Chapter 6

September 14, 2552, 0925 hours, Losantiville, Seven Hills Region, planet Mars

Team Wolfpack.

Mike looked into the bank on monitors giving a live feed of the candidates entering into an abandoned Misriah Armory building for a clearing exercise and liked the ring of the name he'd chosen for several reasons, not dwelling on the building name or the fact it was empty. It was a fitting offshoot of the nickname he'd loathed for so long- Lone Wolf. A wolf pack was a team, the antithesis of what he'd been before. This group would work as one, no loners, or big egos. The whole would be greater than the sum of the parts.

But there was another reason.

He chose it also in honor of the Alpha Company team that had been killed in action during Operation Prometheus in 2537 on asteroid K7-49. They'd been a tight group, or so he'd heard. Kind of like his team from Beta Company that had died in Op. Torpedo. He couldn't help but think of Mel again. It was curious since he hadn't thought about her in years. Was it his brief relationship with Natalia that had stirred something in him?

Indeed, he now desired more for himself then to be an emotionless killing machine. No, he'd tasted something on Reach with the headstrong woman that he would like to explore more deeply. Regret and anger tinged his memories of the captivating woman. What had at first been an annoyance towards her had become magnetic and he'd been drawn to her and her to him. They'd connected emotionally and had begun to explore the physical. Their kisses had been fuel on a fire of passion lit within. Then it had been ripped away from him when she'd been extracted during the Battle of New Alexandria. He reminded himself as the anger grew anew that she had been literally dragged kicking and screaming to the waiting Pelican and he'd almost gotten into a shootout with an ONI Security Detail but still, she was gone. She was ONI, and a Misriah. That meant privilege. Her feelings for him were now likely as empty as the building that bore her name.

So Team Wolfpack would also be a tribute to those who could speak no longer for themselves. Colonel Ackerson would be uncomfortable with it which made it that much more appealing. It was his team, he'd name it.

Now all he had to do was find the right team to fit the name.

"You sure they're ready for this?" Gunny MacGregor asked Mike.

"Has to be done," he responded calmly. Mike's focus switched from his thoughts to return to the monitor though inside he was a bit nervous. "We need to see what they got and don't have a lot of time to find it. We need to throw them out of the boat and see who can swim. Are your guys ready?"

"Oh they're ready, sir," the drill instructor grinned wickedly. "I think the boys'll enjoy themselves."

"Well just be sure it's not too much."

Adam led the five members of Rapier Team into the unfamiliar industrial building they'd been driven to in another city. Each of the seventy-five candidates from Gamma Company had been broken into their old groups from Camp Currahee. They'd been told by Gunny MacGregor that this was a shake-out exercise to get them moving tactically in an urban setting. The teams were to work through the building to the roof in this group movement exercise. There they would engage a marker strobe and a Falcon would extract them. He made it clear that there were more teams than Falcons so those completing the mission too slow would be walking back, if they could find their way, he'd added with an evil chuckle.

Not fun, but it seemed like a simple enough scenario and considering they were only three days into their testing it made sense.

Thus far everything had been done as a group and had been fairly general- physical testing, weapons testing, psychological testing, pretty routine stuff. Several of the team had become bored and started to complain that this was a waste of time. But something wasn't sitting right with Adam. There was something in the eyes of the grizzled combat veteran that made him think this was going to be far from routine. Plus they were wearing no armor save for their helmets. Their Mark II SPI Armor had been left back in the armory in their barracks. They had their helmets and wore black BDU utilities. In addition, while they carried MA5B Assault Rifles they were fitted with a laser beam projector that meant they were going into this strange setting prepared for nothing more than a glorified game of 'laser tag'.

Lovely.

Adam had tried to move in cautious bounds but Spencer had already grown tired of his patient advance and pushed ahead on his own forcing the others to keep their pace since he didn't want to engage in a simple 'walk about', as he put it. Their IFF's had lit up with green friendly tags showing at least four other teams within range of their structure. The place looked like it had been used for heavy equipment manufacturing and was a lot larger than it looked. They had no schematics so really didn't know their way. Still, Spencer pushed ahead blindly.

