The sun was up over the lone continent and in particular the mountain chain. A Covenant Phantom slowly flew by the mountain chain, exploring the region. Several yards further up one mountain, a forest green and white Spartan held his sniper rifle and spied on it through the scope. He wasn't sniping, but rather on a recon mission. As he spied, he spoke on his closed comm, "Sierra 327 in position."
"Copy that 327, what's the status?"
"They're deploying Phantoms in the region, orders?"
"See if you can find where they're heading to, but don't get spotted, even if direct action is necessary."
"Affirmative," Brian replied just before closing the comm. He waited for the Phantom to go behind the mountain and began to walk along the cliff ledge he was on. Slow and steady may not win the race for him, but at least he won't fall off and if he did, that would be bad...

Alexis was bored, boredom does not happen often to a Spartan, not even when they have not been on a mission because of a lack of activity. But Alexis knew that there were other things to do.

So she started cleaning her M6G pistol for the tenth time.

Obstacle courses had come a long way since the 21st Century. Tom-313 reflected on this as he fired up his jetpack, jumping from one ledge to the next, narrowly avoiding the robotic dummy which was smashing around. The room was located in the training grounds, providing a place for soldiers using jetpacks to hone their skills with the devices. Not that Tom really needed to hone his skills with the thing, really. He'd been using one since the moment he'd gotten his hands on one, and that was some time ago. But it payed to keep one's skills from becoming too rusty.

The ballistic robot was adaptive, of course. The faster the person running the course, the faster the robot. It matched agility with agility, and even its intelligence was adaptive. So as Tom picked up the pace, the robot continued to speed up, darting about more and more quickly. Before long, the robot could no longer go any faster, and simply fell apart. A pathetic whine of grinding metal was heard, before it simply collapsed to the floor as a pile of smoldering rubble. Tom sighed. This course simply wasn't made for Spartans.

Brian slowly navigated on the cliff side, following the direction where the Phantom flew by. Eventually though, he came to a natural rock tunnel opening that went about ten feet inwards. Brian walked quietly through the tunnel till he came to another opening to see another cliff side, only it had more room for Covenant infantry. He slowly went from his feet to his stomach and set his sniper rifle up to scope out the infantry. No doubt he spotted the Phantom that flew by earlier drop off a Covenant vehicle accompanied by two Elites, one a major and the other a minor ranking Elites. Also was a Ghost driven by a third Minor Elite. Brian calculated whether he should take the shots, but when the Phantom left, the Elites boarded the vehicles and began to drive off through a canyon. After they disappeared, Brian got to his feet and looked out the tunnel entrance to see now way to that part of the canyon...unless he jumped and the distance was so great, even he doubted he could make it. Nevertheless, he had to try, so he hooked his sniper rifle on his back, perpendicular to his Battle Rifle. He backed up a bit and stared at the gap, eventually breaking into a run till he leapt just as his last leg jumped. He flew a bit till he began to fall with style till his hand caught on a rock. For a moment, he dangled there till his other hand found a crack, thus allowing him to practice his rock climbing skills. It took him a minute or two, but he eventually reached the edge of the cliff and heeved himself over it till he entire body was on the safe ground. Soon, he sighed with relief that he made it, but his brief victory was over as he grabbed his sniper rifle again and began to quietly run up the hill till he came to a lone tree. He stopped running and took cover behind it till he looked beyond it with the corner of his eye...

After Alexis finished cleaning her pistol, she decided to go to the gun obstacle course (right next to the jet-pack course) for some automated stun round training.

Automated stun round training works like this: You get peppered with TTR's (Tactical Training Rounds) that numb whatever they hit, being fired from automated guns. Targets are placed next to the guns so that if you shoot them, the gun are programmed to shut down. You are meant to use your cover, abilities (armor or not) and your mind quickly to complete the challenge.

Alexis reset the course, cursing silently whoever neglected to do it when they exited the course, ran through the entrance and headed for the nearest cover available. Immediately all 20 automated guns started firing upon her, causing her shields to flicker as they took damage. She reached the cover and used her pistol to take down 3 targets, when her shields failed, she ducked down as one just missed her head. She activated her Drop Shield and waited for her shields to recharge, once her shields recharged she ran out of the Drop Shield and fired her pistol again hitting 5 more targets.

