Chapter (5) Introductions, Introductions, and Introductions (2)

September 24, 2517

(Alpha Pov)

"psst hey why are you getting up so early?" spoke a quiet voice to my left

Startled, I snapped my head in the voice's direction only to relax when I saw the owner. Sighing in relief I gave an annoyed look to my bunk neighbor and squatted down low to his bunk to speak clearly.

"What do you mean why am I getting up early? You guys should know why Fred," with that I finished with a small snort and made my way to the painted line on the outside of the designated path in the middle of the room. I had been taught and told that every day of training would begin.

I could hear Fred behind me getting ready and putting on his training uniform. After only a couple of minutes he came up to me took a look at how I was standing at attention on the line and stood beside me at the same position, "Why are we standing here at almost five o'clock in the morning?" he asked

'Is this guy fucking stupid?'I couldn't help but rub my forehead with this guy's questions. He has to have been training for at least 2-3 weeks already. Catherine told me I was the last candidate observed so these guys had to have been training before me, so there is no fucking excuse why these guys are being lazy asses and still sleeping when training starts in-

"GET THE FUCK UP TRAINEES! WHY ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING!?" A group of instructors kicked open the door to the beds and moved in like a wolf pack and began forcefully waking up my classmates.

What followed next was pure chaos. Kids were being pushed out of beds, some were slapped awake, while others were shaken with a flashlight beaming down into their eyes. Fred looked confused and shocked meanwhile I just shook my head at how my classmates got what they deserved.

One of the things I hate the most are people who won't carry their own fucking weight. Back when I was working for Big Mike many of his gangsters tried to tag along and do nothing while I did all the work. They were also the same ones trying to take all the credit for the work while saying that I did nothing and all the pay should go to them. Coincidentally they were also the type to break both legs by tripping the day after.

My point is that I am never going to work with someone that would just hold me back because no one wants to have a "boat anchor" on their team. And there ain't a damn person who will ever make me work with one of those people. Even if they were one of the few people I trusted enough to lead me.

As I had concluded my thought I looked up to find that everyone was standing either beside me or on the far painted line forming a second line, 'Seems that wake-up call reminded them of the morning procedure,' I thought to myself. The other line was facing us just as we faced them and all of the ones I could see were yawing and looked tired from the lack of sleep. I couldn't help but roll my eyes because it only took me a week and a half to get acclimated to less sleep, so they should be just as fine as me by now.

"UP trainee! Do you know which way up is?!" Shouted an instructor at a boy wearing the number [117] before marching over to the final trainee to rise.

"Last one up gets it, Jorge!" He continued shouting at a boy wearing [052].

The boy still drowsy from being awakened looked up at the man, "It's pronounced George" he spoke in a light informative tone

*zzzt*

The boy yelped in pain as he was tased by the instructor and fell to the ground, "ZIP IT JORGE!" The instructor yelled as Jorge struggled to pull himself off the ground.

[Author's note: For those who didn't know Jorge is Hor-Hay]

Looking at my classmate in pain I couldn't help but think, 'Damn I know how that feels….but me personally I would NOT let that shit slide,' I nodded and once again internally commended myself for my actions with that other instructor.

Once Jorge managed to pick himself up off the floor he made his way to the painted line on the floor. At the same time, Mendez began to walk down the aisle with his hands behind his back speaking as he glanced at every trainee, "I am Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez. You are to refer to me as instructor Mendez and will respond to my questioning with a 'Yes, sir' or a 'No, sir," he stopped mid-stride and looked at me before continuing, "Refusing to do so will result in no small amounts of punishment,"

As he said the last bit I just nodded along knowing full well that I would be refusing to do so. For an instant I think I saw a wry look in his eyes before he continued walking, "From now on you will do what I say, when I say, and exactly as I say, am I clear trainees?" he called out to the room.

All other trainees snapped their right arm up into a salute across their forehead, "Sir, Yes, sir!" Meanwhile, I brought it up at my own pace maintaining the correct rigidness in my arm, and said, "Whatever you say,". Mendez didn't hear me over the noise or maybe had already accepted that no amount of punishment will because he didn't seem to react to my response.

"Now then you all have exactly 8 minutes to get to the 'Grinder' If even one of you are a second late you all will be punished," he stopped at the door leading outdoors and pointed to a hologram display of the trail, "The path is a nearly straight shot as you can see and there are signs marking the turns. Good luck, and don't be late," he finished and pressed a button on his watch, beginning the timer, but by that time I was already through the doorway.

I didn't wait for any go-ahead, and neither did some of the other kids in the room who were following behind. I sprinted as fast as I could to win this run. Though it wasn't an official competition, to me it was a matter of a principle that both Mendez and I held.

That is the simple fact that only being the winner matters.

Mendez explained his reasoning on the matter the other day. No one remembers the person in second place, and it goes doubly true in war. In war winning is the difference between life or death, between writing history and being lost within it. He said that it pays to be a winner, and I couldn't agree more with all of what he said.

As I ran I began to notice how the amount of people behind me slowly lessened until I could only see two clearly. One of them was a girl with brown hair. I couldn't see her number very well, but seeing how she was not that far from me and wasn't breaking too much of a sweat told me that she was almost as fast as me. The other was a boy with similarly brown hair, but he was struggling much more with the run than me and the girl. He was currently in third place but I can see that he was giving his best which was…. Commendable but he would still lose.

