Boot Camp

"Get your fucking ass off the floor and keep running you god damned dung beetle!" That's my lovely drill sergeant. Have I mentioned how nice of a guy he is, that is unless you're a trainee in boot camp. Yeah, right now he's in the back, yelling at someone who's having a hard time keeping up. I'm pretty sure 'dung beetle' is a new one, but I swear to god our drill instructors have the largest vocabulary in existence.

So, boot camp, fun, eh? Not really, but I'm surprised none the less. Physically speaking, it's a lot easier than I expected, and I'm always ahead of everyone when it comes down to it, but now everyone calls me 'ace', and the drill instructors started it. And this light armor they have us wear, surprising comfortable. I guess I'm the only one that got the pain threshold mod though, because everyone I talked to didn't bother with it. And now that I had time to think about it, it's like cheating. Look at it like this, my muscles almost never feel pain from exercising, sound familiar? I'm basically have steroids, well something very similar to steroids, just minus the bad side effects, fortunately.

It's Sunday now, and I've been here four weeks now. I finally get to call Shep, honestly talking to her is what is getting me through this, mentally speaking. On the first call home, I had to ask about the kiss she gave me, it was just bugging me, and I had to know. She swears that it was for good luck, and nothing else. I'm not sure if I should be offended or relieved about that. I get to call her now, I hope she picks up, I'm about 2 hours earlier than usual, hopefully I'm not interrupting. I dial her omnitool, and about 5 rings in she picks up. Once she picks up I can hear someone in the background, stopping her from speaking.

"This is the guy you've been living with? He's hot." Said the voice.

"I agree, I'm an attractive person, I'm one hell of a catch." I dead panned, catching Shepard in an awkward situation, and getting the attention of the other person in my apartment.

"Sam, you got to go, I talk to you later." Shepard said, pushing her friend out of the apartment.

"Hey Cass, who's your friend, I kinda like her, she seems smart."

"Her names Sam, she's a friend from school." She said.

"Ah, you brought a girl home. Not gonna lie, didn't know you swing that way. But I don't judge, whatever floats your boat." I deadpanned, making her eyes go wide. This is too easy.

"WHAT? NO! I'm not into girls!" She exclaimed.

"Okay, just… aliens then? Because I know you've never brought a boy home." I replied.

"NO, No, I like guys." She said, all the while I'm giving her a look. "Human guys."

"I'm just pulling your chain Shep, so on that subject, any guys you like? I could give you some advice" I said.

"You? Give me advice? I love ya Chase, but you lack most proper social skills. And since you asked, there is one guy I might fancy a little bit." She bantered.

"Oh, straight for the heart" I replied, grasping my chest. "Even if it's true. But come on, give me some details on this mystery guy."

"Nope."

"Oh, come on. Don't leave me hanging." I said.

"Keep asking all you want, but I won't relent." She said. "But on a different note, has the food gotten any better?"

"No." I sighed.

"Still bad?" she asked.

"No, I wouldn't say bad. If you say that, it kind of insinuates that they at least tried to make it edible, they grab this slop from the depths of hell." She couldn't help but laugh her ass off at that. "Keep laughing Shepard, you'll be dealing with this a year from now too."

"Well at least I have a year to prepare." She said, massive grin on her face. "Break any records yet?"

"I wouldn't have a clue." I replied.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"They don't reveal if any records are broken until graduation ceremony, probably don't want it to go to our heads." She just nods to my explanation. I look at the time, and see I only have one-minute left. "Alright, times up, I talk to you later, stay safe okay?

"Yeah you too, bye!" She said, vid screen going blank.

Sundays are pretty easy days, we don't do much, they have us 'study' so we can be prepared for the test at the end of boot camp. I've read that book 5 times already, I'm pretty sure I can recite it word for word now. Come tomorrow we're heading up to the shooting range. They finally yell lights out and tell us to get to bed. The first week no one talked at night, they were way too scared. Now? They won't shut up. It's the same topic every night too, girls. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it, but three weeks of the same stuff is getting to be a bit much. And it's the same person who starts it every night, Escoto.

"Damn, Jacks, I saw the finest girl today." Escoto started.

"Oh yeah, what's her name?" Jacks replied.

