Sabre

Shar sat in the simulator as it shut down. The information from her test ran over the screen, all green telling her that she did well. She just sat, waiting for the door to be opened so she could get out. It was hard to go back to the simulators after she'd made her first flight. It hadn't been an easy flight, and the reentry had been harder than they had suspected and the ships were again being improved, so she was back in a simulator. After the real thing, the simulator paled in comparison.

The door finally open and a Corporal grinned at her. "Great run, ma'am. Don't think that any of the other soldiers will ever catch up to you?" Shar didn't reply to that. She didn't care how the others did.

"Out of the simulator, science project." Shar turned to face the agitated Lance Corporal. That was a new nickname, if Shar called them nicknames. They were more of insults that the other soldiers sometimes used against her. She just ignored them.

Shar got out of the simulator and the other pilot moved into it. The door shut and the Corporal at the controls watched Shar as she moved out of the room. "He's just jealous." Shar stopped, looking back at the man. "He used to be the best until you came to the program."

Shar frowned. "That's none of my concern." She turned and moved out. She didn't care how the soldiers here felt. She only needed to be a pilot, and that was what she was doing. Shar moved through the facility until she reached the barracks. Shar moved into the room, toward her cot. She sat down, pulling out her combat knife and sharpening it. It had been dulled a bit after she'd been force to use it to cut a few soldiers out of parachute harnesses during an exercise a few days ago. She'd heard something about a new re-entry pack that wes supposed to be used in the Sabres for re-entry. Shar wondered if she'd be cutting soldiers out of those any time soon.

"Looks like the cyborg's done for the day." Shar scowled at the insult. It was a favorite of some of the people that picked on her. It seemed to have stemmed from her robotic arm and the belief of the soldiers that she was actually a robot.

Shar heard the soldiers move and she continued with her sharpening. "You ever notice that you don't see it in the mess hall?"

A second voice laughed. "That's because robots don't need food. Don't forget, Henson, it likes to be referred to as a she."

The first man chuckled. "There's no way it's a girl. Girls can't fly that good."

Shar just ignored them, finishing sharpening her knife before she put it away. She sat, unsure of what to do. She didn't have any more training for the day, and she'd already explored everywhere. Shar reached over under her pillow and pulled out a datapad. She started to search the database for anything new she could read. Maybe the latest battle reports.

"Why you using that to look up information. Bet there's a port somewhere in that armor that would let you hook up straight into the computers." The first voice was trying to goad a reaction out of her but she didn't pay attention.

"Hey, did you turn your ears off or something." The second man's fist tapped against Shar's helmet. "Can you hear me you wannabe ODST."

That was all that Shar could take. She turned like a flash, her hand grabbing his wrist, the force crushing the bones with ease. She pushed off from the ground and they went tumbling down to the cot beside Shar's. She twisted his arm as she moved her forearm so it was against his throat. The man was now screaming in pain but she couldn't hear it. Her ears were deaf to his pain as he was her enemy.

She did however hear the booming voice that pulled her out of her anger. "Lieutenant." Shar moved off of the cot, leaving the man to curse her over his shattered wrist. The Captain turned to the second man. "Take him to medical." The second man pulled the first up and they moved through the exit. Shar stood at attention waiting for the Captain to address her. The officer waited until the men were far enough away before he motioned to Shar. "Follow."

The Captain's office was cramped, too small for a man of such rank, though most of the space was taken up by files and cabinets. She stood, just waiting for the man to say anything. He was looking over some data, wrote a message, and then finally looked up at Shar. "That isn't your first fight, or injury to another pilot." Shar was a bit ashamed of that, but she was human. She could only take so much of their taunting, and every time they called her a wannabe ODST she always seemed to lose it. "I can't help but notice that these incidents always take place in the barracks. Care to explain, Lieutenant?"

Shar thought about that for a second. "Sir, because in the training we are focused, I do not usually eat in the mess hall, and I avoid them in the locker room." She was a bit embarrassed by that last part. It wasn't that she was embarrassed of being seeing nude, but that she just didn't feel comfortable around them. She'd managed to keep them from seeing any part of her that was human, allowing them to think she was a robot. "That leaves the barracks as the only location."

