In the morning of the next day, not much was said about the day before, and so quietly the members of Alpha team gathered their things and began to move out for the day.
The goal of the day was to cover land, evaluate the enemy stronghold, and troop composition. Overall, it was more of the same; information gathering was the name of the game.
From the campsite, they made their way back to the stream they had been ambushed at before. After checking the area one more time began traveling upstream.
They hiked up the slowly increasing slope, staying close to the tree line out of sight from the elevated position, and they moved on. Whilst disabling traps and making further markings on the map, they managed to make it up a cliff face and began to walk around what appeared to be something similar to a goat path. Before finally after hours of non-stop marching took a break in a cave tucked away behind a waterfall.
"Hold. Rest here," David barked loudly over the roar of the rushing water beside them. He moved over to look at the scenery in front of the waterfall, while remaining concealed by the liquid flowing.
Each spared glances at their leader, but decided to remain silent and do as they were told. Besides a few orders, he had not said anything else so far today. There was an aura that spoke for itself, 'I don't want to talk,' as he appeared brooding to himself silently. Yet, he didn't appear angry anymore, which caused a bit of relief in the hearts of the other members.
Meanwhile, Sheila had pondered her question from the previous night, seemingly having already forgotten her hand in his outburst the previous night, 'He never seems to know about any of the games we play. Heck, he didn't even know about nose goes when we first met, and I'd done that at school for years,' David had always seemed out of touch compared to the rest of the team in Sheila's eyes, and that made the mystery all the more greater.
So, as the group had carried out their movements, the question that had nagged in the head of Sheila all morning was finally posed.
"Hey, where are you from, David?" she asked innocently, just over the sound of crashing fluid getting looks from the rest of the team. Each saying, 'Does he look like he wants to talk?'.
David turned from his position and gave her a look before he answered, surprising the others, "Don't remember, I moved around a lot,"
Sheila leaned back, pressing her head against the cold, damp wall of the cave, "Come on. Don't be like that. At least tell us where you were last," she practically pleaded to see into the mystery.
David sighed, glancing down as he wiped some of the spray from the waterfall off of his face, "Fine. Sargasso happy?" he said in a low tone.
Daisy's eyes widened for a moment, unexpectedly hearing the name of her home world, and she turned to pay more attention to their conversation. As she stared, David seemed to unlock a vague memory that she tried to recall, but to no avail.
"Hey David," she called out, getting him to direct his sharp expression to her, which she couldn't help but flinch from. What she was originally going to ask him became lost as the words were stuck in her throat. A trickle of guilt ran down her back, and she sighed.
"I'm sorry," her words broke David's expression as his eyes widened. Looks of disbelief spread to the others. Benjamin and Sheila were actively gawking with their mouths open, and Cal even looked shocked.
Benjamin and Sheila turned to face each other.
"Did she?"
"Yep!"
"I gotta write this down when we get back. This is history!" Benjamin said as he scrambled to get to his bag and look for something to record the occasion.
Sheila almost began mourning, "We'll never see it again. Like the appearance of a unicorn, Daisy's apology will never be seen again," she said, rubbing a fake tear out of her eye.
Daisy's face flushed a light red as she blushed in embarrassment, "S-Screw you guys," she stammered out, gripping her rifle tighter. The other two laughed at her embarrassment like Hyenas, but before Daisy could stand up to make them quit, David put an end to it.
"Quit it, both of you," he said firmly over his shoulder, but his expression appeared far more relaxed. Turning back to Daisy, his visage softened further, "Thank you, just going forward be more level headed," he said, making her red blush brighten a bit more.
As they made up, Sheila felt a nudge from behind her. Glancing back, she saw Cal giving her an expectant expression while nodding in the direction of their leader. A moment passed, and the realization struck, and she swallowed hard as she was the next to take the walk of shame.
"Yeah, she's right, sorry Dave," Sheila apologized, not feeling comfortable with just saying the words 'I am sorry'.
David looked at her and nodded as well, "If you both are truly sorry, then be better. We are stuck with each other now, and the last thing I or anyone else needs is you two killing each other over something stupid," he chided.
The two, Daisy and Sheila, shared a nod, and just as the team had finished rallying, chaos broke.
HISSSSSS-SNAP
"Whoa!"
