Chapter 1
Author's Note: Ok, so this is the first chapter of Proving Her Worth to get a new update! Also, I'm changing the title to Axel, Hero in Training. or "AHT" for short. This chapter is basically the same as before other than a few changes in wording that are probably unnoticeable. But I promise, there will be others with more changes than this. enjoy!
It was quiet, as if the entire world had ended. She felt cold, freezing, actually. But she didn't care, she was too comfortable. Besides, she felt as if she were in a trance, and she didn't even want to move. Her eyes were shut tight, and she wasn't awake, however she was unaware of it. Instead, she dreamt of the adventures, and dangers, that she would soon go on.
Axel was in cryogenic storage, as she had been for a few months now as she floated through space on a small cruiser headed toward a far-away planet. She was headed toward an academy much like Corbulo had been, differing in the fact that it only took in spartans, but it had been placed on a small speck in the universe in hopes of more security and isolation. No academy meant no new soldiers, which meant nobody to fight against the Covenant. And that meant the end of mankind.
On the small cruiser, Axel wasn't the only one aboard. She was joined by a few other recruits, which were in cryo-sleep as well. The sergeant, however, refused to enter a pod, because he didn't trust an A.I. to wake up the sleeping recruits. Of course, that meant he had to spend most of his time on the journey actually...well...looking up how to wake up the recruits.
Finally, a recorded message began playing throughout the entire ship, as if to make sure anyone and everyone could hear, even in cryo-sleep.
"Attention: Ship nearing designated location. Attention: Ship nearing designated location," the voice kept repeating. The small team had finally reached the military academy. The sergeant jumped from the floor, where he had been reading the same magazine he had read for the last few months. He scrambled over to a control panel, finally happy to do something more than just sit around and do nothing. He touched the holographic screen in a few places, and the same voice came on once again.
"Cryo-pods opening. Please stand back," it said, icy steam beginning to seep from
each pod, along with a bunch of lights flickering on. The ice that had emerged from the edges of each pod slowly began to shrink away as they began to warm up and the recruits were awakened. One at a time, each cadet pulled himself from the pods, each one trying to get used to being conscious again. A few fell to their knees, muscles weak.
Axel grabbed the rim of her pod and pulled herself out, looking at her squad, wondering why they were all struggling so much where as she felt as if she had been awake the whole time. She also noticed that she was the only girl on her squad. Hmph, typical...they don't think girls can fight… she thought with a smile.
"ALRIGHT! WE'RE HERE, MAGGOTS!" the sergeant hollored. Axel felt herself smile wider. She always thought it was funny how sergeants called people "Maggots" when maggots were supposed to be the disgusting insects that crawled into dead animals and ate their flesh inside out. The group surrounding her looked as if they couldn't kill a butterfly with a rocket launcher.
Normally this would be the point where the sergeant would tell his squad to grab weapons, but no one had even seen the weapons yet, as well as not having armor. They were all wearing pretty casual stuff; beige t-shirts with long, camouflage pants and hiking boots, along with some dog-tags here and there.
"Get moving! We need to get you cadets suited up and armed! Every second you go without it means if the Covenant come you're all ash and dust!" the sergeant hissed. Axel was already opening the hatch that lead outside. She hoped to be the best in her squad. The fastest, smartest, strongest...she wanted to prove that a girl could be the best.
Axel was pretty casual and even silly at times, but when it came to battle and proving her worth, she was always straight-minded and serious. As she headed out the door, she heard whispering behind her. Two recruits behind her were trying desperately to have a secret conversation. Axel knew there were no secrets between a squad. If there were, there was no trust.
Of course, Axel felt the need to listen in, but made no move to slow down or lean toward them. They would surely realize her eavesdropping if she did so. So instead, she continued walking casually forward, head remaining pointed straight. She used her eyes to direct her, while using all her other senses to listen in on the conversation.
"Dude, I can't believe we have a girl in our squad!" one whispered.
"Yeah, the only thing we can do with her is hit on her!" the other snickered. The first boy shushed the second one, and Axel resisted the urge to turn around and sock them both in the jaw. The boys continued whispering about her, but she had heard enough. Sure, it had been rude, but thing worth her time.
Axel sped up her pace until she was a reasonable distance away from everyone else. She took this short time to herself to take in her surroundings. She was walking through a forest, with lush, tall trees and bushes speckled with red and blue berries. However, on closer examination, Axel realized the berries were really eyes, and the bushes were fuzzy green bodies belonging to some sort of strange primitive alien moving across the forest floor casually and peacefully. Or at least, it was peaceful until one of the recruits threw a rock at it. The creature took one look at him and began charging at him with legs hidden beneath burly fur.
Axel kept walking, simply rolling her eyes and smirking as the recruit ran with a bush on his tail, the other recruits roaring with laughter. How pathetic and childish. But it was a bit funny.
Finally, the group came to a large metal square smack in the middle of a clearing. It had painted circles on it, and Axel realized it was a Falcon landing zone. She also noticed that she could now hear loud noises, a deafening rumble. Definitely a Falcon.
"Why did we walk all the way here when we could have just been picked up by a Falcon at the start?!" one cadet yelled angrily. Sergeant Smith whipped around to face him.
"Because! I didn't tell you this, but while you guys were getting your beauty sleep, I was trying to figure out how to wake you up from that nap and I may or may not have accidentally landed the ship a few miles away from where we were supposed to land, so quit your whining and get on the Falcon!" he spat, pointing toward three Falcons that were now in sight. There were nine recruits, and ten total people counting Sergeant Smith, so two Falcons would hold four cadets each; the third would hold three. Axel yanked herself into the third one because it just meant less people to talk to. She knew her time would come, but not now. She would show the others her amazing fighting skills, and they would be sorry for ever saying girls couldn't fight. She wasn't the first powerful woman, but the boys didn't seem to care. As the blades of the Falcon began twirling and the vehicle rose into the sky, Axel found herself feeling excited. Not to prove she could be a soldier, not to protect humanity, but she was excited that she didn't know what lay ahead.