Chapter One:
"So how have things gone since I was gone?" asked Lieutenant Six, as he and Colonel Holen walked down a hallway of the Pillar of Autumn. "Well…" said Holen, "for one thing we've decided that the Military needs a new team of Spartans." "Oh really?" Six laughed, "All ready? I thought I would have to convince them myself!" "But first things first," Holen said, "you have to assemble the team, rank members; this isn't going to be easy."
"Don't be a spoil sport!" laughed Six, "this will be better than that last lone wolf mission I did." "I don't see how you can see that as fun in retrospect." said Holen, "Now let's start looking for some new members."
"Take a look around, Six," said Colonel Holen, "some of these men in rehab could be the best soldiers in the navy." Six stared around the room at the soldiers lying in cots. Nurses bustled around the room, tending to the patients. Lieutenant Six walked down the rehab center, looking at each of the marines and Spartans in turn. As he reached the end of the room, one of the Spartans caught his eye. a girl lay on the cot, wearing white and green armor and missing her right hand. She looked a lot like Kat, except for her green eyes and ear length black hair.
"Hello there soldier," said Lieutenant Six, "What happened to your hand?" She stared off into space. "Touchy subject, eh?" Six stopped a doctor, "What happened to her?" he asked, pointing to the girl. "Hum, apparently a group of Elites cornered her and cut off her hand with an energy sword." The doctor said, and then kept walking. Lieutenant Six looked at the patients chart. The patients name was Jewel.
"So Cortana," said Six, "Got anyone else I could possibly pick?" Cortana thought for a minuet as she ran through all the Spartans records, analyzed them, and decided on the best choices, "The Spartans Frogleap, Jewel, Norman, Holmes, Thompson, Mage, Pressfist, Joe, Chris, Sharp, and Tim might be suited for the program." "Hmmm," said Lieutenant Six, "Could we set them all up for a testing program?" Cortana whirred as she thought of the best time. "As soon as we return to a planet base." "and how long will that take?" asked Lieutenant Six. Cortana whirred again, calculating times, places, and training courses.
Inside a planet UNSC base, and an almost completely fabricated obstacle course…
Holen paced in front of a line of Spartans. "You all have been gathered here at this special training program for one thing, and one thing only." He said, "To rebuild the Noble team." The soldiers blinked in surprise. "Any one want to go first?" Holen asked, breaking the silence. One Spartan in pure black armor (including a black visor) stepped forward. "Soldier, state your name and rank!" barked Holen. "Holmes, Captain grade 2, sir!" Yelled Holmes. "Anyone want to go next?" said Holen. A soldier with teal camo armor marched forwards, following Holmes' example. "Name and rank, soldier." Barked Holend. "Tim, War Officer Grade 3!" responded the teal clad soldier. Colonel Holend moved on, and names and ranks rattled past.
"Joe, War Officer grade 2, sir!"
"Sharp, Captain grade 3, sir!"
"Thompson, Sergeant grade three, sir!"
"Frogleap, War officer grade 1, sir!"
"Norman, Captain Grade 1, sir!"
"Chris, Captain, sir!"
"Jewel, Lieutenant Colonel, sir!"
"Mage, War Officer, sir!"
"Pressfist, Private, sir!"
After Holen passed the last Spartan in line, he turned and surveyed the line. "All right soldiers! First on your list is the number one obstacle course!" All the Spartans groaned. They had had enough obstacle courses in training to last a lifetime. But orders were orders, so they all stood at attention and listened.
"Now," said Colonel Holend, "this obstacle course is half a mile long, two thirty foot climbs, several dozen punching dummy groups, mine fields, shooting walls, and one killer climbing wall. Complete with killer implements." The soldiers blanched under their helmets, the colonel clearly expected the best of them. Emphasis on best.
"Oh, and one last thing…" called the Colonel as they moved onto the course, "this course is stocked with hungry animals insidious to this planet." Everyone turned to stare at Colonel Holend. "Good luck Spartans," he laughed.