Benjamin involuntarily shouted quickly as he fell backwards, spotting a blur of red approaching him at top speed.
The paint round splattered against the rocky wall of the cave as the team collectively scrambled to grab their weapons or raise them and return fire. In the next instant, the sound of a cascading firing long cooked off from the bend of the cliff.
Some flew through the rushing waterfall before falling to the cave floor in red gloppy spots, falling short of their target.
Cal was the first to return fire. From her spot in the cave, she had a clear sight line of the bend, picking out two dark figures in the bright light outside. Leveling her rifle, she rapid-fired paint rounds in their direction, hoping to at least suppress them. Her eyes lit up as she saw one stagger before being pulled back around the bend, another figure stepping to take its place.
Having bought enough time, the rest of the team began to engage. The attackers, sensing they were outmatched in firepower, ducked back behind the rockface.
"We gotta get out of here, David!" Sheila shouted as she quick-stepped to the side, a spray of rounds suddenly erupting from the bend towards her.
"We'll be caught in the open!" Daisy yelled in return as she fired, keeping the enemies pinned behind the corner, "Besides, who knows how many more could be waiting to ambush us on the other side!"
"Just keep shooting!" David ordered as he dove, evading another barrage of paint rounds.
'How are they so accurate!' The enemy force was poking a rifle out from behind cover. It didn't make sense how they continued to zero in on their location, 'Unless-'
"Cover me!" David called, getting a collective nod from the group. He slid under another burst before jumping up and hurdling another and finally stopping in line with the waterfall.
Quickly, he scanned the air around the waterfall, 'It has to have a line of sight on us. There's no way thermal or any other type of lens could see through the water,' and sure enough, the squad leader spotted his suspicion. Hovering gently and quietly hundreds of feet away was a large Argus drone observing his team from the air. The machine was easily a meter wide and stayed airborne with a single rotor; thankfully, it wasn't armed, otherwise it would be carrying missiles.
David instantly brought up his rifle to knock it down, but paused, deciding on another course of action. Instead, he began slamming rounds around it to get its attention. One shot sailed in front of the drone's eye, and it turned to the source, spotting David. Realizing its cover had been blown it quickly ascended high into the air, all the while David continued to shoot at it. One paint round splashed along its shell, marking it with a blood red tattoo.
Finally, after picking up enough height, it began speeding off quickly over the waterfall in what appeared to be an intentional course. David watched as it continued until it disappeared behind the tall cliff.
Turning his attention back to the battle, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the forces had retreated the moment they'd lost their eye in the sky. He quietly made his way back to the cave to get a sitrep.
"Anyone hit?" he asked as his eyes began to re-adjust to the darkness. He couldn't help but stare at the walls of the cave; it now looked as if a paint can had exploded in the center. And if you looked closely, you could faintly make out the spots where his team members had stood to fire back, as there were heavier concentrations of red around.
"Cal got grazed, and I took one to the thigh. I guess they figured that Ben had had enough with his throbbing red hand, and Daisy was just too small for them to hit." Sheila explained before ducking abruptly with a smirk as Daisy threw an empty magazine at her.
'Seems no one is too hurt. Otherwise, they wouldn't be joking around.'
"David, we checked thoroughly behind us to make sure there was no one hiding, and we even covered our tracks," Cal spoke up from behind David, catching his attention.
"I know," David said with a contemplative expression, "That drone was too big for us not to notice as well." They also hadn't been stopped for long; it didn't make sense how they were intercepted so quickly.
"My bet is they put a tracker in our stuff," Sheila offered.
Though David's face didn't betray it he was shocked that Sheila made a genuine suggestion rather than a joke, but to hopefully maintain the seriousness of the conversation, he chose not to comment on it.
"Oh!" Ben snapped his fingers as a thought came to mind, "They could be using tunnels. I think I remember Wake Island being the name of a battle in the Second World War back in the 20th century. So maybe the forces that occupied the island back in time also incorporated a tunnel network, and our instructors decided to take a page out of the history books?" he said, giving a plausible explanation that David began to seriously consider.
"That's not true," Daisy said, "I remember a bit about that from class, and Wake Island back on Earth was occupied by Americans, and I don't know of any time they dug tunnels," she said confidently. Both Sheila and Cal nodded along in agreement.
