SGTLEGENDKILLEЯ

Fate Twister (Redux Edition)

Act II Chapter IV

"Varo Military Academy I"

H.D. 8:32 a.m. March 3nd, 2529

D'rok sat heavily on K'an's couch. His skin glistened slightly from sweat that had accumulated from his morning exercise routine; the back of his shirt was slightly damp from this. He eased himself for several moments as his panting softened quickly as he caught his breath. After just returning from a nice jog through a nearby park, D'rok was feeling the slight nipping claws of hunger on his belly. He rested just a few more moments before standing up and making his way towards the kitchen.

He pulled out a pan and set it onto the stove top. As the stove was getting ready to heat the burner, D'rok went into the fridge and grabbed K'an's carton of large eggs. He washed his hands in the sink quickly before cracking the eggs against the edge of the pan and putting them into the already heated pan. The eggs immediately began to pop and sizzle as they whites began to solidify. He quickly pulled some seasoned cheese and began mixing that with the eggs. Soon the eggs and cheese became one mass of yellow mash that gave off quite the lovely aroma throughout the apartment. As D'rok would have figured, K'an entered the living room from his bed room. He had a slow groggy stride to his movement as he approached the kitchen area slowly.

"What are you making?" K'an asked quietly as he leaned against the counter near the coffee maker.

"I am making us breakfast so we can get out of here." D'rok replied unmoved as he stirred the eggs with a fork-like utensil.

K'an got himself a cup of coffee and then watched D'rok finish the eggs as he continued to lean against the counter. "You know… on days off you can sleep in… You do know that, right?" K'an asked as he sipped the coffee.

"I can't help that I always get up at the same time every morning."

"Yeah… Does it really have to be the same time that kids get up on Christmas morning?" K'an chuckled.

"K'an… shut the fuck up and eat your eggs." D'rok said as he slid a plate towards him.

The two ate their breakfast and left for the west portion of the city after cleaning up a bit and dressing. The two found the bus ride quite uneventful aside from their occasional back and forth banter about politics and economic stability. They soon got off on the west side of the city and started the brief walk to the recruitment office for the Zelso Military academy. The two stopped just outside of the office to look around to make sure that they were at the right spot; the offices for the Varo Home guard and the Varo Military Academy were right across the street from one another. The two ignored the potentially confusing setup and entered the Military Academy's office.

Inside the building was a welcoming lobby that held many of the flag of Varo and Zelso beside each other in multiple places in plain view. Amongst the decent sized lobby were some basic refreshments for any visitor to ease themselves with. The two ignored the empty lobby and the refreshments and made their way to the receptionists behind the counter passed the lobby. The male behind the counter was wearing a full Major uniform and armor set.

"Welcome to the Varo Military Academy recruitment office! May I interest you both in an application?" The Major smiled to them.

"Yes sir." D'rok nodded.

"Here you two go. You may have a seat in the lobby as you fill these out." The Major smiled once more as he handed D'rok a pair of data pads. "Just bring them back to me when you finish."

"Will do." D'rok turned back towards the lobby as he gave one to K'an.

The two sat a few seats from each other and began to fill out the applications. The application was just like any other generic application. At the top were things for a person's name, date of birth, and citizenship number; towards the middle was more specific things like height, weight, eye color, and so forth; and finally at the bottom were important things like addresses, experience, medical history, and other background information lines. The two took a bit of time to carefully go over the details until they were finished.

"Hmm…" K'an hummed softly. "Sex? Yes please!" He excitedly spoke softly.

"Oh my god…" D'rok muttered without looking from the application.

"What?" K'an looked over

"You are a walking cliché." D'rok chuckled in a disinterested manner.

K'an just shot a look at him.

D'rok had finished his application first and decided to wait until K'an finished his. There was a certain nostalgic feeling to all of this as this is exactly how he and K'an had joined the United States Marine Corps long before. As soon as K'an was done, the two stood and approached the Major at the counter. They handed in the applications and were told they could leave or wait in the lobby until they have been contacted by the recruitment services. The two left the building and stood outside for a moment to think what they wanted to do.

"Well shit…" K'an looked down both ways of the street awkwardly. "What now?"

"Know any good coffee shops around here?" D'rok asked thinking.