"Come on guys," Dilhan called out, with a bit of a whine, "that has to be Team Cutlass ahead of us."

"I am not losing to those assholes," Spencer retorted angrily. "Let's get moving. I see a set of stairs ahead."

"Whoa there," Adam tried to counter, "let's watch our move discipline, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We need to move in tactical bounds."

"Or what?" Spencer retorted, "Get tagged? This is an exercise in movement dude, RAPID movement. You want to walk back to that craphole of a barracks? I don't. I'm pushing on; you can stay if you want." The aggressive Spartan III looked at Adam and despite the visor he could tell the bigger teenager was sneering.

Maia and Alissa had said nothing but they'd stayed back with Adam.

"Come on," Spencer gestured to Dilhan, "we're wasting time."

The two pushed on while the other three from their team held back.

"What do we do?" Alissa asked nervously.

"We stick together, no matter what," Adam declared firmly. "We're a team, we don't split up."

So the three went jogging after their teammates who were already pushing up the metal stairs to the upper level.

Coming to the top of the staircase they found they were in a large two-story room that had likely been used for storage. Other than some bare shelving units and large flat metal moving trays the room was empty. As expected, the members of Team Cutlass had made their way into the room as well as the members of Team Akinaka. Each was looking for the same thing- the way to the roof.

Spencer saw the way first, "This way!" he yelled and began to sprint alone towards the door with the sign 'roof' beside it.

Before he got halfway massive flood lights came on temporarily overloading their helmet's optical system while at the same time the staccato sound of rifle fired erupted.

Four of the Spartan III's went down with screams of pain.

"Stun rounds!" Adam yelled desperately.

From above armoured figures in black Helljumper BDU's came out of hiding while more entered the storage room from the opposite end.

"ODST's!" Adam called out urgently.

Already they'd gotten to the first Spartan III of Gamma Company who'd gone down, hit by several stun rounds and began to beat him mercilessly. Another group descended on another Spartan that had collapsed and did the same thing.

A wave of panic began to grip the candidates at the unexpected turn of events.

"We can fight these guys," Spencer screamed.

"No way," Adam countered. "We have to fall back. They have stun rounds, we got nothing." The quick-thinking Spartan quickly scanned the area for some form of solution. They had no armor, no weapons and at least a dozen ODST's to contend with. He also saw his aggressive team mate stand up and begin to run to the door to the roof. He got three steps and was hit by a flurry of stun rounds. With a groan the beefy teenager went down. Adam fought the anger that welled up within him at the foolish act but got his emotions under control to try to figure something out. Someone needed to do something soon or they'd be all cut down.

Then it came to him, almost like a data upload.

"Listen up!" he called out on an open channel, to get the attention of all the remaining members of Gamma Company in the empty room, "grab the metal trays on the shelves. We're going to use them as shields to block the stun rounds. We grab our teammates who are down that we can then we fall back to here," he set a waypoint for all to see in their helmets. The nav point popped up on the Heads-Up-Display.

"Forget it!" Dilhan called out in panic, "let's just grab the shields and get the hell out of here."

"No way, we don't leave anyone behind," Adam declared firmly. "Now let's move!" He stepped out and though hit in the arm with a stun round he bobbed and weaved towards the metal racks holding the trays. Others followed his example and in a few seconds six of them held the large metal trays and the last remaining Spartan not stunned stood behind them.

"All right, we form a shield wall to provide protection." Adam had remembered one of the lessons they'd been taught at Camp Currahee about ancient Greek warriors who used this technique against their enemies.

Instinct kicked in and the Spartans instantly formed into a solid line. The action caught the attention of the ODST's on the upper deck who renewed their fire but the choice paid off as the stun rounds bounced harmlessly off the metal plates.

