Update before we begin: To all the reviewers who had pointed out a few critical mistakes in my writing and those who have peer reviewed me in person; I have now figured out where a few of the mistakes y'all have pointed out were at and had a pretty comical discovery over finding them. Thank you for pointing them out and I will move forward to remediate them.
For those of you who are curious on what those mistakes are, I am naming one major contention that everyone has directed the source of their anger from: The awakening of the main characters abilities and use of them in Chapter 5 and 6. This is a major plotpoint that has spurred several flames, interesting commentary, and a majority of the critiques from fellow colleagues and peer-reviewers.
This is currently being fixed at the moment. Mainly, the sheer size of the main character being over seven feet in height. That is a mistake I did not realize I made until someone showed me height scales lmao. For those of you needing a scale, imagine Shaquille O'Neal being with you, then add on a few more inches. This is being remediated in the later chapters, as that is not only too big, but also makes you a bigger target. So, in order to add onto the tall description without making him too tall, Griffin's official height will be 6'6. Taller than your average ODST but not the height of a Spartan or Sangheili.
In regards to the abilities that lead to the creation of the Solarians; they will stay for reasons that followed the intention of exploring Precursor content. However, that does not mean I will leave the "overpowered" parts unchecked for the main character; those mistakes were caused by the adrenaline of getting Midterms done and so this will also be fixed.
However, as pointed out by a few of the peer reviewers and a couple reviews, there will be more descriptions of the Solarians anatomy and society as time goes along.
Thank you all for your perspectives, commentary, and reviews that will lead to a more positive change and learning experience! This was brought by constructive criticism and fellow friends who have taken an interest to the story.
Now, onto Pt2 of The Crucible!
In the middle of darkness, seventeen marines closed in on the cadets trenches in the break of the fighting. There was a sense that caused the sergeant in charge to start ordering his men from their side of the perimeter and enter the cadets own position; they even teetered on insubordination of their commanding officer of the field just to take on any sleeping cadets. Boots scraped grass and soft dirt as they made their way through the climb onto the first foxhole, a sign that they could be able to catch them by surprise.
The second three of his privates made it to the foxhole, there were no cadets to be found.
That was when a few of the marines heard guns cocking from the sidelines.
"Fuck."
With a burst of fire, all fifteen marines fell to the ground with the crack of stun rounds impacting their chests. Through the element of surprise, fifty cadets rushed from the manmade openings in their trenches and started to bolt into the hole inside the marines battle lines. A cheer was sounded as the assault group of cadets caught the marines by surprise inside their battle lines, every cadet put down at least fifteen shots into marine squads before they were taken down.
To the success of this company of cadets, it caused the entire battalion of cadets to begin the next phase of the operation: Seize and destroy the Marine positions.
All earned their kill counts in a single charge down the battle lines.
Griffin Phoenix
Head of the charge, CAMS
"Phoenix, Ramirez; go-go-go!" Lasky roared as Sagilius Squad headed the rush down the Marine's perimeter. Orenski, Niko, and Rika were with Griffin as all four of them leaped into a marine foxhole before the field started to get chaotic with exchanged gunfire. Inside the foxhole, Orenski saw a marine get up from a sleeping position and she took him down with a single stun round. On the other side of the foxhole, Griffin and Rika got to an upper side of the hole and started to shoot at marines either getting out of their foxholes or getting into them.
When marines started to pop out of their foxholes and attempted to shoot at the two cadets, Ramirez and Sarah tapped the marines where they were with cover fire, just as the rest of Sagilius squad backed them up and got into two other foxholes in the forest.
"It seems like we have poked the Hornets nest!" Ramirez roared, ducking under a pile of dirt as bullets pinged from the gravel.
"Don't think so, we've entered the nest!" Griffin yelled as there were the columns of cadets entering the perimeter and putting rounds into the marine trenches. Chaos now ruled this battle zone, even as the opportunity turned into a close combat exercise. Marines would return fire and catch a couple of unsuspecting cadets by surprise.
"Regardless, you two, split off into a Fireteam and cover more ground for the battalion, we have an area to take here!" Lasky bellowed, eager and ready to get the opportunity of where to hit hit the marines hard. He would take Rodriguez, Zinc, and McCraw while the rest of the squad split and take more marine positions. There, more ground would be covered as the initial assault can be used as a front to completely decimate the marines in the night.
