Before Crimson 2

The room looked much like a dojo, a training facility many used in teaching various forms of martial arts, but in reality, it was one of the training facilities on the Infinity, this one made in particular to aid in Spartan IV combat training.

Personnel training changed over the years when the UNSC formed and during the different wars they fought. By the end of the Covenant war, the UNSC started developing holographic training, where the subject was placed in a simulated environment, having to fight targets that acted and fought like the real thing. This was crucial to the Spartan IV training as this was the main feature that helped develop the War-Games training exercises, it was safer than the traditional method when stun rounds were used and the risk of personal injury was higher.

Inside the room several Spartan IVs, all wearing white karate robes, the different belt colors and rank insignias on their robes indicated that this was a mix class, with each student at a different level. The different leveled Spartans were grouped by their skill color and taught by an instructor for each.  The more high ranked Spartans used the simulated room as a means to hone their hand-to-hand and weapons combat.

Among the high rank Spartans were two of Fire Team Crimson; Dylan and Raimundo. They began sparing with bokkens, wooden training swords, they parry, Dodge and block any attack the other threw at them.

"Not bad, Rai, you're good with a sword" Dylan said, shortening his name.

Raimudo took a few more swings before replying, "Thanks, I mastered the blade long before I joined the UNSC" He then blocks as Dil took the offence, "You're quite skilled yourself."

"Thanks. It took some time to master it myself" he answered. Among the basic Training, their commanders also taught Spartan IVs various forms of combat, from Hand to Hand, to all sorts of weapons training, Both Firearms and non.

"So this is where you are" A voice called out. They turn and see their fellow teammates, Anastasia and Evelyn, who were just in their under-suits. "We were looking all over for you, Our next War Game Exercise is in an hour in the Lower training floor." Anastasia said, being the one that called out to them.

"We know" Raimundo said, "Dil and I just figured we could due with some Sparing."

"Why? We've already mastered all hand-to-hand" Anastasia said

Rai sighed, "You don't think we should train more closely together so we can anticipate what each of us would do?" he asked

"That's what the War games are for. Besides, Fighting with swords is pointless, we have guns." Anastasia argued

"The covenant have guns AND swords as well, it just makes sense that we should learn this." Rai replied, feeling agitated.

“Well, I still think it's a stupid practice." She said.

Rai narrowed his eyes, feeling insulted at that, "Well if you think its stupid, how about you put your money where your mouth is" he challenged, pointing his Bokken at her.

Sensing a fight, Dylan got between them and held his hands. This happened Far to often, as the two always seemed to butt heads. "Ok, ok, that's enough. Rai, Anastasia has her opinion, but that doesn't mean it's an insult to your skills." he then turned to face her "and Anastasia, if you don't want to spar with us, that's fine, but Rai and I will continue regardless."

"Come on, do you really think we might get ambushed by...Covenant Ninjas or something?” she asked in a mocking tone.

“Well, there are the Stealth Sangheili, and I heard from rumors of a group of specially trained Sangheili that attack and behave like assassins or ninjas, or so I've heard” Dylan answered.

"I don't think I've ever seen them act that way" Eva said, bringing her thoughts into this.

"I'll agree that while that does seem improbable, It wouldn't be unheard of" Dil said, "while that we know how they think, we also know there is diversity between them just as in humans. Maybe not in how they live, but how and why they fight can still differ like humans do."

"That is true." Rai brought up, "Their ways of Honor are somewhat like some of Ancient Earth's Samurai, and much like Samurai, they had to deal with the Peasants who fought them by any means, without honor, and those peasants became the ninjas. With their way of life changed after separating from the Prophets, it might be a matter of time until some of the more lowest of the Sangheili forgo their more honorable ways and behave like Assassins, like ninjas."

"I seriously doubt that would ever Happen" Anastasia commented. "They earn honor and status through their deeds. They care too much about their code to ever break that."

"Don't forget, many Sangheili are divided now, that can shake their foundation and make them do things they wouldn't think of doing before" Dylan rebutted. "Only time will tell."

“It sounds like you all seem to know a lot about the Elites” Eva, using the more Common name humans gave for Sangheili.

"It's always best to learn your enemy" Anastasia said, "and I've learned everything from debriefs and scientist who study their culture."

