Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Halo.
Ah, the joy of making minor repairs. It's almost as fun as… watching frickin' paint dry. But for my loyal readers, I will gladly be bored if it means that your reading experience is made just a little bit better.
...
Gene woke up earlier that usual that morning. He swung his feet over the edge of his bunk and looked down at the floor. He had chosen the top bunk, and usually wondered why. He dropped down and landed silently. He looked at his armor and gently ran his right hand down the chest of it. He knew that they were working on replicating and improving the shields used by the 'Elites'. He looked at his team, noting each one and their abilities. They were more than his team mates, more than his friends. Aside from Liz, they were his family. He had come to think of Liz as his something more as of late.
Then he looked at the new Spartan. John-117. Gene felt a mysterious air about the boy. He was taller than the others, almost six and a half feet tall. He had said that he was seventeen, but had only recently been transferred into their camp. Gene had called him an honorary Omega. That didn't sway their C.O., but Gene never expected it to. He just felt like trying. He knew that John was destined for something great, though what that was, would be hard to figure out.
He stretched his arms and grabbed his freshly laundered towel and made for the showers. They had soundproofed the showers so that early risers wouldn't wake the others, for which Gene was often thankful.
There was some kind of lapse with his psychic ability in the morning. He couldn't sense Liz after waking up. It took an hour for him to establish that connection, and he had found that it was also true for Liz. Thanks to this lapse in ability, he didn't notice that she was not in her bunk, which was below his.
He slept with earplugs, as did everyone else. The reason behind this was that Zed snored like a rusty chainsaw. Gene entered the shower portion and did not hear the water running.
He took off his shirt, eyes closed due to being so tired. After removing his pants, and since he did not bothering wearing underwear, he put the towel on a rack and entered the shower with his soap and back scrubber. He turned on his stalls water and when he opened his eyes, he wished that he hadn't.
Liz had also woke up earlier than usual, due to her going to bed before the others. She still had her earplugs, but she felt water from another direction. She turned around to see that Gene had his back to her. She giggled as he removed his earplugs. She did so as well and turned away.
"Hello Gene." She said with a small giggle. He groaned slightly, still partly asleep.
"Hey Liz." He replied groggily. "Sorry about barging in on you again. Earplugs and grogginess." He heard her laugh and just focused on getting clean.
"I know." She said calmly. "Third time though." He laughed quietly.
"Can't wait until we get our sense in proper sync." He joked. "Then we can avoid this if we want." They both laughed, used to this happening. It wasn't against regulations to form relationships between team mates, or co-ed showering, but it was recommended that such be avoided if possible.
"How'd you sleep?" She asked. Gene thought about the question for a moment.
He had a problem when he slept at night, usually having dreams that were remarkably strange. Some times, he would dream of something happening that did happen later that day or week.
He had saved the lives of his squad the first day thanks to this, though it was by chance. The pilot that was bringing them to the camp suffered a heart attack and the co-pilot was out with the flu. Gene had brought the Pelican in and saved the pilot.
"No weird dreams, but I did notice that Sparky had his sunglasses on." He replied. Liz laughed.
The twins had kicked each other at the same time, causing both to end up unconscious, though without concussions. They had not removed either brother's sunglasses since they didn't fall off on their own.
"What do you think of our chances for today?" She asked. Gene smiled inwardly.
"Probably going to win." He said confidently. "Most likely." Liz giggled as Gene shut off his water. He washed fast because he liked to do some exercises in the mornings whenever possible.
Today though, he just wanted to clean his armor. He wanted to look presentable for their C.O., who usually had too much paperwork to oversee their development. Today, he would oversee the entire competition and award the MJOLNIR armors to the winning team.
"Sounds like you aren't worried." She said happily. "Are you sure that your plan for the maze will work?" She turned her head to see that he was still in his stall, head turned to see her face, and his smile visible.
"Almost positive." He replied as he gave her a thumbs up sign with his right hand.
…
He believed that the lower the chance of success, the more likely it would work. He based this on the fact that such plans had a large element of chance based around one or more implausible ideas, and that they worked simply because of that.
Liz smiled as she turned off her own water and turned around. She hadn't developed her breasts very well yet, but Gene couldn't help but turn away blushing. They wrapped their towels around themselves and walked over to their lockers.
"Gene?" She asked. She opened her locker and began putting her shirt on when she heard Gene open his own locker.
