Page 10 (1/2)
Lucy was down froun balanced on her shoulder She et up "Co"
Adam boosted Tom and then Lucy to ed the bell
Nothing had ever sounded so good
They all climbed down "Now for so positions"--he pointed--"in those trees there and there"
They nodded and ran off to the trees
"You and un, "will set up there" He pointed to a large boulder "I'll be there" He nodded to the tall grass on the edge of the field
"And do what?" she asked
"Well, we've cleared the field and rung the bell I figure with the other tea the bell in record ti"
The DIs at Camp Currahee were a mix of handpicked NCOs, medics, and the washouts from the first Spartan class The washouts alent out of their way to o Team X-ray vanished on a routine exercise up north A lot of the kids said there were ghosts up there--floating eyes in the jungle--but everyone really knew the DIs had done so and covered it up ONI even came in and fenced the place off Called it "Zone 67" and declared it was "absolutely off-liet aith bullying Beta Company
Min whistled from the treetops
Teanaled them and explained the plan
Teams Zulu and Lima joined them, and soon two dozen trainees were scattered in the trees and grass, watching and waiting
It only took fifteen minutes before a whistle sounded at three o'clock There was a subtle naled his scouts to fall back while Lucy et a better line Toets, their SPI arh to cover the parted grass at their feet They turned to face Lucy
To at knee level where the arrass, screa as the rubber bullets pelted the stopped, To three very dazed DIs
They had not identified theets
Adam ran up and helped him and Lucy strip the bodies
"Pistols and MA5Ks, both with stun arenades, and s, "this really gets interesting"
The rass ith dew and Toive away his position in the dark
Five waves of DIs had come, and been neutralized by a now armed, armored, and fully equipped Spartan Trainee Defense Team The instructors were tied up in the es
Toether like they never had before And they inning He was hungry, wet, and cold, but Toalaxy
He heard a rustle in the tall grass, turned,there, and nothing on the ther jumpy
A hand clamped on his shoulder, while another hand wrenched the rasp
Chief Mendez stood over him At his side was Lieutenant Aht there
"I think that's quite enough," Mendez growled
The Lieutenant knelt beside Tom and whispered, "Good work, son"
CHAPTER TEN
0420 HOURS, FEBRUARY 19, 2551 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD UNSC HOPEFUL, INTERSTELLAR SPACE, SECTOR K-009
(FIVE YEARS AFTER SPARTAN-III BETA COMPANY OPERATION TORPEDO AT PEGASI DELTA)
Kurt walked the empty corridors of the UNSC Hopeful and entered the atriuhts overhead mimicked a realistic sun Air recirculators rove of white oaks rustle He smelled lavender, a scent he hadn't experienced since he was a child
The ant feature of the Hopeful, however, was the ten- utterly unheard of on any other ship in the UNSC fleet
But then the Hopeful was unlike any other ship in the fleet
Naval officers described her as "the ugliest thing to ever float in zero gee" The ship had been built before there had been major rebel activity in the colonies A private medical corporation had purchased two scrapped repair stations--each a square kiloo trams These two plates had been connected to make an off- centered "sandwich," and within, a state-of-the-art hospital and research facility had been constructed
In 2495 the UNSC had coines, minimal defensive systeht systeest mobile battlefield hospital in history
While htly, every en-listed Marine Kurt had ever spoken with declared her thethey had ever seen
The Hopeful had taken on ht and die on the front lines She had been dahteen major Naval battles with rebel forces and four encounters with the Covenant The ship's staff and technology had a reputation of saving lives, inthe dead back to life
Today the ship had been parked in interstellar space-- essentially the osky And while the thousands of critically ill patients could not be evacuated, the eight decks surrounding docking cluster Bravo had been cleared of all personnel while ONI ram had to remain under a cloak of absolute secrecy
Kurt wished the Hopeful lived up to her reputation because today the lives of his Spartan potentials were at stake
His candidates had had to endure so rarowth hore, muscle, and bone supplements had been introduced into their diet, and the children had metamorphosed into near-adult stature within nine er bodies, and had struggled to relearn how to run, shoot, juerous test They would either becoured, die, or be transforht While these kids didn't have the heightened speed or strength of a Spartan, they already had the commitment, drive, and spirit They already were Spartans
Kurt heard boots clicking down the corridor, thenthe atriu aits of people who had spent ravity They wore standard Naval unifor the stripes of a petty officer second class Both had close-cropped black hair and dark eyes
Kurt had had to pull a few strings to keep the Beta Coasi Delta with him Colonel Ackerson had wanted Tom for his own private operations And ever-silent Lucy had narrowly avoided an unfit-for-duty classification and pernment to ONI psych branch for "evaluation"
He'd had to appeal to Vice Ad he needed Spartans to train Spartans
Over Ackerson's objections, she had agreed
The result: Toht and left hands over these last years, and Gamma Company were the finest Spartans ever