SGTLEGENDKILLEЯ

Fate Twister (Redux Edition)

Act II Chapter V

"Varo Military Academy II"

H.D. 10:36am March 11th, 2529

The last week had been quite interesting for D'rok and K'an.

Their bait and switch tactic worked perfectly during the three day skirmish. The two had ended up killing the most out of the rest of their team; D'rok and K'an killing 17 and 10 respectably. Most of D'rok's kills were from the two playing cat and mouse by letting any of the enemy team come close before they would flip on who would take the shot. They held their own and found that the rest of their group pretty much charged and got slaughtered by the other team who had seemed to been with some leading members; officers might not quite be the word, but close to it. There had been two hunting teams, one of which was the group that D'rok, K'an, and Sig had dispatched on day two. The other one dissolved as they searched and searched for more targets. All without stumbling onto the trio in the field somehow. While the game was quite successful for them, somehow the evaluating Majors still found an issue in the fact that they 'had not shown care for the rest of their barracks.' Figured as well.

After their first three day skirmish, the two had found that there was an active leaderboard that would keep track of which individual trainee had the highest kill score at any given time depending on how many games had been played up to that point. Due to how the games were scheduled, three had been played so far. Every ten days a three day skirmish would start, during those three days, three other 'lightning' skirmishes took place. These lightening skirmishes were close quarters rounds that would talk place in a section of a mock town or base and only last anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours depending on if a stand still would happen.

The leaderboard was placed above the center drilling field where the barracks would assemble in the morning and evening for the rise and falling of the Varo Academy flag. As the current standings on the leader board, with the scores listing every individual's kills, how many games, and the averages based on kills divided by the number of skirmishes those kills came from. The ranking was sorted upmost by the raw level of kills and occasionally it would sort over to averages. On the top was a Titas Nalah of Barracks 27 with a total score of 35 and 3 games. Second was held by a Matik Linctan from the same barracks with 20 and 3; and finally third was held by D'rok with 17 and 1. With the currently the highest average on the board by far, there were many hushed sessions of gossip and rumors held surrounding D'rok. The officers were eager to see how well D'rok would continue to do, and the other recruits held concerns whether they would have to face him in combat.

Otherwise the two were doing well for themselves. Besides the skirmishes there were two main things that occupied their times at the academy: physical conditioning and equipment lessons. In physical conditioning the recruits were required to pretty much do everything imaginable. This ranged from basic running for lengthy times to build stamina to quite intense contact sports that were all goal oriented CTF games, or 'Capture the Point Disk' as the Majors called it. The two, being exceptionally toned and built due to their physically demanding employment history, excelled at this without too much strain.

The equipment training was probably the thing D'rok enjoyed the most. He found it fascinating to learn about the internals of all of the vehicles and weaponry used in the Sangheili military. In this there really was no actual score or grade per individual as it was more so just to familiarize each of the recruits with every possible piece in the arsenal in case they might be heading towards a position that required its use. D'rok studied hard onto everything even after the lesson sessions were over. He wanted to be on point as well as he could be. K'an on the other hand, openly mocked D'rok for his further reading and only studied the things he was comfortable; essentially anything a sniper would need.

Currently the two were at K'an's favorite station: The food hall. The recruits had all been running around for several hours all over the academy before being allowed to eat. This was the usual day to day practice. Early rise and a five minute stretch followed by near constant jogging around for however long the Majors wanted. D'rok never was really the running type, however he did seem to find that running on the legs of a Sangheili was a little easier than what it was back when he was a Human. He figured the leg structure had something to do with it. He figured that as he was now he could easily out sprint even the fastest Human athlete with little effort.

"Dude… I love this stuff!" K'an acclaimed from across the table as he took a bite of some egg.

"K'an…" D'rok sighed.

"What, bitch?"

"It's just dehydrated and battered eggs…"

"Isn't it the coolest shit though?!" K'an smiled as his mandibles pulled and chewed at the soft egg before he swallowed. "Hmm…" He looked at another bit of egg as if he was examining it. "I wonder how they get the water out of them…" K'an rubbed his chin and D'rok just looked down and face palmed.

"Simply amazing…" Sig, who sat next to D'rok, said with a face of utter disbelief. "I cannot believe how you always find the most important questions in existence to ponder."

"Yeah… But ask yourself this: If I didn't ponder the questions, then who would?" K'an smiled as he pointed his fork towards Sig.

D'rok sighed once again and nibbled at his bread, ignoring K'an for the moment as he tried to eat with his sanity intact. Sig helped distract K'an a bit. For as young as he was he fit with the duo just fine. After their first skirmish the three were essentially inseparable. They even arranged themselves as a potential kill team and moved bunks for Sig to sleep near the two. It was nice to have a friend other than it just being D'rok and K'an. D'rok always teased himself by contemplating killing K'an due to his annoyingness.

