Author Note: This is the story of Alpha Company, with OCs added in, otherwise, it'll adhere strictly to canon. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo. But I do own this story and any original characters.
2231 Hours, December 24, 2525 (Military Calendar)\UNSC colony Biko, New Johannesburg
The city was on fire. Everywhere he looked, Cory could only see fire. He couldn't find his parents; he had lost them in the crowd while they were all running towards the New Johannesburg spaceport. It was very noisy, people all around him were screaming, trampling each other while trying to get off world. Cory didn't understand what was going on, but his parents had taught him that if he were to get lost, he should find a police officer. But there was close to a thousand people on the street, pushing and shoving. Cory found his way toward the side of the street, and climbed on top of a food dispensing machine. Cory scanned the chaotic scene in front of him, and finally spotted a police officer, dressed in riot gear and wielding a M6J carbine. Cory was about to jump down and head over to the officer when a shadow covered the entire crowd. Looking up, he saw an evacuation transport losing altitude, one engine in flames. A trio of purple gliders screamed through the air, reminding Cory of a banshee he had seen on a vid once. The banshees fired their fuel rod guns. Three green blobs hit the side of the transport, blowing it in half. The front half fell…right on top of the street. The impact pressure blew the little boy off the dispenser and smashed him against a wall. As Cory lost consciousness, he thought he felt someone picking him up, maybe his parents found him?
In orbit around the planet, a dozen covenant ships rained plasma down on the surface of Biko. Rivers, lakes, and oceans boiled away, vaporized. The cities were obliterated, the skyscrapers of downtown New Johannesburg melted, the metropolis of Durban burned away, and rural towns like Vryheid ceased to exist. Teardrop shaped fighter craft shot down fleeing transports. But Cory was safely onboard a UNSC navy frigate, the last one left of the Biko Defense force, now itself fleeing, leaving behind the planet.
Cory would never forget that day, when his home burned, and it would become the drive in his life. He was three years old.
1948 Hours, December 27, 2531 (Military Calendar)\Zeta Doradus System, Planet Onyx, Camp Currahee
Cory, now seven years old, rode a pelican dropship towards a military training camp. He, along with 496 other children had been chosen to be the defenders of humanity. Two years ago, when he was at the orphanage at Reach, a navy man approached him, and asked if he had wanted to get even with the aliens. Cory, still remembering the fire and destruction of Biko, immediately said yes. He was then frozen in cryogenic sleep for two years, while the navy man found the rest of the children. Now though, he would finally be able to fight back.
The pelicans touched down, and nearly five hundred children scrambled out, excited. However, when they saw the green giant, they all fell silent, staring in wonder at the glistening figure.
"Attention, recruits, I am Lieutenant Ambrose. You have all endured great hardships to be here. I know each of you has lost your loved ones on Jericho VII, Harvest, and Biko. The Covenant has made orphans of you all."
Cory started crying at the mention of Biko. He remembered that night, losing his parents, then seeing the world around him fall apart.
"I am going to give you a chance to learn how to fight, a chance to become the best soldiers the UNSC has ever produced, a chance to destroy the Covenant. I am giving you a chance to be like me: a Spartan."
But now, he would become like this green figure, like a knight in shining armor. Then he would be able to get revenge. Cory stopped crying, his eyes now burning with hatred for the aliens.
Ambrose continued,
"We cannot accept everyone, though; there are five hundred of you. We have three hundred training slots. So tonight, Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez has devised a way to separate those who truly want this opportunity from those who do not." He said, while nodding to a graying haired man to his side.
To Cory's surprise, Mendez ordered them back on the pelicans. After some hesitation, everyone got back on. Cory guessed correctly that they were going to have a special test. In any case he thought, whatever it would be, he would pass. Cory wasn't going to give up his chance of being a defender of humanity.
The navy men had given them all some sort of backpack with large red handles on them. The bay doors were open, and cold windy air gusted into the bay, making Cory shiver. Meanwhile, an old Navy man stood by the bay door, looking perfectly calm despite how high up they were.