'12 more,' Alexis thought as she reloaded her pistol. She dived behind cover as both of her shields deactivated under fire. 'I must move cover soon,' she thought, 'all the other targets are behind cover.'

Once her shields recharged, she ran toward another piece of cover with more hittable targets, just as she was about to duck under cover when she noticed Tom avoiding the robot with the jet-pack. She must have been looking at him for more than a second as her shields failed and TTR's were hitting her arms and legs, causing her to crumple on the floor. The automated guns, detecting her failure, stopped firing.

Alexia knew she wasn't going to be moving for awhile, so she called out to Tom (hoping he could hear her) who had by now finished the course, saying "Wow, that was impressive Tom, could you help me? Please?"

Alice slid a half-empty magazine into her M6D with a satisfying clink. Taking a kneeling stance, she fired six times down the range, each round hitting the man-sized target at ten meters.

The Marine corporal next to her squinted at the target, and said, "Nice groupings. I can beat it, though."
The Spartan looked over and said, "Alright, Reeves. Try."

The Marine loaded a smaller M6C, and fired six times. Alice smiled under her helmet. "Four out of six. Too bad we didn't bet."

Tom glanced up from the now-wrecked practice bot on the jetpack course, noticing that Alexis had been stunned and dropped to the ground. He jetted down to the other course quickly, landing next to Alexis. "Thanks." He stuck out a hand, offering to help her up off of the ground. "You were doing pretty well too, until you got distracted."

"I'm going too need more than a hand," Alexis said, "I'm going to be lying here for 15 mins, tops. With nothing to do. Again." It was obvious that she was annoyed that she was unable to do anything on her own.

"You are just going to have to carry me to med bay, they have anti-anesthetic there." She continued.

Tom nods, lifting Alexis up and heading in the direction of the med bay. "If it's any consolation," he comments, "I was never very good at that course, either."

Alice looked onto the training course at the two Spartans. Laughing, she ran to join them.

For some reason, the fact that the Spartan-II had failed made her happy. Taking her helmet off, she said, "Well, looks like the big bad Two's aren't perfect after all.

Tom turns to the new arrival, a rather tired expression under his helmet. "You're one of the threes, huh? Don't worry, you'll learn to appreciate us sooner or later."

Alexis laughed, "Yeah, but last time I was able to get 15 targets, this I only got 8." She said and moved her head just before said head hit the door to the local med bay.

"Hey!" She yelled, "Watch the head! They don't have anti-anesthetic for that!"

"Maybe if you hit it again," Tom says sarcastically, "I won't have to listen to you complain for a while."

"Alice," Alexis said, turning towards her, "punch Spartan-313 in the arm for me, and that's an order."

As Brian carefully moved his head to see what's behind the tree, WHOOSH! Brian quickly pulled his head back and looked at the ground. He had no doubt that there was a Covenant Sniper with a Beam Rifle and he needed to be taken out quickly. He than looked the other way to see a few bushes that had grown next to the tree. Taking advantage, Brian leaped behind the bushes and laid on his stomach. He crawled further into it till his scope and the end of the barrel sticked out of the bush. From what he saw, there was a Jackal Sniper, way beyond his Battle Rifle's range but in the sniper rifle's range, equiped with a Beam Rifle and that was it. No back forces, no vehicles, not even a single Elite. Too easy as Brian set his finger on the trigger when suddenly, he heard the familiar whine and looked up through the leaves to see a Phantom flying by. He froze as he watched the Phantom fly over him, the Jackal, and down the canyon till it disappeared. Brian looked back into the scope and alligned the crosshairs on Jackal's head. When he had the perfect shot, he pulled the trigger and BAM! The bullet shot out of the rifle and pierced the Jackal's head and Brian watched it fall to the ground. When it landed with a thump, Brian remained still as he watched the area to see if anyone would arrive...

Alice punched Tom lightly in the arm, and said sarcastically, "Sorry, ma'am. I'd have hit him a bit harder, but he might have dropped you."

As she entered the med bay, Alice was quick to put her helmet back on. She didn't like to wear it outside of combat, but there were a dozen superior officers around here who would love to chew her out for being unprofessional.

"Now Tom," Alexis said as they reached the bed she was administered to, "put me down gently." She fell on the bed with a crash, "Gently! I said gently you-! Ow! You dropped me on my head!"

