Prologue

"Ms Natalie Marquett the…" her would-be interrogating ONI Officer double checked his penciled in notes. The notes, in a modern age where any and all things could easily be handled via data slate, his notes were clearly a primitive form of intimidation, a pathetic attempt to put her on edge with the unfamiliar. Needless to say, his efforts were failing miserably, "Ah yes, the one and only child of Corporate Mogul Samuel Marquett. I believe you know why the UNSC has returned to Minister?"

"I suspect that there are numerous causes for your actions, most logical among them being the reabsorbtion of Minister back into the UNSC following the war?" she smirked, her pink lips wolfishly twisting into a humored line across a beautifully angled face complimented with sharp deep aquatic blue eyes and long blond hair.

"Of course… the UNSC looks forward to a continued…"

She interrupted his political bullshit, "Or perhaps you are interested in the sudden rampant industrialization of Ministers economy, and the new orbital shipyards that were not present when you first turned your back on us?"

The ONI officer clenched his jaw muscles shut with poorly consoled anger. When the UNSC made the, in hindsight, poor tactical decision to pull 'everything' back for a last stand at Earth against the Prophet Regret and later Prophet Truth… most of the Inner Colonies were left totally defenseless. However, since the numerous UNSC holdings had somehow managed to survive the military conflict despite their abandonment, the problem of reintegrating them back into the original political fold had proven… difficult. The Colony of Minister, was one such example.

When the UNSC had first pulled out of this star system and made a bee-line straight for Earth, they yanked everything, all the weapons, ammunition, warships, and whatever troops they could possibly get their hands on. After all, Minister was originally a tourist hub with little to no strategic value, but oh how things had changed without the UNSC keeping tabs. In the three years since the initial abandonment the colony had revolted its original Republic in favor of a strict Authoritarian Regime under the Marquett families consolidated power. What had once been a luxurious tourist hub had since rapidly industrialized. Not only were there now six orbital elevators constantly ferrying freight into and out of orbit, but now… Minister had something that it shouldn't posses at all… an orbital shipyard with another orbital shipyard almost fully constructed.

Just thinking about the possibility of Minister militarizing made the ONI officer stiffen, Mars held most of the naval production facilities for a reason, so that the Inner and Outer Colonies couldn't manufacture warships of their own and attempt succession. But oh how things had changed because Minister now had its own navy… only two cruisers, but those cruisers set a bad precedent.

The ONI officer pretended to shuffle his papers on the interrogation table and cleared his throat, despite the hate in his eyes remaining hardened and dagger like towards the foul witch before him. She was in control, holding all the cards, and she knew it. If the UNSC tried invading Minister, deposing its current government as it was, then every other colony currently on the fence would turn its back on Earth. Logistically, the UNSC and ONI didn't have the numbers capable of sitting on all the remaining colonies… despite the launch of the 'UNSC Infiniti' they were still militarily numerically weak from the initial conflict with the Covenant and it would take decades to amass the necessary ships to forcefully reintegrate every backwards colony back into the fold.

"Ms Marquett," he smiled, "The UNSC only seeks to re-obtain some modicum of diplomatic contact with Minister. Reintegration back into the Human Fold… is something we think will take a significant amount of time. After all, Earth does approve of the colonies exercising certain freedoms… assuming they maintain a certain degree of, how should we say, inhibition."

She laughed, first a chuckle, and then out loud, and finally a full eruption of loud gasping laughter, which took the interrogator aback. "That…" she calmed herself, red cheeked, regaining her physical decorum, "Oh… thanks, I needed that."

The Interrogator coughed discreetly into his fisted palm, "With all due respect Ms Marquett, this is a serious matter… and I would appreciate it if you would…"

She interrupted him again, "987."

"I beg your pardon?" he replied with a raised eyebrow.

She leaned in closely and smiled wickedly once again, her long blond hair falling before her face and those two brilliant blue eyes, "987. When I was little, a child, I was diagnosed with fourteen physically debilitating diseases… all at once. This occurred, after… a brief moment where I was abducted on my way home from school. My parents, the wealthy Marquett family… didn't know what was wrong… but they did have the money to find out for themselves."

The ONI officer felt the collar around his throat tighten like a noose. This was the second reason why Ms Marquett secretly terrified him. She was an exception to the rule, someone who shouldn't even exist… a lingering mistake from that bitch Catherine Halsey.

"987, the amount of surgeries and gene augmentations I went through," she leaned back in repose, her long legs still crossed as she grinned, "In all fairness, they could have stopped at 823, but you know why they didn't… my parents that is?"

"No," he replied, beads of sweat running down his forehead.

She looked at him with focused hate and continued to grin, "Because they knew."