"Oh yeah, maybe we can get you one of those creamy bitch drinks that you like… what are they called?" K'an teased.

"Frappes?" D'rok looked at him funny.

"Yeah! Those crappy frappes!" He laughed almost annoyingly. "They have the whipped cream on top? Heh, more like 'fappe'" K'an jested as the two began to move down the sidewalk.

"Are you done?" D'rok asked with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Are you done?!" K'an mocked in a weird voice. "My name is D'rok and I always have to be serious." K'an gave a funny face at D'rok.

"…What would I ever do without you?" D'rok sighed.

"No idea… You still would be boring. Everyone knows I am the more interesting of us two." K'an boasted.

"Yeah? Is that why you always have prostitutes from the Red Light district? No wonder you live so close." D'rok shot back at K'an.

"Well… Shut up!" K'an stuttered slightly. "At least I get some! I never said anything about quality or quantity!"

"Oh sure! And you just get on my case for not just getting drunk and having fun with half of the

Varo female population. What a great way to think, K'an!"

K'an looked down the way that they were walking and got quite, unable to quickly think of a comeback towards D'rok.

The two ended up getting to the coffee shop and sat sipping their drinks as they waited. To pass more time they found a table with a decently large array of holographic board games with the Sangheili equivalent of checkers, chess, and more. After about an hour they both received a message telling them to go to the academy's main gate the morning of the next day.

With a shrug the two left the coffee shop and headed back to K'an's apartment. The rest of the day consisted of D'rok cooking for the two and them watching K'an's television. Before the day was over and the suns had set, D'rok got ahold of Voro and told him of his career change. Despite Voro being a tad upset that he was now losing one of his best workers, he seemed proud enough to let D'rok go. Before they knew it, they had woken up the next morning and were soon standing in the early frigid morning air at the main gate of the academy.

They both were quiet as they were tense with many conflicting emotions. On one hand they would be actually going places. Unfortunately, them 'going places' only lead to danger and possible failure at survival. They were, however, excited at this new chapter in their lives as they waited the opening of the gate; hidden under this was their mutual feeling of dread. Suddenly the door that they were waiting for turned green and was labeled 'unlocked.' The two stood and stretched slightly before entering the doorway.

On the other side of the door was a waiting room very similar to that of the recruitment office that they were at the day before. The two looked around quickly looked around as they walked up to the counter. They noticed a pair of younger Sangheili males sitting in the chairs waiting; the youths watched D'rok and K'an approach the counter. At the counter was Major who looked at them with a weird look.

"You are to remain here until the rest of your class arrives." The Major spoke. "Bags and personal belongs in the bin" He pointed to a large crate in front of the counter.

D'rok and K'an gave a quick nod to the Major before setting their things in the bin. The two went and sat on the opposite side of the room as the two youths who still were watching them for some reason. Time slowly passed and very slowly more recruits came in through the same door, dropped their things in the bin, and then sat nervously scattered throughout the waiting room. D'rok and K'an sat bored as several hours had passed; K'an actually fell asleep in the duration of the wait. After all of the waiting, the room eventually became filled with recruits. Of the recruits, they all seemed to be around the ages of 16 or 17. Some of them had some armor with them already; D'rok figured that to be family items passed down to them.

Soon a Major came into the waiting room. "Alright! I am Major Vekamee!" The Major quickly called out, waking K'an up. "Stand up from your seats and March out of that door to common room 34!" he barked.

D'rok and K'an were among the first to stand and form into a rough line with the rest of the recruits. The two were at the front end of the line and had begun moving before the rear had fully formed. The line made a brief march across a common grounds before they entered a barracks looking building. Inside were a series of many bunks and a crate for each bed. The line stopped and waited for orders. D'rok and K'an could feel that the rest of the recruits were very nervous.

Major Vekamee quickly entered behind the line and stood towards the entrance side of the building. "If you do not have any armor, step forward!" He commanded loudly.

The ones that had no armor, including D'rok and K'an, stepped a pace forward from the line.

"You are all now to go to the armory! Follow the signs!" Major Vekamee yelled as he pointed at the door.

