Chapter 2:
The three men stood in the Communications room when the Admirals image disappeared and the image of a woman with long light colored hair, golden skin, and warring Ancient Greek style robes appeared in holographic form with a golden glow to her appearance. If there were a representation of a goddess it would look like her.
"Hello, I am Pandora. Personal AI of Rear Admiral Weatherbee and acting AI of the Olympia. Lieutenant Sykes, if you would please secure the room of unauthorized personnel."
"Of course." Sykes said half wincing at being referred to as Lieutenant. All the years that he had had to put up with cocky know it all Lieutenants who showed how stupid they really were when they died as soon as they hit groundside, and now he was one. Of course not all of them were like that but it always seemed like those who had just become were too full of themselves to think of anything else even when there men's life depended on it. But that wasn't Sykes, he had been an NCO and a regular E man, he wasn't like a normal blue blood officer. He had served his time in the trenches and that gave him the ability to think as one of the regular soldiers instead of speculating about it.
"Gunny, see to the perimeter defenses, Master Sergeant, go get an ammo count of all of our current weapons. After I'm done here we will decide how to arm ourselves for the mission." The lieutenant said, wound so tight that he felt like that monster was strangling him again.
Both NCOs saluted "Sir." They then left the room going to their new assignments.
"Okay Pandora, I'm ready for the mission briefing." Sykes said as he sat down in the chair, which was placed in front of the main monitor.
"Very well Lieutenant. This mission is classified under section three of the Classified Intelligence Document, which secures the safety of all information dealing with the Office of Naval Intelligence. To break this will result in Court Marshal and execution under the charges of Treasons and Crimes Against Humanity both of which are punishable only by death. Do you understand the safety protocols which are in place and the repercussions for failing to adhere to their regulations?" The woman said this with a straight face that almost seemed to have a slight grin, the threat of death and dishonor given with a smiling face. Almost poetic.
"I do." Sykes said trying not to think too far into it.
"Very well then, let me begin the briefing. The planet Oasis is the home of an ONI secret facility, which is located deep underground at the location commonly known as the city of Cortez. This facility is only accessible through one entry point when in lockdown. That entry point is located in the basement of the resort El Dorado found in the east sector of the city. Objective One: Is for you and your team to secure any and all information pertaining to Project MJOLNIR V and/or any pertaining to its involved project known as Project Light Shield. You are to obtain this information and remove it from Oasis and you are not to relinquish it to anyone except for an Admiral or anyone with the highest ONI clearance. If you are going to be captured you are ordered to destroy the information before the enemy can get their hands on it. You are also to destroy any and all prototypes which may have been created for Project Light Shield.
Objective Two: You are to secure Doctor Lang, the head scientist of Project Light Shield. Our intelligence informs us that the good doctor was in the facility when it was put into lockdown when the covenant landed on the surface. Given the fact that the facility is self-sustaining and it is well equipped with all of the needed supplies for a number of people to survive for over a year, it is a safe assumption that the doctor is still alive inside. You are to evacuate the Doctor and any of his staff who possesses knowledge of the project. If you are going to be captured, you are hereby ordered to execute the scientists. Do you understand the parameters of your mission Lieutenant?"
The new lieutenant sat there and took in the mission briefing he had just been given; it wasn't the first time he had been briefed by an AI. However, this was the first time that it had left him almost scared to acknowledge the parameters and consequences of his mission. He was also bothered by the AI's lack of emotion. He didn't speak to AI's regularly, so he just assumed that they were capable of emotion just like a human. Then he realized that it was a computer, not a human who had just delivered his orders and had delivered them with a smile as frightening as his orders. Orders for a mission he didn't want but was going to complete one way or another.
"I understand." The lieutenant replied with slight hesitation. Given the fact that this was undoubtedly a suicide mission and that he had just had his life and reputation threatened, not even a five star general could blame him.
