Chapter CLII: Back to the New Basics

January 3, 2548 (UNSC Calendar)/

New Alexandria, Viery Territory, Reach, Epsilon Eridani System

"So I was at this party..."

It wasn't my idea, I promise.

"It wasn't my idea, I promise," I assured Hanna.

It very well could've been, the way things were going. Amber seemed half a drink away from taking her top off and even Miranda was attempting to dance while trying to stay upright. I don't know where Pavel had procured this much alcohol from or why everybody had suddenly decided that they wanted to revisit the high school party scene, but this was getting ridiculous. Everybody was here. Everybody had been invited to my 'officer party.' No doubt Pavel had thought himself terribly funny when doing this. No doubt Api had thought that offering his house as a party room had been a good idea as well.

Even Murphy, Shaw, and Driscoll had shown up. I mean, those guys barely left the Grenadier and now they were all the way over here in New Alexandria. Those three guys were having a blast, quietly drinking cheap beer and sitting together in a couch. Even across the continent they barely changed their habits.

"I said I believed you," Hanna replied with exasperation. "It's just…this goes against everything I believe in!"

"I know you don't like drinking, but Hanna, you can't control what other people do."

"I know, it's just so frustrating!"

"Oi! Welcome to the party!" Robert yelled.

I turned to see Marina and Claire walk through the door. They already looked half-drunk themselves.

"I need a drink," I muttered.

"Frank!" Hanna exclaimed.

"Trust me; you're going to need one too."

When she saw what I was looking at she also rolled her eyes. "Oh great."

Leave it to girlfriend rivalry to draw attention away from me. I took advantage of her momentary attention lapse and took three long steps to the bar before pouring myself a steep one. I downed the whole drink, barely feeling the burn on the back of my throat before pouring myself another glass, this time filling it to the brim. Ever since my enhancements had been making themselves seen more often I had found it nearly impossible to get drunk.

I gave myself twenty minutes to start feeling the dizziness before deciding that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon and grabbed the whole bottle of Scotch. Pavel wasn't exactly buying top of the line booze, but it was good enough for me. I walked through the party, with people congratulating me more than a couple of times. I admired Wiremu's apartment as I walked through it. He had been a rugby player in the past and probably had quite a bit of money saved up. I hear rugby's quite popular back on Earth.

There was a nice balcony with a good view. It wasn't exactly a penthouse, but Api had gotten himself a very good apartment with all his secret fortune. I could see a bunch of buildings with important brand names from the balcony. Grigori was also leaning against the railing, a half-full glass of something in his hands.

"Sarge," he said. "Or El-tee."

"Sarge's fine." I looked around and sat down on a chair. "For now."

He shrugged. "Back on Skopje…"

"What about Skopje?" I growled. I wanted to forget all about it. My stomach still hurt from time to time. The doctors said that the new skin was adapting properly, but sometimes it didn't feel like it.

"The elite."

"We went over this Grigori…"

"You told me nothing," he replied. "You matched an elite's physical strength."

He sounded offended somehow. "So? You know what adrenaline can do, besides, I've got an advantage over most people."

"Advantage or no advantage, you're not supposed to do that," he replied.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" I asked him. "After all, you're nothing but an ONI mole. Spying on me."

"I'm not just spying on you," he replied, turning to look at me. "I am part of the team, I am loyal to the team."

"You can't have two allegiances."

"But I can, and I do. I report everything I see about you and it's for your own good."

"And you think that excuses what you do?"

"Yes, I do."

"The end justifies the means then?"

"Most of the time."

"And I take it that's the same mentality you used back in the day when you were bombing hospitals."

"I never bombed anything," he assured me, anger in his face.

"Whatever. How would you feel if someone in the squad was reporting directly to ONI about you, telling them whether you were really loyal or just a double agent."

Grigori looked at me with a vague look of surprise. It hadn't occurred to me ever before, and evidently he hadn't thought about it either. "Never considered it," he admitted. "But I'm just doing my job. I'm trying to prove I'm not…" he looked around. "I'm not fighting against the UNSC anymore."

