[h3][center][u][i]Spartan Alexander Mann[/i][/u][/center][/h3]

		Alexander slept soundly, dreaming of a sunny day and a juice box, peacefully on his bunk. At first it was strange for him, having a mattress, pillow, and blankets. Too many nights slept on concrete, dirt, starship floors, leaning on his fellow soldiers, anywhere but a bed. But now he was more or less used to it, that strange sense of peace and safety that reminded him of his early childhood. It was alien to him, but now he found himself dreaming and thinking more about those more innocent days. Juice boxes, bologna sandwiches, fried rice for dinner and egg tarts for dessert. In the dream he finished his juice box and dropped it into the trash can... then the world was wrong. A siren blared and he felt heavy, the weight of battle armor on his shoulders and a rush of adrenaline, he saw a rifle in his hands before abruptly awakening. His body tensed poised to strike, he found a pencil already in his hands, the closest sharp object he could grab. But there was no threat. No enemies. He was on a UNSC space station, over a UNSC world, in UNSC space. The alarm clock rang again.
[b]"It is currently 0630 Universal space time on Friday, June thirteenth."[/b]

Alexander shut the damn thing off before it could say any more. He set the pencil down on his nightstand as the lights flicked on, sensing that he was up. The Spartan grabbed a bottle of water and took a quick swig, calming himself down. He hated the alarm clock, and he always set the thing on silent but it seemed to reset itself back to default settings. He hopped off his bed, his feet not quite touching the cold metal floor. A long time ago he'd found that the sensation of placing his feet on the cold as ice floor right after waking up wasn't fun, as a solution he had begun throwing his spare pairs of pants on the ground by his bed. It was infinitely better, and it wasn't like the floor was particularly dirty anyways. Having slept in his skinsuit, Alexander only needed to slip on his solid dark grey titanium nanocomposite bodysuit, the layer of armor sandwiched between his battle plate and skinsuit, it was shortened to 'techsuit' most often. He grabbed a cup with a brush and toothpaste before leaving his quarters.

The restrooms had everything a home bathroom would have, toilets, sinks, towels, showers. It was only down the hall, but the number of Spartans just waking up made the walk a little longer than it should have. Some talked and bantered, others waited for their friends to wake up, others like Alexander headed straight towards where they wanted to go. After brushing and washing his face, Alexander dropped his cup off at his quarters before heading to the mess hall. At an incoming T-intersection, he spotted a familiar face. A taller, caucasian man wearing a black ONI field agent suit.
[b]"Ah! There you are!"[/b] The agent exclaimed, he held a datapad and walked quickly to Alexander.
[b]"Agent Hayes. Sir."[/b] Alexander greeted, giving his a fairly loose salute. The ONI agent returned it, even though he didn't need to. The returned salute was something else, it meant that he respected the Spartan.
[b]"Got some new orders for you."[/b] Agent Hayes said, waving the datapad, "Talk on the way to Spartan Town? You can speak freely."
[b]"Of course, Sir."[/b] The Spartan nodded, and the two began walking to the mess hall. Agent Hayes handed Alexander the datapad, and the Spartan began skimming what was on it.
[b]"An actual deployment. No week and a half vacation. By the way I visited the place, it's rebuilding well."
"That's good."
"Someone in the city's been selling action figures of you."[/b] Agent Hayes said, Alexander stopped and rose an eyebrow at the ONI Agent. [b]"Yep, 'Spartan Mann- complete with rubble lifting arms', comes with a six inch you and a piece of plastic rock. Selling pretty well too, think you're a local hero to them now."[/b]
Alexander smiled and glanced away shyly. [b]"I only did my duty."[/b]
[b]"Yeah? So did the Chief, basically. You're a big deal to them now, so don't die on this deployment you hear?"[/b]
[b]"Yes sir."[/b] Alexander simply said, feeling those warm fuzzies, and the two began walking again.
[b]"I'm only going to let you have that stupid grin on your face for another five minutes soldier."[/b] Agent Hayes joked.

Spartan Town. The S-Deck. The Armory. It went by many names, while it wasn't as impressive as some other S-Decks in the UNSC, it was still a sight. Rows of Brokkr Armor Mechanisms, the circular Da Vinci rigs, mostly tucked in stand by. A few were active, and the pair could see a handful of Spartans suiting up, walking in, walking out. Alexander saw a technician wave him over, and the Spartan went over. On the ground next to another tech was his helmet, resting on a white towel. Just the way he liked it.
[b]"Good morning."[/b] Alexander greeted the techs, they smiled at him and greeted him back as he stepped onto the assembly system. It was always strange, being helpless while suiting up, but the whole process thankfully only took a few moments in total. He watched the various arms move in with his armor plating, attaching them to his techsuit. In just a few minutes, the whole process was complete. The armor was unpainted, but his modifications were still in place. The many pouches he had the techs add onto his armor were empty right now, but during battle they would be full of supplies, ammunition, and anything else the team needed. One tech bent over, picked up Alexanders Scanner helmet and presented it to him. The Spartan accepted it, [b]"Thanks."[/b] he said to the technician team. He slipped the helmet on, watching the armor systems link and his heads up display come to life. [b]"Good morning, armor."[/b] Alexander said as he stepped off the platform.
Alexander made sure to greet his armor every time he donned it, he knew from casual conversation with the technicians that each GEN2 suit held a number of AIs of both sorts, helping the user by filtering through the incoming data during battle and doing all the paperwork. Although he knew that the suit AIs were passive helpers and they wouldn't reply back, maybe they could hear him.

Agent Hayes then lead Alexander to Bay A1-33, in the ONI section of the space station. On the way there, as they talked about Alexanders armor, the halls became more and more empty. Less Navy, Marine, Army and Spartan uniforms and more black ONI uniforms. Though the fully armored Spartan got a few looks his way, nobody stopped them. When they reached their destination, they were checked by two other ONI Agents, then the doors hissed open. Revealing a mostly empty hanger. What stood out was a gathering of Spartans. Alexander looked to Hayes, who nodded.
[b]"Play nice, I'll see you around."[/b] Hayes said, waving good bye.
Alexander waved back and walked over to the gathering of Spartans, [b]"Spartan Alexander Mann, reporting for duty."[/b] He said, snapping off a salute. They definitely looked his senior, every other Spartan there wore specialized armor, likely customized to their liking. Alexander however still wore the standard Recruit variant issued to all newly inducted Spartans, the only piece of special armor he had was his Scanner helmet.