"Watch it, Hollywood," Eli said, pushing Tom out of the way. His helmet was off, having been helping with injured Marines. "What's the problem today, 399? Screw up during training?"

He already knew, and had a syringe full of an anti-anesthetic in his hand, but on occasion it was good to rub it in. "You know, when you learn not to get shot, it makes my job that much easier."

"You know it." Alexis said sarcastically, she must have been in here like, 10 times in the past 2 weeks. "And I have been getting worse, got any suggestions, doc? I know you did very well with that one."

Eli shook his head. "If you're screwing up during training, it's probably not a medical problem. You need to focus more." He removed her helmet and stuck her in the neck with the syringe. He'd prefer the arm, but getting off the MJOLNIR bodysuit was hard enough when the patient wasn't paralyzed. "And of course, some of it is luck. I really wish they'd stop using the anesthetic TTRs. The old simunitions work just fine, and I don't have to put up with s*** like this."

"It is more realistic, in the old sims didn't stop you from using your 'damaged' limbs." Alexis said, "besides, I can't help it if Tom shows off. The course is almost designed to make you fail. The open space, sparse cover, targets behind cover but the guns aren't."

"That's for a reason, Princess. The Covenant wants you to fail a bit more than the training course does. You should be all good in a few minutes. Can you feel that?" Eli pressed a finger against Alexis' arm between the armor plates.

"Barely, like pins and needles." Alexis said, "Oh God, now I'm going to start laughing like an idiot."
She stopped talking, because if she did she would have started laughing hysterically.

Eli shook his head, taking his helmet off a nearby table, and said, "Right, well, get up whenever you feel like you can. If you start feeling dizzy, though, talk to me."

He turned to face Alice and Tom. "If you're both healthy, than I can get out of here."

Tom just stands there and rolls his eyes at the various disparaging comments coming his way.

Brian waited for a while, but nothing showed up to inspect the Jackal body. Brian wondered the options that either were (A) Covenant forces were alerted, but are waiting for him to come out or (B) there are no Covenant forces and he would have to venture further. Either way though, there was only one way to tell and that was to go check it out. Brian picked his sniper rifle up and stood to his feet, inspecting the landscape to see if he could climb along the canyon wall to avoid detection, but there was nothing. As he slightly nodded his head back and forth, Brian soon ran along the cliff wall till he came to a corner that was there due to the canyon changing. He looked at the radar on the corner of his HUD and didn't see any detected enemy dots, but he couldn't be sure as he heard rumors that if an enemy stays in one spot for a long time or is crouch walking, the enemy dots would disappear. He moved his foot till he heard something move and he stopped till he noticed the dead Jackal. Like a lightbulb, he had an idea as he placed his sniper rifle leaning against the rock wall and picked up the dead jack by the back of the neck. Soon, he gently tossed it and when it landed, he waited a few seconds to see what would happen. Nothing. After sighing, he grabbed his sniper rifle back up and positioned it alongside the wall just beyond the curve and kept his arms and head close to the wall while he kept the rest of his body covered. He looked through the scope to see a Covenant barrier that was extra shielded for some reason. He wanted to get closer, but that would draw unneeded attention and there was no way around it. However, the whines of a Covenant Phantom flew over him, though he remained undetected and he saw the Phantom fly over the barrier. Knowing he couldn't go any further, Brian tapped on his helmet a moment till he established closed communication, saying lowly, "Transmitting visual on advanced Covenant barrier, too fortified for me to get through even on foot."
"Affirmative," replied back as the visual was successfuly transmitted, "fall back. We got enough intel for now." Glad to recieve the orders, Brian broke away from his position and began to walk back the same way he came...

Alexis finally couldn't hold it in any longer, she burst out laughing so hard that she fell off the bed.

"Ow!" She said. "Well, I'd better go. See you later guys. Oh and Tom, thanks." Alexia finished, turned around and left before Tom could say a word.

Eli hopped into the driver seat of his personal transport, an old M12A1 Rocket Warthog, one of the old versions with the three-shot rocket launcher mounted on the back. Most UNSC forces had long phased them out in favor of Gauss 'Hogs and the newer M12R Rocket 'Hogs, but the Spartan training ground kept a few for various purposes. Many of them were mocked up as Revenants to serve with OpFor forces during training exercises. Eli had managed to obtain one for himself, and it was beat-up from Spartan patrols and training missions.