The ONI Interrogator felt his heart racing. They knew? The Marquett family, wealthy, wealthy enough to make damn sure that their sick flash cloned daughter could survive Catherine Halsey taking a baseball bat to her genes… they knew. And now, their daughter, no, their abomination was the dictator of Minister… a colony that hated the UNSC for turning its back on them. This was divine retribution for sin stacked upon sin stacked upon sin… and a lot of it was one persons fault, Catherine Halsey.

"Oh yes. They knew… that I wasn't their real daughter when they started sorting through my corrupted DNA because you see… wealth has its own unique rewards… including a DNA sample from the real Natalie Marquett, stored away… kept nice and safe, just in case some sort of bizarre off-world virus got at their darling little daughter. When they compared our two DNAs… they noticed, how should we say, errors, alterations made to key chromosomes meant to accelerate cellular decay. These alterations were grown into me from conception, thus… they knew…"

She gave a slight laugh and continued, "So that begged the question… where was the real Natalie Marquett, and what should they do with his lump of worthless pretender flesh?"

"The first question could not be answered as easily as the second. While my…" she hesitated to use the word, "Parents, looked for any clues as to the location of their real daughter… I was put to good use."

She looked at him with stern hatred, "After they finished saving my life they made damn sure I had every tool at my disposal necessary to get their revenge. Countless genetic modifications meant to enhance speed, endurance, and cellular regeneration… THE BEST private tutors for hand-to-hand combat. They made me what I am… because… sooner or later they heard about 'The Spartans.'"

"Tell me," she said smugly, "A group of Super-human soldiers randomly appear to fight an alien menace, and you never thought that a group of intelligent citizens with vast wealth, who knew that their daughter was a fake, that they would not be able to connect the dots? Oh… but they did."

"I have no clue what you are insinuating…" laughed and dismissed the ONI officer with a wave of the hand.

"So tell me," half grinned Ms. Natalie Marquett, "Is the real me still alive, or did you finally kill her just like you tried to kill me? Or, are you still cowering behind that nonsense that Spartans never die?"

"That's it! This conversation is over!" And on that note the ONI officer tried to storm off, but… she wasn't quite done. The man froze, like an immovable statue, gritting his teeth as his body refused to move. Slowly, Ms Natalie Marquett stood from here chair, neatly pulled down her black blazer while making sure her cufflinks were properly placed with her neatly pressed business suit, and walked in front of the trapped ONI-man. His dark green eyes were frantic with freight as she slid right in front of his face just inches away.

"You know what's funny about that woman Catherine Halsey, oh, and don't be surprised that I know her name… I have had lots of time to unravel this mess?" He couldn't move, couldn't respond to her question… even if he wanted to. In fact, all the ONI-man wanted to do was scream for help as Ms Marquett continued her rambling.

"That woman, she held back… oh yes, didn't you know? She could have pushed the Spartans much further, but that ethical weakness of her's just wouldn't break. But my…" she laughed, "Parents, well… let's just say that revenge can be a great motivator, and I agreed to everything."

She came even closer to his face so that her eyes were mere centimeters away from his own, "I'm stronger, faster, smarter, and all around superior to any Spartan that you have ever created because I agreed to everything. Every enhancement, no matter how dangerous, and despite it all… I lived when I should have died so many times before. And you know why?"

He felt his heart race… she was toying with him, and he still couldn't move. What had she done to him?

"It's because no matter what I do, I will forever be the fake. But, being a fake has its advantages. A fake is expendable, a fake," she laughed, "despite its obvious deficiencies has a lot more to live for, because… as a fake… if I become strong enough… I can surpass the original."

The ONI officer watched her dark deep blue eyes suddenly shift into an ominous green color, just like his own, in fact… those were his eyes. Her lips, face, hair, skin… she became him, shape-shifting… How was that even possible?

"Now how," she spoke, "did that," her voice was modulating," pompous voice, "almost perfect, "Go," she sounded just like him, standing before him with a wicked smile upon her face.

"In addition to being physically superior I have other far more beneficial talents, but do not worry… you won't be around to see me use them against the UNSC."

And on that note she undid her tie, wrapped it around his neck and started to squeeze while he stood immobile until his lips turned blue and he perished from oxygen starvation. The ONI-man went slack, after-all; she couldn't stop the neural kinetics of a dead man.

"Such a waste," she chuckled, as she started to strip his body and change into his clothes.

A few minutes later, Ms Natalie Marquett stepped out of the interrogation room and while speaking as the ONI Officer said, "Give her a few hours. I want her to stew…" The two UNSC guards both gave brisk salutes as she, pretending to be him, walked off and disappeared from the supposedly secure dark site where she was being illegally detained on a business summons to Indigo Seven.