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Spartans: Combat Evolved: Prologue
Posted By: LordofDestruction<Exwing4123@aol.com>
Date: 5 May 2003, 3:48 AM


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Note: this Fanfic isn't to be confused with the old Earth: Combat Evolved and HALO: Combat Evolved series.

Spartans: Combat Evolved: Prologue
Date: July 20th, 2558 Military Calendar

      The invasion of Earth has come, and went. With the help of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, the Covenant fleet defected and joined humanity in their quest for survival. The success of one Spartan caused the UNSC to fund another Spartan project. Fifty thousand candidates were selected, mainly from the orphans of war. This is their story.
      One among them, was special. He was selected at the age of five because of his unique qualities. He was taller and stronger than other kids his age, and exhibited natural leadership abilities. But the most peculiar thing was that, he, unlike the hundreds of billions of other humans, had natural telepathic ability. He could, with a little work, read a person's mind and thus act accordingly. They found nine others with similar abilities, and put them together in the same unit to maximize their potential. Since they could discern what an enemy was going to do, they could have a several second speed advantage over the enemy. Once they discerned what the enemy was doing, they could tell each other on a telepathic level, further increasing their speed advantage.
      This child, designated Michael-795, was taken from his home on Alpha Centauri A on April 15th and taken to the Reach colony, where engineers, human and Covenant, had begun terraforming the planet. So far the atmosphere had been restored, and twelve percent of its surface was un-glassed. Michael, like the thousands of others selected, was taken without anyone knowing.
      This child was told that his parents had died, and that they were going to take care of him until a relative could claim. He, however, saw straight through this lie, but had a very mature attitude towards his 'duty,' to help fight the Covenant in the best way he could. Once the Spartan III candidates were rounded up, they were sent straight to Reach to begin their training. The 'candidates were broken up into platoons, which for the early years of the training was much like a very advanced elementary school classroom. Upon their arrival, they were so shocked from their kidnapping that they had no ability to resist in any form, shape or matter. The 'students' were woken up at 06:00 hours sharp. They were fed and showered as soon as they woke up, then sent to 'class.' Their schedule wasn't much different than a junior high school, and was divided into periods. They took very advanced math, science and language courses in order to bolster their survivability in combat. They were also taught how to read, write and speak in the Covenant's main language. Being able to understand their communications and equipment was very important in hostile environment. The kids then took plenty of physical education classes on top of mental education classes. It wouldn't be too pleasant to break down either physically or mentally on a hostile world where your teammates' survival is dependant on your ability to make decisions. At the end of the day they were given classes in marksmanship and field craft. Since they were only six, most of it was done with ancient 5.56mm rounds used commonly for practice shooting in the twentieth century. They spent the last part of their day playing with each other on the playground, doing paintball wars and playing tag along with many other games that helped bolster their ability to work as a team. During their history classes they watched video documentaries of military conflicts, then asked to point out what went wrong in the engagements. They were also taught about weapons and tactics that they would later use, as soon as they learned that they were never going home.

      Michael awoke with a cold shiver heading down his spine. He had just had another nightmare about his parents. He looked at his watch, which said 05:40 hours on it, so he decided to get an early start on the day. He looked at his male squad mates and the four of them were still fast asleep. His squad also had five female members, who were sleeping in a separate 'dormitory.' The rest of his platoon had just realized that they were not going home again, so had been very quiet and pouty the past few days. He grabbed his soap and uniform, and headed straight for the showers. He came out twenty minutes later, just as his squad mates heard the morning bugle, dressed in his uniform. 'Seaman Apprentice Michael-795' was sewn in on his upper left chest. The cadets were required to wear dress uniforms to their academic classes, then dress in fatigues for physical activities. He said to his squad mates in an unusually cheery tone, "Good morning. How was your night?"
      The almost unanimous reply was a low, tired sounding groan. Michael then went to his bunk and lifted the mattress up to reveal his belongings. He grabbed his math textbook and started to the mess hall. He grabbed his food, and continued to his squad's table, were he ate his breakfast, consisting of an egg, bowl of cereal with milk, orange juice and slice of toast. He vigorously devoured the food, having not eaten much the previous days due to the huge amount of stress. About fifteen minutes later, his squad mates joined him. While he had started to recover from the shock and trauma of being kidnapped, his friends had not. They were quiet and depressed, like all of the conscripts were.
      At 07:00 hours, the cadets trudged into their math class, where they were learning basic algebra. Education had came a long way since the 20th century, first graders touched on algebra now. But this group of children was special, and had already started to work out more complex algebra. By forth grade, they would be doing calculus.
      Second, third and forth periods were more academic classes: science, history and language. In science they were taught some of the Newtonian physics, which are principal to how the military's propulsion and weapon systems worked. In history they watched a recorded film clip of the retaking of Sigma Octanus, then prepared for a quiz on it. In language they started learning basic Covenant language. Then in fifth period, physical education, they played paintball wars. It was a little glimmer of fun in the otherwise gloomy day, and helped the kids get over their depression. On top of that, it helped teach team tactics, without those, they would never survive.

To be continued in: Spartans: Combat Evolved Part One: Paintball Wars





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