1st January 2175, 0000 SET
NAME: SHEPARD, DOUGLAS
RANK: TRAINEE
LOCATION: SIBERIAN STEPPES, REDACTED
COORDINATES: REDACTED
STATUS: ALIVE
Shepard was dressed in protective winter clothing, armed with a VSK .408 sniper rifle, an Intratec 10mm submachine gun and his father's revolver. After 3 years of harsh training in combat, survival and physical conditioning under Anderson, Shepard had to do one more thing to become a candidate for the Hunter Division. While officially hunter training began from age 18, unofficially, almost all hunters, including Anderson, started at a much younger age. These 3 years were both rewarding and challenging for Douglas. While he wanted to gain knowledge and strength, his body, mind and soul were strained near the breaking point. Training in the swamplands of Vietnam, the deserts of Sahara, the Himalayan mountains, the radiation infested Chernobyl, an uncharted tropical island, the freezing wastelands of the Antarctic and now the icy steppes of the Russian north, turned his body into an extremely resilient vessel, but the process was painful, exhausting and haunting. Lack of food and water, local infections, occasional attacks from wild animals, adverse weather made Shepard's hard times in London, including the fights, lack of heating, sickness and occasional lack of food, look like they were nothing. Anderson was saying:
"The first hostile you must beat is the environment. Then you can focus to the enemy."
At these locations, Shepard was first tutored by Anderson at the different conditions and survival techniques, then he went through brutal training exercises to strengthen his body. Then came the martial arts and melee weapons training, then the firearms. Shepard took a great interest in his father's revolver. He trained endlessly with it. Since his childhood years, he always watched westerns and read about the gunslingers of the Wild West. In the end, thanks to both his improved nervous system and an experimental gene therapy, he could draw, shoot and holster in 0.09 seconds and hit the target from 50 meters away. The real challenge however, was that Anderson put a dampener on Shepard's head. That device significantly weakened Shepard's abilities, forcing him to develop and improve his other senses and read body language:
"Use your powers as a tool, not a crutch." Anderson was saying.
While it sucked, he already learned how to keep his abilities in check, so Douglas got over it quickly. He would learn how to use his powers more efficiently in the actual hunter training. To conclude, Douglas Shepard became a truly dangerous adversary from a young age. He could lift up to 150 kilograms with his bare hands, he could run at about 35 kilometres per hour for an extended period of time, he was agile enough to scale trees, mountains and buildings very quickly, smart enough to create tools and weapons from junk and tough enough to survive almost any form of physical or mental abuse. One close call earned him a long scar on his left cheek and nose, right under his eye. But, back to the matter in hand. Shepard's last test was to eliminate a Chinese mob leader who was hiding in the Siberian steppes, a mountain master, with the dampener still on. While Shepard's mind secretly adapted at the dampener and he could feel the presence of others, read thoughts and even use his psionics, albeit weaker than normal, he wanted to prove to himself that he could accomplish the mission without them.
So, he was watching the enemy gang compound for 2 days now, learning the schedule of the guards, the shift changes and made the proper arrangements to make the mission a success.
The third day was the time for action. He spotted a total of 20 armed hostiles, 4 of them on the roof with sniper rifles. The rest were more relaxed and kept their guns holstered or next to them. So the snipers had to go first. Also, he had to stay unnoticed or the target would get in the hidden panic room and blow up the rest of the compound:
"Alright, step one, eliminate the snipers.
Shepard monologued and used his own silenced rifle to kill all snipers. He needed only 3 bullets cause one of his shots killed 2 in a row.
"Step two, lights out." he activated the EMP he hid in the generator 8 hours ago and all the lights flickered out and died. There wasn't much panic cause the cold made the old generator break down once before. So, 4 more guards went out to the shed to repair it, only 1 of them having his gun ready. Easy pickings. 2 shots and they were lying dead on the snow, all from headshots, without a noise. 8 down, 12 more to go.
"Step three, flush out the prey." Shepard managed to capture a bear that attacked him the previous day. He kept her tied a hundred meters away. Now he would put it in good use. Shepard gathered some of his urine in a bottle and used it to mark a scent trail right into an unguarded part of the compound. He then shot the piece of rope that kept the bear tied to a tree. As expected, it followed the trail right into the compound. By that time, Shepard repaired the generator himself. Then he waited for the rest of the guards to start screaming. He settled in the shadowed part of the old birch tree he used as a sniping spot and watched the windowed part of the house. Soon, 3 unarmed guards came face to face with the bear. They started screaming immediately, angering the bear which pounced on them. Shepard almost laughed at the sight of them being flailed like ragdolls, but he stayed focused on the job:
"That's 11 down, 9 more." he monologued.
