Chapter 300: paying respects to the fallen brethren

Getting to the headquarters of the Spartan army again after years left Clark smiling nostalgically. To his surprise, he no longer felt as much awe and amazement that he felt on his first time coming here.

Yes, the headquarters was still big and boisterous like a mechanically fortified city but it now just felt so-so to him. He knew exactly what caused this but he still let himself indulge in this feeling.

After years of eventful missions and encounters, he already experienced so much that the Spartan army no longer seemed as iconic and indomitable as he felt before.

Perhaps, this was because of his recent breakthrough in strength but he was pretty sure that his encounters influenced it too.

How many 3rd rank high-grade soldiers could boast of not only entering the outer headquarters of the Seafarers alliance, entering a lost research base of the Aragan Empire, but most of all getting to meet an Elite Commander.

If not for confidentiality reasons, he felt compelled at times to show all these achievements to the whole world. Then, he was sure that he could become a celebrity soldier immediately.

Putting such errant thoughts aside, he stepped on the brakes as the soldiers guarding the gate made a halt sign at his vehicle.

As soon as one of them came closer, he brought his badge out and showed him. The private immediately saluted him before ordering his companions to open the gate.

Clark smiled at them before driving inside the next moment.

As he was no longer enchanted by the incredible layout of buildings rambling across the headquarters, he did no tour and drove forward directly in the direction of his mansion.

Of his 3 mansions, this was the one that he paid less attention to because it was pretty far from his hometown. Though he was not there, his workers still kept the mansion in optimum condition.

Getting to the mansion, he was treated to a sight that made him smile.

Already aware that he was coming, his workers organized a special welcome party for their boss. It was small but it touched deep into Clark’s heart.

Before he could be escorted inside, a military vehicle sporting the emblem of the Spartan army drove to the front of the mansion’s gate the next moment.

The emblem of the Spartan army was a huge tower shield with 3 exotic swords hovering above it like guardians.

The tower shield symbolized the President, one of the swords symbolized the Commanders of the republic, while the other 2 swords symbolized the national motto of the republic- No retreat, no surrender.

Clark directed a curious gaze at the car, trying to guess who it was but this didn’t last a quarter of a second as a voice spoke to him through implant connection.

“Clark, you’re back”.

“Captain Oxford”. Clark was pleasantly surprised on recognizing the voice as he gave a mental order for the gate to open.

As soon as Captain Oxford parked his car inside the mansion, they both finally stood before each other. They stood still, looking at each other intently. The next moment, they erupted laughing and hugged each other.

Clark led him inside to have a better environment for discussion.

After not meeting for so long, they had a lot to catch up on. They joked, reminisced about their first encounter, talked about their experiences in the Mediterranean Sea, the topics of discussion were numerous.

Though Clark would have been happy to spend the whole day with the easy-going Captain, he expressed his regret that he came here for an appointment. Only 5 minutes were remaining before the gathering started.

Captain Oxford finally excused himself. After taking time to heap praises that left Clark blushing and congratulating him on his new rank, he left on his exotic car.

As soon as the captain left, Clark did not waste time as he also left on his exotic car. Before he left, he made sure to thank Rose’s helper here who was taking care of the mansion on her behalf.

The Spartan army headquarters was as big as a city, and so was most of its layout too. The military cemetery was located at the end of the city and that was Clark’s destination.

Due to his recent increase in authority, a lot of privileges were also opened to him. One of them whose effect was in the Spartan army was that he now had access to a lot of exclusive benefits, such as the road exclusive to the higher-ups of the army.

Unlike the normal road across the headquarters that was paved with treated bitumen and some few exotics, this one was paved entirely with exotics.

It was gray and not too eye-catching but its quality was the real deal.

Clark’s exotic car automatically switched gears smoothly on entering the road as it plied across like a fantasy bowling ball. Because few people took the road, he arrived at his destination in just 2 minutes.

His evaluation of the ride was smooth and easy.

Getting to the cemetery, he discovered that quite a few people were already here before him. 7 luxurious cars were parked at the side, their fine contours gleaming like the edge of a knife under the light of the sun.

Saying quite a few people was wrong, everybody was here. He just remembered that 8 soldiers survived from his squad during that mission, with Sonia missing now they were 7.

“Good morning, everyone”. Clark greeted politely, which they responded in the same manner.

“Clark, you’re here”. Captain Briggs finally spoke out.

“Yeah, I promised you that I’ll be here”.

Every one of the soldiers was dressed in black from head to toe, painting a scenery of doom and gloom when it was combined with the deathly atmosphere of the cemetery.

