Chapter Twelve: The Militia

10 0 6
                                    

55th day of Aries, 8 AJ

Time: 0500

Dawn awoke with a start. Dawn glanced at a wall clock and it said 0600. She quickly got out of her bunk and swiftly got ready for training. She rushed to the training room, only to find it completely empty. She checked the watch Halsey gave her as a personal gift. It had the image of Ianite as the face of the watch. Halsey respected Ianite and Mianite. The three gods (and goddess) had visited the facility two years ago. Halsey had talked to them for a long time. Also, Ianite had grown well and she congratulated Lightning, Dawn, and Smoke for helping Hearth balance the Scales of Justice. The time was 0610; she was on time. Where is everyone? Dawn heard footsteps and the rest of the renewed Noble Team rushed into the training room as well. They looked around, and then gave Dawn inquisitive looks. She shrugged, having no answer to give them. The team heard an alarm clock start beeping, but then it was silenced. A door slid open and they heard a yawn.

"Huh? Why are you guys here? Don't you know it's 0510? Besides, training's over. You guys get today to celebrate, sleep in, practice your aim, whatever." Kat had walked in.

Noble looked at each other. They shared the same thoughts. Training's.... Over? We finally have true free time? After a brief moment of silence (during which, Kat went and grabbed some coffee) Smith, now known as Eagle, said "Well, I know what I'm going to do!"

Cinder, now known as Goldey, looked at Eagle. "Go hunting? Is that even allowed?"

Kat yawned and lazily said "Anything's anything. Just don't go running away, okay? Because then we'd have to track you down and I really don't feel like doing that. 'Kay?"

Hearth looked at his dad's friend and said, "Alright Kat. Take care."

"You too Hearth. I'll stay here knowing that the others'll come running here. Sooner or later."

Dawn decided to bring up the fact that her watch and the time Kat said weren't in sync. "Hey, Kat. Are you sure it's 0510? My watch as well as the wall mounted clock in the barracks say it's 0610, 0620 if you want to be precise."

"That clock's manual. Daylight saving. We've rolled back an hour. We didn't want to bother you guys. You've earned the sleep."

"Oh. Thanks."

The team left the training room and split off into their own directions. Eagle did go hunting and managed to kill and bring back a full grown deer without hassle. He helped the cooks (who were startled when he plonked a full grown deer on their prep table) prepare it for cooking. Goldey went to the med bay to see if her medical skills could be put to use. Dawn went over to where the children were being taken care of. She found a seven-year-old Hope way up in the rafters. Lightning and Smoke went down to the range/armory to both tinker with and test out their weapons. Hearth decided to let some of the Marines guarding the facility rest by taking over their posts. An ODST gave him his extra sniper as he passed him by. The trooper thought he was another rookie, assigned to the bleak place. But, when the ODST turned to look at him, he dropped his own rifle.

"Uh! Um! O-officer on deck!" He quite literally jumped to attention.

Hearth laughed and said, "Relax. I'm just here to let some of the Marines here get some shut eye. You guys must be dead tired. Oh, and thanks for the rifle."

The ODST gave him a nod and returned to his rifle's scope. Hearth walked along the wall until he came across a group of madly fatigued Marines. The one that was guarding the gate when he arrived and Future were sitting next to one another, head on each other's shoulder. A private groggily lifted his head and gave Hearth a sloppy salute. Hearth didn't mind the sloppiness of the salute; he knew the Marine was close to passing out. Bedrolls were laid out and most were filled. Hearth took a quick look at the platoon and addressed them.

RisenWhere stories live. Discover now