Author Note: Please note that while I've played a lot of Halo, I've never played Doom before, something I hope to correct sometime in the near future. If I make any grievous mistakes, feel free to point them out! Please review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, Doom, or any copyrighted stuff in here. I do own any original characters, and this uber fantastic piece of fanfiction.
1314 Hours, February 20, 2560 (Military Calendar)\Delta Pavonis System, Vermögen, Beta Labs
Spartan-D095 Justin stared at the lifeless grey surface of the moon Vermögen through the reinforced glass of the Beta Lab observation lounge. Not that there was anything to see of course, there was nothing on this rock orbiting the UNSC research colony of Caladan, besides the facility named "Beta Labs". Justin was off duty, waiting for his next shift. There was nothing to do since the young Spartan had already gone through the meager entertainment library the facility had to offer, and besides exercise, which only filled up so much time in the day the only thing left was to stare out a window. For what seemed like the thousandth time, Justin cursed at being assigned to "protect" this facility. He understood that the research being done here could give the UNSC a huge advantage in the battlefield, but why did it have to be his team? Despite the end Human-Covenant war, there were still some Covenant forces at large. These were mainly Brutes, and any Prophets still alive, and they had constantly attacked human ships traveling between systems, impeding re-colonization efforts. They still believed in the "Great Journey", a path to salvation; actually a species ending super weapon, and caused trouble to no end. Fighting them was the reason Justin had became a Spartan super soldier, training since he was six years old to become one of humanity's protectors, not to baby sit some scientists.
Speaking of scientists, Justin heard there was going to be another test today, with new calculations that everyone believed was the correct set. In the five months Justin had been posted here, the scientists had run hundreds of the same test, each with a different set of calculations, to no avail. Why would they think this time would be different? He had pretty much gotten used to the whole process now.
Yellow lights started flashing throughout the facility, indicating the start of a test. Justin sighed, and left the lounge in search of the other off duty members of his team.
Dr. Jeremy Moses looked over the test chamber from the operations room, looking past the two dozen or so scurrying lesser scientists finishing calibrations on the teleportation device. His 2nd in command, Dr. Malcolm Kent however, was looking over a history of the project on a screen.
UNSC Science Division Archives
Dr. Jeremy Moses PhD, ScD, QEnD May 1, 2555
During the successful rescue of the last remaining Spartan-II's and the Spartan-III's as well as Dr. Halsey and CPO Mendez from the slipspace bubble at what remains of Onyx on June 26, 2553 (See attached file) the recovery team also brought back a map of coordinates on locations throughout the galaxy. The only coordinate we discerned from the map lead us to Mars, specifically to previously unknown underground ruins identified as Forerunner. (See attached file) Our dig team unearthed details on a transportation device by teleportation, similar to the slipspace transport technology the Forerunners are known for. On January 4th of 2555, the Vermögen Research Lab began construction, on the 2nd moon of the colony of Caladan. We will unlock the secret to teleportation and gain a technology as important as the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine is. I am proud to be the head scientist of this project.
Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey MD, PhD, Civilian Consultant 409871 December 24, 2555
While everyone's preparing to celebrate that ancient holiday I barely recall, full of joy and thanks to a "fruitful" year of research, I have continued translating the Forerunner text from the ruins under New Mars City. There is a wealth of information down there, so much that I may not be able to translate it all within my lifetime, perhaps two lifetimes. However, one important detail that I've come across repeatedly is that the Forerunner inhabitants of Mars experienced a cataclysmic event of some sort. My request for additional funding has surprisingly been denied, it seems the conflict with the remaining Covenant elements is worse than what we're being told.
Malcolm recognized the next entry as his from years ago.
Dr. Malcolm Kent MD, PhD, ScD August 30, 2557
After two years of frustrating tests that led to nowhere, we have found out that we've been going about this the wrong way. It seems that the Forerunner ruins on Mars were from a much earlier Forerunner era, the earliest we've seen. The teleportation device they used then was much simpler, albeit using a dimension we have no data on instead of slipspace. No wonder the math seemed off, as if the device was meant for a "lower" dimension. With this breakthrough, we've redoubled our efforts to build a working device.
Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey MD, PhD, Civilian Consultant 409871 March 11 2559
I've finally made a breakthrough using data from the newly discovered section of the ruins. It's been difficult with only a skeleton staff of 18, and progress has been slow. Despite that, I've found some surprising and foreboding information. It appears that Mars was once a prosperous scientific research colony for the Forerunners, home to several billion if I'm reading this text correctly. There was some sort of catastrophic occurrence related to the development of a teleportation device, which led to the destruction of the colony and the loss of an untold amount of the population. I've informed the researchers at the Vermögen facility of my discoveries, and while they found it "interesting", they brushed it off. It seems there is something terribly wrong with the teleportation technology, and I intend to find out what. (See attached files for complete translations of the hidden chamber in Mars Forerunner Ruins #3)
That was the last of the entries. Contrary to what the venerable Dr. Halsey believed though, they had not brushed off her discoveries. The UNSC decided to take no chances in dealing with such complex technology. To this end, they stationed a small army in the research facility; among them a team of Delta Company Spartan-IIIs from last year's graduating class. In addition, a garrison base was hastily constructed on the only other moon orbiting Caladan, Wohlstand. With so much protection, Malcolm felt that they had covered all the angles and possible worse case scenarios.
On the chamber floor, a dozen UNSC marines as well as a pair of Spartan-III's in hulking MJOLNIR Mk. VI [B] Powered Assault Armor stood ready to take care of any possible problem…just like they had done hundreds of times in the last five months. It got so routine that they even hoped something, no matter how small would happen to make this day memorable.
At 13 years old, and 7ft 3in, Spartan-D030 Kevin was one of the tallest Spartans, no small feat. Complimenting him was the 11 year old Spartan-D293 Hilary, one of the smallest Spartans, at 5ft 5in. The pair stared at the Scientists working around a large gateway like device, going through the exact same motions they had done numerous times beforehand. Somehow, the scientists seemed excited, despite this being one of nearly a thousand tests done.
The facility's resident Smart A.I. "Tyche" started counting down to the activation of the device.
"10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…Mark!"
Bolts of electricity shot between the two "prongs" of the 15 ft high teleportation device, as energy gathered there. At this point, the most that could be expected would be a small explosion, or if they were unlucky, nothing at all. But for the first time ever, a grey portal-like opening was generated, as tall as the prongs themselves. Everyone in the room looked at it in shock. There was silence was a full ten seconds before wild cheers erupted.
In the operations room, the celebration was no less enthusiastic. To Malcolm's surprise, the normally silent Dr. Moses was shouting in jubilation. A tech was reading the data being generated, and Malcolm had to strain to hear him speak despite being so close to him.
"The wormhole is stable, and the destination wormhole has been confirmed, handshake signal has been successfully sent through. We've done it!" cried the tech.
The celebrations would have gone on longer if the AI Tyche hadn't interrupted.
"Power levels are fluctuating, scans show contacts inside the wormhole."
The testing chamber became a flurry of activity as the celebrations died down. Scientists pored over the data generated and found that several contacts had indeed appeared on scans. Techs checked the equipment for any problems, and the operations room once again hushed into silence as the head scientist and his 2nd in command observed the scene. Tyche interrupted again.
"Multiple contacts approaching the wormhole access point at high speed, I strongly suggest turning the thing off for now."
Dr. Kent nodded to a tech awaiting confirmation.
"Do it."
The tech rapidly tapped in some commands, frowned, and then tapped them in again. The man turned back to Malcolm, nervousness evident on his face, and said.
"Sir, we've cut power to the device, but the wormhole's being maintained somehow, I don't know how."
