Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine
chapter 9: back in black, part 1
August 18, 2572
location: Sol system, Earth, Australia- Sydney
"I'd be happy to show you what one of your eyes looks like, disconnected" Rebbecca spat, whoever this Ackerson guy was, he was trouble.
Ackerson let out a hardy laugh, "your mother made a similar threat nineteen years ago, when she couldn't see past her love for her little Spartan boyfriend and the father of her child, when she should have done her duty like we programed those things for."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Rebbecca asked.
"Four months before you were born, Ackerson tried to kidnap your mother and force her to have an abortion so ONI could examine you in a fetal stage" Johnson bitterly explained.
"Yes, that was an unfortunate miscalculation on my part" Ackerson replied.
Rebbecca was strongly considering pulling out her pistol and putting two in this man's head, no matter the consequences from the ODSTs.
"Why aren't you still in prison?" Johnson asked.
"With the tragic death of Admiral Hood, lets just say some of the influence he and his surviving allies still hold isn't enough to keep me in prison", he started walking around Johnson and Rebbecca, explaining. "Although I lost my commission, ONI knew my talents were too good to be wasted and so they brought me on as a sort of 'civilian consultant'. Section three wanted me to start work on a new operation they wanted put into action, for an upcoming project of theirs."
"And what is that?" Rebbecca asked.
"You, Corporal Rebbecca Stevens" Ackerson said. "You are the first successful offspring of two Spartans, something we never thought possible. We had taken sperm and eggs from the Spartan-IIs to try and combine in the lab, but that met with failure. However your father managed to successfully impregnate your mother, and she gave birth to you. You're the next step in the Spartan program, a Spartan 2.5. A human who genetically meets all the requirements for the Spartan augmentation procedure. We can augment and train future Spartans in a fraction of the time it took to train your parents and my own Spartans."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Rebbecca asked.
"Because I want to offer you the chance to join this project willingly" Ackerson said, "force just doesn't quite suit me as much as it did in the past. You could also say that prison has opened me up to other possibilities."
"In terms of companionship, fruitcake?" Johnson asked.
Ackerson gave Johnson a glare before continuing on with Rebbecca.
"Corporal, what I'm offering is the chance to safeguard human lives through your efforts" Ackerson said.
"Fat chance!" Rebbecca spat. "The fact you tried to kill me before I was even born didn't play in your favor. Not that it would have made a difference anyway."
"I see" Ackerson said, "either way, you are coming with me, Rebbecca."
The helljumpers began to move closer, one of them removing a syringe from his vest. Rebbecca fumbled around in her pocket for the pistol when she came across the remote that Jilan had given her. She knew a pistol had a better chance of getting them out of this mess, but just maybe her aunt had a few surprises in store. She clicked the remote and for some reason, her spine started to tingle. Rebbecca immediately reached out and grabbed Avery's upper arm just as her vision was blinded by gold light that seemed to envelope her and Johnson. She blinked once, and the lobby had disappeared and was replaced with a small room with two other people in it. The second she drew a breath, she was instantly nauseous and collapsed on her knees, throwing up on the floor.
"Shake it off, Marine" Johnson said as he looped his arm around hers and brought her back up. The room was nearly pitch black and she couldn't make out the two people as clearly as before.
"Sorry about the lights, it takes a lot of power to run the translocation system" a female voice said before the lights came back on. Rebbecca noticed she was an officer and promptly snapped to.
"At ease, Corporal" she replied, "I'm Commander Alison Sinclair, welcome aboard the prowler Livewire."
"What the hell was that thing?" Rebbecca asked.
"A reverse engineered Forerunner translocation system" Sinclair explained, "we're the first ship to test it, and barring a complete examination, I think you two made it fine for the first dry run."
Rebbecca felt like loosing her lunch again but regained her composure as Johnson helped her into the corridor as they followed the Commander and her aid. There was no other activity on the ship as they reached the zero g tube and free-floated to the bridge. Rebbecca's stomach started to feel considerably better as they settled back in gravity. Sinclair took the command chair as the remaining bridge crew manned their stations, seven in total. Outside of the viewscreen, Rebbecca could see the metallic hull of a stardock, most likely this prowler was docked at McKinley station, the largest shipyard over Earth.