"Very well, now that you have had the overview of your mission, I will now go into the particulars. There are an estimated one thousand covenant on this planet, and an estimated three hundred between you and your objective. Since I have now linked with the orbital satellites, I am going to be able to update you on enemy movements in wide open areas. This will give you a unique bird's eye view that may change this from a suicide mission to a semi-reasonable one. I have put a beacon on your map display to guide you to the El Dorado resort, when you reach that location you are to enter the basement of the main building through a service door which will lead you directly to the basement. When there, you will see an elevator which can hold a maximum of thirty people. Once you enter the elevator you will have to pry open the emergency release box, when you open the box you will then pull the lever and the voice of the instillation AI will ask for a clearance code. You will answer "For the Glory of Sparta" after which the elevator will take you down to a clean room with a sealed door, you are then to walk forward and open the door using the password "Hoplo" from that point you are then to obtain or destroy all that has been specified in the objectives. Once you leave the facility you will then make your way back to the location I will mark on your map EP. These are the parameters of your mission, do you have any questions?"
"Just a few Pandora. First what is Project Light Shield, second what is Project MJOLNIR V, and third why the hell don't we just nuke the damn planet from space if you want to destroy the Intel?" Sykes asked with anger in his voice and strain on his mind. He had trouble believing that all that had happened today had happened just to destroy some ONI piece of shit gadgets. Just the thought of Knight Company being sent in to be cannon fodder for the spokes made his blood boil.
"Your first two questions can't be answered due to the fact that you don't have the proper clearance, and as for your last question there are two answers. The first is because the facility is deep enough underground to survive such an attack and would only lead the covenant to believe that we have something to hide on this planet. The second answer being that the project has made great strides in just two short years, the likes of which will take several more years to regain what would be lost. However this is a more favorable result then allowing the Covenant to obtain this Intel and use it against us. Do you have any more questions?"
Sykes took in what he had just been told, realizing that he would have to send his men deep into enemy held territory in order to extract civilians and Intel which theoretically could change the direction of the war. Of course Pandora hadn't said that but to a jarhead like Sykes only something of that importance would warrant the use of an entire company of marines. At least that's what he hoped, or else the whole operation wouldn't be worth it.
"I understand Pandora, and I don't have any more questions. I will communicate with you when we are ready to leave the facility." Sykes said with a calming voice which was exactly the opposite of what he was feeling at that time.
"Very well Lieutenant, click your throat mic twice to contact me."
"Acknowledged." Sykes said as he got up out of the chair and the screen went dark as Pandora's image faded away. He was in another impossible situation but he had no other choice, this was the only way to save his company.
Sykes stepped out of the main control room and looked at the Master Sergeant, who was standing outside the door with a tablet in hand. The Sergeant quickly saluted the lieutenant and then handed him the tablet.
"These are the number of rounds that we have left between all of our men divided by weapon." The sergeant looked as though he was afraid of the reaction his commander might have, as he took one step back.
"Well according to your figures we only have about an average of a clip and a half per weapon. Not to mention we only have 3 rockets total for the launcher. Well there is no way around it, we are gonna have to use Covenant guns. Sergeant show me the covenant weapons inventory." The lieutenant said with a new found interest in the supply, which they had found by chance.
"Well sir we don't have the inventory on the pad but I can show you all of it." He said relaxed as he remembered the man to whom he was speaking wasn't some blue blood officer who had everything handed to them, he was speaking to a former NCO who would respect him as he saw him. As a marine.
"Very well then Sergeant lets go gun shopping." Sykes showed a slight smirk as he patted the sergeant on the shoulder and followed him into the next room.
"Well sir that's about it, we have a large number of Plasma Pistols, Plasma Rifles, Needlers, and Carbines. As well as a few Fuel Rods and a dozen of these Beam Rifles. What's the mission sir?" The sergeant asked.
Sykes paused for a moment considering what he was just asked and how he should answer. Pandora had warned him the penalty for divulging any Top Secret Intel to anyone without clearance, Punishable by Death. She was very clear about that specific fact. But this was Master Sergeant Billings, a man who he had worked with for some time and had been with him through this whole botched operation, he deserved an answer to his question and the lieutenant knew that the sergeant wouldn't be the only one to ask.
