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"Kirian. Kirian! Kirian? Kirian, can you hear me?"

I blinked as someone flashed a bright light in my eyes.

"Good response."

Next thing I knew, it sounded like someone was lighting firecrackers in my head. I turned to see Dr. Hall snapping her fingers next to my ear.

"Auditory response is good. Kirian, can you sit up for me?"

I did as she asked.

"Very good, just slow down a little. Next I want you to touch your thumbs to your finger tips. Alright, now touch your nose. Very good."

I looked around. I was still in the operating room. Dr. Hall was standing next to the table writing something on a clipboard. The same technician from earlier, a young doe, was also there, observing. I yawned and stretched my arms out.

"Whoa! Hold on Kirian, you need to slow down."

What was she talking about? It wasn't like I was flailing my arms wildly. I twitched my tail and accidently knocked a tray of tongue depressors off of a table. I watched as the small wooden sticks fell to the ground. They almost looked as if they were falling... slower than they should be. Weird. The assistant bent down and picked them of the floor.

"Alright. You check out. I'll leave you here to change. Then, grab a handgun and holster and a rifle and meet me at live fire training center 2. And, try to take it easy. You're not used to the changes yet."

She and the technician left the room. I saw my fatigues folded on a chair. I quickly dressed. Reaching into the pocket of my pants, I found a pen. I held it three meters off the ground and dropped it, timing its fall on my watch. Again, it appeared to fall slowly, but when I calculated for the acceleration, it came out to be 9.8 m/s2. Something didn't make sense.

I left the room to find Dr. Hall closing the door to an adjacent one. I nodded to her and proceed to the armory. I took the weaponry Dr. Hall had asked for to the training course. Live fire training center 2 was a small obstacle course with targets space throughout. During training, our goal was to navigate the increasingly difficult obstacles and eliminate targets in the shortest time. No one was there when I arrived. I guess they were all still recovering.

Soon Jessica joined me, her SMGs strapped in holsters on her thighs. Next was Teague, followed by Tank, and Trestan. Finally, Dr. Hall entered through the large metal door.

"Good, you're all here. I am pleased to announce that the alteration process went smoothly and there are no foreseeable negative side effects."

"Other than my head feeling like its being split by a chainsaw," muttered Tank.

"That's a reaction to your body adjusting to the heightened perception. It should dissipate shortly. Right now, I would like to go through a quick series of drills to help you adjust. We will begin simply by shooting. Kirian, step over here please."

I walked to where she indicated a narrow shooting lane clear of obstacles.

"Please holster your side arm. Thank you. On my mark, you will draw your gun, fire single shots at the target until the clip is empty, reload, and replace your weapon in the holster. Do you understand the exercise?"

"Yes ma'am. I am to draw, aim, shoot eighteen rounds, reload, and replace my handgun."

She nodded. I took a shooting position on the line, tensing my muscles, preparing for her signal.

"Ready?"

I nodded. I twitched my right hand in anticipation. Other than that, my body was perfectly still, ears trained on Dr. Hall. I took a deep breath, feeling my heart beat.

"Mark!"

I reached across my body and gripped my pistol, unsnapping the securing strap. I drew the weapon, aiming down the concentric sights as I did, on target before I was even ready to shoot. I quickly squeezed off eighteen shots, the brass ejecting uncommonly close to one another. I heard the gun click on an empty chamber, ejected the clip and slammed a new one home. I swung the firearm back towards my hip and snapped it into place before lowering my hands back to my sides.

I turned to see the rest of the team with looks of shock on their faces.

"What?"

Dr. Hall answered "That took just over of two seconds."

I looked down range, now astonished myself and saw that, in that time I had left a centimeter and a half shot group in the target positioned 50m down range. The process repeated with similar results with each member of the team. Dr. Hall called in a new target, this one at 500m. She handed me a carbine.

"Shoot the target. Three round burst if you will."

I flipped the fire selector from safe to the small red three. I shouldered the weapon and aimed down the sights.

"One handed."

I looked up to see Dr. Hall looking at me with a straight face.

"Just your right hand."

I adjusted my position and dropped my left arm to my side. I looked down the sights expecting them to be moving erratically around the target. Surprisingly they sat almost dead still. I took aim again and pulled the trigger. I heard the triple report of the shots but barely noticed any recoil. I peered at the target where an oblong hole perforated the paper strait vertically across the center dot.

"Holly shit!"

We spent the rest of the day running a series of drills and exercises in the obstacle course. Each set was progressively harder. Dr. Hall was trying to test our limitations and see how far we could be pushed. By the end of the day however, no one had failed a single challenge. I climbed into bed thoroughly exhausted.