"You will form a line and jump. You will count to ten and pull the red handle." Said the man, mimicking pulling the big, bright red handle.
Cory repeated the instructions to himself. That would be all he needed to do. He could do it; he would prove he could beat the aliens.
A small girl in front of Cory however, hesitated in fear. Cory suddenly felt sympathy for her, she looked half his size, so much that the backpack nearly dwarfed her. He decided to help her out.
Prodding her on the shoulder, Cory told her,
"Don't worry, just keep your hand on the handle, then jump, count to ten and pull it."
Beside him, another girl, who looked about his age noticed what he was doing and added her own words of encouragement.
"Don't worry, you can do it!"
Then, it was the girl's turn to jump. She looked back at Cory and the other girl, and smiled. Then, she stepped off, disappearing with the wind. Now, it was his turn. Cory looked down, and nearly fell back in fear. He couldn't see anything below him, but remembering his own advice, and how the little girl in front of him didn't hesitate, he also jumped. Cory kept spinning, till he was dizzy. He couldn't see anything, everything was going by too fast. But he kept a hand on the red handle, and after a couple seconds, he pulled it. With a violent yank, Cory stopped spinning, and started a more controlled descent. Even with this though, he landed hard, and tumbled across a flat hilltop, before coming to a rest when his wings snagged a tree trunk. But he had made it. Cory laid on top of the hill, thinking back through his life so far. This was probably the bravest thing he had ever done, a commotion at the bottom of the hill snapped him out of his thoughts. He went over to look and found two boys fighting each other. A pair of navy men came over and broke it up. Cory shrugged, and headed back towards the camp.
Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose gazed over the gathered recruits. After their night jump, those that remained looked a lot more confident, and more resolute.
"A good start recruits, you are now officially in the Spartan-III company Alpha. Your trainers will call out your name, to give you your number and tag, report to them when you hear it!"
With that, Kurt turned, and walked to his quarters, a little white washed house. He had a feeling he was going to stay there for a long time.
Cory was now Cory-A098. As soon as everyone got their numbers, the trainers herded them into a large hall with lots of tables. Every table was filled with platters of food. All the kids dug in, cramming their faces with food. A little while into the meal, the little girl he had encouraged earlier came up to him. Her tag said Emily-A315.
"Hi, I'm Emily, thank you for helping me earlier."
Cory simply nodded. The other girl from earlier also noticed the two, and came up to them, the sides of her mouth caked with chocolate cream. Her nametag said Ellen-A141,
"I knew you could do it!" she exclaimed.
She continued on, "I'm from Harvest, and the monsters came when I was two…But now that I'm here, I can learn to fight them!"
Cory nodded in agreement,
"I'm Cory, I'm from Biko…I'm 7, we'll all get payback one day."
Ellen responded, "I'm 7 too! Well, I should be 8 I guess, but I spent a year frozen."
Emily joined in, "I'm 4, but I didn't get to be frozen, the navy man said I was one of the last ones to join."
"Let's all be friends!" Cory said.
The two girls nodded. "Friends."
At that point, a boy with a nametag saying Robert, threw a whole apple pie at another boy, while shouting,
"This is for before!"
But the other boy merely ducked, and the pie smashed into someone else's face, an older boy. Cory saw the pied boy's nametag. Carter-A259. and winced.
Someone screamed "FOOD FIGHT!" Then all hell broke loose. Fifteen minutes later, the drill instructors had finally gotten the recruits under control, after getting splattered with numerous plates of food. Chief Mendez whispered to a drill sergeant next to him,
"My God, even after that jump, they still have energy for this and to fight us off for so long? We should have came up with something harder."
The drill instructors marched the tired children to their bunks.
Done with the first chapter, and Carter is going to play a bigger role later, more than just getting pied in the face. If you've read Ghosts of Onyx, you should have a pretty good guess on who Robert was aiming for. Please review! I'm planning to also write a similar fic on Beta Company after I finish this one!