"It's an Extraction and Recovery Op." He responded crisply and quick. But other parts of the op were also bothering him; the problem was that he had a whole 171 marines, more than half a company and that number of men moving through Cortez wouldn't be able to help but be noticed. He had to come up with a thorough plan for extracting the doctor and his staff along with recovering the data on Project Light Shield and destroying any other forms of Prototypes or information on the project. He also had to decide how he was going to divide his men.
"Sergeant, I want you to get me all the men who have worked ODST even if they dropped out during boot. I want their service records, also anyone who has done any black ops or covert missions. Also I want all those who are trained snipers and artillerymen. I will be in the Communications room when you have completed the lists." Sykes had been inspired by an op that he was in when he was a helljumper, he had made this type of extraction before four years ago when his squad had been sent in to extract an ONI agent who was in over his head deep in Insurrectionist lines. This would be much easier than he originally thought and now he was beginning to be much more positive about his mission. Sykes continued his walk up the stairs to the main Communications Room, when he entered he took a seat at the main monitor and tapped his mic twice. Pandora immediately showed up on the screen looking slightly irritated.
"Can I help you Lieutenant?" She said with an annoyed voice.
"Yes Pandora, can you show me the sewer system mainly that which is located between my current location and that which is closest to the El Dorado?" As he said this the image immediately appeared on the screen showing the entrance as being less than a click from their current location and that it would take them right across the street from El Dorado. This was fortunate and would make it very easy for them to enter and escape if they did it right. "Thank you, now I would like to see all the surrounding buildings which are taller than five stories and are currently powered down." Five buildings blazed red showing that they were the ones he was asking for. "Good and can we verify that there aren't any covenant in any of those buildings?" He asked, hoping that she would automatically know the exact answer.
"I'm sorry Lieutenant but when the building is powered down I am unable to tell, however I highly doubt it due to the fact that the covenant requires large amounts of energy for multiple items and weapons in their possession. In the end I can't say for certain but I highly doubt it." She said, finally realizing that he wasn't just wasting her time he was devising an extraction plan with sniper cover which could increase the probability of the plan succeeding and keep as many of his men alive as possible. Pandora was beginning to like this new Lieutenant and the way he thought.
"Very well, and may I also see the closest sewer entrance to those buildings?" Five dots showed up on the screen; two were direct in building entry points where as the other three were placed at odd positions, and in order to effectively cover the area with snipers he needed at least three buildings covered. "Now can you please show me the amount of Covenant Traffic through these areas?" Several Purple lines showed up on the screen displaying all of the logged enemy movements throughout the area of the El Dorado Resort, the three choice buildings were where Sykes had gotten lucky.
According to the movement patterns they had only traveled by those buildings every Twenty Minutes or so, which was plenty of time for a sniper to get in and get set up. The resort however happened to be very close to a main Covenant Highway, this meant that in order to get into the resort he would have to consult his snipers to make sure that they were clear to move. He had been in worse positions but not many. Now he just had to hope for the best when it came to the experience of his marines. "Thank you Pandora, could you please upload this information to my tablet?"
"Of Course Lieutenant. Do you think that your plan will work?" She asked without her normal smirk.
"I can only hope so Pandora, otherwise I would have failed my Captain, the Admiral and all of the UNSC. And I'm not the type who likes to let people down." Sykes was solemn in his words and had this strange cool that had washed over him, like a Samurai about to go into battle. He was ready to complete his mission and go home.
There was a knock on the door and a voice that accompanied it. "Sir, its Sergeant Billings."
"Come on in Sergeant." Sykes said as he lifted his tablet and began going over his battle plan. " So what do we have?"
"Well sir, we have a total of twenty-seven marines with Black Ops, ODST, or covert mission experience." He said happy with what he had found.
