A/N: Hey guys! I'm back from camp and it was very tiring! In fact, it was so hot that cadets began to get hospitalized due to heat exhaustion... But I know you don't wanna hear about how bad that was. Instead, you wanna read this chapter...

Well then wait no longer! Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Who Needs a Trainer?

Arcturus Station- East Wing- Michael's Room
March 29, 2170
Audio-Log 1

Okay, I'm not sure what to say to this thing... I've never used one before...

I think I'm supposed to talk about my days and experiences or something like that? *sigh* Very well then... It's been, what looks like about, 13 hours since I agreed to join Hackett's-!

Ehrm, I'm sorry Admiral Hackett's super soldier program. Now that I've joined the Alliance, I have to address him by rank... Anyway, a few of his escorts showed me around the station, introducing me to each and every location I'd need to know. I thought it was a big ship as soon as I first stepped on it, but damn! It's much bigger than I ever would've anticipated... I guess that's why it's a station and not a ship... Each wing contains different types of quarters. The North wing holds the operations decks and all that other military mumbo jumbo. The East wing is mainly the living quarters for every one on the station. The South is the docking and engineering decks, not much else. The last wing and also the biggest, is where the Academies for different schools are located. It's where I'll be spending most of my time for the next two years...

Anyway, I actually get my own room in the east wing of the station. It's much better than the rooms on the Einstein, that's for sure. But that's not very important right now, so back to the subject.

While we were traversing around the station, they thought it would be fitting if I met the teachers I'd have for the next year. And I have to say, some of them look like complete douche bags! One of them has a classroom that smells like something died in there and the other just plainly looks like a bitch... I'm not looking forward to any of that...

Hmm, what else is there...?

Oh, they're having me use Earth months instead of Mindoir ones! I don't see what the big deal is but it sure is gonna get annoying...

I don't think there's anything left for me to say, so...

LOG OUT

Arcturus Station- East Wing- Michael's Room
April 12, 2070
Audio-Log 2

Hello, I guess... Wow, I just said hello to myself... Whatever. I know its been awhile since my last entry, but like I said before, I'm not very big on using these things. They're pointless if you ask me, but it's not my decision... I'll have to start getting used to that now. He said that I have to start logging once every week, so I can stay with what is currently happening, which I still don't understand...

So, let's go back a little... They made me start going to school, right after I arrived. It sucks total ass! Its not that the work is hard, it's just that none of it makes any sense! I mean, all they ever talk about is how everything we learn here is gonna help us later in life. Funny, 'cause I don't see how finding the exponent of a common factor ends up being an important skill in life! It doesn't bother me too much though, mainly because my other classes are over-rule that one. My favorite ones is probably science and History... But then again, Hackett did say these are pretty much the baby classes...

I haven't made any friends since I got here; I never was very good at making friends. The only reason why I became friends Pierce, Quiyona, and Gavin, are because we were stuck with each other during a war-zone. Now that the Einstein has left dock, I have no friends on this station to talk to, except myself... Which, isn't very healthy.

God... I feel so alone right now... I don't know why... I think this is the first time I haven't had any of my friends around me since Lunar died... I know I shouldn't think about it... But hey, I'm only human...

Anyway, I think I might send Jane a message about what I've been doing. I forgot to mention that to the people back home... Besides, it'll be good to hear her voice again...

Now, for what's been happening recently; Admiral Hackett has informed me that I will begin taking classes, to enhance my focus and stability. In other words, help me control my anger a bit more. I can't say it won't do me any good, because I really could use some help with that. He also mentioned that I'll be introduced to a Marine named... Anderson? Yeah I think that's it, Anderson. He's apparently some kind of Alliance hero from the first contact war. I've never been a big fan for Heroes... But if he can teach me how to do something incredible, then I'll be satisfied.

That's all I have for now, but I think I'll be downloading this software onto my omni-tool...

LOG OUT

Arcturus Station- West Wing- Library
April 17, 2170
Audio-Log 7

Alright, looks like the application on my omni-tool is still looking good... I Just need to add a few adjustments and it'll be like I never took it off a dead guy. Anyway, I'm in the Library right now, waiting. It probably would've been better to just do this in my room, but that would defeat the entire purpose of downloading the software. But that aside, someone told me last night that Anderson was going to show up soon. So, as much as I didn't wanna get out of bed, I have to be awake, during his arrival.