"Hmm… D'rok?" K'an called D'rok after several brief moments.

"Holy fuck, K'an. What? What do you need!? I am trying to eat!" D'rok snapped up at K'an dropping his bread on his hardly touched plate of food.

"Heavy hitters?" K'an motioned to somewhere off behind D'rok as he completely ignored how upset D'rok had become.

D'rok looked back towards where K'an motioned. There was a pair of recruits who were walking down their isle in their directions. Everyone in the food hall seemed to look up at the two as they walked casually down the row as if some saint had passed them. Everyone in the food hall seemed to be watching them as they munched their food. The two didn't seem any different than the rest except the one was larger than the average recruit and he seemed to be following the other like some sort of protectant. D'rok just shook his head and looked back to his plate to continue to try to eat his bread again.

"You must be D'rok Tallaham." A snarky voice assumed from the left of D'rok. "The one who is challenging the leaderboard?" D'rok grimaced at the voice and dropped the bread once again to his plate.

"What do you want?" D'rok asked agitatedly as he looked over at the pair standing at the end of the table who had just moved the food hall like Moses parted the red sea.

"Oh? Not a good morning for you I can see…" The smaller one cooed in a 'higher-than-thou' fashion. "I am Titas Nalah… This is my operation companion, Matik Linctan." Titas motioned at the larger recruit standing behind him.

K'an snorted softly as he uttered the English words 'tight ass' under his breath before breaking into a deep chuckle.

"Is there something funny, southerner?" Titas raised his eyebrow at K'an.

"No… Carry on, kid." K'an shook his head and looked away trying not to laugh.

Titas cleared his throat before looking back to D'rok. "I have read into you two through my sources… Quite the interesting roster, truly…" He paused. "I would hate to see such a waste of filthy migrant workers from the south." Titas sneered disgustedly. "However… I am willing to leave that be as I was quite impressed by your little… 'game' you played during your first skirmish."

"What do you want?" D'rok rolled his eyes as he was not in the mood for this.

Titas scoffed. "I did not complete my distinctions at Derfoxah Youth University to be treated as such by the likes of you, commoner." Titas growled.

"Hey!" K'an, seeing the situation quickly rising, decided to interject. "Why don't you take your university paper and go play a nice long game of hide and go fuck yourself!"

Titas seemed to twitch and Matik shifted uncomfortably behind him. "You keep your performance to a minimal in the skirmishes and leave the lead for me, filthy commoners!" Titas leaned forward and spat on D'rok's plate of barely eaten meal.

It was at this moment the food hall seemed to freeze. Everyone was watching the situation play out and were holding their breath to see what would happen. K'an instantly stood up before D'rok could react to the spit take Titas just pulled. K'an quickly approached the two and met them at the end of the table. He took the stance to fight and stood tall against the pair.

"I thought I told you to fuck off!" K'an shouted.

"Pttf. Don't amuse me, filth!" Titas sneered at K'an.

"I suggest you leave before we-"

"Matik, we are leaving. This fool is of no threat to us." Titas cut K'an off midsentence and turned on his heel to leave.

Matik moved between Titas and K'an with a wide stance, his fists balled at his sides. "Sit down, commoner" Matik boomed in a deep voice. "Sit if you know what is good for y-"

K'an decided that he would cut off the bastards as they did to him. If there was one thing he would not stand for, it was to be snipped off as he was talking. He snapped at Matik and brought his skull into Matik's face. With his thick forehead placed right between Matik's eyes, it was an effective head butt.

Matik was taking drastically off guard and fell back stumbling from the sudden strike. His tripped up on his stumbling and fell flat on his ass, leaving him looking back up at K'an disoriented and in unwilling tears of pain. Titas had jumped as Matik hit the floor and was standing there wondering if he should split of fight. K'an approached Matik from where they sat, as he did. He took D'rok's filthy tray of food and threw it down violently onto Matik's chest; the soiled food covered his front entirely. K'an continued to approach Matik when suddenly a group of Majors who usually watched the food court for disturbances stopped him.

"Recruit! Stand down!" One of them barked at K'an "This is not the place for it."

"Major! He is out of line!" Titas spoke up to defend Matik and himself.

"Silence! You engaged verbally! If you speak another word there will be correctional actions against you!" The Major yelled much in the fashion of a drill sergeant. "You two!" He addressed K'an and Matik. "Out to the sparing rings immediately!"