The line of armor less recruits formed and they moved towards the armory from the common room. This time D'rok and K'an were at the tail end of the line of marching recruits. The recruits made their way into the armory where they stopped before the armory master. One by one they were all measured and given a set of matte grey armor. After a bit of confusion and some aid from the armory personnel they all figured out how to properly put their armor on. Following this the personnel explained how the shield systems worked and how to use the Assisted Combat Interface with the comm functions and other basic commands.

After all of the armor sets had been fastened on the recruits reformed a line once again. From the armory they marched back to common room 34. As soon as they returned they were all assigned bunks; K'an was a few bunks away from D'rok. Before they could get too comfortable, Major Vekamee came back in after leaving briefly and started barking more orders.

"Alright recruits; out to the skirmish field! Head out and board the waiting Shadows! Now march!" He yelled.

The recruits snapped and quickly left the common room. Outside there were a pair of Type – 29 Troop 'Shadow' Transports. The recruits boarded the large purple tinted vehicles and nestled down for the trip to wherever the sparing fields would be. Before the transports left the ground, Major Vekamee came onto the Shadow that D'rok and K'an were on.

"This is your first assessment, recruits!" He spoke loudly into his com piece so that the recruits of both Shadows could hear him. "You are going into a skirmish against common room 26 of the Zelso State Military Academy"

"What equipment are we to use, Sir?!" D'rok asked loudly, projecting his voice as any respectable serviceman should to an officer, knowing that none of the younger recruits were going to ask off the bat.

"Training weapons will be supplied at the field!" Major Vekamee answered.

"Anything specific!?" K'an asked.

"You will see once you arrive!" He shot back.

The younger recruits seemed even more nervous than they previously were as the Shadows began to hover and move. There was soft murmuring exchanged throughout the Shadow while D'rok and K'an remained silent. The two didn't blame them as they knew already that a first training op was quite stressful to those who were fresh to the fight. To make the ride more unnerving for them, Major Vekamee began to circle the Shadow.

"How old are you, Recruit?!" Major Vekamee asked as he stood by K'an.

"I am a fine young age of 27, Sir!" K'an replied as he looked up from the floor.

"Why are you joining at such an age?!"

"I figured I did not want to be a factory worker for my entire life!"

"Good to hear you have some sense in life, Recruit!" The Major nodded and continued giving the rest of the recruits similar harassment.

The Shadows continued to travel over what felt like a variety of terrain for about 20 minutes. The murmurs died out eventually as Major Vekamee gave slight harassment to everyone in the Shadow. Soon the transports stopped and the doors opened; outside looked like some sort of dense forest.

"Off the Shadow! Go recruits!" Major Vekamee yelled as he stood by the front near the doors.

Everyone quickly stood and began to flush out of the Shadow. D'rok and K'an were in the middle of the group to head for the exits. The younger recruits seemed quite nervous about this as they mostly looked around frantically as they left the transport. Sitting on the dirt just outside of the transports were several crated racks of weaponry. Inside these crates were an assortments of firearms including Type – 25 plasma rifles, Type – 51 plasma repeaters, Type – 31 needle rifles, and a few Type – 50 beam rifles.

The recruits all looked around at each other in slight confusion. They seemed to not know whether to wait if the Major would instruct them further. D'rok walked forward to the crate and quickly grabbed a load out he wanted. From the crate he took two plasma rifles, a plasma repeater, and a needle rifle. He placed the two plasma rifles on the magnetic plate on each hip and the plasma repeater on his back. K'an followed suit and grabbed a needle rifle and a beam rifle. K'an put the beam rifle on his back and stepped away from the crates with D'rok and watched the rest of the recruits.

"You will be out here for three days." Major Vekamee called from the door of the Shadow.

"Follow these two as examples as they seem to know what they are doing." He paused. "I do question whether they have room for survival equipment." The major pointed out. The recruits all gave uneasy faces as if they were between laughing and forcing themselves to not show emotion.

"Are we to devise us into teams and roles?" D'rok asked Major Vekamee.

"No. You are all going out in pairs of two!" He answered. "The entire field is open… You must, however, stay within the boundaries."

"Understood, Sir!" D'rok nodded.