"Whatever way they did it doesn't matter now," David said with a smirk, catching the attention of his team, "I made sure to get a good vantage point to watch that drone leave, and it headed that way," he pointed in the air.
"Seems the operator panicked as it headed straight toward the heart of the island. So we still got some daylight, and I'd reckon that if we pick up the pace a bit, we'll be able to end this entire exercise tonight,"
His words excited the others, and all of them had eager expressions as he explained. Benjamin was the most interested as he was nearly falling out of his seat as he inched forward to hear David.
"So how about we end this trip early?" David said, slapping a fresh mag into his rifle. One by one, the others rose to follow, unaware of what lay beyond the jungle trees.
======================================================================
Fleetcom Military Complex, Reach
17:52 Hours
*CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*
The loud clicking of heels echoed through the halls of the training leadership building, and the owner of the sound, Dr. Catherine Halsey of ONI section three, wore a particularly fierce expression as she paced through the building.
She passed numerous offices for the various instructors each with the lights out indicating that they had returned to their personal quarters for the day, 'But he's still here,' he never left early. The man she was looking for always stayed late, not that he needed to; he'd practically planned the next year of training in advance, with backup plans for certain days depending on the weather.
After a short elevator ride, Halsey came upon a nondescript door. A plaque beside the door read Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez.
Without bothering to knock or ask permission, she grabbed the doorknob to the room, throwing it open and stepping inside.
The room was darkened and quiet. Mendez sat behind a desk in the back of the room, reading over documents. All that illuminated the room besides moonlight was an antique pull-string lamp that sat beside him. His cover lay on the other side of his desk on a small stand as his hand ran through his dark hair.
Halsey filed away a thought to ask him the origin of the lamp, as it was obvious that this was not something that he himself purchased. To her knowledge, the man had remarkably few acquaintances and even fewer friends, none of whom seemed to be the type to buy him this.
Meanwhile, as she sauntered into the room, Mendez paused his reading. He glanced in her direction, his expression a mix of annoyance and fatigue, "To what do I owe such a late-night visit from you, doctor?" he asked, setting down his papers and swivelling in his chair to face her.
Catherine wasted no time. She plopped a manila folder down, "What is this?" she demanded.
Mendez wiped his jaw and looked down his eyes, caught the words inscribed, and immediately knew what this was about, "The details regarding the S-3 training kernel," he said matter-of-factly.
"DON'T BE A SMARTASS!" she slammed her fist onto his desk before yanking the folder out of his hand. She first pulled out a requisition form and began to read off of it, " 500 Lily anti-personnel mines, 1000 Osprey monitoring cameras, 1 ARGUS DRONE! Why the hell do you need all of that to engage in what is supposed to be a LIGHT test of in-field survival exercise!? And that's not even covering your little battle plans. For that matter, how do you expect any team, nevertheless, Alpha to be able to complete this test!?" she blurted out in exasperation.
It was one thing to request the massive amount of requisitions. Though the project was tight for funding… with a little bit of "doctoring" on some financial forms, they could make the expenses disappear. After all, some money was bound to get lost in the massive colonial/spatial military organization known as the UNSC. Combine that with the fact that it was under ONI and even better that it was a Section 3 black project, and you don't have to worry about relatively small amounts of money going missing.
The difficulty of this piece of training was an entire issue altogether, however. Just as the team was beginning to shape up, and right when David was finally taking his role as a leader seriously. Mendez seemed only to come along and put stress where the cracks were being mended. In the doctor's opinion, this was completely unnecessary; she believed it was only a matter of time and that a softer approach was appropriate.
These two issues, with the latter being more dire, led Halsey to confront her lead training instructor. Because no matter how much she felt as though he did this for some petty reason. Her logic told her that he most likely had a good reason, or at least one good enough to hear out.
The man in front of her sighed, ushering her with his hand for her to take a seat. As she did, he reached down, pulling open a drawer and pulling out a small box that the doctor immediately recognized as the famous Sweat William's Cigars. If anything could be considered Mendez's weakness, then these cigars were it.
He pulled one of the long cylinders of rolled leaves and flicked a lighter to the end. He took a long draw from it, seemingly preparing for what might end up being a long conversation. Then, after a moment, keeping the cigar in his mouth, he closed the box and carefully placed it back into his drawer before giving the woman in front of him his attention.