The Major lifted Matik from the floor and quickly escorted the two out of the food hall. The room was silent after one of the Majors ordered them to continue their food. Titas just stood there unsure of what just happened. He shook his head and left the food hall with hast. All of the recruits sat around looking around nervously.

"Shit…" D'rok cursed. "Sig stay here… I'll be right back."

D'rok stood up and made his way out of the food hall, all eyes were watching him as he exited. He jogged to the sparing rings to watch as K'an and Matik were lectured on settling their differences in the ring. One round in the ring was more than enough as it would only last until one of the two would surrender. With a sigh D'rok crossed his arms and leaned against a dugout next to the sparing ring. This might be interesting. Matik was just a bit taller and wider than K'an, however D'rok gave high doubts that Matik was even half experienced than K'an.

The two were stood up in the sparing ring and were readied for the match. The only issue was to not inflict serious injury or throw fatal maneuvers against one another. The Majors moved back and the match was called out to start. With that, the two of them raised their fist and began to move around the ring. Matik was pretty straight forward and tried to grapple K'an several times, but K'an either skipped out of the way untouched or he simply shrugged off Matik's arms.

"Wait! Stop!" K'an yelled at Matik, dropping his fists down slightly.

Matik stopped in his tracks. "You surrender?" He asked with a slight smirk.

"No! Your boot is undone! You could trip on it!" K'an pointed downward. D'rok shook his head knowing what was going to happen. "That would not be fair to you!" K'an warned and offered.

Matik stupidly fell for it and looked down at his boots to check to see which one was undone. As soon as he was distracted, K'an reeled back and sent a right hook from hell into Matik's cheek. Matik recoiled hard against the strike and simply turned on his hooves and fell flat forward onto the dirt unconscious. D'rok, as he was sinking his face into his palm, noticed most of the Majors do exactly the same as they watched Matik get completely destroyed in the sparing ring. After a few moments the Majors gave congratulations to K'an and began to check Matik's condition. D'rok noticed Titas approach him and rolled his eyes.

"Your companion is a cheat!" Titas exclaimed.

"We are not here to learn how to be fair, Titas." D'rok rolled his eyes.

"Well, this is not the last words you will-"

"Fuck off."

"Excuse me?" Titas twitched angrily.

"Would you like to end up like your friend?" D'rok turned and stood tall before Titas. He looked down very aggressively with his fists balled at his sides at the smaller and younger Sangheili. "If you wish for me to send you through the brick wall next to you I suggest you hold your tongue and walk away."

Titas seemed to cower slightly, his eyes sizing up the larger D'rok frantically. He seemed to reach a sense of himself and he backed down. He quickly backed away from D'rok before snarling 'This is not the end of this, Tallaham!' before he turned around the corner.

"Well I see that you are already making enemies." The voice that belonged to Major Vekamee spoke behind D'rok

D'rok spun quickly on his hooves to salute the Major.

"Ease, Tallaham… Forget the formalities." Major raised an open hand at D'rok.

"I apologize for the recent situation, Major" D'rok said as he lowered his stance to a more casual manner.

"You have nothing to apologize for… If the youth had spat on my meal I would have snapped his neck." Major Vekamee admitted midst a chuckle.

"It was uncalled for…"

"Yes… Very much so." The Major paused. "Do not tolerate any further issues with Recruit Nalah. Despite his distinction, he isn't hardly worth the weight of an officer his education will grant him." The Major paused for a moment. "And besides… any quells that harm him will come from his own maw. Do what you feel is necessary, Tallaham."

"Yes, Major."

"I like you. You have me reminiscing of a much younger self that I once had been. Now do me but a simple task."

"Yes?"

"Fill out a kill team request form for you and your two companions… I will grant it before it hits my desk." He smiled.

"Of course, Major." D'rok nodded respectfully as Major Vekamee turned to leave D'rok.

"Oh, and one last thing…"

"Hmm?"

"Return to the food hall and get another meal. I have already told them I would cover it."

"Thank you, Major" D'rok smiled slightly.

"Mention it not… Keep up your exceptional performances here please, Tallaham." And with that, Major Vekamee left D'rok.

An hour later the recruits were allowed a couple of hours of freedom after an hour session of 'History of Military Tactics.' The freedom hours could be used to whatever the recruits wished to do. Usually it was spent with either rest or study. Occasionally there would be those crazy individuals who fancies a nice, slow paced jog around the academy perimeter. D'rok, after being excused from the learning session due to the altercation earlier, regrouped with K'an and Sig in the barracks.

"So then he told me that I had beaten Matik fair and justly." K'an gleamed as he explained to Sig who both sat on D'rok's bunk as he was typing something on the desk next to his bed.

"But really? 'Your boot is undone?'" Sig questioned in amazement.

