..Duck in cover.
All her life her training was all she had ever most girls her age, who were having fun and going to high school parties, Namine Luka was a part of the Spartan of doing normal adolescent girl things, she was training to become the perfect soldier.
Dr. Halsey focused a good chunk of her attention on all she was the top sniper in her sector and the best pilot in the entire as a result Nami hardly ever had any free was always the subject of numerous tests and didn't really bother her. Each of the test were for the better of the other spartans candidates.
"Alright, thats it for today. 876 your free dismissed for the day."
Nami slide her top back on and also her jersey that sported her identification tag. She was #876. She would have been "SPARTAN-876" if she survived the program.
"How were the tests Nami?"
One of her friends, a girl by the name of Linda, caught up with Nami just as she left the labs.
"They were alright " Nami replied" Just some cardio tests and shield generator callibrations" "Anything new we should get a heads up about?"
"No Linda" Nami laughed " Besides if I told you would really get pissed off at me."
Because of how close she was to , she was almost always regarded as a brown noser, or a "mommy's girl".When in all reality she couldn't stand the doctor.
The old bag was always uptight about everything, and Nami didn't like it when the "Spartan mother" yelled at the other kids, especially over minor things.
By the time she got to her room, it was already time for lights out.
"Oh well" she sighed , closing the door to her room " I guess I'll just have to grab an early breakfast tomorrow"
Even then, she thought , tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I'll barely have any time to eat.
As she expected, the following morning was extremely only ate a few pieces of toast before her sector was hauled off to the obstacle alone took several hours of her day, followed by two hours of target practice, and then hand to hand combat training."
When lunch came around, Nami was exhausted.
"Tired?" Linda and chad sat down across from Namii at her table.
"Yeah I'm kind of running on empty right now. I hope Dr. Halsey doesn't call me in for more tests today."
" Maybe she'll give you a day off or something. She's got to have some idea of how tiring it can be. Those tests on top of all the training."
"Yeah . We're not full spartans yet, but I'm sure we will be. But that doesn't mean we don't get fatigued or anything. Even the doc's got to know that."
After she ate, Nami was surprised to discover that she did have some free time; About 2 hours where she could have done anything she wanted. Blessed with that much time, she went over to the firing range to do the one thing she enjoyed the most.
The director of the Armory didn't have a problem giving Namine-876 a rifle and several rounds. In fact, he was surprised that some one would come and practice shooting in the spare time.
Nami wasn't the only one there. Several other kids were at the stalls, each with a different type of fire one other person was using a sniper was a boy, at least a year older than her. Like most boys he had the shaven head, but even though they didn't spend a lot of time in the sun, he still had dark, tan couldn't help but stare, not at him in particular but at his shooting. All of the moving targets had one clean hole shot through the head and he was the one responsible.
Something in her gut twisted. The thought that some one was a better sniper irritated her. Nami had always had a problem with not being the best.
Without saying anything, she turned her shooting practice into a competition. Once the new targets were up and moving , she made it a point to hit the bulls eye on each and every boy with the other rifle seemed to catch on, and the two began to race each other to see who could hit the most targets before the other.
Others began to stare, and some even began to cheer for who they thought would win.
"Namine is the best shot in sector 2, theres no way she'd lose"
" But Jun is the best shooter in the entire program. He's gonna wipe the floor with her."
'Jun' So that's his name' Nami thought, slamming another clip into the rifle. She had heard stories about the top sniper in the entire spartan training program, but she hardly ever had the time to think, let alone challenge him.
" And now here I am" she thought " I'm not just going to roll if I lose I'm not going down without a fight"
Things quickened. Each was reloading with lightning fast speed, and they were firing even the chime sounded, the targets went down.
"Good work every one" every one turned to the director " I couldn't help but notice your little competition. How about I count up each of your hits and tally up a score?"
Nami stole a glance at her opponent. He stood completely calm, not even the slightest signs of exhaustion or anxiety. Herself, on the other hand, was tired and the days of low nutrition intake were taking it's toll on her.
"Impressive" the director said " you tied"
"What?" people started to get riled up " how is that possible"
" Look there. That target has two punctures. One from each rifle. Although #266 hit the 150 mark and #876 hit the 100 mark, she hit the 50 point mark on this held up the two targets in the question, and every one saw what he said was true.
As every one went back to what they were doing, Nami began to take apart the rifle and put it back into the case.
"You're a good shot"
Nami turned around and saw Jun, also packing up his rifle.
"Thanks" she said " You're pretty good too"
"No offense, but you got sloppy in the end. You could have made that shot but you missed by only a few centimeters. What went wrong?"
It wasn't until he said more that she noticed he had a heavy accent, the same accent as Katherine. So he was from New Harmony.
"I've been running on empty for the past couple of days."
"Ah so you're Halsey's favorite. I've heard about you. You're the one who is always running those tests"
"Yeah so?" Nami snapped . She didn't like being called Nami's favorite.
"Relax. I meant no offense. In fact I should be thanking you. Most of the equipment you test helps improve our performance.
Nami hadn't realized it , but she and Jun had finished packing up and were even leaving the armory together.
"It's a shame the others don't see how hard you work for this program " Jun continued "Tell me about it. I'm always tired and always being brought into the labs. To much work is gonna be the death of me."
"You should learn to take it easy every once in a while. Maybe you should stop doing target practice even during your free time."
Nami blushed a bit. He really did have a point.
"Well to me, that was a break. Thanks maybe we should do that again some time"
"Sure, and next time I expect my opponent to be at 100%"
As they went their seperate ways, Nami wasn't sure if he was challenging her again, or if he was just being arrogant. She pondered that thought even as she stepped into Dr. Halsey's lab.