"Doctor, have you ever played a sport before?" he asked, causing the doctor to give him a benign look.
"No?" she decided to humor him.
'I can tell,' behind his neutral gaze, Mendez bit back the comment as he stayed on topic, "Then to make a long story short, the best players have some of the most difficult practices. Take boxer,s for instance, they run, work out, beat each other until neither can see a thing, and go to near organ failure to make it to a competitive weight class," he shifted, taking another draft from his cigar, "What do you think gets them through it all?" he asked.
The doctor wafted her hand to move smoke out of her face, "Their prize?" she asked. It was the obvious stick and carrot routine, was it not?
The man snorted, placing the cigar back between his teeth, "No. There is no prize good enough to keep a man focused while he hasn't eaten in over 24 hours," he shook his head, "What keeps someone going, through a challenge or training. Is the simple thought that they've done something worse before. That by comparison, what they are doing now isn't that much harder than the other thing they've done, and that they got through it last time, so why not this time?"
"That is what Alpha team needs at the moment," he said, "Every dog has its day, and Wake Island is Alpha's. Something they can reflect on when the going gets tough,"
He paused, his face scrunched for a moment, betraying a slight annoyance as if he just remembered something, "Besides, this test wasn't my idea,"
"You went behind my back?" Catherine said in a dangerous tone.
"It was my opinion to put them through the wringer, but someone above even your access level told me what to do," Mendez said, his cigar now nothing more than a sliver. He firmly pressed it down into a metal ash tray, the faint smell of Sweet William flowers still lingering in the air.
Halsey's mind felt a sense of dread. The Orion-II program was something known to few, and those who knew and were above her clearance were even fewer. And the only one who could successfully plant someone into the program and give Mendez those orders was the one and only leader of ONI, Admiral Margaret Parangosky. The woman who could make anyone below High Command disappear, figuratively and literally.
"Her?" Catherine asked, getting a nod in response.
"She said it was a good opportunity. She compared the test to forging a blade. As you may or may not know, one of the final steps in making a sword is a heat treat. Where the metal is raised to a near molten temperature in order to burn out its impurities before being dumped into oil and cooled. In her words, 'They've been hammered enough, it's time to see what is burnt out when the heat is cranked up… If they fail, then that's all they were, steel that couldn't stand the flame," he said.
"Why she told me to do it? I have no idea, maybe a couple of guesses, but nothing better than what you've already thought of. She was particularly interested in David, though," he said, shutting down the electronics on his desk and beginning to pack up for the night.
"But I will say, doctor, you should be glad. I am beginning to see the potential in Alpha team that you pointed out before."
Catherine remained silent, thinking on the revelations of tonight, 'His words make sense,' she couldn't help but admit. For all her accolades and research, Catherine Halsey had never been able to fully understand humans. A primary reason why she deferred their training to someone who could be considered a specialist.
So she couldn't help but feel more uncomfortable as she felt a tightness in her chest at the thought of David undergoing the gauntlet ahead of him. It seemed that she had grown quite fond of the boy. Always double-checking his genetic therapy treatments, paying more attention to his reports than others, she didn't know when it began. Perhaps it was the many video reports they had shared while she observed the other candidates, or maybe it was from the beginning when she first started nursing him back to health, and they played board games day in and day out.
Finally, Catherine sighed; she didn't have anything to say. Instead, without a word of goodnight, she gathered her things and left the instructing buildin,g heading for her personal quarters.
All the while praying that David could endure even this task.
======================================================================
Back on Wake Island, night had fallen upon the island, and the chirping of insects filled the air along with rushing water.
All was dark on the island except for one massive concrete structure near the center, bright pole lights outstretched like antennas to heaven, illuminated the outpost with a sickly pale light. Figures moved around in patterns underneath the lights, their shadows cast along the stone.
The outpost itself was built upon the flattened top of a minor mountain. A steep gravel path led to it from the jungle, from the coast. At the rear of it was a small but deep pond that fed into another natural waterfall that flowed into another body of water further down the island.
