10 July, 2537(UNSC Calender)/
Camp Currahee, Onyx, Zeta Doradus System
Eric awoke and instantly felt the pain. It was agonizing. It was worse than when he broke his arm as a child. He couldn't even his eyes. He tried to bring his arm up to rub his eyes in an attempt to get them open, only to feel an arm pin him down.
"What is going on?" Eric asked in a quiet, raspy voice.
"Whoa you don't want to move. Your body isn't ready for that yet. Actually you shouldn't be awake yet, doctor, more morphine please" a voice came from next to Eric. It seemed extremely loud to him for some reason.
He could feel the IV drip in his arm go cold and fell back into unconsciousness.
12 July, 2537(UNSC Calender)/
Camp Currahee, Onyx, Zeta Doradus System
Eric awoke again, expecting the worst, but pleasantly surprised. The pain was next to none and he was able to open his eyes. What he saw confused him. There were two men dressed in military fatigues, one was tall and muscular, the other was smaller than the first, but quite muscular in his own respect.
"Ah, he finally awakes", said the smaller of the two.
"And who might I owe the pleasure of greeting me when I wake?" Eric asked
"I'm Chief Petty Officer Mendez, call me Chief if you want to, and this is Lieutenant Ambrose" said the shorter one.
"Most people call me el-tee" said Ambrose
"Your Kurt and Mendez? Awesome" Eric exclaimed
"Yes, we were informed of your situation, we believe that you would be better off in our new program" Mendez responded
"Oh, the taking the best of the Spartan IIIs and giving them MJOLNIR program?" Eric asked
"Well yeah. I'm guessing those games were quite detailed for you to know that" Kurt replied.
"Well there were a few books as well" Eric stated
"Hmm, well, you should be able to move now so let's see how well you can cope with your new body" Kurt suggested
Eric thought that was a pretty good idea, so he jumped out of bed, only to land straight on his face. A few more attempts and he was walking like a pro. Well, as close as you can get in half an hour.
Mendez turned around and picked something up. When he turned back around he saw a set of military fatigues.
"Petty Officer Second Class?" Eric asked
"Well, your augmented eyes are working a treat. Yes, as you're the oldest of our Spartans, it makes sense for you to be a higher rank. There is a part of your brain, it controls risk management. It also happens to be the last part of the brain to develop. Yours is more developed than any other of the IIIs so it makes sense to put you in charge right?" Mendez asked
"Yeah, I guess so" Eric supposed
"Now, since the rather spontaneous nature of your coming here, you won't be able to get weapons training until after you get to Reach" Kurt stated
"Damn, wait, I'm going to reach?" Eric asked
"Yes, that's where your armour is, in the five days you were asleep-"
"Five days?" Eric cut off
Mendez continued "yes five days, we were able to get you a squad; they are some of the older ones, about a year younger than you. They'll be in your quarters on the ship, awaiting your arrival"
"Sweet, when do I leave?" Eric asked
"Now" Kurt said with a smile.
Eric shrugged and a marine walked in. the marine was a Staff Sergeant, so Eric saluted on his entry.
"You, petty officer, come with me" the Sergeant yelled while pointing at Eric.
Eric had put the fatigues on before the Sergeant came in so he just followed. They walked along several hallways and eventually came to a hangar. A pelican waiting, its engines already started and its hatch open. The Sergeant told Eric to walk in and sit, and then walked away muttering something about how unlucky he was to have to babysit a freak.
The hatch closed and the pelican left the hangar. With its fast acceleration, the pelican left the atmosphere in mere seconds, docking with the UNSC Artemis' Dispute.
'Huh, odd name' Eric thought
The hatch opened and another Sergeant was waiting.
"You follow, now" the Sergeant bellowed
'Well the Sergeants are a chatty bunch' Eric pondered
Eric followed the Sergeant out of the hangar and through some hallways, eventually coming to a stop in front of a door.
"Here are your quarters. Don't get lost" the Sergeant said before leaving
Eric faced a dilemma. He never once thought how the doors inside a frigate would work. After about ten minutes, he decided to knock. The door opened to a blonde woman in military fatigues.
"Yes?" the woman asked
"Uh, hey, I'm this is meant to be my new quarters?" Eric half asked half stated
"Oh, you're the new guy. Your stuff is already here, lucky you. The rest of us had to carry our stuff" said the blonde girl "by the way, I'm Trisha"
"I'm Eric" Eric replied
"Hey, new dude's here. Wassup broseff?" asked a guy with short brown hair
"Uh, the ceiling, broseff" Eric replied
"Ha-ha, I like this guy" the brunette man said
"Everyone this is Eric", Trisha announced
There was a small chorus of greetings then everyone introduced there selves.
"Hey, I'm Peter" said the guy with brown hair
"I'm Kenneth" said another guy, this one with black hair
"My name's Alice" said a girl with brown hair
"And I'm Tina" said a girl with black hair
Eric nodded to each of them respectively as they told him their names.
"So, we were told you were going to be our new squad leader" peter stated
"Yeah, I'm still new to the whole leadership thing" Eric replied "alright, which bunk is mine?"
"Broseff, you're bunking with me" Peter said with a smile
Eric sighed, "Bottom right?"
"You guessed it" Peter mocked
"Meh means it's easier to get in and out of bed" Eric said as he walked over to his bunk.
He noticed a metal footlocker and the end of his bed. Intrigued, he walked over and opened it. To his surprise was everything he had in his duffel bag when he came to the Halo universe, minus the civvies. He pulled out the sheathed blades and placed them on his bed. The he grabbed the polishing stones and sat on the bed. Unsheathing one of his blades, he noticed everyone staring at him.
