Captain Harbin leapt out of the LRV, and walked over to a permacrete bunker. A man with a grizzled face and stubble on his chin walked over to meet him.
The Captain saw three stars on the collar of the man's uniform, and snapped to attention.
"Sir, Vice Admiral, sir!" He yelled.
"At ease," The Vice Admiral nodded. "I am Vice Admiral Vetriki Metrenko." Vetriki spoke with a heavy Russian accent. The man extended his hand to the Captain.
"Glad to meet you sir." Harbin reached out and clasped the other man's hand. It felt like sandpaper. The Captain saw patches and ribbons on the Admiral's uniform that showed participation in Operation: TREBUCHET, the Harvest Campaign, the Battle of the Atlas Moons, and dozens of other engagements.
"Come inside, Captain Harbin. There are some... things I would like to discuss with you about Project: GUNGNIR." He waved Harbin into the bunker.
Inside, lights flickered on and illuminated a single table with fold-out chairs placed all around. A bulletin board covered the far wall.
"Sit down." Metrenko gestured at Harbin, and then grabbed a stack of papers from off the table top and began flipping through them. He apparently found the page he wanted, and looked back up at the Captain.
"I wanted to inform you of the risks of the GUNGNIR program." Metrenko breathed deeply.
Sweat beaded on Harbin's forehead.
"You will go through several... augmentations before putting on the armor." Metrenko looked down. Augmentations? Harbin thought, What kind of augmentations? Obviously, his thoughts showed on his face, for Metrenko immediately tried to console him.
"No, don't worry, there's a 90% survival rate. I mean, uh..." He stammered and tried to cover his mistake.
"Wait, you've done this before?" Harbin gaped. "...sir." he added, uncertainly.
Metrenko sighed. He rubbed his stubble, and swatted at a fly buzzing around a light. He looked like he said this every day. Which he probably did, Harbin thought. For a moment, they were both quiet. Harbin tried to open his mouth and break the ice, but nothing happened.
"Yes... we have," the Vice Admiral's face suddenly hardened, and his voice grew stronger. "and you will not mention that to anyone, at any time, under any circumstances, ever. That's an order."
"Sir!" Harbin nodded briskly.
But really, there's nothing to worry about. The real reason we chose you was because your genes matched the code of the augmentations. Though, it wasn't a lie about your cracking career. Still, if you want to back out, now is the time." Metrenko stared into Harbin with his deep, all-knowing, gray eyes. It was a rhetorical question, and both of them knew it.
"I'm going to stay, sir. I didn't lose my CO and half a platoon on Harvest to let humanity down." Harbin meant what he said. For a brief moment, he wondered about the green armored men who had saved him from that Brute. The moment came back, vivid as day.
Epsilon Indi beat down upon his uncovered head. The body of Captain Riley was carried on the stretcher into the Pelican, along with a number of other wounded and dead. The giant men in armor looked upon the deceased with no emotion, no faces--just a cold, shining stare out of polarized golden visors. Then, they got on board, two of them carrying a red lump between them. Harbin realized it was a body, and saw it was holding a pistol in one hand, and a key chain in the other.
He moved his eyes back to Gamma Company. All of them were under his command now--three hundred men, ready to fight and die at his order. He wasn't sure he could do it. The weight fell on his shoulders like an over-laden pack back in boot. Then Harbin knew that there was no one else. He breathed deeply, and exhaled.
The Admiral dismissed the Captain, and the ODST smartly saluted. Outside, the sun beat down on him. The same Lieutenant he had seen on the way in beckoned Harbin back into the jeep.
"I'm designated to take you to your quarters, sir." The Lieutenant said.
"Thank you. By the way, what's your name?" The Captain looked over.
"Lucas, sir. Devin Lucas."
The Warthog weaved through warehouses, restrooms, and armories, until it got to a box shaped building with a sign that said 'Officers Quarters'.
"Last stop, the big O." The Lieutenant hit the brake, and with a screech, the LRV came to a halt.
"The big O?" Harbin raised an eyebrow.
Lucas explained that the OQs were arranged in a large O out of coincidence. In the center, there was the CO's quarters.
"Yours is the one on the left, numero dos." Lucas handed a silver key to the Captain, and drove off after Andrew had retrieved his bags. On the side of the key, there was a lanyard, and an ID card, with the words 'Harbin, Andrew Captain' along with a bar code and a picture of the Captain. Approaching the door, the Captain entered the key in a slot, and stepped over the threshold.
Inside, he could smell an air freshener, and after taking a quick look around, he saw a bedroom, a lavatory, and a central lobby-type area he was in now. The floor was perma crete with a carpet draped over it, and there was a desk in the far corner. Otherwise, the room was empty. Harbin trudged into the bunk room, and set his bags down.
He heard a beep from the other room, and noticed a computer terminal mounted on the desk. It beeped again, and the Captain stepped over and silenced it. A pop-up lay over the screen. It read:
Captain, at 0700 next Tuesday, report to Medical. Wear fatigues. Be prepared.
Metrenko
Harbin read the terse message, sent a confirmation reply, and closed the file. Walking back over to the bunk, he noted fresh sheets, and set up his chronometer to alarm at 0500.
After finishing unpacking, he decided on going around the base and getting to know the people he was working with for the next several months.
Harbin found a map, and started trotting around the compound. He plotted a course for his run every morning, and met a few patrols walking about the perimeter. Some were stone-faced and stepped around and past him, without even a salute. Harbin wasn't one for formality, and he said nothing, but just blindly ignoring someone wasn't the way to stay off their bad side. However, fortunately, the other squads on watch were more friendly. One group of troopers even invited him to play cards.
After that, he found himself standing on a catwalk overlooking one of five motor pools. There were ten Warthog M12 LRVs, and a Warthog M831 APC. He wondered why they need all of these, if the only thing he was doing here was armor testing. The Captain wondered about a lot of things, and he knew he couldn't have all the answers.