A/N: Chapter 1 is here, hope you enjoy. R&R and if you have any ideas for the story feel to PM me. Thanks for reading. -GS
These seats fucking suck.
I had been flying for about an hour at this point and it was doing a number on my tailbone and lower back. Eventually the pelican began to slow down, and we started coming in on final approach.
"We touchdown in one, don't keep the director waiting." The pilot said.
Sure enough, a minute later, the bay door opened to a massive hanger bay. There were crates and small pockets of soldiers everywhere. As I stepped out of the ship with my duffle bag, a man approached me.
"Hello." he said. "I am Aiden Price, counselor of Project Freelancer. Pleasure to meet you." I shook his hand awkwardly. "Please come with me, the director would like to meet you."
This ship is huge.
I had imagined the MOI to be large but not as large as it actually was. We walked passed personnel of all kinds. Medics, guards, soldiers, hell we even passed an IT guy. It was like a flying city.
After walking through tens of long corridors, the Counselor took a sharp right and opened a door to a large control room with a man gazing out a large window at the stars.
"Doctor Church, our new agent has arrived." Price said beside me.
The man turned around to face us. "Thank you, Counselor, that will be all." The Counselor turned on his heel and returned to his station. The director looked me over head to toe. "Hello, I'm Doctor Church, director of Project Freelancer." I shook his hand. "I sure you were briefed on your designation, Agent Oregon was it?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, tomorrow morning at 06:00 you will meet the agents in the training arena. Counselor?"
"Yes sir?" Price stood up from his station.
"Assign Agent Oregon his equipment and show him to his room."
"Yes sir, Agent please follow me." The Counselor began to walk toward the exit, I followed.
When we finally reached the armory, it was like the gates of heaven had opened up for me. Or hell, one of the two. There was so much high-tech gear that I'd never seen before. Rifles and shotguns and well… pretty much anything you can think of.
They Assigned me a high-tech suit of armor and it was a thing of beauty. Gray with jet black accents. I assumed it was experimental because I hadn't seen anything like it but it was pretty comfortable for something that's supposed to stop a bullet. It fit me perfectly and all the joints were made of a special mesh that made me just as mobile in suit as I was out of suit and still gave me solid protection from projectiles.
But that wasn't even the best part, I got assigned my own weapons as well. A designated marksman rifle (DMR) with a variable scope and optional night vision attachment. The DMR's internals were also customized. Instead of the 7.62x51mm round it usually used, the rifle was redesigned to use 30.06 caliber rounds. It is only a slight adjustment in round size but it gave the rifle a bit more stopping power and range.
I was also assigned two suppressed submachine guns for close quarters. The two SMG's were smaller versions of the original and had no stock. They were built to be used one handed. The grip was built to fit into the natural positioning of your fingers so it fit like a glove.
After my visit to the armory, I was brought to my room. It was pretty nice, really it was just a bed, a dresser, a desk, a chair and a lamp but it was rather homey. Oh and an alarm clock. Same metal walls as the rest of the ship but I was given a few magnets to hang what I wanted. I wasn't going to hang anything, but it was nice to have the option. At the time, this assignment looked like a cool setup.
I couldn't sleep that night, I finally fell asleep around 3 AM but unfortunately, a few hours later I was rudely awakened by a banging on the door.
"Hey Rookie, wake up, the director won't be happy if you miss your first training." A male voice shouted through the door. I assumed it was one of the agents.
My damn alarm didn't go off.
I rolled out of bed, quickly pulled on my armor and jogged down to the arena. When I got down there, I was greeted by the rest of the agents and the director himself on the arena floor.
"Glad you could join us Agent Oregon." He said, he didn't sound angry, but it seemed a little passive aggressive. He continued. "We will be sparring today. We will begin with a match between Agent New York and Agent Oregon."
York began to stare me down. I guess this might be some sort of initiation.
"Then it will be, Agents North and South Dakota versus Agent Carolina and Agent Maine versus Agent Washington."
I could almost see the cockiness though his helmet. He cracked his knuckles and started walking to his designated start point. I just smiled.
