Disclaimer: Every series belong to respective owners.
The Halo of the Hero
Chapter 6 Boot Camp
"Wake up trainee"
Ranma groggily opened his eyes, the sharp rays of the morning sun through the opened door made him close them again. He was dimly aware that this wasn't the simple blanket that he usually slept on, and that he wasn't alone in the room. He slowly turned to his side and saw the rows of simple military bunks lined after the wall.
A shock jolted him from his bare feet and to the base of his spine, and with a yell of surprise he fell out of his bunk and onto the cold floor.
"I said get up, now move it" A tall man in combat fatigues said as he flicked a silver baton that sparked towards Ranma.
His martial arts training kicked in and he swatted the baton away and countered with a fast punch to the mans stomach.
The man groaned and Ranma then proceeded to sweep away the mans legs with a kick. A swift kick to the mans head knocked him unconscious.
The man hit the floor with a loud bang, which caught the attention of the other instructors. They began to move towards Ranma and he shifted into a defensive stance. He was maybe able to take on one or two of them, but a dozen, they would defeat him by shear numbers. He slowly backed into the wall looking around after an escape route.
By now all the other children had waked up, and all eyes where focused on him.
The men began to slowly move towards him.
"Stand down men" A loud voice full of authority said.
He shifted his gaze towards the voice and saw a man in his late thirties-early forties walking towards them. He took one look at the fallen man and then focused his eyes on the boy. Ranma saw the combat fatigues and the marks on his shoulder that identified him as an officer.
The man then spoke.
"Showers are down the hall. You will all wash and the return to get dressed. On the double"
He then returned his gaze towards Ranma. Ranma began to walk towards the shower as he felt Mendez tap him between the shoulders with the baton. Ranma fell to the floor gasping.
"No slaking and I mean it"
He moved. He couldn't breathe, but moved anyway, clutching his chest. He managed small ragged gasps when he came to the showers. He washed and then ran back to his bunk where he got into underwear and a pair of thick grey socks. He looked around for additional clothing.
"Your garments are in the footlockers." Mendez said as he saw the confusion on the children's faces.
He opened his trunks and pulled on a white t-shirt and grey combat fatigues. On the right arm the name Ranma-117 was stencilled with black colour. At the side of his locker was a pair of black combat boots which, when he tried them on, fitted perfectly.
Ranma looked around at the interior of the barrack. Everywhere he saw the scared and anxious faces of the other children.
He thought back to when he had first woke up after the forest incident, there was a lady who had asked after his name.
He had answered and then she said that he couldn't go home, that he was needed as a soldier, that he would need to protect people. Too that he only nodded, he didn't have to see Genma anymore so he wasn't angry not being able to go home. He then fell asleep and had woken up here.
"Outside trainees, triple time" Mendez said as he pointed to the door.
Ranma and the others stamped out, no one saying a word. Outside it was cold, the snow on the ground had been removed, showing the black asphalt underneath. Everyone was standing tightly together, finding comfort in each others presence.
"I want ten rows, nineteen in every row, NOW" Mendez barked again.
They looked around uncertain, confused and afraid. No one dared to move, afraid of leaving the little protection they had. Ranma looked around. No one moved. Ranma then remembering the stun baton from earlier, elbowed some of the children to carefully to gain their attention. A couple of other children leaned over so they could carefully whisper to each other.
"What do you want?" A tall boy with Samuel-034 stencilled on his shirt asked.
"Let's do as he says, or they will probably use the stun-batons again."
"But… how?" A boy with the name John-118 stencilled on his shirt asked.
"Just grab two and drag them with you" Ranma said.
"Okay" The others said in unison. He looked at their nametags Kelly-087, Grace-093, Jack-114 and Fahjad-072. Seven all in all, not much but it will have to do.
He looked back at Mendez, they could see as he got more irritated by the second. Ranma gulped and looked back at them, they where looking at him to too take the first step. He took a deep breath and then took the wrists of the two nearest children and then began to drag them forward.
He was about to issue the orders to the trainers to use the stun batons, but then he saw as a couple of children began to move forwards. The first too walk forward was the child he had stunned a while back, but now that he was out in the light he saw that it was the dead child he had brought to Dr. Halsey.
As he left the bunch of children he left go of their wrists, but he was surprised as they continued to follow him. The children he talked to then followed up and walked up and stood to the left of him in a single straight row. He looked back, all the others then slowly began to move and placed themselves in the ten rows Mendez had ordered.
"I am Chief petty officer Mendez" he said as he stood before the children. "And these are your trainers" He said and pointed to the men behind him.
"Do you understand" He asked.
"Yes" came the mumbled reply from the children.
"I didn't hear you"
"YES" They said again, this time yelling.
"Good, now we will do jumping jacks, one hundred. Ready, BEGIN"
The officer began the exercise, and Ranma followed up.
"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, ONE HUNDRED." He yelled.
Ranma, because of his martial arts training, hadn't even broken a sweet. He looked around, most children where lying on the ground panting, trying to regain their breath.
"Thirty second pause, and then 100 sit-ups and the first that quits gets to do 200."
