ODSS Chapter 2
Posted By: Firerwolf<triss2008@yahoo.com>
Date: 9 July 2011, 12:17 am
Read/Post Comments
|
2525
Kathleen stood in the waiting room uncomfortably. She was alone; she hadn't been alone in years. Not since she'd been kidnapped and become part of the SPARTAN program. Their last mission had been an utter failure, or so she'd been told. A technician had reported to hear that due to an error all of her fellow trainees had died. She'd been told it was a wonder that she had survived. She had never had reason to question what her superiors told her, but something didn't sit right. The area she was in was unfamiliar. For some reason she had been sent to the main offices of the marines. A door opened at one end of the waiting room and a man walked out. He was in his 30s and dressed in a crisp uniform. Kathleen noticed the Gunnery Sergeant insignia and snapped a crisp salute. The man walked up to her and looked her over. "As you were." He ordered and Kathleen's arm fell. He motioned for her to follow him into the office. She followed him into the office and stood before the desk as the Sergeant took a seat. "You are soldier-113?" He asked.
"Yes sir." Kathleen said glancing around the room. It was not overly messy but it wasn't as tidy as she had expected. His desk was littered with documents, files, and what looked to be letters. The chairs were in an odd pattern and from the floor it looked as though they were moved often. The couch had a pillow and blanket on it that was just randomly placed on it and she didn't doubt that he'd slept on it recently.
The marine looked at Kathleen and crossed his arms. "I am Gunnery Sergeant Bill Saran. After the miss handling of the SPARTAN program you are being removed from the care of ONI and placed in the care of the marine corps. The program is being scrapped seeing as it failed. You'll be taking part in the new ODSS program," The Gunnery Sergeant explained. "From now on you are under my command. You will report to the obstacle course to the west of the training grounds at 1400 hours. You will continue your normal morning exercises unless told other wise. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir," Kathleen replied. "Sir, where are my new barracks?" She asked realizing that she wouldn't be in the same area as before.
"You'll be housed in alpha barracks with the other soldiers that will be part of project ODSS," Saran answered.
"Other soldiers, sir? I thought the others died after the procedures." Kathleen was surprised by information.
"They are not the same soldiers you were working with before. These are marines, as you will be. They will be your teammates, so try not to make them hate you to much."
"Yes sir," Kathleen said, before saluting him and leaving the room.
~Next Day~
Things had not gone the way Kathleen had hoped the day before. There had only been one other girl in the group and the men didn't seem to like it. Kathleen had been fine with ignoring their comments but the same thing couldn't be said for the other girl. After about two hours of the comments from the boys the other girl, Emily, had had enough. She walked over to the boys and punched one of them in the face. She'd managed to knock him out and the other boys shut up. Kathleen felt a bit of respect for the other girl's actions but it seemed to have created a divide between the girls and boys. This meant that she hadn't learned anything about them. If she was supposed to work with them, it would be harder then she had thought for this team to work.
She was glad that he didn't have to do the same exercises as them. She figured that it would have only distracted her from her task. Now she stood at the start of the obstacle course as she had been ordered.
A warthog rolled up and Kathleen spotted the Gunnery Sergeant in the passenger seat. Kathleen stood at attention and saluted.
Saran looked to the single solder. "At ease," He said as he jumped out of the warthog. "Your mission is simple. Get to the other end of the obstacle course and ring the bell. You have to stay on the course. There is no time limit; you can take all day if you want," The Sergeant instructed. "Now get moving, soldier."
"Sir, yes sir," Kathleen replied before turning to the obstacle course. She had never seen anything like it. The first stage of the course as a series of crossing ropes, all of them covered in barbed wire. Kathleen started through the ropes having studied them and found the least dangerous path. There wasn't really a safe path. Even at her smallest on the safest path she still wouldn't get though without some scratches. The going was harder then she'd expected. After the augmentation she had had to relearn how to move. Her body felt like it wasn't hers. It ached most of the time and she'd become clumsy. She was readjusting quickly though, at as speed that seemed to have surprised the medics. At first she had feared that she wouldn't be able to fight again but after a little trial and error she managed to figure out how to maneuver almost as good as she could before the procedure, though she still lacked precision. She felt as she did when she first started training, like she wasn't as good as she should be, as she needed to be. It took Kathleen about 15 minutes to get through the ropes and she came out with scratches all along her arms.
The second part of the course was ten yards of gravel that had a series of bamboo poles sticking up. Kathleen looked it over carefully. She spotted a few thin wires hanging between the poles. The area must have been booby trapped by the instructors. She slowly moved forward and made her way though the area being even more careful then she had been before. It was more likely that there would be stun grenades. She managed to get though the area in pretty good time and without hitting anything.
Kathleen came to the final part of the course. It was a simple sprint across a field but something told her it wasn't that easy. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She spotted a auto machine gun, a pair of them. She didn't doubt that there was another pair on the other side of the field. She would have to waste any time and took off. She had never run this fast before, and it almost surprised her enough to trip her up. She managed to keep going, staying barley ahead of the bullets as they cut through the air behind her. She reached the bell and rang it three times and the gun fire stopped. The field fell silent, void of anything but Kathleen's deep breathing.
A warthog bounced over the grass and Kathleen turned toward it. "Get in the back," The Gunnery Sergeant ordered. Kathleen jumped in and the warthog took off. About 15 minutes later Kathleen found herself once more standing in the Gunner Sergeant's office. She was starting to feel like this would be a regular thing. "I hope you enjoyed how relaxed today was. Tomorrow you begin your real training." The Sergeant shifted around a few documents, moving them out of the way. He leaned forward against his desk, locking gaze with Kathleen. "From here on out you are to be the squad leader for the ODSS program. You will create a daily exercise regiment for yourself and the other solders. What you do is completely being left to you to decide. I will give you orders and you will hand the down. It will be up to you to make those other soldiers as good as you. They will be your team, your family, so train them well. That is all. Return to your barracks." The Sergeant motioned for her to leave.
Kathleen quickly saluted and left the office. As she made her way back to the barracks she thought over the new information. She had to make the other soldiers as good as her but that seemed impossible. She was a Spartan and they weren't. That was her task though, make them Spartans. She didn't know how she was going to do it. Once she hadn't even been a Spartan, but now she was and she would do the same for the others. First, though, she'd have to find a way to get them to listen to her.
|