I sighed. "I know, I know."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to do my job if they don't tell me anything," he admitted, echoing my sigh. "So, how'd you do it?"

"I don't know. I just did."

"So you're telling me you didn't get any further…gifts?"

"Gifts? No." I shook my head and took another drink from the bottle. "I've got a bunch of shrinks and doctors asking me all this questions in addition to my so-called handler."

"Are you supposed to be talking about this?"

"No. But what are they going to do about it?"

Grigori nodded in acknowledgement but was interrupted before he could even start. A very tipsy Axel Beckel came in through the door before stumbling a little and straightening up.

"Oh, hey Gunny. I mean, Lieutenant," he greeted. He barely slurred through the sentence, good for him.

"What up, Beckel?" I asked him. "Stomach healing up nicely?"

"Yeah, doctors said that the stomach itself wasn't too torn up, the intestines were pretty mangled though."

"You ready for combat?"

"They gave me another week of rest just in case, but I'm going to stay awake during cryo to get it over with."

"Good," I told him. "So…how are you?"

"I just told you, Lieutenant."

"No, I mean…" I rubbed my temples. "I know you and Almers were close."

Beckel smiled sadly and let himself fall down on another chair, nodding at Grigori. "He was only my best friend."

"I'm sorry."

"I should've been there, you know."

"If anybody could've done anything it was me," I told him. "I was the one closest to him and couldn't do anything to help."

"You had just been shot, Gunny. Lieutenant."

"And you had just been stabbed," Grigori told him. "It's not your fault."

"I know, I know. It just feels like I should've been there."

"I know what you mean," he replied.

I nodded absent-mindedly, thinking back to that moment before taking a big gulp from the bottle. Having seen Almers stabbed through the gut by an energy sword hadn't been nice. The poor kid never had a chance against the elite swordsman. Ever since then I had had more than a couple of nightmares with that moment serving as inspiration. Either I was stabbed or I came across Anders' corpse, propped up on something sharp as a warning to stay away.

Stay away from what, I wonder…

"But I'll get over it," Beckel assured me. "Things like this happen. Besides, I just made Lance Corporal, can't really afford to look weak, can I?"

I chuckled. "Lance Corporal. I had forgotten. Congratulations man."

"Thanks, the higher pay helps."

"And Serge?"

"He's a rock," Beckel assured me. "I think he's pissed at what happened, but he's had enough friends of him die back on Earth to lose it."

"Good, I'm going to need him."

"So, what do you think about HIGHCOM deciding to expand the platoon to a company?" he asked, obviously wanting to change the topic.

"I don't know what to think," I admitted. "I just know that I'll be glad to have extra Helljumpers nearby."

Beckel nodded slowly. "Makes sense…"

The balcony door opened yet again to reveal one of the most stunningly beautiful women that I had ever seen. She was tall, curvy, and wearing clothes that seemed to cling to her skin. Her face was something that you'd expect to see on an angel.

"Oh, hey Cam," I greeted her, raising my bottle. "Been a while."

"Frank, heard you made second lieutenant," Camilla said.

"I did," I said. "Impressed?"

She laughed. "Very. How the hell did you make it past the initial screenings?"

I laughed as well and shrugged. "I was asked to become an officer. Can you believe it?"

"Yes. No way you'd become one all by yourself."

I nodded and smiled, taking another sip from the bottle of booze.

"Hey Grigori," Cam said, waving at the man.

"Cam," he replied, nodding slightly.

Camilla dragged a chair with her bionic arm and sat in front of me. "How you doing?"

"I'm good," I said. "Why don't you get a prosthetic that looks real? Or even better, flash clone yourself an arm."

"I can't afford a flash-cloned arm," she told me.

I shrugged. "Nobody can."

"And my boss wants me to look like I actually saw combat. It's better for PR he says. Besides, I like the way it looks."

"Cam, you'd make anything look good on you."