Then came push-ups, then leg lifts, and so it continued for over an hour.
"Ten minutes pause" Mendez barked out.
Ranma had by this time broken out in a light sweat, and was a little out of breath. All the children where lying on the ground, some had thrown up but were still forced to continue. He was just sitting down, resting. This training methods where noting compared to Genmas, so he wasn't complaining.
"Okay, now we will have a short jog to your school."
The children was barely able to get on their feet, they where totally exhausted. The short jog turned out to be 3 miles.
"Now get inside the school trainees"
All children groaned, first inhuman training methods, and now of all things school. This wasn't their day.
"Any one who wants skip it can continue the training" This was all that was needed to get them inside the building.
Three weeks of training
They had currently finished today's lessons and were slowly jogging behind Chief Mendez. He stopped at the outskirts of the military camp.
"Today's game will be oddball, every time a teams brings the ball to their cage they score a point, the last team to score a point loses. The ball is hidden on the field somewhere, so you will have to find it. The losing team will have to run an additional three laps around the camp and doesn't get any food this evening"
They looked around, the arena was a big field with pits and trenches, some filled with water. The entire field was filled with small hills and mounds that decreased the line of sight. Scattered here and there where some buildings, and stairs which led down to an underground tunnel network.
"Get to your bases and don't start before I ring the bell" Mendez said.
They split up into ten groups, and then began to move towards their bases which Mendez had pointed out from the hill overlooking the entire field. The groups began to jog down the hill and then headed in different directions. They got to their base, a big ramp made of concrete and at the top a simple metal basket.
"So how should we do this" John-118 asked.
"Don't know, what do you think, Kelly?" Sam-034 redirected the question towards her.
"Run fast and take it?" She asked.
Ranma looked around, they where nineteen all in all.
"I have an idea" He said all heads turned towards him.
"Go on" Fahjad-072 said.
"We will split up in five groups, and then every group looks at a different place.
"Good idea, lets do it" Anton-162 said.
"But if you find it, don't scream it out or everyone will try and take it" Li-144 said.
"Okay" Everyone said in unison.
"Kelly, John and Sam we are a team, Ok?" Ranma asked.
The three nodded, and Ranma looked around seeing that the others already had split up.
"Where do you think he placed it?" Kelly-084 asked.
"No idea" John-118 replied.
"Where should we look?" Sam-034 asked.
"In the basements" Ranma said.
"Kay" came the answer.
In the distance they heard the ringing of a bell.
"GO" They yelled.
Ranma, Kelly, Sam and John took of towards the path they first came from. Ranma was first closely followed by Kelly. He looked around, the hills on either side of him was so steep they where impassable and about 10-15 metres high. John and Sam were 40 or 50 metres after. After at three hundred meter run which Ranma and Kelly both made in 40 flat, they stopped at a block of concrete with a rusty metal hatch.
They looked around at the surrounding area for any sign of the other teams, and after waiting ten seconds John and Sam where able to catch up.
"Huff huff, you have to wait for us" Sam-034 said.
Ranma and Kelly just nodded as they together opened the heavy metal hatch.
"So, Chief Mendez how are the children doing?" Dr Halsey asked as she stepped out of the warthog.
"Good" Was all he said.
They stood on the hill overlooking the field. The children looked like ants as they ran around on field. Mendez shifted his look from the field towards Dr Halsey. He looked uncertain, something that the people that had met him would have said was impossible.
"May I ask you question, Dr Halsey?"
"Go ahead"
"What did you do to subject 117?"
"What do you mean" She asked, sounding bored, she was still looking down towards the field.
"He was dead, now he is alive" Mendez replied a little irritated.
She shifted her gaze from the field to Chief Mendez.
"More or less the same thing we did to all the other children"
"Which was?" He asked again.
"It was the first part of stage one in the SPARTAN-II project. We gave each child an injection of a special drug which slightly increase muscle mass, metabolism and healing factors. Totally harmless to the children due to some genetic traits, lethal to anyone else."
"So?" Mendez asked confused. Of course he had heard what this project was all about, but he didn't know everything.
"With the increased healing we where able to successfully regenerate him"
Mendez only nodded.
"I will go first" Ranma said as he jumped down through the hole.
He looked around. The tunnels was of old concrete, their was bits and pieces from the roof lying around, and there was big cracks in the walls. There was about a feet of water on the floor, completely socking his boots. He shuddered as the ice-cold water made contact with his skin.
"Watch it, the floor is full with water" He said to the others outside. He looked back and forth trying to decide which way to go.
He heard a splosh, splosh, splosh as the three others jumped down.
The field they where on was huge, 8 kilometres long and 11 kilometres wide, and the entire thing was undermined with tunnels, and somewhere they had to find a single small ball.
They began to move towards the middle of the field, in hope of finding a clue. After about fifty metres I became to dark to see anything besides the small glimmer of light in the dark water. He took the small flashlight that hung from his belt and clicked it on. After 5 minutes of walking they came to a place where the tunnel split into 6 different ways.
"Which way?" John asked.
Ranma carefully light the paths on at a time. He looked back at them and saw that they looked to him for an answer.
