Part 5 – New Squad

"So none of that was real," Chris asked as they moved the soldiers to the medical wing to check on the outcome of their virtual mission.

"The whole thing was a simulation," Kaufman said, "Yours began in the corridor outside your apartment. Nothing about that was real."

"Then how come we don't remember entering the chairs," one of the recruits asked as the nurse checking on him checked his blood pressure.

"A short-term memory wipe," Jill said as the nurse checking on her shinned a concentrated light in her left eye, and then moved to the right.

"Then why do it," Chris asked.

"It was my idea," Wesker said as he walked up to Chris, dressed in his GSA uniform, "I wanted to see what you could do. We need good troops in our fight against Umbrella."

"But that was a simulation," Chris said as the nurse checking on him checked his heart rate, "Why are we going to war if the attack didn't happen."

"Because it did," Kaufman said, "Just not here," Kaufman held out a small tablet which Chris opened.

As soon as he saw the news report, his mood changed to grim, "What," Jill asked, "Chris what is it?"

"When we were in the simulator Umbrella launched a series of coordinated attacks against our outlying colonies," Chris said.

"How many," Jill asked.

"721,472," Chris said, "So far."

"Shit," another one of the recruits said, "When do we get out there?"

"You three," Kaufman said, "Right now. You've been assigned to a rifle company."

"Thank you, sir," one of the recruits said as the medics cleared them, and sent them on their way.

"What about us," Chris asked.

"You have multiple offers on the table," Councilor Benford said, "Many of them from Special Brigade."

"Among them, myself," Captain Wesker said as he walked up to Chris, "I've seen what you can do. You're a good soldier Redfield, and I need good soldiers."

Chris looked down at the tablet before looking over at Jill, "I'm in," he said as he looked back at Wesker, and held out the tablet to him before securing it with a firm grip when the Captain tried to take it, "On one condition."

"Name it," Wesker said.

"Jill comes with me," Chris said.

Wesker looked over at her before looking back at Chris and saying, "You have a bleeding heart, Redfield," he then took the tablet from Chris's hand, "This decision better not make me see it, Corporal."

"Corporal, sir," Chris asked.

"I need someone with a small bit of rank," Wesker said, "You're it until your dead, or until I find someone better."

"Thank you, sir," Chris said as he saluted Wesker.

"Don't get all mushy on me kid," He said, "Come on you two time to meet the team."

Wesker escorted Chris and Jill to a nearby elevator, whereupon pressing a button leading to the lower level, he turned around, "Where are we going, sir," Jill asked.

"To the S.T.A.R.S. locker room," Wesker said, "Now here's the deal, when we enter this area it's strictly business. You leave those teenage attitudes at the door. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir," Chris and Jill said at the same time.

"Good," Wesker said as the door opened to reveal a state-of-the-art training facility, "Welcome to S.T.A.R.S."

"Wow," Jill said as they entered to see multiple soldiers training with the equipment.

"Indeed," Wesker said, "S.T.A.R.S., or the Special Tactics And Reconnaissance Squad is just one branch on the tree that makes up the GSA Military's Special Forces Branch. My unit the Fifty-Eighth Special Operations Brigade, or Alpha Team is the primary assault force for S.T.A.R.S.," he then pointed to the other side of the training area where another group of individuals was practicing, "That's the Seventy-second Special Forces Squadron, otherwise known as Bravo Team is our backup squad."

"Come on Doc," a voice said from the Alpha Team side of the, "End the tour so we can meet these guys."

"Alright," Wesker said as he escorted them over to the rest of the team, the man standing in the weapon's cage was an Altanian, about six-foot-five, and wore a pair of combat boots, black pants, and white shirt with the S.T.A.R.S. logo on the sleeve. He had brown hair that was slicked back, and thin stubble, Wesker pointed to him first, "The big guy over there is Gunnery Sergeant Barry Burton, my XO, the team's weapon expert, and heavy weapons specialist."

"Charmed," he said.

Altanians are a very tall alien species, often reaching as tall as six-foot-ten, they have a light blue skin, can have either white or black hair, and their most unique feature is they have to wear specially-designed goggles when not in armor. Their home planet of Altania is essentially a floating ball of ice rotating on the very edge of a densely-packed solar system that orbits a still-developing T Tauri Star. Every few years one of the planets in the system moves in the way of the sun, virtually blocking out all light on Altania which caused the Altanians to develop eyes with no sclera or irises. This natural development gives them natural night vision but leaves them vulnerable to damaging their eyes in average lighting.