"Aw, thanks," she replied, "I saw Marina and Winchester outside. Did you know that-"

"Yeah," I interrupted. The last thing I wanted on my mind right now was the image of both of them making sweet, sweet love to one another. On second thought, it probably wasn't the last thing I wanted on my mind.

"Weird, huh?"

"Life seems to be a magnet for weird."

"Only yours Frankie," Cam told me. She closed in a little bit and whispered, "Why is he still staring?"

I leaned to the side to see Beckel gaping at Camilla. "Bro…"

"Sir?" he asked, confused.

"Stop staring."

Beckel's mouth closed immediately and he straightened on his chair, looking uncomfortable and trying not to meet Cam's eye.

She laughed and turned to face him. "Pleasure meeting you…"

"Beckel, Axel Beckel."

"Well Mr. Beckel. I'm Camilla Seppa."

"Better known as Grass," I added.

"You're Grass?" Beckel asked suddenly. "Damn."

"Why thank you," she said. "But seriously, stop staring, it's annoying."

"Don't mind him, he's half-drunk," I told Cam, trying to cover for Beckel, if only a little bit.

"Whatever you say Sarge," Cam shrugged, turning back to face me. "Back to this Winchester Marina business."

"Right…it's as weird for me as it is for you."

"Tell me about it. With all the times you snuck out in order to get some with her seemed to confirm that she liked men and she liked them often."

I felt a blush creeping up my neck but suppressed it before Camilla could see it. It had been a very long time since someone had made me feel that uncomfortable just with words. "I…I…what? I mean, it's not like we had sex every chance we got."

"Yeah you did," she told me. "Can't blame you, she's a good-looking girl, she is."

Great, now Cam had joined Marina and Claire for a threesome. My concentration was past its breaking point. On any other occasion I would've thoroughly enjoyed the fantasy, hell, I might've even connected to a v-world fantasy. Right now, not so much.

"Anyways," Cam went on, "I can't stay here for long Frank, got lots of papers to push."

"You deserve better than that," I told her jokingly.

"A desk job is beneath you Cam," Grigori agreed.

"Thank you guys," she said, "but this pays better." Cam stood up and dusted herself off. "You're deploying tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"Good luck Frank," she said, giving me a quick hug. "Try and stay safe."

"It's like you don't know me Cam," I protested.

"Yeah right." She turned to face Grigori. "You want a hug too?"

He shook his head. "I'm good."

"Your loss," Cam shrugged. "I'll be seeing you."

As soon as Camilla closed the door behind her Beckel jumped up and took two long steps towards Grigori. "You just turned down a hug. From that!"
"You need to get laid," Grigori replied.

"Yeah…"

Someone broke something inside the apartment.

"Here we go," I groaned to myself.

A few hours later I found myself helping Hanna walk towards her apartment. Not only had she gotten drunk for the first time in her lifetime, but she had managed to do it with barely enough alcohol to make a hamster fall now she was struggling to walk properly and apologizing profusely, saying that this never happened before.

I struggled not to laugh, feeling like a parent driving his kid back home after his first party with booze in it. It was actually hilarious. I mean, the perfect girl who never drank and didn't engage in any kind of sexual activities all throughout high-school was trying to walk, her high heels in one hand and her purse slipping through her her arm.

I mean, if you had gone to school with her you would've appreciated the irony a bunch more than I was.

"I am so."

"Yeah?" I asked, smiling like an idiot. "You are…"

"So-" she gulped, probably gagging. "-ry."

"Don't worry about it honey," I said, still smiling. "You'll really be sorry tomorrow morning."

Hanna mumbled something before the full weight of her body pulled me down. I stumbled a little before catching her. "Hanna, Han?" I shook my head and pulled her into a bridal carry, making sure that her head was tilted sideways and away from my chest. I didn't want drool or barf staining my shirt. Only a few people were on the street, but all of them made sure to stare at us as we walked past them. I wished that I could've recorded that, just to show it to Hanna next morning. Oh well, the hangover headache would have to do.

