AHA! Another Chapter. I've taken your suggestions into account and worked to make sure that they were honored appropriately. One thing is that it feels like I'm force feeding you backstory and I don't want to do that so let me know if I should be more subtle with it.
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Chapter 2
Pitfall
"I'm surprised you haven't guess. They're Spartans."
Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose
Arthur stood next to Andre, watching as Holly loaded her rifle. The retake had been scheduled for the next day, much to Arthur's satisfaction. After all, he wanted to see what Holly would do. She was denied the three practice shots that were generally taken. But she didn't complain. After all, her rifle hadn't been used by anyone else. She aligned her eye with the scope, aligned the crosshair with the black dot in the middle of the first target and fired.
The pellet flew out of the barrel and into the paper. She smiled. The shot was perfect. The smile quickly faded though. The black dot in the center of the paper was still there. She moved the rifle slightly to the left. Her fist shot had been a 6. 4 to the right of the ten. She rolled onto her side and loaded the next pellet before returning to the prone position and aligning the next shot. She bit her lip and fired again.
Another 6, 4 to the right of 10. Something was off. She moved her hand to the top of the rifle. If she was consistent then adjusting it 4 to the left would counter any error for the rest of the test. Even if should couldn't make the perfect 300, it would still be a 292. Though it was lower than her last score, it would be something.
She grabbed the notch and twisted to find it wouldn't budge. She cursed under her breath and aligned the next shot. She bit her lip and fired again, hoping the first two was just her twitching. Another 6.
Holly was ready to break her rifle in two. The third 6 meant that, for this sheet, she had 18 out of a possible 30 for the three shots. The rifle was definitely mis-calibrated. Which meant someone had screwed with it before the match. But who? Who would want to?
She let out a heavy sigh and fired again. Her round missed the paper. 18 out of 40 for 4/10 shots at the Prone position. She took a deep breath and let it out before firing her fifth shot. Another 6. 24/50 with 5 shots left. "Why?" she asked herself, taking the sixth shot.
Arthur was smiling, watching as she took her fifth, sixth, and seventh shot. All sixes. "Well, seems she's doing well," he said.
"Petty Officer, now is not the time to be joking. She's screwing up, firing six every shot and not thinking to calibrate her weapon," Andre said, annoyance showing through his voice.
"No, she's thought about it. She just can't."
"What do you mean?"
"Her rifle's locked."
"How do you know?"
"I requested it."
Andre blinked and looked at his squad leader. "What?"
"She has a lesson she needs to learn. I requested her rifle be calibrated 8 clicks in the opposite direction of her comfort and it be locked to prevent adjustment."
"Permission to speak candidly?"
"Permission granted."
"You're an ass."
Arthur just laughed as Holly finished her last shot in the prone position. Straight sixes with 1 miss and one that could be considered a seven. That came to a grand total of 54 or 55 of 100. A respectable score. But not the one she was hoping for. And certainly not as good as her perfect 100 in the prone position when she first took it.
She switched from prone to kneeling and raised her rifle, centering her crosshair on the target in the top right corner of the paper. She took a breath and fired. Another six, four to the right of 10. She stopped, thought for a second and aimed at the next target. "Six," she said, firing and hitting the number.
She stopped and thought for a moment. She centered the reticle and aimed for the left side of the target, at the six. She took a deep breath and fired, the pellet flying through the barrel, into the air and into the black dot in the middle. She let out a sigh of relief and continued. 16/20 for the kneeling position.
Arthur smiled and stood up, starting to walk away.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"To write something down. Her final score is going to be 250 if you want me to stay to see what it is."
"No. I want you to stay because she'd enjoy you being here."
"That's why I'm ordering you to remain here until she's talked to you. And I want you to tell her that I want to see her."
"What if she runs by me after finding out you're not here."
"Then stay here until I say otherwise."
"Arthur."
"Yes?"
"You're an ass."
"So I've heard."
(Time Break)
Arthur sat at his desk, taking notes on what had happened thus far that day. His goal was to teach Holly a lesson. And, looking at his watch, he guessed he'd find out if she'd learned it or not in about 3 minutes.
He finished writing the words 'two hundred and fifty' when there was a knock on his door. "Come in."
The doorknob twisted and the door swung open as the unusually frail Spartan walked in with a look of rage embedded into her face.
"Why'd you do that to me?"
"So Andre told you."
"Yes."
"Good, saves me some breath," he said continuing to write.
She pulled back her hand and slapped him.
His neck popped as his face moved from his notes to the right side of the room. For a brief second, he just looked that way, doing nothing. The room was quiet. He moved his hand to his neck and felt it for a brief second before moving his head so that he was looking at her. "I'm guessing that the two-fifty you got upset you."
