@embarrassedauthornerd @lialacleaf @morganas-pendragons @owlofthenight117 once again tagging y'all for my boy, sorry this is late, but thank you for encouraging and inspiring me to share more of my own writing.
Cameron-409 was ten years old and just starting in the process of discovering himself when he first thought to ask Dr. Halsey why his number was so much higher than the other children's.
"The original number of candidates chosen for the program was 300, carefully selected for the best possible genetic compatability for the program." she replied, not looking up from whatever project she was working on. "Then, 150 candidates, including you, with the next best results were chosen as backups in case any of the original children became unviable for any reason. When the program funding got cut to only 75 candidates, the 150 extra were kept documented as a formality; we had plenty better candidates in the case of an opening in the program. But, it became useful when the extraction of one of the original chosen 75 failed, and you were the only subject close enough to be considered a viable option."
"Oh. I see." he replied, doing his best to keep his disappointment out of his voice, before he was dismissed with an absent wave of Halsey's hand.
That was the day Cameron learned that he'd never be Dr. Halsey's first choice. No matter how hard he tried, worked, excelled, he was deemed subpar before he had even begun.
Which is why he was shocked 3 decades later when he was informed that he was chosen as the control subject for Chief and Cortana. The higher-ups wanted to see if Cortana was indeed a significant improvement over the standard AI when paired with a Spartan; so another was commissioned, and a candidate relatively comparable to John-117 was chosen.
The excitement of finally, finally being seen as more than "the backup" was almost enough to overshadow the dread of That Word. Cam hated any amount of ceremony for that reason: normally he could tune it out, whether because he could pretend it was said to someone else, or because they were in combat and his focus was on other priorities. But here, there was no mistaking who it was directed at and no other pressing issues to distract him.
"Ma'am." the officer addressed him, a smile on her face as she saluted.
He could tell by the excited look in her eye that she felt that word was such an honor. Spartan or no, a "woman" had been chosen as comparable to The Master Chief.
"Ma'am, this is Echo. The two of you will be running the gauntlet after Chief and Cortana to give us a baseline for comparison." another officer said, holding a tray out to him with an AI chip on it. Cam carefully picked it up and stared at the small glowing rectangle for a moment, before plugging it into his helmet.
"Hello ma'am." a New Zealand accent greeted him, and this time it took all of his training and composure not to flinch. It definitely hit different coming from inside his head.
"The two of you have some time to get to know each other while the other two finish up, we'll let you know when it's ready for you."
Cameron nodded in acknowledgment before stepping into an empty adjacent meeting room and switching off his mic. After a moment, Echo spoke up again.
"Cameron." the Spartan interjected immediately, "Or just Cam. Please."
After a moment, Echo replied, "Of course, Cameron." another pause, "Is something wrong?"
"Fine." the AI echoed as Cam took a seat, clearly not convinced, "Right. And you flinch every time you're called "Ma'am" because...?"
Cameron sighed, armor clanking as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, then was silent a long moment.
"How much are you required to report back to the research team?" he finally asked.
"Nothing; all data collection will be gathered from external observation, then compared for analysis."
Cam relaxed a little at that, "Can you keep this between us, then?"
When Echo answered to the affirmative, Cameron continued hesitantly.
"I'm... different than the other Spartans. Or at least that I know of. Being called "Ma'am" and "she" *hurts* in a way I can't explain, but the thought of being seen as a man... I want that more than I probably should. I don't know what's wrong with me-"
"Transgender is the word you're looking for, and around 10% of the human population identifies as trans." Echo interrupted before the Spartan could spiral into further negative thoughts, "That includes both female-to-male, and male-to-female transitioners. Gender affirming Healthcare includes hormone replacement therapy for both estrogen and testosterone, breast reduction or implants, and genital reconstruction surgery has been making progress." his voice softened as he continued, "There's nothing wrong with you, Cameron. You're not broken or defective, and you're not alone. Trans people have likely been around for as long as humans have been able to question the nature of our existence, and the community they helped build still celebrates how far they've come at least once a year on nearly every single human colony. With millions of people across the galaxy being trans, statistically, it was nearly certain that at least one Spartan was too. Guess you're just the lucky one!"
Cameron sat silent for long enough that Echo hadn't expected him to respond at all when he finally spoke up and asked, uncharacteristically timid, "Could I... ask you to call me sir when we're alone?"
Cam could hear the smile in the AI's voice as he responded,