"Something amusing Lieutenant?" Lieutenant, no, Captain Hayes asked me pointedly.

I realized that I had been smiling without noticing. Well, I couldn't help it, the thought of a cranky Hanna in the morning, trying to throw her pillow at me while rubbing her temples…priceless.

"Nothing, sir. Forgive me."

The newly promoted Captain Tahlia Hayes was doing the 'Welcome aboard' talk with all of her new officers. Yassir and I were both technically new as officers, but we had served under Hayes before, so we were the old and experienced guys. The other two newcomers were…well, they were Helljumpers.

First we had Second Lieutenant Jen Weller. I think it goes without saying that she was simply stunning. I really should stop being surprised when I come across pretty women, everybody can make their baby attractive with the right modifications. But go into their aptitudes and then it's illegal.

But I digress. Lieutenant Jen Weller was a two year veteran in the UNSC Marine Corps plus another extra year in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. She had seen combat in several engagements with the Covenant and had completed four combat jumps. Her scores were excellent and her skill was undeniable. Weller brought with her half a dozen Helljumpers form her previous unit, the only survivors of her latest run-in with the covvies. She was a tall woman, about 5'10, maybe a little bit less, and she looked like a tough bitch. Her head was shaved to a buzz cut and there were two nasty scars on her face, one was 'A' shaped and on her left cheek, the other one looked to me like a needle had grazed her cheekbone, right below the eye and also on the left side of her face.

Still, despite the tough-as-nails appearance she still had a certain allure, even if it wasn't exactly feminine.

On the other hand we had Second Lieutenant Domingo dos Santos. He was short, shorter than Weller and just shy of Hayes' full height. Unlike so many ODSTs that you met that were tremendously muscular and constantly worked to keep themselves in peak shape, he was slim and not exactly muscular. He was a veteran of thirteen years, one more than me. Of those thirteen only one had been spent as a regular, he had served in the trenches as an ODST for most of his career before finally deciding to become an officer. Like Weller, he had an excellent track record and had completed over fifty combat jumps and lived to tell about them. Yassir had passed me his file, seeing as Captain Hayes still hated me and hadn't given it to me. He seemed to have a thing for interrogating grunts in order to gain information before executing them.

Interesting tactic, I had never actually considered not killing a covvie. I might have to try it out it sometime.

"Welcome aboard," Hayes said as soon as all eyes were back on her. "No doubt you'll have time to get used to the ship in the following days. For now, all you need to know is the structure of the company. I'd love to do this myself, but our AI is more qualified. Al?"

Al's avatar popped up, displaying the Arabic-clad man. "Captain, pleasure seeing you again."

"Likewise Al. Please do explain the functioning of the unit to my platoon leaders."

"Right away, sir." His holographic avatar turned to face us before clearing his throat. "Good evening, my name is Al-Hassani and I am a 'dumb' AI, although I find that term prerogative and would prefer you to refer to me as an AI with different capabilities.

I chuckled a little but cut it when Hayes glared at me.

"This unit in particular, company-sized as you already know, will consist of five platoons. Four of those platoons are going to be regular rifle platoons, with every men and woman in them carrying regular weaponry with some specialized equipment. When I say normal I only mean Helljumper normal, you'll still have a longer leash when it comes to personal weapons and you will get to carry specialized weapons that the regulars aren't allowed to."

I saw Weller nod slightly at that, but she didn't comment.

"Platoon One is going to be commanded by our very own Captain Tahlia Hayes, she will also be in charge of the company itself." Al turned to point at Captain Hays before returning to his previous position. "Two, will be commanded by First Lieutenant Yassir Dajani who is also going to be the company's second in command. Three and Four will be commanded by Second Lieutenants Jen Weller and Domingo dos Santos respectively." Al pointed at each officer as he said their names and they subconsciously nodded in return. "As commander of Platoon Five we will have Second Lieutenant Francisco Castillo."

