DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything below except for my own character and any characters mentioned outside of Hastati Squad, Colonel Mehaffey and General Black whom I will mention from time to time. Everything else is owned by 343 Industries and the writers and creators of the movie Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.


Chapter Two

0945 HOURS, MARCH 3, 2526 (MILITARY CALENDAR) /

LOCATION CLASSIFIED

The sudden hissing sounds of multiple cryo pods opening filters into the dark room from the comms and I can hear the academy's AI, Orlin, speaking monotonously through the comms, "Cryo pods opening."

The ensuing sounds of eight bodies dropping heavily onto the cold metal grate before the pods fills my ears, each one landing with a solid, resounding metallic thud. This was quickly followed by the heavy coughing of the cadets as they began throwing up the white, thick, gooey bronchial surfactant – a liquid designed to prevent their lungs from forming ice crystals during cryostasis – between the slots in the grates. Only a few short seconds later, I hear the distinct shuffling sounds of the cadets pushing themselves up from the mostly concrete floor before they rush over to the other side of the room where their lockers are located and begin pulling their gear on. Well, almost all of the cadets that is.

"Lasky? You okay?" Cadet Chyler Silva's light Mamorian accented voice pierces the air, concern clear as day in her tone as she stands partially hunched over, her hands resting on her knees just a few cryo pods away from her fellow cadet as she tried to catch her own breath. Loose tendrils of her brown hair, which had escaped from her braided bun, gently framed her face, sticking in some places due to the sweat that danced across her forehead.

"Athena, give me a visual inside the armoury, please." I ask of my 'Smart' AI and within seconds the dimly lit armoury pops up on one of the many holo-screens on the wall - which was covered with them - in front of me and to my right a little. Six of the eight cadets of Hastati Squad were at their lockers, most of them are just closing the final clasps of their gear and grabbing a few more packs of ammo before bolting out the door, heading towards their first rendezvous point, and calling out, "Axios!" as they went. I slid the thumb and index finger of my right-hand across the holo-screen to zoom in on the armoury and immediately my bright green gaze was focused on Cadet Thomas Lasky who was still keeled over, gasping and struggling for breath against the metal grate before his cryo pod.

"Are you all right?" Cadet Silva asks once again as she begins to make her way towards his position, her skin tight, carbon black suit - one that every cadet wore during cryostasis - squelching slightly with each step that she took. Pushing himself slowly but determinedly to his feet before Silva can reach him, Lasky motions weakly with his right hand in a way to show that he's fine and waves her away before slowly yet steadily making his way towards his own locker. Cadet Silva begrudgingly listens to her friend and makes her way over to her own locker which was one row over.

Once Lasky reaches his locker, he throws open the locker doors and begins to pull on his gear – the same gear that each one of his fellow cadets wore on missions - first starting by pulling on a primarily off-white jumpsuit over his carbon black cryo-suit. The off-white jumpsuit had pale khaki brown coloured sections that ran up the inside of either one of his legs as well as along the tops of his shoulders, before zipping up over his right breast.

Quickly slipping in to standard UNSC brown combat boots, he continued dressing in his combat gear which consisted of a lightweight khaki brown chestplate that had small black clasps that came over his shoulders and around his sides while a small section of extra padding ran across the bottom of his stomach and another section of extra padding running underneath the section on his back, protecting his backside. Corbulo Academy's emblem was placed squarely in the middle of the chestplate and was painted in a light blue, the colour of the emblem differing depending on each squad. Along the back of his neck, a section of khaki brown cloth-covered kevlar was partially raised to provide extra protection.

Moving on, he quickly strapped his shoulder plates on, the black straps coming together underneath his chestplate and wrapping around the tops of his biceps to secure them in place. These were also made of kevlar and were of two different colours. The two sections of his shoulder pads that covered the front and back of his shoulders were painted in the light blue colour of Hastati Squad and the remaining third section, which covered the top of his shoulders, was painted in the standard military dark olive green.

Next, he moved on to strapping on his thigh plates, which were also dark olive green and made of kevlar. These covered the entire outer portion of his thighs and were held onto his leg with one black strap that wrapped around the inner middle of his thighs. Once he was finished securing each thigh plate into place he leaned over and quickly strapped on his dark olive green kevlar greaves which covered the majority of his combat boots and ran up along the fronts of his legs and came to a stop just above his knees. Two black straps ran along his ankles and upper calves, effectively keeping the greaves in place.

