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No turning back
Posted By: Firerwolf<triss2008@yahoo.com>
Date: 26 February 2012, 9:21 pm
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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Mendez's features didn't give away his emotions. "You just pulled her off of the team. Do you think she'll be able to complete the mission?"
"That's particularly why we are doing this. It will prove if we've made the right choice for her." Kurt stared out the window at the forest around them. His voice held more conviction then he really felt. Really, he still wasn't sure about his choice.
"Either that or we'll be removing any chance of her ever rejoining November." Mendez moved over to a holotank. "Are all of the trainees ready?"
The holotank flickered to life. Snow swept across it and the figure of an old man with a snow cape appeared. "They are all in place, Senior Chief Petty Officer."
Mendez turned to Kurt, waiting silently. The Lieutenant Commander didn't do anything right away. This was a big thing to be doing. He had to be sure it was right. He knew from experience that B312 was determined and cold, sometimes too cold. An exercise like this could have unforeseen consequences. Kurt had to have faith that she would come through this all right. "Start it." Mendez nodded to Deep Winter and the AI vanished.
Shar moved slowly forward. Her SPI armor gave her some camouflage but if she moved too much it would fail. Something felt off about this mission. She had been told so little information. Maybe it was because November wasn't with her. That was another odd thing. A couple days ago she had been informed that she would no longer be working with her team. It hadn't been an emotional event for her, though her team had been upset they were losing a teammate. It struck an oddly lonely tone in her that they weren't upset she'd be gone, only that they'd be a man down in general.
It suited Shar just fine. She didn't have to okay her plan with anyone, just could do it. This mission would be her first time officially working on her own, and it felt great. She'd been given a task and no limitations how to do it. Get into the bunker and non-lethally neutralize the targets. She'd been given a pistol with stun rounds and a knife. She really didn't think she'd use either. A knife was hard to use without it being lethal, and a pistol would just be pointless in such a small area.
Shar reached the side of the bunker, wishing that she had different armor. The camouflage unit only lasted for a while before the shimmer created by movement became worse. She would just turn it off but the green color and dome reflective visor would just give her away. She had to move extremely carefully as she crept toward the only entrance. It was good she was moving slowly, as it gave her the time to notice three thing wires strung up, connected to flash bang grenades. Traps. So the soldiers inside were waiting for her.
Shar took a moment to think over what to do. Slowly and carefully Shar removed the flash bangs from the trap. She could use them to properly kick things off. Shar stood statue still beside the entrance. She armed the flash bangs and tossed them in through the doorway. The wall behind her shook and her ears rang from the sound. The point, though, was that she could still see, but they wouldn't.
Shar didn't waste a second of her time. She moved into the building and took in the situation. There were three SPI armored figures in the room, all confused and dazed. Before they could regain their senses, or even realize she was there, Shar moved toward the closest enemy. She struck the figure twice in the chest before slamming her fist into the foe's helmet. The figure stumbled back and Shar spotted an opening. Her foot struck out, kicking the figure in the side. The soldier crumpled to the ground.
By this time the other two had recovered from the grenades and set their sights on Shar. They attacked as one, though there was a variation in their rhythms. She dodged a hit and blocked a kick. The first's left punch was slow, and the second's stance was all wrong. It was so familiar but she couldn't place where she knew it from. That was when it hit her. These were things she'd often seen from her former teammates. This wasn't some group of random instructors; it was her team, November.
Shar shifted her strategy. This was November, she'd trained with them, knew their strengths, and their weaknesses. She had no qualm about using that information against them. After all, they were her enemies now. One of them moved forward, and from the way she lead with her right Shar knew it was Elizabeth. Shar blocked a few hits before she ducked and moved around the other female trainee. She punched Elizabeth twice in the side. She knew that Elizabeth had been injured there not long ago during an exercise. Elizabeth fell to one knee and Shar's elbow slammed into the back of her head. The SPI helmet slammed into the ground and the visor cracked a bit.