"Now how many of these former ODST's saw action?" The lieutenant asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well sir out of the seven, only four saw live action. I checked their records; two were due to minor Claustrophobia which made it difficult for them to use the drop pods and the other was due to an injury. The rest are well trained former Black Ops. Who have been through at least five missions."
"Okay, and what did you find for Snipers?" Sykes said as he transferred the list from Billings' tablet onto his own.
"With snipers we are a little short we only have three left and two of them don't even have their rifles anymore."
"Okay we can give them Beam Rifles, those are the covenant equivalent. How many of our Marksmen are in the Black Ops crowd?" He asked having a spark of genius.
"Umm… Only two sir." The Sergeant replied positively.
"Okay bring me all the people on this list and we will play it from there."
"Yes sir." The sergeant said as he quickly took the information that had just been sent to his Tablet and rushed out of the room. Sykes sat in the chair putting it all together in his mind. Within three minutes the sergeant had all of the requested people in the room.
"At ease. I have called all of you here for one very good reason, we have an E&R mission to complete and all of you have the skills needed to help me complete it. However this is a dangerous mission and I won't lie. This is an extremely dangerous mission. From what I understand the course of this war can turn either for us or against us depending on how we do today. I can tell you, I won't let the Covenant win this fight, or this war. I plan on taking you into hell and leading you back again. Who's with me?" Upon hearing this all of them stepped forward showing their intent to follow their commander. "Well then I think we have a shot."
The Lieutenant stood there looking at his marines, the whole 171 who had survived the chaos up to this point. He was proud of them for the valor that they had displayed and how they had pulled together when presented with this FUBAR mission which they weren't allowed to know the true specifics of. He was proud to be a part of this group of men and women and as almost all of his family had died on Harvest, Sykes now found a family in the faces of everyone in his presence.
"I have been briefed on our mission which is classified beyond which I am even allowed to know all the details. I can however inform you all that this is going to be a borderline suicide mission, and that being said I will not commit all your bodies to this ground because of it. I have chosen an experienced team when it comes to these types of missions. Those people will be the teams that will help me carry out this mission. Those of you who will not be going on the mission will be commanded by Master Sergeant Billings, who will lead you to the designated Extraction Point, where you will secure the area until my team arrives with the package. In the event that we don't make it to the extraction point I am hereby ordering all of you to get yourselves the hell out of here. NCOs on me." The lieutenant knew that this speech was uncharacteristic for an officer but he wanted to inform his men of all that he could so that he didn't feel like he was hiding the truth from them. For too long he was their father figure who had set the goals and pushed them to achieve them, to keep the truth from them would be too much for most of them to handle.
The NCOs gathered around the now isolated Lieutenant, and stood silently awaiting their orders. "Staff Sergeant Cools, you will be attached to my infiltration squad as our designated scout. Master Gunnery Sergeant Marco, you will be in command of the sniper squad which will be spread out between three buildings that will provide appropriate coverage of the target area. Staff Sergeant Rhodes and Sergeant Graham you two will command the other two teams that the gunny doesn't. Master Sergeant, you are hereby ordered to take the rest of my company to the extraction point. If we don't show up there by this time tomorrow then you are to mark us all as MIA presumed dead, tap your radio twice and Pandora will send in evac. Well that's it boys, all I can say is good luck and stay alive." The Sergeant's didn't look as strong as they once had; even Ferris was showing disappointment that he wasn't chosen for the mission. The young punk had surprised the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant had expected that he would, if anything, want to get as far away from action as possible.
"Sir, I just wanted to say it's been an honor serving with you and I would like to thank you for all you've done for me and the company." Billings said this as though he was already being put in the grave. He only knew that this mission was important and very dangerous so he may have been jumping to conclusions but it wasn't a very far jump.
"Stand easy Sergeant, we're going to make it back, I promise you that. I just had to make all these decisions so that in the unlikely case that we don't return someone will know enough to get the rest of the men out of here." As Sykes said this the sergeants looked a bit more relaxed, it's true he had lied to them and he felt it was wrong. However he had to do it for those who were sitting the mission out for fear that they would try to come and help them.
