to those who enjoy my story I thank you and as always have nice day

Spartans of the Ring Chapter 2

Nathan was the first to awake out of the 3 Spartans. He felt the warm rays of the sun lightly graze his face. His eyes fluttered before fully opening and sitting up on his bed. The clad black armored soldier got up and stretched for a bit before grabbing his helmet and walking out the door.

Nathan exited his room to see Jun rubbing his eyes, yawning with his helmet underneath his other arm. Jun took notice to his comrade and greeted Nathan

"Ah good morning Nathan, had a good night's sleep?"

Nathan thought for a moment

"Not precisely. I was just wondering how did we get here. And can we really trust these 'elves'. Not that there is anything wrong with them I just don't know if we should told them everything about us"

"Yeah I know what you mean" came a voice from between Jun and Nathan. They turned to see Chiefs door opening with his helmet on

"Cortana and I discussed what we should do while we are here"

"And I said we should read up and learn as much as possible about this middle-earth" Cortana said from Chiefs helmet

Nathan nodded and Jun said "Agreed, but first how about some breakfast"

"Thank you Jun, Chief here was planning on skipping" Cortana said triumphantly

"I think there are more important things right now than food Cortana" Chief argued

"Yeah true but still we need to be energized and prepared for this new place" Nathan countered. Chief briefly glanced at Nathan before shrugging in defeat.

"Now where can we find wreck hall?" Jun said looking aimlessly around. At that precise moment Eva and Arlette arrived seeking out the Spartans

"Ah I see you are all awake" Eva said in surprise catching the attention of the armored men.

"Yes we are" Jun said politely "May we help you with anything?"

Arlette was impressed with their manners but responded "No need we just came by to invite you all to breakfast"

"Why thank you, that's what we were planning on doing" Nathan said

Arlette and Eva led the Spartans to the dining hall. They arrived to see lord Elrond eating bread while reading a letter. The half-elf heard the opening door and looked up to see his guests entering with Eva and Arlette.

"Ah good morning good men I hope you slept well" Elrond said kindly rising from his chair. He shook hands with the Spartans as they thanked him for his hospitality. The 3 gathered some fruits, bread and water and joined Elrond for breakfast along with Eva and Arlette.

The 6 sat and ate in silence when Elrond asked

"Excuse me brave warriors but may I ask about this Spartan program you talked about the night before? I don't mean to be rude but this program caught my attention and it deeply intrigues me"

The 3 glanced at each other deciding whether they should tell more about their world. They all soon nodded and Chief began

"Originally there was a Spartan I program. This program was intended for all ages but the results weren't coming out to well. the augmentations meant to enhance the body ended up damaging the bodies and some even died"

Elrond and the girls cringed from hearing the dying part.

"Then there was the next 2 programs" Jun continued "The Spartan-II's. These Spartans were taken at a very young age. From the time they are enrolled, the recruits are trained constantly. By the time they turn 14 the procedure for augmentations begins. The results were 50/50. 150 Spartan II's were created"

The elves listened intently not interrupting in order to catch ever word.

"And finally we have the Spartan class III's" Nathan began "The Spartan III's followed a similar procedure except the enhancements were slashed in half. But the Spartans still came out extremely powerful and this program created the most Spartans. Hundreds of thousands of Spartans were made each powerful, intelligent and trained to do their job. But now we don't know how many Spartans remain"

Elrond's eyes showed deep sympathy and a hint of horror from the story. Eva and Arlettes mouths were a gaped from the tale. It was silent until Arlette bravely asked

"Wh-what happened to the other Spartans?"

"Most of them died" Nathan said bluntly "There was a planet called Reach, the home world of the Spartans. We thought we were impenetrable yet the covenant got through to us and conquered the planet"

"Yeah, I saw so many of our brothers and sisters die" Jun said gloomily

"The covenant knew of the force Spartans held, so in order to completely eradicate us, they sent their entire army to ensure the fall of the Spartans" Chief said in his gritty voice

There was an uncomfortable silence yet again. Sensing the tense atmosphere Jun quickly piped up

"But there is this code the UNSC lived by. To keep the morale of humanity high, they always said that Spartans never die. They are just missing in Action. Soldiers looked up to the Spartans because of our status to the covenant. If they were to know we were dying off, the will for humans to win would have shortly been crushed"

Eva and Arlette were gazing at the 3 with wonder and amazement and Elrond gazed at them with admiration for their will and courage.

"I still can't believe though that your people used children" Eva said

"It may have seemed terrible but in the long run it ensured the survival of humanity" Nathan said strongly

Elrond nodded, knowing of the will humanity has in order to survive. These war veterans before them epitomized the will to survive.

