ROOKIE

"Don't go… I'm sorry

Rookie woke up with a thud, he noticed Mickey (who was also his roommate) trying to get out of bed without getting hurt. He failed… again; Mickey was on the floor with his blanket wrapped around his legs like a knot.

Mickey eyed Rookie and said:

"You going to help me out?" it sounded more like a demand then a question but he obeyed and started "de knotting" his friends blanket.

It took three minutes but he finally got the blanket off his friend, and took two steps back to give Mickey space to get up. Mickey slowly stood and brushed himself off.

"Thanks Rookie, you have no idea how annoying that sheet was." The private said, James sighed.

"Apparently I do, that's like the maybe thirteenth time you got stuck like that."

"Wow… sucks to be you." Mickey said smiling.

James sighed, he didn't ask for this, Mickey was a shitty roommate, and usually it made things difficult.

"Why were we we even paired together as roommates? The others, even Anne has their own rooms." He said. Mickey yawned sighing.

"You heard Buck I can't be trusted alone." Mickey he had a slight grin, like he enjoyed ruining Rookie's day.

"Why?"

"So just in case stuff like that happens again," Mickey said while pulling a picture out of his bedstand, it was an old looking photograph of Mickey caught in his blanket like the moment a couple minutes ago, it was taken by Romeo.

"Oh, right…"

"So changing the subject, how did that tour of the ship go so far?" Mickey said while putting the picture away, Rookie took a couple paces around the room

"You two hit it off?" Mickey said teasingly.

"What! No I just took her to the mess hall because she was hungry." By why was he telling Mickey this? He was just there.

"Right, then you abandoned me and she followed, you sly dog you." Mickey continued.

"I escorted her to her room and promised to be back today to continue the tour, idiot. How did you even find out about it?" Rookie asked.

"Dare told me, you know after Buck killed me on the inside." Mickey said obviously.

"Why do you think I have a thing for Anne? I just met her yesterday." Rookie asked annoyed.

"What is this, twenty questions? Rookie I can just tell there's something between you two okay, and besides I have a girlfriend so she's all yours." Mickey said joking.

"What's wrong with you?" Rookie asked.

"Lots of things but I'm not here because of that. It's because of what I can destroy and how long it takes me to do so." Mickey said referring to both his job and possibly his love life.

"You're worse than Romeo." Mickey smirked.

"Anyways, thanks for getting me out of that, I'll just take a shower… have fun on your date lover-boy." He said.

"Why does this always happen." Rookie said while still looking at the door. He then turned his head towards Mickey's cot and noticed a magnum Mickey kept there, so he did sleep with a loaded gun, he reached for it.

"No" Rookie yelled inside his mind and set down the pistol, wasn't anything serious, just a small joke in his head, contemplating Mickey's 'unfortunate' death. He then sighed then thought back to the dream he had… He sighed then sat down on his bed and looked at the wooden box once more. He shook his head and slowly got up, remembering something of vital importance.

"Shit, I still need to change."

Rookie was walking out of the shower/changing room and started heading to Faire's room to continue the tour he was instructed to give from Dare. Marines walked nearby and were all busy chatting about the fight last night, Eddy Buck was popular.

Wonder what part of the ship she'll want to see…

James approached the door to her 'dorm/apartment' and knocked.

"Knock Knock Knock" He heard a tumbling from the room.

"Who is it?" a voice erupted. He stepped back slightly.

"It's me… Rookie" Rookie answered. He heard a slight sigh on the other side.

"Wait out there perv" the voice answered back. James sighed leaning back. Why did she have to be so immature at these times? Sure he was given a mission to show her around, but that was it.

FAIRE

Anne Faire walked out of her assigned room wearing an ODST jumpsuit and had her red hair traditionaly tied up in a ponytail. She looked forward and she saw a figure with short light brown hair, blue eyes and a nice smile, Rookie, well he probably had a different name, but she could ask him about it later.

"Hey Rookie you here to continue the tour?" Faire asked.

"I did promise didn't I?" Rookie asked smiling. She stepped towards him.

"Right, So where to next?" Rookie shrugged and scratched his ehad.

"Well how about we figure that out at breakfast?"

A date, very smooth

She could tell this guy liked her quite a bit, and he had no intentions of such an ordeal, though it could be fun to play around with him.

"Move your feet, I'm hungry." she ordered, leading the way.

She started walking down the path towards the messhall, while Rookie followed closely. She looked at him then asked.

"So Rookie… tell me about yourself?" The marine looked down trying to think, he very obviously didn't want tot alk about it, but strangely enough… he plunged on.

"I'm from Luna, only child, I never really got to know my family outside my parents." He said. He seemed to be deep in thought and then continued.

