HALO: RE-birth

Guardian's Touch

The blue eyes stared right into hers. The little girl looked up in wonder at the mysterious metal angel that seemed larger than life. The angel lifted its head, and the same blue light that emanated from its eyes, glowed directly over the girl's heart. The child looked at her chest and saw a symbol resembling the figure of the creature. Suddenly the earth beneath the girl started to shake. The angel opened its wings that seemed to span for miles, and lifted off the ground. The little girl watched as the angel soared through the skies, leaving a trail of light as it flew.
"SAVE YOURSELF FOR THE OTHER ONE WHO HAS COME BEFORE YOU..." the angel said. Its voice sounded as if the planet itself had spoke. It echoed like thunder, and shook the heavens. The child stared up at the sky as the gigantic being looked down at her and repeated its message.
"SAVE YOURSELF FOR THE OTHER ONE WHO HAS COME BEFORE YOU..."

****

Cheza awoke to the sound of her thundering heartbeat. She looked around her room in confusion as she tried to piece her thoughts together.
"What...was that?" she shakily asked herself. The bright light of the stars flooded through her opened window. It reminded her of the light from the angel's eyes. Cheza slowly crawled out of bed and walked toward the light. "It" appeared in the sky three weeks ago now. Since then, the clouds always looked like they were hiding something. Something huge and powerful. A slight breeze ran through Cheza's bright crimson hair.
"I'll find it again...someday." she quietly told herself. She absently brushed her hand over the faint glowing tattoo on her chest. Tomorrow was on the horizon. As daybreak crept over the ship she currently called her home, Cheza showered and got dressed. Today was the beginning of her training. Today was the beginning of everything.

"Alright, I want two teams of ten. One team will be Red Team, and the other, Blue Team. When you hear your number, walk to your respected areas." the head officer commanded. Cheza waited patiently. She glanced at the other nineteen candidates. All of them were around her age, and each had a special talent all of their own. She darted her eyes around their surroundings. She could smell sea water. She and the rest of her classmates were hidden away in the secret research base of the UNSC Fathom, hundreds of miles below the sea realm of Beta Gabriel. Tons of equipment, plenty of scientists, and best of all Cheza thought sarcastically, no matter how painful the experiments were, no one could escape.
"Number Thirteen, you'll be with Red Team." the Commander barked. As Cheza walked to a near table to collect her vest and weapons, she heard the others whisper behind her back.
"Who'd want to team up with "Unlucky 13"?"
"Yeah. She isn't exactly a team player."
Cheza ignored them. She tightly wrapped the team's red scarf around her waist and waited for further instructions.
"Listen up candidates, this is a survival exercise. Not like the ones you've had before. You'll be working as a unit, making it more difficult for you to act out individually. Along with the holographic enemies, anyone who isn't on your team is a target. As a precaution, your ammo has been replaced with paint pellets. The battleground will test your speed, intelligence, and most importantly, your reactions in certain situations. Keep your ComLinks open, for one of you will be receiving a secret assignment during the battle. You all will be monitored separately by the staff, so I expect to see accurate teams, and not squandering children. This is the military, not a day camp. The last man standing from either side wins for their camp."
This was it. Countless hours of studying enemy attack patterns, and the strong and weak points of their weapons came down to this moment. Cheza loaded her gun and closed her eyes. Behind her lids she could see the angel. It looked down on her as if to watch her. What did it want?
The drill alarm sounded.
"You're Cheza right?" a voice asked. Surprised that anyone would talk to her, Cheza opened her eyes to see a boy walking towards her.
"I'm Adam Troy, Number 1 and leader of Red Team. I've been waiting for a chance to finally meet the infamous Number 13." he smiled. He reached out and shook the bewildered girl's hand.
"Is is true that you took down an entire army of Grunts all by yourself when you first came here?" another boy asked. He walked up to Cheza and stared straight into her yellow eyes.
"The name's Jonathan Hawkson, Number 10. Everyone calls me "Hawkeye" because of my massive skills as the best marksman. So...did you take on that entire horde by yourself or not?"
"It...it was just a drill. I didn't really fight an entire legion."
Both Hawkeye and Adam stared in wonder.
"Amazing! I heard the suits talking about you. They say you're the best they've seen with improvisation since the Chief." laughed Adam. Cheza scowled at the complement.
"You don't like the Chief or somethin'?" Hawkeye noticed.
"It's not that." she murmured. She looked up to the balcony where stood the Commanding Officer and all of his scientists. They fluttered around trying to fix their computers and collect their notes. This was their favorite part of the job aside from the experiments. They could sit back and watch their lab rats run around and try to kill each other. The only difference was the bullets used in the guns. They weren't real. Her eyes glowed with anger as she looked at the man who uttered five words she would never forget.
"The Chief will be obsolete..."
This was all just the first step to see who would replace the Master Chief.
The lights went out. Because of their underwater environment, the entire room was bathed in an eerie blue light. It wasn't long before the opposition fired.
"Hawkeye, you and the other snipers take vantage points. Numbers Sixteen and Twenty flank right. Numbers Eight and Two flank left. Thirteen you're with me. We'll be going up the center. Alright people let's move!" Adam ordered. Following their orders, the team split up and returned fire. Cheza ran up the middle with Adam. All was going the way he planned, when suddenly Cheza's ComLink went dead. The sound of her comrades was replaced with the voice of the Commanding Officer.
"Number Thirteen, you have been tasked with the mission of sweeping Red Team."
Cheza froze in the middle of the battlefield.
"Thirteen! What are you doing?!" Adam shouted. Cheza couldn't hear him. Everything seemed so far away.
"Did you hear me Number Thirteen? You must sweep Red Team." the voice repeated.
"With all due respect sir, why am I to turn on my own comrades?"
"Someone on your team has been suspected of leaking information to the opposition. You cannot take the chance of weeding him or her out. Take down the entire squad."
Cheza looked to Adam. He was fighting fiercely with a member of Blue Team and the holographic members of the Covenant. Of course this was all just a training exercise. No one was really going to die. Still...they were her teammates. But an order was an order.
"This is... the military...not a day camp." she repeated.
"Good girl." the voice chuckled. Cheza ran beside Adam and fought with him till the member of Blue Team was down for the count.
"Good work, but what was that back there?" Adam eyed curiously.
"It was nothing. My ComLink died. I just couldn't believe it would happen so early on." Cheza lied. Adam stared at her with concern.
"Stay close to me then. You'll be the eyes on the back of my head, and I'll be yours." he grinned. Cheza wanted to run away. He was so kind and loyal...but she had her assignment. She had to eliminate him. As Adam turned to snatch the ComLink off of the "dead" Blue soldier, he felt a pellet hit his shoulder. He slowly reached out his arm and saw the familiar red paint.
"What?..." he stammered. The "dead" Blue soldier snickered at the betrayal.
"I'm sorry, but I have my orders."
"What orders? I'm on your side." Adam asked.
"Don't you get it yet? Remember what the old man said, "Keep your ComLinks open, for one of you will be receiving a secret assignment..." That right there was what he was talking about." the "dead" Blue soldier snorted.
"That's ridiculous." Adam protested.
"It's true. My ComLink went dead like I said, but it didn't stay that way. I got a direct order from the Commanding Officer. Someone on our team has leaked info to the Blues. I must sweep the entire team."
Adam threw down his gun in defeat. The look of distrust in his eyes was more than Cheza could bare. She snatched his ComLink, and continued the hunt for the remaining Red and Blue members.

