Shadows

by UNSCShadow-105

AUTHOR'S NOTE: You know (or should) what belongs to the official Halo peeps (that's 343 these days, right?). The Shadows and at least the names of the 21 Gamma Company Spartan-III's belong to me, as do the Shadows. DAI is also mine, mine, mine! I write until the Muses release me from their headlock. Sometimes that means one thousand words, and sometimes it means a hundred thousand words. I am but the Muses mouthpiece. If you think having Cortana in your head can be interesting … that's nothing compared to my reality!

September 25, 2556

Fred got out of the Warthog with Kelly, and together they swept the area. A lot of trees out here. Too many ambush points. He wondered if becoming such a high ranking officer had dulled Serin's instincts. But he simply did not know her as well as other Spartans, as they had all thought her dead until, four years ago.

He heard the roar of the Pelicans engines, and saw it immediately. With Kelly, he watched it come in and land, and again wondered what kind of mission this was going to be that it had to begin with a meeting in the middle of the night in a secluded patch of wood.

The Pelican landed and the hatch opened, but for a few seconds, he didn't see anyone. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Serin stiffen slightly. In a moment a man walked out, just not one Fred recognized. But as the man approached, she only murmured. "At ease, Spartans."

He and Kelly both relaxed. They were on Earth after all. As the man came closer, Fred was able to make out his uniform, which was pitch black with a dark gray shirt, and a tie that matched his jacket and pants. It was also very clearly a General's uniform. And automatically the two Spartans stiffened.

"Vice Admiral Osman." The man's voice was rough from cigar smoking, Fred suspected. "Now I know this mission is truly blessed." He was old. Fred suspected that he was seventy years old. At least.

Kelly opened a private COM. "Army?"

Osman looked at him and shrugged slightly. "General Fleay." she returned the greeting. "She said your people were the one best suited to get this done, and get it done right." she hid her nervousness well.

The General nodded. "And she is correct." his eyes moved from Fred to Kelly, and then back to Osman. "Fred-104 and Kelly-087." Fred was a little taken aback. Few could tell Spartans apart with their helmets on. "Good choice in 087. Please give the Admiral my deepest gratitude."

Fred thought he detected the slightest bit of sarcasm in the General's voice. "She told me you wanted Fred and one other. Kelly was available." Osman replied. This man made her nervous. Kelly also.

"I trust they are ready to go." the General ignored her comment about requesting Fred specifically, but it certainly made him curious.

"Of course." Osman replied.

The General arched his eyebrows, as if he doubted it. "I cannot trust the Admiral, despite her years of unflinching ..." he paused, and waved a hand casually in the air, searching for the correct word. "Penance." he nodded, as if satisfied with the word. "But I had been sure that I could trust you. Was I wrong?"

"If you know so much, then you know that they are as ready as I have been able to make them. They know that a ship of a hundred Spartan-III's was hijacked two days ago. Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez was on the ship. They know that, too." Osman replied.

Fred heard a voice then. Not in front of him, but behind he and Kelly. As it spoke, he and Kelly both whirled around and trained their weapons on the source of the noise. "But you didn't mention that they would be working with Shadows."

The figure was small, and dressed exactly as she had been the last time he'd seen a Shadow. Black on black. She was leaning against the Warthog as if shed been there for some time, even though Fred hadn't herd her approach, and neither had Kelly. He would think that they were simply getting old, but one thing he'd learned from dealing with these people was that they were as silent as vacuum.

He never knew they were Army, however.

"No." Osman replied, turning and looking slightly ruffled by the woman's appearance.

The woman pushed herself off of the Warthog and strode forward. "Begging the Vice Admirals pardon." her voice was neutral. Neither polite nor impolite. "We don't have a lot of time. Your Admiral has given us command of this mission. Please trust that I will not waste the lives of the Spartans." she paused, and looked to her left and right, at Fred and Kelly. "Any of them."

Osman looked down at her. "I don't even know your name..."

The General took a step forward, closing the gap. "Major Frank, take the Spartans, and go. As you have pointed out, time is of the essence." Fred was glad to see the woman … the Major … snap into a sharp salute. "I will see the Vice Admiral safely back." he returned her salute. "Be dark and silent, Shadow." it seemed to Fred to be both an order, and a farewell.

"Yes, Sir." Major Frank agreed. Without turning to the Spartan's, she began walking to the Pelican. "Grab your kits and let's go Spartan's." she called over her shoulder. "We have work to do."

Fred hesitated only a moment before he, and the Kelly did just that, grabbing the bags they had packed. Two regular uniforms and the usual accessories, and then followed the Major to the Pelican. Inside, he looked out of the door as it closed to see the General and Vice Admiral get into the Warthog and drive away. Then the door closed, and the Pelican was in the air.