Tyche interjected, "I believe that it is highly likely that whoever is on the other side is powering the wormhole, we should take precautions, as I'm reading dozens of contacts on the other side that'll be crossing any minute now."
Dr. Moses frowned deeply. "Inform command of the situation, and that we're going on red alert."
The base security head came forward from the back of the operations room, and spoke into a headset mic.
"Red alert, Red alert, this is not a drill, the test has hit a snag, and we have possible unknown hostiles vectors incoming, check your fire, but be ready, go!"
"Thank you Lieutenant Alberto, let's observe the situation…" replied Dr. Moses.
The scientists on the chamber floor backed away from the device as the twelve marines and two Spartans took up firing positions behind what little cover there was. Kevin took the safety off his MA5D assault rifle, and checked to see he had a full magazine of 64 rounds. Hilary hefted a M90 mk. III shotgun loaded with a dozen 8 gauge shells. They stood anxiously, waiting to see if what came through was hostile or not.
What came next was the biggest shock anyone had ever seen. Flying ghostly skulls poured out of the portal. Several marines opened fire out of shock, but the rounds merely passed through the skulls. Several of them went into pieces of equipment, but in particular, some went into marines and scientists. The effects were instantaneous, their skin turned stark white, regardless of previous skin pigmentation, and more horrifyingly, eyeballs exploded in a mist of blood and sclera. The turned marines immediately fired whatever weapon they were holding at their former comrades, and in one case, resorted to biting a marine. Cries of pain and shock came from various soldiers, and some returned fire. A sergeant tried to take control of the situation while removing a zombified marine from grappling a stunned private.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" He shouted, right before getting knocked down by a stray bullet. Fortunately, his ballistic armor stopped the shot.
"Sir, they're like zombies! They're biting for Christ's sake!" replied a marine busy spraying rounds at said zombies.
Screams from behind the disorganized line of marines drew their attention to a bloodbath. Half of the scientists that had taken cover were now zombies, controlled by demonic spirits, and were tearing apart the ones that escaped possession. The two Spartans put down the possessed scientists with pinpoint shots to their heads, the well known crucial way of taking down zombies.
Up in the operations room, a different battle was taking place. At the sight of the possessed humans, Dr. Moses had ran off, leaving Malcolm to cower behind the security chief, as the burly man fended off the half dozen techs turned zombies. Lt. Alberto calmly shot each zombie in the head, or as calmly as someone who was going through a sudden apocalypse could. All Dr. Kent could think was,
"My God, Halsey was right! We've unleashed a nightmare!"
Lt. Alberto reloaded his M6P PDWS Magnum sidearm, and turned to Dr. Kent
"Are you alright Doctor? I can't believe what's going on; it's almost like the Flood again."
Dr. Kent tried to calm his rapidly beating heart and think about what to do. What sounded like a raging firefight on the chamber floor wasn't helping his nerves one bit. After a moment of collecting himself, however, he managed to come up with a plan.
"Tyche, tell command what's happening immediately, and have the rest of the marines get here ASAP, we need to find some way to close that portal."
Justin linked up with the rest of his off duty teammates. There was Spartan-D133, Virgil, their CQC expert, handy with the M45 Tactical shotgun, and a M7 caseless submachine gun with a Misriah Armory Multi-purpose aiming reflex sight attached. The team scout, Spartan-171 Shiho stood next to Virgil, hands on her hips, her usual standing pose. Their explosives expert Spartan-D210 Christina came a second after Justin arrived.
"What's the situation?" Shiho asked.
"Looks like hostiles have come through the wormhole, some kind of flying ghost skull that turns people into zombies according to Tyche. Our guys are getting hit hard in the testing chamber, and we're going in to reinforce them." The team leader, Justin, explained.
Virgil shook his head, "Zombies? Flying skulls? This is unreal; I never saw this coming from a milk run of an assignment."
Christina's posture expressed worry. "Kevin and Hilary are on duty right now, in there fighting, we should hurry, this feels sort of like the flood." She said.