"Well it was nice to have breakfast" Jun said getting up "But we would like to ask where the library is"

"The library?" Arlette asked staring at Jun

"Yeah if we are going to stay here for a while, we need to learn as much as we can about this world" Nathan said also getting up ad putting his helmet on.

"Very well" Elrond said standing up "I will guide you"

They nodded in appreciation and made for the door when Elrond stopped and turned to Eva and Arlette

"Eva, Arlette I wish for you to go find Arwen and see if we received any notice from Gandalf" He instructed the blond elves. They bowed in respect and turned to the opposite exit from dining hall. Elrond led the Super soldiers to 2 large wooden doors. He opened it to reveal a vast library. Shelves upon shelves were stacked with books, encyclopedias, maps, scrolls and so on.

"If you require any assistance please feel free to ask" Elrond said as he exited the library leaving the 3 Spartans as they made their way to a table with a few books on it already.

"SO where do we start?" Jun said sarcastically. Chief walked over to a shelf with odd labels on it. Another elf just so happened to pass by

"Excuse me"

The elf turned to Chief and jumped back in front. Chief held up his hand in truce "Don't worry my comrades and I are here as guest to lord Elrond"

A second passed by then the elf exclaimed "Ah yes, Lady Arwen informed most of the elves of 3 tall armored humans who came here last night. Now what can I help you with?"

"Can you tell us what these inscriptions mean" Chief pointed to the label

"Ah that is the language of the Elves" The elf stated reading the label aloud "This one says a history of Middle-earth. It has books with the language of men"

"Thank you" Chief said immediately pulling out a stack of books labeled in English and handed it to Jun and Nathan. Chief went around the library and pulled out even more books and after a few minutes was carrying 3 dozen books. Chief rejoined the other 2 who were already reading and recording with their helmets.

"I bought something interesting" pulling out a few books from the pile and plopping them down in the middle. The titles spelled words of translation form men to elf.

"Hmm this will prove useful" Jun said picking up one of the books and opening it.

"Well let's get started" Nathan said with 3 books in front of him at once.

Arwen and her companions stared in amazement at the Spartans who surrounded themselves with books from the second floor railing of the library.

"Such an odd trio" Arwen said gazing at Chief who was pronouncing Elf words to himself

"Still they say they are warriors" Eva said leaning on the rail "They will probably train tomorrow"

Over the next following week Nathan, John and Jun were completely reserved in their studies of middle-earth. Every passing hour they delved deeper into the knowledge of middle-earth. They only left for meals and an occasional errand they do as a favor to some of the other elves.

Arwen, Eva and Arlette frequently studied them from afar. "They claim to be warriors yet they have studied more than any other man I have ever met or known" Arwen thinking out loud. Her 2 friends nodded in agreement.

"They have such dedication to knowledge" Eva said with a rather interesting sigh.

"Yeah Nathan actually told me how Spartans take knowledge very seriously" Arlette said "He believes all warriors must have knowledge for where ever they are"

"These are incredibly wise men" Arwen said stunned by the newest information on the 3

With the trio

Jun was studying a map, chief and Cortana were reading the many weapons and craftsmanship of the elves and Nathan was practicing the Elf language

Nin Esse Nathan (My name. I hope I'm using the proper elvish words)

"Well I'm most impressed"

Their heads turned to see Elrond approaching them. They got up and saluted them in their old military fashion. Elrond stood in surprise by this gesture but continued in what he was about to say

"You 3 have only been here a week's time, yet you have already learned practically all there is to know about middle-earth and you have even began speaking the elf language"

"We thank you for your hospitality" Jun said closing a book and held it up "I have never had the free choice to choose how much I wish to do something I want. I am truly grateful to be here"

"Hannon le" Nathan and Chief said together earning a beaming smile from Elrond. Elrond soon departed and the trio continued to study when Cortana appeared beside Chief. She digitally stretched out and sighed in relief

"Woo what knowledge" Cortana said in a childlike manner "I have never felt this refreshed in a long time"

"Well you're in a very good mood" Nathan commented while reading about Dwarves

'Well yeah, it's not every day or week for that matter that we get to do something of our own choosing" Cortana said happily "But I do think we should perhaps practice or train. As much as I've enjoyed recording all this I think we should keep our instincts sharp"

Jun and Nathan looked at Chief who closed a book and placed it down. 'She does have a point"

"Yeah, we should practice for a while" Jun said getting up

"Yeah let's get our equipment and find the training field. An elf told me about it earlier this week" Nathan added as the 3 made their way to the exit of the library. They went into their rooms, gathered their gear and made their way to the training field.