"Right, lets go" He said
They continued forward, for how long he didn't know. They passed through numerous different forks, sometimes they led to a dead end, sometimes not.
"Stop, I hear something" Sam said.
All stopped and listen. At first they didn't hear anything, but after awhile the heard small, almost nonexistent sounds. They listened some more, but couldn't determine what it was. Ranma turned the flashlight towards the way they had come. Nothing. He then ran as fast as he could back the way they came, and they followed. They walked through the right a three way fork. They could hear it more clearly now, it was most defiantly voices.
He walked to the middle tunnel, stopped and listened. Nothing. He walked back and then went to the left tunnel. He let the light of the flashlight illuminate the water, walls and roof. He walked in. Yes the voices where coming from this tunnel. He thought as he walked back.
"The voices are coming from down there" Ranma said and pointed to the tunnel.
"And?" Sam-034 asked
"Lets go take a look, but be quiet" He said and they nodded in return.
They began to slowly move down the tunnel, sometimes stopping to listen to the voices, but they where still to far away to hear what they said. After fifty meters they could determine that the voices were very exited.
"I am going to turn of the flashlight, so don't panic" He said in a low whisper.
He turned the light of, but couldn't see a thing, he waited for his eyes to adjust. After awhile he could see some light coming from the tunnel ahead. He turned around and could make out the shapes of the others behind him. He slowly, in a half crouch, began to make his way towards the light, the others following close behind.
The tunnel ended in a huge circular room, fifty metres across. There where a lot of tunnel exists, maybe 20-30 that lined the wall of the room. In the middle their was a little wood raft and on it a small green ball. The oddball. Across the room there was a group of children, talking fast to each other. The flashlight the other children had was the only source of light in the entire room. The others hadn't spotted them yet, so he quickly dragged them behind a rubble of debris.
"Why haven't they taken the ball?" John-118 asked.
"The water, its deeper in the middle then it is here" Kelly-087 answered.
"How do you know" Sam-034 asked.
"Look, one of them has a stick and uses it to test the deep, and he can't reach the bottom." She replied.
They all looked from their hiding place and at the place she pointed. The stick was at least six feet and the entire thing disappeared under the surface.
"We can't lose today again, it would be the tenth time" John-118 said.
"But how are we going to get the ball" Kelly-087 asked.
He looked up from the rubble again. A plan formed in his head.
"I have an idea, but it's a bit risky." He said.
"Let's hear it" Sam-034 said.
"Just one question, can any of you swim?"
"No"
"Nope"
"Not me"
He sighed, and then looked up.
"Okay, then I will have to do it" He said
"Do what?"
"Swim and get the ball" Ranma replied.
"The water is freezing and the others will see and chase you, are you sure?" Kelly-087 asked in a worried tone.
"Someone has to do it, and I am the only one who can swim" He said.
She only nodded.
"But what should we do?" Sam-034 asked.
"You and John will wait here, Kelly will wait a bit down the tunnel. When I take the ball, they will defiantly see me and chase me. I will swim back here and give you the ball. Do you understand?"
"Yes" Both Sam and John answered.
"But why do I have to wait in the tunnel." Kelly complained.
"Because you are the fastest, John and Sam are going to run to you and give you the ball where the others won't see you. You then will run to our base with the ball and score a point."
"Okay" Kelly said.
"But you will have to be quiet, don't let them see you or the ball, and don't use a flashlight before you are sure there is no one near you"
"But what will we do then?" John asked.
"They will think that you still got the ball. Take another tunnel then Kelly and pretend like you still got it and make sure that they follow you. That will give Kelly enough time to score. I will stay here and try to slow them down. "
"Okay" They replied.
He looked over the pile of debris. The others where still arguing on how to get the ball. He took of all his clothes except his boxers and then took his flashlight and put it between his teeth. He then covered his clothes with some of the debris, so no one would take them and throw them in the water for revenge.
He stalked towards the deeper part of the water, the water felling even colder without his boots and socks. He felt the floor end abruptly, he then tried to feel the bottom with one of his feet. No bottom. He braced himself for the cold as he silently slid into the water. The water felt like a thousand knives on his body.
He took a deep breath and then swam underneath the surface of the water. He surfaced five feet from the raft and swam towards it, reached out and grabbed the ball. He heard the shouts of the others but didn't care. Another deep breath and he began to swim back. He reached the edge and then threw the ball to Sam who caught it.
"RUN" He yelled.
John and Sam then took of with incredible speed. He looked around, the other children where running towards him. He took up position at the tunnel entrance, taking an aggressive stance. The first kid that tried to pass was pushed into a wall, the second and third saw this and tried to punch and kick him.
He leaned to the left and the punch missed, he then blocked the incoming kick and countered with on of his own. The kid fell backwards into the arms of three others. He then sidestepped and let the kid that had tried to sneak up on him fly by. Another kid picked up a piece of wood and wielded it like a club.
He tried to hit him on the head with it but he kicked it out of the kids hands and then punched him in the gut. He looked around, he had stopped four. The others seeing this picked up stones and began to throw it after him. Some of those he was able to deflect or dodge but most hit home.