"Ma'am, McKinley detected our power drop, they say they're sending assistance" the officer manning the helm said.
"You mean a security team" Sinclair corrected, "helm cut all moorings. Engines back ahead, one half."
"Aye, sir."
Rebbecca felt the ship rumble as it's sublight engines activated, and it's forward thrusters pushed the tiny craft away from the station. The prowler quickly accelerated away from the station just as the security team reached the airlock they were docked at not a minute before.
"Helm, course bearing nine, nine, mark seven zero. Take us behind Luna."
"Sir, three ships on an intercept course. Lead ship is the carrier Pegasus, she's ordering us to stand down and prepare to be boarded" the ops officer said.
"Maintain course" Sinclair ordered, "red line the reactor if we have to, I wanna get behind the moon before we go."
"Where are we going?" Rebbecca asked.
"We're using the crystal" Sinclair replied.
"Sir, Pegasus has launched longswords on intercept course" the COM officer said. "I'm also intercepting orders for Luna base to launch fighters and turn main weapons batteries on us."
"Maintain course" Sinclair replied.
Suddenly, a waring in red letters flashed across the viewscreen: weapons lock on starship. The computer automatically put the ship to battlestations. Though they didn't stand a chance in hell of surviving Luna base's assault. There were three strategically placed super MAC guns on the surface that could take multiple targets, or fire at a single one if necessary. She also had five full squadrons of longswords for top cover or fighter intercept. More than enough firepower to gut their prowler several times over.
"Helm, evasive roll, five second rotation" Sinclair ordered.
Rebbecca felt the thuds as the thrusters began firing in rapid succession, and saw the space outside the viewscreen start to spin.
"Sir, missile silos on Luna have opened, detecting twenty surface to ship EMP missiles being loaded" ops reported.
"Prepare to activate the crystal on my mark" Sinclair said.
"Missile launch! Time to impact, twenty seconds!"
"On my mark" Sinclair said.
"Ten seconds!"
Activate in "three, two, one... now!"
Rebbecca shielded her eyes as a bright flash filled the viewscreen before it shut off, along with every computer on the bridge. The ship began to shake, slowly at first, then it began to speed up before abruptly stopping. The computers one by one, started to come back online, each of the bridge crew began running checks on the various systems.
"Report?" Sinclair asked.
"Picture clear" ops reported.
"COM clear" the COM Officer reported, "no UNSC signals of any kind. I am detecting a variety of low frequency EM transmissions from the other side of the moon."
"Just like the reports" Sinclair muttered. "Launch a STARS, have it circle over the moon to face Earth." Sinclair rotated her chair to face Johnson and Rebbecca, "I think it's time you were brought up to speed."
--
Rebbecca and Johnson were brought down to a conference room by Commander Sinclair who carried with her a folder marked classified. The room itself wasn't much bigger than the bridge and featured chairs that were built into the table. Once they were settled in the chairs, the Commander began to explain.
"This mission is a lot more important than solving your parent's fates I'm afraid" Sinclair said. "This sole mission's purpose it to put you where Ackerson can't find you. Everything, including the fight that got you suspended was designed to get you here."
"Wait, why?" Rebbecca asked.
"Ackerson was planning to kidnap you during your company's annual war games exercises. Captain al-Cygni discovered this, along with Ackerson's ultimate goal, perform a coup of the civilian government and assassinate HIGHCOM members."
"Why me though, why am I suddenly the target?" Rebbecca asked.
"I'm not sure this is something you wanna hear" Sinclair said.
"I deserve to know!" Rebbecca barked.
Sinclair sighed before continuing, "from what Captain al-Cygni gathered, he was... planning to extract eggs from your ovaries, then combine hem with the sperm samples he has of the other Spartan IIs until he managed to produce an embryo. Then he would clone it as many times as he wanted in order to produce enough genetically capable Spartans."
