1800 Hours, July 12, 2519

Epsilion Eridani System, Reach Military Wilderness

Training Preserve, planet Reach

"Well this sucks." Daniel had stated to no one in particular. It had been about thirty or so minutes since the dropship left him. He had figured they would realize he was stuck out here but then again John was leading the group right now, to spite Daniel he would just wait until tomorrow to pick him up. Or perhaps that whole "everyone gets on" was a lie? Maybe he was going to be stuck here forever because he didn't know which way to start walking. He needed to set up camp but at this point he didn't care. All Daniel wanted at this moment was to sit and rest for a moment.

The snow picked up a bit from the ground as a bitterly cold wind brushed through the clearing. The birds exploded from the trees and a bunch of little animals started to walk, or bounce for that matter, towards and past Daniel. He was confused but didn't mind it to much. Letting a small sigh escape his body his mind wandered, his imagination and memories were taking him back.

-

0530 Hours, July 24, 2518

Epsilion Eridani System, Reach Military Base

planet Reach

The day was unlike any other. The kids were usually greeted in the morning and provided morning exercise then followed by Déjà talking to them or lecturing them. After all this a trip to the playground was made or they would just go back to exercise training. Soon after they would shower, then eat and back to bed. Repeat and rinse the CPO would always say.

But today was different, the children woke up out of habit but there were no handlers. Confusion washed into most of the children's faces, unsure of what to do next.

"So do we just train ourselves or is it a break?" Fhajad had asked.

"I don't think the marines would just up and leave without us. Maybe rebels took over the camp and they know we are being trained and they are going to get us!" Daniel exclaimed using a lot of hand movements.

The other children listened in and started debating what they were to do, "Maybe we should scout the area? CPO Mendez always says if your enemy has you confused, find them and confuse them." Kelly smiled as she recited this word for word, "Or something like that…"

The other kids nodded in agreement when John decided to talk, "Lets split up into teams of ten. Run around for a bit and decide on what has happened to the…"

A large explosion.

The ground shook as dust welled up into the air, the children had only seen something like this once before from Déjà's lectures. An atomic bomb, but it was much smaller then the ones they had seen in the classroom. Maybe it was a mini nuke of some sort? The children weren't to familiar with weaponry or explosives yet but still had some general knowledge.

Rushing outside they saw CPO Mendez running up to them, sweat dripping from his brow. "Kids, run! They are coming! They are…" his words were cut short as a fifty six millimeter bullet ran straight through his head, in one side and out the other making the chief fall. His face hit the ground and some blood splattered against the children who were in complete shock.

The kids screamed, cried, or stood their ground as they watched the person responsible walk up to them, smiling. "So children, how is it going to be? Quick and easy or long and painful?" His eyes fixated on one child in particular, Daniel.

Daniel didn't realize it but he was shaking, scared. His little body trembled as he stared at the attacker, Mendez was dead, he was next. This simple thought ran through his head over and over and…

"Ah!" Daniel exclaimed. It seemed while waiting he had fallen asleep. The dropship was back and John was shaking him and he let out a smile. "You're really unlucky."

Daniel gave John a playful shove as he stood up and saw a couple of the other trainees poking their heads out to see what was happening. Daniel got suited in the passenger bay, right next to Ruchi. "So how was being alone for thirty minutes?" she asked.

"Better then expected."

-

1900 Hours, July 12, 2519

Epsilion Eridani System, Reach Military Base

planet Reach

It seemed like John was in quite the predicament. Daniel wasn't sure whether or not to tell CPO Mendez that he was left behind but it seems he didn't have to. He could hear Mendez even all the way in the barracks. Smiling he closed his eyes as he laid on his neat bed, he had just made it.

Even though he was left behind he didn't really care all that much. This, as far as he was concerned was practice missions and with each practice mission one must learn his teams flaws such as being left behind. It is a flaw but now they will double check next time to see if he was there, so it worked both ways really.

The doors flew open and John walked in, it looked like someone just hit him with a hammer…or an anvil. He was pretty shaken up, Mendez must have really gave him hell.

"I have been promoted to squad leader." he said.

Yup, he really gave him hell-…

"What?!"

Daniel stormed out of the room and went to his tree. Obviously the CPO was not told about the fact he had been left behind. Daniel, who was fuming at this point, punched the tree a couple of times until letting a tear fall from his eye. Why was John so much better then him? It wasn't like Daniel had been trying that hard for leader position anyway but now that John has it, it almost makes him better then the rest of us.

"If you need to take your anger out on something, there is a gym."

Daniel's eyes shot opened and turned, Déjà was being projected by a stand alone console, her lights flickering as she smiled.

"I am sorry, I just got really angry and felt the urge to hit something, you know?" Daniel's cheeks turned red with embarrassment. "Déjà, can you keep a secret?"

"Sure." she lied.

"I don't think I am fit for this program." Daniel's eyes flashed with sadness as he felt more tears coming up, try as he best to hold them back.

"And why is that Trainee 047?" Déjà asked in a more inquiring tone then sympathetic.