As they saw it in the distance, with their helmet scopes, the trio saw Elves practicing with bow and arrows, sword fighting, some hand to hand. There were dummies and spars going on at once. All the elves suddenly stopped as they turned to stare at the approaching Spartans. The master elf noticed as well and grinned.

"Ah the greetings Spartans, I was hoping you would join us today" The noble elf walked towards the trio "Everyone has been wondering when you would leave the confides of that dusty old library and join us warriors". He then bowed and said "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Glorfindel, trainer of warriors in Rivendell".

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir" Nathan greeted in shaking his hand with Glorfindel followed by Jun and John.

"So you train everyone in weaponry here?" Jun asked

"Indeed as you 3 as well" Glorfindel said

"Correct, but not what you have experienced" Chief said

"Like the weapons you carry with you right now?" Glorfindel pointing out the weapons making all the training elves stare curiously at the odd shaped weapons.

"Would you like a demonstration?" Nathan said lifting his assault rifle up. The elves nodded eagerly as dummies were set up for the 3. They got into position, aiming their guns at the dummies

"Oh by the way, it's best you cover your ears and stand back just a bit" Chief said to the Elves.

Nathan aimed with his assault rifle and fired. There was a loud crack of the gun that made all the elves jump back. The dummy moved back and fell over. Chief aimed with a magnum and shot. The dummies head bobbed back and forth from the bullet but slowly balanced back in place. Now it was Juns turn with his trusted sniper rifle. Jun breathed out slowly and aimed down onto the head. He pulled the trigger making the elves jumped yet again. The bullet went straight through the dummies head creating a large hole making it jump in the air and fall. The bullet was not seen but a tree in the distance was seen and heard cracking.

John and Nathan went over to their dummies and pulled out their bullets. Jun simply examined the damage done to his dummy. Nathan and John showed the bullets to their audience while a few other elves gathered around Jun. the elves around B312 and 117 were examining the bullets with amazement and curiosity. The elves around A266 were staring at the dummies damage in stunned and bemused expressions. The dummies top left part of the head was completely gone.

"What are these weapons?" An elf asked.

"This is the Assault rifle, the standard weapon of the UNSC. Has a 32 round clip. Effective during close to mid –range. It's ineffective in long range combat" Nathan said checking his weapon over

Chief held up his gun "This is the magnum standard weapon to all personal of the UNSC. It's an all around weapon and can be shot from long to close distances. An eight round clip with a zoom scope"

Jun got up from the dummy and patted his rifle "The Sniper rifle. 4 round clip, with rounds strong enough to pierce the strongest metals and flesh. Used by sharpshooters like myself and mostly used for long distance recon mission. Also has a 2 zoom scope"

The elves marveled at the weapons.

"Well Well this is certainly a training day" Glorfindel said excitedly. "Such amazing weapons from amazing soldiers"

"Thank you for the compliments" Nathan said

"Yes now we would like to learn some skills here" Jun said holstering his sniper rifle

"Would you like to spar with one of my students in sword combat?" Glorfindel said placing his arm on a nearby male elf.

"I would like to go first" Nathan said

"Very well, sev would you please get into position"

Nathan and Sev stood on opposite ends of a dirt circle. Each was tossed a sturdy wooden sword. Though Nathan might not look it, he is actually quite the accomplished swordsman amongst the Spartans. He used the energy sword and hyabusa sword with exceptional skill. Still he had his doubts against a very experienced Elf. The 2 swung swords, colliding with each other. They dueled on even par and kept trying to one up each other.

After a 10 minute duel Glorfindel stopped the fight. Sev was about to fall to his knee but was caught by Nathan.

"Easy there buddy, don't overdo yourself" Nathan placed Sev's arm around his shoulder and carried him over to a nearby bench.

"How are you not exhausted?" Sev asked looking up at Nathans visor

"We Spartans can endure long periods of fighting. We are trained to battle for days without rest"

The elves were gazing at the towering armored men back and forth trying to figure what they can truly do.

One hour later

The Spartans trained with the elves non-stop. Jun quickly mastered archery but believes he could go further. Nathan was very exceptional in sword fighting along with chief. Soon they all departed from the training grounds and the trio of super soldiers went to their rooms

'Tomorrow we should check our ship" Chief said to the other 2 before entering his room

"Yeah we got to load up on supplies and equipment" Jun said in a yawn.

"Well looks like we know what to do tomorrow" Nathan said opening his door "Goodnight my friends"