave her life valiantly in a fight, would be disrespected just wasn't something he could let continue. Palmer was still smiling happily at him and it annoyed him more. "What?"

Palmer shrugged. "Just a bit jealous. I don't think Lasky would ever speak about me with that kind of passion. Kelly is a lucky woman." John froze having caught that one word. She'd said that Kelly was lucky in a present tense, meaning that she was still lucky.

John felt a spike of hope but he pushed it down, knowing it was just one word and it didn't mean anything. "My question," he remembered. He hesitated for just a fraction of a second before pushing forward. "What happened to Blue Team?"

"That's a long story," Palmer said about to start into the story but stopped. She looked over John's shoulder. "You need something, Tom? The Chief and I were just having a moment."

Lasky moved over to the table, looking uncomfortable. "Fleet wants a report from you," he informed Palmer.

Palmer nodded and turned to John. "Maybe they'll finally let us off this ship then you can show me how skilled you are. She told me you weren't any better than any of the other Spartans."

John shook his head. "I'm about average in all areas so I'm one of the most balanced Spartans, and they always said I was the most lucky, but Spartans aren't meant to be alone. Two Spartans will always be better than one, even better if you can have an entire squad," John explained. "Any Spartan will rise to whatever challenge they are up against, the way things worked out it just happened to be me, probably because of my luck."

"What are you two talking about?" Lasky asked.

"Nothing, Tom. I'm going to go make that report." Palmer nodded to John. "Nice talking to you." She stood and started to leave.

"Wait, you didn't answer the question," John reminded her. He wanted to know what had happened to his team. He still didn't have a definitive answer to if they were alive or not.

Palmer didn't stop walking. "Wait till we get to the planet and you have access to the files. You should find out on your own." With that she was gone.

"I'm sorry about her," Lasky spoke up. "She's a bit rough around the edges but overall she's really a nice person. I think she likes you though because she seems to insult you less then when I first met her," Lasky observed.

"That's her being friendly?" John asked. He supposed she had never been outright rude to him. She seemed to just be a marine, one who treated him the same as any other soldier, which he wasn't used to. She'd teased and poked fun at him but only a couple of her comments had upset him.

"Yeah, doesn't always seem friendly but she doesn't mean most of it. You learn her attitude and humor and it becomes more obvious," Lasky explained. "So what didn't she tell you?"

"She didn't tell me if someone very important to me was alive or not," John answered.

"Well once we get down to Earth I'm sure they'll catch you up on everything and answer any questions you have," the Commander assured him.

"I hope so, sir," John turned his gaze to the table. "Is there anything else, sir?"

"No, I'm going to go see how the sweep is going. See if we can get off this ship by time soon." Lasky moved away and John was left with his thoughts and memories. He hoped beyond what was logical that his luck had held out and they were alive. After all, he still had a few promises he hadn't kept.