Chapter 3

Spar used an experimental battle suit train in orbit of his own design. Two hundred other Spartans participated in the exercise using weapons designed to deliver simulated hits and mimic new energy weapons. With Spar's help more and more weapon designs came into being for all the other Spartans to use. Most were light weight so as not to be cumbersome to the user, with only a few classified as heavy weapons. Specially trained crews trained to use them and each one was attached to a squad of six.

Jump jets firing, Spar engaged an enemy unit discharging his weapon and made four kills before the survivors regrouped and counter attacked. Retreating he led them into an ambush inside the asteroid field surrounding the planet Saturn and his squad mopped up the rest. Theirs had the highest score in their battle group, and Spar's star was on the rise. Assignments for ships would be coming up soon and Spar would have his pick of which one he would serve on. He was qualified an expert in all forms of combat, but zero gee combat was his first and greatest love. Many Spartans called him the father of this new form of combat, speaking his name with a mixture of awe and pride. The squad he had just defeated were new comers, and had made classic rookie mistakes, but he would make them better. Soon they would be able to handle their battle suits like miniature fighters, each with an armament that allowed for zero gee combat and ship to ship boarding. With the exercise over, Spar jumped back to the Freedom, which their temporary assignment, as it was the only ship scheduled to go out in this direction. That night he ate dinner with his mother Grace.

"My day went well. How was yours?" Grace asked in the mess.

"Well enough I suppose. The new suits are working better than expected. My squad won again in our zero-gee exercise today." Spar said.

"Congratulations! That's your twenty-third isn't it?" Grace said proud of his success.

"Twenty-fourth actually and thank you." Spar said, allowing a little of his own pride to show itself.

"Sabanet sends her love. You should mention today's victory, I know she would love hearing about it." Grace said before she winced and placed a hand on her baby. She was now far into her first trimester.

"The baby again?" Spar asked.

Nodding Grace took a breath, "Yes, just kicking away. It will be awhile before he is supposed to come out, but lately he seems to want to announce his presence, more and more."

"Perhaps it's a little sibling rivalry. You have been spending a lot of time with me lately." Spar joked.

Laughing at that Grace said, "I have done that. I just love having you around, and luckily my duties allow us to visit like this. I will have to leave in a week or so. I think your new brother misses his other parent."

"I will be sorry to see you go. I have enjoyed spending time with you. Both of you seem to go out of your way to be there for me." Spar said.

"We are your parents. Just because your childhood was a little short, doesn't mean we won't try to baby you a little given half the chance." Grace said laying her hand on his.

Patting her in a show of affection Spar said, "Speaking of that, do I have to date Jennifer Tanly?"

"Why not? She seems like such a nice girl." Grace commented.

"Nice has nothing to do with it. She is ... well ... dull." Spar complained.

"What do you mean?" Grace asked setting down to fork she was using to pick through her salad. Spar himself had already finished his meal.

"All she talks about is plant life. I tried to meet her halfway, but I just don't enjoy it as much as Jennifer does." Spar explained.

"Then find something else you both enjoy. I talked to one of her co-workers, and it seems she is learning all she can about what you do. I believe it's more than a casual interest as far as she is concerned. But I can't force you..." Grace trailed off.

"Fine, I'll try." Spar said with a sigh.

"Thank you." Grace said savoring her victory.

Working on his new fighter, Spar finished his modifications and decided to take it out for a test flight. The ship itself was a prototype, designed like a sleek dart it was made to be fast and more maneuverable than the standard fighter in the fleet. All its armaments were pure energy, each with a recharging generator allowing the pilot an almost limitless amount of fire while still functional, as long it was allowed its cool down. Failsafe monitors built into the console would give a blare, before a light went out signaling that generator had been locked so it could cool down. Until it did that generator would be unusable. Spar figured it was better to test it and the other systems in the fighter now rather than later when it would be under combat conditions.

Contacting hanger control Spartan said, "Red 1 to Hangar, permission to disembark."

"Permission granted Red 1. Good luck out there." The hangar operator responded.

"Roger hangar, heading out." Spar said activating the maneuvering jets to lift off the hangar pad in preparation for the shield dropping. When it did he ignited his thrusters at 1/3 and burst out into space. When he was clear he pushed them up to full power, feeling the g-forces before the inertial dampeners activated and relieved the pressure on his body. Executing a tight turn he headed in the asteroid field he had practiced so many times in. With his weapons fully charged he fired his blaster cannons first carving up asteroids right in front of him in quick succession before he executed another attack run and used his torpedoes Spar watched them shatter still more. By the time the generators for both weapons started to overheat, one could easily find a big gap in the asteroid field.