Not Quite Super Soldiers

Chapter 1

Not Spartan IIIs... something else

"Colonel, I though ONI had more or less agreed that we should leave the SPARTAN project in Dr. Halsey's capable hands - at least until she went AWOL,"

"No sir, you misunderstand me," Colonel Philips said smoothly, "these are not Spartan IIIs, they're... something else."

"Your brief," Admiral Carter said deliberately, "stated very clearly that you were requesting permission to instigate a program to enhance UNSC troops. Now I don't know what those ghouls at ONI will think of that, but to me it smacks of Spartanism."

"Please sir, allow me to explain. The Spartans were stolen from their families at the age of six, trained to be soldiers for their entire lives, and underwent significant genetic modifications..."

"I am well aware of the specifics of the SPARTAN program Colonel - don't forget I was instrumental in its authorisation. God help us if anyone ever approves something as radical as the SPARTAN program without full - yes full Colonel - knowledge of what it pertains. So please, spare me the pedantics and get to the point."

"Significant genetic modifications," Philips continued doggedly, "that made them barely human. The FIREWALL program proposes nothing so ethically contemptible. First of all, it is an all volunteer program - there will be no kidnappings, no ruined childhoods - which was, incidentally, one of the major sticking points of the SPARTAN program. The volunteers - and we expect there to be many - will be drawn from the Marine Corps., and at least half of them will be taken from the ODST division. As you are no doubt aware, the ODSTs hold anyone below their level of expertise in contempt, and the Spartans particularly so. It will be necessary for the Firewalls to undertake missions alongside the ODSTs, and we hope that by taking troops from the ODST corps to lessen that divide.

The program does include some physical alterations, which is what may have caused your initial confusion. However, we do not plan on such radical alterations as the SPARTAN program, which enhanced pretty much every aspect of the human body. The FIREWALL program will enhance only the strength, speed and reflexes of the subject."

"Which is more or less what the Spartans had done to them."

"Not quite sir, there were several other enhancements the Spartans received - optical enhancements, bone strengthening, growth increase and so forth. We don't want to make Goliaths..."

"Goliaths?"

"Goliath was a character in the Bible. Apparently he was a giant - very strong, very tall, basically an old-time super soldier."

"That would explain my ignorance then - my knowledge of the Bible is shaky at best."

"Not to worry sir, God loves you nonetheless," Philips smiled - he was famed throughout his division as one of the few dedicated Christians in the Corps, "anyway, as I was saying, we don't plan to make Goliaths, we only want to make stronger, faster humans. In addition, we have refined the processes used on the Spartans, so the death toll expected when we improve these people to drop from roughly half - as it was with the Spartans - to around seven percent."

"Interesting. Well son, you've got my attention. Now, sell it to me for real. There's one major question that needs answering. You've given me all the reasons and explanations about why this would work. Now tell me something else - what would this FIREWALL program hope to achieve? Our problem isn't so much the Covenant ground troops. If it was we would've won this war when the Spartans took to the field. No, our problem is that the Covenant fleets are far superior to our own."

"Yes sir. The overall plan of the FIREWALL program is to rectify that situation. As you know, after the destruction Reach, the UNSC started work on a major construction facility in low orbit around Jupiter to replace the shipyards lost in the Epsilon Eridani system. All those shipyards in the Jovian atmosphere will need once they're finished - which should be quite soon - is decent ships to build.

I discovered a short time ago that shortly before the fall of Reach and the death of most of the Spartans, they had a mission; to capture a Covenant ship and use it to infiltrate Covenant space, locate the homeworld of their 'Prophets', capture one and use it to force a peace treaty.

The Firewalls will have very similar ultimate mission parameters. If you will allow me I will give you the details."

"I will Colonel, go on."

"Well, the Firewalls, of whom I plan there will around five hundred, will be placed under the command of the remaining four Spartan IIs - and damn Dr. Halsey for taking Spartan-087, since with her we could've divided up the Firewalls very cleanly - and will continue the first parts of the original mission; they will penetrate, neutralise and capture a Covenant vessel and then return with it to Earth."

"How do you intend to capture a Covenant vessel and keep it intact enough to fly?"

"Ah, well that's the real genius of this plan!" Philips said gleefully, rubbing his hands with delight. "Since first contact, our scientists and engineers have been working on ways to counter the Covenant. The Spartans were one method. Recently we have developed two marvellous new devices:

Number one - the magnetic field disruptor. As you know the Covenant's main shipboard weapon is the plasma torpedo. They fire superheated plasma through space, and they hold it together with a shifting magnetic field -basically they shape it using magnets. We have just developed a device that can disrupt that field, effectively neutralising the weapon. However, for this device to work at full capacity, enough that it can render a ship impervious to plasma torpedoes, requires a very expensive, large, and power-consuming construction. In simple terms we can only really build one or two, and if we were to install them on ships, the ship would then be pretty much useless for anything else. A less effective, but far smaller and cheaper versions could be mass produced and installed, but that's not important right now.

Number two - the focused-energy reflective-plate. That's the geek-name for a really, really strong mirror. Scientists have just developed a reflective plating that can reflect upwards of a billion joules of focused and directed light energy, effectively rendering the Covenant's pulse lasers ineffective.

