Chapter 7: Secret
Planet Orta, Genesis military complex, tower one, second floor medical center, room eighteen
July, 24, 2552
4:27pm
Jonnies eyes slowly opened, he stared at a light above him. The Spartan realized he was lying down on something, but still not sure what's going on. "Is this it….am I dead" The confused Red Army Spartan said in his mind. He slowly started to regain conscious. Sounds of footsteps were going by him; he now realized he was in a room on a bed. People passed by outside the open door of the room, Jonnie watched them.
Eventually he sat up, his head hurt badly and his body felt terrible. Jonnie then looked around; there were medical supplies and equipment all around the room. He finally returned to his senses and figured out that he was in a hospital room. Jonnie also had his Spartan armor on; his helmet was on a table near him, it was clean and not smeared with blood. The wounded red Spartan lied down on the bed, watching what's going on outside his room. Minutes later Victoria entered the room, she had her Spartan helmet in her right hand. She glanced at Jonnie as she approached him and sat on a chair next to his bed.
Jonnie finally remembered the encounter with his brother, and the mission. His eyes widen and then asked Victoria. "Victoria. Where am I? What happened on the mission?! Is…is everyone alright?"
Then Victoria slightly raised her hand to silence Jonnie, and then said to him. "I was just about to explain." She placed her hand on Jonnies left shoulder for a moment and let go. Victoria started giving out an explanation informally. "Your back here at Genesis in a medical center. Two of our shock troopers got wounded, but they're going to be alright."
"Hmm" Was Jonnies simple response, he was still thinking about the past events in the mission. Victoria was silent for a few seconds, she then continued.
"I took care of you while Aaron's troops secured the rebel base back at Gyro. We were able to call UNSC forces for aid, and to secure the perimeter."
Then Jonnie remembered something. "But next to the base, that enemy tank, who got rid of that?"
"The reinforcements destroyed it with ease." Victoria answered calmly. The two Spartans went silent for a moment. Then Jonnie turned his head away from Victoria and asked.
"Tell me, is my brother really dead?"
She replied in a calm tone. "Um…..yes." Silence went by again. Then eventually Victoria said to him. "You never told me you had a brother, why didn't you tell me? And judging by how you were acting back on the mission, you were looking for something. Jonnie…what's going on?" Jonnie was quiet for a moment, he then asked her.
"First of all, when are we going to see the rest of the squad?"
Victoria blinked twice, and then replied. "Well, were going to check up on you in one thousand seven hundred hours. Why?"
"Because I have a lot of things to explain to you and the others…." Jonnie said and went silent. Then Victoria remembered something.
"Oh yeah…Jonnie, I have to get going now. I have to report to the commander in chief about you and the others who were wounded in battle."
"Oh, alright" The wounded Spartan said quietly. Victoria got up from the chair and grabbed her red Spartan helmet. Then Jonnie said. "Victoria?"
She paused and turned towards him. "Yeah" The Spartan simply said to him. Jonnie reached out his left arm and firmly grasped Victoria's right hand.
"Thanks for being there for me when I needed you the most. Throughout the Covenant war, and this war…..I'll see you later alright." Victoria nodded to Jonnie and gave a smile that quickly disappeared. He let go of Victoria's hand. She walked out of the room, Jonnie watched her. He felt like this was the last time she was going to be with him. The secret Jonnie is going to say to her and to his other Spartan comrades later on….they might not trust him ever again.
****
Planet Orta, Genesis military complex, Red army commander's dorm
4:47pm
Inside the Red Army commander in chiefs very own dorm, Commander Randy stood next to his desk reading the mission summary. He had a chair next to the desk but he preferred to stand most of the time. After looking through the casualty report he was pleased that no one was killed, but he was a little surprised to see Jonnie, the Spartan as one of the wounded. Also still puzzled by the recent fact that the UNSC rebels created cyborgs from their own dead troops to fight against the Red Army, from what Aaron told him. So many thoughts and questions were running in Randy's mind, so much.
Then his transmitter on his desk beeped repeatedly. Randy sat on his chair and pressed the "Accept trans" button. He took a deep breath to ease himself. A rectangle screen came down from the ceiling and blinked on and revealed who it was….Commander Randy was surprised to see it was Dr. Halsey. Someone he worked with for a long time, but yet he still didn't look at her as a friend, just a trusted ally.
*"Commander Randy, it's been a while."* Dr. Halsey said to the commander in a calm tone. To Randy, she hasn't really changed much. Like she said, it has been quite some time since they spoke or seen each other.
*"Yeah it has been a long time."* The Red Army leader said back to her, he looked down for a second and continued. *"So how's YOUR Spartans doing on the war effort?*
She sighed and then replied in a low tone. *"Good and bad, we had our victories, but we had more defeats and many lives lost."*
*"Hmm…."* Randy then gave a slight frown as he looked down again in thought. A spark of memories of his time during Orta's role in the Covenant war went by his mind. If the civil war on his planet didn't happen, project VIOLET would have still been in action. Silence took over, until Dr. Halsey said.