Holly blinked as he said that. "How did you-"
"Tell me. Did you learn anything?"
"Yes. That you're an ass."
Arthur closed his eyes and tilted his head downward. "Did you learn anything that Andre hasn't already said to me?"
"No."
"Then, next time, you're doing it without a scope."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Why, you-"
"And before you leave, I want you to knock out 200."
"For what?"
"Calling me an ass."
"Did Andre get push-ups."
"No."
"Then why do I have to do them?"
"He asked permission."
She swallowed and got to the floor in the forward leaning rest position. "Permission to begin."
"Permission granted."
She lowered herself to the ground and moved back up sounding off with "One, Petty Officer," as she did, continuing to do them, sounding off with the number she was on followed by Petty Officer each time while Arthur continued to write whatever it was he was writing when Holly had walked in.
Eventually, she finished the 200, neither of them saying a word outside of Holly's sounding off. "Permission to recover."
"Permission granted."
Holly got up and grabbed the doorknob.
"Don't leave. I'm not done with you yet."
She took a deep breath. Ground her teeth together and turned around.
"Sit down, you're going to be here a while."
She did as instructed.
He continued to write, taking notes on what she'd done, her reactions to things he'd said and specifically noted that she'd done the 200 without a word of defiance besides the considerably common 'for what'.
When he was done he got up, wheeled his chair around his desk and sat down in front of her. "Now, did you learn anything?" He mentally noted that her face was drenched in sweat.
She bit the inside of her mouth, took a deep breath, and spat in his face.
"I'm guessing that's a no." He raised his hand and wiped his face off before standing up. "Stay here, I'll be back in a moment." He got up and walked out of the room.
She figured she knew what was coming. He was going to get his PL. Report her. Have her stripped of her rank. Reassigned maybe.
He walked back in five minutes later. She was still there. He held out his hand, in it, a Styrofoam cup with a bag pinned to it. She grabbed it and looked inside of the cup. Ice water.
"Why?"
"You've earned it."
He walked back over to his desk and sat down, continuing to write while she enjoyed the cup of water. "So, learned anything?"
"To take things as they come."
"That it?"
"Yes."
"Well. The intended lesson was that sometimes, in unfavorable conditions, you have to adapt but that seems close enough."
She laughed lightly and finished the drink, standing up and walking to the door.
"What, you're not going to take your awards with you?"
"What awards?"
He turned to the first page of his notes.
"Navy Expert Rifleman Medal. Navy Rifle Marksmanship ribbon. Navy Good Conduct medal."
"Why am I getting those?"
"My guess would be that you deserve them. Though the Good Conduct Medal is a little bit iffy."
She smiled and walked up to his desk and he pulled the plastic bag off of the cup and handed it back to her.
"Before I forget. The scorer agreed that if you shot consistently for an amount of time and eventually started shooting 10s, he would treat the off shots leading to the 10s as 10s in lieu of you not getting any practice shots and being unable to calibrate your rifle."
"So that means that I-"
"Got your 300. Now get out of my room. At this point, you're just loitering."
"Yes, Petty Officer." she said before turning around, opening the door and running out of the squad leader's bed room as Arthur wrote down in his notes 'And so ends day 1.'
'Less hostile than Delia. Obviously. All 104/100 did was spit in her commander's face. Compare to Delia's initial response of intense force, leaving myself, Petty Officer First Class Spartan G088/059, with numerous injuries. Mostly because of a lack of willingness to respond to them. (The last sentence was added specifically for the purpose of preserving his own pride.) With time, she should become quite capable as both a sniper and a leader. The only real thing holding her back is her lack of willingness to accept that a negative event may have some positive influence. Though, it is only a matter of time before that is overcome.'
He finished his notes and put his signature on the page. Sierra 2.1 Golf 088/059- Arthur. As long as his name was, it was required by the doctor that all notes be signed with the writers name to help prevent plagiarism within the academy. Though no-one was good enough with a pen to replicate someone else's signature.
Now, all that was left, was to wait and see what the next day brought.
(Time Break)
"Andre. What's the status on Holly's Hammer?" Arthur asked his Team Leader, writing down the question he'd just asked.
"The good doctor says that another S Variant will be ready in approximately 4 Earth Days."
"Which is how long?" Arthur asked, writing down both Andre's answer and his next question.
"96 Standard Hours, Arthur."
"Holy hell," Arthur muttered, writing down the number Andre had just given him. "Look. Give her my Recon Armor. Tell her to put it on, give it a run. It's not much different than the S Variant. The only thing is that I do not, repeat DO NOT, want a re-enactment of your first time in the Hammer. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Petty Officer."
