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Author Topic: A Spartan By Any Other Name - Chapter IV - Stacking the Deck  (Read 2019 times)

Offline jokerman

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A Spartan By Any Other Name - Chapter IV - Stacking the Deck
« on: September 23, 2009, 05:56:14 PM »
<boring stuff>
The following story is copyrighted material and all rights belong solely to the author.  Any reproduction or republication of any or all of this publication without the explicit and expressed written consent from the author is strictly forbidden.
</boring stuff>
click here for - Chapter III - Mistakes

Chapter IV - Stacking the Deck

“I’ve read your records, cadet.  It says that you were born in Old Florida during a hurricane under a full moon, and that you had a grip on your mamma’s cord with both hands.  You didn’t want to let go.  Full moon and a hurricane, how can that be?”

“The eye of the hurricane passed over and the moon was full that night.  My mother went into labor when she went outside to look up through the eye and see the moon.”

“Walked out in the middle of a hurricane, huh?  Brave woman.”

“Yes sir, she was”, he said in a determined manner.

“And the cord, it looks like when you grab hold of something you don’t let go.  For example, your profile says that you push yourself harder than any of your drill instructors.  That you are your own persecutor and that when they busted you, you just shed it off like a layer of skin and came right back.”

“But there is something about your records that I don’t like, cadet.  It says that you excelled at everything.”  The cadet wanted to question the commander about what he meant but was not going to make another ‘mistake’.

“You see cadet, most people are good at one or two things.  The Spartans you see around you are the best of the best in their fields.  That is why they are here.  In this war, I stack the deck in my favor.  My hand will always win.  Where do you fit in my deck, cadet?  Are you telling me that you are my ‘Jack’?  My ‘Jack’ of all trades?  Because I don’t need a ‘Jack’, cadet.  I need a better card than a ‘Jack’.  I want the best of the best and a ‘Jack’ won’t cut it, cadet.”

The cadet looked down with his eyes but left his head high.  The visor would hide his eyes but he would not let his head fall to the ground for the commander to see.  The sun was starting to get higher and it was getting much brighter.  On a planet where the days are eight Earth days long, it can take hours just for the sun to come up above the horizon.  As he looked down he noticed his shadow in front of him and slightly to his left.  He squinted at it, scrutinizing its features on the ground.  There was something wrong.  His shadow was long because the source of light was at such a low angle but that was not was struck the cadet as odd.  There were two shadows, close together but two distinct shadows.  One was slightly different, lighter maybe, and he could make out a helmet for sure but there were definitely two shadows.  He thought that another of the commander’s Spartans had crept up to him and was ready to pounce.  He wouldn’t get caught again.  In one quick move, the cadet jumped to one side and turned around.  There was no other Spartan next to him.  In a split second, he focused his eyes wider and farther, 5 meters, 10, 50 meters, a hundred, and then he saw it.  Far on the long horizon of this distant planet was the reason.


« Last Edit: September 24, 2009, 06:03:38 PM by jokerman »

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