Ok, so this is my first Halo story, may not by my last. It is a one-shot, but there could be a sequel.
I do not own Halo, now that thats done, please enjoy.
Life Of A Spartan
It took eight years to make a Spartan; eight years of training, of lessons and, most importantly, of drugs. Specific drugs entered into the system at specific times over the course of eight years; that was what made them strong and fast. It gave them heightened senses and cut their healing time by seventy per cent. They could jump higher than any soldier and their endurance was astronomical. The formula affected everything including their height. They ended up topping out at seven foot tall on average. The Spartan was the ultimate super soldier and damn near impossible to kill.
The first Spartans were created between 2515 and 2523. Fifty ten year old children were taken from Orphanages to go through the process. These first Spartans were test subjects and so it was thirty eight Spartans who were shipped around the galaxy to act as peacekeepers during the civil war that started in 2513. After the success of the first Spartans, five hundred ten year old children were gathered from around the galaxy, either from orphanages or from families volunteering their children. The first class of Spartans were created between 2523 and 2530. In the class was a young Jorge-052 and John-117. In 2525 the Covenant attacked Harvest and started their campaign to rid the galaxy of all human life.
In 2530 Emile-A239, Carter-A259 and Jun-A266 joined the ranks of the Spartans, leaving training to join the Spartan army in 2537. In 2537 two young girls joined under very different circumstances. Catherine-B320 was found fighting bullies on the street where she lived. Her parents had died in a car accident and she had no other family left, hense why she lived on the street. A UNSC officer had found her and been impressed with her scrappiness and had taken her to the Spartan base on earth to be transported to the Spartan training ground on Reach. It probably saved her life.
Alyssa-B312 lived on Reach, on a farm with her parents and her five older brothers. Her brothers were all an immense help for her parents on the farm, she however wasn't. Alyssa was always better with her fists than one of the farm tools. She learned to drive on the family tractor, but she was always dreaming about being something better than a farmer. When the recruiters came calling, her parents were happy to get rid of her. While she didn't mind becoming a Spartan, the way her parents cast her away hurt her deeply.
Alyssa stood in the line of children and glanced down at her bare arm, though not so bare anymore. Staring up at her in black ink was the tag B312. She lifted her gaze again just as the soldier in charge of them came marching out of one of the buildings to inspect the line. Her head, newly shaved, just like everyone else's, felt cold and light without her long, red hair. Her blue eyes were filled with determination.
"Welcome, boys and girls, to Sparta, the main base for the Spartan programme," he didn't yell, but his voice carried to all five hundred quiet children, he commanded silence without calling for it, "for the next eight years this will be your home and I will be your guardian. Look at your arms, that tag is now your identity. You are no longer who you were, you are now a Spartan. Welcome to hell." Some of the children shrunk back at his last comment, but not all of them.
"Go to your designated barracks. Unpack and relax. Tomorrow your training begins. Breakfast is at 0600 hours, Lunch is at 1200 hours, dinner is at 1800 hours and lights out is at 2100 hours. Dismissed!" he spun on his heal and marched back into the building. There were sheets of paper pinned up on the doors to the different barracks. They detailed where each Spartan recruit had to sleep. There were twenty people per barracks, she was in the eleventh. She entered and saw that there was a row of beds on each side. She found her bed was the second bed from the doors on the right and her stuff was already at the foot of the bed. She unpacked quickly and sat on the bed, looking around at the room. Barracks eleven was a girl's barracks, not that you could tell, seeing as they were all ten and bald. There was a big clock above the door and it was four o'clock in the afternoon.
She was just settling back with her favourite book when one of the bigger girls from the other side of the room snatched it from her.
"Hey look," she said to the girls who had followed her while waving the book at them, "scrawny here brought a book. She must be a nerd, a scrawny nerd. What are you doing here snerd? Don't you know that this is where you come to fight? Or was it just that your parents didn't want you anymore?" She laughed cruelly, her friends joining in. Alyssa clenched her fists, not wanting to let her anger get the better of her, not wanting the bully to know that she had hit the nail on the head with that last comment. Before it could go any further the girl from the bed furthest from the door on the right came marching up to the bullies.
"Give it back and leave her alone," she demanded, standing up to the girls before her.
"Hey look," the leader scoffed, "another pipsqueak. Go away, we're already dealing with one person who shouldn't be here, we'll get to you later."
"Leave her alone," the girl said again. The leader went to grab the girl, but she was quick. She dodged and threw her arm forward, straight into the bigger girl's nose. It didn't look broken, but it was bleeding. She dropped the book and ran to the bathroom, the other girls retreating to their own side of the room. The smaller girl picked the book up and handed it to Alyssa.