The entire time that Athena and I watched Lasky pull on his gear, we could both tell that something was wrong with the young cadet. Our concern quickly growing as each second passed, we turned to look at his vitals compared to the others of Hastati Squad and isolated the sound of his breathing on the video feed, listening intently to his laboured breaths, which were beginning to sound more like wheezing at this point than anything else, and his frequent, chest rattling coughs. It was becoming more and more clear that something wasn't quite right with the young man at all, none of the other cadets were showing any of these symptoms or had such troubles breathing after a brief time in cryo. Lasky was struggling far more than he should be coming out of cryostasis.

As he leans his weakened body against his locker door for support and struggling for breath between long bouts of coughing, that inkling of concern began steadily growing in my chest and I begin to question if Lasky should even be allowed to continue on with this mission. The young cadet seems far too weak to be of much use to his squadmates right now, far too weak to even be strong enough to make it out of the armoury, let alone shoulder a weapon and run through a battle zone infested with Insurrectionists – not to mention for his own health and safety.

"Lasky, let's go!" Cadet Michael Sullivan calls from the end of the row of lockers, his gear all but on except for his helmet. He looks back at Silva and Lasky expectantly who are still putting their gear on. Cadet Silva's just grabbing her helmet - an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, ODST, styled, dark olive green coloured helmet without a face plate, two lines of light blue paint running vertically over the top of her helmet - and tightening up a few of her chest plates straps before she's nearly ready to go. Lasky isn't quite as ready as he reaches into his locker to grab the next bit of his gear to pull on, his kevlar, dark olive green bracers.

"Athena, keep an eye on Cadet Lasky for me, please."

"Yes, ma'am. How is the rest of Hastati doing?"

"For once, they seem to actually be working together as a unit, albeit in two separate locations." The snark oozing uncontrollably through my words.

"Oh, well, now that is a surprise. Maybe there's a blue moon tonight?" Athena jokes from her spot on a terminal to my left, a sly smirk playing on her lips as she turns slightly to face me. I don't respond, but I feel my lips curving up into a small smirk of their own.

"Hastati Squad, four minutes to rendezvous point!" Cadet Walter Vickers' voice comes through the comms, authority, and confidence brimming on every word. My gaze was drawn to a cluster of holo-screens near the far left side of the wall where I noticed Cadet Vickers was crouched down with Cadets Dimah Tchakova and JunJie Chen on either side of him, seeking cover behind a decent sized cluster of rocks. Cadets Phillip Shere and Sean Kaye were steadily clambering over the top of a rock wall just sixty feet behind them.

Back in the armoury, Cadet Lasky was struggling with pulling his chin strap for his ODST styled helmet down, his fingers trembling and fumbling with the strap for a few seconds before finally succeeding in securing it firmly under his chin. Cadet Silva grabbed three more mags from the middle shelf of the ammunition locker to attach upon her belt before quickly shouldering her standard MA5D assault rifle.

"Copy, Vickers! Time of four minutes!" Silva responds over the teams' comms as she stands near Lasky to his right, while Sullivan - who had by now pulled his helmet on - took a few steps back into the room from the door of the armoury he was once standing outside of and moved to Lasky's left side. Silva and Sullivan shifted back and forth on their feet as they stood, impatiently waiting for their fellow squadmate to finish putting his gear on.

Cadets Vickers, Tchakova, Chen, Shere, and Kaye had all regrouped and were now making their way through the thick pine trees that towered just beyond the rock wall they had all climbed up. They began dodging and suppressing covering fire from the Innies around them as well as exchanging rounds themselves with the Innies as they slowly yet efficiently moved as one solid team deeper into the woods and towards their rendezvous point. Each one of them constantly looking after the other, looking over each other's shoulders, alerting the other of an incoming Innie, calling out any incoming grenades, everything that a proper squad should do in a situation such as this.

"Well, I am impressed. Under Vickers' command, Hastati Squad is..." My words fall short as I hear Cadet Sullivan's slightly concerned voice come through the comms.

"Will you be able to shoot with those hands?"

