"That's all for today class. Are there any questions?" Deja asked from her holographic projection?
"Huh?" I groggily looked around, 'What happen-? Where am I?' my thoughts were cut short as my body erupted into pain.
I fell onto my desk. My bones cracked, feeling like glass being smashed with a hammer; the marrow inside felt like molten rock flowing. My blood felt like acid burning inside me, eating through my muscles, trying to get out. And my throat it ached. Just the small sound I made early made it feel as though someone had torn my vocal chords out to use as strings on a violin.
I pressed my head to the cold desk, trying to leech off some of the heat, but to no avail. The entire time, there was just this sharp throbbing in the back of my head.
Suddenly, I felt a warm liquid start to drip down my lip. Bringing my hand to my nose, I wiped my face, then recognized that it was blood. Blood had begun to pour out of my nose, and I had just smeared it all over my hand and face.
I looked up, trying to take my mind off the assault happening to my body. My eyes widened in further confusion as a helmet lay on my desk, appearing out of thin air. My head swiveled around looking at the room, and I found other helmets sitting on the desks of my classmates, but some remained blank for some reason.
In an instant, the hologram changed out of the corner of my eye, disappearing for a moment and reappearing facing my direction. Deja seemed to be frozen in time, looking at a seat behind me with a blank, vacant stare, but I still heard her voice as she spoke, "Yes, Benjamin, what is your question?" the artificial intelligence asked.
That was when I heard one of the loudest, most blood-curdling screams that seemed to vibrate my weakened bones. My head snapped around, causing more considerable pain. A wave of nausea overcame me, causing me to throw up onto the floor beside me. I wiped sweat from my face, not caring that I further smeared the red fluid I'd already had on my hand onto my face. Looking up at where Deja's gaze was directed, I found nothing. An empty seat and an empty desk without Benjamin.
No helmet sat on his desk. There was no sound. No words. Just nothing.
"Ah, yes, I believe this is the answer you were looking for," I heard the chilling voice of Deja, but something was different. Her voice was colder and sounded as if she was just behind my shoulder, speaking directly into my ear. The sound of thousands of whispers, all incomprehensible, filled the background like TV static.
I moved to look back and a string of text replaced the form of a woman that was Deja's holographic appearance. It read:
N O T E V E R Y O N E G R A D U A T E S
The hologram's light seemed to drip with a viscous liquid; no longer did it glow blue, instead adopting the color of blood, and it seemed to bear down upon me, suffocating me, drowning me. At the same time, the pain intensified, and I fell back into my chair.
Or at least I should have fallen back into my seat, except as I tipped over backward the classroom disappeared, and I began plunging into an abyss.
It was silent. No light escaped; all that remained was me and the agony that flowed through my body. My nerves, my mind, every part of my being begged me to give in. To end this suffering as quickly as possible. But I remained strong, gritting my teeth that felt as though pliers had been used to remove them before having toothpicks shoved in their place, 'I won't give up. Not now. Not ever. Even in pain, I endure it,' my mind latched on, remembering it was all just another test.
I remained in this state for an unbearable amount of time. It eventually got to the point where I struggled to tell whether I was alive or dead, but out of the blue. Without warning, a voice spoke to me, and it would be the last time I ever heard it.
"Don't let it be for nothing"
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(3rd Pov)
March 23rd 2525
Medical Facility ENDURANCE
In Orbit Above Reach
In one of the many recover rooms throughout the military space station a Spartan's eyes began to flutter awake earlier than the rest.
His eyes blurred for a moment as light filled his vision. He quickly brought his hand up as warm liquid trailed out of the corner of his eye from the brief moment of strain. While he was wiping his face, he stopped. He heard the faint shifting of clothing beside him.
"Take these," he heard the voice of Mendez, "Your eyes are a lot sharper than before. It'll take them a day or two but they'll adjust," David slid a pair of specialized sunglasses onto his face pushing them up the ridge of his nose. The frame was in the shape of mid-twentieth-century Aviator sunglasses.