The Captain nodded, as though she'd only just proven him right. He leaned back in his chair, eyes studying Shar. She felt secure and safe inside of her ODST modified MJOLNIR armor. She'd recently gotten the armor redone so the black and blue paint was fresh. There were still scratch marks on her but they were less noticeable. The visor was brand new metal, a brilliant blue shade. She was sure it was the first time that the Captain had really been able to look at her. She just stood at attention, waiting for the man to say more.

"That will be all, Lieutenant. You can go." At the Captain's orders Shar saluted him and then turned leaving the office.

Shar moved back to the barracks, not having anywhere else to go. When she entered the room there was a mixed reaction. Some of the soldiers looked away from her, afraid, and others shot glares, while others just ignored her completely. She didn't pay attention to them, just moved over to her cot. She still didn't have anything to do so she just sat in silence.

She heard and could sense the people as they moved up behind her, three in total. Two more moved to stand before her. "We heard what you did." Shar didn't look up. "We're tired of you, freak. You don't belong here and you proved that by attacking another soldier. You're nothing more than a traitor."

Shar clenched her hands. She remembered the same word being painted on her footlocker during training. Why was she always called that? All she was is different from them, that didn't make her a traitor. She was still thinking when she felt one of the people behind her move. Shar turned just in time to see one of the men moving forward, a metal rod in hand. She stopped thinking, only reacted.

She reached out, grabbing the rod in the man's hand and pulling it toward her. The soldier lost his footing and as he started to fall over her cot Shar's right elbow came down on the man's spine. There was a shout of pain from the man before he hit the cot. She reached over, grabbing the man's belt and pulling it toward her and up. The soldier had no idea what to do as he was tossed through the air, falling half way on a cot.

All of it had happened in just a matter of a couple seconds. The others started to move and Shar shifted into a fighting stance. The first man was out so that left only four more enemies to take down. She easily saw the other soldiers as enemies. She'd fought the other trainees, fought against rebels; this was no different to her. They were attacking her, she would defend.

Two of the men moved forward as one and Shar turned to face them. Her first struck out, hitting one of the soldier's chest dead center. Bone cracked and the man flew back. Her foot struck out toward the second and hit the soldier's knee. He fell down toward the ground and Shar turned, her elbow hitting the side of the man's head and knocking him out. An arm wrapped around Shar's neck and she tucked her chin in to keep herself from being strangled. Her foot stamped down on the other man's foot and he let out a cry of pain but held tight. Her elbow struck back and hit his side causing him to release her a bit. Her right hand moved back to the man's shirt and her left arm grabbed his arm around her neck. With a quick shift and a pull she flung the man over her shoulder and he fell to the ground, hitting it hard.

The final soldier moved toward her and she was ready. She stuck out three times, hitting the soldier three times in the chest before she grabbed his shirt, pulling him toward her. Shar's helmet collided with the soldiers face and his nose broke. With a great push she sent him flying back and he hit the wall across the room. Shar stood looking around at the fallen soldiers. The soldiers who had watched were all looking at her in horror. She suddenly realized what she had done and didn't know what to do.

"Jesus, he's dead." She turned to look at the pilot kneeling over the final man. His face looked horrified as he turned to look at Shar.

Suddenly all Shar wanted to be was out of that place. She didn't stick around, moving out of the barracks and just walking. Eventually she found herself in the mess hall and she stood near the entrance, not sure what to do.

A strong hand rested on her shoulder and she looked over at the marine beside her. His blond hair was buzzed short and his chocolate brown eyes held strength in them. "What you doing standing around. Aren't you going to join us?" He passed her and moved toward a table. She spotted the ODST tattoo on his shoulder and she moved after him.

The soldiers that all sat at the table varied from muscular to slim, all of them bearing an ODST tattoo on their right shoulder. "Finally, maybe this one has a brain." The only female ODST stood up and moved to make room for Shar.

Shar hesitated for only a second before she took a seat. "You going to eat?" a red haired man across from Shar asked.

"No, I came here to get away from the soldiers in my barracks." Shar looked around at the soldiers. She felt oddly more at ease with them. She figured it was probably because in her opinion ODST were as close to Spartans as normal soldiers got, though honestly she'd never felt this comfortable about other Spartans. The memory of the photo of her father flashed in her mind, clean pressed marine uniform on. Maybe that was why. Her father had been a marine, an ODST, so it was the closest connection she had with him. It might explain why she felt so desperate to be considered an ODST, why she had outfitted her armor with all the ODST equipment she could get, and why she threatened techs with physical violence if they tried to remove any of her equipment.