"No idea, but I think I'm in love." Escoto exclaimed.

"Well at least describe her." Someone butted in.

"Alright listen here. Body was smokin, one of the best I've seen, perfect proportions, but fit as well. She's probably 5'6, not short, but not tall. She is beautiful, a little bit of freckles on her face, but not too much. Some shoulder length red hair." This is when he caught my attention. It was like he was describing Shepard to a tee. "And some real green eyes. I bet she knows how to work it in bed, if ya know what I mean. Oh, Ace, you gotta tell me, you hitting that green eyes of yours?" he asked.

I was looking at him, and he was staring dead at me, and I just snapped. I jump off my bunk and head straight for him. He does the same, reading himself for me. I knew he didn't like me, but he just crossed the damn line. I jumped at him, dodging his right hook, grabbing his head and slamming it against his bunk. He tried to recover, but it was too dark for him to see, and he doesn't have a good memory, and I memorized the lay out. I grab him, make him trip, and I slammed on his arm while on the floor, hearing a snap. At that point, I look at him, and look around, I know I can barely see them, but they're looking at me.

"The next person who tries and brings her up, is getting a lot worse than a broken arm." I threatened. I walked back to my bunk, steamed, and tried to go back to sleep. I could hear his friend pick him up and carry him out, taking him to the clinic. I quickly fell asleep, knowing the fact that I'm going to wish I never did that come morning. Well, morning eventually came, and the reveille started blaring, and everyone started getting ready and making our beds. Our drill sergeant called us all to the day room, it's a meeting room with a bunch of chairs that we're not allowed to sit in.

"Everyone sit down and shut up. Apparently, you people don't know that you could hurt yourself if you try and jump off the top bunk." He said, "everyone can quit with the 'what are you talking about' stares, I know you all probably know what happened, Escoto decided to jump off his bunk, and the genius broke his arm. He's going to be recycled one week. So, don't jump off your fucking bunks, understood?" he yelled.

"Yes Sir!" Everyone replied. Holy crap, he didn't rat me out. Huh, maybe he's not totally useless. Well, boot camp isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I really enjoyed the shooting range. My nickname 'ace' is really starting to make sense. I did the best in the class when it came to the firing range. For shotguns and pistols, I was on the top, but barely better than the rest of the class. But when it came to the assault rifle and the sniper, I just blew the rest of the class out the water. Guns in mass effect universe don't have nearly as much kick as regular guns, except the shot guns. Those things just hurt like hell. And I don't want to sound like I'm bragging here, even though I am, but I'm getting pretty good at this whole being a marine schtick.

One week left, one glorious week until I'm out of this hell hole. Starting off the week is the crucible, and I actually knew a little about this from back in '17. It hasn't changed much, three days of intense physical challenges with the occasional obstacle or team exercise. I did not enjoy the crucible, I didn't hate it mind you, but I'm not exactly going to volunteer to go again.

The last leg of the crucible involved some mock combat. It was a couple of huge buildings that held holographic simulations. The gist of the exercise was to move into some bunker and protect two wounded marines while waiting for extract. We were all split into four-man teams, and everyone had a turn to play squad leader, but only when our squad got wiped out did we switch people. So, I was last to go, the first leader, Morales, lasted us four rounds. The second, Jameson, lasted two, and Zhou, the third, only lasted us one.

Now it's my turn, thank god. So far every time we switched leaders, enemies and their tactics changed, as did the bunker. This time it's a simple room, with an mg nest on the bottom, and a sharpshooter nest on the top. There's also a small defensible position about 15 meters from the front door. My plan was simple, I'm on the top picking off any possible heavy's or rockets launchers. Jameson and Morales will be at the front position, dealing with their soldiers, and Zhou on the mg, dealing with cannon fodder and any targets getting a little close for comfort.

When the enemies started to appear, I think I wanted to cry. There was Varren, Vorcha, and Krogan. They have training sims on the flippen Blood Pack? My day is just getting better minute by minute.

"Zhou, focus on the Varren and anything else that gets a little too close for comfort. Jameson, Morales, focus fire on the Vorcha. I'll take care of the Krogan." I yelled.

"Varren?" Zhou asked.

"What the hell are Vorcha?" Jameson questioned.