"Thank you," Alyssa said, awed that someone had stood up for her before becoming meek, "but you shouldn't have done that. You'll just get into trouble." The girl shrugged.
"I can look after myself, beside I don't like bullies. I'm Catherine by the way," she held out her hand for Alyssa to shake, "though I suppose I'm now B320," she looked at her arm briefly to make sure she got it right. She spoke with a slight Iranian accent and her light blue eyes sparkled with kindness.
"I'm Alyssa, B312," Alyssa said grasping Catherine's hand and shaking. Catherine grinned.
"I'm gonna call you Alys," she said smugly and Alys laughed.
"Only if I can call you Kat," Kat nodded and they shared a laugh. Kat sat down on the bed and the two girls spent the time before dinner chatting about their lives before they came to Sparta. So it was that Kat and Alys became best friends.
"Front and centre!" the soldier called and three hundred and eighty six seven foot tall teenagers got into the right lines. Kat and Alys leaned back and grinned at each other for a brief moment before straightening themselves. It was the year 2545, it was graduation at Sparta and time to be sent to the main Spartan army.
Their hair was still short, as it was cut regularly and they were more tanned than they were eight years before.
"Congratulations B-class," said the old soldier in front of them after he had finished handing out their dog tags, "you have made it through Spartan training. I pronounce you all to be official Spartans. Pack up your things, tomorrow you get sent to war." There was a general cheering among the Spartans, who now towered over the Soldier who once towered over them. Kat and Alys just continued to grin, looking forward to fighting at each other's side.
"B312, B320, I want to see you in my office now." He marched into the main building and both girls, thoroughly confused, followed him. They stepped into his office and closed the door, wondering about what they could have done.
"Now girls, over the past eight years you have been the best Spartans I've ever had the privilege to train. While what I'm about to offer you is unorthodox, it has been commanded by the head of the UNSC himself. You've been requested to join two teams of Spartans that are being put together. These teams will work on Reach as peacekeepers against the rebels. Now I know you wanted to go kill Covenant," he said raising his hand to forestall any arguments, "but you are less likely to be killed here than out there, and you are two good too lose. In addition you'll each be made a lieutenant. You are not just gifted fighters girls. B320 you are a genius at tech and robotics, B312 you are just about the best damn pilot I've ever seen. So what do you say?"
Kat and Alys looked at each other, two sets of blue eyes staring into each other. They knew this was a good opportunity and that to refuse would be a huge snub at the army, thus ensuring that the only thing they would ever do was guard duty. They also knew that they usually wouldn't get an opportunity like this until after they had served in the army for a few years. They looked back at the soldier.
"Which teams are they and where are they stationed?" asked Kat with a resigned sigh. The soldier opened the files and looked down at them.
"B320 has been requested to become a member of Noble team under the Command of Captain Carter-A259. The team will be stationed near sword base. B312 has been requested to become a member of Wolf team under the command of Captain Damson-A428. The team will be stationed near New Alexandria." He looked up at them and they sighed.
"We accept," they said together. They were dismissed to go pack, but had to be outside at 1900 hours, for that was when they would leave for their teams. They packed at their beds in silence. Kat picked up her bag and walked back to Alys' bed just as Alys picked up her own bag. According to the clock it was quarter to seven, so they went outside to wait. At seven two Falcons arrived, setting down in the training yard, and they were refuelled. Kat and Alys stowed their bags in their respective Falcon before regrouping to say goodbye.
"This is it then?" asked Alys, a slight tremor in her voice.
"Yeah, I guess it is," Kat's voice wavered. Suddenly they were hugging each other with tears in their eyes.
"I'll miss you," Alys sniffed, "so much."
"I'll miss you too," Kat said, trying to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand while still hugging her best friend, "don't forget about me."
"Never," said Alys, a sudden strength in her voice, "don't forget about me either."
"Never," Kat parroted back. They drew away from each other and wiped their eyes, just in time as the pilots started to wave at them. It was time to go. One more quick hug and the two eighteen year olds were bounding away from each other. They got on their respective Falcons and waved to each other as they took off. They both looked down at the compound that had been their home for the last eight years. They would always remember Sparta and they would always remember each other.
"We've got a man down!" Alys shouted down her coms, "I repeat, our commander is down!"
