-Hey everyone, just letting you know after this Chapter you can expect some time jumps, also I'm not going to go into great detail on 'N' training, or else I'd spend 150,000 words on all of Chase's training.
N1
"Everyone shut up and listen!" the instructor yelled, getting us all to quiet down. "First off, you have no name, you have no rank, you're not enlisted, you're not commissioned, you're a number. Trainee 000, that's it. Currently, there's three hundred of you, and right behind me, roughly 50 kilometers, is the Villa, your new home for the next 180 days. Well, some of you. You have exactly 12 hours to make it to the Villa, but you should know, there's only 150 seats. First come, first serve."
At this point another, much larger looking ship landed behind us. "In that ship is your new set of armor, and you'll need it. In that jungle, you'll have to deal with some, let's say surprises. With your set of armor is a flare gun, with two shots. The red shot is if there is a medical emergency, the green is if you give up, now suit up." And at that moment we all hurried up to the ship, and even the armor they had for us, clearly used light onyx, had our numbers on it.
"Alright, there's only one rule, no interfering with other trainees, so no traps, no delaying or attacking others, you are to act as if they don't exist. And we will be watching" as he said that last bit, about three people behind him decloaked, then recloaked, as if they were never there. He rose his pistol, shot it once and yelled "GO!".
Immediately everyone ran for the woods, and when the large group reached the tree line, shots started going off towards us. They were rubber rounds, nothing lethal, but hurt like hell. That is when everyone figured out that we don't have shields, and we all scattered. I ended up by myself, and I just bolted towards the direction of the Villa.
I ended up at some sort of mock village, and walking through it shots started going off, and I ran towards the nearest building, diving through a window. I look up, and see that there's three other people stuck in this building.
"Hello" I said, getting nods from the other three, "What's the situation?"
"Well" said one of them, I recognize him, 186, "We're pinned down by a sniper. While it won't kill us, he'll definitely hurt us enough that we won't make it to the villa."
"That's not good, anyone got a plan?" I asked, getting nods from them all. "Okay, how about this, we split up, and run in all three directions, he can't have a shot on all of us."
"That's your plan? Make a run for it? Fucking hell" the other one quipped, 123.
"Well damn, let's hear it then. Cause obviously you have a better plan." I barked, getting nothing in response. "Okay, me and 186 will go right, 123 will go straight, down the side road, and 88 will go left, back towards the woods we came from." I ordered, and they nodded, somewhat reluctantly, and everyone started readying themselves.
"Okay, GO!" I yelled, and we all ran out the door, I turned right, and ran as fast as I could, not looking back. I could feel the air ripple from a shot coming by my helmetless face. I don't stop, I just keep running, knowing that 186 is right behind, making it to the other side, into the jungle.
"Well, that was close" I heard 186 sputtered.
"Just a little" I deadpan, and he reached out his hand, and I shook it.
"You know, they said we couldn't interfere, but nothing about working together." He said.
"No, no they didn't." I quipped, and we made our way through the jungle, every now and then seeing a green flare going up, and the occasional red.
"Did you see that?" 186 asked.
"See what? The flare?"
"No, I saw something out of the corner of my eye" he said, and just in the nick of time, as four flying drones came around some tree.
"Run!" I screamed, while drones were taking shots at us. These things hurt like hell, but they're too slow from being weighed down by the rubber, plus they're clearly used, it looks like they're barely holding together. Without realizing that I got a good distance between me and the drones, I see them chasing 186. I immediately climb up the tree, grabbing a branch I broke off it.
"186, this way" I yelled, getting his attention. He turns my way, and starts running. Once he gets into reach, I throw my branch at one of the drones, jumping at another, I didn't really think this through. Jumping onto one of them caused it to ram into another, knocking its path into a tree, breaking apart. I reach into the drone I'm on, and pull a handful of wires from it, making us both drop towards the ground. I look up, and see the last drone taking aim at me, and it's being peppered with rubber bullets. I look over and see 186 with one of the downed drone's gun, eventually knocking it apart.
"Thanks" I said.
"Thanks? I should be thanking you, you took out three of them singlehandedly, here." He said, passing me the gun. "It's got about 20 rounds left, plus two magazines with 30 each. You'll have to switch mags like the old days, but it'll work." I just smirked.
