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The Spartan IV Chronicles by John K
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Halo: The Sentinel War
Date: 31 March 2008, 10:00 pm
Halo: The Sentinel War
By: John Kuna
Chapter One: The Selection
1300 Hours, March 7, 2559 (Military Calendar)
HSJA Outpost S4, near ground zero of the New Mombasa Orbital Elevator (Destroyed)
"Dr. Halsey, It's good to see you again." Lord Hood said, extending his hand. Dr. Halsey took it and gave a gentle shake. Her time on Onyx had preserved her somehow; it was as if she was in cryosleep the whole time, yet could remain active. "The years have not been kind, Hood." She replied, "So, what else have I missed since I've been away?" John entered the room, his Mark VI Armor glistening in the light. Neither of them took any notice to him, they were accustomed to the Spartans by now and were in a deep conversation about the new protocols in the HSJA. He shrugged and walked past, into the weight room. He gazed at the weights, and frowned. This just didn't seem right to him. He felt out of place; like if he wasn't holding a rifle, he was lost. No more war, no more fighting, just commanding. Maybe this was how Kurt felt, John thought, maybe this happens to everyone after a while. We fight, and then we die, retire, or lead a life behind the lines. He left the weight room, and was about to return to his quarters, when Dr. Halsey stopped him, "John, come over here. We need to talk with you." He joined them. "Yes Dr. Halsey?" He said, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"As you may know Master Chief," Lord Hood said, "the HSJA is planning on continuing the Spartan Project." John nodded; he had heard about it before, "Well, HIGHCOM asked me for recommendations as to who would train them. And I see nobody more befitting to take on the task than you and your Blue Team." John didn't reply right away, something Hood found unnerving. He didn't know if John was reaching out to his team, or if he was just taking it all in. That MJOLNIR suit was definitely a big help for the Spartans, nobody would ever know their emotions. "Sir, it would be an honor for me to train them. But I don't know if my team will go for it just yet. We've been through a lot, and they are still trying to adjust."
"I understand completely, Chief." Lord Hood replied, "We'll give you and your team 24 hours. Come back to me then with you answer." John nodded and exited the room.
John felt exposed without Cortana. He always knew that she would "die" in the end, but he just couldn't accept it. Walking down the hallway now, he thought back to the first time he met her. He wasn't so sure about having an AI in his brain every second of every day. But now, he realized that without her, he would be long dead. Keeping his thoughts down, he shook his head and entered the room. "Hey John," Kelly said. She, like the others, had gone through hell and back with John. Usually the last to recover from anything, she was one of the first this time. Post traumatic stress disorder was common in soldiers, but when you have been fighting wars literally all your life, it was a surprise to most scientists and doctors that the Spartans weren't insane. "How'd it go in there?" She looked at John. He shrugged. How could he tell her yet? They had all gone through a lot. Out of seventy-five friends, seventy-five brothers and sisters in arms; only seventeen were left. He could barely stand thinking about it. Six years after humanity's most gruesome war, they were already preparing to fight another.
He shrugged again and sank into a chair. "I just don't know anymore, Kelly." He said, "Fighting is all I've ever known. I've fought countless enemies, so many factions that didn't match our cause. I lost count of how many I've killed. Now, we're getting ready to fight yet another war against trillions of robots. They don't have feelings, they don't understand. And they won't stop fighting. They've been programmed to stop the Flood at all costs. Even if it means killing sentient life on their own."
"Well, what did Lord Hood ask you about?" She sat down with him. Kelly was someone John could always trust to talk to. She seemed like the only one who ever listened. Inside his helmet he grinned, "He wants us to train more Spartans. They're making another program to fight the Sentinels. I guess they've finally realized that twenty years against the Covenant can wear even Spartans down."
"Wait a minute; he wants us to train the Spartans?" For some reason that John couldn't see, Kelly was surprised. They were technically the most successful Spartan program. Looking at their service record, John could understand why. 33 Spartans safeguarded millions of human lives, killed tens of thousands of the Covenant, and essentially winning every battle they have faced. Before the Human-Covenant War, they had been excellent hostage rescue units and assassinations against the United Rebel Front.
"Personally Kelly, I can think of few better." She stood up and walked to the door. "John, I don't know if I can." John had never seen Kelly break down like this before, maybe she didn't fully recover from the fighting. "It's not that I can't stand training more Spartans, it's that I won't be at their side to fight. Mendez never got that chance; I think he probably felt the same way."
"Well," John started, "we can probably work things out with the Spartans. I'm sure that once the training is done, we can get the same augmentations that they get. And we can definitely get fitted into the Mark VII armor they're designing. There's still a good chance that we can fight, in fact it's almost certain that we'll be called upon to serve on the battlefield." She turned and looked at him. Behind the armor was a friend that needed someone to inspire her. John had done just that, "Okay John," She said, "I'll give this training thing a shot." Now John stood. He could finally get on to the rest of his team. He sighed, "Great, only sixteen more people to persuade."
