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Project Shadow Spartan: Chapter 2
Posted By: Shadow Spartan<silent_shadow13@hotmail.com>
Date: 6 February 2003, 2:53 am
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Planet Mars, ONI D Barracks, May 6th, 2581
Josh's eyes snapped open the moment he heard the door open and the rustling of movement. He sat up straight on his cot, staring around him. He heard someone laughing, and then light filled the room. Josh winced as his eyes burned and looked away. He suddenly, felt pain go through his body. Yelping, he rolled out of bed and looked around him, blinking through tears from the light. A huge man stood over him, wearing full combat camouflage uniform and holding a baton that sparked at one end. He raised his arm, preparing to strike, but Josh was already up and moving about, avoiding it. The man chuckled and crossed his arms.
"What are you looking at boot? Get your legs moving and get ready. Showers are over there" he growled, pointing to the bathroom. Josh hesitated for a split second. The moment the man's arms uncrossed, he moved. He quickly undressed out of his bed clothes and jumped into the cool shower. The cold compound of hydrogen and oxygen flowing down his body woke him up completely. He ran out, drying off for a few seconds, and then grabbed clothing that was near his bed. Combat fatigues, a black sweatshirt and a pair of boots. All of this clothing matched his size. He slapped the buckles on his boots shut, then stood, looking up at the man. He hit him with the baton.
"Stand straight soldier, you are part of the UNSC now, and you will show respect when looking at a superior officer. Suck in your gut, hands at your side and raise that chin!" he yelled. Josh did all of this and once he was approved, he did not move until the man was done.
"My name is Chief Petty Officer Diego Jose, and I am your instructor. I will be teaching you how to become a weapon of mass destruction and invincibility, do you understand me?" he said, walking around Josh and yelling at him. Josh merely nodded; this brought more lashings from the baton.
"The first words and last words out of your stinking hole will be sir! Get me?" he roared. Josh recovered himself and nodded.
"Sir Yes sir!" he yelled. The Chief nodded, and then moved for the door.
"Follow me son, we're heading for the gym. It's a long walk, so fall in behind me" he said. Josh followed the Chief out of the large room. D Barracks was one long, wide hallway with doors spread out on the walls, obviously leading into more rooms. The hallway was huge. Tables and chairs were spread out around it and there were some marines sitting at them. The Chief suddenly began to jog. Josh followed, keeping speed. He remembered how he used to run cross-country at his school back home. Home? The old lady said this was my home he thought to himself, wrinkling his brow curiously. He was so confused, but the Chief's baton made him forget about it as he started to fall behind. The Chief growled at him.
"You lead the way boot and run fast, the gym isn't coming to you" he said. So Josh sprinted off down the hall, the Chief right on his tail. Josh tried to picture a pizza in front of him, so that he could run and catch it. Food? He hadn't had breakfast yet. His stomach growled, but he ignored it. He was merely running away from the Chief's baton. They reached the end of the hallway, in which he was forced to stop. They proceeded into a large elevator that opened to let them in. Josh stood at attention inside, while the Chief looked at him.
"Son, your next few days will go like this. Wake up, get dressed, run to the gym, do your calcite stretches, lift some weights, then head to the Library. Once finished there, you then head for the A Armory station, then to the medical section of this facility, to receive your very first augmentation, you got me?" he said. Josh nodded.
"Yes sir...sir?" Josh said, looking at him. The Chief glared down at him.
"What's an augmentation?" he asked. The Chief kneeled beside him.
"The augmentation is going to make you invincible" he said, then stood up and waited. Josh stood at attention again, pondering this new information. Invincible? Like the Spartans he had heard about. He knew he couldn't ask that question, so he merely agreed with himself. The stoppage of the elevator and the cruel bark of the Chief made him stop thinking and move. He jogged out and into a huge chamber. The gym was large and filled with a wide assortment of exercise equipment. Two boxing rings were in the middle, simulation rooms on the far left side, and a large open space, obviously used for stretching. Two huge men were lifting huge weights with their arms. They looked over at the two and whispered to each other, glaring at Josh.
"Mmmm, fresh meat. Can we eat him Chief?" one of them asked, licking his lips. The Chief looked at him.
"Shut up Private and go about your business. In two days, he is going to eat you" he growled. The man looked away, but glared one last time at Josh. The Chief led him to the open space and had Josh stand in front of him. The Chief glared at him.