Taking Niko, Sarah, and Orenski; Griffin elected to take the more shady approach into the marine formation that was covered more by forest than trench. He rushed through the thick foliage first before Orenski and the others could follow him out of the foxhole. When he looked past the dense brush, there were five marines getting ready to perform a flanking maneuver against a platoon of cadets who were about to overrun a marine position. With an opportunity such as this, Griffin aimed his rifle and popped off semi-automatic shots at the exposed marines before rushing to cover.
By the time the rest of the fireteam came to him, Griffin motioned for the team to spread out and rush in hard.
Through the nod in synched coordination, Griffin, Orenski, Niko, and Sarah sprinted into the marine flank and passed through a clearing to get to the five downed marines. Griffin took the ammo from the marines whilst the platoon of cadets nearby finished their objective with the nearby marine trench cleared of the opposing force. However, when Griffin started to walk to unmarked territory, there was shuffling in the distance. He would immediately raise his palms and ball them into a fist, holding fast as the rest of the fireteam waited and crouched.
"What is it?" Orenski asked.
"Movement, unknown." Griffin whispered.
In a split-second decision, Griffin ducked and got to the ground. "Get down!" He roared.
Orenski, Niko, and Sarah would make it in time before the cracks of bullets pinged from the brush, treebark, and dirt around them. It was silent, suppressed, indicators of one thing:
ODST's.
"Moment of truth, get to cover and provide additional covering fire. Orenski, fall back and get the rest of the squad." Griffin ordered, motioning the woman to start on a low-crawl to the rear of the clearing.
As she was making her way to the back, Griffin smiled and bolted to a nearby tree. Suppressed fire was quick to ping off of the bark, but he made it before any stun rounds would catch him. He would start catching all the ODST's attention as they concentrated fire on his position. With this in mind, Griffin would toss a grenade towards the ODST's, causing movement to be heard as he roared:
"Now!"
The second the flashbang went off, Griffin bolted right into the ODST's line of fire as Niko and Sarah got up and started firing. At a glance, three ODST Troopers, even dazed, took several steps to keep away from the stun rounds cracking at them. These three troopers took cover behind the trees, but it gave them time to recover. Griffin rushed them anyways, taking the first rush on a trooper and shooting the trooper down in the crossfire. When the trooper dropped to the ground, Griffin was forced to leap into a ditch, rolling down as the two other ODST troopers shot at him.
Beside the man, the ODST trooper Griffin shot down with stun rounds would roll nearby and grunt as his limp body laid there. He would immediately attempt to roll over the ODST trooper and found a training knife, electric baton, and a helmet he could use. With a sigh, Griffin took the trooper's helmet, knife, baton, and SMG before he stood up and placed his bare head with the troopers helmet.
"Hey asshole... what the fuck are you doing...?" Growled the trooper with a grunt.
"Adapting." Griffin spoke, his voice becoming chopped up and sounding muffled as he sealed the helmet over his face.
And when the helmet activated, the familiar pinging sound of his heartrate monitor was able to shift online and display the motion tracker on his left and ammo counter on his right. Immediately, there were signs that proved troublesome:
Out of the two ODST's that were marked as friendlies taking fire over the ditch, fifteen ODST's were already on their way to reinforce them. Already, Griffin rushed up the ditch and started to lock the SMG with how many rounds he had until it was empty.
"We have someone who yanked Brad's helmet, shift to dark mode and radio silence."
Before the friendly blips would go dark, Griffin would spot the two troopers looking right at Griffin as they were pinned by Niko and Sarah's gunfire. The young man would shoot them down with such a blitz of speed. He knew their positions and saw them far clearer than the night. With no time to waste, Griffin ran to the two squad mates with a wave. "Fifteen ODST's incoming!" He roared.
The second he voiced this out on the comms, Lasky and the rest of Sagilius squad would enter the location and provide covering fire into the forest. However, with the crossfire incoming, Griffin knew he would be caught in it and immediately rushed to a tree in the middle, concealing himself. This gave him the split second to disable his helmet's transponder and internal communication receiver. Successfully deactivating his helmet, the troopers would immediately lay down their rounds into Sagilius. Wilhelm would let out a comical scream as he was shot, taken down as a couple of the squad members started to drag his body away.