Soon, the rest of the guards were trying to fight off the roaming bear. 2 of them got their guns quick enough and successfully killed it. That moment, the target finally showed himself. He looked about 60 years old, walking with a cane and had a scar on his chin, classic mob boss. He started barking orders to the shaken and battered mobsters, even hitting one with his cane. They bowed and obeyed at the order that Shepard interpreted as 'Remove the corpses you useless animals'. Or something like that. Anyway, that left 2 with the big bad boss while the other 6 were struggling to drag the collosal animal out of the house. One of them went to the roof to call for help. All he got was a bullet, courtesy of Shepard. The others managed to eventually push the dead bear out of the main door, which was the only door big enough for both the corpse and the ones who were pushing it to pass. Too bad there was one of Shepard's favourite traps there. Douglas found a few nightshade flowers and wolfsbane 2 days ago. One of Anderson's lectures included medicinal and poisonous plants. The nightshade could cause insanity and the wolfsbane was a slow killing plant. The combination of them could create a concoction that would first drive the victims mad and then kill them. So, Shepard modified his original dart trap with poison laced darts. One tripwire and ready. 2 people, one of them was the armed one, who were walking forward, were struck by the trap. They both started writhing like their bodies were on fire, holding their heads, the armed one with the weapon still in hand. One of the worried guards tapped the armed person on the shoulder and was pistol whipped by the now screaming thug. They tried to snap him out of his madness, but all they managed was to get into a fight, which attracted the target outside, along with his lackeys. Perfect.
"Step four, eliminate." Shepard said to himself. One steadying breath, one gentle squeeze on the trigger and the head of the leader became a fine red mist. The remaining 8 were too busy to stop the ones who were crazed to even acknowledge that their leader was dead.
Shepard took a picture with his trusty omnipad and disappeared into the night, without a trace.
Later, the same day...
Shepard returned to the safehouse. Inside, the first thing that greeted him was Anderson's gruff face, which strangely looked a bit softer than usual. Shepard could barely read his thoughts because of the dampener, so he asked:
"The mission was successful Anderson, you need me for something else?" Anderson expression hardened again for a bit, but he quickly recovered. He looked almost like he was smiling:
"Ignoring the fact that you don't call me by rank, I consider your initiation mission a success. You are eligible for the hunter division boy." he said and patted Shepard's shoulder. Douglas wasn't at all shocked at the news. He worked and trained very hard the last 3 years and knew that he would pass. But still, he had the courtesy of thanking Anderson for mentoring him:
"Thank you sir, but considering the fact that I am not yet part of the army, how can I address you with rank? I do respect you, but I also believe everyone is a soldier regardless of rank or army branch." Shepard stated. Anderson laughed at that and answered:
"Looks like you know how to use your words as weapons too. Always having a retort ready, even against a superior officer. Diplomacy shouldn't be underestimated Shepard. It may save you a lot of trouble, bullets and explosives." They both sat down next to the fireplace, Anderson pulled out a bottle of british brandy and 2 glasses. He filled them both and gave one to Douglas:
"Happy birthday Douglas and welcome to the Hunter Division." Anderson said and they both clinked glasses. Suffice to say, one glass after the other, they soon were completely plastered and started sharing stories, jokes and laughs.
"Really now? A bear? Maybe you want to work in a zoo instead?" Anderson slurred and laughed.
"OI! It worked ya bloody wanker. It was also fun to see them gooks being maimed by it." Shepard retorted, also in a slur.
"Oh, oh. Maybe a herbologist. Using poisons and plants. You don't really look much like a tree hugger thought." Anderson teased again.
"Anderson. You should definitely become a freezer. Your jokes are probably the reason Siberia is so cold." Shepard joked.
They both laughed and kept drinking until they both passed out. Shepard woke up first at noon. He pushed the bear carpet off of him and stretched for a bit. He did develop a resilience to hangovers because of his increased metabolism after being exposed to several illnesses and the exotic foods he had to eat at the different environments he had to survive for weeks.
Sure saved at hangover pills and Anderson's god awful anti hangover recipe. Sure, cold water on the face, 100 pushups and a black coffee were sensible for this situation, but there was the last ingredient, which Anderson added in the coffee, that annoyed Shepard:
"Ah, for fuck sakes Anderson, that shit is for the guns, not you." Because Shepard once again witnessed the fourth ingredient Anderson used for the hangover. Gunpowder in the coffee. And he drank it like it was just water:
"If it's good enough for my gun, it's good enough for me." Anderson, of course, said like it was the most normal thing in the world. Next to the now empty mug were 3 empty bullet casings of the 7.62 mm diameter, which belonged to Anderson's beloved ADK 45. A reliable piece of Soviet engineering, despite being older than mud. A few improvements made it come in par with its modern counterparts, without changing the exterior much. Anderson found it buried in the same taiga they were now when he was a hunter in training, many years ago, and pried it from the frozen skeleton of the previous owner. Just like Shepard and his Ruger, Anderson took that weapon at almost every mission and was very good at using it:
"My consumption habits aside, you remember what I told you about your powers?" Anderson asked. Shepard huffed and answered:
"Yeah, don't rely too much on them, keep them hidden for maximum effectiveness, come on now Anderson, you drilled that in my mind 6 ways from Sunday." Anderson got used to Shepard's lack of protocol and proper manners, but he knew that his demeanor would prove problematic at the upcoming training years. While Shepard possessed discipline, his upbringing in the London slums taught him to treat the authorities with disdain and have respect on the individual level, not to rank or cause anyone served. He once said to Anderson 3 years ago:
"If you want me respect, earn it. Demanding will get ye nothing from me."