"I only know what I've observed when fighting them, and whatever lessons the UNSC gave us" Rai answered, "Despite some of them wanting to kill us, you can't help but respect how they fight"

"Yeah, like Merciless being that would sooner stab you than join you for a coffee." Anastasia said

“Well, I had a more 'hands on' approach when learning about them" Dil began, "During the last days of the war, when the Sangheili defected and allied with us, I ended up fighting along side one, his name is Anbr ‘Hojot” he explained, pronouncing the name. “After the war, we ended up staying in contact, and he told me-”

“Wait a second" Anastasia interrupted, "you’re friends with one of those split-lips? You’re buddies with an Elite, the Enemy?” Anastasia asked in a socked and angered tone.

“First of all, Anbr is loyal to the Arbiter, so he’s considered an ally” he said, bringing up the Sangheili warrior who aided the Master Chief and the humans, “and second, for lack of a better term, yes he is my friend. I didn’t think I would ever come to that, and believe me I hated them as much as anyone, but he proved to be a great ally.”

“I'd be careful about that” Raimundo said, sounding a bit uneasy. "I mean, I've read my share of history books about similar situations, like the praetorian Guard, they protected roman emperors but would sometimes assassinate them so others could gain power. Them saying that they are allies would be a way to get us while our Guard is down."

“Actually, the UNSC screen any Sangheili who are either calling themselves allies with the Arbiter and those that are seeking asylum on earth” Eva said, “if this Anbr ‘Hojot did fight with humans, he’d have a file and be on watch by the UNSC.”

Dylan nods “That’s how I stay in contact with him.”

Anastasia crossed her arms, “If I were you, I would have nothing to do with those Hing-heads, they’re nothing but heartless killers” she said in a cold tone, Rai looked like he was about to say something but Dil beat him to it.

“Well you’re not me" he said, narrowing his eyes, "And not all the Sangheili are out to kill humans. Whether you believe it or not, there are those who are just like us.”

“Are we going to be expecting a sad attempt to be diplomatic when we are in a fire fight?” Anastasia asked, almost taking offense at what Dil said.

“Oh trust me, I know very well who we are fighting, while not all Sangheili are out to kill us, there is the majority that do. And I would appreciate it if my loyalties weren’t questioned like I'm some kind of insurrectionist” Dylan said in an abrasive tone.

“Why, you use to be an Innie? That’s probably the only reason you’d make friends with a Covie” Anastasia said in a tone, using a slang term for the Covenant.

Dil's eyes narrowed at that comment, the grip on his bokken was tighter, he raised it slightly as if about to strike her with it, but Raimundo seemed to have sensed what was coming and stopped him by grabbing his shoulder. Dil looked at Rai, who shook his head, he then took a calming breath and turned to Anastasia, "look, no one is keeping you here, We'll meet you later for the War game. Until then, leave us to our spar" his tone more calm but still held agitation.

Anastasia raised an eyebrow at his behavior, but decided not to push it any further, she didn't need to spar so she left. Evelyn stayed behind, "You know, I could do good with a few lessons"

Rai looked over at Dil again and said, "maybe another time, we're almost done anyway." Eva nods and leave to follow the other woman on their team, letting the men continue with their weapons training, though Raimundo couldn’t help but notice Dylan’s strikes were with more force.

------------   

Time passes and the sessions end with a trip to the showers. The male Spartans washed up and went to their lockers to dress in their UNSC fatigues. Raimundo, who was still getting dressed looked over a picture handing on the inside of the locker wall, he took it off to get a better look and smiled.

The image was of him and that of a small child, a little girl with blond hair. There was a colorfully wrapped box in her hand, indicating it was a birthday or a holiday when the photo was taken, the image was a bit faded and crumbled but still was clear, and still held significance to Raimundo.

“She looks cute” a voice said snapping Rai’s thoughts back, he turns and sees Dylan, a towel around his torso.

“Do you mind?” he asked, feeling a bit annoyed someone was looking.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” Dil said, he sat as he opened his locker, which was a few lockers away from Rai’s, who just finished putting on his shirt. As he got up he saw his teammate work on his prosthetic legs, there was a thick but stretchy silicone covering he was peeling off, no doubt put on beforehand for the protection of the machinery in the legs. Dil noticed his look and said, “Yeah, this can be a hassle to deal with, but it beats having to take the legs off every time I need to bathe.”

Rai looked them over, seeing them up close, “Well...on the bright side, at least your feet don’t hurt when you’re marching.”

Dil laughed at this little joke, “heh...yeah, there is that. It still took long to get use to them though” he added.