I nodded as well, feeling stupid as I did that. At least Hayes hadn't made us wear our dress clothes, instead just telling us to put on our work grays. The uniforms themselves weren't uncomfortable or even bad for action, it just bothered me that they had been designed to look very official while at the same time proving comfortable in a combat situation. It seemed a little bit conceited if you ask me.

"Platoon Five is not like the others," Al said in a lecturing tone. "It will be in charge of the most dangerous and complicated operations. Their missions will include SpecOps, specialized demolition, target acquisition, and intel gathering."

"Excuse me," Weller spoke up. "No disrespect, but why do we need a SpecOps unit in a unit that is already Special Operations capable?"

"A valid question Lieutenant-" Al started.

"Platoon Five," Hayes cut in, "will not hog all the dangerous missions, there are plenty to go around, rest assured. What they will be doing is going in first, not necessarily to spearhead a bigger assault for you, but to engage in guerilla and diversionary tactics as well gaining intel."

"Sir, I do not mean to question your system, but our units should also be able to complete those missions," Domingo agreed with Jen.

Whoa, why are you ganging up on me?

"Listen," Hayes said forcefully. "I don't care what you think; it is the way it is. I'll be honest with you, it seemed weird to me at first, but orders come directly from Naval Intelligence."

That got my attention. If ONI was involved in this then it was bound to go wrong eventually. They kept thinking that I was merely a plaything for them to poke and prod while they wrote down the results.

"You're just a game for them Francisco," Schitzo said. "Even if you're a pretty important game."

"As I was saying," Al said, defusing the situation a little bit, at least for me. "Platoons One through Four will usually drop in after Five and move to secure high-value targets for the regulars to come charging in. The exact methods with which you complete your mission are up to you, but that's the general layout of how things will work."

"Thank you Al," Hayes said as the hologram disappeared. "Now you know the technical stuff. I think it should go without saying, but I'm going to say it regardless. Every single one of you will follow my orders without question. You will not complain, you will not make suggestions, and you will not fail to comply. You will also make sure that everyone under your command understands the importance of my orders and complying with them." Hayes sighed. "If you have any questions feel free to ask."

Nobody said anything.

"Good, dismissed."

Like one, we snapped to attention and saluted before we were dismissed. Yas remained behind to talk to Hayes. They were friends, a more professional version of Pavel and myself. Sometimes I wondered what their story was.

Lieutenants Weller and dos Santos stopped and turned to face me. They had probably chatted a little bit before meeting the rest of the team, but they still weren't exactly what you would call friends.

"Francisco, right?" dos Santos asked as a way to start a conversation.

"Frank's fine," I replied. "Domingo…Portuguese?"

"Born and raised in New Jerusalem, but I have Brazilian ancestry."

I nodded and shook his hand. "Weller?" I asked the other officer.

"Cygnus," she said simply. "And yourself?"

"Born on Earth, raised in Jericho VII."

"Those are a bit far apart," Weller noted. "Why'd you move?"

I shrugged at their inquisitive glances. "Long story. Parents died in an accident, uncle couldn't cope."

"Sorry," Weller apologized. Somehow, her voice didn't carry much meaning.

"Don't worry about it," I replied. "So, anything you need to know? Who to talk to when you want non-regulation items, who to make friends with, which cooks give you better rations?"

"No, thank you," Weller said.

"Yes please," dos Santos said.

"You sure?" I asked the scarred lieutenant.

"Yeah," she said, already taking off.

I waited until she was out of earshot before talking. "She's kind of scary, isn't she?" I asked dos Santos.

"Little bit," he admitted. "She's so tall."

"She is pretty tall. But it's the buzz cut that does it."

"You have a point."

"Well let's see if I can introduce you to some important figures on board the legendary Flawless."

As we walked around the important sections of the ship I acted as a tour guide much like Pavel had once done. We passed through the large combat simulation room in the middle of the ship and I explained how everything functioned there.

"Apparently they have boxing tournaments there sometimes, " I said. "The ones for the last few years have been cancelled on account of planetary holocausts."