Anderson didn't like what he heard, so he put Shepard through a horrific 8 week training course, meant for undisciplined and rebellious recruits, to see how long he could take before breaking. Running through mud and rain, intense hand to hand combat, being shot with rubber bullets, suffering from swamp fever to name a few of the activities. Only 2 percent of the those who went through the infamously nicknamed 'Cancer removal' endured the whole 8 weeks without serious physical injuries or mental breakdowns. Shepard was the youngest of this 2 percent to pass this grueling 'character building' training course, but only unofficially because that training wasn't exactly legal, let alone ethical, but director MacLeod wanted hardened men into the ranks of the terran army and navy. When discretion was ensured, such practices were still uncommon, but widespread and anyone who passed such training with flying colours was considered one of the best:
"This time I am more serious Shepard. You will begin your official training at Camp X under colonel Klaus Färber. Also, try to keep your attitude in check, that guy can do worse than me." Anderson pleaded.
"Like everybody else, he will have to earn me bloody respect. I don't just give it away like candy at whoever I know, especially stuck up pencil pushers and namby pamby pricks who think that rank makes them bulletproof." Shepard stated angrily.
"Okay then, your funeral. Now, let me remove your dampener, no need for it anymore. Also, I called a shuttle that will get you to Mars. How do you feel about going into space and then another planet Doug?" Anderson asked as he went to retrieve the removal tool. When he found it, he returned to the sitting room, only to find said dampener in Shepard's hand:
"To answer your first question, already done. Also, I don't really feel anything about going to space or another planet. Don't take me wrong, I was always interested to see what's out there and visit other planets or even see aliens, but right now, I am focused on the task at hand." Shepard said.
"Damn Shepard. Sometimes you act as a hot headed teenager, other times you almost sound like a war veteran. You are unpredictable and that will serve you well in the battlefield and life. But be careful of politicians and other officials. They will be afraid of your potential and try to either use you for their agendas or bury you." Anderson warned. Later, a shuttle arrived. It was a blue and white Chirashi transport, almost identical to the sudden transports of World War 3. Out of it came 2 people.
One looked like an officer, he had the colonel insignia, the other was dressed in a grey armor and hooded cape, with yellow visors installed on the helmet. Shepard immediately set his powers to the lowest level. Despite never seeing another psychic in his life, he learned from Anderson the army and navy uniforms of every terran forces cadre. This one was definitely a psychic commando. The last thing Shepard needed was to get stuck with them. He trained too damn hard to become a hunter and if that blighter got a whiff of his potential, he would be sent to the Mars facility under that crazy bitch, Yuriko. Despite the trust all psychics enjoyed from the armed forces, the intelligence agencies and the scientific community, the rest of humanity still distrusted psychics because of their powers. Forcing his thoughts aside, Shepard waited until the 2 figures got inside the lodge. The officer first greeted Anderson with a handshake. He had a German accent and Shepard was almost certain that man was colonel Färber:
"Douglas Shepard, I heard a lot about you from Anderson. I believe we will get along just fine. Now, are you ready to become a real hunter?" Färber asked as the 2 shook hands. Shepard knew the hidden meaning of this. That deadbeat was looking for cracks. Too bad for him Shepard wouldn't provide him anything:
"Of course, when do we start sir?" Shepard answered, without breaking eye contact or hardening his facial expression:
"Then pack up your stuff and follow me, no need to waste anymore time. Lieutenant Anderson, the top brass decided your promotion to Captain for a very important mission. Another transport will be here soon. Oh, and Shepard, not a word about what you heard." Färber ordered.
"I am sorry sir, not a word about what?" Shepard asked. The Colonel's facial expression showed satisfaction and a bit of amusement too. The only one who stayed eerily quiet was the psychic commando. Shepard really wanted to see what that blighter was thinking about, but he had to keep his wits together and not allow the psychic to delve in his memories, by creating mental illusions. He went to pick up his personal belongings, said goodbye to Anderson and headed towards the shuttle along with the colonel and the commando.
"So, what now sir?" Shepard asked when they were inside.
"Now kid, we wait." Färber said, without really answering the question.
AN
Sorry for the late update, but I was really busy. Anyway, that's how Shepard will become the best ass kicker in the whole damn galaxy. Coming next, Elysium shore leave. You know what's gonna happen.
