Forgotten Heroes

Chapter Five

0448 Hours, Monday, October 7, 2388 (Military Calendar)/ Europa Military Base in orbit around Jupiter

For the first few months of training their routines didn't change much. They were always doing exercise, taking classes, or resting at the barracks. Every morning they would shower, warm up, take a hike through the nearby woods, and then do some real calisthenics and strengthening exercises before going to class. After class they would do military drills, more exercise to the point until their bodies couldn't stand it any longer. They then took a shower, and were ordered to rest at the barracks for the night. The training had taken the same daily routine for few months they had been in training.

Trahaearn had befriended a couple of kids and they had forced other children out of their beds so they got the last beds of the barracks. He slept on the bed closest to the showers, and farthest from the entrance. Duscha Collins slept above him, Francesco Maldini slept on the other side of the hall; the barracks were a long narrow path with beds on the side. Nicholas Keith slept above Frankie; they called him Keith.

Trahaearn made his way to the training grounds after the morning bath with Frankie. They were usually the first out of the baths and ready for training. Training began for them even though the rest of the children were still getting dressed. Trahaearn and Frankie were ordered to do sets of 15 pus-ups and 20 sit-ups in quick successions until everyone arrived. The children were told to imitate them as they arrived.

When all the kids were ready and filed up, Chief Officer Tarantino spoke up. "I have a special announcement to make. Today we will begin a new training, you will be taught battle tactics and movements for the first time. Today we will skip class to go over tactics. Now, take a long hike and then do calisthenics and strength training. After you will have breakfast as I teach you basic tactics."

After their long hike and training were over they were all taken into a large classroom they had never been into. It was located on the second floor of a large building they had never been into before, it seemed as if it had not been there before, its floor was made of glass and under it was a large maze. The children were given a seat and breakfast before Chief Officer Tarantino began their class.

"Today we will begin a new kind of training. You will begin playing Paintball, an old sport that was very popular back on Earth, a couple of centuries ago." Tarantino picked up what looked like a gun from a nearby desk. It was rather odd, with a tank on its rear end, a weird plastic bay above it, and a long barrel. "This is a paintball marker. It uses compressed hydrogen to shoot paint filled bullets at high speeds; getting hit by one of these hurts."

He readied the gun and aimed just above the children, some flinched as he began shooting the wall behind them. Red paint was left on the wall and lightly splattered nearby children. Both the gun and the paintballs made a loud noise when they were shot and when they hit their target. "This is not a toy. Back in the days, it was only sold to adults. This modified version of a paintball marker shoots bullets far more accurately and harder than old models. Everything has been redesigned. The paint can only be removed with a special spray to prevent cheating. The guns can also be deactivated externally, to prevent those who have been tagged from shooting other players."

"As you might have guessed already, the point of the game is to tag, hit, shoot, whatever you wish to call it, the opposing team. Whoever ends with live members wins, or if time runs out before some one wins, teams get only a third of the points. Losers get no points. Any questions?"

Franchesco raised him hand and spoke up, "Sir, if no one wins in a tie, why do tied teams get points?"

"It is utterly unacceptable to be rewarded for mediocrity, but preventing the other team from winning is worth something."

Trahaearn, following Frankie's lead spoke up, "Sir." He paused to get Chief Officer Tarantino's approval, "Yes, but you cannot reward cowardice. If I just hide in a bunker it would unacceptable to be awarded points for it."

Another kid spoke up and supported both Frankie and Trahaearn. A couple more spoke against and in favor. "Calm down!" he paused to calm down, "I will meet with your trainers and discuss this. That will be it; we will decide what to do." He walked over to a side of the room and opened a door. P. C. Corporal Ono followed him. He was new and the only kids who knew his name where those who had been able to read his nametag. "This is Private Chief Corporal Ono, he will be teaching you moves that will be helpful for you. A group will go down with him, others will be appointed to other tasks while they are with him. Garth-022," Trahaearn got up, "Maldini-047…"

Trahaearn didn't catch anymore names as he was already going down into the maze. From downstairs he watched as Frankie, young Johnny who was only seven, Tyler, Zoe, one young boy he didn't know by name, another he quite didn't even recognize, Luis who beat everyone to first place in sprints, Angelina, and Dominic were the only ones to follow Trahaearn downstairs into the maze. Private Ono joined them downstairs and led them into an open area in the maze.

"First I'll teach you how to move. The most important rule in warfare is that unless you want to be seen, you should be invincible. Move in silence, but move swiftly. This is how it should be done." Private Ono bent his back and ran softly with his knees slightly bent, even though he was running, his feet made no noise as they hit the floor. He stopped at ten meters into the maze and turned around, "Now you do it. Step lightly, soft like feathers, but move. You have to be fast.

He watched as the children ran like he had. "Good. Some of you can bend even lower. Most of you hit the ground when running. You are not just moving, you must glide, like this." He did it again and watched them as they did the drill several times. "Of course, if you need to get somewhere fast this not the optimal way to do it. Moving like this provides optimum speed and agility while moving with stealth. Try and step softly, glide. Do it a couple more times."

After that, they followed Private Ono to a long tunnel with few door like openings on its walls. One of them led to another hallway; Private Ono stopped right besides it. "Wall hugging. It is a very basic and old military tactic. From the very beginnings of urban warfare this has been taught in every military. The wall is your friend, stick to the sides of a room. Standing in the middle of a room is asking to be seen. Just like walking down the middle of a street." Ono showed them how to do it while he explained it, "You have to move close to the wall without touching it. When approaching corners, you lean yourself against the wall and look around the corner with your head. Use the corner as cover, and remember that walls are your friends. Next is the SWAT Turn, a highly useful maneuver in close quarters combat. You move into the corner and turn as you move past it, and finish by quietly hugging the other corner. This should be fast and silent. Now, do this drill, hug the wall, peak around the corner and do a SWAT Turn."

Next Private Ono showed them how to land silently, how to efficiently roll, dive and slide. He showed them how to hide behind bunkers and efficient ways to peak around a hot corner. All of the kids would have to train hard to master the moves Private Ono taught them.

The other children where showed the more advanced rules and situations in Paintball, how to wear paintball equipment, how to shoot with a paintball marker, basic squad based tactics, a more advanced lesson on moving like a SWAT and SEALS team. Both, as the children were taught, were highly efficient squads with superior ability that dominated their enemies with the most advanced tactics, weapons and technologies of the 20th and 21st Centuries. When the kids finished their lesson they were taken by another trainer someplace else within the building so as to have every group receive every lesson.

After a long day of training, the children found themselves in the second floor room where they had been after their morning calisthenics for a second time. Their trainers had a small lunch for them, and Officer Tarantino waited to give further instructions.

"I hope you all remember what you have learned today, as you will have to apply it the rest of this week. You will all be appointed into teams and there will be a small tourney Tuesday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday you will attend class, which you won't this week, and receive some more trainings. Monday we will repeat a more advanced version of this and change teams for another tourney next week."

"Now, I will give you all a new identification number, a letter followed by two digit name number. Those of you with the same letters will be teammates for the tournament."

Chief Officer Tarantino proceeded to list out loud their new identification numbers. After every team had assembled in different areas of the large room, each team was assigned a trainer that would watch over them as they walked around the maze to familiarize themselves with it.