It was 0600 when the song, "Revelry", played through the barrack's speakers. Loud. John bolted up from his dreams and hit his head on the top bunk. His face contorted with pain.
Ow…John moaned in his mind as he rubbed his head. Well…they do know how to wake someone up. It seems that the other three had the same reaction. Roach and Royce hit their heads on the bunks above them and Meat….well…he fell off the bunk while swearing, "Son of a bitch!"
John chuckled when he saw Meat land on the ground, face-first. John got off his bunk and knelt besides Meat. He extended his hand and joked, "Better get used to it, Meat. We can't afford to have you left behind due to a face injury."
Meat scowled, but he took hold of John's hand and he was pulled up. "Shut up, Savior," Meat growled.
Then a British 1st Sergeant walked up. The night before, everyone in the barracks introduce themselves to the four. This man is called Ozone. "Hurry up and get changed into your PT clothes!" Ozone announced, "We're going straight to training! MacTavish is going to do the training, so wear something that dries quickly!"
Soon, they've left the barracks and went straight to the field. John wore Marine Quick Dry training clothes. Quick Dry clothing is made of synthetic fibers that allow a breeze to go through the fibers and cool down the wearer and dries really quickly when wet. I wonder why we have to wear this kind of clothing; are we going to get wet? John wondered.
Everyone gathered in a grassy field in front of the base. John looked around and saw a collection of dumbbells besides the Task Force. John wondered why they have them there. He then saw Captain MacTavish walk to the front of the group. MacTavish wore the same kind of clothing John has. He was well built; he wasn't extremely muscular, but he wasn't skinny, nor was he too tall or too short. He looked a little bit ordinary for a man who had seen so much combat…except for his stride. The Captain moved with a slow grace as if he were walking in the moon's gravity. The scar above his left eye also shows that he has been in nightmarish combat. MacTavish stood front and center so the entire Task Force can see him.
"Jumping jacks!" MacTavish shouted. "Count of to two hundred! Ready, go." The officer started the exercise and the Task Force followed his lead.
When John was in the Marines, they did one hundred jumping jacks. This was twice the amount John normally did. His arms, stomach, and legs started to burn a little bit. Sweat started to trickle down his back.
"One-ninety-eight—199—200." MacTavish paused. He drew in a deep breath. He then walked over to the pile of dumbbells and picked up a pair of 70lbs weights. "Take a pair that you can handle," MacTavish ordered. John walked up to the pile and picked up a pair of 40lbs weights. Once everyone had a pair of weights, MacTavish yelled, "Sit-ups!" He then dropped onto the grass. "Count off to one hundred. No slacking." Then they started doing sit-ups while holding the dumbbells, this added to the intensity of the exercise.
The veins in John's arms started to bulge and his face started to turn red. He looked around and saw that Royce, Roach, and Meat were having as much stress. They were trying to do their best; they don't want to give up.
Deep squats followed. Then knee bends. Both were performed with the weights.
"Leg lifts." MacTavish continued like he was a machine. As if they were all machines.
John was reaching his limits—but he knew that the Captain would get mad if he gave up now. He tried; he had to move. His legs trembled and barely lifted five inches above the ground.
"Rest," MacTavish finally called, "Water break."
The Task Force had their water bottles right beside them. John sat on the grass and grabbed his water bottle. Opening the cap, he took a quick swig of water from the bottle. It was cold and clean. It was the best water John ever had. He put the cap back on and put the bottle down. He flopped on his back in the grass and panted.
The sun was high up now. It was warm. John rolled to his knees and let the sweat drip off him like rain. He slowly got up and looked at Meat, Royce, and Roach. They were equally as tired as John. Their clothes were soaked through with perspiration. Although they were sore, they didn't complain.
Without John knowing, MacTavish walked up to John, his shadow covering John. "Not bad for the first day, Savior," MacTavish commented. He then looked at the other three and added, "You three did well, too."
Meat smiled and replied, "Thank you, sir."
MacTavish then looked at Roach and asked, "Do you have a nickname, now?
Roach weakly smiled, nodded and replied, "Yes, sir, it's Roach."
MacTavish raised an eyebrow, curious. "And why's that?"
Roach was about to explain, but Royce beat him to it. "Gary found a huge roach on his bed. Big and nasty one, too."
"Big…and nasty?" MacTavish asked. Roach nodded, embarrassed. MacTavish gave a hearty chuckle and said, "Well, it's a creative nickname, I'll give you that." He then faced the entire Task Force and ordered, "Everyone fall in; we're going for a little hike! Bring your water with you!"
