Chapter 3 1345 hours, November, 24th 2654/Military Calendar/No More Dead Heroes (Final Destination)/Goliath Airport, District 9, Adraulus, Alpha Coronae Borealis Star System
Doctor Halsey was concerned that the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) had lost all of her, and Colonel Ackerson's, previous data on the past SPARTAN projects. This would complicate the augmentation process; however, the gene pool would be able to be larger. On the other hand, if the gene pool was too large it could have terrible drawbacks. Her first encounter with the SPARTAN-IIIs was very unpromising, as their lack of strength and discipline was very... poor.
She walked along the wide hallway filled with people travelling to gate 29. This was the ship that would take her to her final destination, Earth.
She had been travelling, for the past year, around the galaxy to all of the colonies of Humanity, "recruiting" young children who had had their lives destroyed, corrupted and twisted by the Covenant. There was now only two children remaining, one of which she wanted to save till last. This last child was one of the main reasons why she had began her new project.
He was her prized jewel.
She would make him to be the best he could be. He was, dare she say, luckier than John. The last "recruit" was a young boy, warped by the loss of his family at only the age of six. Within a small amount of time since their death, he had moved between seven planets, all destroyed by the Insurrectionists or Covenant upon his arrival. Now, she would offer him a choice; to live his life as it is or he could leave his old life behind and become something both stunning and brutal. He would be able to take his revenge on the Insurrectionists and Covenant.
He would become a Spartan.
She walked onto the transport and was required to give her passport, retina scan, blood sample and ticket to truly enter the craft. The security was extreme, even though there were no armed guards anywhere to be seen.
The airhostess stood before her with bright golden hair tucked up into her matching blue hat. Golden threads proved her worth as a Senior Flight Officer, which was only emphasised by her slightly wrinkled face and delicate touch.
Doctor Halsey watched in jealousy as the lady passed her through the locked door into the corridor of compartments with a lifeless smile.
The long hallway stretched out before her to the end of the plane, attached every two metres were doors leading off into small, cramped booths. Lights lay embedded in the ceiling glowing in a yellow and gold illuminating the cream walls. She searched along the length of the ship and eventually found the correct dormitory.
Upon entry, she discovered a young man lying across one of the beds with his green army hat covering his face. He had a good build of shape and was tremendously tall, his feet dangling over the edge of the six-half foot bed. His arms extended over his chest crossed over with freckles dotted along his exposed arms.
This was her accompaniment, Lieutenant Woodcock.
She bumped his foot and he immediately stood and saluted, shouting as he did. "Officer on the deck!" He bellowed, panting from horror rather than exhaustion.
A smile flickered across Halsey's face at the shocked Marine. After several seconds for him to discover who stood before him, the questions began.
"Okay, Doctor. Remind me again: why we are here?" He asked, now sitting down to gather his thoughts.
"We are here to find the last two candidates for my assignment. You do realise it was not necessary to join me during the journeys between planets." She said now moving across the room to her bed.
"You know I do. UNSC protocol requires that an officer must remain with an indicated civilian, in this case you, at all times," he said firmly, "but after travelling to all of these planets, I still do not understand why you picked me?"
Halsey suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, as she had relived the same steps she had done the first time, for the Spartan II's. She looked away from him in disgrace, at herself not at him.
"That is precisely why I chose you," she now turned to fiercely gaze into his deep blue eyes, "You remind me of my first counterpart for these journeys, 136 years ago. You can keep a secret. I have read your files Lieutenant"
She reflected on those past times. She remembered the first time she saw John, when she chosen him to be the leader of Blue Team and the last time she had seen him, leaving him in the asteroid with the remaining SPARTAN-IIs.
She was then forced back to reality by the thought of her having conscripted more of these children into the UNSC and force them to have to relive the awful but essential pain they would have to face, to become a Spartan.
This time, however, it was going to be different.
They would survive.
By the sudden thought of the deaths that she had caused, and will soon be doing again via the augmentation, she got up off of her bed. She neatened her grey skirt, and walked off to find a means of occupying herself until they reached their final destination.