"Good. Now. Go get Delia's S Variant Helmet from her room. I want her to wear that with my Recon. It'll give her a better idea of what it's like to behind the targeting system in the Scout Armor." He wrote down everything that both of them had said, "And one last thing. The first two things I want her to do are salute and fire. And make damn sure that I have live camera feed to this room when she does."
"Yes Petty Officer."
"Now, do it."
Andre saluted and rushed out of the room as Arthur continued to write.
Holly flexed her fingers after she finished putting on the MJOLNIR Mk V-VI Custom/R Variant armor' body, shoulders, and legs. It was a bit too big for her. Alright, maybe more than a bit too big for her. Probably the reason why Arthur's first impression was that she was frail.
Her and her Team Leader Andre were in UNSC Navy Training Facility Lima. Better known as the pit. Currently, she was standing next to a wall that would slide open with motion to reveal a target shaped like some sort of strange... Brute seemed to be the word..
"Apprentice. Atten-TION!" Andre yelled at Holly before she was able to put on the Hammer's helmet. Holly immediately snapped to the proper position, her arms straight down her sides, her back completely straight. And her eyes looking directly at the wall in front of her.
"Apprentice, put on your Helmet," Andre ordered her.
She bent down and grabbed the S Variant Helmet and put it over her head. After a few seconds of nothing but darkness, the Helmet came to life, a grid covering the visor for a brief moment.
"Alright, let's start with the basics. Present ARMS!" the Petty Officer Second Class yelled. Immediately, Holly's hand flew to her visor and knocked her off balance for a brief second.
Andre laughed lightly. "Alright. Now then, next step." He walked over to the wall Holly was looking at and pushed a switch. Immediately, the wall slid open to reveal a weapons rack lined with standard issue BR55HB SR Battle Rifles. He pulled one off of the rack and threw it to her. With the Armor's increased reflexes, she grabbed the rifle, did a 15 count manual and moved the position of Present Arms.
"Did you here me to command you to spin that rifle like a toy?"
"No Petty Officer," she replied.
"Then don't. Now, if you look at your visor, you'll notice a few things. First, there's your radar. It's in the bottom left corner of your H-U-D. That's Heads Up Display. It may save your life one day so keep a close eye on it. If you look at it now, it's disabled because it's practically useless."
She looked at the bottom left corner of her screen and saw the gray circle. "Alright. What else?"
"You'll also notice a bar at the top of your HUD. That's more likely to save your sorry ass than the radar."
"How so, Petty Officer?" she asked.
Andre laughed again and walked up to her before smacking her upside the head. Immediately, Holly noticed the bar at the top of her HUD drop to half full though she didn't feel the blow Andre had just attempted.
"It measures how much Energy Shield is left between you and the enemy. When that hits Zero, you're going to want to haul as much ass as possible and take cover till it recharges."
She nodded.
"Next, bring your weapon to ready."
She lowered the Battle Rifle from her shoulder and put her left hand under the barrel.
"You'll notice a circle just appeared in the middle of your screen. That's your crosshair. Also, in the top left of your screen is an electronic ammo count and how much spare ammo you have on your belt. If you had a second weapon, it would also show that, flashing if it has a relative small amount of ammo left. Fire the rifle 11 times and put it on your back."
She fired the rifle as instructed until there were only three rounds left of it's 36 round clip before putting the semi-automatic weapon on her back. As he had said, it's icon was flashing in the corner of her HUD.
"When your weapon is at a cease fire position, the aiming reticle, ammo counter, and extra clips will vanish. But then there's the opposite. Take the ammo off of your back and bring it closer to your face."
She did as told, looking through the weapon's scope. The armor though, seemed to completely bypass the scope, removing it's blue tint. Instead, the HUD was now a circle with 2x in the lower left and without her radar.
"Advantages, you can fire more accurately. Disadvantages, you lose your radar. This is probably the most important thing you can know considering you're taking Delia's place as Sniper. This means both of your weapons will have a scope. Normally, the Hammer automatically goes to a zoom level based on a weapon's accuracy depending on how close it is to your face and how accurate it is. Thing is, your long rifle will have a second zoom level. Understood?"
"Yes, Petty Officer."
"No you don't. Despite being a sniper, you've never handled a Long Rifle in your life. The Sniper Rifle, when brought to your face will zoom in 5 times. However, there's a switch on the side of the rifle's scope to force your armor into 10 times zoom. You'll learn more when the time comes but for now, the lesson's over. Take two steps forward and remove your Helmet. We'll continue tomorrow.
She took a step forward, another step forward and stopped, raising her arms to her head and unlocking two clasps on either side of her head to slide the helmet from it's position. Something about the Hammer made her uncomfortable though. Whether it was it just being too big or just that she wasn't used to it, she didn't know. She thought of mentioning it to Andre but decided against it, deciding to talk to Arthur about it next chance she got.