This is enough time to let them get away He thought as he made a dash and dived into the water again. He held his breath as long as he could manage and then resurfaced. The children where gone but he could see the lights of their flashlight disappear down the tunnel. He swam back to the edge, and then walked over and picked his flashlight he had dropped in the fight.
He quickly got dressed and then left, walking alone through the deserted tunnels.
3 Years of training.
He looked out of the back of the drop-ship then back at his squad, thirty-eight including him. He looked out again, the other drop-ships where flying closely behind, in a lose arrow formation. They where flying over the Erandus mountain chain, and he could see the snow covered peaks, even though it was the middle of the summer. Chief Mendez walked out of the cockpit and all the trainees stood and snapped a crisp salute.
"At ease, and sit down" He said.
They did as he told him.
"Today's mission will be simple for a change. You will be put down and then have to precede the extraction point where you will be picked up. The extraction point are marked on your maps"
Everybody just nodded.
"Oh, and the last team will have to walk back, and it's a long walk"
Ranma just sat there in deep thought. So one squad is left behind, but there's gotta be away for everybody to come back.
His mind drifted away as he thought about what had happened to him. Dr Halsey had said that he died but that she was able to regenerate him. He also found out that he wasn't in Japan or, for that fact on earth anymore. He was told the history of mankind's last five-hundred years, the colonisations of different worlds, the war against the Covenant, and their slaughter of billion of people.
He looked at his squad again, No, my family, he corrected himself. For the first time in his life he had friends and family that would look out for him, not like Genma and his stupid ideas.
He knew that he had changed, he learned to use weapons, and learned first aid and the lessons with Deja the AI. She had taught him everything ranging from math to advanced physics.
He wasn't the only one who had changed, the other children put even more effort behind their training to catch up with Ranma. Ranma was from the beginning the fastest, strongest and most skilled fighter, but the others where slowly catching up. Every time they thought they had catched up, Ranma would get a little stronger, or a little faster, or a little smarter, making the others redouble their efforts. Because of this they improved by leaps and bonds.
Kelly for example was now faster, and Sam was now stronger but only by a very small margin. Everyone was determined to get better and Chief Mendez seeing this increased their training to impossible standards, well impossible to everyone besides the Spartans.
"Touch down in thirty seconds" Came the pilot's voice over the speakers.
They jumped down from the drop-ship that hovered three metres up in the air. He quickly scanned the area for potential hostiles found none and then turned to his squad.
"Spread out, take cover in those trees, now" They all did as he said and then disappeared into the shadows.
He didn't want Mendez to see them from the drop-ship, who knows, he maybe had a rifle loaded with stun-rounds, just waiting for an easy target.
They four other drop-ships landed and unloaded their batch of children. The other squad leaders gave the same orders as he did, and everyone disappeared into the forest.
He gave a wave with his hand, signalling the others to come to him. The four other leaders made a mad dash towards his position. They stopped and sat in a half circle in front of Ranma.
"What is it 117" Kim-166 asked.
"Something isn't right about this mission" he replied.
"What do you mean?" Azad-131 asked.
He took of his backpack, opened it and pulled out a map. He then laid the map on the ground, and pointed to a location. It was at the beginning of a huge valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides.
"We are here, and the extraction point is here" He said. He then pointed to the opposite end of the valley."
"And?" Janic-174 said.
"Look it's about 50 miles, mostly forest and on some places rock and hills" Jim-126 said
"It's too easy" Azad said finally understanding.
"Yes, Chief Mendez training always has a twist to it, like the stun-mines at the obstacle-course, or the snipers with paint pellet guns during parade drills. A 50 mile walk trough the forest is to easy: Come on, we run 5 miles every morning and evening so it has to be more to this then the walk."
"I heard the Marines back at camp where going on some kind of training exercise up in the mountains" Janic-174 said.
"Or in other words, Catch the Spartans" Kim-166 said.
He looked around at the others.
"We will have to work together for this one, can't run over each other by accident."
They only nodded.
"But how about the group left behind" Janic-174 asked.
"We will have to make sure that no one is left behind" Ranma said simple.
They nodded again.
"We need to send out scouts so we don't run into any traps" Ranma said as he looked at the map.
"Okay, how many?" Kim-166 asked.
"At least four" Azad-131 said.
"From every group" Ranma added.
"Now which way are we going to take?" Kim-166 said and pointed at the map.
He looked down and the map. In the middle of the valley there was a river that they needed to cross, and there was only one marked crossing point.
"They will probably put people to guard this point" Ranma said and pointed at the river.
"And they will probably believe we will put on a straight course from here to there" Azad-131 said.
"We will have to avoid that area then, lets take this path" he said as he traced a path with his finger.
"That's a detour of about 10 miles, but we shouldn't encounter any marines." Janic-166 said.
They would have to walk from the west side of the valley to the east side. Then they would have to move north to get to the extraction point.
They reason why he had chosen that path was that the map showed that the east side had a thick forest while the east side only had some scattered clusters of trees. They would give them a perfect cover from any marines on the ground and any ships in the air. If they had luck the marines wouldn't even know they had been there.