It's 5:30 in the morning... *Yawn* No one but the soldiers should be awake right now... I can't have breakfast either, damn mess hall is closed. God, I just hope this guy is everything the Admiral says he is...

"C'mon Sanders, He's here!"

Well, I guess that's me...

LOG OUT

I turn off the software and get up from my sitting place. This better be worth getting me up at 5:00am...

Looks like they're in the atrium, so that's where we're headed. The atrium is pretty nice; it has a decent view of space and lots of pretty flowers around it... We round the next corner of the hallway, reaching a door as soon as we do. Okay, let's meet this, Anderson fellow.

The door opens and I'm soon engulfed by the bright light of the open spaces. I WAS in the dark, so I can understand why this hurts like a bitch... My vision gets better, me seeing everyone taking notice of me is clear sign of that. Hmm, is that him? Hackett waves me over.

I get into position next to him and look Anderson, straight in the eye. I give the most promising salute I can do after all the practice. Yes, I said practice! Believe it or not, but it actually takes work to do that!

"At ease," Anderson says, breaking me out of my inner argument, "You must be Michael Sanders."

"Yes sir," I state, "That would be me."

"Good to meet you son," He greets, "I'm Lieutenant David Anderson." He extends his right hand out in front of him.

I cringe for half a second when he addressed me as "son"; but ignore it as I accept his gesture. It's not his fault, after all. "So, I take it Admiral Hackett's already told you who I am and what I've been doing for the past month?"

He smirks, "What gave you that idea?"

"Well," I begin, "You already said my name, and stated who you are, so that only means that either you just love giving your name and ranks to people; or because the Admiral told you..."

He raises an eyebrow and eyes Hackett for a brief moment, "Interesting theories you've got there. You'll be happy to know that one of them was correct."

Um... I only had two of them...

"This isn't a very good place for you two to talk, so why don't we go to the training room?" Good idea Hackett, let's go to the-

Wait!

"Training room?" I ask whimpering.

"You'll see when we get there." He reassures.

Aww man... I have a feeling I'm not gonna like this, one bit...

Yep. I was right... I don't like this...

"So... could you run that by me, one more time?" I plead.

Hackett puts both hands behind his back, "Anderson here, is going to train you for combat, which means he's going to spar with you everyday until his shore leave is over."

Anderson cuts in, "But I'd like to see how skilled you are at the moment, so I know where to start."

"Which means, you wanna fight me right now..."

"Yes," he answers plainly, "So put on something easy to move in, I'll wait here til' your done."

"The lieutenant here is one of the best," My superior officer mentions, "He was the first one to graduate the N7 academy."

"I know I should be in awe or something, right about now; but what's N7?" I ask

Anderson pats my shoulder, "That's a discussion for another day," he says, "For now, just go get dressed."

I nod, jogging over to my room soon after. I don't exactly feel thrilled about going up against a war veteran. Especially one that was the first to graduate this, N7 program! Granted I've never heard of it before, but it's got to be something bad-ass for Hackett to acknowledge it. I wonder if the project I'm partaking in is anything similar to that... I arrive at my quarters and put on my P.T. clothes, which is probably the only good thing to move around in... not considering a birthday suit... (Weird thought) Anyway, I leave my room and quickly return back to Hackett.

"You ready?" Anderson asks.

Letting out a sigh, I respond, "Ready as I'll ever be..."

The Admiral smiles, "Good, step on that platform."

I follow the direction he's pointing to and step on the Circular object. Is Anderson doing the same? I turn to my left and see him doing the same thing. Okay, that answers that question, but where are we going?

The platform begins to vibrate slightly, making me struggle to stay balanced. I regain my stance as it abruptly descends to the dark void of below... I've never seen this part of the ship...! I'm going down a circular tube, it's dark and has bright lights along the sides of the wall. Eventually, the tube becomes clear and I'm met with the sights of an empty room, with squares present at the bottom. What the hell is this place?

We reach the bottom of the tube, which just happens to be a door. Said door, automatically opens as I step off the once moving platform. Okay, now what?

