Chapter 7

March 15th 2543

All eight Spartans of Sabre team were in the ONI lab on the planet Reach, the UNSC's military powerhouse.

Jacob had gotten his new suit of armor a few days before the rest of team, and was busy on the range testing out it's capabilities. It utilized a new technology known as energy shields. There were advantages and disadvantages to this technology. It was not nearly as effective as the MJOLINOR Mark III armor that was used by Spartan II's, the older Spartan's armor could easily take five times as much damage before taking any bodily damage. But it used primitive energy shielding which could not take as much straight on fire as the MJOLINOR systems, but if the user stayed in cover after being hit, their shields would recharge, therefore damage to the armor itself was little to none. Without the need to replace armor systems, the scientists could focus more of the project's budget on developing new systems, instead of replacing the old.

Every Spartan obtained a suit of armor specific to their needs as a team. Fred and Sim got advanced camouflage systems and visor enhancements of night vision, heat vision, and so on.

Steven obtained a lager version of the Armor that had decreased mobility, but increased shield and armor capacity. Etc.

Each Spartan had tried out there new armor systems at the testing range. So far, they were completely satisfied with their abilities in these new suits. They even tried some sparring with each other, and were careful not to damage the polymer hardened steel that made up the outsides of the armor. Though, the shields were a little hard to get used to. They were centered on the Head, chest, groin, and the four limbs. Fred had found the shields too slippery on the bottom of his boots, and had turned down the shield capacity in that area. The other Spartans made their adjustments as well. Soon the armor was personalized to suit the owners techniques and fighting style. Not far from then, the Spartans of Sabre team would have an opportunity to see just what the limits of these new suits were.

March 2543

Sabre team was on board the UNSC frigate Titan Within in slipspace, bound toward a Covenant held moon on the edge of UNSC controlled space. The Spartans of Sabre team weren't the only ones on board, over two hundred marines were also onboard. It was under the command of by Commander Edward Monroe, who had been informed of the urgency of this mission, and had set out with his crew only three days after the orders from Fleetcom had reached him.

The Spartans of Sabre team had stowed their Armor in their quarters for the majority of the trip, which would take three and a half weeks to a month.

Steven was sparring with James in the ring. Though James had the advantage in experience, at eight feet three inches gave Steven an almost two foot height advantage, along with his massive arm and leg muscles. James thrust his right foot into Steven's chest as Steven moved his arms to block his James' kick and swerved his left foot into James' ankle. James moved his weight to his left foot and thrust himself backwards effectively out of harm. Steven blinked for less than half of a second to get rid of the sweat in his eyes, and when he opened them James was close, too close to block. James was standing on one foot with the other in a kicking motion, he froze in this stance with his foot one inch from Steven's temple. Neither Spartan moved for a few seconds until James spoke "You're a dead man" . Both Spartans immediately broke their stances and shook hands. Steven spoke

"Man James, I don't know how you can move that quick". Jacob materialized next to him. "James always was the best at hand to hand combat". Steven looked at the recently buzzed hair of his Commander. "Looks like you got a haircut sir". Jacob silently laughed to himself. Steven constantly shaved his face and head, and always managed to put in a comment about anyone who did have hair. "Maybe you'd like to prove yourself in the ring with me rookie?" The Commander joked. "No problem sir, say tomorrow at 0900?" "I'll see you there rookie". Steven headed for the showers near the sparring ring as he heard Fred and the Commander engaging in hand to hand combat behind him. Steven was about to reach for the door when it was opened from the other side. Alison walked out of the door.

Steven noticed, however that she was almost completely dry. She had gotten water on herself, but obviously had not taken a shower. Also, Alison had seemed embarrassed when she saw him, and had quickly walked away. This was only the second time he had seen Alison with her helmet off, due to her and Fred leaving on a Classified ONI Operation two weeks before he joined and had returned a little more than two months ago.

She had hair two inches longer than regulation allowed, ridiculous. Her green eyes stared past him towards the exit. She was smaller than him as everyone was, only six feet four inches, average height for a Spartan. Steven stepped through the still open door into the shower room and saw a man he did not recognize stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist. From his muscular form Steven could tell he was a Spartan.

"That you Fred?" "Yeah, Steven right?" "Yep" The two men shook hands. "I noticed Alice…" he trailed off. Fred replied nervously "Oh umm… Look, I know we just met formally and all but do you mind…?" "You're secret's safe with me, Sim told me you were a good man, so I'll take his word for it". Fred nodded towards the younger Spartan, slipped into a standard navy uniform and walked out of the shower room.

He would have to talk with Allie to let her know what had happened.

Zach sat in his quarters and stared at the board below him. The game had been around for over one thousand years and yet still it was popular among the Spartans, most others had not even heard of the game, let alone known how to play it. Sim and himself had been engaged in this particular game for three hours, and it was turning out to be a short game. Zach had taken three pawns and a knight, while Simeral had captured two of Zach's pawns. Ever since joining the team a year and a half before, no one was able to defeat Zachary at the game. Only one member of the team had refused to play Zachary on the grounds that he did not want to end Zach's winning streak.

Fred entered the room, sat down by Sim and surveyed the board for several minutes. Finally he said "How about we finally get to playing that game?" Zach was confident "And I suppose you're going to beat me?" "I am". Sim moved aside and offered Fred his seat. "This isn't really fair you're starting off with a disadvantage, I've taken more pieces". Fred retorted "Then the odds are against you."

Seven moves and six minutes later, Fred spoke to Zach again "Are you sure you don't want to back out now?" "Don't worry Fred, it'll all be over soon." "I know it will" Fred spoke back quickly, he moved his queen. "Checkmate." Zachary stood indifferent, then after a few seconds of evaluation looked stunned. "How did you do that in seven moves?" "I studied everyone else playing you and realized that you think sixteen moves ahead, always. So, I thought twenty-six moves ahead and couldn't find a way to beat you. So I dropped it back to seven moves. In short, you look too far ahead to see sudden, less complicated moves." Fred stood up left, left Zach's quarters, and headed down the hallway towards the mess hall.