Forgotten Heroes

Chapter Two

1048 Hours, Monday January 29, 2388 (Military Calendar)/ Europa Military Base in orbit around Jupiter

"They are all here now. They all look disoriented, better clear things out for them." An AI spoke up.

A dark skinned man spoke up in response to the message. "Thanks Jet. Chief Tarantino will be there in a moment." He turned to talk to Chief Tarantino, who he had been speaking with.

"I don't think he is doing anything that goes against your motives and goals, Rogers."

Rogers's stern emotionless look was always present on his face. He rarely smiled, or laughed or showed emotion. "Good. Remember, you have been assigned for several reasons. We trust you, Warren. You are past your time, you never made it while you were active. Now it's your chance to make it as an Officer."

"I know. I'll keep a good eye on him. Everything he does to the children is through me anyways. It shouldn't be hard at all, Colonel."

"Excellent. Stay in touch." The colonel shook hands with Tarantino and left the room.

Tarantino stayed for a couple of seconds, contemplating. This was his chance to make it, his chance to finish what he had led and supported during his active time in the UNSC Military. He fixed his shirt and tucked it in nicely before walking out into the podium.

The entire room was well lit. He looked around and made a vague count of the children, over a hundred. There appeared to be half the number of trainers, and a few men who stood in each exit. The kids stopped whining and crying at the order of their trainers. Tarantino noticed one kid who hadn't been crying or whining. The kid seemed to have a clear idea of what was going on. He probably was one of the oldest kids, about nine or ten years old. The kid had a strong and angry look on his face, and looked strait at him.

The man who stood on the platform cleared his throat and began speaking. "Welcome, children. You might not know what is going on right now. That is all right. All you need to know is that this is your new home. Your lives will change from this day forward and you will not get to see your family anymore." Some of the kids had begun crying and whining again, the awful men in army clothing were calming them and threatening them. He kept looking strait at the man who was giving the speech. He was the one who had taken them away from home.

That old man who tried to comfort them was the cause of all their pain and suffering. Once all the kids were quiet, he began talking again. "You will no longer play with other kids your age, or fool around. All of you will go through the same rigorous training and academic agenda. While you might not understand this right now I'll say it anyway. You will grow to be the future of the UNSC Army. You will grow to be feared and respected by both your allies and your enemies. You will be stronger and smarter than anyone else. You will grow to be great soldiers one day. You will one day grow and understand everything, and when that day comes you'll be ready to take the tasks that will be presented to you head on." The old man looked at him for a while.

He hated that man. He had taken away his family and friends. He had and would make his life miserable for the years to come. He didn't seem like a bad man, though.

"That is all. Dismissed. Take the children to their barracks to spend the night. Tomorrow we begin training." Tarantino had a look of the kid once more before leaving the auditory room. He memorized the kid's seat.

Once he was back on the room behind the auditory, where he had talked to the colonel, he approached a computer panel on a wall.

"Jet?"

The AI responded, "What is it?"

"I want to find out about one of the kids in the program. Show me a picture of the auditory."

A video feed from a security camera appeared on screen. He identified the kid and marked his face on the screen. "That one. Find everything about him."

A second or two later Jet showed the child's profile. "Name, Trahaearn Garth. He is ten years old. He was born in Ruffen City on the system Delta Wolf. His father died of unknown causes, according to public records. ONI records indicate he died from the same cause, a peculiar heart attack. The file describes other similar cases. They are all related to ONI experiments on the 50s."

"That bastard. He knew and kept it from me. What else?"

"The files describe it as heart failure due to excessive growth. It looks like ONI experimented on them as kids…"

"I know that. What else?"

"Apparently the heart grew abnormally in some cases and that caused it to stop functioning."

Damn those ONI bastards, they always kept secrets from everyone. They didn't trust him. They really only trusted that he would do the job. "What was his name again?"

"Trahaearn Garth. A name of welsh origin. It means strong as iron."

"What about his ID number?"

"Garth-022."

"Thank you. That was all."

Chief Tarantino got up and left the room. He made his through a couple of backstage rooms before making it to the hallway. There he took a left and then another left and began making his way down the long main hallway of section 1, floor 15.

He made it to the elevator and waited a few seconds for it to arrive. He complied with the usual security measures and took the elevator down to 0-5.