Epilogue: Training Day

Twenty-three of the twenty-seven marine survivors from Brakenor had been organized into a singal platoon. The other four had all received their orders and left, two saying their good bye, one who had only informed Mixer of his orders and unfortunately one had to be pulled from the Barracks kicking ad screaming. Dees and the rest of the ODSTs had also left shortly after the marines had gotten word about the board's decision, so now the platoon had the entire building to themselves. Mixer had quickly set up the platoon's table of division, she had platoon command plus command of the first section when the platoon was split in half while Donnelly took the second section. When each section broke up into it's own two squads, Mixer had first, Kostoff second, Donnelley third, and the fourth went to Sergeant Ryan. And now each squad inhabited a room meant for an entire platoon, needless to say they were happy about that..

It was oh seven hundred standard military time, but for them the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. That meant that most of the platoon was in the mess hall, sitting down to breakfast when Matt Kostoff walked in. He kept a strait face as he moved through the sea of tables, but if anyone was paying close enough attention they would have seen a little twitch of his lip, a suppressed smile. No one knew it but he was glad to see everyone mingling together, not just in their own squads. He spotted the Lieutenant, Donnelley, and Ryan discussing something at a table on the far side of the mess.

"Good morning." He greeted, nodding to each of them.

"Glad to see you're awake Matt" Donnelley said waving for him to sit in the open space next to him. "We were just discussing the training schedule."

"Yeah, didn't You say the General called us shock infantry? What does that even mean?" Ryan asked looking at the others. No one seemed eager to answer him.

"It means," Mixer said after taking a sip of coffee "that we'll have to move quickly and hit the covenant hard, most likely as a spearhead for an offensive. Other than that I have no idea what he has in mind for us."

"After what we've been through I don't think its a good idea to put us through a meat grinder again. At least not after only two months." Ryan said.

"If you step back and look at our situation clinically, it makes sense. We all had a psych eval but most of us are still here and being sent back to the front lines. Why? Even after living through that nightmare?" Donnelley said in a matter of fact tone before eating a fork full of scrambled eggs.

"They are not sure if we are fit for duty. By using us as, I'm assuming, an unofficial commando unit our stability will be challenged. If we crack we at least did it blowing the hell out of some alien bastards. But if we don't, and we survive, the UNSC still has some good fighters to use." Kostoff finished for him.

Ryan though about that for a few seconds then nodded "I can see that. So we're disposable now?"

"Weren't we always?" Kostoff asked, finally allowing himself a small smile. All four of them chuckled at that old soldier's joke. "So, training?"

"We have the Playground open to us from ten to four today, but there is a wooded area north of here that no one will be using either." Mixer said. "The big question is what do we want to do. Eric thinks we should get their blood pumping and work on their coordination in the obstacle course, and I believe that we need to be good at moving over rough terrain quickly."

"Now that I know, somewhat, what we are going to be doing I think the obstacle course is the best bet." Ryan chimed in before he noticed something behind Kostoff and stood up to check it out.

"Where is he off to?" The Sergeant asked turning around.

"This may get interesting." Mixer whispered.

Jonah Nelms looked disdainfully at the eggs as he pushed them around on his plate. He had gotten there before almost anyone else and had eaten about half of the food on his plate before he lost his appetite. Then as the rest of the platoon filled the mess he played with his food, watching it get cold thinking. He thought about eating a little more, he thought about what would be on the schedule for the day, he thought about home. But mostly he was thinking about why most of the marines from the battalion were all in one platoon. Most of the answers didn't make any sense, and those that did weren't helping his disposition. So he was happy for the distraction that Bailey offered him.

"You going to finish that?" The big marine asked.

"No." Nelms said, sliding his plate across the table to his spotter. Bailey had come in later than everyone save Sergeant Kostoff and had been covered in sweat. Now Nelms watched as he inhaled the food like he hadn't eaten in days. "Jesus John, slow down. How the hell can you even eat that much anyway?"

"I'm hungry." he said with a shrug. "I go out running before anyone wakes up, three or four kilometers out and the same back. And you know it isn't good to run on a full stomach."

"The same goes for an empty one. And I understand you need to move," He said remembering what Bailey was like cooped up on a ship for over a week, not a pretty sight."but you might want to save your energy. You never know what we're going to be doing during the day."

The marine sitting a few seats down overheard them and scoffed. Nelms read the name on his fatigues :KRAY. "'you might need to save your energy'" He mocked. "This coming from the guy who's job is to lay down and sit still?"

"There is a lot more to shooting than that. But I guess the DIs finally figured out that they couldn't teach you how to even hold a rifle properly so they told you to use it like a club." Nelms sneered.

"I can shoot just as good as you can." Kray said, his face reddening. "You, on the other hand, don't know shit about entering a building."

