The ONI Way

Chapter 1

Alistair sat gloomily in the back of the truck headed into enemy territory, flicking his surgically implanted hidden blade in and out of his wrist, the smooth metal barely making a sound as it slid across his bare skin. The truck rumbled its way down a frozen glacial path that lead to a coastal base situated at the southernmost landmass on a desolate Arcadia. The planet, due to its low population and previous Covenant attacks, made a fine site for an inconspicuous base of operations; no-one asked questions and few knew of its existence. Alistair pulled his hood deeper over his head and pulled up his face mask, which concealed most of his features, including the prominent scar on his left cheek. After a few more bumps, the truck came to a checkpoint. Alistair instinctively checked his silenced M6C magnum pistol at his side; it was still there. Alistair heard boots crunching against light snow outside and the muffled conversation of the guards with the driver. Alistair pulled the large crate lid over him and hid beneath the shipment of food and supplies, which he'd spiked with a powerful yet untraceable poison. The guards came around the back of the truck, climbed in and began to open some of the boxes closest to them, not particularly expecting any intruders in the first place, and as such, not looking as carefully as their detailed security manuals instructed. After about forty seconds, they retreated back outside and the truck and its deadly cargo continued to its final destination.

"Sir, here's the inventory from the latest shipment, they'll be he in thirty seconds." said the young marine as she walked up to her superior officer with a datapad containing the aforementioned inventory report. The officer took the pad and looked over the inventory.

"It looks like we didn't get as many parkas as we wanted, but still enough. Alright, unload it into the storage bays."

Alistair watched as the crates were loaded into the storage area form a vantage point out of sight. He breathed a sigh of relief and it condensed in front of his face. He shuffled back onto the roof and headed to the main complex.

"Hey, have you seen Coulson?"

"No, why?"

"It's supposed to be his shift now, and he's never late for his shift. I wonder where he is."

"Maybe he ran off because you smell."

"Wow, real mature Jenkins. Maybe he doesn't like that noise you make."

"Oh yeah? What noise?"

"That constant sound of you being an idiot. Come on, let's go find him."

The two guards split up to search for the missing guard. As one went to the door of the bathroom, Alistair twitched a muscle in his arm and a mechanical blade responded to the motion and flicked out of his arm. Out of the view of the other guard, Alistair slid out from behind the door, slashed the guard across the throat, cutting it open and sending a spray of blood into Alistair's waiting hand which clamped down hard, causing minimal spray. The man was silently dead in seconds. Alistair grabbed his body and dumped it into the toilet stall. Cleaning his hands, he picked up his access card and went to the door, swiping it, he entered the laboratory. There was no-one there, all the personnel having turned in for the long, cold night. Alistair closed the door behind him and quickly went around the lab, searching for an access port. He dashed into the adjoining room and continued searching, finally finding a database access terminal. He withdrew a special data chip and slotted it into the port. Onscreen, digital information flashed faster than Alistair's eyes could keep up.

"Come on, come on," as Alistair urged the download to hurry up, he heard guards shouting and heading down the catwalk towards the lab. Finally, the download finished, the information removed from the database and sent to an orbiting ship, awaiting his signal for extraction.

As Alistair turned to erase the logs, the door was opened and three guards rushed in, brandishing MA5B assault rifles. Instantly realising his situation, Alistair leapt into action; literally. He vaulted over the table between him and the guards, covering the distance before the guards had even tuned around. Alistair triggered both of his blades fully, each almost a foot long, and plunged them into the first guard, puncturing both his lungs. The man dropped, gasping for air as blood slowly filled his collapsing lungs. The other two guards had finally brought their rifles around and attempted to fire at Alistair who grabbed the wrist of the closet guard and twisted him around in front of Alistair just as his fellow guard fired several rounds into him. Alistair tossed the dead guard aside and strode towards the remaining one, who swung his elbow at Alistair in an attempt to knock him unconscious. Alistair easily ducked the clumsy blow and thrust his palm up into the man's jaw, stunning him, then spun around behind and pulled hard on his head and turned. The man's neck snapped. As Alistair looked up at the doorway, another person blocked his path: a woman in military dress, also his secondary target. She was holding a gun at his head at point-blank range, there was no way he could get out of the way in time, but he'd be damned if he didn't try. Alistair tried to roll to the side and out of the way, but the woman's reflexes were somehow quicker than his and she fired, the shot hitting its mark. Alistair fell to the floor.

Alistair woke to a bucket of freezing cold water splashing across his body, the sudden change in temperature shocking him awake. As he sputtered and tried to open his eyes, he realised that there was a bag over his head and that he was tied up, unable to even trigger his blades. A voice spoke to him.

"So, the Insurrectionists are using Assassins now, are they? Or is it the other way around?"

It was the voice of a woman, maybe his secondary target, but there was no way to be sure under the circumstances. Alistair said nothing.

"Giving me the silent treatment won't help you here, Assassin. I know what you are here for. I know you sent the research already, but you didn't clear the logs; we can still track the transmission. We will find your friends."

Alistair remained stubbornly silent

"We also found the poison you laced our supplies with. Clever, but nowhere near good enough."

Alistair heard footsteps getting closer, and the voice suddenly felt a lot closer

"You know just as well as I do what the Covenant is doing to humanity, and I think my people have a better chance of winning than yours. And even if we win, who do you think is going to have more resources available to them, hmm? Face it, the Templars hold all the cards, and ONI is our ace. If you tell us everything, I might just let you live, and then you might just live to see the end of this war. So which is it? Will you betray your brothers to save your race, or betray humanity to save your brothers?"