Next morning I was woken at 0500 by the emergency signal on my earpiece. I clicked the receiver to start the message. It blared over the small speaker.

"Meet at the briefing room by 0530... full armor... no weapons... time is a factor... Meet at the briefing room by 0530..."

The message repeated. I turned off the device and got out of my bunk, now wide awake. I pulled on my combat uniform and began buckling it up, checking the plates for any defects which may cause them to fail in combat. Finding none, I slipped on the gauntlets and left my room. The others were exiting as well.

We jogged together to the briefing room before entering in single file, me at the lead. Dr. Hall was waiting for us.

"A new mission just came down from command. It appears that someone defected from The New World Order. Our guys want him bad for the information he claims to have. The problem is that, so does the enemy. The only difference is that they want him dead. He's no good to us dead."

I listened intently to the intell she gave us. Getting in and securing the objective would be easy. Getting him out alive, not so much. I ran through situations in my head as the briefing continued, planning for foreseeable snags.

"One last thing. This will be our last face to face meeting for a long time. You're training is officially over. To limit the chance of enemy detection of Center 17, you will be working out of a series of satellite bunkers in and around Croania. You have been assigned exclusively to the threat of the NWO and will remain in the field for extended periods of time. They contain everything you will need for the upcoming missions and will be restocked periodically when possible. This is for your protection and the protection of all our country's people."

Dr. Hall walked over to me. I stood up and grasped her outstretched paw.

"Kirian, it's been an honor. I have done everything I can to prepare the team for anything. Now it's up to you to lead them. They trust you. They are loyal to you. I know you will lead them well."

"Ma'am."

She moved down the line, talking to each of us separately. Her voice was kept low enough so that only the individual she was addressing could understand her. When Dr. Hall was finished, she walked towards the door. I stiffened and called out."

"Room! Ten Hut!"

We stood at attention until she had closed the door behind her. Dr. Hall had been our mentor, our teacher, our guardian, our motivation, and our friend. When she was gone I turned to my team.

"Task Force, let's move out!"

We arrived at the armory to find several large crates open in the room. They were loaded with extra weapons and ammunition that we would be taking to our first station. I instructed the others to arm themselves for the mission at hand and then load up everything else.

I walked to my personal locker and opened the door. My rifle was waiting for me. I took it off the rack and laid it on a table. I broke it down for a more mobile set up, decreasing the caliber and bulk. I wouldn't need the long shots on this mission. I scaled down the scope and attached a range finder. Trestan wouldn't always be in the air for this one to spot my shots. After packing up the rest of the gear, I grabbed one of our Gewalt TM-S machine pistols and added a barrel kit and collapsible stock effectively making it a small caliber carbine. This I attached to a holster on my right side. I also took a handgun, which I screwed a silencer onto, and a multi tool tactical knife.

When I was finished, I went to check on my team. Jessica was loaded light with only her two SMGs, a knife and a pair of concussion grenades. Good, we might need her to be mobile. Teague on the other hand looked ready to invade a small country. He was packing a SAT 5 carbine, two pistols, four throwing knives strapped to his side and two on his left wrist, two fragmentation grenades as well as his det. pack.

"Do you have enough stuff?"

"Never know what we might need on this one."

I rolled my eyes and turned to tank. He had an ASMAR-T assault rifle and probably enough ammunition to fire it continually for three minutes. He also had a small assortment of grenades. I suspected he had other weapons hidden on him somewhere but I didn't ask. We had trained for years and I trusted the judgment of each of my squad mates.

Finally I walked over to Trestan. He was uncommonly well armed. He had a lighter variation assault rifle set up for a squad marksman. He was also had a curious launcher on his back. It was made to handle a variety of ordinance for air to air and air to ground defense. William was going to be our over watch for the extraction portion of the mission and may need the firepower. Never much one for talk he simply nodded at me. I slapped him on the shoulder and closed the crates in the center of the room.

I turned to the team. They were ready. I could see it in their eyes, in the way they stood, in the way they breathed. I couldn't have been prouder. They looked up to me and I looked up to them. It had been a long three years since we first sat in a small room at the military academy and introduced ourselves.

"Let's kick some ass!"

"HOOA!"

We paced through the main corridor to the hangar. Before stepping through the secure door, Hogan met us.

"Hey. Can you believe it? I'm going to be your chief intelligence provider while you're out."

"Well, it will be good to see a familiar face now and again."

"Good luck guys!"

"You too. See you on the other side of the monitor."

He stood strait and saluted. I returned the salute. We would be in qualified hands. We got to the hangar and boarded the transport. It had just finished being loaded with the three crates from the armory. I took my seat and strapped in, not knowing when we left, if I would ever be back inside Center 17.