"Now that is odd." Athena murmurs drawing my attention as she pauses the frame of the screen before her and enhances the image, zooming in and clearing up the slightly blurry picture to get a better and closer look at Lasky's right wrist. The screen that still had a view inside of the armoury to my right had been paused at the exact moment the sleeve on Lasky's right arm had ridden up a little as he securely tightened his wrist guard, no doubt having drawn the attention of Corbulo's AI who was also overseeing this mission. Replaying the video at a slower speed, my brilliant green gaze was drawn to the shaking of Lasky's wrist and not just the ugly looking blisters covering the inside of it. Evidently, the shaking of his wrist had also drawn Cadet Sullivan's attention, who then took notice to the ugly red blisters on Lasky's hand and wrist.

"Athena, do any of Cadet Lasky's medical records mention him having any blisters like that before?"

"No, ma'am. Those are fresh blisters too, you can tell by the red colouring around the blisters and the slight swelling..."

"Thank you, Athena, but you do not need to go into further details. Make a note of those blisters, please. We will have to have a talk with Colonel Mehaffey and Doctor Hughes later this evening."

"Come on!" Cadet Silva's voice brings us back to the action as we see her form disappearing through the thick, metal door to the armoury, Cadet Sullivan following on her heels shouting, "Axios!"

"Ten seconds, closing in! First checkpoint. Almost there!" Cadet Tchakova's Bulgarian accented voice yells through the comms. I bring my attention to the top left two screens of the wall, noticing the rest of Hastati Squad has nearly reached the small concrete semi-structure in the woods serving as Hastati Squad's rendezvous point.

Out of the corner of my eye on four holo-screens to my lower right, I could see Cadets Silva and Sullivan and much to my surprise, Cadet Lasky making their way up the rock face and into the dense woods, slowly working their way through heavy Innie fire. It appears that Lasky was stronger and more determined than I believed him to be.

In the background, I could faintly hear the three of them communicating as a small unit as they worked to get to their other squadmates, though Athena's and I's attention was currently drawn to the rest of Hastati on the left side of the holo-screen wall.

"Would you look at that? Hastati managed to get to their first checkpoint without a casualty."

"Do not get your hopes up just yet, Athena. Remember, that is only a part of Hastati Squad, the last three members are slowly, and I mean slowly, working their way through the woods."

"Do you always have to be such a downer?"

"I do have a slight reputation, remember? It would be rude of me not to live up to it." I joke, a rare, small, genuine smile breaking free.

"Are you... Are you smiling, ma'am? It really must be a blue moon."

"Ha ha. Very funny, Athena. I did not know that you were such a jokester until today. Come on, we do have a mission to overlook, remember?"

"Sully!" Lasky's pained cry snaps our attention back to the wall of holo-screens. Our gazes immediately flying to one of the screens directly in front of us and up two screens on the wall as we see Cadet Sullivan's motionless body splayed out on the mossy forest floor, a distinctly dark red mark splattered in the middle of his chestplate. Silva and Lasky pause in their running to look back at their fallen squad member. Everything seemed frozen in time and all sounds seemed muted as the two young adults stared at their fallen brother in arms, even the bullets whizzing passed their frozen forms seemed to cut more slowly through the air than usual.

"We have to leave him!" Cadet Silva calls back to Lasky, cutting back into reality as everything seemed to rush back into normal speed and volume. Turning away from her two squadmates she continues to make her way through the woods, determined to meet up with the rest of Hastati Squad. Running with the speed and grace few soldiers could ever wield, Silva weaved in-between large tree trunks, bullets from nearby Innies whizzing mere inches from her head and she somehow managed to miss every protruding root or rock from the ground. Lasky, however, hesitates for a few seconds, torn between staying behind with his now fallen friend or continuing on with the mission. Bullets screamed passed his frozen body, narrowly missing him more than once.

"Lasky, what the hell?!" Cadet Vickers yells through the comms, his frustration only increasing as 'CASUALTY: SULLIVAN,' flashes across his heads-up display in his UNSC specially made combat glasses in bold, bright orange text – glasses which every member of his squad wore as well.

"Come on!" Cadet Silva yells again, her voice ringing louder through the comms then from her previous position by Lasky's side as she continues to move away from him and deeper into the forest. Silva continues dodging between the trees as the Insurrectionists continue raining bullets aggressively down upon their location, the occasional explosion from a frag grenade sending dirt, small rocks, fern leaves and other plant vegetation flying in every direction.

"Lasky!" Vickers calls again, successfully pulling the cadet out of his stupor and forcing him to begin moving again. Within seconds he's caught up to Silva and together the two of them run through the thick underbrush of brilliant green ferns and bushes beneath the trees, pushing closer towards the rest of their squad and their rendezvous point. Their sense more aware of the Innies around them and their eyes constantly looking at their surroundings this time, the image of Sullivan's motionless body ever present in their minds.