"Well, gear up with whatever weapons you can get. I suggest that the sniper squad equip themselves with Beam Rifles or Carbines if they don't have any of our snipers, actually here, I guess you guys could use this more than I could." He unslung his beloved Sniper Rifle, the same rifle he had sported when he was an ODST or as his commander used to say "His first true love." He handed it to Marco and felt empty inside after his fingers released it. "As for my squad I suggest a multitude of different weapons but overall I suggest Needlers, Carbines, and Plasma Rifles. They have the desired firepower for this mission without being too bulky or heavy. And as for the rest, make sure they are well equipped and are able to properly secure the extraction zone. Well that's all I have to say so good luck gentlemen."
Cools snuck through the brush looking for any sign of the covenant. He held the awkwardly balanced Needler with one hand gripping the handle and another supporting its heavy front end. It was a devastating weapon, as it shot the pink needles into its enemy then seconds later exploded, dooming the enemy to a painful death. However, it was more awkward than he could believe given the way he had seen even grunts use them, perhaps it was just muscle memory that was getting to the sergeant. After all, human weapons did always have an angle to the design of the hand grips of their weapons, maybe the completely vertical handgrip on the Needler was the same for the covenant. Cools poked his head up slowly from the brush as he saw the entrance to the sewers. It wasn't guarded and seemed to be nearly untouched by the covenant except for a strange mark which had been drawn on the door. Cools tapped his mic three times fast, the symbol for all clear. Three minutes later the combined squads met him at the entrance.
"Well this could either mean all clear or home sweet home. Only one way to find out." The Lieutenant said as he hefted his Needler and opened the door. To his surprise there were at least twenty grunts in the main entrance room, all appeared to be asleep since they didn't attack when Sykes opened the door. At this point there were two options. The first, kill them and move on while giving away the fact that humans were in the sewers and undoubtedly planning an attack of some kind. The second, they sneak by them, and hopefully not alerting anyone to their presence. As much as he hated the little creatures that were responsible for so many of his friends deaths, the Lieutenant chose the latter as he flashed hand signals telling his men to move through slow and quiet. He watched as each man moved carefully around and over the creatures and through the threshold into the main sewer system. The Lieutenant waited by the doorway as all of his men walked by, when the last of them went by he carefully shut the door and sprayed an entire can of C-12 High Explosives on the door threshold and the circular wall around it. They didn't want to have to waste time moving quietly back through that area once their mission was complete, they would be moving as fast as possible and those grunts would only be something that would slow them down. The explosion would solve that problem Sykes thought as he stuck a detonator on the foam, he then knocked out the immediate lights so that his device couldn't be seen. He turned and began to walk after his men.
The squads continued following their path down the line until they came to a fork where they had to split up. The Gunny would take the left and separate his men evenly amongst the three buildings where he was to set up sniping posts and cover the Lieutenants entry into the El Dorado. The Lieutenant would lead his men straight where they would eventually find the manhole which was positioned in a very dark ally in the resort. They would then proceed to the elevator where the Lieutenant would evaluate and execute his top secret mission.
The plan was so simple, how could it not fail.
As they reached the manhole closest to the El Dorado resort, the whole squad went quiet as Lieutenant Sykes climbed up the ladder and pushed his optical tube through the small hole in the manhole. He found that their position was in a dark alley between two resort buildings. After thoroughly examining the area and making sure that he couldn't see any enemy contacts he quickly pulled back the tube and pushed the manhole cover clear as he rose two rungs up so that his head was out of the sewer. He quickly tapped his mic twice and waited. Less than a second later Pandora's voice came over the radio.
"Well done Lieutenant, you and the rest of your teams are in position for phase two." She said, almost surprised that they had made it as far as they had.
"Have my sniper teams set up their posts?" He asked ignoring the AI's compliment and getting back to the task at hand.