There were a few guys from the first Marine battalion doing some training. I tapped on the window and brought up a holographic display of the guys inside. The displays on the windows marked them as a platoon from Dagger Company.

"Nah, he's not in there," I muttered. "You see, the XO of First Battalion is Darius Galván, Major. He's a good guy and doesn't mind cooperating with us dickhead Helljumpers."

"Dickhead?"

"Haven't you heard?" I asked my new colleague. "We're supposed to be dicks."

Dos Santos chuckled. "What about the captain of the ship?"

"The Admiral?" I asked. "He's supposed to be a great strategist, I've never actually met him in person, I hear he only meets with the COs of the big units. Marine battalions, Captain Hayes, the commander in charge of the Longsword squadrons…"

"But not us lowly knuckle draggers?"

"We're officers," I said. "Don't think we qualify as knuckle draggers anymore."

"You're right," he agreed. "It'll take a while to get used to the bars."

I showed him some more of the ship, making it a point to show the genera area where most of the escape pods were in case of a catastrophic decompression that was bound to happen eventually. I showed him the bigger armories and introduced him to a couple of important guys including my booze dealer. I also introduced him to Fightmaster and a couple of tankers that we came across. It wasn't exactly the grand tour, but it would have to do until he learned all the ropes on the ship himself.

"That's about it," I said. "Gotta go to the briefing room, give the 'don't mess with me' talk to my platoon."

"Yeah, same, but I don't get that until later."

"I'll be seeing you," I said goodbye, patting his shoulder.

I had only just gotten the list of men and women that were going to be on my new platoon. There were twenty of them. When I was told that we were changing the system I requested to keep all of my previous squad mates from Second Squad. I would've asked for Reaper too, but I didn't want to come off as too demanding of a Captain that had a very valid reason for hating me. She still didn't grant my request though, the bitch.

The briefing room hadn't been remodeled yet, but it was going to be made bigger in order to accommodate the hundred and sixteen Helljumpers on board the ship. So far there were only nineteen ODSTs inside, all of them were trying not to fall asleep as they waited for me to arrive.

"Officer on deck!"

I like the sound of that.

I eyed everyone carefully as they stood up and snapped to attention. I could see myself growing to enjoy this feeling. "As you were," I dismissed them. "Welcome to Platoon Five." I smirked at Pavel. "In this unit I am the closest thing to God. If I were to be unavailable or not present you will defer to Gunnery Sergeant Pavel Klaus, who will be, for all intents an purposes, Jesus Christ."

Pavel smiled at the familiar speech. I had said almost the exact same thing when Reaper had been formed. Grigori also shook his head slightly form his place. He had been there back then too.

"All of you new guys feel free to ask the Helljumpers that have been serving under me how exactly this works. I like my orders followed and I like them done properly. Screw ups will be tolerated once or twice, fuck ups will not. How you deal with the rest of the guys at the platoon is up to you as long as it doesn't conflict with combat performance. I see a few girls…but most of you guys look like you like taking it form behind. The UNSC doesn't endorse or allow relationships between men and women in the same branch of the armed forces, but I won't ask if you don't tell. Again, as long as it doesn't affect combat performance…"

I made a point to say that to clear up their minds. Living with badasses for extended periods of time could cause tensions to arise and tempers to go high. Sometimes sex was a very effective stress reliever, especially angry sex. But that is not the point.

"Now that you understand that," I resumed my little speech. "You need to understand that this is an unconventional unit, even by Helljumper standards." As soon as I said that everybody shuffled on their seats and leaned towards me. They were curious. "Let's put it like this, if we were fighting innies we would probably be doing black-book kind missions, the kind that would have us tried for war crimes." I gave them my best psycho smile. "Seeing as aliens don't count as humans we are free to do as we want." That got a few smiles in return. "But that's not our only job. We will be going first every time, we will cause mayhem or we will pass by unnoticed. We might be asked to gain intel on an enemy position or to blow it up. We could simply be spearheading a large-scale assault or instead make a few raids to get the covvies nervous. Simply put we are the Special Forces Unit of this company."
Someone raised his hand, one of the new guys.