"They were both college teachers or something like that. Not much else to say." HE said sighing.

Not much else to say?

"You were never that close to people?" Anne questioned.

"No not really, I wasn't that social, I had a few friends in school, nothing really groundbreaking… I met Mickey in the corps, but not that many people." He said. She slowly nodded.

"What about a girlfriend or something?"

Shit, that might have been a bit too forward

Rookie sighed and then answered.

"No, my parents convinced me all sorts of crazy things to keep me away from the opposite sex.".

Classic parenting, no sex, no problem

"Such as?"

"Oh you know the usual type stuff… like if you touch a girl they're pregnant if you see a girl they're pregnant, and if you even think of a girl they're pregnant… said I could only date once I'm out of the house." Rookie said in joking but truthful manner.

"So you're parents are unstable, and you had a very shitty childhood…" She said in a very matter-of-factly kind of way. Rookie smiled slightly.

"Yeah but they're still my parents… if they saw you, they might go ape shit… or worse."

See me?

"Why" Anne asked acknowledging her teammate.

"Well aren't you a girl?" Rookie asked.

"No, I'm a cat with boobs, you see the hair, I'm totally an orange tab." Anne answered jokingly. Usually she wouldn't point fun at herself, but it wasn't a big deal. The two friends laughed and then noticed they reached their destination.

"Let's eat", Rookie said noticing the long line. They entered the line and according to the menu for today, breakfast was oats and milk. The people in line were continuing their small talk taking barely any notice to the duo. Eventually the line went through until they were able to get they're cereal. They grabbed the milk and went right over to they're usual spot to chow down. Sitting at their table already was Dutch who seemed to be enjoying the cereal.

"Rookie, Newbie, what's going on?" He asked.

"Not much, what was all that about last night with you and Romeo… and you're fists?" Rookie asked.

"Look if you ask me the idiot need to learn some proper respect, and if I have to beat it into him, then I'll happily comply." Dutch boasted proudly. ODSTs didn't take kindly to Spartans, well some of them didn't, because of the story from a long time ago about a trainee killing a couple helljumpers.

"Yeah, but why in that brutal manner?" Anne asked.

"I'll tell you about it another day, Faire. So tell me, what's going on?" Dutch answered and then asked.

"Well Rookie was showing me around the ship-"

"I've noticed, so it seems you two have taken quite a liking for each other, going steady eh?" Dutch said while looking at them in a weird fashion. It made her feel… awkward. The marine took another bite our of his oats.

"What?" Rookie asked. Dutch slowly got up.

"Oh nothing, Anyways Buck sent me a message that we have a training op with the elites at 1,000 hours so you two love birds' better finish, and then get over to the training room." HE started walking away. Faire turned to Dutch who was still nearby.

"Wait, where's the training room?" Anne asked.

"Ask your boyfriend?" Dutch said referring to Rookie while leaving the hall. She could feel her hands curl up.

"Hey, he's not my boyfriend… ass-hole!" Anne yelled in a rude matter. Rookie immediately stepped away slightly.

"Seriously what's wrong with you people?" Rookie asked out loud.

"Rookie, shut up and eat you're oats" Anne ordered.

He complied.

"Yes mam." And he then returned his spoon to the bowl once more as Anne did the same.

DUTCH

Taylor "Dutch" Miles walked into a large room that contains weapon racks and entryways into a practice firefight room, only to be greeted by Buck's still somewhat pissed off face.

"Hey Gunny how'd you sleep?" Dutch asked while grabbing one of the practice Spartan lasers off the weapons rack. It was something used to train them in using. In most ops they had, they would use stun rounds, which when impacted would frieze up the armor and knock the wearer out, and on such short notice they were able to do the same with covenant Weaponry… it still confused Dutch on how they were handling fuel guns though.

"Just get ready to go Dutch, I already wasted it all on Mickey" Buck said while grapping a helmet.

"So what kind of op are we doing?" Dutch asked while going towards another helmet.

"As I said in the message, this squad is going to have a practice round against the elites on board the ship; we are both going to be using practice rounds so no one gets hurt. So swap the battery pack and get ready to go. Where are the others?" Buck said in a very long sentence.

"I have no clue where Mickey could be, and Rookie and his girlfriend are probably nearing this very second" Dutch explained.

"Girlfriend, wait you mean Faire?" Buck asked, Dutch laughed slightly.

"I know Dare gave him orders but… I doubt they would so quickl-"

"Calm down gunny, I see them hanging out, so I assume." HE said. Buck slowly nodded.

"So I see Romeo's doing some target practice eh" Dutch asked changing the subject. Buck nodded.

"Yeah, he came in this morning and went straight into that room to snipe targets. He never stops." Buck said while looking in the unbreakable window.

