Chapter 11
0520 hours, December 25, 2521 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex, planet Reach
“The Chief’s message is simple for today,” John said after brushing his teeth. “Today is a non-training day.”
All of the team leaders cheered a little, but quietly.
“The only difference is that any team that lost their flag yesterday and failed to grab their opponent’s flag, will be running the Jungle Gym from thirteen ‘til seventeen.”
The jungle gym is a miniature obstacle course behind the barracks. It begins with running through slalom poles before climbing under a log. Then, you jump over another log and have to cross a plate of polished steel with an inch of water on it without slipping. After that, you climb a rope over a wall. Once over the wall, you climb a ladder and have to crawl across a metal pole. On the other side, you run across a sand pit. In the end, you climb a ladder and drop into waist-deep water. Then, you run all the way back to the beginning and start over until Chief Mendez gets tired.
I saw Jerome shoot a glare at Jane. I didn’t have to worry because I didn’t lose my flag yesterday and got Purple’s. Maria smiled at me and punched my shoulder, though. “If it weren’t for Gary’s vandalism of your side’s turret, you never would have taken our flag.”
“Hey, don’t blame me, blame it on Murphy.”
Everyone laughed at the comment, which had become a running joke through the squad. Even Murphy used it.
I finished cleaning up and made sure my squad was squared away before heading down for morning calisthenics. Like yesterday, Chief Mendez ran us through two sets of three. Today, it was jumping jacks, flutter kicks, and dips. Again, it was hard, but not as hard as I thought it would have been. Although, my legs were yelling at me during the flutter kicks because of the leg work I did in the gym yesterday.
The run was a little more eventful than yesterday. The signal passed through the line to split and sprint. Five steps later, I heard the whistle and broke left. It was barely in time to miss the spray of an automated turret firing at chest height. It slewed left and right just enough to be able to catch us all if we were still in formation.
Gary, Jorge, and Alice were beside the turret in a couple of seconds and had it disabled before Chief Mendez passed it. Then, Jorge signaled to single-file behind the Chief as they ran up and disabled the mines that had been placed under the street. Most were fully visible, but there were some camouflaged in the bushes. In the end, they began just chucking rocks at the mines to let them detonate safely before the group could get near them.
----------
To read more, visit Halo: Checkmate, book 1 - Opening Moves on fanfiction.net.
Please feel free to post your reviews/criticisms/critiques here and/or there as I thrive on them (positive and negative).
0520 hours, December 25, 2521 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex, planet Reach
“The Chief’s message is simple for today,” John said after brushing his teeth. “Today is a non-training day.”
All of the team leaders cheered a little, but quietly.
“The only difference is that any team that lost their flag yesterday and failed to grab their opponent’s flag, will be running the Jungle Gym from thirteen ‘til seventeen.”
The jungle gym is a miniature obstacle course behind the barracks. It begins with running through slalom poles before climbing under a log. Then, you jump over another log and have to cross a plate of polished steel with an inch of water on it without slipping. After that, you climb a rope over a wall. Once over the wall, you climb a ladder and have to crawl across a metal pole. On the other side, you run across a sand pit. In the end, you climb a ladder and drop into waist-deep water. Then, you run all the way back to the beginning and start over until Chief Mendez gets tired.
I saw Jerome shoot a glare at Jane. I didn’t have to worry because I didn’t lose my flag yesterday and got Purple’s. Maria smiled at me and punched my shoulder, though. “If it weren’t for Gary’s vandalism of your side’s turret, you never would have taken our flag.”
“Hey, don’t blame me, blame it on Murphy.”
Everyone laughed at the comment, which had become a running joke through the squad. Even Murphy used it.
I finished cleaning up and made sure my squad was squared away before heading down for morning calisthenics. Like yesterday, Chief Mendez ran us through two sets of three. Today, it was jumping jacks, flutter kicks, and dips. Again, it was hard, but not as hard as I thought it would have been. Although, my legs were yelling at me during the flutter kicks because of the leg work I did in the gym yesterday.
The run was a little more eventful than yesterday. The signal passed through the line to split and sprint. Five steps later, I heard the whistle and broke left. It was barely in time to miss the spray of an automated turret firing at chest height. It slewed left and right just enough to be able to catch us all if we were still in formation.
Gary, Jorge, and Alice were beside the turret in a couple of seconds and had it disabled before Chief Mendez passed it. Then, Jorge signaled to single-file behind the Chief as they ran up and disabled the mines that had been placed under the street. Most were fully visible, but there were some camouflaged in the bushes. In the end, they began just chucking rocks at the mines to let them detonate safely before the group could get near them.
----------
To read more, visit Halo: Checkmate, book 1 - Opening Moves on fanfiction.net.
Please feel free to post your reviews/criticisms/critiques here and/or there as I thrive on them (positive and negative).