The "little hike" turned out to be a ten mile cross-country hike. They've hiked through the forest, zigzagging between trees. After hiking through four miles of forest, they've reached a clearing. John saw the East gate of the Base and gave a sigh of relief. Well…it's almost over at least. John thought. MacTavish led the men to the gate. It seemed like they were about to go back into the base, until MacTavish turned to a different direction. John's enthusiasm diminished. WHAT? ! John exclaimed in his mind.
MacTavish then led the Task Force to a river. They ran beside it until the river bended to a different direction. MacTavish then led the men through the river. The other troops waded through waist-high water and struggled to fight against the current. After wading through 20 yards of water, they finally went back on dry land. Their clothes were dripping wet and were completely soaked. For the final trek of the hike, MacTavish led the troops to the base of a steep hill.
Oh you got to be kidding me…John moaned in his mind. This is truly for the elites…
Despite the protests in his mind and muscles, John followed MacTavish as he ran up the hill. The Captain doesn't seem to be tired in any way. The Captain is one hell of a soldier... After reaching the top of the hill, John stopped and tried to get some air. After he regained his composure, he saw that at the bottom of the hill was the West gate of the base. At least, we're almost back. John ran the whole way down. Unfortunately, he tripped on his own feet and started to roll down the hill, screaming all the way down. "OOH CRAAAAAAAAP…!" John screamed.
MacTavish was half-way down when he heard the screams. He turned around and saw that John was rolling towards his way. He tried to get out of the way, but he was caught and he too joined the tumble, yelling all the way down. At the bottom of the hill, John landed face-first into the grass while MacTavish landed on his back.
"Oww…." John moaned. His groan was muffled due to the grass. He looked to his left and saw that MacTavish was on the ground as well. "Oh crap!" John quickly got up and ran to his Captain's side. "Sir, I-I'm so sorry! It was my—" John stammered before the unusual happened.
John heard the Captain gave a small chuckle. Eventually, it turned into a heartily, Scottish laugh. John was surprised and flabbergasted. "Haha…ah…reminds of being a kid again," MacTavish chuckled. John gave a small smile, knowing that he wasn't in trouble. John extended his hand and the Captain took it. Once he was pulled up, MacTavish said, "It's alright, Savior. I'm not mad." He checked the time, it was 0900. Once the rest of the Task Force was regrouped with the Captain, MacTavish ordered, "All right, it's time for breakfast! After that, meet at the gun-range at 1030."
In the military, breakfast after a workout is very important. They have to eat huge meals because they've burned all those calories. The Mess was serving trays filled with stacks of pancakes, bacon, eggs, coffee, and toast. It should last them for the entire training session. John gulped down a few cups of coffee—or maybe five cups—and ate a somewhat large meal.
Later…
Together, they marched to the gun range. On the table, there were two guns that caught John's eyes. He picked one of them up. It wasn't heavy, only 14 pounds with the magazine. It had a boxy stock and it had an oversized sighting device. To John, the weapon looked like the IMI Tavor TAR-21 assault rifle because its magazine is at the bottom of the shoulder butt, just like the TAR-21, and it almost has the same trigger guard.
"Ahhh…I see that you've found the XM25," Ghost said behind John.
John nearly jumped out of his skin. "Dammit Ghost…" John complained, "Do you like sneaking up on people?"
"Only the ones that get my attention," Ghost replied. He then pointed to the gun and asked, "Do you know what the XM25 is, Savior?" John shook his head. "Well, it's an airburst grenade launcher. It has a 25mm caliber, semi-automatic, and its maximum effective range is 750 meters. It fires 25 mm grenades that are set to explode in mid-air at or near the target. A laser rangefinder in the gun is used to determine the distance to the target. The user can manually adjust the detonating distance by up to three meters shorter or longer. The gun automatically transmits the detonating distance to the grenade in the firing chamber. The grenade tracks the distance it has traveled by the number of spiral rotations after it is fired. These features make the XM25 more effective than traditional grenade launchers at the task of hitting targets that are behind cover or dug into the ground."
A/N: I'm not lying about the weapon that was described above. I saw this in the May's issue of the Army Times, and it was interesting. There is another weapon that was mentioned in the article. You'll find out below.
John gave out a long whistle, impressed on the weapon's abilities. "What's the magazine capacity?" John asked.
"Four rounds per mag."
John put the gun down and picked up the other weapon. It looked very similar to the M240B, but it was surprisingly lighter.
"THAT, my friend, is the M240L 7.62 medium machine gun," MacTavish said when he reached John. "It is intended to reduce the weight of the existing M240B by five pounds. The resulting improvements will reduce the Soldier's combat load while allowing easier handling and movement of the weapon."
"Wow…" John murmured while putting the weapon back down. "Technology is an amazing thing." He looked at Captain MacTavish and asked, "Can I try out the XM25, sir?"
"Go ahead."
