Author's note: So, this is the revised version of the first chapter (I've edited some stuff...I think, anyways, this is going to take a slightly different direction than I originally thought so bear with me.)
CHAPTER ONE: BIRTH OF A NEW BREED
0600 HOURS, DECEMBER 18, 2536 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ SECTOR K-009, ABOARD UNSC HOPEFUL \ MEDICAL BAY
*Beep, beep, beep* that was the only sound that could be heard throughout the room as the more than 300 teenagers laid on individual medical beds. Each single one of them had been accepted into the SPARTAN III program, directed by Colonel James Ackerson of the United Nations Space Command. Not only had they been accepted but also, they had been fortunate enough to all make it during training. It was their chance to take some revenge on the aliens that had ruthlessly taken it all away from them, family, friends, everything.
Near the entrance, a tall uniformed man could be seen, he was the one charged with training the next generation of SPARTAN soldiers, being one himself, this man was Lieutenant, Junior Grade Kurt Ambrose, once known as Kurt-051. Kurt had been preoccupied by the wellbeing of his soldiers, no, his family. He had seen them as they grew up and turn from mere kids into efficient soldiers in just six years, it seemed like yesterday he had seen them arrive to Onyx as scared little boys and girls and now they were in the same situation where he had lost most of his brothers and sisters twelve years prior.
He was pulled out of his thoughts as one of the boys shifted in his sleep, looking down at the tag besides his bed, it read "Jun-A266". All 300 of them were currently sedated; they had to be in order to avoid any complications in the ongoing augmentation process. PROJECT CHRYSANTHEMUM; as it was called, was an improvement upon the SPARTAN II's augmentation procedures that had taken place twelve years before, current technology had advanced and with the improvements, the survival rate would go from forty four percent to a hundred percent.
Sighing, the Lieutenant lazily rubbed his temples in a futile attempt at easing his worries, he knew what type of complications could happen; deformed bodies, permanent spasm attacks among other things. He just hoped that his SPARTANS would be strong enough to withstand the chemical cocktails currently being poured into their veins. He shook his head in resignation and turned on his heel, heading towards the door, they still had two days left until the augmentation procedure was over. He stopped just before the door and looked back. "Good luck Spartans." He told them, before leaving the room, letting the medics and machines do their work in peace.
1500 HOURS, DECEMBER 20, 2536 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ SECTOR K-009, ABOARD UNSC HOPEFUL \ MEDICAL BAY
Numbness, that's the only thing that Carter could feel as he slowly woke up from his weeklong slumber, he was glad that the pain was over, during seven long days he, alongside the other 299 trainees had been suffering unimaginable pain, it felt like they were breaking their bones and pouring napalm unto their veins, but now it was over. He blinked several times, waiting some moments for his vision to adjust to the lightning before slowly sitting up. He could see the rest of Alpha Company still on their beds, some were stirring, some were still in a deep sleep but they would wake up pretty soon. He continued to inspect his surroundings, spotting several medical cabinets full of medicine and tools, automated robot arms to apply any medicine or drug necessary, doctors in the far end of the room discussing something; apparently oblivious to the fact that he had woken up.
He carefully set his feet down on the floor, flinching at how cold it was before groggily standing up, he felt the numbness slowly fading away but now the stiffness of his joints was taking over, protesting about a week without major movement. He began to make his way to the doctors, clumsily falling over on his first step; the loud thump was enough to alarm the medics whom immediately ran over to where he was. "Reaction time has increased too much for you to handle at the moment." One of them said while they helped him up. "You need to rest, the procedure just got over and your body is still adapting to the changes." The second doctor told him, taking a small flashlight and pointing it at his eye. "Pupils are reacting just fine; effects seem to be happening just as expected." He commented, typing it up in a TacPad he had on the pocket of his lab coat. "Subject 259 is reacting well to the chemical solutions; further studies will be needed however." He continued to type before saving the work and returning the gadget to his pocket. "Alright, 259, you should return to your bed and wait for the rest of the subjects to wake up, once that happens, you will all be taken to the mess hall to recover energies." The doctor concluded, adjusting his glasses with one finger. Carter nodded in understanding. "Yes sir, I shall wait for my brothers and sisters then sir!" He said, carefully returning to his bed, barely avoiding falling over in the process.