Clark recognized only a few of the soldiers before him, his impression of the others was mild, especially now that most of them have grown bigger and more mature.

Among the few people that he recognized was Corporal Mark. Despite all these years, the fellow was still stuck as a 2nd rank high-grade soldier. Clark pitied him a bit.

Unlike Leo and a few other soldiers who remained loyal to the Python military division, this guy and most of the high-grade soldiers who served there with Clark already left to other military divisions.

Noticing his gaze, the Corporal smiled and waved at him.

Clark reciprocated the smile. After doing a silent reunion between themselves, their expressions became solemn as they turned to face Captain Briggs who was still their default leader.

The captain steeled his face. “Let’s go pay our respect to our fallen brethren”.

They finally set out to go deeper into the cemetery. The territory allocated for the cemetery was quite big, it was a few kilometers long and a large metallic fence surrounded it.

Unlike the normal cemeteries of the 21st century, here in the Spartan army cemetery, small dome-like structures were erected for each group of soldiers that died.

The structures at the front close to the entrance of the cemetery housed the grave of the lower-ranked soldiers. To get those of a higher rank, they had to move into the deeper parts of the cemetery.

It was at the 54th row of dome structures that they finally saw some of their companions’ graves. The dug grave was still neat and orderly, which served as a testament to the hard work of the grave keepers.

7 familiar names were written on the dome structure, these 7 soldiers were all 1st ranked high-grade soldiers. At the bottom of their names, a tribute was written to acknowledge the work that they did for the republic.

>Sergeant Dani, Sergeant Riper, Sergeant Coke, Sergeant Dandelion, Sergeant Nancy, Sergeant Leroy, Sergeant Choke>

[All 7 Sergeants died in the famous Spartan’s Rage operation; they served their mother nation to the best of their ability and died as heroes of the republic.]

Though Clark mostly came for this gathering with an ulterior motive in mind, seeing this still made his heart stir. The small memories that he had with these 7 started resurfacing, he felt a deep respect for them.

They all bent down the next moment and dropped what they came with. Most of them including Clark dropped laser pistols, Captain Briggs dropped an ancient Sergeant’s helm.

They stood straight and saluted.

After this, they finally continued forward. They walked forward for a few more minutes until they got to the 181st row, that was where their remaining squad-mates were laid to rest.

2 of them were 1st rank high-grade soldiers who had previous military achievements before joining the mission, while the other 2 were the unfortunate 2nd rank high-grade soldiers who died.

>Staff Sergeant Stone, SFC John, Corporal Denice, Warrant Officer Antonia>

[All 4 soldiers died in the famous Spartan’s Rage operation; they served their mother nation to the best of their ability and died as heroes of the republic.]

Seeing this left Clark feeling even more complicated. The others had just a relationship of squad-mates with him, but back then Sonia was close to Warrant Officer Antonia.

Through Sonia, he also got close to the officer.

She was a no-nonsense woman of course, but she had a vibe of a true soldier that Clark could not help but recall. This woman was gone, Sonia was missing too, soldiers really lived eventful lives.

In a more solemn atmosphere this time, they bent down, paid their respects before dropping what they came with.

Clark intended to drop a laser pistol again but seeing the Warrant officer’s name, he changed his mind at the last moment and instead dropped the exotic sword that was with him.

When she was alive, she used a sword so he dropped that as his last tribute to her. He was not there when she was buried, but he hoped that this could make up for his absence.

Standing straight again, they all saluted solemnly.

Captain Briggs gave a tribute speech to highlight their meritorious deeds for the last time before they turned to go away. They didn’t go their separate ways immediately though; it was networking time!

With a broad smile on his face, Captain Briggs suggested that they find a restaurant and spend some more time together. Of course, none of them said no.

After they got to the restaurant, that was when they finally re-introduced themselves to each other properly. Led by Captain Briggs, their conversation took on a route that could benefit all of them.

Some of them asked for help, though it was awkward at first, the ones in a position that can help did.

In this atmosphere of present your problem, someone may have a solution, Clark finally made his first plea for help. He asked all of them for help in his upcoming attack against the terrorists.

When they heard that it was against the Persian tigers terrorists, most of them tried to chicken out but after revealing that he was now a Captain, they agreed before their brains could process the information.

After everyone got what they wanted, the gathering finally came to an end.

As Clark left, practically all of his previous squad-mates stole glances at him. They already agreed to help him, but the shock of the news was still affecting them.

“Genius!”

[We've reached 300 chapters, wow! I'm blown away, I never knew I could make it this far. For following me and reading this far, I take a bow to you. Take my respect guys, you're the best!]