"Shift right as one and move forward," Adam commanded.

Plates locked together and crouching low to minimize their target the members of Gamma Company pressed forward to their first colleague who was down. Moving past so that the free member could grab a stunned female they then moved back dragging her to a place of relative safety. They did this two more times, all the while the shots of the ODST's banged off the shield wall. The third time they forayed out two of the Helljumpers on the lower level decided to charge in to attempt to break up the formation. The aggressive combat veterans smashed into the shield wall and while only 12 to 14 the Spartans had been training hard for seven years and had also been physically enhanced. Besides, they were looking for payback for the setup they'd walked into.

The first ODST pushed into the formation and while able to interrupt it that also meant his colleagues had to hold fire or risk hitting him. This allowed the Spartans the opportunity to turn the tables. Adam and Maia both swung their plates viciously at the older soldier and beat him to the ground. Two others did the same thing to the other ODST and in short order both were down and not moving. This got a reaction from their colleagues who yelled out in anger and began to form themselves for a more concentrated attack. But the window of opportunity the Spartans had given themselves through this unexpected tactic was enough for them to drag the remaining three of their stunned team mates back to their rally point. Also Adam had been smart enough to grab their weapons.

While three of the ODST's stayed on the upper level and continued to fire the remainder of the squad formed for the attack.

Adam did a quick assessment and was satisfied to see his choice had been correct. There was a door in the shadows behind them. "Okay, fall back, tactical withdrawal." He checked the counter on his weapon to see how many rounds he had while handing the other to Alissa. "Move! We'll cover your withdrawal."

The ODST's saw their intended victims slipping from their grasp so pressed forward. Alissa dropped to one knee and squeezed off three rounds in quick succession. All connected with the head of the lead Helljumper who went down like a stone. The three up top concentrated fire but the brown haired Spartan coolly shifted and another three-round burst brought the lead sniper down.

Adam kept up a measured rate of fire allowed all the Spartans to leave the room. He and Alissa were the last to leave the room and with a burst of adrenaline he twisted the door handle enough to break it off.

"What now?" a member of Team Cutlass asked urgently.

Adam took a moment to assess. Several of their colleagues were regaining consciousness despite the injuries from the stun rounds but two were still down. He could hear the ODST's trying to open the door they'd just gone through but were unable as he heard their frustrated curses. He ordered two of the bigger members of the group, "Okay, you guys carry them. The rest of you keep your shields around them. I'll take point, Alissa you cover the rear. We're going to move around the periphery and get to that Falcon."

"But the ODST's will be waiting for us," Dilhan protested.

"Yea, they will be. But we know they're out there so we'll deal with them when we find them," Adam's eyes blazed behind the visor of his helmet with determination. "We're getting to that roof and we're getting out of here together."

And get out they did. Following instinct and a circuitous route Adam led the beleaguered group finally to the roof.

Mike watched the teams extract via two Falcons from a bank of monitors back at their operations center. He realized he was relieved to see them pull out after the test. But then the deep thinking Spartan saw the Navy corpsmen come in to attend to several of the candidates who didn't make it out and had been severely beaten by the ODST's who'd been brought in to challenge the Spartan III's.

"So what was that all about, gunny?" Mike asked, angrily jerking a thumb towards the monitor.

"The lads were doing what we'd asked them to do, sir," MacGregor replied evenly, measuring the emotions of his commander.

"And did that include beating those ones unconscious?" Mike retorted. "That was going too far."

MacGregor's intense dark blue eyes showed sympathy and he nodded his head slightly in agreement. "Aye, that's true but it gave them a taste of what's out there." The seasoned combat veteran allowed the words to sink in before explaining sympathetically, "But yes, the boys went a bit overboard. All of them are back from Reach and few have any love for Spartans. We got some good data though. Look at this one," he pointed to Adam on the monitor. "Watch how he rallies the others at site three."

