Chapter 1
Introduction
"Artyom, Anna, are you guys awake?" Duke knocks on their rooms door onboard the Aurora.
They crew had been moving from place to place looking for a new home after having berried the colonel at lake Baikal. They had decided that lake Baikal wasn't yet a place to set up their base it being too far from Moscow and their friends still in the Metro. Moving from place to place had it's benefits though, making friends in some towns and enemies in others. They had even been recruiting new people from friendly groups, and now their group had grown to 15 fighters and 4 other crew members. They still had they original Aurora crew whom they set out with from Lake Baikal. They had gotten 6 new members to their crew; Dima, Roman, Makarov, Slava, Marusya & Lidka.
"Well, we are now" Anna anserws and starts dressing up.
"Artyom, can I see you on the pridge? I have some thing I want to discuss with you." Duke says and hurries away.
"Well he was in a hurry" Artyom comments and gets up.
"He has been on the edge all the time after you gave him the job of teaching the new recruits the Spartan way" mentions Anna. "You really should give him some rest and to clear his head. The other guys would propably be willing to jump into train the new recruits if you even mentioned it."
"Before father died, he always mentioned that Duke looked after me when it came to missions and I didn't even take rest of the crew into consideration, but now when I have to lead, I have seen how bold and stupid I was. I don't want Duke doing the stuff I went through. I just want him to settle down a bit by giving him some responsibility." Artyom said with a serious voice.
"Why so serious all of a sudden love? You sound more like dad by the day" Anna answered dragging him from the bed to his feet. "Go now, Duke is waiting for you"
Artyom stood up and started dragging himself through the Aurora towards the helm, it was a slow morning for the crew. Everybody except from the new trainees, Yermak and Duke were still in their rooms, probably still sleeping. When he passed through Tokarevs workshop he saw Dima and Lidka fixing their Spartan armor and cleaning their weapons. I didn't take long before Dima saw him coming towards them.
"Morning Colonel!" Dima shouted and stood up.
"At ease Dima. You know I hate you yelling attention every time I enter the room." Artyom said shaking his head. "In a unprofessional manner such as this there isn't ever a need to address me as colonel."
"Understood sir" Dima answered smiling from ear to ear.
"Sigh*, just why are you cleaning your kit so early in the morning?" Artyom asked yawning still half asleep.
"Duke told that Tokarev would take our equipment away whilst our equipment was in so bad shape." Lidka told Artyom. "And to be honest it's the 1st time I have put all of my kit together from scratch ."
"Well Duke really knows about Tokarevs punishments about broken equipment. I still remember after we left the Caspian sea when Duke had repair all our weapons and armor." Artyom mentioned. "I really should leave you alone, it should be at least a couple of hours before Tokarev wakes up."
Dima and Lidka both nodded and continued cleaning their kit, whilst holding in their laughter from what they just heard about their trainer. Artyom continued towards the healm of the Aurora, but decided to stop and get something to eat. When he entered the dining area Krest was already making himself breakfast.
"Morning Artyom. You're up already? Have you seen Duke, he has been on the edge all morning." Krest asked Artyom whilst making a fresh pot of coffee.
"Yeah, Duke came to me and said he wanted to see me on the bridge, so I'm going there right now." Artyom answered. "Pour me a cup of coffee whilst you're at it would you."
Artyom took the full cup of coffee, thanked Krest and continued to the bridge to see what Duke was so stressed about.
Artyom entered the bridge with the cup of coffee in his hand and saw Duke and pacing back and forward, like a child who has done something stupid and now has to tell his parents about his wrongdoing. When Duke saw climbing the stairs to the bridge the life that was still with-in him came out.
"So you wanted to see me, what seems to be the problem?" Artyom asked
"I'm sorry Artyom, I really don't think I'm up for the task of training the new recruits." Duke said through his teeth. "I mean, I can somewhat train them in same sense as everyone else mentoring them, but to fully be in charge of their training is just stressing me out. I can't think clearly, I always stress out about them, and I don't see myself as a role model for the new guys."
"Duke…" Artyom sighed. "Is this the reason why you have been stressing about the whole time? I know it can be stressing to be a role model for the new guys, but I chose you for the task, because I know you are up to the task as my 2nd in command. But this afternoon we shall have a meeting between the whole crew where we shall discuss our plans for the future, and my current plan is to change your role from training to going on missions."
Dukes eyes filled with life and happily asked Artyom; "So colonel, what is your current plan for the order, sir?"
"Follow me outside for this" said Artyom taking him out to talk at the Auroras helm.