Chapter 4
Welcome To Mars City
December 2nd, 2560
Sol System, Enroute to Mars City
Onboard Spartan Blue Team Pelican
0700 Hours
INCOMING TRANSPORT DETECTED
UNSC D79H-TC PELICAN CLASS DROPSHIP
TRANSPORT ID 4409
"Mars tower, Sierra Bravo Tango enroute to facility. Permission to land at docking bay 7."
"Roger Sierra Bravo Tango. Permission granted, descend at docking bay 7. We'll see you in 5 mikes."
Master Chief flew the Pelican through orbit and towards the docking bay at Mars City. John remembered watching old videos of unmanned vehicles scouting the planet in Déjà's classroom. The red planet had an aspect of beauty to it. As if the valleys were a vast red ocean. It was once dreamed of being habitable by humans but is now an industrial destination for factories and research labs.
"Well we haven't been shot out of the sky yet." Senior Chief mentioned as he climbed into the cockpit to join John and Fred at the controls.
"Sensors didn't pick up SAM (Surface to Air Missiles) sites but if anything. We can always jump out sir." The Chief replied.
Washington laughed. "Boy, my ass hasn't HALO'd in years." (High Altitude Low Orbit)
"Forgive him sir." Fred chimed in "The Chief has a thing for jumping on every op. This might be our first mission where we actually fly and land a ship peacefully."
Mars City was in view.
"Look at this place. No wonder morale is down. This city needs to redo the paint job." Senior Chief said. He was right, the complex was a depressing burgundy color with wrinkles and fades.
John eased the thrusters and slowly descended the pelican into the landing bay below. He engaged the landing mechanism and when the Spartan felt the thud of wheels touching the ground, killed the engine.
He added the Senior Chief to his HUD's squad roster granting him permission to be on the Spartan's team COMM. John then brought everyone's vital signs on screen. Everything was normal rhythm and quality and surprisingly the Senior Chief was also calm and steady.
Blue Team got out of their seats and opened the hatch for the greeting party. As the team got out, three Marines were already walking towards the pelican. One of them was Colonel Kelly, the commanding officer of Mars City.
Blue Team saluted. "Colonel, permission to come aboard." Senior Chief asked.
"Permission granted Blue Team." The Colonel returned the salute and shook Washington's hand. "Honor to have you aboard."
Colonel Kelly was a very stern man with a built figure. His eyes revealed years of combat and discipline while his voice demanded respect.
"Let's get out of the bay shall we?" Colonel motioned to the exit and Blue Team was escorted to the facility. Thanks to their augmentations that enhanced their hearing, the Spartans could already hear the faint whispers of the civilians and military personnel watching them.
"Spartans? What are they doing here?"
"I feel safe already."
"Thats Blue Team! Best of the best."
"Look Chuck, Spartans. This hell hole feels better already."
The Marines lead Blue Team to the UNSC Command Post at Mars City. Marines with MA5D assault rifles manned security posts at the entrance. They saluted the Colonel and opened the doors into the CP.
"Corporal." The Colonel turned his attention to his escort. "How about you take the Spartans to the barracks while I have a chat with the Senior."
"Sir, yes sir! Right this way Spartans." As the Corporal took off with Blue Team, the Master Chief gave one more look to the Senior Chief.
Senior Chief simply nodded. "Go ahead."
Time to get to work.
December 2nd, 2560
Sol System, Planet Mars
Private Quarters of Colonel Kelly, Mars City
1200 Hours
"Can I offer you a glass Senior?" The Colonel asked after fishing up a bottle of whiskey from his desk. "Picked it up myself on last shore leave in Ireland."
The Senior Chief declined as he took a seat in front of the Colonel's desk. "No thanks Colonel, too early for my type of schedule."
"Suit yourself."
Senior Chief caught himself browsing the items on the desk. Typical military name plate, a couple of medals, and a digital picture of the Colonel in ODST armor with a SOEIV behind him.
"Used to be a Helljumper Colonel?" Senior asked.
"Ahhh yes." Colonel Kelly poured himself a glass. "Back in the good old days when all I had to worry about was if my drop pod was gonna land on solid ground. Now I gotta worry about keeping these egg heads safe on this god forbidden rock."
Washington continued to look at the picture until he noticed an alien weapon right behind the frame. "Is that a plasma sword?"