Closing his eyes, Griffin would prepare for the inevitable retreat of the squad as ODST's were too much for anyone to handle. However, as movement was being heard all around him, he would spot the incoming ODST's bolting ahead of him, neglecting to see him from behind the tree. Three bursts of suppressed fire would take out at least five troopers before he could rush out into the open. However, when he was about to take down three more troopers in the rush from cover, the sound of doom was heard:
Click-click-click!
Griffin cursed himself and in a split second, threw his suppressor rifle into the nearest ODST that attempted to raise his rifle at him and tackled into another trooper that was in the way. The impact of force caused the man to grunt before he realized his momentum was thrown to the side by the trooper he tackled. He rolled to the side as he caught his hand on the dirt and squeezed, throwing himself up on his feet before the troopers he hit could recover. The third ODST tried to shoot, but Griffin's gripped electric baton smacked the rifle to the ground.
It was at that moment, Griffin's boot smacked the troopers chest and forced the man away from the cadet as he tried to hit another recovering trooper next to him. That would be blocked by another baton strike as it clashed with another ODST's baton. Griffin would meet the fist of another trooper as he would be sent back by the three quickly recovered troopers. Steeling himself for rough blows to his person, Griffin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Hey Forthencho, I am going to need a little help here."
"Hand to hand combat eh? This should be simple."
"These are ODST's, the best infantry regimen in the military... I am going to need the martial experience."
"Okay, fine Caboose, I'll give you some muscle memory while you battle these three combatants."
Lasky
Forest, CAMS
After retreating a few paces into the trenches, he noticed the ODST's didn't retreat. Given the indications of seeing Griffin being the last to be seen, he immediately guessed they were going to take him down. Roaring to the nearby cadet platoon, he urged for fifty cadets to come with him into the forest. Given the urgency behind ODST's in their perimeter, it was immediate that Triarii Squad and the rest of the platoon would follow with them into the forest. With a mass of men, he knew the troopers would lose their footing when an entire force came after them.
However, Lasky didn't realize that the troopers were already onto them as Zinc and McCraw fell quickly into the assault.
Throwing down a mass of stun rounds seemed to do the trick though as the troopers fled, fell, or were pinned in cover. It gave the cadets the opportunity to leverage their charge and rush the troopers with their numbers and masses. By the time the ten or so troopers were dropped in the attack, there was movement up ahead that signaled something trying was going on.
When Lasky brushed past the cover, he would not believe what he was seeing.
Griffin was going toe-to-toe with three ODSTs. At the moment, he witnessed the young cadet cracking a trooper in the collar bone with a karate chop and using the momentum of the trooper bending down to jump over him and throw the trooper's body into the air with a grip into the man's armor. The cadet even exchanged swift blows from one trooper to the next, dodging combined punches, kicks, and martial combos that would lead to a KO. To separate the two troopers, Griffin pulled up from a downward punch and threw himself up and jump-kicked the trooper away, singling out the last ODST with the rearming of his electric baton.
Replying, Griffin received the compliment of baton exchanges as the trooper was swift enough to match his speed and strength blow for blow. When the trooper punched at his armed shoulder, Griffin wrapped his arm around the trooper, pulled, and kicked him three times before releasing and spinning the trooper away. It was here, the other trooper tried to rush the man, but he ducked last-second and threw the ODST away. The moment the disoriented ODST tried to throw strikes at Griffin, the man blocked a couple punches, parried a strike, and did something that surprised Lasky even more.
The second Griffin spun the ODST with a few taps to the shoulder, he jumped and delivered a spinning kick to the helmet; knocking out the trooper cold.
At the last trooper's charge, Griffin would stand guard and take the ODST's blow. However, the trooper feinted and leaped over him, delivering a round-house to the chest. Griffin was thrown away into the ground, but he did something that made Lasky sweat; Griffin rolled to his feet and rushed the ODST. It was at that moment, the trooper and Griffin exchanged a flurry of blows at each other before Griffin elbowed the trooper in the face and delivered two punches to his chest and a final kick to the helmet.
At the silence of the conflict, Lasky would discover that in his examination, he realized everyone in the assault watch this unfold before their very eyes.
That moment would soon end, however, when the next second later; Griffin fell to his knees and passed out.
"Alright everyone, get Griffin back to the trenches, we are moving ahead and securing this victory!"