"ALRIGHT GENTLEMEN," Damn that's loud! "WHAT YOU ARE WITNESSING IS A SIMULATION CHAMBER, PINNACLE STATION WAS KIND ENOUGH TO GIVE US THEIR PROTOTYPE TO TRAIN OUR SOLDIERS." Pinnacle Station? "FOR NOW, YOU WILL JUST BE USING IT FOR HAND TO HAND COMBAT, THEN WE'LL CUE UP THE BATTLE SIMULATIONS. SANDERS, MEET UP WITH ANDERSON AT THE CENTER OF THE ROOM. GOOD LUCK!"

Right, I'll take that to heart, I appreciate it...

A giant holographic wave runs throughout the entire room. What in the-? The wave finishes and next thing I know, I'm in some kind of studio, a storage unit from the looks of it...

My omni-tool beeps and a screen with Anderson on it pops up, "Sanders, I'm already at the center, I sent you the coordinates just now." That explains the beep, "Meet me there, Anderson out!"

Okay, thanks, I think. I open the door, following the precise instructions left by my new 'fascinating' teacher. Now, go down this hallway here, there should be another door once I reach this next corner...

Ah, there it is! I go through it and find myself in what appears to be the heart of this 'studio'. And there's Anderson, on top of a dueling ring, waving me over. Here goes nothing... I move closer to the ring, lifting one of the elastic bands and throw myself over. Okay, deep breaths Mike, deep breaths!

"You're here, good," He says putting his hands up, "Now let's get started, hit me!"

I'm a bit frightened by his attitude right now, but I don't think I have a choice anymore. I made my decision to be apart of this back at the Einstein, so there's no going back now! I can do this!

I put my own hands up and charge at him, letting out a cry as swung my arm at him. He dodges it with ease and grabs it, giving it a good twist and throws me back to my starting position. It all happened so fast, I don't even know how I got back here... He's really good... I turn back around to face him. I'm not done yet!

Running at him in my zig-zag formation, I try my luck with some wild punches, and they're aiming directly for his face. I'd like to see him dodge all my punches! With a few movements of his head, my fists that are dying to come in contact with his jaw, gets caught by one of his hands.

Shit...

In a smooth motion, he swiftly moves around my body and makes my arm twist all the way to my back. I yelp out a loud cry of pain that has now been bestowed upon me. Gah! Fuck! This hurts! Now, he's got me in a neck hold, cutting off the sweet circulation of what little oxygen I have left. Before I knew it, My back collides with the ground knocking the wind out of me. Everything goes black after that...

Damn, he's good...

Arcturus Station- West Wing- Infirmary
April 17, 2170
Audio Log 8

Okay, that went horrible... I'm in the infirmary because of the sparring match I had with Lieutenant Anderson, which my superiors were happy to inform me, that I lasted a mere 20 seconds in there before I got knocked unconscious... Hackett said it was okay for someone with my experience and my age to do that terribly. But he did say he expected more from me... *sigh* Anderson actually apologized for beating the crap out of me, so that kind of made me feel better.

He said it wasn't his intention to do so much damage to me during a practice run. I appreciate the apology and everything, but seriously! I have 3 broken ribs (surprisingly), A shattered collar bone, and some 'minor' back problems. I think I lost 5 I.Q. points, just from that smack down at the end! Other than that, I just have multiple bruises, nothing I haven't been through before. But thanks to modern medical science, I should be back to normal within a few days.

Anyway, they said that when I'm back on my feet, I'm expected to resume training with Anderson. Believe it or not, but he was holding back! I'd hate to see how bad my next few training sessions are gonna go...

The two things that I've realized today is, One, when you're fighting someone like Anderson, remember to be careful, and Two, I guess there's more to Anderson than meets the eye...

I look forward to the coming months.

LOG OUT

A/N: I don't know about you guys, but I definitely wouldn't want to tangle with Anderson...! But yeah, there's a twist! Not only is Michael being associated with Hackett, but he's also going to be trained by the most Awesome, most honorific, bad- ass in the Alliance. Not in the galaxy, because I think it was Garrus or Wrex that owns that title...

As for why the chapter was so short, It was originally going to be a time lapse from intervals, mounting up to be a whole year, in one chapter. But I decided to do a few months for this one and to do the rest for the next one. The next chapter is going to be pretty long and will also have some answers in it as well, so I hope you guys stick around ;)

I'm sorry it took me so long to post this chapter, I've had a pretty hectic week and it feels like I haven't had a break since school ended. I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible!

Anyway, until next time, Laterz!