The Colonel laughed. "It was 52' on Reach when my squad landed in New Alexandria to secure an evac site for civilian shuttles. I was setting up an auto turret on the perimeter when some split-lip bastard jumped me. Damn thing cut my battle rifle in half. So there I was! Going one on one, armed with only a buck knife. Elite slashed at me but I ducked and struck my knife on it's leg. It dropped the plasma sword and you know what I did next?"
He slammed his fist into his open palm for emphasis. "I grabbed the sword and jammed it down it's fucking throat. Watched the bastard drown in it's own blood. Fuck him."
Colonel Kelly picked up the sword. "It's out of energy now. I keep it as a paper weight and-" He then threw it on a stack of papers. "As a reminder that I hate aliens as much as I hate paperwork."
"Not a fan of aliens huh." Senior Chief cracked.
The Colonel frowned. "I fucking hate them."
"So you don't think we should ally ourselves with the Swords of Sanghelios?" This was getting intense. Thought the Senior Chief.
"The UNSC are fools to trust the Elites. We seem to forget that these bastards killed our kind for more than 20 years and now here we are jerking them off with our mouthes wide open. Come to Earth!"
He gulped down his whiskey and poured himself another round. "But enough of politics, let's get down to business. This room is completely shielded from unwanted listeners Senior Chief. You here for that ONI agent?"
It got serious. "And how do you know that Colonel?"
"I know a spook when I see a spook." The Colonel muttered. "I keep this facility locked down. That agent was going about as if he suspected some sort of insurrection going on and he didn't have the decency to inform me of such suspicion? Let alone identify himself with ONI? That's disrespectful to my rank of authority here. There's no god damn rebellion here. My Marines are out there 24/7 and they have not found a single trace of any rebel activity."
Washington was concerned. The Colonel was getting slightly defensive. "Are you sure? When was the last time you spoke to Agent Swan?"
The Colonel ignored his question. "Yes I'm damn sure! You don't think I'm capable to run this station?Why the hell did the UNSC send some swabbie here?" He got up from his seat and slammed his fists on the desk. "You here to relief me of my command Senior Chief?"
Senior Chief got up as well. "Excuse me? That's not the case Colonel. I'm here for Doctor-"
Tremors shacked the room. "What the hell was that?" Colonel Kelly said.
A Marine opened COMM chatter to the room. "Sirs! We are under attack!"
December 2nd, 2560
Sol System, Planet Mars
UNSC Marine Corps Barracks, Mars City
1000 Hours
Corporal Santos and Private First Class Smith guided Blue Team to their designated quarters for the time being while Senior Chief had a chat with the CO.
"Mess hall is down to the east wing. Let me tell you right now Spartans, Marine Corps makes some fire shit. Oh dios mio! That fucking spaghetti we had last night was good huh Smith?" Santos faced Blue Team and cracked a smile.
PFC Smith sighed. "Shut up you fucking spic. You're embarrassing the Corps in front of the Spartans."
"Yeah fuck you Smith. At least this brown boy out rank yo white ass! Anyway Spartans, you got any questions?"
Linda asked. "How are the patrols like?"
Santos answered. "The Colonel runs us. Old man thinks the Covenant War is still going on. Has us on our toes expecting a fight but shit. I've been shooting at cardboard cut out aliens for the last 6 months. Personally the patrols are light duty for me. I usually have the morning shift but I lucked out and volunteered as your lovely tour guide. Hahaha! But Smithy over here has some stories."
"Shut up Santos!" Smith elbowed the Marine.
"What do you mean by that?" This time Fred asked.
"Haha! Tell them Smith! I wanna hear the story of your hostile encounter" Santos patted the PFC on the back and Smith explained. "Couple weeks ago down at the Delta Labs. It was 0200 hours and I was assigned security detail at the checkpoints. One of the Doctors, Johnathon Ishii asked for an escort back to the civilian quarters. The guy was nervous. He wanted to get the hell out of the labs ASAP. I mean I get it. It's late and the place is sketch and dark so I agreed. Left my post and we were off. We were walking through a storage area when we heard a fucking roar. Sounded like a damn lion. I swear there was something in the room with us. I saw some shadows move and thought I saw this thing standing on top of a storage container."
"And guess what he does!" Santos interrupted. "Discharges his assault rifle. Shooting the shadows bud! Hahaha! But what can I say? We are some trigger finger itching jar heads looking for some action. Oooh-Rah!"
Smith rolled his eyes and continued. "After I fired my weapon, the doc and I ran for it. I thought it was chasing us but there was nothing there. Colonel was pissed the next day, had me scrubbing the toilets for days."
