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It is now morning; the sun is starting to break over the horizon and shone over the land. The grass was fresh and sparkled with morning dew from a nearby lake, which glistened like a pool of stars. Farther away one could see four mountain pecks, caped with snow and glowed brightly with the rising sun. Tree tops could be seen in a wood near the mountains, bright green and shimmering. Birds sang their morning wake up calls and fluttered throughout the land. A large military base also was hit by the sun, the metal barracks began to brighten and shine. The doors of the barracks opened and weary men in olive drab fatigues walked out and were hit by the morning's rays. The door of a small office like building opened as well and a man in gray fatigues came outside as well, he looked more rested then the other men filling the large grass area in the middle of the camp. The camp was surrounded by buildings, mostly barracks, and gaps where filled by wire fences.
The man in gray fatigues also had gray hair, combed back to show his forehead. His face was wrinkled by the years, but he had a young glow about him that came from his smile he always had. He's eyes were deep pools of green that added to his unique glow. One could see that he was in great shape; his mussels left impressions on his fatigues. He had a clean shaven face and was not rounded, his face was rougher than most. The group of men coming out of the barracks stood at attention in the middle of the camp, almost half of them slouching or half asleep. The gray haired man looked at the group of twenty five men and shouted "Wake up marines!" Instantly the men woke up and stood straight, no one budged or blinked. The gray man walked toward the men, smiling, and came up to one and half feet in front of the line they formed.
The gray man looked up and down the line then announced heartily "Breakfast is waiting boys, move out!" The marines cheered and ran toward the building with 'Mess Hall' hanging over it. The man in gray followed them; after all he was their superior officer and had to keep tabs on them. Also being the superior officer he managed to get his men better living arrangements, food, beds, showers and such, but had them train twice as hard. The officer being an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper knew just how to push them harder than the average marine's training. However the kids at the camp being trained to be Spartan IVs had much better trainers, a Sangheili sergeant. Sangheili, or Elites, are the closest living beings that fought and were as tactical as the old Spartans. Brutes would replace them in strength but they were more rebellious, the reason why the camp was made in the first place.
Ever since the Prophet Truth was killed by the Arbiter and Master Chief, Brutes still fought against the other species. The Kig-Yar, or jackals, also saw this as an opportunity to break off, and return to their pirate ways. The Unggoy, or grunts, stayed with their Sangheili superiors along with the rest of the species; however Brutes capture and force some of the species to fight for them. Unggoy were discovered to be good medics, mechanics, and other supporters, instead of infantry. The marine's camp here had ten Unggoy that worked in a Motor Pool. This pool was underground, access was granted by an elevator in one of the buildings, and held five troop transport warthogs, two anti air warthogs, and three mongooses. Grunts often use the mongooses to scout and patrol, the first patrol would leave at noon.
The marines reached the mess hall and grabbed their plates and got some food. Today they had biscuits, small morsels of meat, and eggs, not too much but the marines never complained. The marine's knew what they were getting was better than dispenser food. The officer got the same amount of food as them, for he was not just training them but training himself. In his old age the officer needed to be able to keep up with his men, after all he did go on missions with them. The room was soon filled with the aroma of food, sounds of chattering, and the clanging of utensils. Marines mostly only talked about what they had back home and what they were fighting for, but they did talk about their training from time to time. Some told others that they had a wife and kids to fight for; others said it was for the glory of mankind, and then some talked about how well they did in the last Capture the Flag training session.
The officer was unlike the others for he ate his food quietly. He was close enough to the others he could but he chose not to. It was better to be their mentor and friend, but not their personal friend. He wouldn't want the marines thinking he held one of them higher above the others. So he sat quietly, and made sure he kept his fatigues clean of food. Most marines had bits and pieces on their fatigues at the end of the meal, but it would fall off during training. Training was going to happen in half an hour and he had to make sure the course was set up. So he finished his food and slid the dull white plate down a slot in a blue box, which looked like it had no end inside. He walked outside to set up the regular course, wooden crates or rock walls set in a frantic pattern in which the marines would have to maneuver about and escape with computerized turrets firing on them. The bullets are plastic of course, but were filled with a tiny bit of red dyed water that showed how many times they were hit.
The officer went to a large black cylinder that had blue lights moving up and down on the cylinder. A digital man stood and looked as if he was directing the turrets into position. He also was making composer motions and set off extremely realistic explosions, another thing the marines would have to avoid. The AI noticed the officer was approaching him; his sound sensors were picking up the slosh his boots made against the wet grass. "Morning Rex" the AI said without turning, and the officer replied with a chuckle "My name's Richard. How an AI found time to give a human a nickname is beyond me." The AI turned to Richard, or Rick, and said "All I do is move turrets, walls and simulate explosions. I have nothing better to do." The AI was designed wearing fatigues that were light blue, his face was fairly normal, but his hair was spiked toward the back and taken off his forehead. His eyes and hair was blue like his cloths, the brain of the person scanned to create this AI really liked blue. The AI was also very free spirited, and not only made a nickname for Richard but for every marine at camp.
