Soul Identity

Chapter 1: Private O'Brien

"Private O'Brien, welcome to the battalion."

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant."

"Dismissed," the Staff Sergeant says as he walks away. I nod, and begin walking around the Forwards Operations Base. FOB, for short. The FOB had five main buildings. A Central Command/Briefing Room, Barracks, Showers, the brass office, and then the Medical and Mechanical building.

I made my way over to the front gate, positioning myself next to a man only a little taller than me. He was tall, and had black hair, and brown eyes. He had all the same equipment I had, standard Battle Dress Uniforms, Carrier, Backpack, Flashlight, and a M14. I stop at the wall, and just stare for a while.

The Forwards Operation Base I'm stationed at, code named 'Varsity' was located in former China. The area had become overgrown with weeds and vines. It was sad to see what earth had become, but I had duties as a soldier. The duty to exterminate anyone trekking through the outlands who do not wear the symbol of the Union.

I begin to zone out as another conscripts walks up next to me. I look for their chevron, but they don't have one.

"You'll need your weapon at hand if your going to man the wall, won't you?" the woman asks.

"I suppose so," I sigh as I take the M14 off my back, and hold it in front of me, barrel pointed at the ground. The lady turns to the man.

"Now Jonathan, you should know to help the new comers," she says, almost in a flirtatious way.

"Of course, Carmen, what was I thinking?" he responds.

I turn to the woman, my curiosity getting the better of me. "I hate to be rude, but who are you, and how come you don't have a chevron?"

"Second Lieutenant Carmen Thompson," she says very calmly. She pulls a badge out of her pocket, with her insignia, ID card, and profile on it.

"S-sorry ma'am," I stutter as I stand to attention.

"No need to salute or anything, Private," she says. "I'd actually much prefer you treat me like a fellow private, especially on the front gate. Don't need any snipers trying to target me, now do I?"

"I guess not. Sorry." I say, looking down, slightly embarrassed.

"No need. And I'm assuming Jonathan hasn't introduced himself yet. This is Sergeant Black. He leads a good majority of our patrols and missions." She motions to the Sergeant, who nods his head at me.

"Pleasure to meet you, Sergeant," I say shyly, remembering when I was a recruit at F.O.B. Point. There, all the sergeants acted like they hated your guts, and the lieutenants? They barely even acknowledged you.

Carmen looks down at her wrist-watch, and then back up to Sergeant Black, "We got briefing in five, I need to go over the intel, be battle ready." She looks over to me, "Private....?"

"Blaine," I say. "Blaine O'Brien."

"Private O'Brien, be battle ready. I expect you to be in Alpha Squad with Sergeant Black." She looks at Sergeant Black, receiving a confident nod from him, and then jogs off to the CENTCOMM building.

A few minutes of standing at the front gate pass before three heavilly armored men begin marching with a gun I haven't even seen before. I recognized them as O.T.A. (Overwatch Transhuman Arm) Units. I look up and see another two mounting the watch tower. The lead one approaches us, "You're dismissed. We'll take over from here."

"Copy that," Sergeant Black says, "O'Brien, on me."

"Copy," I respond, as we begin jogging to the CENTCOMM building. About midway there, the PA system crackles to life. Carmen's voice spreading throughout the whole base.

"All Conscripts, HELIX, and GRID units please report to the briefing room in full combat dress. Briefing begins in two minutes."

Soon we see dozens of conscripts jogging over to the CENTCOMM building right behind us. We enter to a podium in the middle of a room, with benches lining the walls and in neat rows in the middle of the room.

Sergeant Black and I take a seat near the front. He looks at me, "You seem like a very capable soldier. Don't let me down out there, a'ight?"

"I won't, Sergeant."

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A/N

Alright, that was kinda short, but it took just under an hours time of editing and erasing. I think next chapter will be a little bit longer.