Before he could pull away, Alice got into the passenger seat, and said, "I could use a ride, Doc. You headed downtown?"

Alexia was walked towards the workshop where her friend Johnathan worked, she had ordered a mission timer attachment, with a twist. Johnathan could make almost anything if he knew what it was and had the parts.

"Hello Johnathan, do you have my timer ready yet?" Alexis asked.

"No, Alexis," Johnathan said, "I'm having a little trouble finding the parts. If I find it, it should be ready by tomorrow."

"Do you want me to help you look?" Alexis said.

"Sure, I just need some 20 gauge wire and a slab of FR-4." Johnathan replied.

"What?" Alexis asked, very confused on the technical names.

"Nevermind, come back tomorrow." Johnathan said, smiling underneath his helmet. Alexis was a good Spartan and a good friend, but she knew next to nothing about engineering.

"All right then, you sure you don't need help?" Alexis asked.

"No, I'm fine." Johnathan replied.

Alexis walked out without a word.

Eli's Warthog slowed in front of the under-construction UNSC field armory, just long enough to let Alice out. She waved and said, "Thanks, Doc," as he pulled away.

The field armory, or FA as many of the Spartans called it, was still only about halfway completed. It was to serve as a replacement for the various workshops that were used for repairing and modifying vehicles and weapons. Still, several sections of it were already in use.
Alice spent a lot of her time here. She was a trained gunsmith, having worked on everything from M6 handguns to heavy machine guns.

A Marine gunnery sergeant greeted her by name at the door, and pointed her to a malfunctioning machine gun from one of the airbase's Hornets.

Brian eventually came to the cliff edge again and placed his sniper rifle over his back to prepare to leap over to the tunnel entrance like he did last time. However, as he was ready, he heard a hum that got louder. He quickly turned around to see a Phantom flying towards him...and they spotted him. The main cannon opened fire on him, though the firepower was slow but explosive. In a quick move, Brian leaped as the first bolt gave him propulsion into the air and allowed him to land on his feet in the tunnel. When he was safely inside, he hid behind one of the rock walls as the Phantom's main gun continued to pound the rocks till it stopped. He than heard the Phantom's engines whine as it got closer. From the angle Brian was in, he could tell the Phantom soon moved to it's side ways position with a Elite operating the plasma cannon. However, it soon moved away, which relieved Brian to the point that when the Phantom disappeared, Brian looked out the tunnel that he entered through till he walked the other way and eited the tunnel. Soon, he began to navigate his way through the narrow cliff edge again...

Eli slowed the Warthog to a stop next to a temporary anti-aircraft battery- two Wolverine AA vehicles and three M12R Rocket 'Hogs. They appeared to be on alert, which was odd for GG-670.

Getting out, he addressed a soldier sitting on top of one of the Warthogs, saying, "What's going on here, Private?"
The soldier shrugged. "A drill, Doc. Or, that's what I heard. Damn strange."

Though he was a Sergeant First Class, many soldiers knew Eli as simply "Doc" and didn't really think of him as a superior officer. He really didn't mind if they weren't in the middle of a firefight.

Getting back in his Warthog, Eli thought for a moment. Something was up, and he wanted to know what.

Alexis was walking toward the training courses to retry the TTR course. She was concentrating on what the doc said, "You need to focus more." Ironically, she was focused so much on being focused, that she wasn't focusing on what was in front of her. She bumped into another Spartan.

"I'm sorry, um... Who are you?" She asked.

Marcus stepped back a little when he bumped into something when he saw it was another spartan who then asked his name. "I'm Marcus-316. Your one of the II's right?"

"Yes, I'm Alexis-399." she replied, "Ever did automated stun round training?"

"Nice to meet you 399." Marcus replied then nodded "And yes I was just on my way their now."

"So was I!", Alexis said, "Would you mind if we were a team?"

"Not at all." Marcus replied eagerly he had the displeasure of knowing too many lone wolves in his life, it was about time he met someone who knew the value of a team.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Alexis asked, "Lets go!" She said as she walked off.

Not quite the mental image I had of a II Marcus thought to himself as he followed behind Alexis.