"Yes…?"

"Corporal Andrea Livingston, sir. Could you explain why there's a need for another SpecOps unit on board when we already have a Helljumper company?"

I shrugged. "I asked that question many times and it seems that Command wanted it that way. Besides, it's going to make everybody's lives easier. Everybody's but ours that is." The corporal seemed satisfied by that answer and sat back down.

"If anybody has any questions you should ask them now, because I won't answer them later," I said.

Several hands went up. I felt like a kindergarten teacher. "You."

"How will this platoon be divided?"

"Good question," I admitted. "PFC…"

"James Ramirez."

"Ramirez. There are going to be three permanent squads in the platoon. Two six-man units and one eight-man unit. We're going to have the first squad under my command. It will be doing most of the direct-action operations as well as some other tidbits. We're the jack-of-all-trades for the platoon. Next up we have our heavy weapons squad under command of Gunnery Sergeant Klaus, they're the eight-man unit and will provide support by fire for the whole company as well as engaging armor and fortified positions. Finally, we have our target acquisition squad, otherwise known as recon, under the command of Staff Sergeant Konstantinov, I believe that the name should give away the purpose, but just in case you're stupid I'll say it. This squad will provide intel on enemy positions as well as laser in various different kinds of artillery strikes. You all got that?"

They nodded.

"Let's run it again. First we have the VSF Squad, like regular ODSTs but with a higher operational tempo level. Raids, decapitation strikes, assassinations, VIP escort, intel retrieval, and more. Then we have the D/HW Squad. They'll provide machine gun cover for any and all units in this company as well as serving as the anti-armored unit. You guys will be either sitting on your asses with the finger on the trigger or running around to get a new position to do just that. You'll demolish anything and everything that you are told to, whether it be on the surface, under the sea, or in orbit. Finally we have TA/FS Squad, they are basically the infiltrators of the platoon, go in deep behind enemy lines and mark high-value targets of any kind. They will also cause mayhem if it is required of them."

I examined the men and women under my command. "I expect every squad to be able to fulfill any role at a moment's notice no matter what the designated roles are. Any other questions?"

"Who will be in what squad?"

"I'll get to that," I sighed. "Anything else?"

"Will we refer to the squads by the initials you gave us?"

"It would make things simpler, wouldn't it? Still, it is not necessary. As long as you get the meaning across it will be fine, but no squad nicknames or numbers. I hate numbers and only I'm allow to give squad nicknames."

"Will the whole platoon go in first and before everybody else?"

"That's the idea, but it won't necessarily always work like that."

"What kind of support will we count with?"

"Most of the time none," I replied. "But on occasion we'll get space-to-ground missiles and strikes as well as the occasional strafing run and air support, but seeing as we're first boots on the ground I doubt we'll be seeing much of the flyboys."

Nobody else raised their hands.

"Nobody else?"

Pavel grunted. "So tell me lieutenant, what happens if somebody fails to comply with a direct order?"

"Why Gunny, they would be returned to their original unit and I'd make sure that they weren't accepted into the ODSTs ever again."

"Thanks, just wondering."

"Oh, one question," someone raised their hand. The guy wasn't familiar, one of the new replacements. "I was told that we had an AI?"

"Ah, yes, Al-Hassani. He's currently with Captain Hayes, but he'll be helping us during our missions. He's a 'dumb' AI specializing in all kinds of combat. He's rather boring for an AI, but friendly and useful. Make friends with him."

"El-tee," Grigori said, standing up. "Might we be divided into squads so that we can chat with our future squad mates."