"Well Al," Richard began "you could be talking to Sarah in space." Al froze, as did an explosion he just simulated. Even though it was for half a second, Richard noticed it and knew he got Al in a sticky situation. "I'm only supposed to contact her if we need supplies, air support if we are attacked, or environment updates. We don't need any updates on the environment, well as far as I can see. The terra-former really worked some magic here." Richard nodded, this planet used to be a chunk of rock until the Humans and Sangheili found and formed it. The ground became very fertile as a result, so the planet was named Amaltheia. However Richard caught on to Al's plan to get Richard off the subject so he said "You've contacted her other times before, like when I'm asleep." Al looked around and said under his breath "you know about that?" Richard grinned and said laughing "Hard not to notice, you have to use my office and you never mute your volume before beginning." Al said in a worried manner "I'm not on my way to rampancy if that's what you think, just I…" Richard cut him off, still laughing, by saying "I'm not reporting you or anything, just letting you know. I'd like to go ALL night without waking up." Al nodded with a smile and began to set the course up again. Richard knew Al never really did anything outside of protocol and the night conversations where he heard Al normally was updating Sarah on the marine's condition. However, Richard also knew Sarah and the ship she was on board didn't need those kinds of updates.
The ship Sarah is on is called 'Willow-o-wisp', and orbits their planet. Willow-o-wisp is their life line, the only thing that can call for help or give help in an attack situation. Willow-o-wisp also was what gave them their supplies, their guns and ammunition, food and drinks, and even energy. The camp had it's own generators but Willow-o-wisp helped support the power output of the camp, that way Al could work properly without disturbing another system. The camp also drew power from an outpost in the mountains, operated mainly by non-military units but there were three Sangheili and six marines keeping it safe.
The marines walked out of the hall just as Al finished. Richard debriefed them with the same winded speech and set them off into the maze. Al kept track of the time in the course and kept score on everyone. Each marine started with 100 points, every time they are hit by a turret a point is taken off, and every explosion that hits them will take off ten points. Their objective is to beat their previous score, and most of the time they do. Richard also ran the course, and so far he only had his time to beat. He managed to dodge every bullet, divert from each explosion, and find the best ways to sprint through open spaces. So far he had to beat his time of a minute and fifty seconds, the best marine had two minutes and fifty five seconds with only 85 points at the end. Richard tried to run the course against a Sangheili, and the Sangheili cleared it in a minute with all of his points. Richard beat his pervious time by two seconds, so he walked in circles to cool himself down and wait for the others. Richard's fatigues were drenched in sweat, his arms stuck to himself like they were glued.
After everyone cleared the course Richard sent them to the firing ranges to practice their firing. Richard helped Al clear the space they used to set the course, for during the training session Richard was notified by Al that the Spartan kids and Sangheili trainer were going to get breakfast. Richard wouldn't have and didn't notice them; he was too tired to even open his eyes. However by the time the marines finished, he had cooled down. Richard directed his marines to the firing range then began to set up the Spartan's training course. Their course was two small bunkers which the kids shot at each other from. They also had plastic bullets with red dye inside, only they held the guns. The Sangheili sergeant came outside to help Richard. The sergeant said "Greetings Richard, how was the maze course?" Richard lifted one of the bunkers Al, by means of two robots, set outside and responded "good, beat my previous numbers." The sergeant smiled and said "Ah, you're getting closer to mine. I think I'll have to set another score just to keep you from reaching it!" Richards laughed and so did the sergeant. After they set down the bunker Al had brought out the other and sent the robots to gather the MA5C-B assault rifles the kids would use. The MA5C-B is a version of the MA5C, modified to fire at the same pace but more accurately at the cost of high kickback. This was used by the kids to train them to absorb the kick back and steady themselves. The guns also had no screen telling them their ammunition left to teach the kids to be more conservative with their bullets. The MA5C-B also was shorter to fit the kid's height and likeness.
After Richard and the sergeant set the other bunker up and set the guns accordingly, Richard checked on his marines. The marines were done at the firing range and so Richards sent them out to train with robot sparing partners. Richards had to help the Sangheili sergeant keep track of the kid's scores, since Al would be busy controlling the twenty five robots sparing with the marines. The robots were practically just a compilation of titanium sheet metals that looked hallow through their eye sockets and exposed parts. However they glowed blue when ever Al entered them and that's when they looked robotic. The kids were well trained by now, they started at age five and now they were mostly ten. The fight was quick and decisive, with Alpha team being victorious against Bravo. The sergeant also sent his kids to the firing ranges and followed Richard to the sparing building. Richard said to the sergeant as they walked to the building "So Echo, how are the kids?" Echo turned and said "good, they truly will be worthy of being called Spartans." Richard and Echo continued the day and trained their soldiers, finished it, and went to sleep. As the men and boys went to sleep, they talked about the day and how they did. The sun now was replaced by the silver moon. The shadows filled the land, the mountains like sleeping giants looming over the horizon. The lake now truly was a pool of glistening stars. Owls could be heard calling through out the quiet lands. Every light in the camp was off and the buildings seemed like silhouettes of some great beast lying on the ground in slumber. The trees seemed like a dark wall throughout the land. Another day was finished, with all the land sound asleep and tucked away into a peaceful night.

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