: Concerning Kat's death, I'm worried how nobody saw a hovering enemy drop ship
: only a few meters away. The only noise seemed to be the Spartan's chatter
: and the noise of MJOLNIR stepping across the hall. Phantoms have a
: distinct sound to them. Ignoring that, don't Spartans have an acute sense
: of their surroundings? A large blown out wall indicates something had once
: targeted it or continues to. In a vast metropolis full of snipers, Kat and
: Six should've been aware that plot was out to kill them.

Remember, they're going as fast as they possibly can to get to the bunkers as a glassing is commencing and all hell is about to come down around them. A Zealot Spartan with a grudge in a zone that the team had just locked down was probably the least of their worries. It was a mistake - they should have seen that Phantom coming in, but I can see in that situation where that little mistake happened and you lose a soldier. It's a random incident, not a failed heroic, which is probably the most realistic of death for a soldier.

: Carter? Hah! Even Goose managed to pull the ejection handle.

From the wounds they showed at the beginning of the level, I'm pretty sure Carter was heading towards death. As a Spartan, I'm sure he would have wanted to go out with a bang than die from blood loss sitting somewhere, watching the battle from afar.

: Six is a bit iffy. I remember the epilogue level being some ways away from
: the Aszod shipyard. I dunno really. After providing cover for Pillar of
: Autumn to escape she could've gone elsewhere than to face the Covenant
: head-on once more.

On Reach, at that point, especially in that game's vision of the events, I don't think there WAS an 'elsewhere'. I think he might have been on track to link up with some resistance, but then his time was up, and he was surrounded.

These are just my interpretations and supplemental thoughts, of course. After finishing A Fistful of Arrows, I toyed around with the idea of doing an anthology of the Noble Spartans - what they were thinking and doing before their deaths. Sort of an epilogue to the last of AFoA. But by then I think a lot of people's interpretations of Reach were set in stone and probably weren't interested.

For me, these are the kinds of stories I tell in my head as I play Bungie games, even with nameless marines I'm trying to keep alive.