The Director and remaining agents went up some stairs to a room with a reinforced glass window looking over the arena.
York got into his stance "Don't worry, I'll go easy on ya." I could hear the smirk in his voice. One thing you need to learn in life is to never underestimate an opponent.
Carolina's Pov.
York is a highly trained freelancer and Oregon is just a rookie. This should be an absolute slaughter.
"Welcome to Project Freelancer" I chuckled
I looked around the observatory to see the other freelancers were having the same thoughts. Nobody was even close to watching the fight. North and South were talking strategy. Maine, Wash, and Wyoming were chatting about the recent grifball game. Well Wash and Wyoming were chatting. The only people actually focusing the fight were the Director and I.
Both fighters got into their stances and FILIS started the count down. At zero York charged the new freelancer. He began the fight with a flurry of jabs, most of which were blocked or dodged. The last punch of his attack landed on the side right of Oregon's helmet, causing him to stumble slightly.
He regained his balance quickly and fell back into his usual stance. For a few moments it looked like a staring contest. Both sides were reading the other, waiting for them to make their next move. Oregon went on the offensive, sending two quick jabs to the stomach and a hook to the right side of helmet. York countered with a punch to the visor, causing Oregon to step back. He tackled the rookie hoping to catch him off guard, Oregon saw it coming though. He side-stepped York and clothes lined him. Oregon didn't hesitate to jump on top of him, York threw his forearms up to protect his face from the punches, but a few still hit their mark. He eventually shoved Oregon off and hopped up to resume the fight but before he could continue, the Director ended the fight.
"That's enough agents. Next match starts in 3 minutes. Prepare."
Oregon's Pov.
After the matches, Agent New York and the other agents walked to the commons area to get a drink or something. I decided to just go back to my room. I changed into the standard issue civilian clothes they gave us and laid down on my bed. It was a pretty comfortable mattress for military issue.
After what felt like hours of just thinking, I heard a knock on my door. I stood up, walked over and opened the door to see Agent South Dakota in casual clothes. She had a neutral expression on her face.
"Come"
She turned on her heel and started walking toward the common area, I followed.
When I entered, I noticed the agents were spread through out the room. Also, after I passed through the door, Maine and York moved to guard the exits.
Well, this can't end well.
After a few seconds of silence, a combat knife appeared at my throat.
"Ok rookie, listen to me carefully." A female voice said, Her tone was aggressive and threatening. "Who are you."
I stayed silent.
"Answer me or I will not hesitate to end you." Putting more force in her voice
"I would not suggest handing out empty threats." I said with no emotion. "The Director would have you executed, and I think your smarter than that."
silence filled the air for a few seconds then I heard a chuckle behind me. The knife was lifted from my throat and I was released with a shove. I turned to face my captor.
"I like you rookie." She said with a smirk. "Name's Carolina."
"Oregon" I tried to sound friendly, but I was still slightly confused at what the fuck just happened. I turned to York who was approaching from my left with 2 beers in his hand.
He thrusted a beer into my hand made a motion toward the couch where most of the males were watching a grifball game.
I smiled.
Time Skip
A few hours later the Director called us into the briefing room, once we all sat down, he began.
"Hello agents" He said with a smile. "In 24 hours, you are being deployed to a small insurgent stronghold located near the outer reaches of the UNSC." He pulled up a holographic map and started explaining the mission. It was a small base, kind of in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded on 3 sides with large cliffs with hills leading to the edge. That means we need to watch out for flanking armor, troops etc. "We recently received intel that a high-ranking officer is stationed there. Your objective is to locate and eliminate said officer and destroy the compound. Agent Carolina, brief your team."
Carolina stepped forward. "Thank you, sir." She placed her helmet under her arm revealing her red hair. "I will keep this short. Agent's York and Oregon will be with me targeting the Officer, Agent's North, South, Washington and Maine will plant explosive charges on the supports here, here and here." She points at a rotating hologram of the small outpost. "Wyoming will be providing overwatch. Any questions?"
No one said a word.
"Excellent, good luck agents."