"Ten seconds." Lasky coughs out as he jumps over some large tree roots protruding from the leaf and fern covered ground, bullets whizzing mere inches from Silva's and his bodies, an explosion from a frag grenade going off one hundred feet to his and Silva's left. The sun's rays shining through the upper canopy of the trees brilliantly outlines the dirt particles flying through the air, giving their dangerous situation an almost serene feel. Almost.

"Lasky, hurry up!" Vickers yells again, his patience all but gone.

"Make a note in Cadet Walter Vickers' file, Athena: That while under pressure from slacking squadmates, Vickers' patience decreases at an alarming and unsatisfactory speed." Athena gave a small hum of acknowledgment as she pulled out a tablet and wrote in Vickers' file, though it was all for show as the note had already been added as soon as I asked her to do it.

Never once taking my eyes off the screens in front of me, I move my feet so they are shoulder width apart, straighten my back so it's ramrod straight and square my shoulders, exuding the very aura of authority and command. I move my hands behind my back, clasping them firmly together, my lips closing in a grim line as I study the emotions on the faces of each member of Hastati Squad currently huddled together at their rendezvous point.

Although they are doing well and keeping an eye out for any Innie movement towards their location, the longer that their final two members aren't there, the quicker Hastati Squad seems to unravel. Cadets Tchakova and Chen start to nervously tap at their MA5D's while Cadets Shere and Kaye glance around every few seconds and jerk at nearly every gunshot and explosion they hear coming from the woods around them, explosions and gunfire that is steadily growing closer and louder. Cadet Vickers however, seems to be doing just fine. Aside from his ever decreasing patience and ever increasing anger, he doesn't seem to display any nervous ticks like his squadmates around him. He's being relatively calm, as a true leader should be in a situation such as this.

"Athena, make a note in Hastati Squad's file, please: that during their twenty-fifth mission this year their emotions are not being kept in satisfactory order. If their emotions are not reeled in or kept in line in future missions, it will jeopardize the success and completion of future assignments and could result in multiple casualties, both civilian and UNSC alike."

"Yes, ma'am. Kim, you do remember that they are just teenagers though, right? That these aren't the same type of soldiers that you're used to fighting alongside out on the front lines? That they're not nearly as experienced or as well trained as what you are used to dealing with?" Athena asks as she turns to face me on her terminal. Her ethereal white glow illuminating the holo-screens in front of her, a tinge of red bleeding into her normally white avatar showing her anger towards my harsh critiques.

"Yes, I do remember that they are just teenagers, just cadets, Athena. However, there have been children far younger than them trained for combat and war. This squad is made up of sixteen-year-olds, all from military families, in some form or another. They are more than old enough and have trained long enough now to be able to make smart, strategic decisions on the battlefield. If they want to be the best of the best as some of them believe they already are, if they truly want to be the best that the UNSC has ever seen, they need to learn to keep their emotions in check. As I stated earlier, if they do not, they will find out the hard way that letting your emotions run free in a battle zone will only end in the deaths of your squadmates, the potential death of civilians and ultimately, the failure of the mission. As it is, they have already lost one teammate due to their lack of teamwork today. If they continue down this path, they will undoubtedly lose more before this mission is over." Anger had slipped unintentionally into my words, words that seemed to speak more of personal experiences at times than simple observation.

My green gaze never tearing from the screens in front of me as I took in what was left of Hastati Squad now crouching in hiding at their rendezvous point. Realizing that the conversation was now over, Athena turns back to the wall of holo-screens, her lips pressed together firmly, her brows creased in frustration and her avatar glowing much redder than her normal white now.

"They're too close to flank and Innies never surrender!" Vickers' frustrated voice sounded as he glared from his crouched position towards Lasky who was now kneeling to his left.

"Well, Dimah and I could circle around. There's still time." Cadet Silva speaks up from her new position at Vickers' right, commenting on Lasky's newly suggested battle strategy to flank the incoming Insurrectionists and force them to surrender.

The two groups of small red triangles - one group of four on their left and one group of three on their right - showed on their radar display on their glasses. These two groups of Innies were steadily moving closer to Hastati Squad's position, only adding more pressure to an already tense situation. Dimah, who was kneeling on the ground to Silva's left and just behind Vickers' right shoulder, tightens the grip on her MA5D with determination in her brown eyes, a couple loose strands of her blonde hair framed her face beneath her helmet.