"Yeah, I think I'll figure it out" I said, "so, what's your name, or should I just keep calling you 186?"
"It's Lieutenant Johnson, well just Johnson now I guess, you?" he asked.
"I was Private Jarrett, but now just Jarrett." I said.
"Private, damn, what the hell did you do?" he questioned.
"Yeah, well, I broke enough records that they made a new record for records being broken in boot camp." I said.
"Uh-huh, that's a mouthful, cool."
"Yeah, how far we got left, twenty klicks?" I asked.
"Sounds about right, you good?"
"Yeah, yourself?" I asked, getting a nod. And we keep moving towards the villa. We get into about 5 km of the villa, and we see booby traps galore, falling for a couple. There's also been a lot of green and red flares near the compound, not reassuring. Looking at myself in the reflection of water, my armor is all scratched up, and burn marks on if from a particularly dangerous trap. I look over at Johnson, seeing he's tired, and at this point we're both exhausted and sweating bullets. We keep making it towards the villa, and we finally reach the very front of the Villa, and Johnson's about to make a run for the door, but I grab him, stopping him.
"What?" he asked.
"Look, there's an armed guard, and I doubt he's on our side." I said, earning me a nod. We wait about five minutes until someone came out of the tree line, making a run for the front of the compound. The guard pulls up his rifle, and mowed down the guy until he laid there, limp. I saw him grab his flare gun, shooting a red flare into the sky.
"Well, I guess we figured out where all those flares were coming from." Johnson quipped.
"Yeah, kinda."
"Any thoughts on what to do?" he asked.
"One, but it's not a very good one." I replied.
"Alright, good. I've got nothing, what's the plan?" he questioned.
"Well, you hide in this bush, and start shooting at the guy, and I try to sneak up behind him." I stated.
"Yeah, that sucks" he deadpanned, "But if your going to sneak up behind him, why do I have to shoot at him?"
"Because, I have no doubt that he has a radar on him, I'll need the distraction. I doubt this suit has a radar dampener on it." I said, gesturing at myself.
"Alright moveout, I'll start shooting in five." He ordered.
I nodded, and I moved out. I made my way to the outside wall of the compound, worming my way down toward the guard. Suddenly, fire was coming from the bushes Johnson was hiding at. I ran up behind the guard, pulled up my rifle, and just held the trigger until the guard fell limp. I ran over to him, to make sure the guy wasn't dead, and his helmet fell off, revealing his face. It was just a mech, wearing armor. By now Johnson reached me.
"A mech?" he questioned.
"Apparently, never seen one before though." I said
"Yeah, they're crazy expensive, that's why. Come on, I want to sit down in a chair." He said, and I couldn't help but laugh. Walking in, there's about 85 people already there, and a ton of empty seats.
"Go to the front, and sign in." some guy said, maybe an instructor? Anyways, we go sign in, grabbing a crappy tray of food, and a gallon of water. We just sat there, no one talked for about three hours, and about 20 more people make it in. Then in the front of the room, the same guy from the beginning, walked in the front of the room.
"107 made it, clearly they made that shit way too fucking easy, but don't worry, we have 179 days to rectify that mistake. You have about two hours, then we're going on a 25km run, try and get some shut eye. I'm instructor Eric, nice to meet ya." He said, with a wink. It was not nice to meet him. The proceeding month was absolute hell, you ever see them train Navy seals? Well, they have a thing called hell week, and it lasts about 5 days. Well, here, they have hell month, because it lasted about one month. By the end of it, there was only 45 of us left, and 5 more months to go.
"Congrats Jarrett, you can pick up your new uniforms from out processing." Eric said. "What?"
"I've never heard you say my name." I said.
"Well" Eric said, "I didn't think that you'd make it through and become an N1, but you surprised me. Good luck Jarrett." He said, walking away. So, I'm an N1. After hell month, it was a lot of intense PT, five days of it. And every month we trained on something, whether it was shooting, combat tactics, etc. You either caught on quick, or you didn't make it. In the end, only 30 of us made it to graduation. It's was intense, but I made it through. I learned a lot of new things, especially combat tactics.
"Hey Jarrett." I heard from behind me, seeing Johnson.