During their training, the Spartan III's had received the best training available to prepare them for the possibility of facing the world consuming parasitic race known as the Flood. This enemy was the most serious humanity, and the galaxy as a whole had ever seen. Now, they were facing an enemy that was as terrifying and potentially threatening as well.
The four MJOLNIR clad super soldiers headed off toward the testing chamber. Not a minute had passed before the facilities' smart AI made another announcement, another bit of bad news.
"Warning, facility scanners have detected numerous energy spikes on every level, and every section, possible threat eminent."
A large orange circle with incomprehensible script in it suddenly appeared in the middle of the corridor, with an identical circle on the ceiling. A dozen ghostly skulls appeared, and flew into nearby com stations. Justin's com frequencies erupted with radio chatter from the various marine units in the facility.
"What the hell! Gonzales, heads up! Nguyen, watch your six!"
"What are these things!"
"Friendly fire, friendly fire!"
"Did his eyes just explode!"
"Open fire! They aren't human anymore!"
More requests for help, orders, and more incoherent voices filled the Spartan's radio, until he turned down the volume on that frequency. Things had turned from bad to worse. It seemed these things could appear anywhere now, unrestricted.
Tyche, his avatar appearing as a figure in flowing robes popped in on the holo projector. However, his avatar flickered, and disappeared, getting replaced by what looked like a bright orange pentagram. Other screens filled with weird, bright orange symbols, and some even turned a disturbing bloody crimson. His voice still came on over the speakers.
"Those skulls are somehow affecting the electronic equipment, corrupting the net pathways in the facility. I've lost control to several com stations and screens. More portals have appeared across the entirety of the facility, depositing more of these skulls. The marine forces are being besieged, their own allies being turned against them. I've already lost contact with over half of the squads out there."
Lt. Alberto looked shocked. There were 160 marine personnel assigned to this facility under his command. It seemed that over 80 of them had already been taken out.
"Thankfully, I've retained control of the automatic defense turrets, they have been activated, and are quite effective at taking down hostiles in the confined corridors." Tyche informed.
"We need reinforcements, pronto, can you contact Wohlstand base and tell them our situation?" Alberto asked.
"No, I cannot access the comm. array, you will need to travel down the corridor outside this room, left at the T junction, and 50 meters to the nearest comm. control room to operate the communications manually. There are four auto turrets defending the room, it is secure for the time being."
At that moment however, a dozen massive 10 feet high monsters came out of the portal. They were grey, very muscular, and heavy. Some of them created fireballs, and launched them at the last two surviving humans in the room, the Spartans. The duo returned fire while strafing around the fireballs, Kevin firing an assault rifle to little effect, and Hilary firing a portable M247H heavy machine gun. The new demons however, soaked up the rounds without too much trouble.
Lt. Alberto looked at the monstrosities in quiet horror. Things had just gotten that much worse, and Spartans or not, it didn't seem like they were making much of a dent against these things. There was nothing he could do however; he had to get Dr. Kent over to the communications array.
Turning to the equally horrified doctor, he shook him out of his disbelief.
"We have to go. NOW. We have to warn everyone else before it's too late." The lieutenant said.
Malcolm stared dumbly at the young, twenty something officer half his age, for a few seconds, before snapping out of it and nodding. With one last worried look at the struggling Spartans, the doctor followed the marine out into the dark corridor. The lights were off, some of them flickering intermittently, creating a suspenseful atmosphere. Lt. Alberto led the way with his pistol w/flashlight attachment activated, down the now apprehensive path. In the distance, muffled gunfire echoed along the way.
This is just the beginning, and I hope I described the Doom related stuff accurately. In case I didn't describe them well enough, the dozen "monstrosities" at the end were Hell Knights. This is the last story I'll be writing concurrently with my other stories, until I finish some of them. How was the prologue? Please take the time to review, and possibly criticize any errors or problems I have. Thank you.