“Were your legs beyond saving?” Rai asked, curious about them still.

“One was sliced clean off by an energy sword” Dylan explained, “the other crushed by tons of rock and debris.”

“Ouch” Raimundo said wincing, “Shame they couldn’t be saved. I almost lost this arm” he said pointing at the right arm, focusing on the red line scarring at his bicep. "I was in this Fire Fight, going against these Brutes" he explained, bringing up the Ape like Covenant species, "One of them ended up throwing its brute shot at me, hard and fast, the weapon's blade taking a clean slice right here."

Dil looked intrigued, “It must have been difficult to reattach that arm back to normal” Dil said eying the scar.

“It was, but faced with having a robot arm and this option given to me, I took the chance to keep my arm.” Rai said.

Things were quiet after that, Dil got dressed after taking the silicone covers off, as he was putting on his pants, Rai spoke again, “What was up with our spar?” he asked. Dil raised an eyebrow, signaling that he didn’t know what he meant, “I mean your strikes were a harder than a normal spar, like you were really trying to hit me.”

“Oh...” he said, drawing the word out.

“Is it about Anastasia? Look, I'm sure didn't really mean to imply you were an Innie. It was probably just a joke."

“Well, it wasn’t funny to me” Dylan said in a bitter tone.

“Don’t tell me you really were one. That’s kinda messed up.”

Dil narrowed his eyes at that comment, “oh you’re one to talk, Mr. mercenary in training.”

That surprised Raimundo, “How did-”

“You don’t become a cryptanalyst without learning how to break into systems and gaining information without getting caught.” Dil interrupted, “You have an ONI file about your times before you joined the UNSC” he said, referring to the Office of Naval Intelligence, the agency responsible for many programs and black-ops, including all the Spartan programs.

“Yeah...At first I was going to be part of them, but because of how they behaved during the Covenant war...how they acted so selfish and dishonorable, It made me sick. So my Loyalties went to the UNSC." Rai explained, his past replaying in his head. “So you really were an insurrectionist?” he asked

Dil paused for a moment before he began, “...Yes and no. Its kinda complicated.”

“We still have time before the next exercise" Rai said.

Very well.” Dil said, he took a seat as he began. “I was 5 when the Covenant Glassed my home planet of Madrigal. My earliest memories was the sound of gunfire and the smell of burning ozone as they began their attack. It was just my mom, my dad and my older brother Thomas, who I called Tommy, he was 18 at the time, 13 years older than me. My family at first were still earth-based, so you can understand when I say my parents hated the insurrectionists.”  

“And yet they went to an outer colony planet” Rai said, bringing up the irony of the situation.

“My parents wanted to prove that living on an outer planet didn’t make you an innie, they were the minority that still were loyal to earth.” Dil continued, “anyway, when the Planet was under attack, it was the rebels who ended up saving our lives. They rounded up as many ships they could and ferried almost the entire population off of Madrigal. So in a way, as much as my parents hated the idea, we owed our lives to the Innies.”

“How did you survive?” Rai asked.

“They decided to hide us.” Dylan said, “Madrigal was part of the 23 Librae system, and that system had a gas giant; an astroid belt. They managed to hollow one out and make it into a habitat of sorts, they called it the Rubble. For about a year, we lived in that asteroid, but that changed when a covenant ship arrived.”

“How did you survive a second attack then?” Rai asked, interrupting again.

“It wasn’t an attack. As strange as this sounds, that ship was full of Kig-Yar, Jackals, and they actually came to us for trade.” Dil explained, “It was the weirdest and scariest moment in my life, but the head of the rubble, who were insurrectionist, accepted the trade. More to the point, they became trade partners with the Kig-Yar. They helped us by giving weapons to trade for goods, and they helped make the Rubble into a collection of astroid habitats...its was quite the site, really.”

Raimundo looked in shock and awe, “You’re shitting me, you actually lived among Jackals and innies...and you aren’t dead or an innie yourself?” he asked.

“My family did their best to stay away from both Jackals and Innies, it was an uneasy peace. Even more so when Tommy joined the Rubble defense force to help support our family.” Dylan said as he continued the story.

Before he went further, he pulls something out from under the wife-beater shirt he had on, his dog tags. There were four, two were the normal tags that had his name, rank and health bio. The other two were Red and blue that had shapes cut into them; the Red having a symbol of Flames, the blue a symbol of water. In the center of both tags was a silver dragon charm.