"Well they didn't add a new cot to our barracks, so where are you staying?" The blond haired ODST asked. It surprised Shar a bit that they didn't seem to care at all that she was a girl.

"I'm a pilot with the project that's being tested here." She left it at that. Anything else and she would be breaking the classified label on the program.

"Oh, those things that they shot up into the air a few days ago. I bet you are kicking all the other pilot's butts." A brunette haired ODST to her left grinned. Shar nodded her head and the marines laughed. "Hell yeah you are. Some flyboys don't stand a chance against a trooper."

Shar sat in silence for a moment. They really thought she was a trooper? She was taller than them, in high tech armor, and her arm was robotic. "Can't blame you for wanting to get away from them." The blond soldier leaned forward on the table.

"Wish you could move in with us," the female soldier said. "I'd like to have a sane person who wouldn't be spending all their time cracking sex jokes and trying to show off."

"Oh, you know you love us, Jameson." The blond marine smirked and Jameson glared at him. There was something to his smile but Shar tried not to pay attention to it. It wasn't her business.

The rest of the soldiers pretended that nothing was happening. "Why don't you take that helmet off? We aren't going to bite, or are you really deformed?" the red haired soldier asked.

"I'd rather not. I'm not deformed, just like my armor." Shar didn't want to admit it but she felt her armor was a part of her. She only ever took it off when she was completely alone.

The brunette marine shrugged. "Whatever's your prerogative." The other soldiers all looked at him. He frowned as they all stared. "What?"

"How do you know that word?" Jameson asked.

The brunette marine looked toward the table. "I get word of the day messages. It was the word of the day last week." Shar smiled behind her visor, enjoying the light banter.

She sat with the marines for the next hour, just listening to them chatting, sometimes taking part when she was spoken too. They left one by one until finally only the blond marine, who she'd learned was called Johnson, the red haired marine, who she'd learned was Duran, and Jameson, were left.

"Well, I think we are going to call it a night." Duran stood waiting for the others.

"Say, any time you need to get away from those airhead pilots, go ahead and come to the barracks. We'll find you a cot for the night." Jameson stood as well followed by Johnson.

"I might take you up on that." She didn't want to tell them she might not be there much longer. She'd killed a soldier, and she didn't know what that would mean for her.

"Well, have a good night." Johnson frowned. "What is your name anyway?"

Shar was silent for a moment, actually surprised that no one had asked her name yet. She didn't know how they'd made it this long without using her name. "It's Shar."

The soldiers watched her for a moment. "Well what's your last name?" Duran asked.

"Don't have one, just Shar." She didn't want to admit she was a Spartan. Spartans had a rough relationship with ODST, something that had always stood in her way of feeling like one.

Jameson shrugged. "Well, hope you have a good sleep, Shar. Try not to let the guys in the barracks get under your skin."

Shar nodded and watched as they left. She sat in silence for a few minutes before she stood up and moved back to the barracks. When she entered the pilot barracks the others were asleep, though a few stirred as she entered. She moved over to her cot and stared down at it. Someone had written the word traitor on her sheets, and the word killer on her footlocker. So it was going to be like that.

Shar turned around and left the barracks. She moved outside and climbed up to the roof of the building. Memories of doing the same thing when she was younger plagued her mind. She stared up at the stars, just listening to the activity of the base as she drifted off.

The next day when she returned to the barracks she found her things gone. The other soldiers denied having done anything, but after a bit of pushing they feared her enough they said that some staff had taken it away. She checked a terminal and found that her quarters had been reassigned. She'd been moved into private quarters a distance away from the piloting facility where officers were usually roomed. She smiled as she realized the ODST barracks were between her new quarters and the launch facility. It meant she'd have a chance to see the ODST each day, maybe watch them train.

Shar made her way to the new quarters, finding them to be simple and she liked them. A cot, a desk, and a locker. She found that her footlocker had been put into the room and she set to unpacking. Once she was finished Shar sat down on the cot. She looked around and realized that she was all alone. For the first time in what felt like forever she reached up, removing her helmet and setting it to the side. She lay down on the cot and smiled as her head hit the pillow. She forgot how nice it was to actually feel her pillow. She settled in, glad to know that now she had a sanctuary from the other pilots.