"Yes Liz?" He replied. She blushed. She had promised that today she would ask him to be her boyfriend.
"What do you think of me?" She asked. She heard him putting on his pants before hearing him mutter to himself. "Gene?" She looked from behind her locker door and saw a small note on it.
"I like you." He said clearly. "You're the best friend I've ever had." She looked at the note and saw a picture of her wearing armor like his with him standing to her right.
She had her helmet in her left hand, and he had his in his right and they were holding hands under a starlit sky. The amount of detail was astounding for such a small note, and so well drawn. Under it were three words; 'Be my girlfriend?' She blushed as Gene put on his shirt, followed by his shoes. Liz put on her panties, followed by her own pants and shoes.
"Gene?" She asked. She was behind his locker door, the note stashed in her own. He closed the door and turned to her and she kissed him on the lips. "Yes." They blushed as they heard the door opening.
They turned away, wanting to surprise the others later. Gene opened his locker again and pulled out a small tinfoil covered package.
"We're going to need this." He said quietly.
Liz saw the package and smiled. It was a little thing he had smuggled from their Pelican before they left it. She knew he had it, but kept it a secret.
He closed the door as John entered the room.
"Oh, hey." He said, hanging his towel on a rack. "Don't mind if I use the shower?" They both shrugged as he entered the small room beyond the doorway. They left and began planning how they would go about re-wiring the radios.
…
They had a hurried breakfast, despite that Reach had a long day ahead of them; twenty seven hour days were perfect for this kind of thing.
All teams had breakfast in the barracks so they could plan how best to use the three hours before the first challenge, and Omega was the first team on the list. Gene opened a small notebook, which detailed the supplies each member would have.
"Zed, you're on flare duty." He said quickly. "You know how to make them right?" Zed nodded.
He'd spent all afternoon figuring out how to make the flares. An hour before the challenge, they were to order supplies from their caregiver, Sarah. Gene had the ingredients outlined as he tore the page from the notebook and handed it to Zed. They each had to order their supplies separately, to prevent them from wasting time arguing about what they would need.
"No problem Boss, I'll get them ready with time to spare." He replied.
They weren't allowed to order high tech stuff, but they could order parts and small devices, such as GPS mapping devices. Liz and Gene would both order one apiece.
"Art, you take care of medical supplies." Gene said. "No telling if they have traps in there, so we'd best be prepared." Art saluted as Gene handed him his page. "Sparky, you're on camera duty, so make sure to get enough supplies, and work with Liz on getting the portable receiver ready." Sparky nodded as he took his page. "Liz, you know what to do. Get the tracker ready, and make one for each of us. We'll all head to the center, but until then, we work out a series of sounds to identify each other." Liz smiled as Gene handed her the second to last page. John looked over at Gene, who looked at the last page of his notebook.
"What will you be doing?" He asked. Gene smirked.
"I'm working on a portable sonar mapping device." He said. "Take a GPS, modify it to send out a sound wave that rings as a beep on the comm.'s frequency, and get it to map the layout of the maze." John nodded, in awe of his planning. "I'm also handing out special transponders from a Pelican. My suit is able to pick up the small beacons signal, so I'll be able to home in on the others if my sonar map plan falls through. They're just small enough that no one will notice them when we go in." They all put their hands in the center, including John, despite that he wouldn't be able to help them.
...
They had the equipment ready, they had the plan and their parts memorized, and they all stood at their positions. They were all in separate harnesses on separate Pelicans, and they were all blindfolded, save Gene in his armor, who had a lead bucket on his head so he couldn't see through it. The maze itself was lead lined so nobody could use a GPS. It generated a field that made the device unable to see the maze on the screen. Not that Omega team needed it.
"Ready Gene?" His proctor asked. He nodded. He was dropped from his harness and landed heavily. He pulled the bucket off of his head and looked at it.
'Good noise maker.' He thought. He slung it over his right shoulder and started walking forward, the way behind him being a wall. The walls around him were fifty feet high, making it a very bad place for sound. He whistled and was proven right. 'Echo. I hope this doesn't negatively impact my sonar plan.'
...
What they didn't know was that the maze had a single live Elite within it somewhere. It was a test, since they were supposed to be the best of the best. He wasn't a powerful one, and he had been stripped of most of his armor and all of his weapons. He wasn't chained, but he stood guard over the exit, knowing that if he escaped, he would be rendered unconscious and placed back within. He was planning a way to get out, until he saw the Pelicans drop something big. And olive drab in color.