"We will have to swim over the river, but I rather get my feet wet than have to fight with the marines." Azad said as looked over the chosen path.
They all nodded.
"Chose four scouts from your groups and send them out, we will have to hurry"
"Ok" was the mumbled reply.
"Kelly, Linda, James, Grace, come here" Ranma said as he walked over to his squads position.
They walked up to him.
"What is it" Linda asked.
"I want you to scout out the area as we move, if you see any sign of marines, don't let them see you and get back and report ASAP. We are working together with the others, and they will also send out scouts" He said.
They disappeared into the forest like ghosts. He walked over to where the others had gathered.
"Ok let's get going" Azad said as he walked over to him.
"Lose formation, but in sight distance, no talk" Ranma said as they began to jog into the forest.
He looked around, they where spread out over a hundred meters or so.
They had been running for a couple of hours. They had about two or three miles left to the river. He looked around, the others after three years of hard training, wasn't even breathing hard or had even broken a sweat. They looked as fresh as when they began. Kelly was running towards him at full speed. She walked up to him.
"We found where the marines have their camp." She said.
"Wait here" he said as he ran up to the other squad leaders.
"The scouts found the marines," He said and pointed at Kelly.
"Twenty minutes pause" Azad said.
Everyone stopped. The squad leaders them followed Ranma back to where Kelly was standing.
"Show us the way" Ranma said.
They took of and ran about a kilometre to a hill. Kelly then lay down on her belly and crawled through the tall grass up to the top. The others followed suit and son everyone was at the top seeing for kilometres. Kelly pointed towards a shimmering band of silver, the river. He took out his binoculars
They where at least three or four hundred with the size of that camp. He could see two rows of warthogs ten in every row. Two scorpion main battle tanks, one at each side of the river guarding the crossing point. A group of marines where jogging slowly in and he could see a group doing push ups as a sergeant was walking and yelling at them.
They where to far away for him to hear it, but he saw the lips of the sergeant move, and his face was filled with anger. They wouldn't be able to cross here.
"Are they patrolling the river?" Ranma asked.
"The patrols stops five hundred meters from camp." She said.
"Good, then let's hurry, the longer it takes to cross the river the bigger the chance they detect us."
They moved back to their respective squads and made a fast run for the river. When they arrived they found out why the marines didn't bother to patrol the river.
The river was rushing at incredible speed, if they tried to cross they would be swept away.
"What now?" Janic asked.
"We will have to cross. Kelly, Linda."
The persons in question where walking towards them.
"Is there a place where the water is calm?" Ranma asked.
"Not upstream" Kelly said.
"And not downstream either." Linda said.
He looked around, trying to come up with an idea.
"I will swim over with a rope attached to my belt, and then you can pull me out if something happens to me. When I am on the other side I will tie it around a tree and you will be able to get everyone over."
They nodded in response.
He heard the voices of marines yelling to each other. They where close, maybe two-hundred meters, and closing in fast. They wouldn't be able to hide 150 children in such a short notice. They had about 5 miles left to the extraction point and if they ran they should make it in less then 40 minutes.
"FOUND THEM!" He heard a marine yelling.
"RUN" he heard the other leaders yell.
They took of at incredible speeds. He jumped over a rock, took of in a sprint and dove under a fallen tree. They began running through a canyon running at full speed which was a full 25 miles/hour. Hr turned around, he had been in the back as a rear guard so he was one of the last. The marines where still following them. He picked up a stone felt the weight of it.
Perfect he thought and then took aim and threw it at the first marine he saw. The stone sailed through the air and hit the man right in the head. He fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
He turned and began to run after the others.
He then heard the sound of an assault rifle fire and the bullets impacting on the rock around him. Still running he picked up another stone, looked back, and threw it as hard as he could. The stone hit home, making the marine hit the forest ground unconscious.
They where only two? Must have been scouts. He thought as he continued running towards the others, catching up after a few moments.
Two miles left, then we can go back home.
Training 6 years
It was in the middle of the night, the only thing seen was the stars and their reflection on the ocean. They where currently sitting in a small inflatable boat, silently rowing towards the shore. Most was clothed in black wetsuits, armed with MAB2 rifles loaded with 7,62 mm rounds. His face was covered with black paint, and he was currently checking his diving gear and scuba tanks. He saw the two other boats change there course making their way towards the shore.
Their mission was to infiltrate a large military base and capture and hold important strategic locations. Among the structures on the island was a radar and heavy AA installations in which made aerial insertion impossible. The island was surrounded by cliffs and the only way in was blocked by well defended camp. Instead of launching a full attack on the camp they would infiltrate it then moving in to the heart of the island and destroy the radar which would render the AA-guns useless.
When that was done they would leave the island and then call in reinforcements. Ranmas squad would do stand for the infiltration and pyrotechnics. They would split up in three teams, two teams would land on the shore and would move through the jungle and take position outside the camp.
The last team would consist of frogmen which would infiltrate the base from the water and then shut down the power to the automatic defences without letting anyone notice. The two other teams would then cut a hole in the electric fences and walk trough the line of 30mm auto-cannons.
