Standard Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever likely own any of the properties to the character or ideas contained within my stories. I write purely as a dedication to the minds who created the characters and worlds who keep my so thoroughly enetertained. The rights and reservations to Halo are held by Bungie and the rights and reservations to Ranma 1/2 are held by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz.
Quick a/n: Sorry about being away for so long and also sorry that this is also such a small chapter. It felt like the right place to finish it when I did. The next chapter will probably be some time in coming but I will not let this story die. So keep the reviews coming.
Chapter 4: Graduation
1130 Hours March 09, 2525 (UNSC Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, Office of Naval Intelligence Medical Facility, in Orbit around Planet Reach
Doctor Catherine Halsey paced in front of walls of monitors that showed the vital signs of all her charges. One wall showed all their cardiac system information while another showed the status of the augmentation procedure that would be done to each of them in turn.
"Decryption complete doctor." Came the voice of Deja in her ear.
"Very good, put it on my glasses."
Slowly text began to scroll on her glasses, moving up or down in accordance with her eye movements. It read:
United Nations Space Command Priority Transmission 09872H-98
Encryption Code: Red
Public Key: file /excised access Omega/
From: Admiral Ysionris Jeromi, Chief Medical Officer, UNSC Research Station Hopeful
To: Dr Catherine Elizabeth Halsey M.D., Ph.D., special civilian consultant (CIN:10141-026-SRB4695)
Subject: Mitigating Factors and relative biological risks associated with queried experimental medical procedures.
Classification: RESTRICTED (BGX Directive)
/start file/
Catherine
I am afraid that further analysis has yielded no viable alternatives to mitigate the risks in your proposed "hypothetical" experimentation. I have, however, attached the synopsis of my team's findings as well as all relevant case studies. Perhaps you will find them useful.
I hope it is a hypothetical study... the use of Binobo chimpanzees in your proposal is troublesome. These animals are expensive and rare now that they are no longer bred in captivity. I would hate to see such valuable specimens wasted in some Section Three project.
Best,
y.j.
Catherine winced slightly at the thinly veiled rebuke hidden in the Admirals communique. He had never really approved of her decision to work with the Office of Naval Intelligence, and made his disappointment with his star pupil evident every time she visited the Hopeful.
She was having enough troubles with internal demons about the course she was about to embark upon without the Admirals disapproval. Gritting her teeth she returns to the files.
Synopsis of chemical/ biological risks
WARNING: the following procedures are classified level-3 experimental. Primate test subjects must be cleared through UNSC Quartermaster General Office code: OBF34. Follow gamma code biohazard disposal protocol.
1. Carbide ceramic ossification: advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-postpubescent adolescents: skeletalgrowth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization. See attached case studies.
2. Muscular enhancement injections: protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time. Risk: 5 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.
3. Catalytic thyroid implant: platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: rare instances of elephantitis. Suppressed sexual drive.
4. Occipital capillary reversal: submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of subjects retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase. Risk: retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness. See attached autopsy reports.
5. Superconducting fibrication of neural dendrites: alteration of bioelctrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transconduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinsons disease and Fletchers syndrome.
6. Genetic level mutagen (Jusenkyo Element): DNA level of enhancement to help subject cope with above procedures. Can cause latent genetic memories to come to the fore, such as a survival instinct on a animalistic level. Risk: less than one percent of subjects undergo physical change. Some develop supernatural seeming abilities, others end in death of subject. See attached autopsy reports and case studies.
/end file/
Press ENTER to open linked attachments.
Dr. Halsey closed the file. Erasing all traces of the documents and sending Deja to track and destroy all evidence of the message from the Admirals own computer.
Removing her glasses she pinched her nose in a sign of exasperation.
"A question doctor." Deja asked once she had finished with her removal of the data.
"Go ahead, Deja." Catherine replied, having a fair idea of what Deja was going to ask, she had asked the same question upon first reading the files back in university.
"Why is the Genetic Level Mutagen tagged as the 'Jusenkyo Element'?"
The doctor smiled, she loved being correct in her predictions "It's the name of an area in China back on Earth. It translates to 'The Pools of Sorrow' from it's common Japanese name. The legend has it that anyone who should fall into one of the many cursed springs would take the body of whatever drowned in the pool last."
"But how would that be possible, without science and the ability to alter a persons DNA that is rather unfeasible." Deja protested the idea, her logic circuits unable to properly calculate the probability.
"Remove the files from your data banks Deja, your not equipped to deal with the concepts of magic. They defy to many of your logic cores." The doctor ordered.
With an obvious directive the AI was once again all business "At once doctor." and with that the conversation came to an end.
Catherine stood there in silent contemplation of the idea of shape-shifting without the use of modern science. She had been witness to what the Jusenkyo Element could do to the human body and was rather reluctant to use it on the children in her care, but could see no other way to increase their chances of survival beyond what they already had.
The sound of an opening door snapped her out of her musings and she turned to see CPO Mendez walking into the room and giving her a sharp salute. The doctor didn't even bother to return the gesture, rather she gave him an exasperated look.
"You know I don't require a salute Franklin, not in private. I am a civilian after all."
"Yes Ma'am but nowhere on a Navy vessel is truly private." Mendez replied, easily relaxing into an at ease stance.
"How are the children holding up Petty Officer?" She asked in a considerably more business like manner.
"Most have gone under the influence of the sedative within the time expected with a few exceptions." he paused at this point to test her response, but she already had suspicions as to who were resisting the drugs. "Child 012 and 117 are doing their utmost to stay awake, would you like to go check on them?"
"Of course, I would like to do a final round of all the children before their operations begin, I will start with those two."