John grabbed the XM25 and a magazine as he walked to the gun booth. He looked at the rounds inside the magazine and was amazed by the size of the round itself. Damn! John thought. The round is nearly one inch in diameter. John slammed the magazine into the receiver at the shoulder-butt. Once he brandished the weapon, it felt a bit awkward. There was a target that popped right behind a low wall. He aimed at the target for a few seconds for the weapon to calculate the distance. After a few seconds, he adjusted the range three meters shorter. Tightening his grip, John squeezed the trigger. The grenade fired towards the target and exploded three meters in front of the target. Despite being shorter, shrapnel managed to pepper the target. John then aimed at the target again, this time he adjusted the range three meters longer. He fired again, and the grenade exploded behind the target. He got the same results. The third time he aimed at the target and didn't change the distance. He fired and the grenade exploded point-blank at the target. This time, the target was extremely peppered with burns and it was shredded from the shrapnel.
John removed the magazine and emptied out the chamber. "Damn…I would like to use this as a backup weapon with my ACR," John commented.
MacTavish gave out a small chuckle and said, "You might get that wish, Savior." Soon, he started to laugh, and John soon followed. John stepped back and sat on a crate, watched the other troops fire the weapons.
Later…
Soon, everyone gathered at the entrance of "The Pit" shoot house.
MacTavish looked at John and ordered, "Savior, I want you to go first. I would like everyone to see your 'adrenaline surge' ability."
John saluted and replied, "Yes, sir."
John entered the weapons stash and picked his weapons. His weapons were an ACR with a holographic sight and a fore grip handle and a USP .45 handgun. John waited at the gate and heard Ghost's voice through the speakers. "Timer will start when the first target pops."
John slammed a magazine into the receiver of the ACR and pulled the charging lever. He closed his eyes, and tried to think it was his last time at the shoot house. The adrenaline then pumped into his veins. He opened his eyes and the first three targets popped out. One was behind a low wall, one is behind a ruined car, and the other was behind a small window obstacle. John raised the weapon and moved at super-natural speeds. He fired three shots, and three targets were hit. All before five seconds have passed. He then moved to the next section. He stood in front of a concrete, two story building. In the front, nine targets popped. Two of them were civvies. Two were hiding behind a low wall, one was at the window of the first story, one was standing at the doorway, and three were on the second story windows. John managed to shoot all seven terrorist targets, without shooting a civilian.
He slung the ACR over his shoulder and switched to his side arm. He ran inside and saw that there was a stairway leading to the second floor. Five targets popped out, two of them were civilians. One target was behind a table, with a civilian behind it. The others were on John's right. John got into a stable stance and fired three shots. The terrorist targets went down. He quickly reloaded the hand gun and ran upstairs. At the top of the stairs, a target swung into the open. John grabbed his combat knife at his belt and stabbed the target. Once he got through the doorway, five more targets popped out, two were civilians. He shot the first two, and saw that the last one was in front of the ledge that leads to the next section. John grabbed his knife and threw it at the target (he has a spare knife in his boot). The blade dug three inches into the target.
John jumped down and switched for his ACR. The next section had ten targets, two were civvies. John brought his rifle back up and opened fired. He had to be extremely careful; the civilian targets were behind terrorist targets, and the ACR had a high penetration power, it could puncture through the terrorist target and hit the civilian behind it. Once the area was clear, he ran to the final section. Four targets popped out, half were civilians. The two terrorist targets were behind ruined cars, panning to the sides. John quickly shot the two targets and ran towards the end.
Once John passed the finish line, he felt the adrenaline wore off. His spine went cold. He looked at Ghost and, even though he was wearing his balaclava and sun glasses, the creases in his mask show that he had his mouth open.
"Bollocks…" Ghost murmured. "22.32 seconds…that's four seconds faster than me and the Captain! You even managed to have a perfect score and no civilian casualties!"
John wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and gave a weak smile. That's 1.36 seconds faster than the time I left in Fire Base Phoenix… John thought. He bended forward and panted; he was extremely pooped. Damn…why…does this happen every time…does this fatigue happen to my brother every time he used it…or is it because I've worked so hard in the training?
MacTavish walked behind John and placed a hand on his shoulder. John looked up and saw that the Captain was concerned. "John, is everything all right?" MacTavish asked.
John gave a wry smile and said, "Just tired…*pant*…I think the training really tired me out. Don't worry though, it won't happen again."
"All right. Can you explain the method of the adrenaline surge to these wide-eyed troops?" John looked to the Task Force and he saw that they were flabbergasted. Never once have they seen a time like the one John has.
John got up and gave a small smile. "Sure thing, Captain."
