Deliverance Part II

  Nya walked into the tall stone building. She looked from side to side at the young sangheili all around her, preparing to join the military. She walked up to the long stone table situated at the end of the long lobby. Even though it was packed she managed to get to the table. Looking up, she saw the large soldier and said,
   “Sir I m here to join.” the sangheili looked at her for a second and answered,
   “Name?” Darn! She hadn't thought of a fake name to use. Without thinking she replied,
  “Eado Mortamee, sir.”
   “Very good. Now what is your age?” he asked.  
   “I'm uh Eight. Sir.”
   “All right now retrieve your things from wherever you live and report here In the morning.” The man turned away and started talking to another young sangheili. Nya headed out and walked as fast as she could without arousing suspicion. She turned a corner and leaned against the wall. For the fist time Nya realized she had been holding her breath. She breathed out and thought
    'I did it!' I actually did it. She hurried away and found the public bathhouse were she had put her bag. Retrieving it from its holding bin, she had to think of some way to kill time until the next morning. She headed out into the market and stopped by a small shop. Inside she could smell baked goods. Nya purchased a loaf of bread and went into the alley across from the shop. There she sat down and ate it in quiet thought. In the soft shade, she dozed off into quiet slumber. A short time latter she awoke to the sound of a phantom troopship. Looking up she saw the purple outline in the night sky. For a moment she briefly wondered where it was going. Looking into her bag she pulled out her time piece and saw that it was almost dawn. Putting her things back into her satchel; she ran towards the building where she had joined. By the time she got there the sun was just rising from the horizon. A gigantic group of Sangheili had gathered outside to say their goodbyes. Nya pushed through the crowd until she saw the older man who had asked her questions yesterday. She walked up to him and said,
  “I'm reporting training sir.”
  “Alright, head over there” He replied and pointed.
“Join that group to the left” He said, and then he walked away. Nya hurried over to the group and stood waiting with the others around her. She noticed two other young sangheili arguing and went over to get a closer look.
    “Kig-Yar!” The shorter one yelled.
    “Unggoy!” The taller one called back.
     “What are you to arguing about?” Nya asked the odd pair.
     “You know, I don t really know. The taller one answered.
     “Then why are you two still arguing!?!?” She almost yelled.
      “For our honor!” Said the other one. “Thats the dumbest thing I've ever heard.” She hollered at them. Immediately the two sangheili stopped and looked down at their hooves.
     “Well what s your name?” One asked her.
      “Eado. And you?”
    “I'm Shano.” Said the shorter one.
    “I'm Ryo.” Said the taller. Well its nice to meet the two of you. So you two are in my group? She asked.
    “Yes.” They both answered at the same time. Hay look there s the Phantom! Nya said pointing up. The three new friends headed towards there phantom with nine other children and four big sangheili minors. The flight was long and boring. The three friends chatted about where they came from and what their family's did. Nya noticed a lack of joy in the phantom, almost as if everyone was nervous, and undoubtedly they were.
   “Does it seem a little to cold in here?” She asked her two friends.
   “It does. Almost as if the instructors want us to be scared...” Ryo answered.
   “yeah.” Nya said agreeing with the younger Sangheili. Finally they felt the phantom dock with a ship and Nya realized they were in orbit. She could almost feel the emptiness around them. The young trainees filed off the dropship and were grouped together by the minors. In front of them, to their surprise, stepped a gold armored Zealot. He turned and addressed them.
   “Those of you here are about to embark on a journey not unlike the one or covenant fights for. You will be trained and you will learn, or you wont and you'll drop out. But for those of you that make it through you'll become part of the greatest fighting force in existence. You will become part of the or people and lead the covenant on to glorious salvation.” He said raising his fist in the air as his voice reverberated around the chamber. All of a sudden the young sangheili around Nya broke out cheering and she couldn't help getting caught up in the moment. She started to yell at the top of her lungs as well. Eventually they were quieted down by the Minors but it was exhilarating. The fact that she had made it this far made her vow to not get caught now. She was too deep in to let any one discover her. She turned to Shano and Ryo and said
   “you to better make it through with me, because I don't know if I can do it alone.”
   “Don't worry” Shano said.
   “We'll all make it.” Said Ryo

After a short trip on the ship lasting only a couple of cycles, the trainees were once again herded back onto the phantoms and then through a short  trip to the surface of the planet.
The first thing Nya noticed was how hot it got in the phantom. The whole place became like a fire. Almost immediately after entering the atmosphere she began to sweat. Finally after what seemed like forever, she felt the phantom even out and knew they had reached the surface. The phantom began to settle down onto the surface and Nya thought to herself 'we're there!' The side of the phantom opened and all the young trainees stepped out onto the desert soil. Nya took a look around the area and noticed one thing, there was nothing here. The gold Zealot stepped out and said,
   “Your training has now officially begun. You young sangheili will run twenty thousand units in that direction to the base. The Watchers will follow you on specters to make sure none of you decide to show less enthusiasm then wanted.. They are carrying low powered plasma pistols so don't slack off.” All the young trainees just looked at him, that is, until the Minors pulled out their weapons. They began the run, some one hundred and forty-four trainees sprinting all out towards the base with the trainers following in the rapid attack vehicle. The way was long and hot, with the sun hitting its peak only half way through the run.
   “Kig-yar fornicator!” Shano yelled out loud earning him a shock from one of the instructors. Finally after about one and a half units, the base was finally insight. The would-be soldiers gave a collective sigh of relief.
   “Thats a good start sangheili. Tomorrow we begin the real training. Not one of these cycle starting runs.” Since the trainers were still there, the trainees held back their groans.
   “To bad we don't currently have any barracks for you. You'll have to sleep outside tonight.” With that he walked away. Nya looked at her fellow soldiers and said,
   “Well I'm not giving myself nothing.” And she began to dig a divot into the ground. Once she had a shallow hole she laid down. The trainees had nothing because the Minors had taken everything the trainees had brought.
   “Well good night.” She said to her two friends as the darkness began to descend. “I'll see you two when the come to wake us later tonight.” She closed her eyes.
   “What do you mean tonight?” Shano asked.
  “Ive got a feeling that they'll be back for us before morning when its still freezing.”