Rebbecca felt like she was going to loose her stomach again, and considering she had nothing left to throw up, dry heaves weren't such a good idea. She began deep breathing until her stomach was settled, this guy Ackerson was worse than she ever imagined. What he was planning was no better than violating her, hell he was probably planning to do that too.
"You knew?" Rebbecca asked Johnson.
"I knew you were in danger and that we had to get you here" Johnson replied, "I was counting on you having that dream back in Chicago, otherwise it would have been a whole lot harder getting you aboard."
"So what happens now?" Rebbecca asked.
"You go down to the surface to make contact with your grandparents, and persuade them to let you stay with them" Johnson said.
"Why do I have to stay here?" Rebbecca asked.
"We can't take you back with us" Sinclair said, "Ackerson won't rest until you're in his possession, that's why we couldn't simply take you to another colony, his people are too resourceful. Captain al-Cygni is taking the evidence to HIGHCOM. From there it could very well degenerate into a civil war, until Ackerson and his people are gone, you're staying here."
"I don't get a say in this?" Rebbecca asked.
"I'm afraid not" Johnson said.
An Ensign entered the conference room and handed Commander Sinclair a datapad, then left.
"This is the data our satellite gathered, from what we can tell everything appears to be in order on the surface" Sinclair said.
"So does that mean we're still going down?" Rebbecca asked.
"As soon as we're in range to use the translocation system" Sinclair said. "I'm giving you 24 hours, Johnson, then you're coming back up. Corporal, you stay either way, an I understood?"
"Yes, sir" Rebbecca replied.
September 7, 2011
Location: Earth, North America- Alexandria, VA
The second time being translocated was much easier than the first, but Rebbecca was still feeling nauseous. She and Johnson had changed into clothes that were more civilian looking for the era, and they had been translocated into the middle of a forest so as not to draw unwanted attention. Johnson was carrying a handheld computer that marked the location of her grandparents house. They were in the woods for almost fifteen minutes before emerging onto a suburban street.
Rebbecca found it strange to blend in at first, there were no electric cars, no signs that used holographic imagery, there were no aircraft except for the occasional plane heading toward Ronald Regan national. People weren't dressed all that differently, but the cars they used ejected large amounts of toxic fumes that made Rebbecca feel like gagging whenever they'd pass by.
"So this is where my father's from?" Rebbecca said.
"Apparently so" Johnson said, "although according to the records, it's been about two years since he was here last."
"So there's no telling if they're even still living in the city?" Rebbecca said.
"Well, gotta take a chance sometime" Johnson said as they rounded the corner onto highgate street, the street was lined with houses that probably belonged to middle and upper class families. Johnson followed the PDA's highlighted path until it terminated in front of a medium sized, two floor house. The driveway was a horseshoe shape that had three cars parked in it, one was a large black boxy cars and the other two were a medium sized van like the ones Rebbecca had seen on the walk, and a small four seater car.
"This is it" Johnson said.
"Well, only one way to find out if they still live here" Rebbecca said as they walked up to the door. She started searching for the control pad that normally had the fingerprint ID and door chime, but there was none. All that was there was a small rectangular button located next to the door handle on the door frame. Rebbecca silently cursed herself for not being able to properly remember that not only was she in a parallel universe, but 500 years in the past. Rebbecca pressed the button and held it down for several seconds, she had herd a chime go off from inside as assumed it was ok to stop pressing it. Just as she did, the door opened and Rebbecca was face to face with a pair of blue eyes identical to her own.
"Can I help you?" the woman asked, she had jet black, shoulder-length hair and appeared to be in her late thirties.
"Is this the Stevens residence?" Rebbecca asked.
"Yes, I'm Marlyn Stevens" the woman replied.
"Look, uh..." Rebbecca took a deep breath before continuing, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but my name is Rebbecca Stevens. My father's name is Kyle Stevens... and he was your son."