Chapter Two: Spooks
0530 Hours, May 2, 2559 (Military Calendar)
HSJA Base 117, in Kenya
John woke to the shrill sound of a whistle. Where was he? He was in his bed at home last night, now though; he seemed to be in a barracks of some kind. It reminded him of the pictures his brother sent home during his training. Am I dreaming? He thought. He rose quickly, hitting his head on the top bunk. I guess not. Holding his head, he got up more carefully this time and looked around the room. There were dozens of bunks set up against the walls of the barracks with kids just like him groggily waking up. "Good morning boot." A voice said behind him. John remembered it from somewhere. He spun on his heels and faced a man about two and a half meters tall with short brown hair. Sizing him up, John knew that this man was different from others he had met in the past. Most of the people that he knew in the military were average height and weight, but this guy, he was tall and definitely looked to be at least 125 kilograms. "Get dressed into the blue clothes in the basket at the end of your bunk and go to the Meeting Room." John nodded, still tired. He went to get dressed when he realized that he didn't know where the Meeting Room was, "Umm, sir?" The man turned around, "Yes boot?" The man asked in an irritated voice. "Where exactly is the Meeting Room?" He sighed, "Just follow the signs and you'll get there in no time, everything will be explained there." John nodded again and returned to his bunk. By that time, his bunkmate had gotten up. "What was that noise that woke everyone up?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. "I think it was a whistle. Do you know where we are?" The boy shrugged in response, "I've asked people already, nobody does. They're all saying that they just woke up here." John yawned and began getting dressed. He looked at the boy's shirt. On it was written: Jesse E237 "Your name's Jesse huh? I had a cousin named Jesse." Jesse looked surprised; John guessed he didn't realize that they all had their names embroidered on their clothes they woke up in. "How do you know my name?" John pointed to his name, "That's how, it's on yours too. In fact I'm pretty sure it's on everyone's." They both looked around. Everyone was up and about, talking to each other. "Who was that guy you were talking to?" "Oh, I have no idea, but I think that this place is like a barracks or something. My brother joined the Marines during the war and sent home pictures of places that looked just like this." Jesse's face went from curiosity to worry in seconds, "You mean they're making us be soldiers or something?" "That's what I would think. That guy told me to get dressed and go to the Meeting Room." They both shrugged and got the clothes they fit best into and began to leave when another shrill whistle blew.
"Alright recruits," The same man from last time yelled out, "Get your asses dressed and get to the Meeting Room, ASAP!" The two boys looked at each other, shrugged, and left the barracks.
"Well, we know one thing for sure." "What's that?" John asked. He noticed that Jesse was looking at the sky. "There's one moon and one star, witch means that this is probably Earth." He looked up; there was indeed one of each. They were only visible in John's opinion because it was early morning and the star was just rising. They both continued to follow the signs until they finally reached the Meeting Room about a kilometer later. Seeing as they were among the first to arrive at the room, John and Jesse quickly took the best seats there. Their curiosity got the better of them though. "Hey John," Jesse said, "What do you think is in that room over there?" He gestured to a big metal door on the other end of the Meeting Room. "I don't know, you wanna check it out?" Without responding, Jesse quickly hopped off his seat and walked over to the door. "Hey look," He said, "there's a camera right there." John saw it long ago. He always had an uncanny ability for picking out cameras and other surveillance equipment anywhere he went. He also practiced disabling old cameras, and was pretty good at it. That was how he always got extra snacks for him and his friends back home during nap-time.
Home. With everything going on lately, he had totally forgotten about it. He wondered now where they were, if they were okay, how far away he really was from them. Jesse snapped him out of his thoughts, "Hey do you think that you can turn it off? I'm too short." John shrugged. He had seen cameras like this before. It was usually in hard-to-reach places at shops and military places. He remembered his brother's funeral. Everyone was crying that day, but all he could remember was the anger, and the new camera at the entrance. He had tried to disable that one too. He wanted to see his brother alone, one last time. He had failed then, but John was driven not to fail again.
"Give me a boost," He said, "If I can get up there fast enough, I think I can get it off before anyone notices." He continued working on it for a good thirty seconds when the handle of the door began to turn. Jesse dropped John in an instant and they both raced back to their chairs. The door opened and another tall man was there. This one was more average looking, not too tall or too short, not too strong or weak; just regular. His hair color was different too, unlike the man at the barracks; this one had jet-black hair with streaks of silvery gray running through. He walked straight to a podium in the middle of the room. Jesse and John kept completely silent until the man reached the podium. "Hiya," Jesse said, waving. The man jumped in surprise. Jesse instinctively did the same; John didn't like to show surprise to strangers. He was calm. "You scared me," The man said, "Usually I can hear people so close to me. Were you kids holding your breath or something?" They shook their heads. "Ah well, I guess everything goes with age," He laughed. John thought that this man was much more pleasant than the other one in the barracks. "My name's Fred; I'm going to be one of your trainers for the program." Fred looked around, "I was expecting more of you, is this it?"
"No sir," John said, "I think there are about a hundred total. We're the first here I guess." Fred shrugged, "Well, just relax for now; we'll wait for the others to show up."
About ten minutes later, the rest of the children began to file into the room. Behind them was a small army of drill instructors and trainers screaming at the recruits to get into seats. All of the kids double-timed it to the chairs surrounding the podium. Fred looked up again at the one-hundred children around him now. Grinning, he introduced himself, "Welcome recruits, this is your first day of Spartan training." The crowd began to buzz with excitement. Children gasped and laughed and talked amongst themselves before the instructors quieted them down. John saw the man from the barracks standing at the entrance, making himself as small as possible. John began to wonder why that was when Fred interrupted his thoughts, "You have all probably heard of the Spartans before either through family or friends. Let me make this clear now though; what you've heard in the past is nothing like the real thing, I should know; I'm one myself." Now the recruits went into a loud conversation between themselves again, it took the instructors nearly five minutes before the talking had subsided.
A boy behind John raised his hand, "Yes young man, what is it?" Fred asked. Everyone in the room adjusted their focus on the little boy. "Well sir, I was just wondering, are you the Master Chief?"