"We can make it." Cadet Tchakova chimes in determinedly in her light Bulgarian accent, briefly drawing the gazes of Cadets Vickers, Silva, and Lasky.

"Twenty-five seconds. Guys?" Cadet Chen speaks up, bringing everyone's attention back to the Insurrectionists' movement on their radars as they continued pushing closer and closer towards Hastati's position.

"It's our best move," Lasky speaks up, shaking his head slightly, hoping to convince Vickers and change his mind before it's too late for his suggested strategy to effectively work.

"Twenty seconds."

Athena and I watched, studied as we could see the look of contemplation on Vickers' face, his glasses which provided his heads up display fogging up due to the humidity of the forest they were in. We could see as he tried to work out all of the different outcomes, weighing which strategy would result in the least amount of casualties of his squadmates while simultaneously being the most effective in taking down the Insurrectionists, resulting in them successfully grabbing their target. Less than a second later the look of contemplation quickly changed to a look of determination.

"Look, we're sticking to my plan, okay? On my mark." Vickers sounds out, the cadets behind him checking their ammo clips; Cadets Shere, Kaye and Chen reloading when they noticed their old clips were low.

"It won't work," Lasky states, shaking his head in disagreement.

"You're not in charge anymore, Lasky!" Vickers yells, his temper flaring at Lasky's blatant disregard to his command.

"Make another note in Cadet Vickers' file, Athena: Walter Vickers is not fit for squad leadership in another mission if his attitude does not change. Furthermore, if he decides to head out and begin another mission with only half of his squad while leaving behind the other half, regardless of if they are ready or not, he will not lead again. Both qualities are not found in good leaders. And although he managed to stay relatively calm in an otherwise stressful situation, something that a true leader would do, he did not bother to try and calm down or ease his fellow squadmates, something a true leader would have done." Pausing, I glance at the holo-screens again, looking over every cadet before adding, "And add to Cadet Lasky's file please: that if he continues to blatantly disobey orders, regardless of who is leading the mission, harsh and severe penalties will have to be put into effect, disregarding whoever his mother happens to be."

"Yes, ma'am." Athena complies, not even bothering to put up a fight towards the once again slightly too harsh critiques.

"Tom, just do what he says." Cadet Silva speaks up, her annoyance at her fellow squadmate clear as day in her tone.

"Fifteen seconds," Chen calls out. Cadet Vickers shoots Lasky a pointed look, almost begging him to follow orders without a fight.

"They're my orders." He states, quieter this time, authority dripping from every word.

"I don't care," Lasky says before quickly wetting his parched lips with his tongue and shaking his head once more as he brings his MA5D up into position at his shoulder.

"Ten seconds!" Cadet Chen yells, urgency in his tone as he hopes that maybe this will snap the two arguing cadets into proper form again.

"Make another note please, Athena: that Hastati Squad is no longer working together as one solid unit. What they had barely started off as has now completely disintegrated. This mission will not be one that Hastati completes successfully. Again. If they even finish at all."

"Noted, ma'am."

"Axios!" Lasky cries as he suddenly leaps out from the protection of the semi-structure and into the Innie infested woods once more.

"Lasky!" Cadet Vickers yells after his fellow cadet, as he and the rest of Hastati Squad stay in position staring after their squadmates' slowly disappearing form as he makes his way through the dense forest surrounding them. Heavy gunfire from the nearby Insurrectionists immediately and loudly rains down around Cadet Lasky and every thirty feet explosions from tossed grenades are going off. Dirt, pebbles and the occasional clump of moss and vibrant green ferns rain down on and around him. The sounds of war once again ringing through the previously, momentarily, silent forest.

Everything seemed to slow down once more, all sound seemed to fade away and for a few brief moments all Lasky could focus on was running through the forest, and completing the objective, his way.

And then, after just a few short seconds of running, Cadet Lasky is suddenly flat on his back on the ground, a well-aimed bullet hitting him square in the chest, painting a bright red blotch on his standard UNSC military olive green chestplate. A small sigh leaves my lips as I shake my head in utter disappointment from my position in front of the screens. This outcome was entirely disappointing, not unsurprising, or unexpected, just disappointing. Even Athena couldn't help but rest her head in the palm of her right hand as she contemplates where to go from here with this rather troublesome squad.