Marlyn stood there perplexed at the stranger who had just shown up claiming to be the daughter of her deceased son, but then she looked Rebbecca over for a moment before recognizing the face, the face that her husband and son had both shared. Then of course there were the eyes, electric blue like Kyle's and hers.
"Is it you?" Marlyn asked.
"Uh, how in the hell am I supposed to prove that?" Rebbecca snapped.
Marlyn started to chuckle a little, and Rebbecca could have sworn she was tearing up, "I'd know that attitude anywhere" she said as she wrapped her arms around Rebbecca, "it is you."
Rebbecca was shocked at first, but slowly placed her hands on her grandmother's back and returned the hug.
"Oh, I completely forgot" Rebbecca said as she broke the hug and turned to face Johnson. "This is..."
"Sergeant Johnson" Marlyn finished, "I studied up on Halo when Kyle left. I'd know your face anywhere."
Rebbecca wasn't sure what Halo was supposed to be, but didn't dwell on it as Marlyn led them both inside. Directly in front of the door was a staircase that presumably led upstairs, and to the right was an archway that led into a living room. Another man was seated on the couch, reading a newspaper when he looked up and saw Johnson and Rebbecca entering.
"Marlyn, who are they?" He said as he stood up.
"Alan... Alan, she's Rebbecca."
"Rebbecca? You mean she's Kyle's..."
Marlyn nodded.
"You're sure?"
"Alan, look at her and honestly tell me you don't see him in her" Marlyn said.
"How is this possible?" Alan Stevens asked Rebbecca. "He said you were only six."
"That was thirteen years ago for me" Rebbecca muttered.
"So... who's your friend then?" Alan asked.
"Avery Johnson" Johnson said as he walked forward and extended his hand, "up until a year ago I was her guardian."
"What happened a year ago?" Alan asked.
"She turned eighteen, and unlike like every other rebellious teen on the block she went straight for the corps" Johnson said.
Alan shook Johnson's hand. "You Marine?" He asked.
"Ex-Sergeant Major" Johnson replied, "your granddaughter here is quite the up and coming Corporal."
"I have a feeling this is going to be one interesting story" Alan said as he smiled. And for the first time since her life had been turned upside down, Rebbecca smiled.
--
The next hour was spent getting to know one another in Alan's study. It was an oak paneled room with no windows, but had a pair of couches and and desk. Along the walls were various pictures of men in uniform, framed medals and assorted regiment patches, all of which belonged to the United States Marine Corps. Her grandfather began telling her stories of her family, which was career military dating back to the Spanish-American war.
"Your great-great-grandfather fought in the pacific. Your great-grandfather, my father, was a Marine aviator in the Vietnam war. I however chose ground combat. And your father.... well he was something different. Not like your uncle, your real one I mean, career Marine, like I hope his younger brother chooses."
"So I have two uncles?" Rebbecca asked.
"Yes" Marlyn replied, "I wish you could meet them, but Josh is on a school trip to New York and David is deployed on the USS George HW Bush."
"I might get the chance actually" Rebbecca said.
"You plan on staying long?" Alan asked.
Rebbecca began to explain what had happened back home, from getting suspended from the Marines, to Ackerson's attempted kidnapping and his plans for her. Both her grandparents were pale faced when she finished.
"Look, it's not safe for her back home" Johnson chimed in. "If Ackerson gets a hold of her and...."
"You don't need to tell me anymore, Sergeant" Alan said, "Rebbecca is certainly welcome to stay here if her life is in danger."
"You mean it?" Rebbecca asked.
"Honey, we wouldn't dare turn you away" Marlyn said, "you're family."
"Look, I know this isn't a good time, but there's another reason I came here" Rebbecca said. "On my Earth, the UNSC classified the mission my parents were on, I know they came here to stop a Covenant ship, and obviously you're still here. I wanted to know if you know what happened to them?"
"We know" Alan said, "are you sure you wanna hear this?"
"Absolutely" Rebbecca replied.
"Ok" Alan said as he reclined back on the couch, "after your father arrived...."