"All the other Spartans seem to be better then me in some way and even today John said I was unlucky. Is that going to be my talent? The unlucky one? The one who fails? I would just hold them back."

It seems as emotions stream through your body, your mind choose where to place the feelings you feel. Pain in your chest could mean you feel trapped, in your head, there is an annoyance. But what happens when water leaks from your eyes uncontrollably? Your body shakes and fear of shutting down hits you, what then?

"Trainee! Get yourself together! If the other Spartans surpass you then train twice as hard. If you feel stupid, read twice as much as anyone else. If you think you have less energy then eat double the amount of food. Become the best you can be, do not trifle over such a small matter." Déjà was proud, somewhere in her core memory was that speech ready for a big problem, but it seemed Daniel was the one in need of it now.

With renewed vigor and a sniffle of the nose Daniel replied with a simple, "Yeah?" and it seemed he was ready to start again. Her words resided in her and it would be that way for some time to come. He decided starting tomorrow, he was going to start training twice as hard.

-

1200 Hours March 09, 2525 (Military Calander) /

EpsilonEridani System, Office of Naval Intelligence

Medical Facility, in orbit around planet Reach

Dr. Halsey had been watching over all the Spartans, but she had favored John. Mendez, like Halsey, had also favored John in some way. Although it seems our computer program Déjà was the opposite, looking over Daniel in some way. She had looked over him for quite some time now and was growing fond. Although she wasn't a "smart" AI and she only had a particular interest in certain things, thus began her dilemma.

She really didn't want to explain to her creators why she wanted to be made into a "Smart" AI, although she had talked about it to Dr. Halsey quite a few times. She, although "dumb", decided to look into some personal files that Halsey had left out and she quickly found a reason to be made "smart". But could an AI be changed over like that? Surely it wasn't unheard of...was it? As Déjà pondered these things she remembered Daniel, how she had kept an eye on him. She had made damn sure she kept to his word and he had doubled his exercise, doubled his reading, and tripled his eating. His "unfortunate" nature however continued to persist. There had been a couple of incidents that would have been better if avoided. Such as the mine field training exercise. While setting it up with Mendez he had actually stepped on one and both him and the CPO were hospitalized for three days. Déjà laughed to herself as she replayed the visual in her head. Right now however she was monitoring something interesting, the genes that had been given to him. This was one of the more riskier tests and she had made sure he got no less and no more then what he needed. There was no reason for failure at this point.

Her data streams curled together, showing worry. It was odd that her, an AI would be so wrapped up in the boy… sorry… teen that she would forget anything else she was doing. She had read over the file that had been sent to Dr. Halsey at least three hundred and sixty seven times, might as well make it three hundred and sixty eight.

Carbide ceramic ossification: Advanced material: special metal and ceramic layers, grafting onto skeletal structure to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-post pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization.

Muscular enhancement injections: Protein complex is injected intramuscular, to increase tissue density and decrease lactate recovery time. Risk: 5 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.

Catalytic thyroid implant: Platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: rare instances of elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive.

Occipital capillary reversal: Submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of subject's retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase. Risk: retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness.

Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites: Alteration of bio-electrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject's reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinson's disease and Fletcher's syndrome.

This was going to be one hell of a night for her data and Daniel.

-

Daniel sat in his little room watching the IV drop in his skin, it was annoying that they were trying to put him to sleep but he knew he had to fight it. He figured this test was to see how well he could fight off certain drugs if he was captured by the enemy. They actually hadn't been told what this was for and that they should just co operate with whatever the nurse or doctor said. "Easy enough." Daniel said to no one in particular.

He laughed to himself thinking about John, he was probably trying to figure out what the twists were or how to win for this mission. His mind then went to Ruchi. She was the closest thing to a friend he had here, sure they all knew each other and worked like a team but Ruchi seemed a little bit closer then the rest. They had spent plenty of nights working out instead of sleeping or raiding the food in the canteen because they wanted more. A smile spread across Daniel's face as the drug had finally hit him, it was time for sleep.

But he fought it, he wanted to continue his thoughts. He wanted to think of the time he had accidentally tripped the CPO or had lit the canteen on fire. "Hmm." not the best memories in the world so he pushed on to other ones. He went to scratch the top of his head and to his shock he was bald! Mumbling something to himself he remembered how they had been shaved before they put him in here. His eyes finally starting to feel heavy, they slowly drooped down until a silent snoring filled the room.

Déjà flickered onto the computer next to him and she had concern written on her face. She rechecked the data one more time, making sure everything that was about to enter him was precise. There had to be no mistakes, none whatsoev-

"So this is the reason you want to be cloned."

If an AI could jump right of the computer then Déjà would have, Dr. Halsey had walked in on her. "Sorry but I am just rechecking all the Spartans data, before the surgery begins."

Dr. Halsey's eyes narrowed as her mouth let out a smirk, "Liar."

-

That is the end of this chapter. I hope you all are enjoying this.
I figure I am getting out updates pretty fast and I think they are relatively good size. But they will most likely get longer. Reviews and comments would be appreciated, even a flame if you want to. I accept anonymous reviews now, just in case you missed it.