The last soldier moved toward her and from the way his punches and kicks were out of form she knew it was Brad. This would be easy. Her foot struck his left knee and it gave out. It had always been a weak point, and she'd always exploited it in their sparring matches. Her fist slammed into his helmet and he was stunned. There was really only one threat from Brad, and Shar would take care of it. She set her foot on his shoulder and pushed Brad down to he was lying on the ground. She grabbed his right arm and pulled it up so that it was sort of twisted behind him. Despite his lack of form, Brad had a powerful right hook that could even knock her flat on her back. Shar struck at Brad's elbow and she heard the rewarding crack. He screamed in pain as she broke the bone.
Shar let the arm drop. She turned her attention to the first person she'd attacked, Tony, just in time to see him running toward her. She hit him once in the stomach and then grabbed the front of his armor, spinning and launching Tony. Elizabeth had just been getting back up when Tony collided with her. The two fell to the ground in a heap.
Shar stood over the fallen trainees. Something was wrong. Not with the situation, but in her. She lifted up her hands and found that they were shaking, though she didn't understand why. She hadn't been hit, hadn't been injured, so why did she feel so bad? She turned her attention back to her fallen team. Something cold settled in her stomach as she truly took in what had happened. She had attacked what used to be her team. She could hear Brad groaning as he struggled on the ground, but he was too injured to do much of anything.
She pushed aside her emotions, buried them deep in her. She felt her body calm down and her hands stopped shaking. She grabbed their weapons which had all fallen to the floor at some point. It was a bit odd that she hadn't noticed them when things had first started, but they wouldn't have mattered. The flash bangs probably caused them to drop them so they didn't even have them when she struck. She collected them up and moved out of the bunker. As she moved through the forest she hid them in various spots, being sure that she had ways of knowing where they were. For all she knew they would come in handy some other time.
Shar stood in the Lieutenant Commander's office. She didn't know why she was here. She'd completed her mission just as she had been ordered. She felt awkward in this room. It was the first time she'd ever been in this office. She stood statue still before Kurt who was looking over her mission report.
Shar was starting to become nervous. Was she in trouble? Was she in trouble for having broken Brad's arm? The fact that Kurt still hadn't said anything and it was getting her worried. Finally Kurt looked up from the report and at Shar. "At ease." Shar relaxed just a little.
Kurt set the file to the side and didn't speak right away. Shar was wondering how long he was going to keep her in suspense when he spoke again. "You recognized the soldiers you were placed against? You even named them and gave their numbers in your report."
"That is correct, sir." Shar wasn't sure if that was what this was all about. Should she not have named them? "I recognized their fighting styles and flaws. They were easy to identify."
Kurt nodded at this information, but something seemed off about it. He didn't seem as pleased with it as he was trying to make it seem like his was. "And you showed no hesitation in attacking them, or restraint."
Shar frowned at his words. "Should I have, sir? They were my enemies. We are not to show enemies any weakness."
Kurt nodded, and turned away from her. There seemed to be something in his posture, which she'd seen in his face that made it seem he almost regretted what she was saying. "From now on you will be working on your own. Sometimes you will be placed in missions against instructors, sometimes against other fire teams. Do you have any issue with this?"
"No sir." Shar really didn't. She'd never been that close to any of the other trainees, besides maybe the girls out of the fact they were all female. She'd only really been close to November because it was necessary.
Kurt's head nodded. "Very well then, trainee. You are dismissed."
Shar left the office, feeling odd. It wasn't until she had reached the barracks. There was an odd feeling in the air when the others would look at her. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had recognized the other participants in the exercise. November had realized who she was, and they'd spread word of what she'd done in the exercise. Shar didn't understand it really. They all seemed so mad that she'd done what she'd been ordered to do, or maybe it was just because they used to be her team.
When she reached her bunk she found the bedding gone, her foot locker unlocked and some of her things on the floor. Someone had written 'traitor' on it and she stared at it for a few seconds before she did anything. Finally she left the barracks. She climbed onto the roof of the building and lay down to sleep. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but it was better than sleeping in the barracks that night. She stared up at the sky, watching the stars shine in the sky. It was obvious to her that she had already become something different to her fellow trainees, and that things weren't going to get better. She would be fighting them from then on, and each time they lost she knew they would hate her more and more.
Shar took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. No matter what she did in the future, there was no turning back now. She was a lone wolf.
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