*"I want to talk to you about something….about a special and secret operation I think one of your Spartans could accomplish along with the assistance of one of MY Spartans."*
This made the commander wonder. *"With one of your Spartans, what kind of mission could this be?"* Randy asked her.
*"A mission that we BOTH need to accomplish."* Dr. Halsey replied. *"Do you remember the Blue Army commander in chief?"*
*"Yes, you mean Belgium Grandoff?"* Randy replied without having to remember. The Blue Army commander in chief, Belgium, was once a close friend to Randy. He never slightly expected the Blue Army leader to betray him. They worked together on operations against the Covenant long ago, leading both of their Spartans to battle….but not anymore. Randy was both angry and depressed by Belgium's betrayal, and knew he now had to kill him if the opportunity came up.
Dr. Halsey nodded positively. *"Precisely, he needs to be terminated."*
*"Indeed…"* Commander Randy said. *"But he could be anywhere. So what does this have to do with you?"*
Dr Halsey replied. *"Allow me to explain….My tension on eliminating the Blue Army commander was because of the weapon manufacture crash of 2548. I'm sure you remember that event."*
*"Um, yeah"* the Red Army commander replied. *"That was when planet Reach SOMEHOW lost about fifty five percent of their weapons, right?"* He wasn't sure if he should of said that to her. Dr Halsey nodded and said.
*"I sent a few spies from Reach to investigate on Belgium ever since the civil war on your planet began. Eventually they found out that he was the one who lead the weapon crash of forty eight. In other words, Commander Belgium STOLE weapons from Reach military complex. This created problems for MY Spartans and the UNSC on Reach. Of course, we recovered quickly. He is still a treat of corrupting other UNSC organizations on other planets."*
Randy gave slight tension as he said. *"So….that's how the Blue Army and the UNSC rebels got all those weapons, to fight against MY army, damn him to hell!"* This started to make the Red Army commander a little angry; he did have a slight temper that went on sometimes.
Then Dr. Halsey calmed him down. *"Take it easy, I want him to pay for this as well."*
*"How did he get away with that"* Randy asked her. She replied on the transmission.
*"From what my people told me…he has friends in high places, let's just say that. The good news is that we now know where he is, and it's at an area that one of MY Spartans is familiar with. The bad news, he is heavily guarded."*
*"Hmm, an area that one of your Spartans knows about?"* Randy said, unsure what else to say.
Dr. Halsey then asked him. *"Remember the Covenant ship that crash landed at Si-Ran city and I sent a squad to investigate three months ago?"* Randy nodded, he remembered that event. That was back then when the Covenant ATTEMPTED to fight planet Orta. Eventually the Covenant lost interest on the planet after a series of defeats. Also during that time, UNSC marines, and the Red and Blue armies were fighting Covenant groups on the WESTERN continents. Reach was generous enough to send some troops to the east of planet Orta; just to be sure Covenant didn't invade there. That was around the time Reach and Genesis USED to do joint operations all the time.
Planet Orta had five large continents around the globe. The central continent, were the location of Genesis is at, and the civil war is taking place so far. Then there were the areas west and east of the center continent, the western and eastern continents. Si-Ran city was located at the eastern continents, it was a huge metropolis. Then there was the arctic north and south continents.
*"The head of that squad I sent was one of my Spartans."* Dr. Halsey continued. *"They were at that city for two weeks."*
Then the commander asked. *"So who's this Spartan that you speak of?"*
She replied informally. *"A skilled sniper….her name is Linda. I want her to work with one of YOUR Spartans on this mission."* Randy asked another question.
*"Only two Spartans for this mission, Why that?"*
*"Because I want this to be a sniper operation, they'll assassinate the Blue Army commander and get out of there…so, which one of your Spartans will work with Linda?"* Dr. Halsey asked.
Commander Randy replied to her. *"I think I know the guy for the job…So what's the plan?"* She was already ahead of him on a plan.
*"Alright, this is what where going to do…."*
****
Planet Orta, Genesis military complex, tower one, second floor medical center, room eighteen
5:00pm
Aaron, Nico, Victoria, and Marcus arrived to the hospital room were wounded Jonnie laid in agony. They all stood beside Jonnies bed. The wounded red Spartan glanced at them with a nervous look, he then sat up. Squad leader Aaron then said to Jonnie. "So, Victoria told us you had something to tell us. What is it?" Jonnie tried to figure out what to say, it took him a few seconds. He finally said.
"Well, I have a lot to explain so get comfortable. It has something to do with my encounter at Gyro, and about the beginning of this war.…Well to start things off I ran into a blue Spartan that I found out that he was my bro-"
Then Aaron interrupted him. "Victoria already explained about your brother Jacob as well. You don't have to go through that part."