It was surrounded by metal fencing, topped with razor wire. A series of watch towers were emplaced around the perimeter, and search lights scanned the dark forest periodically. As for buildings, most were canvas tents and one or two trailers for important electronic equipment and weaponry, but there was one stone structure in the center, and atop it was a small flagpole with a flag billowing in the wind, the objective. Strangely, however, in the concrete pad were wooden trap doors placed in between tents; they appeared to have no specific purpose from the outsider's perspective.
"Whaddaya see, Dave?" a voice whispered in the dark.
"A jackpot," 'Dave' replied, scanning the outpost. He, along with the rest of Alpha team, stood perched on top of a disk-like lip jutting out of the cliff not far from the waterfall at the rear of the outpost. He looked to his right at his team still down behind the cliff, using it as cover and concealment.
"The patrol just left, this is our chance," he said, getting nods and a few eager looks as the smell of victory seemed to be just around the corner.
They waited until the spotlights passed them and restarted their searching pattern before they made their move.
They moved slowly toward the point where the waterfall and fence met. There was no use in crawling prone, as there was no brush on the rocky peak of the mountain, so they quickly but quietly moved crouched and aware of their surroundings.
Stacking up on the fence, David, taking the point, raised a hand and, with a couple of gestures, told them to hold position until he had found a good hiding place. He didn't bother turning to check if everyone understood, simply having faith that they got the message and would proceed as planned.
He slung his rifle onto his back with the strap and grabbed the fence tightly, preparing himself to wade through the water. With a quick deep breath, he pushed himself into the rushing water and fought against it, attempting to pull himself through it.
After a minute of fighting it and going nowhere, he realized that there was an easier way to accomplish the task. He felt like smacking himself in the face for being so stupid. Turning his body in the water, he reached forward, climbing the fence, dragging himself out of the small pond.
*CLICK-SNAP*
'SHIT!' as he began to climb out of the pool, the clip of his sidearm holster snagged an unseen branch peeking out of the water and unclipped itself. David noticed the moment it dislocated. In a quick action, he reached down to catch it, but to no avail. With a dull patter, it fell to the concrete pad, the sound echoing.
Instead of immediately retrieving the weapon, he raised his rifle, head on a swivel, ready to engage anyone who heard the sound. One second, two seconds, after a minute of waiting, the coast was still clear. He quickly bent down and placed the holster back onto his hip before quickly moving, crouched like before, to a line of crates ahead and to his right.
His heart pounding in his chest, he sat behind the crates, his head hitting the tarp that covered them, 'That was too close,' he told himself. Thankfully, this time, he was lucky enough to avoid botching their stealthy entrance.
Yet, as he began using hand signals to bring his team to his position, he began to feel a sinking feeling in his stomach. The cause of which he couldn't quite put his finger on.
…
..
.
"The patrol is back," Cal, the lookout, warned as she stayed watching them through the scope of her rifle.
"Understood, the next rotation is in fifteen minutes. Lets be done by then," David said, receiving the last member of the team to cover.
"The sentry on the objective is walking away. Looks like he's going to take a smoke break," this time it was Sheila informing of troop movements. David gave her a quick nod and began to plan out a path that avoided being spotted.
"Alright, I got a rough trail we can follow to the objective," David said at last, "Everyone single file, I'll go first. Match my speed," he said, getting an array of affirmative gestures.
He paused by the edge of the crates, watching for the right time, but again that feeling from earlier still hadn't left him. 'It's just nerves,' the feeling didn't seem to have any logic about it, and so he pushed forward.
They crossed the concrete top with skill. Gliding from cover to cover. Staying on the edge of each light beam's range. The distance shortened and shortened until they reached another set of crates barely 20 feet away from the door to the stone building.
But all at once, everything came crashing down.
*HISSSSS—-BOOOM*
A white strobe light flare flew overhead, and all at once every searchlight swiveled to their position as if they already knew they were there. The members of Alpha team broke out into a sprint, hopping the crates whilst holding a hand to their eyes to block out the intense light.
Only for the door to quickly snap shut the moment they got into proximity. A small click from it indicated the door was locked.
Turning around, David felt his blood run cold.
The tents were still closed, no sign of anyone departing from them, but in front of him and his team stood tens of figures, indistinguishable shadows that bared down at them in the blinding light. All were armed and moving closer and closer quietly towards them. The realization crashed down on top of him.
"We're surrounded,"
==================================================================
Long chapter be happy I guess.
That's it see ya