Chapter 2: The Frigit
The pelican headed straight for an opening in the frigit. When it landed I unbuckled, and stood up. The solders got up also, and as always escorted me off the ship. I saw another spartan, but this one was shorter than rest. I could tell it was male.
"Kassondra," Mac started, "This is what we call an ODST. It stands for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. For short people call them 'Hell Jumpers'."
"We learned about ODSTs in class Mac. I know about most of things on this frigit," I said.
"Well my name is Major Smith, and I will be teaching you how to use a gun," Said the ODST.
I yawned. I was really tired, and I wanted to get some sleep. I really just want to lie down, and think about this. I looked at Mac. He's the closest thing to a friend I have.
"Mia, why don't you show Kassondra to her quarters. She has a big day tomorrow; have nice dreams kiddo. See you in the morning," Said Mac.
"Why don't you? I have things to do tonight," said Mia.
"You know protocol, so I can't go into the girl facility."
"Fine; come on sweet cheeks. I'll explain on the way, and you'll meet your bunk mate."
Mia and I walked to the girl facility. I was given a black latex-like suit and some cameo pants. The black suit had my number, 243. I knew I would wear this tomorrow. Training, and after tomorrow I would be officially a spartan.
Mia walked up to a door that said C47A. I looked at the listings. Kassondra 243 & Marcie 246. Marcie? I know that name, we went to school together. We took chemistry together.
Mia gave me a plastic card, and looked at the door. She walked away. I swiped the card through the slot on the side. The door opened, and I saw a pair of bunk beds. Marcie was lying on the bottom bunk. I decided to show off; I ran as fast as I could and jumped. It was a perfect landing. I smiled, and closed my and fell asleep.
I woke the next morning to an alarm. A voice sounded off I recognized it to be Mac's.
"All right lady Spartans let's get ready for the day. First you will put on your uniform that was handed to you. Then you will head south down the hall and into the cafeteria. There you will see other Spartans. Including boy Spartans," Mac Said.
"Great, hey Kassondra. How was your night; saw you show off last night," said a voice.
"Marcie, is that you?" I said.
"Yeah it's me. I didn't know you were in the Spartan2 program till I got here," she said.
"I'm hungry I didn't have dinner last night. Maybe we should go get some breakfast," I said trying to change the subject.
"Sure," she said, "I bet there will be some cute guys in the cafeteria."
Marcie got out of bed, and changed. I stayed on the top bunk until she was done. When she was done, I jumped down. I changed my clothes, and I felt the plastic leather mix tighten around my body.
A sudden noise happened. I Iooked to find a pair of dog tags; I crouched down and grabbed the chain. I read the little silver tags. They had my name, my spartan number, and they also had more names and numbers. Father: John 117, Mother: Kelly 087.
"Come on", Marcie grabbed my arm, "We're going to be late for breakfast."
Marcie and I walked out into the hall. Marcie asked a solder where the cafeteria. The solder walked us down the hall, and through a pair of double doors.
The cafeteria was sort of quiet. As we walked to the line, I noticed that Mac was waving at me. Embraced, I looked down. That still didn't get the message, leave me alone, through.
"Hey Kassondra; how did you sleep?" he asked.
"Who's he?" Marcie asked.
"A friend," I replied.
"More like mentor. The results are in, the base counselors thought that I would be the best match for you," said Mac.
"Really? Cool, do we all have mentors?" asked Marcie.
"No, only the really special one gets to have mentors," Mac replied.
"What's so special about her?" Marcie asked.
Mac looked at me annoyed, and then walked away. I grabbed a tray. I put some cereal on it. I grabbed some milk, and sat down next to Mac and Mia. Mia just looked at me, but Mac wanted to start a conversation.
"Mac, what training are we doing today?" I asked.
"A really big assessment; we're going to put a 100 people in one arena. 50 people on each team," he said.
"What exactly are we doing?" I asked.
"Paintball," Mac said.
"Great," I said.
I ate all my cereal, walked towards the dump-tray line. When I bumped into another person. We collided, and fell to the floor. I hit my head on the floor, and looked up. It was a young boy about my age, and he had green eyes and brown hair. I started to blush; I had never felt this way.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there," he said.
"It's okay," I said.
He got up, and helped me up. He was a few inches taller than me. He let go of my hand. We looked into each other's eyes; he smiled so did I.
"My name is Mark. What's yours?" he asked.
"My name is Kassondra," I replied.
Mac walked over, and interrupted him before he could say something, "Kassondra can I borrow you?"
"Sure," I said wearily.
He guided me away from Mark, "What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm just trying to make some friends," I said.
"Trust me that's the last thing you want," he said.
"Why?"
"Well, because if you make friends here, and they die in the battle field you'll be crushed," he paused while a buzzer went off, "Now get your ass over there, and show these punks how to fight the right way."
Mac and I walked over to a door. Where about fifty kids were lined up shoulder to shoulder. I was guessing that this was my team. I saw Marcie and Mark lined up in the same line. We walked into another room filled with paint-ball guns, and ammo.
"Okay Kassondra your going up against kids who have been trained since they were two. They can take down specially trained ODSTs," Mac said, "So what weapon do you want?"
"How about a sniper, and a pistol," I said
"Okay it's your funeral," he said, and handed me the weapons.
"Why, you don't think I can shoot?"
"Something like that."
"Fine, tell me to shoot anything in this room."
"Okay, you that other ODST over there? Well, shoot him in the head with your pistol."
"Easy peasy," I said holding up the pistol.
It took me about .5 seconds for me to aim the pistol, and shoot. The ODST's visor was covered in blue paint. The ODST ripped his helmet off, and came mad as hell towards us. I mean it wasn't hard for him to find who shot paint on his visor, because Mac and I were laughing so hard.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Oh sorry about that was my fault. I told her to do that," Mac confessed.
"Fine just don't let it happen again," he said as he walked away.