...
Liz set down on the ground and put her blindfold in her pocket, hoping she could use it later. She looked around and heard an echoing whistle. She focused her mind and felt Gene close by. She whistled in response.
...
Zed fumbled as he hit the ground and hastily put his blindfold in his pocket. He took a step forward and heard a faint whistle, followed by another a second later. He whistled as well, figuring he could at least notify the others.
...
The twins set down and simultaneously whistled, having heard three. They had a bond like Liz and Gene, able to sense each other when they were close by. They quickly put the blindfolds away and started walking toward the noise.
...
Gene noted the whistles and pulled out his sonic location device, hoping that it would work. He looked down at it and turned it on. A moment of silence preceded a high pitched beep. Three seconds of silence, then another beep, and the screen lit up with an image of the walls, and an image of himself. The device worked, but he didn't know how long the battery would last. He had been forced to boost the power to get the beep and did not have time to rig a system to hook it in to his suit.
'All right, I somehow managed improvised sonar.' He thought. He turned it off to conserve the battery, still uncertain of how long it would last. 'Now all I have to do is find the others.' He began walking, so as to keep watch for traps. His motion sensor picked up movement every so often nearby, but it was a larger blip than it should have been. The walls were dampening his ranged scanners.
He started picking up the pace and came to a crossroad. He pulled out the sonar and turned it on. He only needed two bursts from it, having wirelessly linked the map to his HUD, allowing him to figure out where he was. He spotted a figure to his left and looked that way. The figure was behind a wall so he turned to go that way after turning the sonar off.
"I hope I find Sensei soon. I'm getting a bit lost." It was Art, or maybe it was Sparky. Gene had never been able to tell their voices apart unless they were both nearby and talking to him at the same time. The figure turned the corner as Gene looked the other way, checking the map on his view. The other direction available did not lead to a dead end, so he would ask the person about the way they came from. "Sensei, over here!" Gene turned to see that it was Sparky.
"Sparky, good to see you." He said. "How goes your search?" Sparky shook his head.
"The way I came from is my starting position." He replied. "What about you, how far have you gone?" Gene shook his head as well.
"Same." He said. He looked at the wall and pulled out a piece of chalk, one of his requested supplies. He marked an arrow pointing to Sparky, then turned around and drew another in the direction he came from. He then put an 'X' by each, signaling that if others came by, that it was a dead end. "Keep close, we need to get to the others." Sparky nodded as they walked. They both whistled at the same time, the signal that they had found each other, and how big their group was. They then heard two separate whistles, one from one person, and one from two. "Good. It's not just us that have managed to be found." Sparky nodded.
"Yeah, good information to have." He agreed. "I just hope that Art's okay. You know his sense of direction." Gene nodded.
"Gets lost on a one way street." He said quickly. They both laughed while they turned the corner, Gene marking the way with another arrow with an 'X'.
The chalk was olive drab, same as his armor. He also wrote a '2' next to the 'X' signifying that they had found each other.
Each Omega had a piece of chalk, colored differently for each one. Gene had olive drab, Liz had red, Art had blue, Sparky had green, and Zed had brown.
"Hope he's okay." Sparky said quietly. Gene nodded slowly, keeping his eyes open for another arrow. They came to another crossroad, and Gene once again pulled out the sonar. Sparky looked around and saw a red arrow with an X, pointing to the way in front of them. "Can't go straight ahead, and it's Liz that left it." Gene nodded as he turned the makeshift sonar on and waited for the return pulse.
"Two heading our way." He noted. "I can't make out who it is though." Sparky watched as his brother and Zed turned the corner. "Medical and Explosives. Not the best of combinations, but they'll do." Sparky jumped slightly, raising his right hand in the air. Art did the same as Zed marked the wall they came from three times; not the right way, and a party of two. The two approached as Gene turned the sonar off and put it in its holster. The two saluted Gene, who did the same. "At ease, what's the situation?" The two shook their heads.
"No sign of Liz save an arrow a long way back there." Zed replied. Gene nodded, pointing to the red arrow nearby.
"She went forward from here." He explained. "We'd best hurry. We all have to leave the maze together, and it's already been five minutes." Gene turned around as the four of them started whistling. They waited for ten seconds. "Liz must either be out of range, or in trouble." He pulled out his small comm. and switched it on. The rest did the same as Gene held it up to his helmet. He'd swiped one since his suits internal comm. wasn't working. "Liz?" The other radios made a low pitched hum. "Art, try yours."