"I bet I could do better than you Jarhead."

"Why not put some money on that?" Someone asked from behind him, causing Nelms to jump. Looking back he recognized Sergeant Ryan quickly enough. The NCO had a smile on his face that said he wasn't joking, but at the same time he wasn't bring the hammer down on this argument. "Ok, fifty credits says I can both shoot better than you and clear a building faster."

"One hundred says that I can do each better than you." Kray said levely, staring him in the eye.

"You're on."

"Good." Ryan said turning around. "I think we have our answer Lieutenant!"

After breakfast Mixer called the platoon to the obstacle course on base that was lovingly referred to as "The Playground". The course itself was a long, flat roofed, two story building with a series of rooms filled with pop-up targets and a lot of cameras. Leading to the "front" was a small parking lot that backed up to the broken automatic doors and on the other side was a rifle range that had targets preset to one hundred, two fifty, five hundred, and a thousand meters. Off to the side of the building was a polycrete building that served as an armory and monitoring station, it was here that the platoon gathered.

"Ok," Mixer addressed the group "put simply we are going to be running through the playground for a few hours. But first, the entertainment. I will now hand this over to our master of ceremonies."

Donnelley glared at her before talking. "We have ourselves a little friendly competition. Kray, Nelms, get up here and listen. Each of you will will be given full kit and M52B armor." Nelms groaned at the mention of the heavier armor and Kray just smiled. "One of you will start in the parking lot with an M7 while the other stays here, not watching the course to be fair. You will clear the firs floor and once you reach the stairs on the far side go up and clear the second. Then you get to the roof, take the fire escape down, run to the range where an S2 is waiting and shoot all four of the targets that are set up."

"Sound fair?" he asked. Both of them nodded. "You have your money ready?" They each pulled out a bundle of credits. "Good, then both of you give it to Ryan. Now who wants to go first?"

"I will" Nelms said almost before Donnelley had finnished.

"Alright, suit up and wait in the parking lot."

Nelms worked his shoulders in the armor once more. Since the start of the war with the covenant a lot of marine units were shifting to lighter, more flexible armor. And while this did cut down on protection, Nelms was used to having only a chestplate, helmet and light pads. The M52B variant was the heavier light armor with a larger chestplate, larger shoulder protection, as well as extra elbow, knee and shin armor. While still a light armor it was much bulkier and heavier than what he was used to.

The M7 sub-machine gun he was holding wasn't familiar either. In basic he had been given an MA5B just like everyone else and once he had earned his marksman badge he tried his hand at sniper rifles. He had been told that the M7 had a lot more kick than an assault rifle and went through ammunition a lot faster. And to make matters worse, the magazine was actually put in the left side of the gun and he didn't know how to reload it properly. At least he still had a magnum at his hip, more than likely he would be using it.

He looked over at the Gunny and nodded to say he was ready, so the NCO pushed the start button on the computer monitoring the course and pointed to the door. Nelms sprinted for the door and almost didn't notice the target pop up in a window. He had to slow down almost to a stop in order to aim and he pulled the trigger, sending the target back to the ground as well as wasting six shots that missed high because of the barrel rise. With that target down he sprinted through the half open door into a dim room and almost ran headlong into a target as it sprang up. Startled, he pulled the trigger again and put far too many rounds into the target than he should have. There were still three more up in the room and he dropped them each with much more controlled bursts.

Once all the targets in the room were down he rounded the corner to the next room and dropped the three targets that were up and waiting for him. On the other side of the room was a flimsy wooden door that he had to get through, feeling speed was prudent here he dropped his weight and ran shoulder first at the barrier. He didn't break the door from it's bolt or take it off the hinges, it splintered and broke causing him to fall to the ground on the other side. Looking up from his prone position he saw five targets that were "standing" around a card table.

He aimed at the one on the far left but missed high and left, this time forgetting what he had just learned about controlling the weapon. His next burst was on target and so were the four after that. But as the last target fell and he started to pick himself off of the floor he noticed that the last target had been blocking a sixth standing in the far corner. He dropped that one and crossed the room to another door. After the fiasco with the first door he decided to open it the normal way and turned the knob.

The knob had to have been tied to some sort of trigger because as he turned the knob the ceiling behind him dropped right onto the card table in a cloud of dust. Nelms spun on his heels and saw a nearly circular hole in the above him with three more targets ringing it from the floor above. He shouldered the M7 and pulled the trigger. It coughed out one last round and clicked empty, so he dropped the SMG and unholstered the magnum on his hip. Two rounds hit the target on the right, another three hit the one in the center and two more for the last one. He dropped the clip, reloaded and held the gun ready by his head while he opened the door.