"This is red team, we just came ashore, proceeding to designated coordinates" He heard Johns voice over the radio.
"This is green team, made it to shore, moving out" he heard Fahjads voice a second later.
"Affirmative Red-leader, Green-leader, Blue-leader out" He said in his microphone.
He looked towards the island, he could see some lights appear as they moved around a cape. He estimated it to five-maybe six hundred meters.
"Once you have dropped of us, move to green-teams boat."
The only two not dressed in wetsuits nodded.
"Everyone got their gear?" He asked.
"Good to go" was the reply.
He put on his Cyclops, opened the tubes and then put the nozzle in his mouth and took a deep breath. Everything was working as it should.
He put up five fingers in the air indicating that would dive into the water in five seconds.
He got thumbs up in reply.
He was currently sitting on the on the edge of the boat and then leaned backwards falling into the water. They went down to fifteen feet and began to swim towards the shore. To their luck the water was crystal-clear showing them the lights of the base clearly, giving them a point to navigate after.
The entrance to the harbour and inner parts of the compound was blocked by an underwater gate with steel bars. They couldn't surface here, they would be detected and killed by the 30mm auto-cannons. He pointed towards Sam who nodded in understanding. He swam forward and placed special demolition charge that generated an immense heat instead of exploding, on two of the bars. He swam away quickly. There was a small flash and two bars slowly fell to the bottom. He made thumbs-up.
The eight man team slowly made their way towards the end of the harbour. They resurfaced under the pier.
"The power generator is located in a concrete building approximately a hundred meters from here. Remember, we will only cut the power to the defences, or else they will know that we are here."
He slowly climbed the ladder, and then peeked over the edge to make sure it was clear. He climbed up on the pier and then slinked into the shadow of a building, closely followed by the others. They moved slowly, avoiding the lights of the buildings being like living shadows as they made their way towards the generator. It would have been easier to detect a ghosts shadow then the eight Spartans.
The door to the generator was locked, so he pulled out a lock pick from a small pocket on his leg. It took him less then fifteen seconds to open the lock, and he carefully opened the door. Empty. He slinked in the room closely followed by the others. Grace walked over to a control panel and began to hack the power control computer, trying to disable the defences.
"How long?" Ranma asked.
"Give me five, and I will be done" She replied.
He looked around the room, apart from the generator and computer it was empty. .Everyone stopped what they where doing and turned towards the door. They could clearly hear the boots of soldiers as they draw nearer towards the building. He looked around for a place to hide but couldn't find any form of cover.
The two marines opened the door to the generator room, surprised that it was open. They swept their flashlights over the walls and floor of the room, but finding nothing continued their patrol.
Ranma and the others saw as the marines left, and the jumped down from their hiding place. They had jumped up and grabbed the steel beams on the roof when the marines had been outside the door.
Grace walked back to the computer, typed in some commands and then turned towards them.
"Power to security systems offline" She said
He nodded and then talked into his headset.
"It's green to go, power offline"
"Affirmative, Green-leader out"
"Understood, Red-leader out"
They disappeared into the darkness, without leaving a trace of ever been there.
The entire base was calm except the occasional guard on patrol. They made it to the rendezvous point, stopped and waited for the two other teams.
About thirty seconds later they arrived.
The way into the inner parts of the island was blocked by a thirty feet concrete wall and a gate made of titanium-A battle plate. Two grappling hooks covered with cloth to avoid sound flew from the ground and landed on the top of the wall.
Ranma carefully pulled it in until it got stuck. He pulled on it hard to see if it would hold and then climbed up the wall fast. He brought up his rifle and scanned the area, making sure that it wasn't any hostiles in the area. Nothing.
They ran through the jungle, fifty metres to the left he could see green-team and to his right red-team. They could see the lights through the trees. He stopped and ordered his team to hide.
He crawled forward and pulled out a par of binoculars.
The radar station was located in the middle of a well guarded camp. He could see that this camp was well guarded, marines patrolled the perimeter of the camp, and at every corner there was a sentry, making a stealthy approach almost impossible.
The first base they could infiltrate, but in this camp a fire fight was impossible to avoid.
Well at least we have the moment of surprise on our side. He thought.
"Red-team?" he said into his microphone.
"I hear you" he heard Johns voice say.
"Make an diversionary attack an the east side of the base"
"Affirmative" Came the reply.
"Green-team?"
"Here" Came Fahjads voice.
"Lay down covering fire for Red-team. When Red-team has entered the compound, engage"
"Yes sir"
"Snipers, clear a path for me and my team"
He looked through his binoculars again. He could count to about thirty marines patrolling around the camp, and fifty stationary guards and the marines currently sleeping inside the barracks.
"Go Red team" He saw as Red-team ran towards the camp at full speed, their MAB2 rifles with silencer spiting rounds into the marines, every round finding their goal, dropping marines fast.
The marines must have been really surprised, because it took over a minute before he heard the sounds from the marines MAB5 assault rifles fire.
He waited an additional minute before standing up and taking of towards the west side.
Most of the guards had run towards the sound of the diversionary attack, leaving only a small group of marines to guard the rest of the base.