They left the room at a fairly brisk pace and walked for only short time before going through an unmarked door into what was obviously a highly anti-septic room. The child Ranma that Catherine had personally picked up all those years ago on Harvest had developed into a prime specimen of masculinity. Built with the body of a hardened soldier at only fourteen years of age thanks to years of harsh physical conditioning and routine growth hormones in their food.
"Hey Doc," Ranma said weakly, obviously feeling the effects of the sedative coursing through his body but refusing to let it take him. Finally spotting Chief Mendez he struggled to sit up and salute but his body refused to obey him any longer. "I know this is one of the Chiefs exercises Doc, but how do we win?" he asked with effort, the sedation finally dragging him under.
"You live, Ranma. You live." She said softly.
A small smile formed on Ranma's face. "Easy. Doc. Spartans. Never. Loose." and with that final statement the sedation pulled him into the abyss of dreamless sleep.
0000 Hours March 30, 2525 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Carrier Atlas en route to the Lambda Serpentis system
"And so we commit the bodies of our fallen brothers to space."
Chief Mendez closed his eyes for a moment of reverence as the ceremony came to completion. He pressed the controls that sent the canisters, containing the ashes of the members of the Spartan squad that had not survived the most recent test, to the launch tubes... and the void beyond.
The remaining members of the Spartans stood tall and rigid as their comrades in arms of the past eight years, their friends, were all sent with as much pomp and ceremony as could be arranged for a squad that shouldn't technically exist and children that were already officially dead.
The normally active deck was unusually quite without the normal bustle of activity. Large black drapes fell down from the roof and only the squad stood there with the CPO. The feeling in the room was somber but also very tense, the idea of death now a very real and potent thought in all their minds.
"Honors... ten hut!" Mendez barked at them.
The Spartans all quickly snapped to attention on instinct. Saluting the cylinders in unison.
"Duty," Mendez said. "Honor and self sacrifice. Death does not diminish these qualities in a soldier. We shall remember."
"We shall remember, till death and glory." They chanted back in unison. If their unorthodox reply to the litany surprised the elder man then he let none of it show on his face.
A series of thumps echoed throughout the hull of the carrier as the canisters were hurled into space. The view screen flickered to life, showing the vast field of stars in which a dozen canisters now floated past, quickly falling behind as the carrier continued on its course.
Both John and Ranma stood silently watching as the canisters containing their friends drifted past them. With each one it felt as if they lost a small part of themselves. Through some bizarre twist of fate they had both lost exactly six members of their respective squads.
The deaths of their team members was not the only event that was causing confusion for Ranma though. The operation had some side effects that seemed to only have happened to him. It was something only himself, the Doctor, John and Chief Mendez knew of at the moment but it would have to come out to the squad as a whole eventually.
"Crewmen, dismissed." Mendez said eventually.
The Spartans dispersed out one of the many doors on deck leaving only John, Ranma and Chief Mendez to stare at the view screen where only the stars glowed. The Chief turned to face them, the question as to why they were there obvious in his eyes.
"Spit it out 117." He growled, getting impatient with John's hesitation.
"Sir, Ranma and I were both the team leader yet we both lost good soldiers in the last mission... what did we do wrong?"
Mendez looked them both over with his impenetrable black eyes obviously weighing the answer he was about to give them. He closed his eyes and turned to face the view screen before speaking.
"Look at the view screen boys. Look out at the darkness and tell me what you see." He said at last.
Both Ranma and John hesitated at that, it was obviously an order but it wasn't delivered in the way they were used to. Usually the Petty Officer would bark and order at them, making it clear he wanted it done yesterday, just then though he sounded tired. As if the weight of the world were on his shoulders. It was Ranma who spoke first.
"I see the void that will hold our brethren if we fail them sir." Ranma said slowly, unsure of how to put his feelings into words.
"I see the place we must protect, at any cost, against those who seek to harm the greater good of the human race." John replied, giving word to the feelings on the other side of the coin from what Ranma was feeling.
"Both good answers. Keep in mind always that as commanders with men that trust, respect and believe in you, it is sometimes necessary to send those very same men to their deaths," Mendez turned to face them both again. "You do this because your duty to the UNSC, and by extension the Human race, supersedes your duty to yourself or even your crew."
John and Ranma tried to hold their gaze on Mendez's eyes but the pain of the fresh loss made them both look away in shame. They both missed the flash of sympathy that crossed the CPO's features.
"The important thing to remember is that it is acceptable to spend lives when necessary." They looked back into his eyes, ready to meet and remember this particular lesson. "It is not acceptable, however, to waste those lives. Do you understand the difference?"
"I... believe so sir." John replied, Ranma nodded in confirmation before continuing on the thought in both their minds.
"But which was it in this mission sir. Lives spent?"
"Or lives wasted?" John finished the question, both looking to the man before them for an easy answer, the word that comes down from someone in a position above them that gives them comfort. Mendez though only turned back to the view screen.
"That is something you will both have to figure out for yourselves."
A/N: Once again I am aware that this is painfully short and is starting to leave lots of questions but im sure most of you have noticed how I managed to incorporate the Jusenkyo element into the story. Have yet to settle on a mechanism to activate the change, ideas would be good. If anyone has read the books they will see a few changes to how I wrote this chapter compared to the original, but I tried to keep it as true to the original as possible to keep the Halo universe feel.
If there are any particular elements to the story that people would like added to, or something someone wants to see in a later chapter I am open to idea's, I basically write on the fly. Anyone with a good indepth knowledge on the books and games should be able to give some good input I reckon.
Thank You all for being patient and waiting for me to release. Until next time.
Ja ne