The first thing that David saw was another white sterile unfamiliar room, 'Another case of Deja vu,' he remarked to himself with no change in expression. The pain that had followed him into his unconscious state had dulled to a more manageable level. Well, manageable enough for a Spartan.
"How are you feeling cadet?"
He turned to look at Mendez, who sat in a chair beside his bed, "Good enough instructor," he held back a groan of pain as he pushed back in the bed to sit up, "Did I keep you waiting?"
Mendez let out a rare genuine snort of amusement, "You did. But fortunately for you there is no punishment this time," he said a ghost of a smirk on his face.
David took a deep breath, already feeling uneasy in his spirit and decided to ask to confirm his fears, "How is my team,"
The hint of amusement that the man beside him immediately disappeared. Snapping back to his rigid demeanor from before. He was silent for a couple of moments, his fingers lightly tapping the end table beside him and the bed, indicating he was thinking. Until finally he took a slight sigh.
"I'm not gonna sugarcoat it 003. Cadets 141, 023, and 065 all are recovering without any problems, but 127 died during the procedure." Mendez's face remained etched in stone, and he spoke with an even tone. There was no change in either from start to finish, not even when confirming the death of a trainee under his charge.
"I see," David simply said is expression furrowing as he began to think. No tears fell, nor did he have any type of outburst, he'd long outgrew such reactions through the program. But he couldn't help but feel this sense of immense loss. Sheila, Cal, Daisy, and Benjamin were his family, his new one, and had been for more years now than his parents, whose memory had begun to fade.
He paused.
The sudden thought of his parents and how he'd seemingly forgotten them seemed to give him a sick realization, 'Will I forget him in time as well?' The thought was deeply unsettling. The one whom he considered to be his little brother in all but blood, would he fade away just as his parents did?
Would he leave him, too?
"I can see those gears turning. You probably have something to say or ask,"
Mendez's voice pulled him out of his thoughts as David turned to look him in the eye through the lens of his glasses, "I took the liberty of having someone bring you clothes that fit you. Put them on and we'll take a walk," Mendez pointed his finger to a corner where a chair sat with clothes draped over the headrest.
The man exited, and David stood up out of the bed as the door closed.
He instantly noticed a major difference: he was now taller than the doorway to the room. He brought one foot out to take a step and nearly fell. Only caught himself by grabbing onto one of the posts of the bed frame. Slowly he pulled himself up.
*CCCCRUNNCH*
Hearing a loud crunch mixed with a couple of pops, he let go of the post whilst standing and his eyes widened. His hand had crushed the post's head as if it were a soft drink can; the entire top where his hand had held was crumpled in the outline of his palm and fingers. "Don't touch anything," he noted to himself under his breath.
He was glad to see the clothes perfectly fit him, no oversight there. After putting on his clothes, he began to walk out using the wall to give him some much-needed assistance, only to stop in front of the mirror. He was curious. What did he look like after the augmentations? He could see the long, almost exaggerated scars that ran along his torso and limbs, but what did his face look like, and what did they look like altogether?
The first thing that caught his attention was the scars. Along his chin, cheekbones, browline, and even the forehead, there were scars, and in them, light little flecks of carbide ceramic reflected. His shaved head had what looked like spider webs, almost made of stitched-up cuts and incisions that ran along to the back of his head. He opened his mouth to exhale breath and noticed that even his teeth had a sort of luster, but oddly enough, the metallic color was the same shade as the white of his teeth.
All in all, David didn't know what to think. He doubted the scars were permanent. If they were then that would create significant weak points that could be exploited in combat and expecially in close quarters encounters. He knew that Halsey, more importantly, wouldn't forget about such a detail.
'That reminds me, where is the doctor?' he expected her to be the first thing he saw, but even after this, she seemed to stay away…
His curiosity satisfied, he moved to the door and stepped out into the hall. There, Mendez stood waiting in parade rest, another habit from being in the military for so long. Seeing David having to lean on the wall, he reached over to a cane leaning against the wall and handed it to David.