"Jumping Jacks, count to 150, go!" he yelled. Josh realized if he hesitated, he got the baton, so he began jumping. The Chief counted for him though. Josh could do it, but he was to tired and hungry to think. He finished the jumping, and then relaxed. The Chief shook his head.
"Sit ups, 150, go!" he yelled. Reluctantly, Josh got on the ground and began to lift himself to touch his knees. By thirty, he felt dead. At one hundred, he threw up on the floor, but the Chief lashed him, so he continued. When he reached one fifty, he was about to relax, but forced to get back up. He did one-fifty push ups, leg curls, rope jumping and finally jogging on the spot for thirty minutes. When he was done, he collapsed, breathing heavily and letting his sweat form a puddle on the floor. The Chief hauled him up, gave him a sip of some bottled water, then threw him toward the exercise machines. Josh however stopped himself from going head first into the weights. The Chief stood over him as he bench pressed eighty pounds, and then lifted another eighty pounds with his left arm, then his right arm. Next was leg lifting. He sat down, and pushed one hundred pounds using only his legs. He felt like he was going to be crushed, but kept on going. He then proceeded to seven other exercise stations, involving his shoulders, torso, arms and lower legs. He lifted over two hundred pounds, and did it around one hundred times. His entire body felt like it was going to fall apart when Josh was finished. He received some more water, and then ran back to the elevator with the Chief. They headed for the Library next. Josh was too tired to even speak.
"When you go to the library, you will be taught history, math, calculus, geography and field tactics all in one. Then, we will go to the A Armory station to learn about various weapons used in the field, and then we head for augmentation, you get me?" yelled the Chief. Josh couldn't stand at attention and couldn't speak. He merely nodded. The elevator stopped and opened. Josh limped out and stopped. The Library was like the gym, except longer and probably taller. Columns upon columns of computerized texts and artifact books littered the area. Josh was awe-stricken. He couldn't believe humans could make such places. He walked forward and was greeted by a glowing lady. Josh realized it was an AI.
"Good afternoon Josh, my name is Dena X. Please follow me, our class is about to start" she said, floating off down the hall. Josh followed her, his mouth still open. Dena X walked into a separate study room and beckoned Josh in. The room was fairly large, consisting of large desks and chairs. A hologram projector was planted on the wall that light up the room with rays of light. Josh sat at a table and was given a plate of stale bread and some more water. He ate it all, ignoring the sour taste and salty water. He looked up at Dena X.
"Josh, I am here to teach you everything you are going to need to know when you are out fighting. This ranging from field battle tactics, various forms of math, like algebra, complex trinomials, Quadratic relations, and Calculus. You will also learn about famous field assassins that did remarkable things to help out their country or nation. You will also learn geography and how to interpret the scale of mountains, the various rocks that are strong enough for cover, that sort of stuff, ok?" she said, looking at him the entire time. Josh was holding his head up by his hands. Drool was slowly dripping out of his mouth. He sucked it all back in and nodded. Dena X smiled and the projector came to life. For the next several hours, Josh learned about extraordinary things he would never have known about. He learned about famous assassins that helped their allies in great wars, he learned about jaguars and how they sneak up on their prey without being spotted, he learned how to do algebra and quadratic relations, he learned how to analyze and field of combat before rushing in, he learned the advantages of battling above ground and on the ground and their disadvantages. The last thing he was taught about was his enemies. The Covenant. Dena X looked at Josh sternly.
"Almost done Josh. This by far is the most important aspect you need to learn. Your enemies and their abilities. Our current enemy right now is the Covenant, and do you know what the Covenant are doing at this moment?" she asked. Josh shook his head.
"They are planning our annihilation. They are planning to wipe out humans. Do you want that to happen Josh? Do you want to die?" she asked, moving closer and looking at him. Josh shook his head.
"No ma'am" he whispered. The projector changed from an open valley to show pictures of a large range of monster like creatures. There were five in total. Dena X looked at Josh again.
"This is the Covenant Josh. This is our enemy. The Covenant are a brotherhood of various races all compiled into one. They have only one goal and that is conquest. They want this entire universe for themselves" she said looking up at the images. One of the monsters was enlarged. It was roughly 4 feet tall, and was wearing some sort of environmental suit. Josh chuckled.
"It looks funny" he said. Dena X shook her head.