"Hastati Squad leader on the field. Exercise paused." Orlin states over the simulation fields PA system.

Senior Cadet April Orenski walks out from behind a reflective semi-structure barrier on Lasky's right – similar in make and design to what had stood as Hastati Squads rendezvous point - heading in the direction of his prone form. Her MA5D assault rifle resting in a semi-relaxed position in her hands as she makes her way slowly and deliberately to Lasky's side. Rays of sunlight could be seen streaming down through the trees behind her, giving the forest an almost prehistoric feel as nothing but the sounds of her footsteps thudding quietly through the once near deafening battle-torn forest. She pauses to Lasky's right for a brief moment before turning her head to glare down at him.

"Let me guess, Lasky. You ignored orders." She states, rather than asks, anger seeping into her words. Anyone listening in to the training exercise or nearby their position could hear the clear unspoken, 'Again,' at the end of her sentence.

"Make a final note in Cadet Thomas Lasky's file for today, Athena, please: Thomas Lasky continues to show a clear dislike for following orders from anyone unless they are his own. However, the blisters on his right hand and wrist, as well as the shaking of his hands, do not seem to inhibit him in any way from carrying on with his training. For now at least. It is unclear if these blisters are elsewhere on his body at the moment and it is unclear as to how severe the blisters and his medical condition may be. However, Doctor Hughes should be consulted about these blisters and his state after coming out of cryo."

"Noted."

"It's just... Another strategic casualty, sir." Lasky pants from his position on the ground, still not having moved from where his body had landed roughly on the forest floor.

"Unacceptable." His squad leader grounds out distastefully. Her face scrunching up slightly in disgust as if the very word left a nasty, bitter taste in her mouth. Suddenly and unsuspectingly, she shifts her assault rifle into a firing position before pulling the trigger and firing off two stun rounds point-blank into Lasky's chest. Although protected by his chestplate, the stun rounds still elicit loud groans of pain from the young cadet.

"Game over." Orlin states as members of four other squads who were participating in the training session begin to move about and stand from their positions hidden in the bushes and ferns all around Lasky and Orenski. Other cadets could be heard groaning and pulling themselves up from their downed positions throughout the surrounding trees, red blotches of paint from stun rounds that had hit them marking up their armour as they slowly made their way off of the simulation grounds.

"Shoulder your weapon, cadet," Orenski states coldly. There was absolutely no sympathy towards Lasky's pain showing in her stance or seeping into her tone.

"Lasky screwed this one up." A cadet states as he walks by with three of his squadmates towards their armoury on the other side of the training simulation course. All four of them shaking their heads and snickering at their own private comments, no doubt every comment a negative one directed towards Lasky.

"Your little escapade kept Hastati Squad from achieving its objective... again," Orenski states coldly, still standing above Lasky as he occasionally rolls in place on the ground, groaning and coughing and still wheezing for breath. The stun rounds being fired into his chest from such a close proximity having winded him terribly.

"One last final note to add to the squad's file, Athena: Hastati Squad has failed their twenty-fifth consecutive training simulation. They will continue to need further training from me more so than any other squad here at the academy. Leave a message for Squad Leader Orenski on her private terminal in her quarters, we will have to set a day aside to train Hastati this week and make time slots available for further training in the coming weeks for them. Please."

"Noted, ma'am. The message has already been sent to April Orenski's terminal. Would you like me to schedule one of the firing ranges or the simulation course again for you tonight to continue their training?" She asks as she turns to face me once more, both her hands resting gently on her hips as her avatar is once again emitting a gentle, ethereal white glow. A neutral expression rests on her face as her cream coloured chiton came to a rest elegantly around her feet, making her truly look like the ancient Greek Goddess she had chosen to be named after.

"No, not today. At least not yet anyway. Wait until Squad Leader Orenski has responded to your message before scheduling either. In the mean time, we will wait and see what Orenski decides to do with her squad, and if what she puts them through is not harsh enough in my eyes, I will take over after she is done. However, I believe she will put them through the ringer today for their lack of teamwork and efficiency. She has a reputation for being tough and harsh on her cadets, I am sure she will do a good job of putting them through hell after today, hopefully, for them at least. If she does not, her squad will surely wish she had, I will not be nearly as nice or as lenient if I have to step in afterward." Pausing to watch the groups of cadets moving together through the dense underbrush on the screens before me, I draw in a deep intake of breath before adding, "In the mean time, I will be meeting up with Accensi Squad at the firing range in the outer complex in twenty minutes. Send the mission notes to Colonel Mehaffey, please and thank-you, Athena."

