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Unspartan: Prelude
Posted By: Lord Palarious<duct_walker@yahoo.com>
Date: 7 August 2007, 7:47 am
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They called him Tinker. He was the only Spartan with a nickname. Still, it wasn't like he was well known or liked. He didn't talk to people, not even before he was drafted for the program. His family had thought something was wrong with him, so they had sent him to get tested at the colony's only medical center. It took longer than they thought it should have and the father, son of a medical practitioner back on Earth, could have sworn they took some tests that weren't necessary. Afterwards, those sort of thoughts faded after the doctors said he would need to be hospitalized for future neurological trouble. Not long after, a specialist named Dr. Hasley came to see the boy. Months later, their little boy began to truly have neurological trouble. That is, the one in the Hospital. Tinker had just become a very expensive I.D. code in the war effort.
• He seemed to adjust well in his surroundings on Reach, in a way. However, he frustrated many of the instructors with his refusal to speak and would have been iced if hadn't been for the insistence of the A.I. Deja. She had noticed his incredible ability when dealing with systems of any kind. She argued that his lack of communication was more than compensated by his ability to achieve the objective. Shortly afterward, Dr. Hasley decided that she had something special in mind for Spartan 102.
Spartan 102 was isolated from the other Spartans. Inability to communicate is something generally considered a weakness. Dr. Halsey intended to forge it into one of his greatest strengths. Chief Petty Officer Mendez made sure the only time the other Spartans saw 102 was after a tiring exercise or before Mendez hit them with something harder that they'd ever felt previously. 102 had separate quarters, ate with the officers, took separate courses, and, possibly most importantly, was given special equipment. While the rest of the Spartans often left with little or no issued arms or supplies, 102 seemed to always get what ever he wanted. What's more, he never seemed satisfied. Always off to the side, just in sight, he'd be "playing" around with another odd assortment of weapons and gadgets. Only once did a Spartan ask about the difference of treatment. They had just come in from one of the hardest exercises the OSTD marines had ever had and their mood was one of challenge. After the question, CPO Mendez simply smiled and told them to get back on the pelicans. For the next three weeks they didn't see base camp. They did see more mountain ridges than they thought could exist on a planet and one Spartan 102 in the camps of the marines who starting to become friendlier to the idea of bending the rules for the little freaks who humiliated them without fail day and night. After those three weeks, he wasn't Spartan 102 anymore. He was Tinker, the thing that envy and calculated resentment had forged in the minds of most of the Spartans. A few weeks later, he began to be seen less and less. But Dr. Halsey and Deja had achieved their objective. Just as all the other Spartans had been molded into the living weapons that they became known as, so David Terrof became Tinker, the one Spartan who was not a Spartan.
Tinker's training was very different from that of the other Spartans. Any backup he ever had come in the form of, at the most, 5 or 6 marines. Later, the marines would often have orders to sabotage his efforts. In reality, unlike what Deja wanted the Spartans to believe, Tinker hardly ever had more to work with than the regular Spartans: regularly, he made do with less. He hacked his way into communications, used stolen equipment, and coordinated the marines against each other. For someone who never talked, he understood relationships to an amazing degree. He twisted the emotional arms of marines who weren't even qualified to have hearts. And, even at the age of seven, Tinker was unafraid of killing to accomplish the objective and killing was often the only way to achieve the increasingly complex and warped missions. However, that was only half of the combination that was Tinker. He seemed to be able to put anything together. The minute Deja recognized this, she ordered more non-regulaltion technology than had been requested for the past 20 years in the entire military. The majority of the technology came from black market sources. Deja often used the excuse of gaining information about possible rebels and dissenters in the UNSC. Within minutes, Tinker could look at an exotic piece of tech from the outer colonies and modify it to suit some highly effective military need. Deja stored stashes of tech all over Reach and acquiring the heavily guarded materials was often one of the first objectives he was given. After 102 became Tinker, missions lasting months were not uncommon. When the time finally came for augmentation, Tinker hadn't seen a Spartan for well over a year and a half. He was given no special operations, nor special care.
He woke from the operation with a crippled arm and a limp and without the sight of the other Spartans who were now dead for all he cared. It would be over a year before Tinker would finish creating the prosthetics augmenting his cripple arm from the designs of the MJOLINR Armor and a little known inventor with unfortunate political preferences. There were no ceremonies for Tinker. He hadn't needed anyone for a long time. He left Reach the day he was outfitted with his specialized MJOLINR suit. This mission was the real thing and, this time, he did get to take some of his toys along.
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