"Liz?" He asked into the small device. The radios made the sound of tape ripping, medical tape to be precise. "They make a different sound based on our individual voice patterns." Gene nodded. They still didn't get a reply. "She must be in trouble. And we couldn't get the cameras, and you've got the only flare."
"I've still got one trick up my armored sleeve." He said. He pulled out the sonar and flicked a switch on the side, the one he installed to return the device to its normal mode. "Here goes nothing." He turned it on and got nothing but static. "That can't be good. But it makes perfect sense." The others looked at him. "They took into account that my suit has an X-ray scanner. The whole maze is lead lined." They looked at the walls, each one with a different look.
"What now Sensei?" The twins spoke as one, something they often did to annoy their instructors. Gene turned it off and opened it up after flicking the switch.
"If I turn this small dial in here, I can boost the range to map more of the maze." He commented. "But I'll probably only get two uses of it. Two bursts of two pulses and the battery will probably die." They all nodded as he turned the dial to the end and returned the cover. "Here goes, my very last trick." He flipped the switch and they all heard a very faint, but high pitched whine, followed by another three seconds later, followed by Gene turning it off, quickly holstering it. "She's in deep. There's an Elite in here, guarding the exit." They all gasped. "I'm going ahead. Take this path, then a left, then a right, then two lefts, then another right." They all nodded as he turned around and ran down the corridor, vanishing behind the turn as they started their own run.
...
Liz was staring down the Elite, looking into its cold eyes. It had no weapon, and she could see that there was nobody to help her if it attacked.
It was waiting for her to make the first move. It had its upper mouth flaps closed, its lower ones moving as it breathed. It then moved its right hand, making her eyes dart to it for a second.
"You're either brave or foolish young human." It snarled. "Leave me be or I will strike you down where you stand." It was a male, by the sound of the voice.
Liz did not flinch. She had been able to keep up with Gene in sparring matches for a few minutes, but he had better stamina and tougher skin and bones.
"I'm not afraid of you." She replied. "And I'm not just a human; I'm a Spartan." The Elite laughed for a moment, never taking his eyes off of her.
"You think that a title will save you?" It growled. "Arrogant human!" The Elite dashed forward and slammed his fist into her chest, forcing her back several inches before she kicked him in the chest, knocking him back as well.
"Bastard Elite, you should know not to underestimate my race." She called angrily.
The Elite growled before rushing her, grabbing her by the throat with his right hand and pinning her arms against the wall with his left. He moved his right leg over hers to keep her from retaliating as he looked into her eyes, his head turned to his right, not seeing the olive drab armored human slowly stepping around the corner.
"You would do well not to struggle." It said calmly. "I may yet let you live, perhaps as a pet." She spat in his eye.
"I'd rather die." She growled.
The Elite made to slam her head against the wall when something heavy hit him in the side. He turned his head to look and Liz managed to break free as Gene threw his communicator at him.
"Insolent humans!" It yelled. It turned to attack Liz again when Gene slammed into him with the force of a small car, breaking his left arm in the process. As he started to scream, Gene ripped off one of his mandibles, making him scream louder.
Gene shoved his armored right hand into the chest of the Elite as it stopped screaming.
"What are you?" It coughed. It spat up dark blood as Gene removed his fist. He had avoided the organs and snapped the spine, paralyzing the Elites arms and legs. Somehow, it was still alive.
"We're Spartans." He answered grimly. "And we are the ones who will kill the covenant." The Elite laughed, his life fading fast. He was stubborn, and did not want to die, hanging on to the bitter end.
"You think you have a chance against us?" He asked weakly. "You will fail before you become adults." Gene stood up as the others turned the corner.
"Not a chance." Liz said. The Elite laughed again before looking up at Gene.
"You're still in training." It said wearily. "I heard your parents saying I was to test you." Liz gasped, but Gene just stood there.
"I thought so." He said quietly. "Are there more of your kind here, or were you just a present for us?" The Elite laughed again.
"I was the lone survivor of my group." It explained. "I just wish I had my brother with me. He would put you in your place." Gene stomped the Elites head into the floor and twisted his ankle twice.
"I don't think there is a competition." He said clearly. "I think this was our graduation test." The three stragglers walked up, also realizing this fact. This was why nobody else talked about what they were going to do and why John-117 was just transferred.