He was moving towards the first line of defence, seeing two marines taking aim to shoot. He wasn't even able to bring up his rifle before the marines hit the dirt, hit by two sniper rounds.
He turned a corner and ran into a group of marines, the marine right in front of him hit the dirt after a three round burst to his stomach. Two of others soon followed after a quick burst from Kelly and Sam.
The fourth panicked and let loss on full automatic, spraying bullets towards him. He leaned left then right, managing to avoid the bullets with only a couple of centimetres. The rounds struck the ground behind him, sending up a spray of sand and gravel.
He took aim pressed the trigger and let loss a short controlled burst. The marine groaned as he was struck in the chest and fell down face first.
He turned towards the last marine but found that the others had already taken him down.
The brief fire fight had alerted the marines that there were other intruders in the base.
"Let's hurry" he said.
They where able to avoid a couple of patrols, making their way towards the radar. The entrance was guarded by 12 marines, taking cover behind sandbags.
They aimed and let loss on full automatic, spraying bullets over the defenders, taking down six. He heard the click of the rifle as it ran out of ammunition. He took cover behind a concrete block to reload, pressed the release and the spent clip fell to the ground with a clatter.
He pulled back the bolt, inserted a new clip and pressed the bolt forward to load a cartridge in the chamber.
He then ran back to the battle and found that they had taken out two more. They five left were taking cover behind the sandbags, making it impossible to get a good aim.
He hit the dirt and began to crawl on his belly, the bullets flying only a couple of decimetres over his head. He crawled to the left of the sandbags, trying to flank them. He peeked through a gap in the sandbags, seeing the marines fully preoccupied with the others. He took careful aim at the one in the back.
A small cough, cough, cough was the only thing heard as the silenced rifle spited out three rounds taking out the marine. The four left hadn't noticed yet. Cough, cough, cough, another marine down, the others to preoccupied to notice.
Cough, cough, cough. This time however the marine hit fell forwards and hit one of the others, alerting them to the enemy.
The marine turned around and let lose a hail of bullets. At a range of 9 meters he couldn't miss, Ranma could fell as the bullets hit him square in the chest, slamming him to the ground.
Unfortunely for the marine, he stood up as he did that, giving the others a clear shoot.
The marine dropped his rifle groaned and clutched his left side before falling down.
The final marine, dropped his rifle, and putted up his hands in the air.
"DON'T SHOOT, I GIVE UP" He screamed.
Cough, cough, cough, Was the answer. The marine groaned and then fell backwards.
Kelly ran up towards where Ranma was lying. She kneeled besides him, trying to see where he was hit.
"Don't worry, he only hit the vest" He said and pointed towards his bullet proof vest.
On it she could see five deformations where the bullets had hit.
"Just got the wind knocked out of me that's all" He said and stood up.
She nodded and they walked over to the others.
"Kelly, Sam, Jim, secure the building and plant the explosives. We others will guard the entrance, NOW MOVE" The did as he told them, knocking down the door and then disappearing into the building.
He took a covering position at the door, making sure that no one was trying to get in.
The other four was crouching behind the sandbags, ready for anything.
He could hear the firing of assault rifles in the distance, the diversion was working perfectly.
"Explosives placed, timer set to 25 min, let's get our asses out of here" Came Sams voice over the radio.
"Ok" He said.
Then changing frequency he talked into the mice once again.
"This is Blue-leader, to all forces charges are set, so pull back"
"Affirmative, Green-leader out"
"Understood, Red-leader out"
He turned to his squad, Kelly, Sam and Jim had come out of the structure.
"Come on, lets go" He said and then took of in a sprint.
They where currently rowing away from the island. He looked up, the green smoke of the "explosives" rising from somewhere on the island.
In reality those explosive charges was dummies, just simple smoke grenades. They would indicate that they the radar had been "destroyed".
He looked down on his rifle and the display. 3 rounds. He ejected the almost empty clip with stun-round and injected a full one. The display climbed up to sixty.
Ranma didn't like that the marines was allowed to use live ammunition while they only could use the non-lethal stun-rounds.
If they marines they had encountered had been using any form of armour the rounds would have had no effect whatsoever.
But he also knew why, the marines weren't even aware that this was just a simple training-mission.
This mission was to see how well the defences was, and give the Spartans some field training.
Not the real thing, but as close as even possible.
He heard the whining of a pelican drop-ship flying somewhere above them, moving towards the island.
His part in this mission was over for him and his squad. Now the other Spartans would be jumping with a parachute over the island taking the strategic locations, while he and his team headed back towards their current HQ.
He looked back at the island, he didn't like to leave now that the others was there fighting. His place was on the battlefield among his friends and family and not on some rusty old tanker. He looked on the faces on the people around him and knew that they felt the same way.
Well orders where orders.
Training 10 years
"Chief Mendez, how is the training going?" She said as she walked besides.
"We have run into some… complications." Mendez said as opened a door and let her inside.
"What for kind of complications" She said and emphased the word.
"The Spartans themselves" He said and moved over to a huge window opposite the wall.
"What do you mean, are they hurt or sick?" She said a little irritated.