"How in the fuck did he do that?" One cadet from the sidelines spoke with a shocked expression.
"Another time, let's get moving!"
Catherine Halsey
Chi Ceti IV, Damascus Testing Facility
May 8th, 2525
Seeing John dawn on the helmet of his MJOLNIR suit made smile inwardly. If the young man known as Christian were here to watch this happen again, he'd likely pass out from the excitement of this moment. That at least was true about John, being the first to dawn the suit and be warned of what could possibly happen to them. It was the remarkable traits predicted by John once again. She saw what kind of potential the Spartan would have if he had the compassion of humanity following in his determination to save it. Due to the acceleration of their training reaching this moment, Halsey remembered what it took to come here.
In accelerating the program to this point, the washouts that were taken into Section Three would act as specialists for the Spartans as they were assigned to take on missions against The Insurrection. Blue Team was sent to retrieve Colonel Robert Watts. Through the technical directives of the young candidates and their Spartan successors, the mission was accomplished without John taking a bullet for Sam. While the Spartans took on the rush physically, their fellow candidates hacked modules and provided accurate data from long range telecommunications. In response to the success of Blue Team and the rest of the Spartans in such a fast pace, Halsey was approved to go to the next phase.
This time, Halsey halted the experimentation of live test subjects and opted for a test dummy. The material broke the machine and the experiment was completed ethically, if such a thing mattered for her anymore. Everything was improving with very little change on her part, and the concerns of Chief Mendez for making babies run. However, Catherine knew the score that was coming over the horizon and she couldn't sit by while her Spartans were being prepared to die. If they were going to fall, it would be with their armor put on and their training completed.
Everything for the better moment of survival, no matter the cost.
"Well... how does it feel?" Halsey asked John, her composure getting back into shape. She could see the tall Spartan leering back after having the helmet dawned upon him.
"Like I was made to wear it."
Griffin Phoenix
Circinius IV, CAMS
May 8th, 2525
The march back into the Academy had never felt more relieving as the soreness of the exercises hanged upon the Battalion of hundreds of cadets heading into the grand courtyard. Cheers and cadences were bellowed out from every company, every squad as the fact remained as clear as day: Victory against trained impossible odds and complete mission success. Their leadership and camaraderie did not fail in the constant attempts by the staff to make them fail, not even when there were points where they all would fall. In the final moments of the Crucible, Saegillius squad led the way into the King of The Hill. Many squads were preparing to fail, but in Griffin's eyes, he hoisted many into the climb and made sure they all got home.
Many cadets voiced how uncertain they were about victory, some even said that they were just expendable. Griffin would reply with three words every time they were spoken:
"Not to me."
His perseverance and belief in every cadet's success had earned the complete admiration of everyone by this point into the end. With a cheering tone resolving in every single cadet that was once failing, struggling, or seeking to find their place... all of that was balanced out by a single union of the chorus and the eventual arrival of the , Griffin followed the chants, cadences, and cheers with a familiar tune:
"Helljumper Helljumper where you been?
Feet first into hell and back again!
When I die please bury me deep!
Place an MA5 down by my feet!
Don't cry for me, don't shed no tear!
Just pack my box with PT gear!
Cuz one early morning 'bout zero-five!
The ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky!
Don't you worry, don't come undone!
It's just my ghost on a PT run!"
By now, the Marines and the ODST's who they had battled were waiting for them beside a stone assembly where the staff of the academy waited for them in formation.
"Prepare for Graduation Seniors, this is the final march for us!" Lasky roared, causing many hoots and hollers as the men and women of the march prepared their graduation ceremony. Here, today, many cadets would graduate and prepare on their way into military service and choose wherever they wished to go into the greater conflicts of the UNSC. In Griffin's thoughts, he knew Lasky would be needed to survive in order to keep his brother from losing himself in a critical time in his training. With enough training and discipline, the Lasky brothers could become far more formidable than what they were portrayed. However, he could not help himself but smile behind his helmet as they were all in columns about to reach the ceremony assembly.
The second the battalion was assembled before the staff, General Black called the entire class to come to attention.
"Never before has my statement ever been so true today. I take in the best, and I train the best. This is the single finest off-earth Academy ever built in the colonies, and you, my cadets, have earned ever decoration this academy has to offer." General Black started, walking to the head of the podium and looking into the rows and rows of cadets. "Your parents have given me their progeny, you. I have promised them I will rid your hearts of fear and discipline you into the next generation of soldiers. Today, I see you are the heroes I promised to give them."