As the rest of the recruits began to collect their weapons, D'rok looked over the mentioned survival equipment. Inside the equipment crates were rations, water units, and fire starter sets, along with other normal things one possibly would need for survival. D'rok pulled out a handful of fire starter and put them in his utility belt. The sets were fairly small and did not take up much space. He then pulled out four water units and gave K'an two after putting one on his belt. He then took only four rations and gave them to K'an to carry as he had the least weapons of the two. K'an placed them in appropriate and secure spots where he could carry them and waited next to D'rok as they watched the rest of the recruits gather their things.

"Listen recruits!" Major Vekamee got their attention once again. "You will meet the other group out in the field. This is an elimination skirmish, so when you are hit, your armor will lock up depending on how badly you are hit. Once your armor is completely locked you are frozen until the duration of the skirmish is finished. Once the days are complete, your armor will unlock and you are to return here. Is that understood?!" he explained.

"Yes sir!" all of the recruits answered to him.

Individually the Major began sending out groups of two. During the time that D'rok and K'an waited to be selected they got a feel for the local of the field. The skirmish field consisted of mostly very dense forest. Thick moss covered the trees and ferns heavily covered the forest floor, leaving very little variation from the numbing green that the environment was made up of. Little did they know, the skirmish field was quite large. The space was large enough to house a mock few towns, vehicle courses, three rivers, and two large lakes.

As the suns began to sink into the evening, the two had come across an opening near a large concrete building that seemed to be nothing but an empty warehouse. The two steadily made their way through the near chest high grass towards the warehouse.. On the side that was facing the field, the two used some shrubs that grew along the side of the building to make a hidden dug out. From there they would not be seen from the field or surrounding area. K'an had even positioned some shrub limbs overhead to create a roof that would cover them from above and from some weather. D'rok sat against the side of the building as K'an laid himself down flat in the dirt. He made an indentation in the dirt to rest the barrel of the beam rifle.

"Think anyone saw us?" K'an asked calmly as he watched through the scope across the field.

"No… most likely not…" D'rok sighed as he inspected the needle rifle. "We will know if anyone comes knocking."

"Heh… yeah." K'an softly chuckled.

Besides this the two did not talk much. They did draw straws to see who would stay up to watch the field. K'an would stay up this night as it turned out and D'rok ended up going to sleep later on. In the morning, after D'rok had woken, K'an told him that he had seen no one in the line of fire. The two continued to wait silently. Normally the quiet would drive people mad. To D'rok and K'an, however, this was a game; just a stage of getting the victory crown. The quiet was necessary, it added to the two's efficiency; albeit it being very boring.

Most of the morning was D'rok thinking on how they could lure the opposing teams in. If they could, it might take the pressure off of the other, lesser experienced pairs on their side. What he came up with was simple, really. What he would do would be that he would leave the dugout, go into the field under K'an's watch, and build a contained brush fire with lots of greens. This would make a large amount of smoke and potentially draw the attention of anyone in sight of the smoke stack. With the plan now set, K'an motioned for D'rok to leave the dugout.

With his needle rifle ready, D'rok began to run out towards the center of the field. Once there, he tried to pick

"Make sure no one takes me out, K'an" D'rok said over the com piece mid-stride.

"No, I was going to use you as bait. Because that was the plan, right?" K'an chuckled lightly, being the usual smartass he was.

D'rok never really figured how K'an could have such a sense of humor; He knew it was just a stress device at times, but the sheer fact that K'an's humor was engaged 100% of the time intrigued him. This didn't bother him all that much though, he would much rather go out with a smile on his face than miserable. If that was at all possible.

He soon came to a clear, brushless spot that would be ideal for the fire. He didn't want too much in the way as he had no desire to burn the whole place down. He lowered himself to a knee and held his gun tightly, he scanned the surroundings with his head just above the waist high grass level. He did not notice anyone from where his position.

"Field looks clear, D'rok."

"You sure?"

"Sure as shit…"

"Ok…" D'rok sighed. "Keep your eye out."

D'rok put the needle rifle on his back besides the Plasma repeater. The magnetic pad that held the guns against his back was only designed for one weapon. It seemed to do just fine with two smaller weapons on it as it was designed to take the weight of the shoulder mounted Type – 33 Light Anti-Armor 'Fuel Rod' gun. He had learned this from overheard conversations of weight capacity and other technical specs of the armor from warriors who would eat and talk at Voro's restaurant. It is amazing what one could learn if one used all of their senses.