---------Not part of Story above---------
I'm not done yet, there's more to come! : )
Halo The Sentinel War
Date: 30 October 2008, 9:55 pm
Chapter One: The Selection
1300 Hours, March 7, 2559 (Military Calendar)
HSJA Outpost C9, near Ground Zero of the New Mombassa Orbital Elevator (Destroyed)
"Dr. Halsey, It's good to see you again." Lord Hood said, extending his hand. Dr. Halsey took it and gave a gentle shake. Her time on Onyx had preserved her somehow; it was as if she was in cryogenic sleep the entire time, yet could remain active. "The years have not been kind, Hood." She replied with a smile, "So, what else have I missed since I've been away?" John entered the room, his Mark VI Armor glistening in the light. Neither of them took any notice to him, they were accustomed to the Spartans by now and continued in a deep conversation about the new protocols in the HSJA. He shrugged and walked past, into the weight room. He gazed at the weights, and frowned. This just did not seem right to him. He felt out of place; like if he was not holding a rifle, he was lost. There was no more war for John, no more fighting, just commanding. Maybe this was how Kurt felt, John thought, maybe this happens to everyone after a while. We fight, and then we die, retire, or lead a life behind the lines. He left the weight room, and was about to return to his quarters, when Dr. Halsey stopped him, "John, come over here. We need to talk with you." He joined them. "Yes Dr. Halsey," He said, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"As you may know Master Chief," Lord Hood said, "the HSJA is planning on continuing the Spartan Project." John nodded; he had heard about it before, "Well, HIGHCOM asked me for recommendations as to who would train them. And I see nobody more befitting to take on the task than the Spartan IIs." John did not reply right away, something Hood found unnerving. He did not know if John was reaching out to his team, or if he was just taking it all in. That MJOLNIR suit was definitely a big help for the Spartans, nobody would ever know their emotions. "Sir, it would be an honor for me to train them. However, I don't know if my team will go for it just yet. We've been through a lot, and they are still trying to adjust."
"I understand completely, Chief." Lord Hood replied, "We'll give you and your team 24 hours. Come back to me then with your answer." John nodded and exited the room.
John felt exposed without Cortana. He always knew that she would 'die' in the end, but he just could not accept it. Walking down the hallway now, he thought back to the first time he met her. He was not so sure about having an AI in his brain every second of every day. Now, he realized that without her, he would be long dead. If only she did not try to soak in all that information on the Forerunner Terminal. Keeping his thoughts down, he shook his head and entered the room. "Hey John," Kelly said. She, like the others, had gone through hell and back with John. Usually the last to recover from anything, she was one of the first this time. Posttraumatic stress disorder was common in soldiers, but when you have been fighting wars literally all your life, it was a surprise to most scientists and doctors that the Spartans were still sane. "How'd it go in there?" She looked at John. He shrugged. How could he tell her yet? They had all gone through a lot. Out of seventy-five friends, seventy-five brothers and sisters in arms, only seventeen lived. He could barely stand thinking about it. Six years after humanity's most gruesome war, they were already preparing to fight another.
He shrugged again and sank into a chair. "I just don't know anymore, Kelly." He said, "Fighting is all I've ever known. I have combated countless enemies, so many factions that didn't match our cause. I lost count of how many I've killed. Now, we're getting ready to fight yet another war against trillions of robots. They don't have feelings, they don't understand. Moreover, they won't stop fighting. They've been programmed to stop the Flood at all costs; even if it means killing all sentient life on their own."
"Well, what did Lord Hood ask you about?" She sat down with him. Kelly was someone John could always trust to talk with. She seemed like the only one who ever listened. Inside his helmet he grinned, "He wants us to train more Spartans. They're making another program to fight the Sentinels. I guess they've finally realized that twenty years against the Covenant can wear even us down."
"Wait a minute; he wants us to train the Spartans?" For some reason that John could not see, Kelly was surprised. They were technically the most successful Spartan program. Looking at their service record, John could understand why. Thirty-three Spartans safeguarded billions of human lives, killed tens of thousands of the Covenant, and essentially winning every battle they have faced. Before the Human-Covenant War, they had been excellent hostage rescue units and performing assassinations against the United Rebel Front.
"Personally Kelly, I can think of few better." She stood up and walked to the door. "John, I don't know if I can." John had never seen Kelly like this before, maybe she didn't fully recover from the fighting. "It's not that I can't stand training more Spartans, it's that I won't be at their side to fight. Mendez never got that chance; I think he probably felt the same way."
"Well," John started, "we can probably work things out with HIGHCOM. I'm sure that once the training is done, we can get the same augmentations that they get. Moreover, we can definitely be fitted into the Mark VII armor they're designing. There's still a good chance that we can fight, in fact it's almost certain that we'll be called upon to serve on the battlefield." She turned and looked at him. Behind the armor was a friend that needed someone to inspire her. John had done just that, "Okay John," She said, "I'll give this training thing a shot." John stood. He could finally get on to the rest of his team. He sighed, "Great, only sixteen more people to persuade."