"They call me Bear," Barry said, "You can too."

Wesker then pointed to a cyborg doing pull-ups wearing almost exactly the same outfit as Barry save for he was wearing a red bandanna on his head, "The man over there trying to become an Olympic athlete is Private First Class Joseph Frost," he said.

"They call me Rooster," Joseph said in an unenthusiastic attitude.

"Nice to meet you," Chris said, "Joseph."

Wesker pointed to a five-foot-nine Tigra male with a leopard-pattern skin tone checking his CRB-10 which is another version of the Kriss Vector that fires 10mm bullets from a 30-round magazine, "The man over there fiddling with his weapon is Private Brad Vickers," he said.

"You can call me Wolf," Brad said.

"Very funny Chickenheart," Barry said which caused Brad to flinch.

"Did you have to say it in front of a girl," Brad asked.

"Who are these two," Barry asked as he leaned over the counter.

"These two," Wesker said, "These are our newest members of Alpha Team: Private Jill Valentine, and Lance Corporal Chris Redfield."

"Lance Corporal," Barry asked, "You never promote someone outright when they first join. What's so special about this one?"

"He's the one that made the 68.05 on the MT-8," Wesker said.

It was at that moment that the entire area fell silent, and all eyes fell on Chris.

"A 68.05," Barry asked, "Him?"

"He was born to be a soldier," Wesker said before an alarm went off, and putting his hands on Chris and Jill's shoulders, "Hey, they're playing our song. Briefing room."

Alpha and Bravo team walked up to the elevator, and upon entering, Wesker hit on of the upper-most buttons on the panel, and the elevator started climbing.

"When were you going to tell me," Jill asked.

"That I was the new high score," Chris asked, "Right after I asked you to join the team."

"Then why didn't you," Jill asked.

"Because…" Chris began before Wesker intervened.

"Right now is not the day to be having a lover's quarrel you two," Wesker said, "You want to have this conversation? Have it later tonight after she's done cooking dinner, and you're worn out from playing cowboy with Junior."

That quieted things down quite a bit as the elevator door opened to reveal a long hallway with a single set of double-doors at the end.

The doors automatically swung open when they approached, revealing a long briefing room with enough chairs for the already present members of Alpha and Bravo team, but not Chris or Jill.

"Sorry kids," Barry said as he slapped them on the shoulder, "You want a seat, you have to earn it."

As the members of Alpha and Bravo took their seats, Chris and Jill stood at the end of the room.

As the Colonel entered the room, everyone shot into attention, "Good afternoon teams Alpha and Bravo," he said, "Take your seats," as everyone sat down, the Colonel looked up to see Chris and Jill, "I see you haven't given these two their patches."

"We were going to before the alarm sounded," Wesker said.

"Of course you were Captain," Kaufman said as he started the briefing, activating a holographic map of the universe on the table, "As I'm sure you're all aware, less than one hour ago Umbrella launched a strike against the GSA's outlying colonies. Let me make the entire situation completely clear: we are now at war with Umbrella. Their attacks were not limited to just our outlying colonies," the map on the briefing table zoomed in on the planet Lorena-2, "Umbrella also launched a concurrent strike against the GSA's main research lab on Lorena-2. As most of you are aware, the lab on Lorena-2 is our main facility for research into weapons, defense against chemical agents, and so on and so forth."

"Not to mention home to some of the biggest gambling dens in the universe," Wesker said.

As everyone else in the room chuckled Kaufman spoke up, "Thank you for that Captain."

"What's the status of the lab Colonel," Chris asked.

"Unknown at this time," Kaufman said as the holographic image change to show the names of several of the GSA's top scientists, "We know that when the attack started, the lab's head scientist, Dr. James Marcus is hiding in a safe-room somewhere deep inside the facility with the other scientists."

"Have the attackers made any demands yet," Captain Enrico Marini, the leader of Bravo asked.

"They're commandos working for Umbrella," Kaufman said, "They have an objective, they're not looking for money. It's not clear what their objective is, but we can suspect that it's either to capture or kill our scientists."

"I guess our job is to secure the facility," Wesker asked.

"Secondarily," Kaufman said, "Your primary goal is to locate and extract Dr. Marcus and his staff before Umbrella does."