"Teams two and three are in position and the first is nearly in position, at the moment there are no enemy contacts within a mile of your position."
"Okay, well which way do we go to the main building?" He was surprised that the mission was going so smoothly; it wasn't that he didn't have confidence in his men. It was the fact that he had expected more resistance when entering Cortez.
"Move to your six, take a right at the path, then it should lead you right to the building. The door is on the opposite side of the building from your current position." Pandora was a strange AI in Sykes opinion, mainly because he hadn't expected a computer to act so much like a human. But maybe that was how all of them were. How would he know? He had spent all of his service life fighting in the trenches and before that working on a farm on Harvest. Saying his interaction with such things as Pandora was limited was an overstatement; in reality it was nearly nonexistent.
"Acknowledged." Sykes rose up out of the manhole quickly as his squad quickly followed behind. Sykes covered one way as Cools rose up out of the hole and covered the other. When the whole squad was out of the sewer Sykes taped his mic twice once more. "Pandora what's the status of Sniper Team One?"
"They just moved into position and are currently covering the last entry point. You are green to move on the target." She said this quickly and crisply in such a way that almost imitated excitement and anticipation. What a strange thing she was.
Sykes quickly gave the move signal and the whole squad began to jog after the lieutenant while Cools brought up the rear. They quickly ran through the maze of buildings and reached the main building. They ran around the building and found the door, which was strangely unlocked. Sykes quickly tapped his mic twice. "Entering main building at the basement level."
"Yes Lieutenant, I can see that." She said almost annoyed with Sykes following the protocols as he entered the building. It wasn't that she was annoyed with the protocols, it was that she was annoyed with the fact that she wanted to see what would happen next and this constant chatter was slowing down her entertaining Vid.
The lieutenant pushed the door open and peaked around the corner seeing a relatively empty room with some crates scattered all over the room. In the far back corner Sykes saw the elevator that would lead him to the underground facility where he alone would complete the mission that had claimed the lives of nearly half of Knight Company including all of the Officers. He had to complete the mission for them not for him.
"Sergeant you are to set up here and protect this room at all costs. I will be taking Corporal Singer, Specialist Hume, and Privates Stock and Rayne on the mission. Click the COM three times to contact the sniper teams. Well, hold down the fort, Staff Sergeant." Sykes quickly saluted and Cools mirrored it. Sykes turned and walked over to the elevator with his team in step behind him.
Sykes pushed the inactive button for down on the pad and was nearly surprised to see the doors open and the lights on in the elevator. He entered and his team did also all though they seemed to be cautious due to the fact that only their commander knew what they were walking into. Sykes could read it in the way that they moved and examined the elevator.
"What floor sir?" Singer asked ready to hit one of the keys on the rectangular keypad, which showed a symbol for every floor.
"Don't worry Corporal, I've got it." He opened the emergency release box and found the handle within it. He quickly pulled the lever back and released it; the lever swung back down quickly and made a loud metallic clink. Just then a man's voice came over the COM system. The voice was very guttural and seemed to be very old world almost European by what Sykes had learned from reenactment Vid's which he watched often when he was younger.
"Identification Code?" the voice said quickly.
"For the Glory of Sparta." Sykes replied quickly. The doors closed and the elevator began its decent into the secrete ONI Facility, once the elevator reached its stopping point the doors opened and an Archaic man was standing before the team. He was about six feet tall and was wearing a suite of leather armor with an orange plaid sash wrapped around him from his right shoulder to his left hip. On his back he had a long sword, which looked almost as vicious as he was with his red hair and green eyes. This was most certainly an AI.
"Identify yourselves!" The AI said looking straight at the group.
"Hoplo." The lieutenant replied quickly.
"I can tell that you are UNSC but just because you know the password doesn't mean that I am going to let you into the facility. Now identify yourself or else I will close the doors and pump the elevator with toxic gas." He replied coldly.