"Take your time getting out of the Hammer. Our Pelican from Rat's Nest will be here in a few hours."
"Yes, Petty Officer," she said, removing the breast plate of her Hammer.
"Tip. It's faster if you start with the shoulders. That way you can just slide your arms through the holes in the body."
"Thank you Petty Officer."
Alright. Not very talkative. Oddly. "And one more thing. The Good Doctor is working on a new Long Rifle based on Forerunner technology found in the Shield World. Play your cards right and you might be the first to test it."
"Yes, Petty Officer."
Andre let out a heavy sigh. Can't get this girl to speak for the world. He turned around and walked towards the fence that separated them from two Troop Transport Warthogs and a landing pad for a Pelican dropship. Any time between now and when it came, Arthur would contact him. Ask him how it went. Probably give an order to tell Holly that he wanted to see her. And at that point, the session was over with nothing else that can be done without forcing Arthur into writing a second report.
(Time Break)
"Arthur, may I ask you a question?" the frail Spartan said, looking at her squad leader.
"If you couldn't, then I wouldn't be a very good squad leader, would I?" he replied, writing down the conversation as it passed.
"I noticed that the Hammer was a little bit..."
"Uncomfortable?" Arthur finished.
"Yes."
"Happens every time. Especially to those who are claustrophobic and trying it out for the first time. A strange mix of feeling restraint and feeling freedom. It's nothing to worry about. The more time you spend in the Hammer, you more like part of you it'll feel. Eventually, you won't even notice."
"Ok. Thank you Arthur."
"No problem. Now get out of here. You'll need your rest for tomorrow."
Holly nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Arthur there writing.
And thus ends Day 2. Holly is learning to use her Hammer though I doubt she'll master it in time to be able to fight effectively while wearing it. The good doctor has yet to get back to me with a report on the Flood's new behavioral scans though I can assume that whatever results she gets will not be good.
(Time Break)
He signed the notes with his standard Sierra 2.1 Golf 088/059 - Arthur before closing his notepad and standing up. He closed his eyes and did nothing. Just like when Delia died.
Doctor Catherine Halsey sat at her desk, writing. The Flood was a strange and confusing virus but there had to be a cure. And she'd find it if it was the last thing she did. After all, it was probably the redemption she needed at damning her children.
She shook her head to clear her mind. "It was necessary," she told herself. She remembered the 150 of them under CPO Mendez. Learning all they could from him. She remembered most of them dying when going through the augmentations. And lastly, she remembered the Shield World and the few of them that were there.
Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose had made sure that no-one followed them. But no-one knew if they'd find a way out. After three years of being trapped in the Dyson Sphere, they found a way. A device left by the Forerunner. But it took longer to figure out what it did. Three more years and it became clear that if they were to get back to humanity, they would need more than one generation.
The first born were considered the strangest. They weighed anywhere in between 40 and 50 pounds, most of which being pure metal. They were, all in all, newborn Spartans. Born with most of the augmentations before receiving any of the training. And so they were trained.
With time, one of them helping the doctor figured out the device. It was a Slipstream Space generator capable of opening a hole to one of 6 Specific locations within the galaxy and one outside of it. They chose the closest to Earth. It was Installation 01, a Halo ring.
While they did find Forerunner technology and materials to begin a ship to start towards Earth, they also wound up releasing the Flood Infestation held on that ring. And that was how it began.
The good doctor cleared her head and took down four more words before leaving, whistling the four note tone everyone who was training knew.
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Alright. In the past few chapters, I've made a few changes. First, I've changed Arthur's designation. In my 2 pages of notes, I had it listed as 059 - the seventh to graduate from Basic Training - instead of 090 - the 39th. This is a major error as that would make Arthur the third most senior member of his squad and the first highest ranking. Also, I've fixed time breaks so that it is less confusing for the reader.
One thing I want to address before it's revealed in the story as to limit confusion. Basic Training for Newborn Spartans started after encountering the flood. And just because Arthur was the 7th Spartan to finish doesn't mean that he was 7th one born. This will come up later as the main character to be will have an older brother with a designation of 188 while his designation is 118.
Also, some ages, to let you know the spectrum for the moment. The youngest character so far is John, who is roughly 4 or 5. Next is Holly at between 13 and 15. Followed by Andre at 16, and finally Arthur at 19. Arthur's squad leader lacked a designation as he was born pre-basic training. However, he was 22 at the time of death. Delia was 17 at the time of death. (Deleted for possible spoiler.)
I don't own Halo. I do own Delia, Holly, Andre and Arthur.
Update Zone: 16 Jan 2008 to 23 Jan 2008