Chapter 2: reassignment
It was a surprisingly quick affair to get me out, I guess that's one of the perks of being reassigned by the director I think to myself.
"2 years" he says randomly
"What" I ask
"2 years, that's how long you've been here"
"Oh, why am I being taken out exactly? Not that I'm not happy to leave"
"We've found an alternative. I didn't believe it was your fault, so I did my best to find another solution for you". He says and gives me a large smile
"Oh" I'm not really sure if I should thank him."So about this...uh, alternative solution?"
"We've recently found an alpha Spartan who we believe is capable of leading a team of misfits, you're one of those misfits.
"Well, it's a step up from mistake I guess"
I notice him make a quick expression of hurt on his face. It's brief but it was definitely there.
"You should arrive by tomorrow, and you're getting your armor and weapons back, Well...a couple of them anyway. He shoots me a small grin and I laugh.
"Haha. Finally" I say with smile. "Oh,and you'll be joined by an old friend" I jump a little
"Turtle or Lamb?"
"Turtle"
"When?"
"The Pelicans gathering your new team will meet about halfway there, you will be loaded onto another pelican and put to sleep. The base is very top secret"
"When do I leave"
"The Pelican is waiting for you now, my advice stay away from the girl in the red she's kinda mean!"
"We'll see about that" Spartans are knows to have a general dislike for UNSC and ONI.
"Over here" he directs me over to a room to my left. It's guarded by 2 UNSC, but they act as though they don't notice us walk in. The room has nothing but a desk occupied by a older man - say 65? - with a door to the right of it.
The man looks up quickly and nods, then presses a couple buttons on his keyboard. He looks up again and motions for me to go in. I reluctantly obey, entering with caution. Just before I get to the door he hands me a folded paper. In the room is pure heaven to my eyes. The walls are covered with large armor containers. Each with a number above it. Realizing what the paper is I quickly unfold it. 36. I sprint toward my armor and type in my password.
30 minutes later I was "fully equipped" with my armor, rifle and magnum and on my way to the base. I can't say I'm not a little upset they didn't give me my grenade launcher as well but at least I got these two. I head up to the landing pad and see a D77H-TCI pelican waiting for me. The crew chief ushers me quickly in the the passenger bay. He obviously has somewhere to be.
In the pelican with me is the Spartan that the ONI guy told me about. she said nothing the whole ride.
I sat in silence wondering where Turtle went after we split up.
Pretty soon we'd made it to the halfway point and were unloaded.
I saw him, the last surviving member of my former team, the closest person I had to family.
I ran to him
"TURTLE" I cried
He turned, instantly I saw somethings different in his eyes. What had they done to him.
I wrap him in a hug and begin asking him questions.
"Hey, how have you been? where did they take you, man?what they do to you? He looked sad
"I don't really wanna talk about it, what about you?
"Not important, what is important is we're on a team together again" we both got quiet, neither of us wanted to talk about that. I quickly change the subject.
"I wonder who our new leader is?"
"I heard she was an alpha, do you know how rare they are. Alphas are the only ones that can control a spartan. Most people believe that they have some genetic superiority to other Spartans but actually it's just a name given to Spartans who can get other Spartans to follow them! There's been a few famous ones like Spartan- 117, Spartan-092, Spartan-51... ". His eyes lit up as he was able the spout off information he had about the topic. He was always reading about whatever he could".
"Ok, Ok. Turtle. TURTLE!" He stops and looks at me confused. "What?"
"You were ranting again!"
"I was? Sorry"
"It's fine, do you know what happened to Lamb?" I've been wondering that for a while
"Actually, I asked the ONI representative and he said she..."
A whistle blew cutting Turtle off.
We both look over at the man who blew it
"Get in the pelican right over there quickly, takeoff is in T minus 1 minute"
Me and turtle quickly find our seats at the front of the pelican, our previous conversation forgotten.
A large man who looks to be about 20 is on my right. He gives me a smile
"Hello, my name is Bjorn"
"German for bear right"
"Correct" he gives me an even bigger smile and a pat on the back. "I like you."
"Thanks, I'm Phoenix".
He sticks out his hand and I shake it noting his arm strength.
I quickly take in the other passengers.
Besides me, Turtle, and Bjorne there is, a 21 year old male who looks very unhappy to be here sits by the door, and two females who are chatting right across from me and Turtle. One who looks to be 20 the other maybe a couple years older. Looks like me and Turtle are the youngest this time.
A couple UNSC soldiers go around and give us some shots that they say will put us out in about 30 minutes.
Across the pelican I see the girl from my pelican.
"Don't touch me, idiot"
"Ma'am we have to give you this, directors orders"
"Go give it to the director"
She begins fighting him and they have to give her an sedative that puts her out in a couple seconds
"Dang" I glance over at Bjorn who looks shocked at the scene
"What"
"That dose was more then enough to put an elephant to sleep!" He says seriously.
Turtle and Bjorn begin to talk about other planets and languages. Bjorn seems to really know his stuff, Turtle offering history about the planets wars that took place. After 20 mins Turtle starts looking drained and lays down. Bjorn turns to me with a questioning look.
"Medicine works really quick on him, great when your sick but uh, not so great when your drugged".
"I see" He nods as if adding it to his mental database." So, Phoenix".
"Yeah?" I glance up at the big guy.
"Do you know anything about the place were going?"
I shrug "Not really, just that our leader is an alpha".
"Oh". He looks slightly disappointed "Do you and Turtle know each other?"
"Yeah, we were on another team together awhile back". He must have realized I did t want to talk about it cause he quickly changed the subject.
"Know anything about the grouchy guy?" He points toward Grumpzilla in the Corner.
"Besides that's he kinda creeping me out, No" We both laugh earning us a scowl from Grumpzilla.
Not long after, the girls are out. Even me and the other guy were just about to go, but even as I closed my eyes, Bjorn wasn't looking tired. He's a pretty big guy, maybe they should have given him a second dose.
Authors notes: I hope you liked getting to meet a few of the other characters. If you don't know them, go read speestergirl96's freelancer II.
