Snippet #1841434

All staff members and personnel on sight please report to the mess hall for 12:00 meal.

The monotonous robotic voice thundered through the SCESS headquarters, echoing around every corner, pouring into the ears of everyone within the complex. The automated announcement system commanded it's orders every six hours, breakfast, lunch, dinner, sleep. It was never late, never early, always in six hour intervals. Ghost, who had been in one of the many armories, immediately ceased what he was doing to heed the automated call. If you were curious, he had been cleaning and maintaining his Smith & Wesson model .500 pistol. It was his pride and joy, the only weapon he ever truly used. Unless the mission called for something more capable he was perfectly fine with only a pistol.

He holstered his weapon on his boot. There probably wasn't a need to go all the way to the armory just to maintain his pistol, but he liked the armory. It was very futuristic looking, like something out of a Mass Effect game. The walls were snow white, and made into a fairly complex geometric pattern with concrete and ceramic plating for looks. The floors were similar to marble aesthetically, but much more sturdy and less likely to fracture. Exactly what they were composed of was unknown. The material itself was highly classified as far as technical specifications go. Funny, something every member of the base came in contact to.. yet still classified. Happyman had an odd sense of humor.

Ghost exited the armory and proceeded down the long, twisted, corridors that made up the headquarters. As similar to a labyrinth as the corridors may have appeared, they were still very easy to navigate. One who was familiar with the SCESS headquarters knew exactly where each one lead. One who wasn't could learn within a week. That's what the entire second week of SCESS Basic consisted of, learning the base inside and out. Not completely, of course, some wings and complexes are classified to new recruits. Rumors have it that there's also an entire sub-level classified to only the most experienced of agents. This is just a rumor, though.

Upon arriving at the mess hall he was greeted by someone. "Good evening sir, identification?" The man asked, holding out a hand in anticipation. Ghost withdrew his ID and handed it to the man who then nodded and gave it back. "Have a good meal."

The man was one of the many SCESS hall monitors. Now, when you hear Hall Monitor, you think of some nerdy kid in middle school with a bunch of pink slips that you're oh so eager to throw into the nearest trash can, right? Well, the SCESS monitors aren't quite the same. See, the SCESS takes security very seriously. Their monitors are strapped with some very, very cutting edge armoring, and carry very, very big guns. And let me just warn you now, they are by no means pushovers. If you piss off one of these guys, they can get you thrown off site faster than you can get on your knees to beg him to spare your own life.

Soon after Ghost entered the cafeteria some fairly large blast doors were sealed. Remember when I said security was taken very seriously? I meant VERY seriously. You had ten minutes to get to mess hall, and that was all, there were no exceptions. They sealed soldiers in, and everyone else out. It was mostly a mental thing, to get soldiers to understand that.. well, it's a long drawn out psychological explanation you probably don't care about. Long story short, they wanted you to realize that you were privileged to work in the SCESS, and you had to obey them 100% no questions asked, as nazi regime as it sounded.

"What'll you have?" a cafeteria worker inquired Ghost. "The usual. The steak, side of beans and broccoli, and a glass of icewater." Not the most appealing meal to some, but to Ghost, nutrition was vital. And top quality food was one of the strong points of the SCESS. They had five star meals. Not that "Meal Ready to Eat" stuff that was distributed in the armed forces. Ghost retrieved his food and sat down at an empty table. He was actually instructed to sit at this table, all of the new recruits to Task-397 were. That's how lunch went at SCESS..you ate at the same table as your squadmates. If you weren't on a squad, you just mingled around wherever.

He looked around, attempting to pick out who his possible squadmates were. Ghost was eager to meet them and get acquainted.