Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 3 - Fleet Command

Open Circle Fleet Central Command - Outer Rim

In the few hours leading up to arrival at fleetcom, Chief had been training alongside both the General and Commander to hone his skills and dust off any rust that may have accumulated in his deep slumber. So far, it had mainly consisted of Commander Cody rediscovering and implementing training courses designed for the original Null-class ARC troopers. Up until this point, the courses had primarily used to train the most proficient Republic commandoes, and it would usually take a full fireteam of four to finish one of these courses. Chief was casually breezing through all of them solo. Resigning from his post on the control panel, Cody handed over to his general.

Now it was Kenobi's turn to test 117's prowess. Standing opposite the sage monster, Obi-wan attempted to get into Master Chief's mind using force. Despite not being a force user and still a bit mentally drained from the cryo-sleep, Chief repelled Kenobi's attempts with a mind made from steel. As the difficulty of the mind attacks increased, the Jedi Master even started to break a sweat as he gave it all of his concentration and willpower.

Luckily for Kenobi's repuation, Commander Cody informed him that they will be arriving at fleetcom in approximately 5 minutes. Ending the training exercise, the trio walked into an elevator that took them to the bridge.

Gazing around the brain of the star destroyer, Chief could not help but notice the stares directed towards him. Looking out the window, 117 observed the large space station guarded by a small protection detail consisting of a few light cruisers and 2 Venators. Off to the port-side, Chief saw the Open Circle fleet. It was an armada, one of the most powerful ones Chief had ever been stationed with. Made up of 3 different smaller fleets that included the Fifth fleet, the 501st strike force, and the 2nd Fleet. In total, there were 12 Venator class destroyers alongside 6 Acclamator class cruisers, 16 Arquitens class light cruisers, and about 30 frigates that were made up of Consular and Pelta class frigates. However, the amount of frigates were changing daily, depending on where they were needed.

Commander Cody explained to Chief that the Open Circle Fleet was one of the largest expeditionary fleets of the Republic Navy and was home to the 7th Sky Corp. In total, there were about 50,000 troopers stationed with the fleet including all the non-combative roles like chefs, logistical staff, maintenance crews and medical officers. Leading this massive fleet was Jedi General Kenobi with Jedi General Skywalker and Commander Cody as the 2nd in command.

As the Negotiator got closer to the rest of the fleet, Cody explained how the rank structure worked so that Chief understood where he stood in relation to the rest of the GAR. At the bottom of the food chain were the standard troopers, then came the corporals, followed by sergeants. This is when things get a little bit interesting, because next came sergeant silver class and gold class. The silver class was reserved for ARC troopers like the ones Chief will be serving alongside and allowed for them to take command of lower enlisted troopers in dire situations. Gold class was essentially just a formality between ARC troopers where the more senior ARCs would be granted this rank if they were leading a squad or fireteam of fellow ARCs.

Next on the list came the officer ranks of Lieutenant, Captain, Commander, Marshal Commander, Admiral/General and then at the very top was the Chancellor and Jedi Grandmaster. Cody also mentioned that he might find special forces ranks among the officers, and these outranked their standard equivalent rank along with the standard rank above them. For example, a SF Captain would outrank a normal Clone Commander, however usually they would let the commander take point.

Once the Negotiator arrived at the fleet, Master Chief was accompanied by Commander Cody towards the hanger bay where a transport awaited to take them to fleetcom. Boarding the shuttle, the two soldiers were soon joined by Master Kenobi who sat across them in the cargo hold of the Nu-class shuttle as the pilots fired up the engines. With a warm hum sounding through the inside of the ship, Kenobi spoke first. "Master Chief, I am happy to inform you that the Council has deemed it appropriate to grant you the rank of Sergeant Gold class. I'm guessing Cody told you what that means."