Bullfrog

Shar stared at the area before her. She was sitting on the edge of a ledge, looking out at the series of platforms that had been suspended in air by chains. She had no idea why she was here, but she was sure she'd find out.

"Nice hardware," A voice from behind her laughed. Shar braced for insults, not turning around and acknowledging the voice. She shifted her right arm a bit, knowing he was talking about it. The next words surprised her. "Did you get that thing wrestling a brute with your bare hands or something?"

Shar turned, looking up to see a trio of ODST in full armor behind her. "Actually, I got it blowing up a building. Though, I have fought a brute bare-handed." Shar stood up and turned to the soldiers.

The soldiers looked her over studying her armor. "Damn, you must be important to get that kind of gear. Never seen another ODST with something like that."

"You better damn believe she's important." They all turned to face the source of the words. A woman moved toward them, ODST helmet tucked under her arm. She had dark brown eyes and bright orange hair. "What's wrong with you? Didn't you learn how to properly salute an officer?" The three ODST saluted her. "Not me you idiots." The woman pushed past the three men and stood before Shar. "I take it you're the Lieutenant that's going to be training with us today."

Shar nodded. "That is correct. You must be Lieutenant Hawkeye." Shar had read the woman's file and she had respect for her. Hawkeye had been through over a decade of leading a team against the Covenant. She had low losses over those years despite how dangerous the missions she'd done were.

"That would be me, but they call me Freyja around here." The Lieutenant looked the Spartan over. "You're not what I expected." The words were quiet but with her armor Shar could easily hear it.

The three ODST saluted Shar. "Sorry, ma'am. We meant no disrespect."

Shar ignored them. She'd never been a fan of being saluted. It was why she tended to wear no insignia. Can't be saluted if people can't tell you're an officer. "So, what will you be teaching me?"

"Well, Lieutenant, we're part of a special unit." She shifted so Shar could see the olive green leaping frog on her shoulder armor. "We are the bullfrogs, and we're going to teach you our specialty." The Lieutenant slipped on her helmet and motioned to the three soldiers. "These boys are completing their final lesson before they can join us in combat. Command thinks you only need one lesson, though."

"I probably only have time for one lesson. That will have to be good enough." Shar was sure that as soon as she finished here she'd be shipped out.

The Lieutenant moved over to some equipment cases. She opened them and Shar looked at the objects inside. "These are our equipment." She grabbed one. Shar grabbed one for herself. She looked it over; not believing it was what it looked to be. "Here, I'll show you how to attach it." Hawkeye showed Shar how the device was easily attached. Shar did her own, finding it rather simple. The Lieutenant grabbed a couple DMRs, handing one to Shar. "These are our weapons of choice."

Shar took the rifle. "I'm not complaining." The gun felt at home in her hands. It felt good to have a weapon again. She didn't get one often while on base.

Freyja moved over to the ledge. "I'm sure you know how to activate equipment." Shar nodded the Lieutenant turned back. She jumped into the air and the pack on her back activated. Jets propelled her up and forward, allowing her to reach the next platform.

So these were what Shar had suspected. They were real life jet-packs. She moved to the edge of the ledge and jumped. About half way to the height of her jump she fired her equipment. She felt the pack behind her vibrate as it propelled her up and forward. She landed on the ledge on the other side, having to regain her balance once she hit.

One of the other ODST landed beside her. "Fun isn't it." She could hear the grin in his voice. He moved forward and made the next jump. The other two quickly followed. Shar moved a bit slower than them, still getting use to how the pack worked.

They spent the next two hours making jumps. About half way through they started to shoot at targets as they appeared, trying to do it while in flight. Shar found it a bit hard, but she managed to get the hang of it.

Shar was following Freyja as she tried to put Shar through the paces of jumping, making some of the longest and hardest of the jumps. They'd been making one of the hardest of the jumps across a wide opening when things went wrong. Just as Freyja reached the other side of the jump only feet away her pack lost power and then in a second it exploded.

Freyja started to fall and Shar took action. She cut her jetpack and dropped after her. A trail of smoke streaked toward the ground and Shar reached the end of it, grabbing onto the Lieutenant. She shifted them and fired her jet-pack. It was not able to really handle stopping their fall. She did manage to slow them a bit before they hit the ground.

Shar's mind went black for a second and then she snapped back to consciousness. She was sore and found that her right arm was a bit damaged. Some of the metal was cracked or dented and a few sparks shot out from exposed wires. She would worry about that later. Shar looked over to Freyja who lay on the ground beside her. The woman's armor was still smoking and Shar could see that her back was burnt badly.

A medical team came rushing over. Shar waved the away from her, telling them to check on the ODST. She moved over to the side as the medics started to work. Shar watched as they carried the woman off. She looked over as the three ODST came over and joined her. She didn't know what to tell them, when they asked if their Lieutenant was all right.

When the medics had finished and Lieutenant Hawkeye had been set up in a room. The ODST had gone inside to talk to her while Shar stood outside. When they came out one of them stayed back. "She said she wanted to talk to you, ma'am."

Shar nodded and moved into the room. She stood at the side of the bed where Freyja lay. "You wanted to speak to me?"

The ODST opened her eyes and looked up at Shar. She took a long breath and cleared her head. "Yes, I wanted to speak to you. I have to agree with command. You only needed one lesson. Most bullfrogs take at least three lessons to get as good as you did. You'll do fine." She shifted a bit to make herself more comfortable. "I wanted to thank you for what you did. You could have let me fall."

"That was not an option." To Shar that was true. To completely abandon another soldier was not something that Shar could do, particularly when it was an ODST. "I did what was the only option I could come up with."

"Either way, you probably saved my life. Sometimes these packs do go bad, and I've had them cut out on me but I can usually get them working before I hit the ground. Never had one explode on me." Freyja smiled just a bit. "I know you Spartans don't have a good history with the ODST, but as far as I'm concerned, you're one of us."

Shar didn't reply right away. "Thank you, Freyja. Honestly it will take a lot more then Spartans to win the war. It will take ODST like you, the kind that can keep their team alive, that can take a hit and don't let it take them out."

The woman chuckled. "I've been through too much hell to give up now, Lieutenant." She looked over at Shar's arm. "Seems you've been through a bit of hell yourself. You should get a tech to look at that, at least stop it sparking. Hard to be stealthy when you're giving off little sparks."

Shar looked over at her arm. It was still sparking and she was having trouble moving it. "I think I'll do that. You have a good rest." With that Shar left the room and moved toward the laboratory to get her arm fixed.