"Titanium?" he asked, holding it u,p noticing the light weight of the metal.
"If it were wood, you'd probably break it. Not because of your weight, but because of your strength, and for that reason, you are not allowed to touch any door knobs or sensitive equipment until further notice, understood?" Even though the cane was made of titanium, there was still the probability he'd break it or even puncture the floor with it. But Mendez knew David, and so he also knew that David would be extra careful putting any kind of force on it as well.
"Understood, instructor."
They began walking, or rather walking and hobbling through the halls. Mendez seemed to have a destination in mind. Neither said anything for the first couple of minutes, both to get David a bit more acclimated to his new body, as well as give some time to think. Finally, as they turned down a hallway, David began to speak. Knowing how much not saying something when you have something to say got on the chief's nerves.
"Was he the only one, Chief?"
"No," Mendez's response came quickly, "Of the 75 that went into augmentation, only 33 succeeded," he said, pausing to allow for the revelation to sink in.
David felt sick, 'We lost over half?' Numerous thoughts ran through his head at once. But before he was given time to pause, Mendez began to speak again.
"Fortunately, only 30 are unrecoverable and fully K.I.A. The other twelve are a mixed bag; some are too mutated or disabled to continue in the program. The other part has a good chance to be rehabilitated and given another shot."
His words were a weak consolation prize in what felt like a decisive defeat from within the program. But one question seemed to occupy the Spartan's mind as they moved through a doorway into a room looking out at the star of the Epsilon Eridani system, "Did Catherine know that this would happen?" he asked his voice colder than before.
The instructor in front of him stopped in his tracks, turning around to face David, or rather, look up at him. He let out a sigh before reaching into the front pocket of his uniform and pulling out a cigar and lighting it. He took a puff before speaking again.
"Cadet, if you're looking for someone to blame, then I'm afraid you are out of luck. There's no boogey man for you to make into your enemy, at least not this time. The truth is: not everything goes the way we want or even the way it should. That's life, cadet," he said before turning and gesturing to the room beside them.
David followed his hand and stood in silence for a moment. In front of him were rows of metal caskets set on tables. Each of them had a bouquet of flowers set atop them with the green Spartan-II flag that they had trained under for so many years draped across their frame.
They made their way through the rows, weaving between displays until they finally stopped beside a particular coffin. A stamped piece of metal read S-127: Benjamin.
There was silence as both of them stared at the casket almost if they expected the person inside to spring out as good as new. Finally, the chief instructor spoke up, "Do you remember the warning I gave you back when you were struggling to grasp the leadership position, cadet?"
David nodded, "You told me that when it came to choosing between the life of someone around me and the mission's success, then I should-"
"-Choose the mission," Mendez finished the quote, "This is why David. Even if you manage to save them at the cost of the mission, this is what you will be left with," the man spoke with a lingering bitterness in his voice and for the first time ever called a cadet by their name to their face.
David nodded in understanding before turning back to the coffin. Mendez finished his cigar, gave David the order to return back to his room when he was finished, and left the Spartan be alone in the room. David remained motionless, only giving the man an acknowledgement of his orders.
He combed and raked through his thoughts, but could only come to a single conclusion as he stood in front of his first casualty.
'I don't agree, instructor,' David said internally but a hint of doubt lingered in his mind that he put away for now. Right now he needed to think about how he would break the news to the rest of the team…
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Looks like Jorge it is. I originally was planning for him to be Ben's replacement but just wanted to make doubly sure.
I think he will mesh well with the rest of Alpha and their personality. I am certain everyone has a decent enough handle on them, at least to the point where everyone can have a pretty good guess who's talking even if I don't outright address it. Jorge as I am considering him, at least in his early years probably shares some of Benjamin's traits, but in my opinion is quite different.
Anyway I got a Thermo test so I am going to try and get another chap out tomorrow or wednesday so I'll see you then. Some power stones for the weekly ranking would be appreciated. Till then see ya.