"What now?" Liz asked. She and the other Omegas looked at Gene, who removed his helmet. He held it in his left hand and looked at her.
"I don't know." He replied. "But we'd better get out of here. This crud isn't going to wash itself off." They all laughed as they walked out of the maze, their C.O. standing next to four suits of armor, each with the Omega symbol on the right shoulder. They stopped five feet from him and gave a salute.
"You did a good job Omegas." He said proudly. "By now, you may have realized that this was your graduation exam. You've all shown that you have what it takes to be the best of the best." They all rested their arms as they looked at the man before them. He was old, but had a youthful look about him. "Gene, you have the choice. Will you and your team stay here and train, or would you go out and fight this alien menace?" Gene looked at the others.
"What do you think team?" He called to them. "Stay here, or kick some ass?" He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear them from his team.
"We're with you sir." The twins said together as they saluted him quickly.
"Whatever you think is best Boss." Zed answered. He raised his hand and dropped it, almost casually.
"To the ends of the universe and back sir." Liz replied, saluting him as well. Gene looked at their leader.
"Sir, we are ready to fight, sir." He affirmed. They all saluted their commander, who returned it with a smile.
"All right then." He said, still grinning. "Pack up your gear and get cleaned up. You're heading out as soon as possible." With that, their leader walked away.
...
"I can't believe it." Zed called happily. "We're finally going to kill some Covenant." He was packing up his belongings, happy to be wearing his new armor. He was going to make a few changes to the color, keeping the Olive drab, but adding some gray to the shoulders.
"Yeah, we're finally getting our chance to put those bastards in their place." Art said. He was looking at his helmet, both he and his brother having finished packing some time ago.
"Yeah." Sparky agreed. "We'll strike some real fear into 'em." He was getting used to standing in his new armor. It was heavy, but they could all flip Scorpion tanks with ease, so this was nothing to moan about.
"Aren't you getting ahead of yourselves?" Liz asked. "We still have to get our registration numbers, identification, and our ranks." All but she and Gene laughed.
Gene had already gotten his numbers and I.D. and was only in need of rank, of which he thought he would get lieutenant colonel.
"Should we tell them Liz?" He asked. Liz had packed her stuff into her duffel bag and was sitting by Gene, also finished. John watched them, in awe of how calm they were.
"Sure, no time like the present." She replied. She was blushing, though Gene was smiling. "But let's wait for Zed. He's got a lot of things from home." Zed nodded as he carefully placed a picture of his mother and father into the bag.
"Go ahead, I'm done." He said. He zipped the bag shut and stood up, slinging it over his left shoulder, holding his helmet in his right.
Gene and Liz stood up together and looked at their friends.
"This morning, before any of you woke up." He began.
"Gene and I had made a decision." She continued. Gene stood on the left of her and took her left hand in his right, now fully cleaned of blood.
"We've officially started dating." They said together. All of the other Omegas smiled.
"Congrats." Zed said. He set his helmet down and patted his chest, not wanting to set his duffel down.
"Good on ya." Art said as he clapped his armored hands together, muffled by the pads.
"We're all happy for you." Sparky said as he imitated his brother while John sat on his bed, watching them.
"Omegas, it's time for you to head out." Sarah said. She walked in and looked at the five Spartan team before her. She then looked at John. "And John, you'll be staying here for a while. A new set of recruits will be here in a few days." John nodded.
"Understood." He affirmed. His voice was like Genes when he had first heard him respond to Sarah.
"Not again." Sarah sighed. The Omegas laughed as Gene patted John on the back.
"Learning from me isn't a good idea John, especially my style." He said. John chuckled. His voice was deep, but not like Genes.
"I know, I'm just messin' around." John said. "I'm going to miss you guys." Gene looked at the honorary Omega.
"We're going to miss you John." He said proudly. "But do us a favor; make sure you keep your friends as safe as you can. When the world is crumbling around you, you can always look to a friend for help and support." John smiled as Gene stepped back to salute him. He stood up and returned the gesture. "You're the leader of the Omega barracks now. Make me proud soldier."
"Sir, yes, sir." John called. They lowered their arms and smiled. Omega team put their helmets on and picked up their stuff and left without another word.
…
All right, I'm liking my little repairs. I would have added more, but I'm not re-writing the entire thing. I'm just making a few tweaks and adding some marks so you know who's talking.