Chapter Two: Spooks
0530 Hours, May 2, 2559 (Military Calendar)
HSJA Base K-2433, in Germany
Jon woke to the shrill sound of a whistle. Where am I? He was in his bed at home last night, now though; he seemed to be in a barracks of some kind. It reminded him of the videos his brother sent home during his training. Am I dreaming? He thought. He rose quickly, hitting his head on the top bunk. Humph, guess not. Holding his head, he got up more carefully this time and looked around the room. There were dozens of bunks set up against the walls of the barracks with kids just like him groggily waking up. "Good morning boot." A voice said behind him. Jon remembered it from somewhere. He spun on his heels and faced a man about two and a half meters tall with short brown hair. Sizing him up, Jon knew that this man was different from others he had met in the past. Most of the people that he knew in the military were average height and weight, but this person, he was tall and definitely looked to be at least 125 kilograms. "Get dressed into the blue clothes in the basket at the end of your bunk and go to the Meeting Room." Jon nodded, still tired. He went to get dressed when he realized that he didn't know where the Meeting Room was, "Umm, sir?" The man turned around, "Yes boot?" The man asked in an irritated voice. "Where exactly is the Meeting Room?" He sighed, "Just follow the signs and you'll get there in no time, everything will be explained there." Jon nodded again and returned to his bunk. By that time, his bunkmate had gotten up. "What was that noise that woke everyone up?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. "I think it was a whistle. Do you know where we are?" The boy shrugged in response, "I've asked people already, nobody does. They're all saying that they just woke up here." Jon yawned and began getting dressed. He looked at the boy's shirt. On it was written: Jesse C275 "Your name's Jesse huh? I had a cousin named Jesse." Jesse looked surprised; Jon guessed he didn't realize that they all had their names embroidered on their clothes that were on when they woke up. "How do you know my name?" Jon pointed to his own name, "That's how, it's on yours too. In fact I'm pretty sure it's on everyone's." They both looked around. Everyone was out of bed, talking to each other. "Who was that guy you were talking to?" "Oh, I have no idea, but I think that this place is like a barracks or something. My brother joined the Marines during the war and sent home videos of places that looked just like this." Jesse's face went from curiosity to worry in seconds, "You mean they're making us be soldiers or something?" Jon shrugged and replied, "That's what I would think. That guy told me to get dressed and go to the Meeting Room." They both shrugged and got the clothes they fit best into and began to leave when another shrill whistle blew.
"Alright recruits," The same man from last time yelled out, "Get your asses dressed and get to the Meeting Room, ASAP!" The two boys looked at each other, shrugged, and left the barracks.
"Well, we know one thing for sure." "What's that?" Jon asked. He noticed that Jesse was looking at the sky. "There's one moon and one star, which means that this is probably Earth." He looked up; there was indeed one of each. They were only visible in Jon's opinion because it was early morning and the star was just rising. They both continued to follow the signs until they finally reached the Meeting Room about a kilometer later. Seeing as they were among the first to arrive at the room, Jon and Jesse quickly took the best seats there. Their curiosity got the better of them though. "Hey Jon," Jesse said, "What do you think is in that room over there?" He gestured to a big metal door on the other end of the Meeting Room. "I don't know; you wanna check it out?" Without responding, Jesse quickly hopped off his seat and walked over to the door. "Hey look," He said, "there's a camera right there." John saw it long ago. He always had an uncanny ability for picking out cameras and other surveillance equipment anywhere he went. He also practiced disabling old cameras, and was good at it. That was how he always got extra snacks for him and his friends back home during lunch at school. His brother used to do it for him, but when he left to fight the Covenant; Jon taught himself the craft.
Home… With everything going on lately, he had totally forgotten about it. He wondered now where they were, if they were okay, how far away he really was from them. Jesse snapped him out of his thoughts, "Hey do you think that you can turn it off? I'm too short." Jon shrugged. He had seen cameras like this before. It was usually in hard-to-reach places at shops and military places. He remembered his brother's funeral. Everyone was crying that day, but all he could remember was the anger, and the new camera at the entrance. He had tried to disable that one too. He wanted to see his brother alone, one last time. He had failed then, but John was driven not to fail again.
"Give me a boost," He said, "If I can get up there fast enough, I think I can get it off before anyone notices." He continued working on it for a good thirty seconds when the handle of the door began to turn. Jesse dropped Jon in an instant and they both raced back to their chairs. The door opened and another man was there. This one was average looking, not too tall or too short, not too strong or weak, just regular. His hair color was different too, unlike the man at the barracks; this one had jet-black hair with streaks of silvery gray running through. He walked straight to a podium in the middle of the room. Jesse and Jon kept completely silent until the man reached the podium. "Hiya," Jesse said, waving. The man jumped in surprise. Jesse instinctively did the same; Jon didn't like to show surprise to strangers. He was calm. "You scared me," The man said, "Usually I can hear people so close to me. Were you kids holding your breath or something?" They shook their heads. "Ah well, I guess everything goes with age," He laughed. Jon thought that this man was much more pleasant than the other one in the barracks. "My name's Fred; I'm going to be one of your trainers for the program." Fred looked around, "I was expecting more of you, is this it?"
"No sir," Jon said, "I think there are about a hundred. We're the first here I guess." Fred shrugged, "Well, just relax for now; we'll wait for the others to show up."
About ten minutes later, the rest of the children began to file into the room. Behind them was a small army of drill instructors and trainers screaming at the recruits to get into seats. All of the kids double-timed it to the chairs surrounding the podium. Fred looked up again at the one-hundred children around him now. Grinning, he introduced himself, "Recruits, this is your first day of Spartan training." The crowd began to buzz with excitement. Children gasped, laughed, and talked amongst themselves before the instructors quieted them down. Jon saw the man from the barracks standing at the entrance, making himself as small as possible. Jon began to wonder why that was when Fred interrupted his thoughts, "You have all probably heard of the Spartans before either through family or friends. Let me make this clear now though; what you've heard in the past is nothing like the real thing, I should know; I'm one myself." Now the recruits went into a loud conversation between themselves again, it took the instructors nearly five minutes before the talking had subsided.