1700 HOURS, DECEMBER 20, 2536 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ SECTOR K-009, ABOARD UNSC HOPEFUL \ MESS HALL
Two hours later, all of the trainees had woken up and were currently located in the mess hall eating in silence as they waited for both Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose and Chief Mendez to arrive. They apparently had something to inform them. The three hundred heads turned to the right as a click resonated through the room, truth was, that they would be the only ones with an ear powerful enough to pick that sound from over the other side of the room. Standing on the door were both Kurt and Chief Mendez, clad on their regular uniform as always, they strutted to the middle of the room, stopping once they were in front of everybody. By now the SPARTANS had left their food and had stood up, saluting both men as they entered the room. "At ease" Mendez said, dismissing their salutes before Kurt spoke. "I see that everybody made it through the augmentations without any side effect, that pleases me a lot and I have to say that I'm proud of every single one of you for that." He told the trainees, holding his hands behind his back while he spoke, while his tone may not have shown his current feelings, his emotions deep inside were of extreme joy and pride for his SPARTANS. They were ready to defend humanity and her colonies against the Covenant. "So eat and rest now, because your first mission will begin soon." He informed them, looking at Mendez for a second before speaking again. "As you may know, the Covenant is currently attacking us with pretty much everything they've got, glassing colonies, destroying our ships and killing our armies, but we also have the Insurrection to worry about." He said, looking down as he remembered his first mission with Blue Team, how they had almost been killed, if it hadn't been by his funny feeling then him and the rest of the team would have been turned into confetti. It made him shudder to know how close they had been to dying that day.
He noticed that he was drifting out of the conversation and resumed, wanting to inform his soldiers as much as possible in order for them to be prepared for anything. "It has come to our attention a recent uprising in the planet Mamore, UNSC forces have been sent but with no success so far, Command wants us to send you to see how effective your training has been." He kept explaining, keeping a stern expression on his face. He didn't like the decision to send the SPARTANS this early, they had just been augmented after all, but he didn't have a say on whether or not they went, if HIGH COMM wanted it, they'd get it. "Fortunately for us, Mamore is about a week away from here in Slipspace, so that will give you some time to get more used to your new abilities." The SPARTANS listened in silence as their commander spoke, not feeling nervous at all, sure they had just gotten out of the medical bay two hours ago, but they were more than ready for the job, that was their purpose after all, to be the best of the best.
Kurt stopped his speech and looked around, noticing the determined look on their faces, he knew that they would get the job done. "SPARTANS, ARE YOU READY?" He asked them, receiving a loud "SIR, YES SIR!" as an answer from his soldiers. "I shall see you in a few hours; I still have to have your armors unpacked among other things." He finished, looking over at Mendez and the SPARTANS before walking out of the room, leaving Chief Mendez to deal with the schedules.
1900 HOURS, JANUARY 8, 2537 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD UNSC HOPEFUL, IN SLIPSPACE \ TRAINING SECTION
"Come on, you will have to do better than that if you want to beat me" Said Emile, while he blocked the continuous barrage of strikes coming from another trainee, Kai A019. The two teenagers were currently locked in a sparring match against each other, the rest of the trainees were either focused on exercising on another part of the room or were spectating the match. "Come on Emile, just finish him!" One of them said, getting impatient with how slow the encounter was going, ever since their augmentations, the SPARTANS had been put through what could be called an alternate reality where everything was slower than normal due to their high reaction rates given by the drugs.
Kai tried without results to break the defense of Emile, being stopped every time by a counter strike from the other teenager. "Keep trying." Emile taunted, laughing at the futile attempts from his opponent to get at him. Kai, frustrated by his lack of success in the match so far, began to strike faster, trying to find a hole in his opponent's defense, managing to land a punch to the jaw of Emile only receive an uppercut in retribution. Falling to the mat below them, he held his jaw in pain as the other teen raised his arms in victory. "I told ya' I'd win." Emile said, offering one hand to the downed SPARTAN, whom gladly took it. "Well, it was worth a try." He replied, still holding his jaw with one of his hands. Emile just laughed, shaking his head. "Ah don' be such a wuss, I didn't hit yo so hard." He commented, patting Kai on the back before walking off to where the barbells and dumbbells were located.
"He can be annoyin', eh?" Jun said from his resting place against the wall; he wasn't really the type to go into physical combat, no, he'd rather shoot his enemy's head clean off of his shoulders from a mile away with his trusty SRS99 AM. Kai simply nodded, looking at Jun in a 'you're stating the obvious' kind of way. "Yeah, he often puts himself in a high pedestal when it comes to close combat records." He grunted in annoyance as he was added to the already impressive list of victories of the CQC specialist. "Yeah, well he has a good victory record." Jun finalized, shrugging off the conversation as he walked out of the training section to head towards the armory where he could peacefully assemble his weapon. Kai just shook his head and headed to where the treadmills resided, intent on getting his focus on something else.