"What?" Eric asked
"How did you get those in here? It's against regulations" Tina asked
"Let's just say I know a few people" Eric stated with a smile before polishing his blade
A few hours of rubbing a rock in small circles along the length of his sword had made Eric very tired. He sheathed the blades and put them back in the footlocker, laid down and went to sleep.
13 July, 2537(UNSC Calender)/
UNSC Artemis' Dispute, Slipspace, en Route to Reach
Eric awoke to his squad screaming in his ear.
"I'm up, I'm up" Eric yelled alerting them that their mission was a success
"Finally" Peter yelled throwing his hands in the air
Eric was rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to wake up faster.
"What time is it?" he asked
"0600 my friend" came the reply from Peter
"Wonderful" Eric responded sarcastically
"Were due for the freezer in 5 people, move out" ordered Trisha
"Isn't that my job?" Eric asked
"Yeah, but you didn't seem fit to give orders" Trisha replied as they walked to the cryo bay.
"Fair enough" Eric responded
They walked through more hallways (Eric was getting sick of hallways, fast) and arrived at the cryo bay. Eric stood in front of the cryo pod, gazing into its technology. His squad were all stripping when Peter notice him standing.
"First time?" Peter asked
"Yeah" Eric replied
"Ah, just take off your clothes, step inside and inhale the anti-freeze, it sucks but it's better than waiting three months on a ship" Peter told him
"Ok, sounds good" Eric responded
He started stripping his clothes off and started to notice how big he'd actually gotten from the augmentation. His muscles had definitely grown and were much more toned and he was taller. Much taller.
He turned and stepped into the pod, which automatically closed and he felt it go cold, very cold.
10 October, 2537(UNSC Calender)/
UNSC Artemis' Dispute, Slipspace, en Route to Reach
The cryo pods opened in a chorus of hissing sounds. Eric coughed up the anti-freeze in a bit of pain.
'I now officially hate cryo' Eric thought while retching up more anti-freeze
"Gah, I hate cryo!" Tina yelled, only drawing attention to the fact that she was still naked
Eric stood, admiring her form, before he realized what he was doing and got back to getting dressed. The Spartans walked to the mess hall to get some food in their stomachs. Not eating for three months kind of makes you hungry. Eric got his tray and moved along the line, being given a colourless glob of what looked like oats, but he thought it probably wasn't.
The Spartans all sat together and started to eat. There was the usual chatter of teasing laughing and just being loud, you know, like all 14/15 year olds.
"Leaving Slipspace in three" a voice came over the speakers
"Hold onto your shit!" Peter yelled
"Two... one" the entire ship shuddered and one unfortunate marine lost her breakfast.
"Well that was pleasant" Eric said sarcastically
"Ha-ha you said it man" yelled Peter
Eric was getting to know his squad better over the course of their very long breakfast.
Firstly there was Tina. She was quiet, very beautiful though, actually, all the girls were. Tina was different to the others, unlike Alice and Trisha who were almost exactly alike, except how they looked. Eric had no doubt in his mind though that she was amazing on the battlefield.
Then there was Kenneth who was really nice as a guy, but seemed to change into something incredibly spontaneous out of nowhere. Also he was the only one of African descent in the squad. Everyone else was Caucasian.
Peter was incredibly odd, though one thing could be said about him that stands out the most. For a guy with a suppressed sex drive, he is really perverted. Like fricken perverted.
Trisha and Alice was almost the same person. It was uncanny. They agreed on everything, even to the point to coming up with the same idea, simultaneously without communicating at all. Their appearances did differ though, not much facially; Trisha had fatter lips. Alice was bustier than Trisha, who was more of a long legged type.
All in all, Eric liked his squad.
"All Spartans report to hangar 1-B immediately" a voice announced over the ship's speakers
The squad dropped what they were doing and started running towards the hangar. Running through the ship was getting annoying for Eric; he had no idea where anything was. He was lucky he was with the squad or else he'd probably take three days to do what he had done in two minutes.
They arrived at the hangar to be greeted by Hasley herself.
"Greetings Spartans" Hasley welcomed
"ma'am" said the entirety of the Spartan group, there were three squads
"Today you get equipment on par with the Spartan IIs. Today you become real Spartans." Hasley proclaimed
Eric was itching to put on the suit. He knew it wouldn't be Mark V yet but he still couldn't wait for the extra speed and strength.
Hasley led the group of Spartans to some pelicans, which flew them to a location described as 'need to know, only'. Once there, much like how Eric had read about the Spartan IIs getting MJOLNIR, Hasley asked for a volunteer. Of course Eric put his hand up instantaneously. He was chosen and told to come to the front, where technicians had a suit ready. They started putting on the under suit which felt very odd on Eric's skin. Then they put the main armour components on, which Eric found to be quite odd. They weren't what the Spartans IIs wore.
"Hey this looks different to what the IIs wore" Eric said
"Yes, this is the B variant of the Mark IV armour. The differences are mostly aesthetic but a few system things are different" Hasley stated
The suit took half an hour to put on, mostly because the under suit was comprised of around 50 pieces of armour. But eventually they put on the helmet and the suit started to boot up and synchronize with his newly inserted neural lace.
"Ok systems check is green. Now let's give everyone a demonstration of the speed the suit gives its occupants shall we? Move your right hand to your chest" Hasley ordered.
Eric complied and moved his arm to his chest in a flash.
"Whoa" was all he could say
"Nicely done. Now in order for you to get used to the suit, you have to complete this training course we have set up" Hasley told him
"Sounds good" Eric replied, smiling behind his golden visor
He jumped off the platform to the training area in one bound, marvelling in the fact he could do so. He looked up at the course. It was immense. The sizes of the jumps were huge, there were several pylons that he had to jump across and there was a section completely under water.
"This is gonna be fun" he chuckled to himself