"This is a Grunt Josh. They may look like nothing and when by themselves, they are no match for anyone, but if you get a group of them together, nothing can stop them. They hurl themselves at their enemies and stop at nothing to kill it. If its gun runs out, then it merely uses its teeth and claws, they are still dangerous, but are the weakest" she said. The Grunt disappeared and another monster appeared. This one was slightly taller, around 5 feet, and held some sort of bright shield. Its head looked like a bird's head.
"This is a Jackal Josh. They are the most annoying Covenant any one has faced. That plasma shield they have can deflect any sort of bullet. They hide behind it and fire plasma at you as you try to flank it. They are more difficult to take out" she said. The image disappeared once more, and the next one popped up. Josh learned about the field commanders, the Elites, then the behemoth warriors that couldn't be taken out by a frontal assault, the slow, dumb, Hunters. The last one was a weird one Josh was thinking.
"This is a Brute, a new race of Covenant we just discovered. Think of the Brutes as a cross between a gorilla and a rhinoceros. They are vicious. Their fire plasma fuel rod guns, like the Hunters, except the Brutes are more agile and probably tougher as well. If you get to close to them, they stab you with a large metallic sword just below their gun. They are dangerous as well" Dena X said, finishing her lesson. Josh stood up, thanking Dena X for the lesson, and then jogged toward the elevator. Chief Jose was there, waiting. He nodded at Josh.
"Good, now, armory, let's go" he said. Once again, Josh got into the elevator and began the long trek up to the required armory station. He asked a few questions along the way about the Covenant, mainly about their weapons and their language. The Chief answered a few of them, and told him to consider them as an infestation that was going to kill him if he didn't kill them first. This helped Josh a lot, because he felt more anger rise to them. The elevator stopped and opened. Josh and the Chief walked out. The armory station was a lot smaller than the barracks, gym and library. It was like a circle basically. On one side were rows and racks of guns, grenades and explosive launchers, and the other side were firing stations against simulated targets. Josh was introduced to a MA2B and MA5B assault rifle. The SAG-13 combat magnum pistol and a frag grenade. He learned how to successfully load the weapons, cock back the bullet into the chamber and he even fired them. Josh was amazed at how accurate he was. All of his shots stayed within three circles of the four rings that surround a target paper. The gun training lasted a few hours. He would learn how to throw a grenade and other things later. They headed back to the elevator and the Chief suddenly looked worried.
"Okay trainee, last event of the day...augmentation" he said, sighing. Josh didn't like the look on the Chief's face, but didn't bother to ask him. He merely enjoyed the ride down to the medical bay. It opened and they walked into a large waiting room. A nurse sitting at the check in desk saw the two and a look of worry came on her face as well. She disappeared and the door just beside the check in area opened. The Chief led him through. Josh walked down a long hallway, like all the other ones in his home. Various medical rooms' doors were placed on either side of the hall. They went to the end and turned left. There was only one door, and it was at the very end. The Chief opened it using some sort of ID card and led him in. It was a small room. A bed was in the very centre, surrounded by monitoring consoles and operating computers. Four doctors and three nurses stood around the bed, waiting. The Chief helped Josh undress down to his underwear, and then watched him get into the bed. Josh was began to sweat as the nurses put a respirator mask over his mouth and stuck small circles that linked the computer to his body all across his arms and upper chest. Josh suddenly began to felt woozy and dizzy. He looked over at the Chief who leaned over.
"When this is over, and you wake up, it will be tomorrow and we will start off our day like today ok?" he said softly. Josh opened his mouth to speak, and then blacked out. The Chief looked over at the doctors who nodded in reassurance.
"The sleep drug is taking affect, we can now start the augmentation" the lead on said. The Chief nodded, and watched for a few seconds as they injected needles, tore open his skin and replaced his muscle tissue, improved his arms and legs. He finally got too grossed out to watch anymore and waited outside. Several hours passed and still no movement. It was around 6:30 at night when the door to the room opened and a stretcher came wheeling out. The doctor was smiling and looked at the Chief.
"It went fine; the first augmentation is a success. However, try to take it easy on him tomorrow, don't rush the exercises, and let him get used to his new reflexes. He will adapt, the others have, so will he" he said. The Chief nodded, then grabbed the stretcher and wheeled it out into the elevator. A few minutes later, he very gently lifted the 6-year old boy into the cot he slept in and covered him up. He took one long look at him, and then left. As he walked down the hall of the barracks, he took out a tape recorder and pressed record.
"Day one of Project Shadow Spartan, completed" he whispered......TO BE CONTINUED......
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