starcraft: dilation

vanguard

I keep my pace as I keep my mind open. "Sir, it appears you have cought up with the platoon. However, I am calculating that three people are missing from the formation." I keep my eyes forward as I see everyone's formed up. The admiral is infront of the formation...however the marines are nearby and not the ghosts. I can sense them though. "Looks like you got back in one piece kid. How are the ghosts treating you so far?" I stop as I can sense one of them moving around me. He's moving fast and I can't pinpoint his exact location. 'Focus on thier minds. Pyonics are always easy to read.' The first thing they tried teaching us in that sespool they called a training area. I can see his mind though. I can hear his thoughts. 'He's stopped. Easy target.' He's thinking about attacking...but...he's hesitating. 'Why am I shaking? I can't get a good read on this guy.' I take a step forward as the ghost moves again. 'He's moving again. Keep close.' Hes talking with the others. Thier cloaked. Thier by the formation. Ambush. "Adjutant." I keep my voice low as I close myself off to them. "Are my suits functions working?" My hud changes as I slowly press forward again. 'He's closed himself off again. How can he do that? What kind of training has this guy gone through?' He's panicking now. "Your suit is at 100% fucinality now sir. You may cloak when ready." Full energy to. It won't last nearly as long as thier but it's better then the crap I used back then. "Divert most of the power to the energy cells when I decloak. I want a fast recharge but a long cloak time. I don't care about stealth when I'm visable." I feel a shift as I gain more power in my core but my movement becomes for grounded. I didn't know these suits helped your body automatically step lighter to reduce sound. 'His movements got louder. He's planning something.' "Sir, I've managed to get access to the other ghosts communications. I'll patch you in now." The hud changes. "Make sure they don't even get a hint of my intrusion." I see a deeply encrypted display as a radio comes up. "Youve played around for to long. You have your opening. Take it and let's get this over with." I sense the ghosts quickened movements as I focus and bolt forward. "He's running! Get ready!" I enable my cloak and rush to the formation as quickly as I can then slow down as I divert everything to keep the cloak on for as long as it can last. "90% sir. You have approximately 47 minutes if you wish to keep all of your power on stealth." Perfect. "How the hell did he just evade us?!" I pouse as I poor my focus on keeping myself closed off from the ghosts as they will be able to sense me if I open my mind again. "Find him now! This kid will not prove anything!" I sense one of the ghosts to my right as I quickly get out of his way before he bumps into me. "Don't let him get to his last checkpoint." I move to the middle of the formation as I can read everyone's minds. 'How did he disappear like that?'
'He's really doing it.'
'This guys full of suprises' everything echos through my mind as I let my training and muscle memory come back. I wasn't thrown into an accual combat zone for months to fail this. I slowly walk up to my senor drill Sargent as I get to his left and look out to the other drill sargents who are cooling off under a canapy. "Didn't expect this?" He keeps his stone face as he chuckles. "Nope. And I can assume you already know what to do next." I look to my left and see the admiral who's talking on the radio. "I'm suprised you three lost a kid. You've got years on him but he's just slipping through your fingers like a burrowed roach." She's furious. "I have an idea." Drill Sargent remains stoic. "Whatever your point is, you've made it. You can finish this now." One of the ghosts decloaks as he looks and sounds disopointed. "My cloaks dead! Damnit! Not this shit again!" There's one. "I found hour record by the way." I pouse as I look at him. "You could have gone through and started your ghost training immediately if your record wasn't covered in so much black ink." One of the ghosts passes through as I quickly rush over to him, pull his weapon, knifes, and unplug his visor as he instantly decloaks. I rush back to drill Sargent as I sling the rifle on my back and tie all of the knifes onto my left leg. "Whenever you get your certificate...they going to wipe our memories of you. Your also going to get your old rank back along with psyonic training to complete your spector training. After that, it'll be up to you on what you do next." I grip my rifle tightly. "30 minutes sir." One more left. "Noted." He shifts a little bit as I also note his sudden disconfert. "You know..." I face where the last ghost is as he's moving fast. "If told me earlier you wanted to be a ghost...I would have talked with a few contacts." He makes a shart right turn and starts bolting twords is as I step to the left. "I appreciate that but you might want to take a step forward." Dril Sargent takes a step forward as I make a right face and sling my weapon. "You already got me this far. It's my turn to push you up." The ghost rushes past as I step out, reach out and grab his bag. "What the-" I pull him back as I quickly disarm him, kick out his legs and draw two of the six knifes on me as I quickly cut his bag and put one to his throught. "25 minutes left sir." He pushes me off as his bag becomes visible as he rushes me. I kneel down and plant my shoulder into his stumic as I use my legs to prop up. He's sent up and lands behind me as I turn, grab his mask and pull it off as his suit deactivates. "He's on me! Surround and subdue!" I quickly. Lung forward and knee his face as a spurt of blood splits on the sand as I turn and see the other ghosts rushing twords him. I move to the right as I quickly get behind the largest ghost. "How is he doing this? He's not even a ghost!" I get flashes as I remember what I was adjusted to become. "Sir, I don't advice facing them head on. Thier records are covered in black ink." I decloak behind the man as he freezes. "I'm not...but I became a spector." He turns around as I grab his neck and force him to the ground as I relize the major sipped one of the knife out of my hand. "Bold move decloaking like that kid. You'll regret it soon." I let the defeated man go as I hit the hilt of the knife on a pressure point on his neck as he instantly goes limp. "You can try." I quickly dodge the flurry of attacks as I holster the blade and focus on blocking the majors attacks. I duck under the other ghosts swing as I block the majors knee from hitting my face as I grab his leg and flip him and turn my focus onto the other ghost as I start to feel thier fear growing. "You can block all you want but you won't last forever." I quickly go for an attack as he quickly blocks it as I grab his arm, extent it and plant my elbow onto his knock as he quickly goes limp and struggles to breath. "I can go all day." I face the major as he's on his feat and has drawn his knife. "This tells me you've never faces an accual spector before." He scoffs. "At least a spector like me." He puts more focus into this fight as I take a step forward. "You were trained pretty well but you've still got a long way to go kid." I can't help but Crack a smile as I feel my own sanity return to the ruthless killer I was trained to many years to become. "I don't deny I have a long way to go." I cloak as I slowly walk to the left and use my phyonic energy to Contain his. I stop behind him as he tries to focus on me. Tries to copy what I've been doing ever since I got here. "But even experionced people can learn something new." He turns around as I quickly lift my hand and plant it on his neck as I put pressure on his neck as he quickly falls to his knees and then falls back, out like a dead light. "Remaining time has gone up to 30 minutes. However, all hostile targets have been subdued. Recommend decloak to recharge power cells." I poor my focus onto the suit as I use my energy to charge the suit as it reacts well. "Energy reserves replenished." I walk to the checkpoint as I grab the flag and decloak. I turn and face the admiral. "Mission complete man. Awaiting new orders." She stands frozen as her mind has gone blank. A few moments go by before the largest ghosts wobbles twords us with wide eyes. "A...spector. I though you all were with mobous corps." His anger matches his fear. I look at him with disgust. "Those traiters got what they deserved. I was apart of the disbanded project shadow blade. I bearly started my phyonic training before I was left out in the streets to die." The fear skyrockets as the only person who isent scared is the admiral. I look at her with confusion as she smiles. "It looks like we have alot to talk about." I hand over the flag as she gives me a smile