Many cadets would lock their boots at this comment, taking General Black back a moment before speaking even further.
"We are UNSC, today, tomorrow, forever. And it is today, my sons and daughters, you have earned the privilege of succeeding your predecessors." He spoke, turning to Sagillius squad in particular. "No longer are you Freshmen Cadets, in succeeding this Crucible, you shall be known as an Officer in the UNSC. To all cadets in this class, you have the time and access to the training resources that will hone your combat experience. I'd suggest you use it." With that, General Black would give a nod to the cadet battalion and began to walk away.
In his place, Colonel Mehaffey walked to the podium and motioned for the drill sergeants to begin dolling out the awards to the cadets.
"Officers of the UNSC, all of you will bear the mark of Corbulo, the sign that you are worthy of valor for completing this great journey. Those of you who have bested the ODST's will receive the mark of the Helljumper, commendations for your squad and yourself. Many of you will jump in class rank and some will proceed with the courses of next academic term. Those of you who graduate, your rank shall be First Lieutenant and your choice of service will be requested by the end of the week."
Munching on steak gave the young man energy he was surprised he didn't have. A warriors breakfast had awaited him, and now the taste of bacon chipped in his taste buds and the splattering of scrambled eggs pastured his fat mouth in the speed of eating. Hunger filled his mid as he enjoyed the feast among companions, especially when all of them were so highly decorated by this point into the end of the ceremony. He was so happy with the four diamonds he now bore on his neck strap, a sign he had jumped from being a Freshman, to a Senior in such a swift short amount of time.
In such a surprise, everyone except Lasky bore the diamonds of seniority. It was such luck that not only were they bearing the ODST patch on their shoulders, but the patch of Corbulo as well. Both marks had a flame within their crests, just as the shield and sharp draw of the marks displayed a very intimidating demonstration of their place. As for Lasky, he was marked with a First Lieutenant bar on his shoulder straps, with his seniority bars taken off as a symbol of his place. He was no longer their squad leader, but an officer of the UNSC.
"So, Lasky, what service were you thinking of joining?" Orenski asked, being the first one to speak after such an incredible feast and celebration.
Griffin already knew the man's answer.
"ODST, Marines. Someone has to bring the shock into the Insurrection." Lasky smiled.
"Well, since you did earn the patch, they may just induct you into it." Niko chuckled.
"Hey, don't say that. I wasn't the one who engaged them in hand-to-hand combat!" Lasky laughed.
However, the second Lasky mentioned the combat, all eyes would soon turn to Griffin who was enjoying his meal in silence. Comically, they all would catch Griffin frozen in mid bite on a steak, watching them look at him eating.
"Speaking of which, how in the hell did you go toe-to-toe with not one, but three ODST's?" Niko asked.
Finishing his piece of the steak, Griffin would gulp down the meal and simply shake his head. "Would you be surprised that I simply was making shit up as I went along?" He asked in reply, earning the firm stare from many of the cadets. "Okay-okay... I studied and practiced martial arts on the holo net, combined moves I knew, and then threw myself at them." Griffin lied, sparing the half truth. "Seriously, I throw myself into training, especially when no one is watching." He implied, causing a few passing cadets to start pacing away.
"Well, time we learn from you, that was some Kung-Fu master shit." Wilhelm chuckled.
"Only if you would stop screaming like a cartoon character." Griffin replied, causing the entire squad to bellow out a laugh.
Aaaaaand another chapter complete!
Alright, we have gotten some juicy combat and some plotpoints done for the time being; all that is going to be done now is begin the end of the semester and into the summer time! Obviously, in the next chapter, things are going to progress very rapidly in the following storyline for plot reasons! Considering we are getting closer and closer to the Covenant Invasions of the Outer Colonies, you will see things become more uncertain now that the Spartan Program has reached combat effectiveness long before the declaration of war is sounded!
What would a prepared Spartan Program do to Covenant in the face of early conflict? Only time will tell.
Regarding the Solarians and Mack's robotic forces, there will be attention placed upon them.
Also, in the spirit of Halloween, I am going to state that next chapter... you will be eh... surprised... mystified... and dare I say...
A monument to all of our sins...
-True