"Seeing as there are no more questions…" I said, picking up a datapad and turning it on, displaying a holographic list. "Here it is, Platoon Five. VSF Squad: Myself, PFC Miranda Novak, Corporal Marvin Mobuto, Corporal Andrea Livingston, PFC Ryan Hoff, and Lance Corporal Takacs Sandor. On D/HW Squad we have Gunny Pavel Klaus, Corporal Dana Bamber, Lance Corporal Sasha Dotsenko, and PFCs James Ramirez, Kyle Sutton, Sarah d'Arc, Erwin Lizzo, and Daniel Carver. Target Acquisition/Fire Support will consist of Staff Sergeant Grigori Konstantinov, Lance Corporal Niles Atkins, Lance Corporal Jared Reeves, PFC Abri O'Malley, and Privates Anurak Montri and Stan Zepeda."

That's a shitload of names.

"Meet with your Squad Leaders for further instructions." I looked at the watch on the datapad. "Anyone on VSF Squad feel free to leave."
I was tired of this; besides, I could learn everybody's names later. Right now I felt like having a one on one with Hanna before we jumped away from the system and were placed in cryo. I left the room while the new platoon milled about like school kids that had just been told to partner up with classmates that they didn't know.

My room was nearby, but I was a little bit late. Hanna might've gotten pissed about that and left. She was very big on being punctual.

"Oh, hey there," Hanna said as soon as I walked through the door. "You're late."

"Sorry, I was giving a briefing."

"Relax," she said, losing the cool demeanor and smiling warmly. "I know."

"How's the head?" I asked her. "Still bothering you?"

"I'm trying not to shake it, but what really bothers me is my stomach, I feel like I'm about to throw up all the time."

"So maybe you shouldn't be on top then."

"Ha-ha. Very funny."

I smiled and approached her, putting her hair behind her ear. "How was your first day back?"
"The usual, used my feminine charm to sway the younger Marine recruits into doing my job for me. And yours?"

"Tedious, had to give the 'I am God' speech."

"Sexy."

"Aren't we past the point where you know that everything I do is sexy?"

"Tone it down a notch jackass," she playfully warned. "Or I might just absorb a bit of your ego."

"And that just won't do, will it?" I said as I pushed us both towards my bed.

"Won't Yas complain about you having me in here?"

"Only if he finds out," I replied.

Hanna smiled. "Oh Lieutenant!"

Like always, sex with Hanna was good and fulfilling. I am proud to admit that I had no guilt regarding that incident with Katie "The Waitress" Ayers. I was finally beginning to put that little incident past me. Even though I was kind of a dick and most certainly a cheater at least I wasn't wishing Hanna to be someone she wasn't anymore.

That's good, right?

Thanks to SilasWhitfield for proofreading this chapter.

So, sorry for the delay and sorry for making this chapter an info dump of sorts. Lots of new names and lots of new concepts. Don't worry about memorizing the names, I keep a list on the side in order to remember everybody, maybe I'll start learning the names in a couple of weeks, but not just yet. On the new platoon we've got two new lieutenants. First we have Lieutenant Jen Weller, tough bitch that can have an attitude. Then we have Lieutenant Domingo dos Santos compact and friendly guy that can make you beg to be killed. Ought to be interesting.

On Platoon 5 we've got a bunch of names, one of which should be familiar to some of you that know everything that there is to know about Halo. Not to imply that some of you don't have lives, but then again, I am the one that's writing an 800,000+ story without any sort of monetary reward.

As for the delay, all I can say is that I was the sickest I have been in years during wednesday and thursday and that exams are starting. In fact, I should be studying for my History of Mexico exam right now, but since I love you guys so much I decided to take some time to post this chapter. I'll try to keep updates as frequent as possible, but lately it just hasn't been possible. Don't worry, I will see this story to the end, but I'm sorry to disappoint you guys.

Frank and Hanna look like a happy couple again. yay! I don't know whether to have them live happily ever after or get them into a shitload of entanglements and have them be a dysfunctional couple.

New squad, new platoon, new company, new system. Hell, the rank is still new. Seems like an awful lot of change for Frank. I look forward to hearing what you thought about this, please leave me your opinions in your reviews.

And thanks for all your previous reviews as well. Stay strong.

-casquis