"Hey… he fell for it. It was funny!" K'an chuckled deeply. "Not quite as funny as when his barracks Major came over and lectured him on keeping his eye on the opponent at all times."

Sig lightly chuckled. "I have difficulty believing this… From where I was raised that would have never came into the mix…" Sig paused "Your boot is undone… my gods!"

"Speaking of which… Why have you not told us where you are from yet? We are damn near have known each other for a week." K'an questioned suddenly.

"That is because you fail to shut your flailing maw every time he goes to tell us." D'rok interjected smoothly without looking up from his data pad.

"Oh?! A funny man over there I see!" K'an spat playfully back at D'rok "So let's hear it, Sig. Where are you from?" K'an looked interestedly to Sig.

"I am just from downtown Varo. Just a block east of the Red Light district. I live there with my mother and father… although father is never around…" Sig shrugged.

"Red Light? I live there!" K'an smiled, finally finding something in common with Sig.

"Oh? Do tell." He smiled.

"Yeah, I have an apartment on the west side… It's right across from the street of this little bakery thing."

"Oh! Yes!" Sig piped up happily. "Cantino's?!"

"Yup!"

"I used to go there all the time. I love their sweet dough pasties!" Sig beamed very happily.

"No shit…" K'an smiled and nodded slightly.

"Have you ever had the pleasure of eating there?"

"No, but I do love the women of the area. Oh my gods the ladies are amazing!" K'an exclaimed a little louder than what should be comfortable. However due to a week-long of exposure no one in the barracks bothered to say anything to K'an.

Sig's smile faded suddenly "They are alright I guess…" He grew quiet as his cheeks bear a slight purple flush of color.

"Huh?" K'an asked, taken off guard by Sig's response.

"Hey… K'an… Sig." D'rok asked as he finished typing in the data pad.

"What?" K'an looked over.

"I just finished this kill team form… like we talked about yesterday and stuff. Do you think we should actually do it?" D'rok turned to them in his chair.

"Well… I guess… Why the dramatic pauses? Are we on a sitcom?" K'an chuckled like the smartass he was.

"No. If we do this it will carry over into which ever we do, whether it be regular rank or Special Operations. If we start this then we are bound together as per direction…" D'rok explained.

"What does that mean?" K'an asked.

"It means…" Sig began, now speaking with some confidence after enduring K'an's rambling. "That if D'rok and I are to move into the Spec Ops and your mouth prevents you from coming too, we cannot attend Special Operation training until the next tour of duty." Sig sneered the clever example at K'an.

"Boy, I oughta…" K'an playfully raised a fist at Sig.

"It's up to you guys…" D'rok, trying to be semiserious, spoke.

"Sure… whatever." K'an shook his head and lowered his fist.

"I'll follow you wherever, D'rok." Sig smiled.

"Ok… That only means we need a name for the team…" D'rok sighed as he wrote a few lines of permission and his signatures at the bottom of the data pad before passing it to Sig.

"Hmm… We could name ourselves the 'Silent Beings.'" Sig suggested half-jokingly as he signed his name.

"Ok, Mr. Gothic. Sure! Right after we call it 'Clan Clown Baby!'" K'an sneered as he took the data pad from Sig to sign it himself.

"Guys… A little seriousness please…" D'rok sighed; it had been a long day already without the banter.

"What the fuck do you want from me? You know I suck at naming things!" K'an pointed out and fell back on D'rok's bed after tossing the data pad onto the desk.

"Fine… I will pick something then." D'rok rolled his eyes and began to think as he picked up the data pad from the desk.

He left the two at his bed and began to make his way for Major Vekamee's quarters. His mind had ideas already as he had previously given thoughts to some names. He favorite he though was actually from him trying to remember an album of the band Pantera, which he enjoyed much of as a Human. He had trouble remembering what the last word was of 'Far Beyond Driven' and so he played with it and had some decent results. The best he came up with was actually one he thought of after the debacle with Titas earlier that day.

Major Vekamee was in his quarters sitting behind his desk reading off of his data pad like always. D'rok entered the office and approached the desk with a certain step of confidence. Once he reached Major Vekamee's desk D'rok politely placed his data pad face up and straightened himself at attention.

"What is this, Tallaham?" Major Vekamee asked as he set his own data pad down and casually took D'rok's from the desk.

"It is the kill team form you mentioned earlier." D'rok answered quickly.

"Oh? Good. I have high expectations of you three as it is. The bond you three share is that of closely knit brethren." The Major quickly looked over the form. "Do you have a name for this group?"

"Yes sir."

"Well what is it?" Major Vekamee looked up to D'rok at the ready to pen the name in.

"Far Beyond Provocation"