"Johnson, did they actually let you graduate? I didn't know they let anyone graduate 'N' school" I questioned.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep talking your trash, I know that you looove me." He goaded.
"Well yeah, it's kinda hard to not when I drag dragged your ass through 'N' training" I quipped, getting him to wave at me.
"Yeah Chase, keep talking your trash" he said, grinning at me. "Let's go and grab our uniforms."
"Okay, you get any orders yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, they're sending me to the Fifth fleet for a nine-month tour, then they're sending me to N2 training, you?" he said.
"Damn, congrats. But no, I haven't gotten any orders, but I got business the next couple days." I said.
"Oh yeah, Shepard's graduating in a couple days, right?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"When's the last time you talked to her?" he questioned
"I got a message from her right before she left for boot, but I haven't talked to her since we started training" I said, getting a nod, and we walked over to out processing.
"Here you go Lt. Johnson, your uniforms." The clerk said, getting a nod.
"And Lt. Jarrett, your uniforms." He said.
"Thank-what? There must have been a mistake, I'm not an officer." I claimed
"Chase Jarrett?" he asked.
"Yes" I replied.
"Well my records show you as a newly commissioned officer, here you go."
"What?" I asked
"Is it that surprising?" Johnson asked
"Well I was a private, so yeah." I claimed
"Yes, but this is an Officers program, so it makes sense that they make you an officer if you graduate. Congratulations." Johnson said.
"Thanks 186."
"Any questions about being an officer?" he asked.
"Is it annoying to have to deal with people constantly saluting you?" I questioned.
"Yes" he replied.
"Alright" I said, putting out my hand towards his, "I'll see ya around, stay safe."
"You too Jarret." He said, walking away. I pull up my omnitool, relieved that I finally have a connection, and book a flight to North Carolina, to go to Shepard's boot camp graduation. The flight only took three hours, a far cry of what it'd take in 2017. I went ahead and grabbed a motel for a couple of days.
Going Shepard's graduation was not fun, I was wearing my Alliance Formal wear, and it was so annoying having to deal with all the Salutes, Johnson was not joking. I was sitting in the crowd, and all the newly made Marines came in, marching in formation. Finally, after about an hour of the Marines doing their little cadence, their instructors finally gave their last orders, and everyone got off the bleachers and ran toward their respective marine.
I walked out into the crowd, and I see Shepard. She actually looked like the Commander Shepard from the games, a little younger, but still looked like herself, it was like I was looking at an old friend.
"Private" I said, walking up behind her. She immediately turned around, and snapped a salute without thinking.
"Lieutenant?" she asked, and I just grinned.
"That's Lieutenant Jarrett to you" I deadpanned, and she just socked me in my shoulder, and grabbed me for a hug.
"It's good to see you too" she said, "How'd you become an officer?"
"'N' school is an officer program, since I graduated 'N' school, I was made an officer." I said, "did you get your orders yet?"
"Yeah, I'm getting sent to the Marine attachment on the 5th fleet." She said with a grin, "I'm hunting some pirates"
"Congrats?" I asked, and as I said that I got a ping on my omnitool. I finally got my next set of orders, I'm going to N2 training.
"What are your orders?" she asked.
"I'm going to be sent to N2 training." I responded, "Come on, I know a nice little diner from here, let's grab a bite, how'd you like the food here?"
"Meh, I've had worse." She said, getting a chuckle from me, and we went and grabbed lunch at the same diner that she tricked me into going to 'N' school.
"You excited?" I asked, "just be safe, okay? I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I'll be fine" she gestured to me, "And if anyone needs to be safe, it's you."
"Me? I'm going straight to more training, you'll be seeing action before me anyways." I said, "I got you a present."
"What? What you'd get me?" she asked, all excited. I hand her a small boxed wrapped with wrapping paper. She tore into it, revealing a brand new, top of the line omnitool, I was able to get Mordin send it to me, it's borderline Spectre grade.
"What? This is amazing Chase, thank you!" she said, and I waved at her.
"Well, let's head out, I have about a week until I have to report to Luna, and 5th fleets based at Arcturus, I got us a shuttle." I said.
"Alright, what's the date? I've lost track." She asked.
"It's April 20, 2171" I stated. "Let's go, I'm a little tired of being on a rock."