A boy behind Jon raised his hand, "Yes young man, what is your question?" Fred asked. Everyone in the room adjusted their focus on the little boy. "Well sir, are you the Master Chief?" By now, everyone had heard of the Master Chief. He was all over propaganda posters, The TV, the radio, just about everything media-related talked about him.
He was a legend to them, a light in the dark that would save humanity, or that was what they said. Fred chuckled, "No, no I'm not the Master Chief." Jon turned again to look at the man from the barracks; he shifted uneasily as the man glared at him. The man then walked up to the podium, "I think I'll take it from here Fred," he said. Fred saluted and walked towards the entrance. Jon wondered why Fred did not even question the man's order. Maybe he was a higher rank. His thoughts were interrupted when the man spoke again, "Recruits, my name is Master Chief John-117. I have served in campaigns since before some of your parents were born. I will be your CO your training in this facility. If there are any questions pertaining to why you are here, don't ask us."
Jon thought that that was very odd. Nobody he knew asked if anyone had questions, then refused them to ask, unless it was very important or secretive. The Master Chief looked around, "Well, I think that's it. If you'll follow me, we'll begin with your training."
Slowly, the children left the room, talking amongst themselves about what they had heard, some were talking about what kind of training they were going to get. They sure did get it.
Chapter Three: Delta Platoon
0600 Hours, May 2, 2559 (Military Calendar)
HSJA Base K-2433, in Germany
"Let's go grunts! Get through this course, don't slow up!" Isaac yelled, overlooking the trainees as they sloshed through the mud, fell off balance beams, and tripped over one another in exhaustion. It looked as if none of them had coordination or cooperation at all. However, about 50 meters ahead, four Spartans led the pack. John watched them, impressed then looked to Kelly and nodded; they were the ones they wanted.
"Come on Jesse, grab my hand," Jon said to him as they tried to scale a manmade rock face. "Well just give me a minute; I don't have anywhere to put my feet!" Jesse replied, frustrated at the course.
"You don't need to," Katie, one of the Spartans that Jon and Jesse met just before, said, "You're at the top; just use your free hand to grab his." Mark, another Spartan recruit, just sat back and waited for them to finish up, they were only 20 meters away from the end.
Once Jesse pulled himself up, they were off again. This time, there were people standing there, waiting for them at the end of the course. Mark pointed, "They weren't there a second ago." Jon and Katie both looked out, it looked like Master Chief and some other person. "Just so long as it isn't that Isaac guy, I'm fine," Jesse said, "Did you see his eye patch? And his fake han- OW!" Mark punched him in the arm. "What was that for?"
"I know that guy; he helped me out on Reach." Mark replied, he had encountered the Covenant once before. His father was some important person in the military and Mark was there to visit him. That was when the attacks began. He explained to the rest of them as they continued through the course of how after the Covenant abandoned the planet, they went looking for survivors and found Isaac, still in his MJOLNIR suit. This was before anyone knew about the SPARTAN II Program, so the survivors had to keep quiet. Mark said that Isaac told him that he was fighting against the Covenant, when he got really hurt trying to blow them up with a bomb.
"Oh, well I didn't know, sorry." Jesse said as they reached the end casually. "Recruits," John said, the trainees lined up, "Good job today, if you'll follow Kelly, we'll get you some food, then talk to you about something top secret." Jon and the others looked at each other questioningly, then shrugged and followed the woman Master Chief called Kelly. "As the Chief already said, I'm Kelly," She told them, "I am one of the more… advanced trainers."
"Advanced?" Katie said, "How so?" Jesse nudged her, "Shhh! The more we talk, the less time to eat." Jon silently agreed. The time for questions would come later; right now, he needed something to still his rumbling stomach.
As they entered the mess hall, a wave of scents touched their noses. The trainers all sat at one table so Jon and the other three rushed to get some food. Jesse filled his plate with steak, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and a small bowl of ice cream. John and Mark followed suit and Katie got the same, but replacing the ice cream with salad. They all sat together two tables away from the trainers. While Jesse, Katie, and Mark all speculated what they were going to talk about with Master Chief, Jon listened intently on what Kelly, Chief, and Fred were saying. "Do you think they can take it?" Fred asked, "This was tough for us, and it's only their first day."
"Listen to me," John said, "From what I gathered; Kurt did the same thing to his Spartans."
"But even Kurt didn't start giving them live-fire exercises until two weeks in," Kelly pointed out, reading from a data pad, "The Spartan III training was the toughest, are we really going to make ours tougher?" John nodded his head and looked into his own data pad, "Their training was only good enough to complete the missions at the cost of the entire company, minus one or two. I don't want the Spartan IV Program to end the same way." The trainers nodded in solemn agreement. "So… when do we put the Deltas into the mix?" Fred asked.
"They start their training tomorrow, how's Isaac's session going?"
"You saw for yourself, the others lack cooperation, they remind me of you on your first day with less coordination." John chuckled, looked back at the recruits, and then told Kelly to get the rest of the Spartans to something called 'Zephyr.'
"Guys," Jon said, redirecting his attention to the trainees, "I just heard that we're done until tomorrow."
"Are you serious?" Mark asked, "Perfect! Wait, are we done training or done with everything?"
"They said done training, but I don't know if that means everything, why?"
"Because I remember my dad reading off a report of what the other Spartans did. They didn't only do obstacle courses; they also went to school, weight room, and a bunch of other stuff."
"Well, we're about to find out," Katie said, "Here comes the Chief."