“This was my brother’s, Tommy bought this charm because of his fascination with dragons, how powerful they can be, and how diverse many are, some breath fire, some breathed ice, it went with his belief of balance.” Dil explained, “He taught me that everyone and everything has both a light and dark side, how we live and treat others decides the balance: Too much darkness can corrupt someone into doing dark deeds, too much light makes someone blind and gullible, making them just as dangerous. ”

“That’s an interesting way to view the world” Raimundo said, “I’ve long since followed a Code of conduct I developed, It blends many other codes such as Bushido, the way of the Samurai. They all have similar structures of belief, honor, chivalry and duty.”

Dil smiled, “I’m sure Tommy would have liked you then, they are similar.” He looks over the tags again, “Fire and Water he believed was one of the greatest examples of Balance, you can’t really get any more opposite than that, yet we need both to live.” He lets the tags hang as he continues the story, “Along with that, Tommy taught me how to understand the Kig-Yar, being part of the Rubble security, he had to oversee a lot of trading with the Rubble leaders and the Jackals, and he took it upon himself to learn their language, then he taught it to me. I asked him why and he told me ‘because its best to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.’”

“That saying is well known for learning how your enemy thinks.” Rai replied, “So what happen to your brother?”

Dylan looked down as he remembered the event, “I was 11 years old when the Covenant found us, from what I understand, the Kig-Yar’s leaders were on their way to kill us and take the Data we had that had the location of earth, this was just after the Cole Protocol was introduced. A team of Rubble soldiers, a captured UNSC frigate and its commander, and, from what I heard, a team of Spartans lead a strike to buy the citizens time to evacuate. My brother was one of the Few who joined the fight, but before he left, he gave me his charm and decorative tags, saying he wanted me to hold them for safe keeping when he came back. It was years before I realized that he wasn’t planning on coming back...that he didn’t want me to panic and beg for him not to go.” His eyes glistened with a few unshed tears, “He told me to be strong and never give up...always overcome what obstacles I come across...” he closed his eyes as a few tears started to run, “His ship was gunned down by a plasma bombardment, but his help allowed us all to escape.”

Dil stayed quiet, Rai placed a hand on his shoulder, “My...Father...sacrificed himself to save me and my...family when the Covenant glassed my planet, I can sympathize” he said, saying father and family in a certain way. "Your brother was very brave to do that."

Dil wiped his eyes, “I know he was, and I made sure his sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain. When I hit 18, I joined the UNSC, my parents were against it at first but I told them Tommy laid down his life to save us, to do anything less would have disgraced his memory.”

Rai gave a smile at that, “Seems he also left you his honor.”

“Heh, I guess so” Dil said.

“You fight for a good cause, kinda like why I fight. To Honor my family's memory, I fight for them...” Rai said, looking at the photo again, “...for Estella.”

“Is she your daughter?” Dil asked, guessing by the age difference.

“Of sorts” Rai corrected, “I...adopted her, the circumstances were unique.”

“How so?” Dil asked.

“It was during an Op. we were looking for survivors when I found her...Next to her dead mother.” Rai said grimly.

“Oh...I’m sorry to hear that” Dil apologized.

“Its ok. I took her in, helped clean her wounds and overall took care of her...we started bonding, so much so she started calling me dad.” Rai said, “So I adopted her.”

“Where is she now?” Dil asked.

“On earth with a close friend of mine, Fiona” Rai said.

“You didn’t say wife. Girlfriend?”

“Ex-girlfriend actually...but it was mutual, and there’s no one else I trust with taking care of Estella” Rai said.

“That was really kind of you, she must have been very grateful” Dil guessed.

“She was...and I look forward to spending time with her when we’re done with our mission.”

“If its alright, I’d like to meet her myself, she sounds like a nice girl” Dil offered.

Rai gave a light laugh, “I’m sure she’d love to meet you too, its a deal.” he holds his hand out for Dil to take, he did and they shook.

"So you gonna be alright?" Rai asked.

"Yeah, I am. I'm not gonna let a insult get the best of me" Dil said said. “We should get going though” he added as he grabbed his shirt and slips it on, “Ana and Eva are probably wondering where we are.”

Rai chuckles a bit and the two leave the lockers, he was glad that Dil was doing ok even after the insult against him, and was nice to know a little more about his teammate. He knew that Dil was the kind of guy who would have his 6 and He in turn would have Raimundo’s 6.