"Hmm" Jonnie got to the point. "Yeah my brother, Jacob, was a Spartan in the Blue Army. When we went to Gyro village I knew that I would probably run into him. I was also looking for the house that Jacob and his father lived at. For an odd reason I thought he would be there."
Then Victoria said. "So that's why you were staring at that one house in that residential neighborhood...but you told me that you were born on planet Jeff-re, so how did your brother end up on planet Orta?"
Jonnie took a moment to think back to his childhood, which would both answer the female Spartans question and have him tell his confession. He then quietly said. "Before I was sent to the UNSC my parents got divorced. My mom took me, and my dad took my brother. Later on my dad sent us a letter telling me how things were going and that he moved to planet Orta….Me and my mother still lived on Jeff-re."
Nico was impressed by Jonnies sharp memory. He couldn't remember his childhood past. Going through Spartan training and discipline wiped out most of the Spartans memories from long ago….it was nothing more than mysterious quiet whispers in their minds.
"A year later my mom..." Jonnie gave a second of silence before he continued. "died from a deadly disease. I was sitting next to her in a hospital when this happened. So another woman named Kristin adopted me."
Then Marcus raised one of his eyebrows in question and asked the red Spartan. "Wait. From what you said earlier, what does this have to do with you and the beginning of the war?"
Jonnie replied. "You'll understand, just let me explain. So another year later my new mother admitted that she was chosen to be an associate specialist in the project VIOLET program. She told me she had orders from the UNSC at Genesis to have me drafted to the Red Army. So, many years later right BEFORE I was assigned in this squad, squad seven…I found something that I regretted…."
Then Jonnie was silent for a few seconds. His comrades could just stand and listen, wondering what he was trying to tell them. The wounded Spartan continued explaining the memory.
"One late night after a late meeting, I head back to the barracks. But instead of taking the same long route, I went a different path that I was BARELY familiar with that no one else went. When I was about to go around a corner I heard a conversation coming from the other side. I figured it was late at night and hardly anybody should be out, from instinct I thought something was up. I stood behind the wall and listened to what they were saying. They discussed about getting the blue Spartans and the rebel marines out of the military complex. Then I heard Jacob's voice as well. I peeked out to see if it was really my brother. One of them noticed me, and then a group of people came behind me and grabbed me. I didn't have my Spartan armor on and they all had assault weapons and shotguns, so I cooperated. I was brought towards my brother…."
There was a short pause. He then went on. "Jacob told me that I know about what there up to, at first they were going to kill me, but my brother thought I could be used as an advantage for his and the Blue Army's escape. He told me if I don't do what he says then he will kill my step mother, I have no idea how he figured out about Kristin, but he did, and knows everything about her. So…I had no choice."
Jonnie paused and looked down for a few seconds.
"I did what my brother requested. On July, 18, 2552, while you guys were asleep, I set a time bomb on a security wall, and then I went back to the barracks. The explosion went off and I knew everything went to plan. Even though when we all took out the rebel settlement at Harmon town, Kristin was killed while with Randy, from what I was informed on COM channel later on. Randy told me a blue Spartan killed her...I knew it was Jacob, and he got away with it. I don't know what drove him to kill her. My brother last told me she knew a lot about something, that's all I know."
Jonnies comrades just stared at him. Then eventually he looked at the Spartans and finally had the courage to speak the truth. "I'M the REASON that the blue Spartans escaped Genesis."
Aaron, Marcus, Victoria, and even Nico were shocked and lost for words. Jonnie then said with trembling lips "Watching my birth mother die was hard enough for me. I didn't want to have Kristin die for my situation." Then Aaron, Jonnies own comrade, punched him across the face but with barely HALF of full force. Jonnie flung back down on his bed, two of his teeth popped out. Then Aaron said in a slight angered tone.
"Jonnie…I can't believe you made someone take advantage of you so easily, just like that." Then the wounded Spartan put his face against his pillow, he couldn't even look at Aaron.
"The last time I checked you were a SPARTAN." Aaron said fiercely. "You're a disgrace to the Red Army, you're pathetic!" Silence went on for a few seconds. Then Aaron sighed and informed the wounded Spartan in a more calm tone. "I got orders from the commander to pick your ass up tomorrow at seven hundred hours." The squad leader then stormed out of the room.
Then Victoria quietly murmured to Jonnie. "I'm disappointed Jonnie…." She then walked out of the hospital room.
"I can't believe you, seriously." Marcus said as he joined his comrades. Nico stared at Jonnie for a few seconds, and then he shook his head in disappointment and left the room. Jonnie was ashamed of himself.
"Aaron's right, I'm pathetic" The shamed Spartan said in his mind. Jonnie felt shame and regret stab him hard. He hated himself for what he had done...He's probably the reason why the red and blue Spartans are now fighting each other.