"Well," John said, "It looks like we've got an important directive that needs our immediate attention. Command has requested for us to pick the best of the best from all three companies, you being the last of the three." He stopped, took out four data pads, and handed them to the recruits. "You will be relocated to a more remote area of the base for your elite training. If you look at the data pads in front of you, you'll notice the coordinates for the sector that your training will begin tomorrow." They all read the information intently. Jesse looked up, "Why are we being given the coordinates to the sector?" John sighed, and then looked at the children straight in the eyes. "This will be your first assignment. Tonight you and the rest of Delta Platoon, that's you people, will be dropped from a Pelican Dropship in the woods about three kilometers from the sector. It will be your job to determine how to find the sector given the equipment provided."
"Why do we have to drop at night?" Mark asked, "Why not just drive there, or is it blocked?"
"Well, lets put it his way, you're getting something really special and esteemed, if everyone else knew about it then it wouldn't be special, would it?" Mark shrugged, agreeing with what John said.
Jon and the others remained in the mess hall kitchen learning from the chefs who fought in the War how to make great dinner out of anything when MREs or other meals are unavailable. At around 2100 hours, John and Kelly called for them to report to the armory across the road to get their equipment. Once they got there, Isaac started fitting the trainees into custom tailored ODST Suits. "These suits have night vision interfaced into the helmet, just press this button," He indicated the green button on the side of the helmet, "to turn it on. It also sets up waypoints on all friendlies, which in this case is the Delta Platoon. The sector and everything else on base ground is set as neutral, so they won't show up. There is also a radio with a range of two kilometers so you can reach out to your fellow Spartans.
"In case of emergency, you will all be fitted with a red beacon that you can use to call for help. Just point it in the air and shoot; we'll be there in five minutes tops." Silently, the recruits set the suits to meet their comforts, and then followed Isaac to the next room. In his hands was a crate filled with razor sharp knives. "I want every one of you to take a knife and put it in your sheath on your chest." He pointed to Jon's sheath as an example. "Only use these in the event of an emergency. There are some pretty freaky animals out there, so be careful." Again, the Deltas grabbed their equipment in silence, many of them were still trying to figure out why they were here, but Jon abandoned those thoughts long ago.
"Do you have any questions?" The Spartans shook their heads, "Good. Then let's go to the hangar, everyone hop in a 'Hog." On the way there, the recruits began to warm up a bit to their peers. Jesse was talking to a boy named Shane whom they met while in the mess hall. Katie and Mark were still talking about Mark's experience on Reach, but Jon just kept to himself and tried to figure out how to get to Delta Sector as quickly as possible, he wanted to get a good night's sleep. Hmm, maybe if we could set up a place to meet, it would be easier to get there, he thought. "Guys, hey guys," Jon said, tapping Jesse's shoulder, "I have an idea to get there faster." Shane and Jesse both turned around and listened, "Okay, here's how I see it, they're going to drop us individually into the woods, right?" "Yeah," Jesse said, "So?"
"Well, I say that we find out who the middle two jumpers are so that they can radio to the rest of us where to meet up. Once we're all there, the last person to land will tell us which way the Pelican flew and we'll start going that way. If we run, it should take us about 20 minutes to a half hour to get there. If the trainers did that to trick us, then we'll just climb into the highest nearby tree and find out way from there."
"Yeah, looking at these trees, I'd say we could see for a good two kilometers in every direction." Shane said, checking the woods for the height of the trees. "Okay then, once we get to the hangar, tell everyone you can get to what's up and we'll go from there."
At the hangar, Jon looked around for the Pelican. While looking for where it was docked, he spotted three ODSTs suiting up just as they were. 'What are they doing?' He thought, 'I'll watch out for them later,' The ODST team boarded onto a nearby Hornet and took off, without even acknowledging the Spartans. Below them was a three-meter thick, clear acrylic floor that gave them a view of the beautiful landscape below. The hangar was perched just above a waterfall that led into a pristine lake surrounded by lush terrain, rolling hills, and several buildings that appeared to be civilian, but Jon couldn't tell. As the Pelican was loading the Spartans, Jesse and Shane spread the word on what would happen. Jon hung back a bit longer just to figure out where the Hornet was going. He saw it begin to descend into a clearing in the forest as he was getting onto the Pelican. "Victor-19 preparing to take off, over" Jon heard the pilot say over his radio. "Acknowledged 19, you're free to fly."
"I'm a little low on fuel sir, request refueling at Sector Four, over." Jon heard the Chief sigh, "Request granted Victor-19, now go drop my Sierras, out." Jon was trying to soak all this in when Katie tapped him on the shoulder, "Jon, did you hear what I did?" Jon nodded, "Well, you know what that means don't you?" Jon shook his head 'no', "We're being called Deltas by a lot of people, right? Well, I was looking at the names of the Sectors as we passed over them, and I saw that every time we left a sector it went up from A to B to C. That's Alpha, Bravo, then Charlie, and Delta must be after that; it starts with D after all." When she finished Jon's plan all worked out, the last person would check to see which way the Pelican flew, then told everyone after that. "Did Jesse or Shane tell you what we're planning?" She nodded. Jon's excitement grew as everything fell right into place. He smiled and stared out the back as he watched the hangar and its waterfall drop behind the horizon as they went over a hill.
