Ready, Aim…
Dawn had long past, and a golden star brazed the landscape below. The admiral sat on the stump in the training grounds, head cradled by a fist which elbow balanced on the thigh as he gazed along the scape. He had probably done that a hundred times on a number of planets, spacecrafts and artificial structures, yet that allure of scenery never seemed to bore him. What was beginning to bore him, as he yawned and clicked his mandibles, was waiting for the team to show up.
“Corey,” Kai huffed between a yawn, “is the target practice program ready?”
“Standby.” The AI responded. “Yes. program is to UNSC standard, with short, medium and long-range settings, as well as set to light, medium and heavy weapons.”
“Glad to hear it.” Kai mumbled. He returned to the blank stare at the field once again, as the clouds silently hovered past.
“Say,” the admiral abruptly blurted, “what was that last few percent of the armor that wasn’t ready?”
“Full armor integration. Although the armor will handle the multiple power sources and several functions you had incorporated, certain sensitive abilities will be unavailable for some time. By activating the suit preemptively, it will take more days to fully bring the suit up to date. Your current arsenal is only extended to your arms and hands.”
“Shame.” Kai sighed. “But a necessary sacrifice.”
Once more, the admiral looked at the land before him. The sky seemed to move as he sat still, as shade and light passed by. He was close to passing out out of boredom before several armored humans strode to the grounds. Eagle, Crackshot, Bertha and Aura all stood, armed with both UNSC-issue and covenant weaponry.
“What took you so long?” Kai moaned.
“Sir, it’s only been four minutes.” Crackshot duly noted.
“Huh,” the admiral huffed, returning his eyes to the skyline. “So it has.
“Well,” Kai stood, stretching, “I suppose you’re all ready for that practice.”
A chorus of nods affirmed the notion.
“Good. Let’s begin.”
As the session began to unfold, so did other happenings on the outskirts of the grassy plains. A gathering of grunts to and fro, preparing several ghosts. Jackals sighted their beam rifles, tested their shield gauntlets and holstered their plasma pistols. Brutes paced between them, brute shots and spike rifles glinting in the sunlight. Several phantom dropships planted wraiths in the back of this array.
At the forefront of this formation was a mighty brute chieftain clad in bronze, flanked by a captain in gold armor.
“Sir!” The brute captain spoke. “Are you certain of this attack? The humans have shown their meddle at the temple.”
The chieftain glared back at his subordinate with a cold stare. “Are you questioning my leadership? I, who has wiped out every human settlement on this holy ring?! Watch your tone, meat.”
“Yes. Yes sir.” The captain growled, averting his eyes.
“Gather your troops. The time of battle is upon us.”
The holopad was placed on the ground, and from it popped a few dozen electronic targets, from bulls-eyes to body silhouettes.
“These targets function with the same solidified light technology as the Forerunners.” Kai explained. “Registering a hit should be quite evident, as should a miss. So, who shall go first?”
“I will.” Eagle stood forward. His eagerness was indicative from his calm hands clutching firmly to the sniper rifle, one hand hovering gently over the trigger.
Kai clicked his mandibles with approval. He sent several commands wirelessly to the holopad, and the targets shifted, until nine circular discs hummed in front of the sniper. “Go ahead. Shoot.”
Eagle lifted the rifle to his eye, and began systematically firing at the semi-holographic targets. As each bullet pierced the discs, they flared and dissipated into the air. As he got into the routine and just as he leveled the gun to fire at the fifth disc, it abruptly jerked to the side. Eagle twitched with surprise; the finger hit the trigger, and the round cleanly missed its intended target.
“What the hell!?” Eagle cursed.
“A good soldier is prepared to adapt to combat.” Kai lectured.
The sniper groaned, but began to assess each new mass carefully, meticulously adapting and recalibrating before sending a round downrange. As he completed the exercise, the only shot he missed was the one that caught him off guard.
“Excellent.” The admiral stated. “Whose next?”
Crackshot stood up to the firing range, two covenant carbines at her side. The holograms realigned themselves again, this time to a grid of discs. Some were dotted red, while others retained the electronic blue.
“Hit only the red targets.” Kai ordered.
She responded with a barrage of superheated fire. The shots resonated in such a way that they seemed to overlap each other and the impact of the discs. However, her speed turned out to be haste, as a few rounds went wide and broke some of the blue targets. Others simply whizzed past, missing entirely.
In the end, the red targets were all shattered. The holographic shrapnel faded away as Crackshot completed the course.
Nodding with approval, Kai shouted, “who’s next?”
Bertha stepped up to the range, and the targets rearranged themselves yet again. This time they were set up as large moving masses that went up, down, side to side, forward and back.
She raised her rocket launcher and took aim. The targets moved in regular patterns; as three neared a single point, she fired once. No sooner had a puff of fire and smoke erupted at the epicenter of the attack did she pivot and sighted another trio of masses moving into position; she fired again. Another cloud of dust bloomed from the area, before the targets fizzled away to nothing. Bertha opened the launcher, and ejected the spent casings.
“Not bad.” Kai commented.
Bertha stepped down from the firing range, and Aura started to walk toward it. Just as she turned to Kai, a fiery bolt slammed straight into the admiral’s head.
He dropped with a crumpled thud.
“Sniper!”