The next room was empty save one rickety looking staircase pushed against the far wall. This must be the back of the building. So he climbed the stairs and quickly rounded the banister. This room was large and open with windows lining the walls to his left and right. A few meters away from the stairs and to his left was a hole in the floor and four dropped targets, but there was nothing else. Suddenly the door on the far side opened and a target slid forward on a rail strait at him. Holding the pistol in a two handed grip Nelms put a single round in the center of the target. But as it fell another one entered the room so he similarly dropped that one as well as the one that followed it.

Nelms sprinted for the door and found himself in another long room filled with cots, much like a barracks. On the far side of the room was an archway were a target on either side of the arch would swing into the open area then swing back behind the wall. So he crouched behind one of the cots, resting his hands on the frame for stability and took aim. The target on the right swung out, he missed that shot and couldn't re-aim before it swung back. He managed to clip the one on the left as it moved and fired two of the massive rounds in quick succession in when the right one came back into view.

He reloaded and stood, moving through the arch. There was another staircase leading up, this one bathed in sunlight. Nelms ran up it, nearly tripping on a few of the steps. The roof was devoid of pop-up targets and he could see the fire escape on the opposite end. Reaching it he holstered his pistol and was tempted to slid down it's length but grabbed onto the ladder's top rung and swung himself over. It took him a while to get down and he jumped off three rungs from the bottom, nearly falling and ran to the rifle range.

He went prone immediately, and scooted up to the sniper rifle. He took aim at the one hundred meter target and hit it in one shot. On the two hundred and fifty meter he noticed that his round went lower than he had intended, but it was still a hit. On the five hundred he finally realized that he was breathing heavily from all the running and all the movement was going into the rifle. He held his breath and squeezed the trigger, another hit. With the thousand meter target he took nearly five seconds to take account of his movements and pulled the trigger one last time. To his amazement the target exploded, signaling that he he finished the course.

After reloading the rifle Nelms walked back to the armory, panting like a dog. He didn't hear what any of the others had to say. His heart felt like it was going to explode and the magnum had done a number on his wrist. Sergeant Ryan and Bailey were standing near the screen that the course's computer would display his data on. Without a word to either of them he leaned in and took in the information. A total of eighty shots fired, seventy-six in the playground and another four on the range, with twenty-six targets out of twenty eight.

"Hey, where did I miss two targets?"

"There was one behind the door by the first staircase and another one hiding under the bed in the barracks." Ryan explained. "But that was a very good run none the less. I'll be honest, you're going to give Kray a run for his money. Speaking of which, he's starting."

Nelms looked at the proverbial wall of screens and watched the Private enter the building and smoothly take out the first five targets with short bursts. Nelms had to admit that Kray was moving far faster than he had, and was checking more of the space. A wave of embarrassment washed over him as the marine ducked through a man sized hole in a door, and did his best to ignore the chuckles. The ceiling had been reset and startled Kray just as much as it had him, but Kray still had a few rounds left in the SMG and took care of the targets quickly. He reloaded, found the target Nelms had missed, went up the stairs and breezed through it. Now things got interesting when he managed to hit both the closer targets each in one shot. He missed on the thir and had to reload after hitting it. And as Nelms had done, he slowed down on the last one and hit it in two more shots.

When Kray had come back to the armory everyone seemed anxious to see his score, there was no clear winner just by watching. The Private read through his score carefully and looked at Donnelly, the only one to read both so far. The Gunny cleared his throat.

"Nelms, you had a marvelous attempt at the Playground and picked up a score of 1187 there. Unsurprisingly you did amazingly on the range with a score of 350. Kray You blew through the course faster and cleaner than our sniper with a score of 1360, however on the range you scored 175. Even if we totaled tour scores, which we aren't, you're practically tied. And since the bet was about who could do better in both challenges, neither of you won. So, by the powers vested in me by our esteemed Lieutenant, I call this a draw. Sorry boys."

Nelms looked to Kray, who just shrugged and gave a little smile that said 'what can you do?' and gave a shrug of his own. With a difference of two points total, neither of them really cared. Kray could shoot a rifle, not as well as he could but he could shoot, and Nelms had managed to almost clear a building solo. They were proud of their scores, even if they didn't say it. But the rest of the platoon was didn't seem too happy with the decision and they were screaming at the Gunny, causing the Lieutenant to get their attention.

"Ok, settle down and quit bitching. No one won so go to Ryan to collect your bets when you have time. Now we really start the day. I want the rest of you to all run the course that our two volunteers just did, solo at first and then by squad. And Donnelley," she said placing a hand on his shoulder "I think we would be facing a mutiny if you didn't go first"

Ok, so this little one was just for funzies to cap of the first section of their story. I just loved the idea of having some of them run a course, not to mention I wanted to write a little more on the action before I closed this one down.

The platoon will be back fighting on more worlds in my next story: The Lost Platoon: Shock Infantry.

Thanks for reading.