"Alright, let's go!" Isaac yelled, "Jump out the back! Don't hesitate; do you really think you'll live on the battlefield if you hesitate?" One by one, the recruits dropped out of the Pelican, pulling the cord on their parachute, and landing in the dried riverbed below. Jon was towards the end of the line and looked back at who was last. Mark was there and gave him the thumbs up sign. When it was his turn, the Pelican went through a wind gust and he tumbled out. Jon's instincts kicked in. He immediately began to regain composure over himself and balance out, exactly how his brother had showed him back at the base where he was stationed when he went there to visit them a few years back. How he wished his brother was there to see him, not only had he followed in his footsteps, he was a Spartan. When he got back to where he needed to be, he was only about 200 meters from the ground. He pulled the cord and just relaxed as the chute did its job. Relieved that he survived the near fatal turbulence, he looked down and already saw people starting to form up at a rock formation about 400 meters from him. Due to the shock of falling out, Jon didn't even realized people screaming into his ears asking if he was hurt. "What's his name? Jon! Are you all right? Can you hear me?" Jon shook his head to clear his mind then replied, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, maybe next time I'll do a back flip." Isaac knew that if the boot could crack a joke, then he would be fine, so he returned to getting the rest of the Spartans out the Pelican.
When he landed, Jon started jogging to the meeting point. He was about 50 meters from the other trainees when he heard Mark's voice crackle on the radio, "Guys, the Pelican is going over a mountain to the left of me, that's your right if you're looking at me. You should see it going over right about now." Jon turned and barely caught a glimpse of it before it disappeared behind the trees, "It looks like we can follow the riverbed right up to the base of the thing. There's a small cave where it looks like the river ran right into. We'll have to make the climb from there." Shane thanked Mark then told everyone to meet up at the rocks.
Once everyone got to the rocks, Mark guided the Spartans back up the river to the mountain. When they got there, Jon went over to check out the cave before getting up. He realized that this wasn't a cave, it was a tunnel! "Hey guys, I think I found something!" The recruits joined him at the tunnel, "Look, this thing goes on forever, and I can see lights inside, I think that the sector might be inside this thing." He said as he pointed to the peak. The others voiced their mutual agreement at the logic of his opinion, and then together they ventured inside the tunnel.
Chapter Four
0650 Hours, May 2, 2559 (Military Calendar)
HSJA Base K-2433, in Germany
About 200 meters inside the tunnel, Kevin, another Delta who had amazing hearing, stopped the group. "Hey guys," he said, "I think something's hiding in that crevice." Jon went up to Kevin to see what he was talking about then beckoned Jesse, "What?" Jesse asked.
"Shhh, there's something over there." Kevin whispered, pointing to the crevice. "C'mon Jesse, let's go check it out, but be quiet," Jon ordered. They both tiptoed over to the crevice, and then Jon poked his head inside. The ODSTs were in there, sitting on a small bench chiseled out of the mountain. He silently gulped, and then let Jesse look. "I remember seeing them a while back in a Hornet, they must be here to stop us." He told Jesse. "Yeah, it looks like they have guns too." Jesse turned around and looked at Jon, "What should we do?" Jon was surprised by his friend's immediate reliance on him, "Well, I think we should definitely just sneak around them, send one at a time. Go tell Kevin and Shane, I'll stay here as lookout." Jesse ran back to the others and told them what was going on. Then the Spartans all lined up on the other side of the tunnel where it was dark and walked across. Every time one passed the entrance, Jon looked towards the ODSTs to see if they had noticed, then gave them the thumbs up to continue.
Once everyone had passed the crevice, Jon ran to the far wall and ran right across. With that out of the way, the Spartans continued down the tunnel. They remained silent for most of the way down until someone said, "Hey, what's that?" Jon turned at the sound of the voice; it seemed so familiar. Who he saw surprised him more than he could have imagined possible. It was Abby Jenkins, his partner in crime back home. They were always trying to get around things so they could get to the good food at school or to the warehouse behind his neighborhood that was filed with cool toys like basketballs and remote control airplanes they thought they wouldn't ever see after the War.
"Abby?" He called out, not realizing he had nearly screamed it. She turned to look at him, "Jon? How did you get here?" She ran up to him and gave him a huge hug, "I didn't think I would find anyone here, especially not you!" He laughed and started talking about how he got there. When he was done she just exhaled I amazement, "Geez, that's weird, I can't bel-," she stopped and looked behind Jon, "What?" He said, and turned to see. Everyone was just staring at them, in those few minutes, they had both forgotten what was going on around them, and the other Spartans just waited for Jon and Abby to finish. "Are you two finished yet?" Jesse asked, "Gosh, I thought you'd never stop. Come check this out Jon, we've found the Sector." Jon and Abby ran up to Jesse. "Look what Master Chief's been doing." He pointed into an underground valley. The tunnel they were walking down transformed from dirt to asphalt instantly and all around them there were trees that soared well above 40 meters, beautiful flowers of every color, small creeks, and babbling brooks all fed the lake in the center of the valley. Buildings lined the water and Jon could see people walking around down there. There was a firing range on the other side of the valley and an obstacle course down near the lake. Wildlife was also thriving in the valley. Deer, birds, rabbits, foxes, and many other animals were wandering around them. "This is amazing," Jon said, "How did they do this in a mountain?" Jesse shrugged, "The only I'm wondering about is how anything could make a hologram that big," he pointed to the top of the mountain. It looked as if the entire top was just cut clean off, "When I was dropping, those trees on the top looked so real, but now it's obvious they're fake." Shane, Mark, and Katie all started running down the road to the buildings at the lake, easily half a kilometer away. The others soon followed suit and began jogging to the sector. "Why do you think we're here?" Jon asked Jesse as they were jogging. Jesse just looked at him questioningly, "I mean, why do you think we're inside a mountain hidden by a huge hologram instead of on a normal base?" Jesse looked back up at the top of the mountain, then back at Jon, "I don't know, I guess we're more of a secret than the other ones." Jon looked down the road. They were almost at the first building which started looking more and more like a huge library like the ones he saw in history class when he was back home. The library had huge sculptures of eagles on the outside. One was clutching arrows; the other, lightning bolts. The thing that caught Jon's attention most about them wasn't that they were perfectly sculpted; it was that neither of them was touching the ground. They were both just hovering at the entrance, with seemingly nothing holding them up. Once they reached the library, Jon ran up the steps and went straight to the eagles. "Do you like them?" Jon jumped in surprise, he did not hear anyone come up behind him, which was something he was usually good at doing. He turned around and tried to speak, but lost the words. The person he was looking at wasn't a person at all. It was an AI like the ones his teacher sometimes brought in for class; the only difference was that this one was human size, about as tall as his brother was, he guessed. It wasn't being held in anything either, usually the AIs he saw were held in a data or holo pad. "What? Never seen an AI before?"
