Fireteam Majestic Poker Night

Fireteam Majestic Poker Night is one of several stories in Halo: Tales from Slipspace. It was written and drawn by Kody Chamberlain.

Plot synopsis
Sometime following the death of fireteam leader Paul DeMarco on Ealen IV, members of Fireteam Majestic and Roland participate in a poker game night aboard the. Gabriel Thorne walks in to discover that the rest of the team had wagered over DeMarco's keepsake, the looted energy sword recovered from Gek 'Lhar during the Requiem Campaign. A week prior, Tedra Grant had won DeMarco's sword in a card game against Spartan Jones of Fireteam Bailey, only to suddenly lose it to Carlo Hoya. Thorne expresses that the weapon was a tribute to DeMarco for having saved his life, requesting to join in and have a shot at playing for the sword. Hoya yields to his request when the rest of team agree they all deserved an equal chance. After being rebuked for almost sitting down in DeMarco's seat, Thorne pulls up a chair and joins the others around the table. When Roland begins to start a new game of Hold 'em poker, Thorne stops him and replaces the virtual holotank cards with his own inherited deck of physical playing cards. As Hoya deals the deck and reveals the community cards, Roland alerts the team to an emergency distress call. Before the Spartans leave their interrupted game, Thorne unveils his winning hand, a quad of kings, and claims the sword of his fallen friend. As the Spartans gear up for deployment, Hoya asks how Thorne found out about their poker game, at which point Anthony Madsen reveals he invited their fellow comrade and leader.