"You're right, I saw that too," Mike responded with a bit of a heavy heart though he was not really thinking of the assessment they were going through at the moment. That could be left for another time.

Deep down Mike knew MacGregor was right but a paternalistic feeling was creeping in. He had asked the ODST's MacGregor had brought in to push the Spartan III candidates and that they didn't have to follow the usual rules of engagement for training simulations but he hadn't expected this kind of reaction. If he'd been on the ground rather than back in Losantiville he'd have charged in and joined the fight. Something was stirring; he was already beginning to care for these teenagers. What would it be like when he'd picked his team? He'd thought the mechanics of command would be challenging enough, but the emotions? Would he be strong enough to sacrifice those he cared about for a cause greater than self?

The initial assessment went on as MacGregor shared the notes he'd made from the three locations they'd sent the candidates to and how they'd faired. There would be more tests to come but in reality the brutality of the exercise had even made him a bit uncomfortable.

Mike could see that too as the debrief wrapped up, giving him a measure of comfort. "Thanks gunny. Oh, and your guys did good today. They gave the candidates the kind of test I was looking for."

"Thanks sir," MacGregor smiled at the acknowledgement. "I'll tell 'em to dial it down a bit next time."

Spencer threw his helmet angrily to the floor when they returned to the barracks. "What the hell was that all about?" he yelled and then winced in pain from the wounds of the stun rounds he'd been hit by.

"They were testing us," Adam countered, gingerly rubbing the arm that had been hit.

"That's crap," the bigger Spartan shot back, standing over him angrily.

"No, Adam's right, Spencer," Maia said quietly. "If we're going to be part of this team we need to be ready for anything."

"Yea, do you think the Covenant play by any form of convention?" Alissa joined in unsympathetically. "No, they slaughter everything in sight so anyone going against them better be ready to do the same thing," she declared, voice rising as she thought of Reach and all the other planets that had been glassed.

"Whatever," Spencer dismissed the thought immaturely, though he knew he'd receive no sympathy so retorted instead, "This whole thing is bogus. The sooner we're done this and can dump the Lone Wolf and get to a real assignment the better."

"I think he'd be the best one to serve with. I hope I get picked," Alissa countered.

"Me too," Maia agreed.

Adam said nothing. He was thinking back to what had happened hours earlier and how he'd reacted. They'd been through lots of training scenarios back at Onyx and some pretty intense ones too but today he'd instinctively taken charge. He'd never done that before. Spencer was the team leader and had always been in charge but since leaving their training camp something had changed. The thoughtful teenager could feel his attitudes shift and confidence grow as he faced these new challenges and not only survive but thrive. He agreed with his female teammates. He'd love to serve on this new team. He just wasn't prepared to hope for it at this point, still struggling with his confidence and sense of worthiness.

The remaining member of Team Rapier had avoided the conversation and sat off to his side alone, not trying to attract attention. But Dilhan had not been forgotten by Spencer.

"And what about you?" Spencer shifted his attack from the other three to the isolated team mate. "You were going to leave me?"

"No dude, I wasn't…," he protested feebly.

"I heard it man, I heard you panic and want to run."

"It wasn't like that, I wouldn't….," Dilhan tried to explain.

"Yea? Thanks pal. I'll remember that one too," Spencer declared hotly, poking a beefy finger into the smaller teen's chest.

"Leave him alone Spencer," Adam moved over to defend his teammate. "It was a tough situation. Everyone got caught off guard. The important thing is we all got out of it together."

"Yea, thanks to you," Spencer retorted bitterly.

"It doesn't matter who," Adam replied, trying to calm the increasingly tense situation though he had to confess the angry teen's observation had been correct. While Spencer had panicked and gotten himself hurt Adam stayed calm and not only got Rapier out but the remnants of the other teams. He'd discovered something about himself others had pointed out in the past but he had never really considered since he'd been in the shadow of others- he was a leader.