D'rok began to work on the building of the small fire that he would start in order to build up to the desired roaring smoke stack that the two were hoping for. He quickly found some large nearby cluster of dead looking shrubs. He moved quickly to the shrubs as he did his best to keep himself below the grass top. Once there, he took a length of the shrub and snapped it in half with his hands. He inspected the inside of the length and found nothing but aged and split fibers. This would be good for starting a fire.

He took hold of the shrubs and one by one pulled them from the dirt; some easily broke from the root with no difficulty while some would have the give to have the root come out with them. Soon he had quite the handful of shrubbery to start the fire and so he began to drag them quickly back to where he wished to have the fire. He started breaking twigs and making a small bundled cabin like formation. Once the set was ready to go, he pulled out a fire starter from his belt compartment and set it inside after clicking activation clip. The fire starter burst into flame and began to very quickly burn the kindling that was around it. As soon as the smaller portions began to catch, D'rok began to add several larger pieces to fuel the fire. Due to their great dryness, they caught very quickly as well. The fire was quickly built up to a steady rate even before the fire starter stick had burnt out.

As soon as the fire was much larger, he began throwing just about any living plant on the fire to burn; this included everyone from grass to small bushes that he could un-root from the ground. He gathered a large enough pile of stuff to throw onto the fire that he ended up sitting before the large fire and slowly fed more to it to optimize smoke output. He kept close watch on the motion sensor on the ACI as the fire continued to burn lively as it gave off a deep column of smoke high into the air. D'rok sighed softly as he would continue to watch the fire.

Quite a decent amount of time had passed and nothing had really seemed to happen. D'rok had just been thinking of his usual concerns of future and plans in relation of the training and where they might go during their service. He hoped that they could return to Varo and life a comfortable life; he had a strange feeling that his time in the service would be rather eventful. His thoughts were interrupted by the distant sound of firing weapons. The sounds of many plasma repeaters and needle rifles rang out from the distant forest. D'rok quickly lifted himself to a kneeling position and brought his needle rifle up at the sound. He looked just over the tall grass towards the tree line.

"Horizon check, north east." D'rok told K'an in code over the comms in code; 'horizon' being code for the furthest view they could see.

"Give me a second…" K'an said softly "There is a single recruit running from the tree line. Friendly…" K'an paused. "He is booking it… The little guy is really booking it from something…"

"Ok… Let me try to reach him. Stand bye." D'rok said, lowering himself slightly to watch the recruit.

"Yup…"

D'rok quickly switched over his comm channel to local area team and lowered himself below the grass line. "Recruit. Can you hear me?" D'rok asked calmly.

"Yes! Where are you!? I require help!" The recruit's voice called out with heavy panting from his running.

"Hurry for the fire… When you get there you need to get down below the grass and wait." D'rok instructed quickly.

"I will!"

D'rok switched over to private comms and told K'an to switch to the local area team channel. He then switched back and waited for the recruit to get there. Soon the young recruit ran up to the fire and fell forward onto his arms as he threw his plasma repeater in front of him. He hardly hit the ground before he covered his helmet with his hand in fear. He panted heavily in a mix of fright and fatigue.

"Recruit. Get up from the ground." D'rok spoke calmly at a low volume.

"Y-yes sir." The recruit slowly lifted himself to his knees and retrieved his weapon.

"Are you alright?" D'rok asked as he glanced towards him from the direction he came.

"No sir! I am being pursued!" The recruit exclaimed.

"You need to keep your voice down, kid!" D'rok waved at him in emphasis.

"D'rok… I know why he was running…" K'an spoke over the comms.

"Well?"

"We have a group of 25 to 30 of the enemy group storming towards the fire…"

"I thought we were not supposed to have that large of a team…" D'rok grumbled.

"I believe they are being rallied by one of the members of the team." The recruit spoke out

quivering.

"Damn it… K'an watch out for the leader… we are going to bushwhack these guys." D'rok spoke as he moved closer to the recruit.

"Got it… I'll wait for your word." K'an said.