The trip up into space was absolutely silent. Fred allowed himself to relax very slightly. Pre-mission jitters were nothing new, but this mission was quite different than any he'd ever encountered.

He barely saw the ship as they approached it. It was a Prowler, although it looked slightly different than the ones he was familiar with. Something he could not identify hung below the ship, making it look pregnant. But a Prowler was a Prowler, and seeing it meant that this was a stealth mission. Not something he had expected until he had turned in the wood and seen a Shadow.

Finally the Major spoke. "Gloaming, this is Noir-One." her voice was glass smooth. "On approach with Noir-Four and Noir-Five. You ready for us?"

A male voice replied. "Roger wilco. The guest bedrooms are clean and we put fresh towels out. Over."

With the hint of a grin in her voice Major Frank replied. "Outstanding. Now open the garage door, and I will grab the paper off the front lawn on my way in. Over and out."

The docking was smooth as you please, and Fred followed Major Frank out of the Pelican. Another Shadow was waiting to greet them. He saluted the Major. "Good to see you back." his hood was pulled back, his goggles were up on his forehead and the piece that usually covered the mouth of the Shadow was pulled down and to his left. Fred noted his red hair and green eyes, but it was his voice that triggered memories for him. "And welcome, Spartans. I am Captain Ralf-131. It is good to see you two alive and well."

Fred nodded. "Thank you, Captain." he replied, and felt an odd twinge at the formality in his voice. "It's … good to see you .." he paused.

"At all?" Kelly interjected. "We know you two, don't we?"

Ralf nodded. "After a fashion." he replied. "We will explain some of that once we're underway."

"Captain Alexander, we're home." Major Frank called, speaking into her COM.

"Roger. Entering slipstream space in ten minutes." came the same voice. One that Fred did not recognize.

Major Frank turned and glanced at the Spartans. "Then we'll begin our briefing in fifteen." she blew out a breath. "It will take us almost a day to get where we're going." she didn't sound happy about that. "That will have to be enough time for us to learn to work together." she nodded at Fred and Linda. "Welcome to Noir Team, Spartans." and she walked out of the hanger bay without another word.

Fred could feel the ship accelerating. He looked at Captain Ralf-131. "You have designations like us?" he asked.

"We do, but we are not Spartans." Ralf replied. "All of it will be explained, Lieutenant. Or may I call you Fred?"

No one had ever asked that question before. "We're on the same team, so yes. Call me Fred." he glanced at Kelly and saw her nod also.

"And call me Kelly." she agreed.

Ralf nodded and smiled very slightly. "Then we're off to a good start. Let me show you around the ship. It's not big so I'll end it with the briefing room."

The Gloaming's briefing room had seats for a dozen, but not one of the five of them took a seat. Fred stood beside Kelly and they both looked at Captain Alexander. That face was familiar to him, and he was trying his damnedest to place it. So many years.

At the head of the table, Major Frank was watching them watch Captain Alexander. Fred took a second to note that her eyes were the same color as his own. "I suppose we should begin this briefing with you, Alexander." her voice was almost soft.

Dark eyes looked out of a dark face. He nodded. "I didn't think you would remember me after all these decades." he spoke softly. "You thought I was dead."

"Spartan-073." Kelly whispered and placed her hands on the conference table, as if to steady herself. "You died. The augmentation killed you."

Alexander looked at her and sighed. "The augmentation blinded me." he spoke slowly, as if remembering. "I woke up and I couldn't see. My eyes felt like someone was slicing little holes in them. Stabbing me." he stopped for a full two seconds before he continued. "That's when I knew I had washed out." he shook his head. "Or I could be used at a desk, somehow. Or retired." he shuddered very slightly. "What would you have done?" he looked across the table at both Fred and Kelly.

Neither of them answered, but Fred could not imagine what his life would have been like had he washed out. He knew that Fhajad-084 had gone on to do incredible things, but Fred could not imagine it for himself. Blind. Unable to fight.

Alexander nodded, apparently able to read their thoughts through their faces. Neither Fred nor Kelly had been very good at concealing their emotions. "Exactly." he spoke softly. "I wanted to die. And I was laying there, knowing I was blind. Knowing I was one visit shy of being officially a wash-out." the corners of his mouth twitched. "When a nurse came to visit me. He told me I could still fight. That he could restore my sight, and make the pain vanish. But it would mean leaving the Navy. Leaving the Spartans." he licked his full lips. "I was angry at Dr. Halsey. Angry at Chief Mendez. Angry at you, and all the Spartans who had survived." he stopped, and paused a second. "I told him I wanted to serve or die. And I asked him to help me to do one or the other." another seconds pause. "He slipped a bottle of pills into my hand, and I took them without caring what they would do. I figured he had chosen death for me, and I was ready."