"We'll get them out sir," Wesker said.

"Good," Kaufman said, "Muster on the well deck in ten," he then pointed at Chris and Jill, "Sergeant Burton get those two some armor and weapons."

"Yes sir," Barry said as he stood up, and ushered Chris and Jill to follow him.

As they entered the elevator, Jill asked, "What kind of weapons will we be using?"

"You'll see when you get down there," Barry said before looking at them both, "Here's the deal: Wesker is giving you a chance Redfield. The only reason she's here is because you wanted her here. He doesn't take kindly to that. No matter what Wesker says, you two watch each other's backs. He's going to be worried about his own ass rather than yours."

"Thank you, Sergeant," Chris said.

"Don't mention it," Barry said as the exited on the team's floor, "Just stick with me you two. I'll teach you the ropes."

"Weapon time," Chris asked.

"Yep," Barry said as he walked over to the armor locker, and showed off their armor which was exactly identical to the one they saw Wesker wearing in the holographic program, "The boots have inch and a half thick rubber soles, designed to take the shock of a ten foot fall when combined with the armor," he then moved onto the pants, "The pants are 100% fireproof, and are made of a thermal regulating fabric that can keep you warm or cold in extreme weather," he then pointed at the rest of the armor, "Finally, the armor: the flexible parts in-between the tungsten-titanium composite is a composite material made of over sixteen thousand individually wound titanium cables. It'll stop anything up to a fifty caliber."

"Why not above," Chris asked.

"They tried," Barry said, "But anything that can stop a weapon like that is too heavy."

"Alright," Chris said, "How do you put it on?"

"The armor itself is just a simple matter," Barry said as he pointed at a small station that had three very small spikes, "The armor will adhere to the natural contours of your body."

Chris walked up to the machine, and as he went to press his back up against the main panel, Barry stopped him and pointed at his jacket.

"Oh right," Chris said as he removed his jacket, and handed it to Strike who grabbed it and Chris's beret.

As he pressed his back against it, three small prongs anchored a solid plate to his back.

"Now simply press the button on your back," Barry said.

Chris reached over his shoulder and pressed a single button in-between his shoulders.

A series of metal apertures folded out from the plate, connecting at his elbow, wrist, and the joints of his fingers, and at his knees and ankles.

The black muscle-fiber-like armor then grew out from the apertures and went all the way down his body.

What followed next the helmet sprung forth from the back of the neck, covering Chris's mouth, eyes, and head.

"Nice," Chris said as the goggles sprung to live, and a small box went around the room studying everything it could.

"Your turn," Barry said as he ushered towards Jill.

As Jill stepped into the machine and was given her armor, Barry handed them their pants and boots.

As soon as they slid those two pairs on, Chris pointed at the visor, and asked, "How do you retract this?"

Barry simply pressed two contact points on Chris's temples which retracted the helmet back into the armor, "Simple as that," he said as he walked over to the weapon cage, "Now my favorite part: weapons," he pulled out two pistol cases.

The Beretta emblem printed on the top of the case was most obvious, upon opening the cases, inside was a TR-92 with four magazines.

"Nice," Chris said as he pulled the pistol out of the case.

"Beretta TR-92," Barry said, "Four magazines that hold 15 rounds each."

The Beretta TR-92 is a 10mm semi-auto handgun that comes with a built-in compensator-silencer-laser pointer-barrel weights. Modeled after the Beretta 90-two, the gun comes with a tip-up barrel, an ambidextrous thumb-safety, slide-release, and magazine release. It is pretty much the standard issue for the GSA military, and it is a tried and tested reliable weapon despite being relatively inexpensive which is a surprise considering it is a Beretta.

"Sweet," Chris said as he slid the magazine into the gun, and slid it into the holster on the combat harness that was strapped to the pants like a pair of suspenders that connected in the middle of the chest.

"Primary firearms," Barry said as he walked over with a pair of SMGs, "Primary weapons: Dynamic Arms KP-9s with four mags."

The KP-9 is no other word for it: a rip-off of the HK MP5, save for the stock is six inches long as opposed to two, the magazine is straight instead of curved, and there is a cover of the barrel and grip that acts as a mount for a scope that has a meat-tenderizer-style striking-muzzle on the front.

"Bare bones," Chris asked.

"You can add attachments on the way," Barry said as he ushered them towards the elevator again, "Come on. This is the fun part."

Guess what'll happen next…