<strong>Name:</strong>Jonathan Gates<br/><strong>Rank:</strong>PFC<br/><strong>Branch:</strong>UNSC Army<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Ohana Booth<br/><em>"You ever wonder why we're here?"</em><br/><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/c0/Vasili_Avatar.jpg)</div><br/>Gates let go of the 21-pound LMG with his left hand, holding it up with ease with his right.<br/>His hand didn't shake, he didn't make any noises of discomfort, or look as if he were struggling with the weight.<br/>With his left hand he blindly searched for the strap while his eyes glanced about the booth looking for any other discrepancies.<br/>He eyed Amber for a bit, feeling nothing at all, then his gaze shifted to Colby.<br/>As he was sizing them up, his left hand found the strap and in one motion he had his SAW shouldered, barrel pointing upwards.<br/>From there he took the digital pad with his left hand, then the "training" shotgun with his right.<br/>He looked over the permits and documentation as if he knew what he was looking at.<br/>The truth is, he didn't. He wasn't exactly trained for it. He did know what the Manifest was.<br/><br/>He gave the pad back to her before he checked out the Shotgun with the swiftness of a Marine Drill Instructor.<br/>Gates checked everything, but at a glance he did confirm that it was used for Training purposes. The load port for the ammunition had been extended to fit the baton round, which stuck half an inch outside of each shotgun shell.<br/><br/>The young man gave the shotgun back then turned towards the actual docks and counted each gate from the one's he remembered until his eyes settled on the Ohana ship.<br/>It was a weird looking thing.<br/>When Ressaw mentioned that all Weapons of the ship were forfeited upon arrival Gates had to stop himself from laughing out loud.<br/><br/>It wasn't that he didn't believer her.<br/>No.<br/>It was the Army's Air Defense System.<br/>It didn't work.<br/>You heard me.<br/>Those Mk. 2547 "Mini MAC" Gun Platforms and HEV platforms one can see as they're flying from port to orbit and vice versa, the very same Platforms the Army threatens each ship with. The very same Platforms that supposedly blew away a Covenant Carrier, to the point where all the left over debris burned up as it was coming into the atmosphere, thus conveniently ridding the Army of any "evidence" to clean up...<br/>Don't Work.<br/><br/>There was a time when the Army cared about them and sent multiple requests to get them repaired, but over time those requests were lost in the abundant paperwork to refit, or decommission equipment, and over time people stopped caring.<br/>What's more?<br/>A lot of those Platforms had been torn apart by the Army themselves.<br/>Reusing parts for non-defense purposes.<br/><br/>Gates had kept himself from laughing but not from grinning.<br/>And just in time!<br/>Ressaw had just winked at him.<br/>It looked as if they were flirting with each other.<br/>Looked.<br/><br/>Then came Ressaw's challenge.<br/>Gates stopped grinning as he looked towards the obstacle course and watched Amber make her run.<br/>He looked back to Ressaw, then back toward the course. Then back to Ressaw and replied, "Are you serious?"<br/>The Marine shook his head at her words. "I'll do it, just don't put me in the same category as those<em>boys</em>." As he spoke he unslung his weapon and carried it to the starting line fully expecting to run the course with it. Looking at the course again, his shoulders slumped as he wondered what kind of JROTC bullshit he was looking at.<br/>He looked at the Shotgun he had inspected earlier and grumbled about how insufficient it was but left it at that.<br/>"On<em>your</em>mark."