Eventually, I made it to the concrete slab to find Mendez already there waiting. He nodded at me as I made my way in front of him and saluted, "Hmmm Nice work trainee," he said as he whispered something to an instructor holding a datapad after checking his watch.

I didn't say anything and made my way to my position marked from training weeks prior. It took about half a minute for the next person to come, being the girl I saw previously, then after another ten seconds was the boy. The rate of finishers seemed to increase from a trickle into a steady stream from then on and by the time was up everyone had made it and were in position.

Finally, after another small conversation with his group of instructors Mendez came to the front of the concrete slab and called out, "Before we begin this morning of training, I am going to group you up into fireteams. These teams can and will change, but until they do you are to live, breathe, and work with whoever your teammate is. Anyone who decides to actively cause discord within your team will find out what it's like to sleep outside for a month on top of losing lunch and extra training. Because like it or not you will eventually need your teammates and your teammates will need you,"

I couldn't help but snort at his words. I agree with a lot of what Mendez says but I have to call bullshit on this needing a team thing. So far I have continually proven that I can do every exercise that he has thrown at me better than anyone else. Meanwhile, I have only seen my classmates be lazy, unorganized, and lacking in capability. Therefore I have to ask why in the hell would I need them when I can do it all by myself. I mean there is even a saying, "If you want a job done right do it yourself,".

Sadly my snort didn't go unnoticed this time, "If you think this is so funny trainee then why don't you go over there," he pointed to an area beside him, "And assume the upright position until I finish assigning the teams," I sighed and got in the push-up position to begin the upright plank

"Your teams will be named based on colors for example… The first team, the Blue team, will consist of Zero-Five-Eight, Zero-Eight-Seven, One-One-Seven, One-Zero-Four, and Zero-One-Seven. All of you can group and begin getting acquainted over here with Zero-One-Seven, because if he can run his mouth then he should be able to introduce himself while in the push-up position,"

I rolled my eyes and looked up to see both the boy and girl that were behind me in the run and another girl with red hair…. And Fred. I swear someone does this shit on purpose.

"Hi I am Fred," said Fred obviously with his signature friendly tone.

"Nice to meet you, I am Kelly" spoke the brown-haired girl with a funny accent.

"I am John I hope we can get along," spoke the brown-haired boy with a trace of authority but filled with confidence.

"I am Linda, it's nice to meet you as well," spoke the red-haired girl. She seemed a bit shy and quieter than the others.

They all then looked at me on the ground and I sighed for like the fifth time, "...Alpha," I said, cocking my head to the side in position.

"That's a weird name," spoke Kelly with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah well you talk weird so I don't want to hear it, Kells," I said mockingly

"Hey! What do you mean I talk weird, and my name is Kelly!" she said in outrage.

"Yeah Yeah whatever you say, Kells," I said, shaking my head side-to-side teasing her in an effort to annoy her more.

Before Kelly could say anything else Fred butted in between us, "Come on guys can we please not fight each other day one?" he asked in a tired tone.

"" She/He started it!"" we both said at the same time, snapping at him.

John laughed, Linda seemed a bit put off, and Fred rubbed his forehead at our reaction. John looked like he was going to say something but was cut off by Mendez, "Now that you are all grouped up each of you needs to grab a partner. Today physical training will be requiring a buddy so pair up in your teams,"

John paired with Linda and Fred with Kelly (Thankfully)...which left me without a partner. "Hey Chief, we have an odd number over here," I said, calling out to Mendez.

He pointed at a short girl with blonde hair, "Zero-Two-Three you go pair up with Zero-One-Seven. Zero-One-Seven you can stand up now, but if you smart off again the punishment will be a hundred times worse,"

The girl walked over and we both stared at each other for a moment after I stood up from my position on the ground. She was one of the shorter ones in my class and seemed to wear a similar 'Don't fuck with me' expression on her face like me. I was curious so I spoke first, "You are short,"

"And you are tall," she said with the same energy crossing her arms over her chest.

I nodded, 'I like her,' I took note internally before we both turned to face Mendez as he was giving instructions on the first exercise.

"Alpha," I said, noting my name as a form of introduction.

"...Daisy," she said in response

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Surprise Surprise another chapter.

Yeah so here is a new chapter not as long as the last one nor as content filled I guess, but I don't want to rush things. I want to get Alpha and his team to get along, but I want it to feel natural you know? I don't want to force things because Halo is a semi-realistic sci-fi action shooter and each character is pretty fleshed out and I want to somewhat keep their personality to a degree.

Anyway next chapter will be the ring the bell test. And for those who have seen the fall of Reach or read the book it will be similar to a degree but Alpha being Alpha like with numerous things that will occur in the story changes things.

Also quick important thing to note I will probably be making John stand out more as a Spartan. In the lore John's performance was really mediocre and wasn't anything special besides his luck and leadership skills which were lesser in areas when compared to the likes of Fred and Kurt. Anyway because of how I have Alpha's personality invisioned I am going to have to amp John a bit otherwise Alpha would never allow himself to be commanded by him.

Anyway I hope you all have a blessed day and I will See You Star Side!