****

"Number Thirteen is showing promise."
"Yes I know. She could be the perfect soldier we've been looking for." the Commanding Officer reported. "Speed, skill, stamina. Everything the Chief has at such a young age. All we need now, is to strip away that annoying sense of morals."
"Give it time. The Master Chief has always been a crafty soldier, and an even greater weapon for mankind. We cannot rush this project and have him notice anything. Have you acquired the serum yet Commander Westin?"
"Yes sir. The Genesis Serum has been fully synthesized, and is ready for injection."
The two men watched as candidate Thirteen wiped out the rest of her squad as well as Blue Team.
"Impressive. She's the last one standing. Have the doctors bring her to the lab. Draft the others to the Special Forces. After all, there is some minor talent in them."
Commander Westin zoomed his monitor on Thirteen. She was a year younger than the Chief when he completed his training. This was a great accomplishment.

****

Cheza sat alone on the ride back to base. Everyone else sat together and shot dirty glances at her direction. Including Adam.
"Cheer up. They're all pissed that you had the guts to wipe out the enemy, and your own comrades by yourself. I on the other hand, am impressed." Hawkeye smiled.
"Really? They don't seem to be."
"Who cares? This is what we trained for. It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway. Better you than me." the boy laughed. Cheza felt better knowing that not everybody took their defeat so seriously. She liked how Hawkeye was honest and trustworthy.
"So, they tell you what they're gonna do to you yet?" he teased.
"No, but I can feel I'm going to hate it. I can feel their eyes on my back when I turn around. They're watching me."
Hawkeye wrapped his arm around her shoulder and chuckled. Cheza had never been so close to another human being, especially a boy. She liked it. At least the ride wasn't so bad now. She looked out the window at the stars. Somewhere out there was the angel. Was it still watching her? Cheza closed her eyes once more and saw the enormous being floating in the sky. Beneath her shirt, Cheza's chest faintly glowed blue.