After 20 minutes explaining the technique of the "adrenaline surge," it was time to see if the men can do it. Everyone went once without the surge, so they can compare the time they did with the surge…
If they managed to do it…
John was really tired, so he sat on a crate and fell asleep…
About an hour later…
John woke up, feeling a little bit better. Sometime during his sleep, someone gave him a clipboard filled with everyone's times, including MacTavish and Ghost. He picked it up and looked through the list, looking for any major improvements the troopers did on their second time. There was a pencil with the clipboard, so he checked off any troopers that looked like that they did the adrenaline surge. While he was checking the list, he looked up and saw the Task Force was waiting for his answer.
After checking all the people that seemed to have the ability, John seemed pretty surprised. Despite only having five people that can do the ability, it was still amazing that others can do this ability. The people that can do it are MacTavish, Ghost—which doesn't surprise him as much—Roach, Meat, and Royce. I kinda think that this was no coincidence...John thought.
He got up and showed the roster to MacTavish. He then posted it on an announcement board for everyone to see. Most of the Task Force was disappointed, but Meat, Royce, and Roach felt like that they've succeeded the nearly impossible.
"Hey, for those that didn't make it, don't worry!" John tried to reassure them, "Not everyone can do it the first time, but keep training and eventually you'll get it!"
All of those who didn't make it smiled at John's speech.
John looked at the sky and saw the sun was almost setting. It was almost 1800 hours.
"All right, troops," MacTavish announced, "I'm pretty sure that all of you are expecting some kind of long speech, but I'm not the one for formalities. To make things short: you all did an excellent job!" He then faced the four FNGs and added, "You four did an excellent job, despite being your first training day here. Now, it's time to eat!"
"HOORAH!" the Task Force grunted.
Together, they went back to mess for dinner. The mess was serving spaghetti with garlic bread, Gatorade, and the troops have the choice to have parmesan cheese with their spaghetti. The four took their meals and ate together.
While John was eating, he was confused on what Ghost has said last night. Tonight, they were having a regular meal, but Ghost said yesterday it was their last time for a regular meal. "Actually, it's your last taste of a normal dinner…" does he mean that it's the last time we have dinner on a normal day?
Near the end of the four's dinner, the Captain walked up to them. "Excuse me, I would like to have a word with Savior and Roach...in private," MacTavish ordered.
John and Roach nodded and put their trays away. They've followed MacTavish to a building called "Combat Strategy Outpost." They've gone through the hallways, and went into a debriefing room.
MacTavish turned on a projector and showed a map of the Tian Shan Mountain range, Kazakhstan. "We have a mission," the Captain announced, "A few days ago, a National Security satellite went down over the Tian Shan Mountain range. The Russians managed to get the satellite and we believe that they're trying to get to the ACS module of the satellite. If they do, they'll get the key to every lock in America."
Roach raised his hand to ask a question. "Sir, where are they holding the satellite?" Roach asked.
MacTavish pointed to a section of the mountain peak, the northeastern cliff. "They have an airfield at this area; used primarily as a fueling station for their MiG-29s." He then zoomed into the area, showing a satellite photo of the base. He pointed to a hanger, south of the airstrip, and added, "Intel says that the ACS module is in this hanger. However, we need to plant 'Plan B' before we go retrieve the module." He then pointed to refueling station.
"Umm…what is 'Plan B', sir?" John asked.
"We plant C4 explosives at the fueling station just in case things don't go the way we want it to."
"Sir, why us?" Roach asked, "I mean…we're the new guys…shouldn't you ask someone that already spent some time in the Task Force?"
"Normally, I would take Ghost on missions like these," MacTavish replied, "However, I want to see you two in the field. You both have great potential in the 141, I can see it."
"So…when is the mission starting?" John asked.
"Tomorrow morning, we leave the base," MacTavish replied, "So, will you take the mission?"
John and Roach looked at each other for a brief moment and each gave a small grin. They turn to MacTavish and replied at the same time, "We'll do it."
"Good. Now, pack up and get some sleep. Dismissed!" MacTavish barked.
The pair saluted the Captain and walked back to the barracks. Once back inside, they packed up what they needed for the mission. Freeze-dried food, hand warmer patches, and they've put their ice-climbing clothes and gear besides their bunks.
After taking quick showers, the two went to their bunks.
John rolled to his side and asked, "Hey Roach, you ready?"
"Yeah…I am," Roach replied, "Not even one week has passed, and already we've got a mission. I've got faith in ya, live up to that nickname of yours, John."
John gave out a small chuckle. "Yeah…that's the life of a soldier for ya. Semper Fidelis…we're always faithful."
Semper Fi…
A/N: Well...if you can tell, the next chapter is going to be Cliffhanger. The next chapter will take some time for it to be uploaded, since I have to play the mission several times and come up with the chapter. Until then, please enjoy and leave reviews!