Sean lay in his bed dreaming, he dreamed that he would become a great soldier one day and destroy the covenant forces and the rebels, he dreamed of being the hero of humanity, he dreamed of being what people were now calling Spartans. Then he woke, it didn't take too much to wake him, he could always hear everything and the slightest noise would wake him easily. Sean stared around at his room, his parents had painted glow in the dark stars on his ceiling and walls as a surprise, only to discover that he didn't like space, it made him jumpy, Sean liked his feet planted firmly on the ground, but that's not what woke him, he had heard a sound like the slamming of a door. He got out of bed and creaked the door open slightly.
His parents were standing at the top of the stairs, his father held a pistol in one hand, aimed at something at the bottom of the stairs. Sean rarely felt fear but his fear compelled him to figure out more. Suddenly a ball of green energy flew up the stairs and struck his father in the chest, the plasma boiled at his insides and he crumpled on the ground. His mother screamed and picked up the pistol, firing wildly. Another plasma shot hit her in the face, she fell backwards and Sean seen here face, the plasma had gone straight through the skin to the bone.
He burst out of his room "you bastards!" he yelled and ran down the stairs and crashed into one of the attackers, the thing fell over and he started punching it, "you covy bastard!" Then there was a searing pain in his right arm, he looked and seen that one of the things had injected him with something, Sean got off the thing he was attacking and stumbled towards the one that had injected him, his vision started to blur, his legs became heavy, he tripped and fell, he couldn't move, the things had started to crowd around him and Sean slipped out of consciousness.
Sean woke with a start, he was inside a ship, the engines roared around him, he had been strapped to a chair with a harness, he looked around nervously, there were nineteen other children all harnessed to the seats but they were all still unconscious. A man in marine combat gear walked over to him and knelt down next to him.
"Hey you're the first one up," the marine said
"Wha what happened?" Sean asked still a little groggy from being unconscious
"Covenant launched a stealth raid, they killed your parents, but we got you out safe and sound, you're gonna be all right now son" the marine said concernedly.
Sean hung his head, anger boiled inside of him, the Covenant would pay for this, he would make sure of it, if he had to kill every single Covenant he would. He made a silent vow to avenge his parent's death by killing all the Covenant he could.
He raised his head slowly; the marine was still watching him looking nervous, unsure of the child's reaction. They stared at each other for a long time then Sean broke the silence,
"So where are we going?"
"Can't say" the marine said "can't tell you the location"
They sat in silence once again until the other children started to wake up, then the marine left to talk to the children. More marine personnel came from the cockpit and started to talk as well, very soon there was a buzz of conversation in the ship. Then the marine personnel checked that the children were secure and announced that they were landing. The ship then dived and Sean got a sense of vertigo, then they stopped and the ship touched down.
The ramp at the back of the ship opened revealing overcast skies. As the children were unstrapped, they covered their faces from the bright light after being in such a dark ship.
Captain Benjamin watched as eight pelicans touched down, there ramps opened and the children slowly emerged from the dropships, he gestured to them to come closer. The man wore his carbon fibre titanium A armour, he looked similar to a Spartan but smaller and not as bulky, his silver helmet gleamed as the light reflected of it. Many of the children appeared to look sad, it was necessary to lie to them about their parents, in a way it was a good thing, many of the children also had looks of anger and revenge in their eyes, others looked passive impossible to tell what they were thinking.
Captain Burke sat in his office in the "Pegasus" watching the images of the recruits leaving their dropships, he noticed the boy with the messy dark brown hair, what was his name? Sean yes, he had a passive look on his face. The Captain tapped the COM to the bridge "Lutenient, keep us in orbit with the planet"
"Aye sir"
That boy would different; it would be interesting to see what kind of Spartan he would become.
Sean moved closer to the man in the silver armour, he wore the helmet of an ODST, the helljumpers as they were called. He gestured for them to come closer, Sean and all the other children approached the man, they stood in a crowd around him.
The man spoke in a loud voice, which also emitted from the speakers around the base "the Covenant are a growing threat, the UNSC needs all the soldiers it can get, have you all heard of the Spartans?" There was a loud cheer from the children, "Well your all about to become a Spartan, we are going to train you and make you the best that you can be, but all of you that don't wish to be Spartans your dropship awaits"
None of the children moved.
"Very well then" Captain Benjamin said, "demonstrators, show these kids their quarters, wakeup is at oh six hundred tomorrow, and welcome to hell"
The children all filed off the large field, the wind had started to pick up, the trees began to rustle, night was fast approaching and their last bit of respite was coming to an end.