Frogleap stared at the imposing thirty foot climb, and gulped. If he fell off this one he might break some bones, or his neck. He sighed, crouched down and jumped. Ten feet up, Frogleap snatched one of the climbing stones on the wall, and jumped again. His hand hit the top of the climb, and he pulled himself up. Frogleap sat and caught his breath for a moment, then got up and turned to the opposite wall.
Suddenly Colonel Holend buzzed in on the intercom. "that's your special qualifications Spartan?" he bellowed, "jumping really high?" Frogleap grinned, somewhat sheepishly. "Oh, that's just fine!" roared the colonel into the intercom, "Just how do you expect to get down? A leap of faith?" Frogleap, quite befuddled by this sat and thought for a minute. "But sir, I don't see any haystacks around." Colonel Holend, quite steamed by these events roared back, "Well then improvise! I don't care!"
Frogleap thought for a bit more, as he looked for a suitable haystack replacement. Finally he saw a nice lump on the ground. It looked soft. It might be a good landing place. There was a bigger lump next to it, but it looked to spiky. Well, the colonel said to improvise, so this would have to do.
Jewel looked anxiously at Mage, who lay groaning next to the monstrous body of a 'native creature.' "You alright?" she asked, "That last beastie was rather mean." "Stow the pity, Ruby girl," he snarled as he got up. Jewel frowned and stood up, "its Jewel not Ruby, smiley boy!" she snarled back. Then she cocked her head, listening. "Do you hear… screaming?" she said. Biting back a snarky reply, Mage listened. Jewel was right, someone was screaming. And it sounded like it was getting closer!
WHUMPH!
"AAGH!" howled Mage as Frogleap landed on him, slamming him back into the ground. A dazed but unhurt Frogleap stood, rubbing his backside, "Ooh, that hurt!" he said, "But it could have been worse!" An angry moan interrupted Frogleap, who turned to see what caused it. "Well I'm glad to have helped you, Frogger," moaned Mage as he got up.
"Mage! Where did you come from?" cried Frogleap. "Apparently from under you." Said Mage, he stood up completely, drawing a shuddering crack from his spine-cum-landing platform. "And why the %^&#) did you jump on me for?" Frogleap looked sheepishly at Mage and Jewel, "Well the colonel said to do a leap of faith, but there weren't any haystacks around, and I thought that Mage was a replacement." Mage and Jewel shared a look; Frogleap obviously wasn't the brightest knife in the drawer.
"Well, since that's all sorted out, lets get moving, boys!" said Jewel, and started down the path, past the dead creature. "Hey!" yelled Mage, as he moved after her, "this isn't resolved!" Frogleap stood for a moment, and looked at the big spiky monster for a moment before he followed.
Maybe he should have jumped on it.
Thompson and Holmes stared at the killer wall. The killer walls moving blades, energy barriers, magma, falling boulders, and angry animals stared back. "Well he was right," said Thompson, "it does come with killer implements." Holmes spared a withering glance at Thompson, then turned back to the wall. "Killer implements don't win wars," he said, "now let's get cracking." Thompson looked after Holmes as he started up the slop, dodging purple gunk. "Oh, well…" he mumbled, and started after Holmes.
"Well, soldiers," said Colonel Holend as he marched down the line of Spartans, "Only five of you made it into the program, but there's only supposed to be six Nobles, so it works out." The Spartans perked up, each hoping he/she'd made it onto the team.
"Annnd the winners are…" said Colonel Holend, as if expecting a drum roll, "Noble 2, Jewel!" Jewel grinned and stepped forward. "Noble 3, Holmes" Holmes stepped forward too. "Noble 4, Chris" Chris did the same. "Noble 5, Tim" Tim walked forwards. "Noble, 6, Mage" by this time, you can guess what Mage did.
"The rest of you are dismissed," said Colonel Holend. The other Spartans groaned and filed out of the training center. "Sir," said Tim, "Who's Noble 1?" Colonel Holend smiled, "Your commanding officer will be the former Noble Six, now known to all of you as 'Dark wolf'." The 'Former Noble Six, now known as Dark wolf" marched out into the training center, "Congratulations, all of you for making it onto the New Noble Team." He said, as he marched forwards. "Don't start any big speeches, Dark wolf," said the Colonel, "your first mission starts now."