"Anyways Mickey told me he'd be running late due to some bet he had with another marine so we should just have to wait for Rookie and Faire." Buck said while turning towards Buck.

The door opened to reveal and elite in very unusual armor with an energy sword strapped to his thigh. He had some sort of mark in the middle of his armor.

"Hello Arbiter, so good you can make it… sir." Buck said while facing the alien. This was the leader of the Elites in all his glory.

"Hello marine, I wouldn't miss the chance to see how this would turn out." The alien said while facing the glass.

"Well when your sanghelli get here, we can start the round." Buck said still facing the elite.

"Any moment now, so where's the rest of your squad and you're ONI officer?" the Arbiter asked while still paying attention to Romeo's shooting.

"Well three from my squad should be here soon and Dare told me she has to deal with paperwork so she couldn't make it." Buck said to the tall elite.

"I see" Arbiter said while not moving an inch. Dutch watched as for some reason Romeo turned his sniper rifle towards the alien and started firing repeatedly towards the Arbiter, even though he was just hitting the glass.

"I'm sorry; Romeo is still a bit pissed off about the… well you know." Dutch said.

"It's alright, this isn't the first time." the Arbiter said while starting to laugh.

Damn son of a bitch

Dutch and Buck joined in for a short moment. A few minutes later the door opened again to reveal Rookie and the new recruit Anne walking into the room, in a conversation over ass kicking.

"Rookie, you wanna time the hit just right in order to-" Faire was cut off when she noticed they reached their destination.

"Rookie, you're just in time, get into the armor and grab two weapons on the rack. You too Anne, have any of you seen Mickey?" Buck said all at once.

"No I haven't seen him much" Anne said while slipping into the armor with ease.

"What about you Rookie?" Buck asked.

"Last time I saw him he was going to take a shower and mentioned being emotionally deafened." Rookie answered. Buck seemed to not notice the last bit. HE still seemed somewhat angry, was it Mickey being gone, or Rookie mentioning that in front of the Elite, thus embarrassing himself, or was it still Romeo?

"Good times, well Rookie, I'd like you to meet someone, this is the Arbiter, he's with the Elites so treat him with respect." Buck said eying him. Rookie immediately stepped back nodding. Buck took a couple paces towards the wall and softly started hitting his head against it.

"Alright sir." Rookie said nodding, he looked towards the Arbiter.

"How do you do?" He asked offering his hand to the Arbiter. The alien stared at him and slowly shook his hand. Dutch did not expect that. HE then turned to the door and saw it open with seven armored Elites entered the room in a very menacing fashion with plasma rifles on their sides. They were roughly seven feet tall. Buck looked to all of them, and then sighed.

"Well that's everyone except Mickey." Dutch said annoyed.

"Who's this Mickey?" One of the elites asked. The elites obviously wanted to start the fighting.

"Our Explosives specialist, we have no idea where he is." Dutch answered.

"Oh you mean that fool?" The Elite asked.

"Yeah that's him." Dutch answered back.

The door suddenly once more opened to reveal the Master Chief and Mickey staggering behind.

"Is he yours, Gunn ray sergeant?" Chief said talking to Buck.

"Yep, that's him, what did he do?" Buck asked while eying Mickey.

"He was asking me a lot of …personal questions." Chief said. Dutch stared at him.

Personal questions?

"Well we were wondering where he was, so now we can start that practice op planned for today. Would you like to watch chief?" Buck asked the Spartan.

"Sure, I'd really like to see if this squad is as good as they say." The Spartan answered.

The Master Chief walked over to the spot near where Arbiter was standing, and started watching Romeo fire again and again and again.

"Private get you're armor on!" Buck yelled at Mickey.

Shortly later the ODSTs were all in their armor and chose their weapons Dutch grabbed an SMG with sound suppressor in conjunction to his Spartan laser, Anne grabbed a Shotgun and a Magnum with a scope, Romeo came in to grab a Magnum also. Buck picked up a Magnum and grabbed his personal favorite an assault rifle, Mickey picked up a modified training Rocket Launcher as well as an SMG like Dutch's. Rookie Grabbed the SMG and the Magnum with a scope. The Elites just set their plasma rifles to stun.

"Alright troopers, remember this is a practice match so only use the training rounds and get ready for a session… Oh and no whining like a bitch." Buck ordered, Mickey sighed.

When they were all ready, the six ODSTs followed the elites into a room with large rocks that could be used for cover, some grass, and an artificial light on the ceiling. The two groups were getting in position on both sides as a countdown to three started.

One

Two

Three, start

"This is gonna be fun." Dutch said as his helmet polarized.

(alright, progress on fixing these chapters is going well, and I already started writing for part 2, chapters 1 and 2 are close to finished)