"Suicide?" Kelly sounded absolutely flabbergasted. It was not Spartan thinking.

"I thought so." Alexander replied. "But I woke up. In another hospital. But I could see! I could see, but it was different. The nurse from the other hospital was there, and he told me I wasn't a Spartan anymore." he paused and motioned to Ralf and Major Frank. "I was a Shadow."

"What did they do to you?" Fred asked, looking at Alexander's eyes, which looked normal to him.

"After they restored my sight, they transplanted the tapetum lucidum of Panthera onca into my eyes." he again motioned to Ralf and Frankie. "An addition made to every Shadow."

Kelly was looking more than a little bit shocked. Fred found himself feeling outraged himself, but then his thoughts went back to his own augmentations. "Which ….." was the only word he could think of.

"It made us nocturnal. Like the big Earth cats. Natural night vision." Ralf replied and canted his head, as if waiting for something. For it all to sink in.

Kelly looked at Fred, but said nothing for a good ten seconds. "So he could serve ..." she whispered. "But … he was … there was a service ..."

"I guess I got kidnapped twice." Alexander shrugged. "Shadows aren't even in the Army's direct line of sight, and the Shadow program was hidden as deep as the Spartans. Deeper. They told the universe about you. Never us." he nodded. "When we were around Spartans, my name was spoken, but I was under orders not to reveal myself. Alexander isn't the rarest name in the known universe..."

"So we never found out." Fred murmured. Alexander was the tallest Shadow he'd ever personally seen, and was only slightly shorter than Fred himself was. "I'm just glad to know you aren't dead."

"As are we all, Fred." Major Frank's voice remained soft. "I am glad that Spartans are so quick to adapt to change and shocks. Which brings me to the next thing you meed to be briefed on. "Shadows." she paused, and looked around the table, her eyes ultimately resting between Fred and Kelly. "Let me begin by saying that, as spies and infiltrators go, no one is better than DAI." he began. "But this information is classified, and I expect you to respect that."

"Of course, Ma'am." Fred replied, with a nod. He had already guessed that the Shadows were with the Department of Army Intelligence. Pronounced "die" by the few who ever spoke of it at all, it was rumored to be a department you only wanted to be in if that is what you wanted to do … die. But Fred had long ago also guessed that propaganda worked in mysterious ways. And they were competition for ONI.

"DAI and ONI have several things in common. One of those things is a super secret program designed to create super solders from children." The Major continued.

Fred knew that his jaw had dropped. Did that mean that DAI had done the same thing that Dr Halsey had done? He nodded, opting to say nothing.

"Our candidates, and the ones Dr Halsey used were very identical. DAI's pool was larger, but the number untilately chosen was smaller. Many of the names on her list were also on ours." she motioned to Alexander. "Halsey moved faster. She has the patience of a civilian. And she got to you all first."

Still nodding, Fred remained stock still, as did Kelly.

"DAI opted to take a 'wait and see' position, especially to see if her clones took or not. Our plan had been to simply abduct the children. Kids go missing all the time." she sighed slightly. "I do believe you already know that the clones all died in time."

"Yes, Ma'am." Fred whispered, his voice rough to his ears.

"In the end, DAI opted to flat out abduct sixty children. Less than ONI. Twenty-one died during augmentation. Four were rendered incapable of active duty. We had thirty-five active of the first generation. After three generations, we have currently a total of ninety-three active duty Shadows. Of the first generation of Shadows, we had only two volunteers. One at the beginning and one who came to us during augmentation." he looked back at Alexander.

"Shadows aren't like Spartans." Alexander spoke up. "They didn't get the Muscular Enhancement Injections, the Carbide Ceramic Ossification or the Catalytic Thyroid implants. None of the surgeries. But they did get the rest. Their skeletons are different. Plus they played around with our hearing. You hear better than any normal human being." he shrugged. "We hear better than a Spartan." Biting his lip he sighed. "And of course our ocular implants. Your eyes adjust very quickly to low light conditions. We see in the dark like cats do. Overall, they went through less pain than you did because they didn't want them big and strong. They wanted them light, quiet and sneaky."

He took it all in, nodding slowly. "But you are a Spartan." he almost felt like he was arguing.

"No. I'm not." he spoke with absolute certainty. "I am just the largest and heaviest Shadow. But I can still serve." his face twisted into a crooked half grin. "I am the loudest of the Shadows as well, but I am still dark and silent compared to Spartans."

Major Frank lifted a finger. "Which brings us to the third part of our briefing, which we can worry about once we have reached our destination. I'd hate to arrive, and find that my plan of action has holes in it large enough to pilot a destroyer through." she spoke dryly. "But while we wait … we will work to make Noir Team a well oiled machine."