"What are we doing?" The recruit looked to D'rok as he approached

"We are going to hide and wait for them to get closer to the fire. Once they are bunched and vulnerable we will attack." D'rok instructed as he moved passed the recruit. "Now follow me… I know a great vantage point."

D'rok kept under the grass line and led the recruit along the very path he had traveled while getting fire material earlier. The recruit followed closely behind D'rok while keeping down as he was. Soon D'rok stopped next to a dense cluster of tall brush that he knew was too alive to be taken for burning. He kneeled down with the recruit out of sight from the approaching group. They were not very far off from the fire. In fact they had a great vantage point from where they were; they had a full frontal view of the fire but anyone at the fire would not be able to see them unless they were very trained on the position. Their grey armor was also just the right color to mostly blend against the branches of the brush.

The large group of Zelso recruits eventually came around the fire. As they moved they were looking around and scanning the field in every direction; each one of their members were doing their best to move in unison while keeping an eye out beyond their weapons. For only recruits, they were operating pretty well as a large group. They clearly were being coached or lead by one of them. The group approached the fire and looked around quizzically as they were wondering where the Varo recruit had gone.

"K'an… keep your eye out for the one in charge. Let's give them some shell shock. You're free to fire when you find him. We will fire when they get confused." D'rok spoke quietly

"Yup…"

Several of the recruits in the Zelso group lowered their weapons and looked between each other as if unsure what to do. They all lightly inspected the fire and the patted area surrounding it.

"Someone was here…" One of the Zelso recruits pointed out.

"Yes." The one of the taller ones of the bunch said. "However, this fire was planned… This is not a fire for warmth."

"Then where is the one who started the fire?" Another asked as the entire group looked at the taller one who had spoken.

"They must be here around here… Keep your eye out and we will cru-" The taller recruit was suddenly cut off by a blazing streak of white from a beam rifle round.

The speaking recruit spun off balance to the ground from the recoil of the shot. He gave a loud growl as he fell. There was only a moment for the group to realize what just happened before another white bolt struck another in the side of the helmet. The group began to scramble to try to figure out where the rounds were coming from. A steady series of bolts followed, each taking one of the members of the Zelso group to the ground with their armor locking from fatal hits. The group had nowhere to hide from K'an's sniping except for the few who were smart enough to duck beneath the grass.

D'rok, followed by the Varo recruit, stood with the two plasma rifle raised hand in hand. The two began to quickly spray the group down amidst the frenzy from K'an's beam rifle. The recruit followed D'rok's actions and helped him send as much controlled plasma at the scattered group. Between the dual plasma rifle and the recruit's plasma repeater there was plenty of blue bolts being thrown at the Zelso recruits. Several had begun to try to fire back at the location that D'rok and the recruit had been firing from, but anytime one of them stood to take a half decent shot they would be picked off instantly with a beam rifle bolt. Despite the group's numbers, they fell quickly to the cross fire. D'rok had taken the most out as K'an allowed him to be the cleanup, crutch, and suppression as D'rok picked them off. After most of them had fallen due to armor lock, the remaining five or so got up and attempted to sprint from the fire towards the distant trees. In response D'rok quickly replaced the plasma rifles for his needle rifle and carefully picked them off as they ran through the grass with some aid from K'an.

After the entirety of the Zelso recruits had fallen, D'rok and the recruit began to pull the frozen members of the opposing team to a singular area near the fire. The two carefully placed the hardly stacked pile of unmoving recruits in such a way as they would not be harmed. D'rok then took some rations and water units off of the downed recruits and had set them on the ground near the fire. He had the recruit send food and water to K'an and waited for him to return.

"He told me to tell you that he gives thanks for the food you sent." The recruit comes back as he slowed his pace from a jog.

"Thank you for taking it too him." D'rok nodded to the recruit as he sat down.

"What is your name?" The recruit asked a moment after he sat beside D'rok.

"I am D'rok Tallaham… and you?"

"Sig Valhamee." The recruit, Sig, replied.

"It is nice to meet you…"

"Like wise."

"So…" Sig started after quite a period of watching the fire. "Have you… done this before?"

"Nope." D'rok sipped water from a unit canister.

"You could have fooled me, sir… I hardly believe it."

D'rok just smiled as he drank.