"N-not one as big as you, no." The AI chuckled, "Well if you like, I could be smaller for you," it shrunk down to his size and became a perfect reflection of Jon. "Wow, that's so cool," Jesse said, "He looks just like you Jon." Again the AI laughed, "I'm glad you're pleased Jesse," it said, "My name is Leo and I will be your teacher for your time in Delta Sector." Jesse groaned. Jon guessed that Jesse was not a big fan of academics. "Ha, do not worry; class today will not be too hard," Leo said, trying to reassure his pupil. Jon shrugged, he could care less about schoolwork, but usually the first day of school is a bunch of introductions and little to no work. He was not worried.
"Come on Jesse," Jon said, "it can't be that bad." Under his breath, Jesse muttered something that Jon could not quite understand, and walked into the building. Leo reappeared and began preparing for class. With a simple glance at the lights, they dimmed to a relaxing glow, a snap of his fingers and calming oceanic sounds filled the room. "Ah, much better, oh wait a moment children; do not step into the center of the room." Leo said as the other Spartans entered the room. He gestured for them to sit on the seats hugging the walls of the octagonal space. As they sat, Leo's voice resonated throughout the room, "For many generations, humans have struggled and fought for power, land, wealth, and glory. For centuries, they met on the battlefield, not as allies; but as adversaries," he faded away slowly, becoming more and more transparent as scenes of battles formed in the center of the class. Some of the Spartans gasped, but most were so transfixed by the spectacle that they did not dare utter a word, "And in every Era, one Faction rose above many, one society thrived, while others were overtaken.
"From the sands of Egypt to the farthest reaches of out galaxy, human civilization has grown strong and united. Now we no longer fight against one another, we fight together. Thousands of years ago, a great empire threatened to take control of the entire world. The Persians and the plethora of forces were held off by three hundred of the world's finest soldiers: Spartans," a peaceful landscape viciously turned into a battlefield littered with bodies as wave upon wave of soldiers assaulted the Spartan line, and were struck down. "These Spartans saved not only a nation that day, but united a country and broke the back of Earth's most powerful empire. Today, centuries after this battle, we still look back on it and wonder how three hundred soldiers fended off millions. Thousands of years from now, historians will look back on you in awe, as we do today because you, and only you, can save humanity at its darkest hour." Master Chief quietly entered the room and watched the rest of the show, thinking back to his first day. The introduction was not as riveting or inspiring, but it got the general idea across. Leo rematerialized in the center of the room, the ancient Spartans vanished, "I am afraid that this is all the time we have for today, but tomorrow I will have some exciting lessons for you on History and Arithmetic."
"Okay trainees, follow me to the Dining Hall," Master Chief said. All the Spartans hesitated; they were utterly shocked, "Did you all hear me? I said, 'follow me.' " Slowly, the trainees regained their senses and trailed the Chief to the hall. "I imagine that you're all exhausted after that strenuous hike so you have the rest of the day to enjoy yourselves and explore Delta Sector. Tomorrow however, we begin training at 05:00 hours." Jon, Jesse, and Abby all walked together to the Dining Hall. Silently, they received their dinners and sat at the table. I wonder how long we'll be here for, Jon thought, Oh whatever, I'll worry about it later. Right now though, I'm starving! "So what do you think he is going to make us do tomorrow in training?" He asked in an innocent tone. "I don't know, but whatever it is it'll be much harder than what we did with everybody else," Jesse replied. He looked to Abby, "What do you think?" Abby shrugged and waited to finish her food before she spoke, "I don't really care about the training. I am just looking forward to the classes tomorrow. Today was probably the funnest day of school I have ever been in." Although Jon was reluctant to admit it, school was definitely better than the athletic stuff that the Master Chief had them doing. For him, academics were never on the top of his list; but this kind of learning, the kind that will actually be incorporated in his life, was just the type of education he longed for. He was curious, however, why Abby did not seem the least bit interested in the training though; she had always been extremely athletic back home. Before he could ask the questions craving to be introduced, Master Chief interrupted, "If you are all finished with your meals, please allow me to show you to your quarters." Jesse turned to Jon and Abby, "How long do you think we'll spend at one place here? It has barely been ten minutes since we started eating; I've barely started on my dessert." "It doesn't really matter," Abby said, "The point is that we're getting breaks between training. What did you get for dessert anyways?"
"Pudding, why?"
"Well just take it with you then, he won't care; will he?" Abby looked to Jon. He shrugged and they followed the rest of the crowd.
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