If we were to install these two devices on a ship, it would basically be invincible to anything other than projectile weapons, bombs or head-on collisions.

It would be this ship that we would use to board a Covenant vessel. We would bring it back to Earth, perform a brief analysis of technology in order to implement it on our own vessels."

"Why brief? Why not conduct a full inspection of all their technology and create a fleet of warships equal to their own?"

"By the time we could complete such an operation sir, the Covies would be knocking on Earth's door, and I doubt they'd be bringing flowers. No, while the Spartans and Firewalls are being briefed on the next stage of their mission our engineers and scientists will investigate the Covenant technology as fully as they can - what they find may buy us more time, and even give us some hope of a victory, however minor, against the Covenant. We only have a few solar systems left in our possession, and we want to do anything we can to hold on to them.

The Spartans and Firewalls will then take the Covenant vessel to the Prophets' homeworld, which we hope to learn from the vessels databases, and - and this is where the mission parameters deviate from those of the original - they will not try to capture a prophet - I think the Covies have made it abundantly clear that a peace treaty isn't in the books. They will instead plant a NOVA nuclear device on the planets surface, hopefully annihilating the entirety of the prophet population - and the Covenant's leaders."

Admiral Carter was silent for a long time. Philips prayed that his proposal had been done well, and that the Admiral was thinking of possible flaws in the plan, of further uses of the FIREWALL program, not trying to think of a way to break the news gently.

"Well son, I think its a bloody good plan. In fact, it may be the best chance we've got." Philips' heart leapt into his throat in his excitement.

"But," the Admiral continued, and Philips' heart sank into the depths of his gut, expecting the Admiral to crush his hopes entirely, "have you considered the possibility that, having destroyed their entire leadership - and don't forget that the Covenant see the Prophets as near-gods - they might not be crushed, but incensed. Far from destroying their fighting capability, this move might spur them to still-greater violence in revenge."

"Yes sir, we have. It is our belief, based on our knowledge of the Covenant society, that their leaders have kept such a death-grip on the control of their underlings for so long that without them the Covenant would be unable to function. Also, as you mentioned yourself, the Prophets are all but gods to the Covenant, so their destruction might be seen as the will of the Forerunner - they might believe that they have angered their 'gods' and brought their displeasure down on them. Besides which, even if they don't, what is to stop us from simply doing the same thing to all of their worlds? Do to them what they have done to us - its not like they can do anything worse to us than they've already done."

"True, but think of what the Covenant have become in our eyes since they started glassing planets - monsters, the vilest creature that Hell itself spewed up. Do we really want to become like that? Can we stomach the price of mass xenocide just to keep us alive? What would the human race do if they found out what we were planning?"

"To be honest sir, I don't think they'd care all that much. As you said, we've demonised the Covenant so much that everyone would think that were doing the right thing - giving them a taste of their own medicine, fighting fire with fire. Whatever you want to call it, that's how they'd see it that way.

I'll be honest sir, if its a choice between them and us, I know which I'd prefer to survive. If we don't do this - or something equally as radical, then the human race is dead sir."

"Very well Colonel. To be honest I agree with you wholeheartedly. Whether or not ONI will is another matter; that's why I put all those rather strange questions about the morality of this to you; you can expect the same - and worse - from ONI when you answer to them. Incidentally - you're well known as one of the few practicing Christians in the Corps, how does this sit with God? Would you not be committing a massacre of the largest scale on His children?"

"No sir, I don't believe it is the will of God for us to be destroyed - the Bible tells us that Jesus came to save the world because God loved us. I don't think He'd send another agent to see to our destruction. I also believe that it is the will of God that we use - if necessary - this plan. If it didn't feel right with God then I wouldn't have suggested it to you.

The Archbishop may not agree with me, but..."

"Archbishop? I thought the Pope was leader of the Church."

"The Catholic Church sir; I'm Church of England."

"Ah, again I display my ignorance of all things religious. Anyway, you were saying."

"Yes sir, I was saying that the Archbishop may not agree with me, but then even the leaders of the Church are not infallible. In fact, there have been several occasions over the centuries since the founding of the Christian Church when the leader have been proved conclusively... but you couldn't really care less could you sir."

"Not really Colonel. Faith is for those who believe I always say. Anyway, I shall put your request through to ONI. You may expect to be called in for questioning about the project in a few days' time. I'll do my best to put in a good word, sway their opinion, but I can't promise anything mind."

"Thank you sir, I couldn't ask anything more of you."

Philips saluted the Board of ONI Executives, turned and walked out of the dimly lit conference room. As the doors slid silently shut behind him, he sagged against the wall with relief. For more than three hours the brass had been intensively grilling him about his proposal. Admiral Carter had been right; their interrogation had been far more searching and aggressive than his.

'I got them though!' He thought triumphantly, 'I should've known those ONI ghouls wouldn't have cared about the morality of it - they just care about feasibility and results. I had them eating out of the palm of my hand!' Philips allowed himself a satisfied chuckle as he straightened up and left the High Com. facility and headed for his Pelican transport. He couldn't hang around here; he had so much to get done.