Thorne X Palmer: Fighting Pains

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Thorne stood up and sat on his new bunk, the only occupied one in the room. He picked up his personal tablet, then going onto the small newspaper Infinity runs on the side.
"Fireteam Majestic Dead! Only One Survivor!" The article read in large blue holographic lettering. The article went on about how the Spartans were overrun and the details of the battle. Then it said that Thorne was to be honorably discharged in the coming weeks, and that Fireteam Majestic was to be put under new command by Spartan Naiya Ray and a new group of Spartan IV's were to make up the bulk of the Fireteam...

Thorne would usually have flipped out and brought the issue directly to Roland, Commander Palmer, or Captain Laskey. But with what he had gone through, he wouldn't put up the smallest of a fight...

Thorne shut off his tablet and put it under his bunk. He was still in his now beat up black under suit that all spartans had worn, even some select soldiers. He lay down and shut his eyes, not even bothering to take the meds the doctors had given him. As he was about to drift off, a knock on his door startled him awake. He got up and pressed the "open" button, which slid open the door and revealed a still black undersuited Sarah Palmer.

"Uh, Commander!" He shouted, standing at attention.

"At ease Gabe, I know you heard the news..." she sighed, entering the room.

"It came as a surprise at first, but I see where they were coming from." He said, taking a seat.

"Not yet, that's only what they expect," she claimed, "I'm going to have an old friend talk to you, he knows what it's like to lose people he loved."

She looked at the door, and a bald man, around 6'11, was standing in the open frame. He walked over to Thorne and smiled. He had a hand, grasping 3 arrows tattooed onto his left cheek, and he wore a 3 piece suit with a pin that sent a shiver down Thorne's spine.

"This man is a legend, and it is an honor to be in his presence." Palmer said in a mellow tone, silently ordering him to salute. Thorne didn't need any pushing. He shot up, saluting the legendary sniper of Noble Team.

"Jun-A266, it's an honor- sir!" Thorne said, standing, saluting, and smiling for the first time in three days. Jun laughed and pulled the chair from Thorne's desk out.

"Son, you are much like I am, we are much like many spartans, and there is nothing to put upon yourself." Jun said in a soft Slavic voice, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Thorne nodded.

"We are, but I was there when they died." Thorne said back to him.

"So was I, Gabriel, I saw two of my best friends die before me. There's nothing we could have done..." Jun rebuttled.

"You're right Jun, I-I don't know what I was thinking. It's just my thoughts clashing..." Thorne tried to explain.

"I know what you mean, and you're going to feel things no spartan ever wants to admit." Jun said, rising and pushing his seat back in.

"Don't give up, and if you do leave, I'll  respect you even more, a spartan with the common sense to know when to hang up the Mjolnir is a true one." Jun exclaimed, giving a genuine smile and walking out. Palmer sat next to Thorne, hand on his shoulder.

"Tom told me once, that when the Marines recovered the Master Chief from the Diadact's ship's ruins, and when he came to the bridge, that he was so damaged, that he could make anyone who had been on Reach look like a 5 year old on his birthday," Palmer stated, "but when he was talking to him about his AI, he said 'we're soldiers, not machines.' and Chief came out of it, Tom told me that his AI told him that once."

Thorne rubbed his eyes, he leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

"I try not to think about that, that I am a soldier and not a machine, but what Jun said is only true for him. I could have saved my team, but I couldn't. I was too weak." He muttered, Palmer stroked his back as he began to weep.

"People told me that spartans don't feel when I was an ODST, they told me they were like emotionless robots, but they were wrong. We're only human." Palmer said.

The two sat in Thorne's room for an hour, she even shut the door so no one saw Thorne cry.

"Commander?" He asked, breaking a long silence, "call me Gabriel from now on?"

"If you're fine with that, I will. You can call me Sarah."