"I am Lieutenant William Sykes, acting commanding officer of Knight Company. I am here to extract Doctor Lang and his research on Project Light Shield." Sykes said doing his best to hold back what he knew of the top secret information while being shocked by the AI's swaying from protocol. Only two things could explain this. The first being that the AI had reached its life span of seven years and was no longer capable of its duties by ONI standards. The second being that someone had tampered with the AI and made it so that it was much harder to enter the facility.
"I am Geterix, The Artificial Intelligence of ONI's secret Oasis facility. You may enter the facility Lieutenant; however, your team must remain here." The AI seemed to lighten up and let down his guard.
"Very well Geterix, please take me into the facility. I have a large amount of work to do and not a lot of time to do it." Sykes was easier now that the AI recognized him as an officer. "Singer you're in charge till I get back, don't try to come in and don't return to the basement level. I will be out as soon as everything is secure and ready for extraction."
"Yes sir." The woman quickly went about setting the men up in defensive position. Although the covenant finding this facility just when they had entered was unlikely it was still possible and the Corporal was the cautious type.
Sykes walked up to the large blast door, which was stainless steel and reminded him of a safe door with all its locking mechanisms. The door opened quickly and Geterix lead the Lieutenant through the threshold and into the facility. His job was almost done, now the hard part would begin.
Geterix quickly lead the Lieutenant down the hall and into a large room with a large number of doors. The Lieutenant looked around, marveling at the size of this facility. He had assumed that the entire facility was smaller than just this twenty story tall room.
"Geterix. How large is this facility?" The lieutenant asked out of anxious curiosity.
"At the maximum height, twenty-seven stories tall, and the width is 2/3 the size of Cortez. The facility was originally made as a secret base where we could control the war on the insurrectionists. However, after Harvest it was quickly transformed into a facility with many purposes, among these purposes was the ONI's Research and Development department. The once small facility was expanded drastically and the building of Cortez was used as a cover for the construction of the facility."
"I'm surprised that you told me so much about this secret facility." The Lieutenant said questioning if the AI had gone rampant or not.
"Dr. Lang has modified my code in a way to which I anticipate the next question and answer it. We have found that it saves time when working on technology development, and it would seem that it works well when dealing with conversation as well."
It was extremely strange that this Doctor had taken it upon himself to modify the AI. Sykes wasn't an ONI spook and wasn't even permitted to know the rules and regulations of their department but he figured he could safely assume that these "modifications" were done without the permission of the higher ups. This told him something very important about Dr. Lang, he was a scientist who most likely did what he wanted and didn't care if he was punished for it, if he even thought he would be punished. This would be dangerous, he would have to try and extract a scientist who might fight him tooth and nail all the way to the drop ship. Sure it was assumptions he was making without even setting eyes on the good doctor, but in his experience you should always hope for the best but prepare for the worst. And that was what the Lieutenant did best. "Where is the Doctor?" Sykes asked wondering how much of a walk he had ahead of him.
"The doctor is in lab Z-09, we will arrive there momentarily. And yes he is aware of your presence and the presence of the squad that tried to get in here two days ago."
Sykes stopped in his tracks. "What Squad?" He asked with command in his voice and worry on his mind.
The AI held up its right hand and a monitor appeared in front of its hand. On it, twelve ODST's crept through the streets. As they were sneaking down the vacant street the man on lead fell to the ground as the ripple of a Beam Rifle ripped through the air. The rest of the squad raised their weapons and began opening up with suppression fire as they proceeded to run down the street at full stride. The camera angle changed to display them getting cut off by a Wraith Tank, which quickly used its main weapon to kill the rest of the men who were trapped in the confines of the street that was blocked on both sides by buildings. Sykes couldn't believe what he was seeing as he watched his fellow Helljumpers collapse and die before him. He formed a tight fist in both hands and looked up at the AI. "What ship did they drop from?" He asked hoping he wouldn't here the only answer that was possible given the time stamp on the footage.