"Varren are the fucked up looking dogs that are about to charge, Vorcha are the ugly ass goblins, go for head shots, they heal quick like Krogan."

So, even in holographic form, Krogan are fucking tough. I have to land a headshot every time in order to take it out quickly, and these tanks move surprisingly quick for their size. So far, the plan is holding, and fortunately the Blood Pack doesn't have much in the way of tactics, just basically bum rush us every time. We hit round five, and now their numbers are starting to climb, it's three Krogan a round instead of one.

We made it till round 11 before we lost Jameson, who wasn't paying attention to his shields and was gutted by a Vorcha, holographically speaking. I had Morales fall back to Zhou and defend from there, so he doesn't get flanked. It's round 16, and there is a crap ton of enemies now, including 6 Krogan. If I miss a single shot, we're dead. The round is progressing as normal, most of the Varren and Vorcha have been dealt with, and I have 2 Krogan running up. I aim for the first one, and it drops down to the ground. I aim for the second one, line up my shot, and pull the trigger. A shimmer of purple lit up where I hit his head, and my sniper beeped and started venting, and he looked straight at me, then right at Morales, who was peppering the Krogan.

"Watch out!" I yelled. "Krogan Battle master! He's got Biotics!"

I wanted to take another shot, but he just used a Biotic Charge towards the window Morales was taking cover at. I've got no shot, so I switch to my shotgun and run for the stairs. I reach the downstairs and I see Morales on the ground, dead, holographically speaking, and the Krogan just throws Zhou out the window and shoots him like a game of Skeet shooting. I ready my shotgun, and charge the Krogan, putting my shotgun at the base of his neck. I see a warp coming from his free hand at the same time I pulled the trigger, and I'm being blown back from his warp, and nearly knocked out. I look up and see the Krogan is dead, but I don't have the strength to get up.

"Congratulations, you died." Said a voice. I look up and it's my Drill Sergeant. He reached out his hand and applied some medigel to me, and gave me a stimulant.

"Get up, you need to go finish the crucible." He said, putting out his hand to help me up. He seemed happy, almost proud.

The rest of the crucible was just a hike to the finish line, and I couldn't be happier. This is where we finally get pinned as Marines and it's quite emotional. Though technically boot camp wasn't over, because we had two tests we still have to take. One is Marine Corps history and rules, etc. And the other was tactics and combat stuff. Both were very easy, especially the tactics one. I already know most of the tactics, because of how much I've played the game. Is that cheating?

Finally, graduation rolls around, and to be honest, it was so boring. But, one good thing that came of it is that once we graduate, we have 10 days of leave, so the second that we graduated, and everyone was running to their family members, I pulled up my omnitool for a flight to Arcturus to see Shepard. Before I could even react, I felt someone grabbing me and lunging at me for a hug. When I look down, it's Shepard, smiling with the biggest grin I've ever seen.

"What, why, how?" was all I was able to muster out.

"I have my connections." She says, and all I do was raise my eyebrow, waiting for the truth. "Okay, that guy was able to get me her" Pointing to an officer behind her. Without even thinking, I snap a crisp salute, and he did the same back.

"Congratulations Jarrett," the unknown captain said, "I hope you don't mind I brought Ms. Shepard along with me, I like to deliver good news in person, and thought you might like to see her."

"Of course not sir, thank you. I'm sorry, but good news?" I replied.

"My apologies, I'm Captain James, I'm in charge on N-school recruiting, I'm here to formally invite you to N1 training." He said. My mouth fell agape. N School? That's a little out of my league.

"I was under the impression that N training was an officer school, not enlisted." I replied, not knowing what to say.

"Have you seen the records board son?" I just nodded my head no. "You broke enough records that they had to make a new record for breaking records. On top of that, you held off 16 rounds of the Blood pack, the previous record for that was 6." he said.

"It was?" I asked.

"Yes, and to answer your question, only officers can apply to N training, however, we keep an eye out for talent in the enlisted side. I won't lie, it's rare. That's why I'm here in person, it is up to you to accept though." He said. "You have three days to decide, enjoy you leave marine." And he just walks away.

I look over to Shep, and she has the same reaction, both of our mouths are practically hitting the floor, this, was not part of my plan.