"They have already been sent. I will see you at the range then, Kim." Athena gives a mock salute as she tips her head to the side before disappearing from her terminal to my left and into Corbulo's system.

"Great job, Lasky," Chen calls out sarcastically as he walks by his squadmate who's only just now starting to slowly push himself up into a sitting position and leaning over to grab his MA5D from where it had landed on the ground by his feet before pushing himself up onto his feet. He stood there in the middle of the forest, his assault rifle held loosely in his arms as he continued to regain his breath, his mind wandering to the mission he had just cost his squad, and all the what if's that drifted around in his head. Other members of Hastati Squad began to move around in the forest and walking by Lasky having caught up to him from their previous positions at their rendezvous point, Senior Cadet Orenski leading the way just a few paces ahead of her squad.

"Exercise complete. Zero wins. Hastati defaults." Orlin's cold, monotonous voice draws my attention back to the holo-screens and I watch silently as Cadet Lasky slowly makes his way towards the structure that his squad leader had stepped out from behind minutes earlier. He catches his reflection on the dirty, partially moss covered reflective glass of the structure, and I watch him curiously, wondering what thoughts are running through his mind as he stands there for a few seconds. Perhaps he is wondering if his older brother would have made a similar decision or if he would have come up with a better tactic. I quickly shake my head as soon as the thought enters my mind. Cadmon would never have done that. He was a lot of things, Cadmon Lasky. He was smarter than most cadets, more strategic, had a brilliant mind for warfare, but he wasn't a rash thinking cadet or soldier. Cadmon would never have blatantly disobeyed an order from a superior - squad leader or superior officer alike - even in a training mission, such as his younger brother Thomas had done today.

"Shit. I wonder how badly The Robot and Doctore are going to lay into us this time. Thanks, Lasky." Cadet Shere's harsh voice could be heard from somewhere to Lasky's left as he brought up the rear of Hastati Squad making their way off of the simulation grounds and back towards the academy. Stirring slightly in his position, the comment seemingly brought Lasky out of his thoughts.

"Shit." He murmurs, exhaustion suddenly crashing onto his body like one giant wave, before turning and following after his squadmates and leaving the simulation field behind him.

I smirk to myself at Cadet Shere's comment, a small part of me finding joy in the fact that these cadets had some fear about me, as they rightfully should. Leaning forward slightly, I tap a few buttons on the holo-screen before me, shutting down the simulation feeds until the next user comes in before turning on my heel and exiting the simulation overview room and taking a right down a damp, concrete hallway. Slowly, I made my way towards the firing ranges in the outer complex, nodding and returning crisp salutes to groups of cadets as I passed them by, my hands clasped firmly together behind my back otherwise. As I continued to walk through the beautiful, innermost courtyard of the academy, I quickly take a sharp right, cutting behind a group of ten cadets and continuing on my way down a concrete stone path, deciding at the last minute to take a longer, more out of the way path to the firing range, opting to kill some extra time on my way to meet up with Accensi as it wouldn't take me long to get to the firing ranges.

My thoughts run rampant with new ideas and plans on how to possibly bring Hastati together, how to make them work as one solid unit as I continued on down the stone path. The sun was shining down gently between the light grey clouds which had slowly begun to move in on this lovely spring day and birds could be heard gently chirping in the trees that littered the grounds of the academy as myself and cadets made their ways to their destinations.


Author's Note: So, there we have it! Chapter two is finally up, a day later than I had planned, but I had to wait until my friend could help me edit. Hopefully, you all enjoyed this chapter! There's a bit of action here with the first training exercise, nothing too in depth yet, but it'll get there, I promise. Hopefully, it wasn't too boring and it was an entertaining read for you all! It is a bit shorter than the last chapter, but I still tried to make it a decent length. If there's anything you have to say about my story so far I am all ears and open to anything. I've also made changes to my first chapter, so if you haven't read it since it came out, go back and re-read it if you wish; nothing too major was changed, just added a few things, made things flow a bit better, that type of thing. I am hoping to have the next chapter out by Thursday or Friday. :)

I also have a Tumblr page set up for all of my stories, so that I can post chapter updates, character info, face claims, that sort of thing. If you want to check it out and give it a follow just look up phoenix-rising29

*I've updated this as of August 14, 2017.