Fred said. "What about the Doctor? What did he think?"
Smith answered. "It was weird. The doc was terrified. As if he's seen something like that before. Haven't seen him since though, last I heard he was working with some guy named Swan."
Fred looked at the Master Chief. Here's the lead.
Master Chief finally spoke. "Marines, do you know where we can find Swan?"
This time Santos answered. "Not sure about Swan sir but I know Viper Squad is about to head out and look for Dr. Ishii. He's been missing for a couple of days but he might know where Swan is."
"Can you take us to this fire team?" Master Chief asked.
"Sir we have orders to escort to your private quarters-" Smith started but Kelly placed her hand on his shoulder.
"It's important Marine."
"Can't say no Seniorita. Right this way Spartans." Santos lead the way towards the armory.
The Marine escorts brought Blue Team to one of the Marine armories where a fire team was gearing up for another patrol. As the group walked in, the Sergeant of the patrol stood up.
"Santos? Smith? What the hell do you dumbasses want?" She noticed the Spartans. "Sorry Master Chief, I thought we were drilling with you guys later this week?"
"We heard you were going for another patrol. Thought my team could tag along and provide tactical advise." the Master Chief said.
"Well we aren't expecting any assholes but with all the weird shit going on I wouldn't mind having a few Spartans watching my back." The Sergeant put her helmet on. "We are going to the decommissioned communications facility to find Dr. Ishii. He was last reported there and hasn't answered any of our hails."
December 2nd, 2560
Sol System, Planet Mars
Decommissioned Communications Facility, Mars City
1130 Hours
Blue Team lagged behind the Marines who were taking the lead on the patrol. John watched as the Marines pressed forward in sloppy formation down the hallway. He respected the men and women that served the UNSC and made it one of his priorities to keep them alive. Normally he would have his Spartans take the front lines and shield their comrades when possible but this mission required diplomacy. They had to show respect to the Marines. Blue Team were guests here.
Kelly opened a private COMM to the team. "From the looks of it, everyone here seems nervous."
"A lot of paranoia going around." Replied Fred.
"I've been monitoring the chatter." Linda interjected. "There have been reports of strange noises late at night and more civilians have gone missing."
"That doesn't make any sense. We came here to expect rebels not the boogeymen. Maybe they are being kidnapped for experiments?" Kelly suggested.
"Let's focus on the mission. We follow this lead." Master Chief retorted.
John hated to admit it but the mission did feel strange. Normally a rebellion incites conspiracy among the people but this was something else. The people at Mars City were afraid but exactly what were they afraid of? The UAC and Dr. Betruger were up to something.
Suddenly the Marines stopped. Sergeant Macken raised her arm in the air and clenched her hand into a fist. Military sign to halt.
Everyone took a knee and Sergeant Macken opened a COMM. "Nobody should be in this building. I hear activity up ahead two o'clock door. Stack the wall Viper squad."
The Marines of Viper Squad made up of Sergeant Macken, Private Douglass, Private Tobar, and additionally Santos and Smith who decided to tag along for the mission. The Marines took position onto the left side of the door while Blue Team took position on the right.
Blue Team drew their borrowed assault rifles from the armory and braced the walls silently. The Master Chief glanced at Private Santos who was closest to the door and tapped his MJOLNIR helmet twice.
Silence.
Corporal Santos spoke onto the COMM. "Uh. What does that mean?"
Sergeant Macken responded. "It means breech you idiot. Open the damn door!"
"Oh shit, right!"
Santos kicked the door open and everyone piled in.
Inside the room was a large monitor being worked on by the scientist Ishii. On the left side of the screen displayed the Mars City Communication Satellites while the right side displayed a chamber with an orange glow and labeled underneath it was Delta 4 Teleporter. All Safeguards Online.
"Hold it right there Ishii!" Macken shouted. She glanced at the monitors and paused. "What the hell are you doing?"
Ishii was hysterical. "No! Please! You must let me get this communication out! Earth must be warned while there's still time."
Master Chief stepped forward. "Warned of what?"
"Spartans? Here?" Ishii turned to the Chief. He was stressed. His eyes dark as if he hasn't slept in days. "You don't know what I've seen. You can't understand or comprehend!" He pointed to the screen. "The devil is real. I know, I built his cage. This city.. It needs to be bombed."
Audio feed broke out. "I'm getting abnormal readings here!" Suddenly the monitor showed the chamber explode.
And all hell broke loose.