"No, they are all healthy. The problem is that they are being a serious danger to everyone involved in their training. Under the last month alone nine of their hand to hand instructors have been severely injured, and two killed."
"So your men aren't on par with them"
"My men haven't been on par with them since they where nine, but know it is to dangerous to be around them in a fight. They have surpassed their instructors in every field, we have taught them everything we can."
"So they are ready?" She asked with a smug look.
"Yes, the only thing they lack is real experience, and that we cannot teach them"
She nodded.
The window was covered with a blast door. The room they where in was some kind of observation area, the walls lined with monitors.
"But what are we doing here?" She asked then.
"It's hazardous to train with the Spartans in common gear, so we needed something that would protect the trainers and give the Spartans some challenge."
He then pressed a button the panel at the window and the blast door covering the window slid away, revealing a huge cave. In the middle of the cave their was what looked like ten huge, bulky robots. They where about 9 feet tall and armed with what looked like hand mounted machinegun.
"We decided to use the exoskeletons for this." He said and pointed towards the cave.
Catherine only nodded. The exoskeleton was the first kind of powered combat armour, built over thirty years ago. The where fast, strong and had good armour but had many drawbacks that made it unsuitable for combat.
The first was that it needed huge amounts of energy, energy that a small portable reactor couldn't create. The exoskeletons had a cable from their back that went to a reactor and this just wasn't practical on the battlefield, one well aimed shoot at the cable and it was goodnight.
The second was the huge maintenance and manufacturing costs, it just wasn't profitable to build them, and they wouldn't help much in a fight. Because of this the few units left where instead used as dock-loaders to move heavy equipment.
"The trainers are well protected, and the Spartans have to try even harder then before to take them down, or so the idea was from the beginning." He said.
"What do you mean, from the beginning?" She asked confused
"Wait" He said as he walked up to a tech and said something to him, what he said she couldn't hear.
The tech nodded and then pressed a button.
Mendez walked back towards her.
"The Spartans just began, their objective is to take the flag guarded by the trainers."
"How many Spartans and what weapons do they have? And what did you mean by, from the beginning?" She asked.
"Just watch and you will understand" He said as he pointed towards cave floor where the trainers waited.
They waited for about five minutes and then she turned towards him.
"And?" She said and raised an eyebrow.
"Look" he said.
She turned towards the window again and looked. After an additional five minutes she was about to turn towards Mendez again when suddenly all light in the chamber went out.
"Bring the lights back immediately" Mendez said to the tech
"Yes sir" the tech replied typing fast on the keyboard.
Down there the only light was coming from the muzzle flames of the trainer's weapons. Then one of the trainer's weapons stopped shooting, making him disappear into the darkness. Then another and another.
The last trainer panicked and began to shoot everywhere, turning around in circles. She then thought she saw as a shadow flashed upon the last trainers and then the also he disappeared into the darkness, making it completely dark in the cave.
Mendez stood there like he had expected it.
He then said.
"23 seconds, the best yet"
"Got the light back online" the tech said.
A second later the lights flickered back. Down in the cave the ten trainers where lying around. She could see that most hade huge rips and tears in their suits, the black hydraulics fluids slowly spreading in small pools under the suits, looking like the blood from a shoot soldier.
On one of the suits an arm was ripped of, lying next to the ruined exoskeleton. One had a huge dent in the front armour, another had its energy cable ripped of. All suits were damaged beyond repair, but not a single Spartan was seen.
"How did they… in just 23 seconds amazing" She said.
"Do you understand now? The trainers weren't even able to put up a good fight. You could have put an additional twenty exoskeletons in there and it wouldn't have done much difference."
"How many were they? What kind of weapons did they use?"
I sent in five Spartans only armed with their fists"
"FIVE?! WITHOUT WEAPONS?!" She screamed.
"It appears that they are beyond your expectations" He said calmly.
"Yes you could say that" She said as she regained her composure.
"The only thing, as I said before, they lack is first hand experience" He said as he stood watching as technicians ran into the cave to remove the suits from the downed trainers.
She only nodded.
"And one more thing I made subject 117 the commanding officer of the Spartans. He has more then once shown creativity, adaptability and initiative, and takes care of the soldiers under his command, all the skills a good soldier and commander needs to know."
She nodded.
"So you're leaving to train the second batch?" She then said.
"Yes tomorrow" He said.
"The next week we will begin with the augmentations and enhancements" She said.
"When that is over, they will probably be almost undefeateble. I have the feeling that they will give the Covenant nightmares for years to come"
"Me to Mendez" She said as she looked down again, the final trainer moving away on shacking legs.
Authors Notes
Man this was long. Finished at last.
Q: Dual weapons?
A: Spartans going John Woo style? Count on it!
Q: Difference from the book and game?
A: Yes I know I am not following the books to the letter. I changed some things to make it fit better with the story. For example Master Chief is a little over 40 when the game begins, but I didn't want to make Ranma that old because it wouldn't fit with the rest of the story. I am just using the books for inspiration and some technical data.
Any questions? Just ask.
Reviews are appreciated
The next time the real war begins.
Big thanks to Madrikor for pre-reading this.
