AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first FanFiction ever. Please give feedback, I like to know what people think. Any ideas on how to make it better, please, let me know. This is based on SPARTAN ANTON-044, the leader of Gamma Team. It will eventually cover the time between the SPARTAN graduation all the way to the death of the Team.

Thanks, and enjoy!


Time:0450 Hours, June 7, 2525 (Military Calendar)/

Location: Reach; Secret UNSC SPARTAN Training Facility

SPARTAN 044, also known as Anton, tucked his head in and rolled to his left, coming to a kneeling position with his rifle at the ready. He didn't take care to aim- the enemy was everywhere and there was no way he could miss. His rifle sprayed bullets into his enemy and he heard their blood curtailing, guttural cries and moans. The enemy sounded human but he couldn't be sure. They were all just shadows. Anton realized he was dreaming when he couldn't see the faces of his dyeing opponents. With that, he unloaded his remaining ammunition and allowed them to over take him.

Anton woke with a start. The last few moments of his dream had seemed real enough, had felt real enough, until he had tried to look at his enemy. He knew he shouldn't be shook up, but he was. He couldn't help it. Something was about to happen, but he wasn't sure. He had these premonitions before, but sometimes they turned out false. And usually he didn't remember until it was too late.

The SPARTAN sat up on his bunk. He was wearing Navy Issue sleepwear; a blue t-shirt and a grey pair of sweats, with the identification "SPARTAN-044 ANTON" on each garment. His brown eyes stared into the gloom of the Barracks, out over his sleeping comrades. They seemed so peaceful, but he knew they were killers. Each as efficient as he himself was. Each had the ability to take on several armed men at the same time- and win.

Raising a strongly muscled hand to his head, he felt his close cropped hair. It felt a little prickly, but that just meant it was well kept, at least by his standards. Looking over at the clock mounted above the door to the Barracks, he knew it was almost time for the rest of the SPARTANS trainees to get ready for the days training exercise. Anton stood and moved silently to another bunk. Lying in the bed was the sleeping form of another member of Anton's team, Li-008. Anton rested his hands on Li's shoulders and gently shook. Li woke suddenly and grabbed Anton's wrist, but let go when he realized who it was that woke him.

"Anton! Why are you waking me up? I'm tired, and I need my sleep. We were up until 0300 this morning in the gym doing weight testing for the Chief!" Li scolded his friend in a hushed, though annoyed, voice. Nether SPARTAN wanted to wake any of the others yet. It was too early.

"You know perfectly well why I'm waking you. It's almost 0500 and I want to be at the training grounds by 0530. I want Gamma Team to be first in line. It never hurts to give the Chief a good impression." Anton told him gruffly, though he too kept a hushed voice. "Wake Grace and Cass and be ready to leave in ten, got it?"

Li glared at him a moment, then gave Anton the satisfaction of a curt nod.

Anton turned back to his own bunk and began to undress. When he was fully undressed, he kneeled and pulled a plastic bin out from under the bed. From it he pulled a full set of olive-drab fatigues. Although they were more commonly worn by Marines, the SPARTANs wore this during many of their training exercises. They were certainly useful for carrying extra ammunition, and an assortment of other things he took with him during training exercises.

After dressing, Anton checked on Li to see that he was just pulling his own fatigues on, and Grace-093 and Cassandra-075 climbing out of their own beds and beginning to strip. He sat on his bed and slipped his feet into his boots. Taking care that they were tied just the way he liked them, he noticed all three of his squad mates pulling their own boots on.

Looking up at the clock Anton was impressed. The entire process of waking and dressing in the most basic gear had taken less than 2 minutes. Although this was near record time, he knew they needed to drop that time significantly to be truly ready for the battle field. They would need to be able to wake and run in about 60 seconds in order to be as good as Anton wanted them. But that would just take practice.

When all four SPARTANs were totally ready, they walked silently together through the darkness and to the door of the Barracks. Anton opened the door and marched through, followed by Li, Cassandra, and Grace respectively.

Once Gamma Team had closed the Barrack doors they were free to talk openly, however they remained silent for several minutes as they walked to the supply room on the other end of the training camp. There was no real need to speak, they had grown up together. They knew each other's body language so well that the smallest flicker of the eye could indicate something that would go unnoticed by anyone who wasn't paying close attention.

Anton was the first to break the silence, and then only when they were halfway to the supply shed. "I am proud of you. All of you." he started.

"Mind telling us why you are proud?" Asked Cassandra, who was walking directly to his left.

"Because I believe that Gamma Team is the best team of SPARTANs in the UNSC, second only to Blue Team. Maybe." He smiled, something that the rest of the team would know meant what he said was true. The team trusted him. They trusted each other. They were brothers and sisters, closer than any real family.

Gamma Team had been formed shortly after the SPARTANs had begun their training, and through the years they had learned many lessons together. They had been the first SPARTAN team to form, and the only Team to stick together throughout the years of gruesome training. The SPARTANs of Gamma Team loved each other. Each would give his or her own life for any other member of the squad, and that was something to be proud of.

The four SPARTANs walked up and into the supply shed. They knew they were in for some kind of field exercise, so they grabbed bags and filled them with obvious essentials. They each packed one weeks rations, 25 feet of rope, and several sets of basic tools, such as a hunting knife, screwdrivers of several styles, and lock picking tools. These were the things that were always allowed on field exercise. Other equipment such as their training MA5's, MA5B's, SMG's, and M6's would be given to them if they were allowed in the particular exercise. And usually they weren't.

As the four SPARTANs of Gamma Team left the shed, Anton noticed that John-117 and his Blue Team were just now making their way towards the supply shed. The two teams passed each other without so much as a glance. Any other day, the two team leaders would have stopped and spoken to one another. But today was different. Today they were enemies, for the time being, at least.

Anton led his team to the training grounds, where Chief Mendez had told the Spartans to meet the night before. The Chief was standing smoking a cigar that was recognizable as a Sweet William by it's scent. There were ten Drill Instructors mulling around the Chief, along with three Warthogs, each of a different style, a Pelican, and a Scorpion anti-air tank. Anton wondered what the training exercise was when he saw a truck drive up and two more Drill Instructors jump out of the cab. The two men walked to the back of the truck and pulled several large crates off the bed and placed them on the grass.

The crates were instantly recognizable as weapons crates, and he was excited to see that the label on one of them read "MA5B" which was his favorite weapon to date. That and the SMG, but those were considered too dangerous, even when the only round used was TTR grade.

Twenty minutes later, Anton and his team were joined by the rest of the SPARTANs. When they were all accounted for, Chief Mendez began.

"Atten-shun!" He called in a booming voice that seemed to carry around the training field. 75 young SPARTANs organized into neat and tidy rows. Teams Blue, Green, and Gamma were in front, with teams Gray, Black, and Noble behind them in the second row, and teams Alpha, Beta, and Omega in the third row, with the ten SPARTAN squad of Delta Team in the very back.

"SPARTANs!" Mendez continued, "This will be your final training mission. After this, you will each go through the final augmentations. Some of you will die during that process. However, you will be graduating tomorrow… Assuming you complete your objective today."