"The Orbital Drop Shock Troops who died in this footage were dropped from the UNSC Carrier Olympia two days ago in what I can assume they believed was a vacant part of the city."
The Lieutenant squashed his anger and questions that ran through his mind, he had to get to the doctor, destroy all prototypes, and evac the good doctor and what was left of Knight Company. He quickly calmed his nerves, how he had learned to do after watching many of his friends die in battle, his fists loosened and his eyes cleared as he looked up at the AI. "Thank you Geterix, that information was most enlightening and helpful. Now could you please take me to Doctor Lang." This little event had answered one very good question that Sykes had been rolling around in his head the whole time. Why regular Marines? This type of mission was the sort that the ODST's were made for, so why make them sit the bench while an entire company was launched into enemy occupied territory? Now he knew the answer, Knight Company was plan B. But this would all have its own time and place, now he had a mission to complete, then he would worry about the massacre that had occurred when he was back aboard the Olympia.
Geterix walked up to a door that said Z-09 on it, as the lieutenant walked up to the door it quickly opened, showing a man and woman working on tablets while randomly looking up at an object which was sitting in the middle of the large table between them.
"Dr. Lang?" Sykes said, now uncertain if he was in the right room due to the presence of more than one person. His confusion was made even worse when both people looked up at him at the same time. The man stood up and quickly walked over to Sykes and put out his hand.
"You must be Lieutenant Sykes, I am Dr. Fredrick Lang and that is my niece and lab assistant Dr. Natalie Lang. Please, do excuse the appearance, we are actually ready for extraction but after our hopes were let down the other day we thought it best to make the best of the time that we had left in the facility to perfect the fruits of our research and hard work." As the doctor said this, Sykes reluctantly gripped the man's hand and shook it, he tipped his helmet when the woman looked at him even though he knew that the last thing they had time for was pleasantries.
"Well doctors, show me your prototypes and we will set the self-destruct and bug out." Sykes said trying to rush the situation along.
"Oh no Lieutenant, Natalie and I will be wearing our Prototypes. They are just battle suits and they will help protect us from the enemy as we escape." The doctor said this almost cheerfully which didn't sit right with Sykes. This man was ONI and he knew damn well that in such a situation all materials were to be destroyed.
"Sir I have my orders from Admiral Weatherbee, and I was told to destroy the prototypes myself to ensure that they wouldn't fall into covenant hands."
"Yes Lieutenant, I am well aware of your orders for it is standard operating procedure; however, it is also your orders to evacuate me and terminate me if all else fails. This armor will help protect me from enemy fire so that you don't have to worry about my safety. Besides even if they do manage to kill us the suits have an automated self-destruct, which will cause the suit to explode with equivalent of twelve cans of C-12 high explosive. Now do we understand each other?" The doctor asked this just as Sykes had predicted he would. The forty-something man acted as though he was in command and that Sykes was his subordinate. It didn't sit well with him, but at this point getting out of there was more important, but not till he had some insurance.
"Very well doctor I will allow it. Now tell me can you find a way to save Geterix?"
"Well yes all I have to do is put him on a disc and we can bring him with us. Have you grown attached to my AI?" The doctor asked comically.
"No doctor, I need Geterix's knowledge and nothing more. Now begin to wipe the research from the main computer and get suited up. We're getting out of here. In the meantime Geterix can you get me an uplink to my ground forces?"
"I can; however, a portion of them are currently involved in a firefight." The AI reported without any signs of remorse.
"Then get me an uplink to them now." Sykes taped his mic as Geterix nodded to him telling him the uplink had been secured. "This is Sykes, what is your status?"
"Sir this is Marco. We are under attack out here by a number of enemies. Hurry sir. We can see from a ways off they are bringing in a wraith."
Sykes hands begun to shake as he remembered seeing what had happened to the ODST squad that was hit by the Wraith. "Hold on Gunny, I'm on my way."
"Lieutenant." Natalie said as she walked up to him. "Come with me, I have something that may help."