It had been a year since Wolf team had been formed and Alys still felt that she didn't fit in. A part of her was missing without Kat there, but she dealt with it. They had been called in to deal with some rebels south of New Alexandria. There had been more than expected and Wolf team had been a bit unprepared. The rebels had managed to create some crude energy weapons, including an energy dagger. Which was why Alys was currently sitting on the floor with the lower half of her left forearm, and therefore her left hand, missing. Captain Damson was nearly dead on the floor and she was blind in her left eye. One of the rebels had shoved an energy dagger through the left side of her helmet and into her left eye. Not much so she wasn't dead, but her left eye was useless. So too was her helmet, now on the floor behind her.
"Damn!" she heard one of Wolf team, Steffan-089, say from behind her, "Alys, Kelly is dead." Alys cursed inwardly. Kelly was the Lieutenant Commander and therefore the second in command. She had managed to wrap some cloth around her stump. She went to check on Damson again and found him dead. She sighed.
"We've lost Damson too," she announced. James-A499 and Adam-A134 bowed their heads for a few second before making their way across the massacre. Steffan joined them as they helped Alys up just as the UNSC arrived. Alys was sped away for emergency treatment and it wasn't long before she had a bionic hand and a bionic eye in place. They had fixed her up well, but she now had a scar travelling through her left eyebrow, passing over the eye and ending about an inch beneath her eye. The eye was actually a camera that fed live video feeds to some computer chips in her brain. They then showed the brain what was going on. She didn't understand it; she was a soldier, not a scientist.
The cool thing about her new eye is that it backed up all the images on a hard drive on her belt as well, making Alys perfect for recon missions.
Then she got a call from the head of the UNSC.
"I'm sorry for the loss of your commanding officers," he said, with as much pity as he could muster, "You shall have a new Captain by the end of the week as well as another Spartan to bring you back to full strength. Your new Captain will be Spartan 117, Captain John. Treat him with respect." The line was cut.
A week later John-117 arrived to take command and with him came Jessica-B113 to be Lieutenant Commander. John was commanding and Jess was a bitch, perfect.
Two years after getting her new hand and eye and it was 2548, she was twenty one. She yearned to see Kat again, she missed her. Jess was being all cocky and bitchy because John was being reassigned to a top secret project and she was being promoted to take his place. Not that it mattered to her, seeing as she too was being reassigned, though to a different top secret project. She didn't even know what it was yet, but anything was better than rebels and Jess.
She had her stuff all packed up and ready to go, now she was just waiting for her ride. Briefly, she wondered what it would have been like to have a normal life, to have stayed on the farm with her family. She shook the thought from her head. Not only didn't her family want her, but if she had stayed she would never have met Kat. She missed Kat a lot.
They had exchanged letters since they parted, but not many. They couldn't always find the time to write. For Alys, reading a letter from Kat made everything worth it. She didn't know why, but she felt funny whenever she thought of Kat. It was a nice funny though, weird, but nice. There was a knock on her door. It was time to go.
Alys sat in the passenger seat of the warthog. She had spent the last four years as a lone Spartan. The Lone Wolf they had called her. It was 2552 and she had been reassigned. She looked down at her helmet in her lap and looked at her reflection in the blue visor. Reassigned to Noble team. She knew what that meant. She would get to see Kat. She turned her helmet around and placed it on her head, locking it in place. It had been seven years since they had last seen each other and four years since they had been in correspondence. The programme she had been in was so top secret that she wasn't allowed any contact with the outside world. It wasn't that she was kept there the entire time. She was lent out for missions that only took a single Spartan, but she wasn't allowed to communicate with anyone outside of the programme. She just hoped that Kat would understand why she hadn't written.
Soon a small portable base came into view. The warthog stopped next to one of the Falcons and she climbed out, her golden armour looked dull without the sunlight, but the blue accessories and boots stopped her armour from looking too dull. She walked past the Falcons, a Spartan in green armour with no helmet on was sitting in the closest one cleaning his sniper rifle. She entered the base and stood in the door. To her right was a giant of a man, even for a Spartan, in yellow armour and across from her was a grey Spartan sharpening his knife. Over by the computer console stood a blue clad Spartan speaking to the head of the UNSC, obviously her new commander Captain Carter. She made to move over to him when a light blue bionic arm blocked her way. Following the arm up to the Spartan who owned it, she was shocked to see that it was Kat.
She looked older, wiser. She had her own scar on her face; on the left side of her forehead heading down and just nicking her eyebrow. She looked at Alys before turning to address Carter. 'Damn' she thought. Either Kat had forgotten her, not likely, or she was ignoring her. Obviously Kat wasn't happy about the whole not writing to her thing. Great, just great.
So what do you think? Please review. By the way, I know that the actual Noble Six does not have a bionic hand, but I improvised.