Chapter VII: Isolation Policy
"Do you ever wonder what's up there?"
"Like what?"
"Maybe someone up there is probably wondering what it's like here."
Gamma Company had slowly regrouped, highly battered and bruised but victorious. The rebel stronghold had fallen and the ship taken out of the sky. It was the next part of the plan which was going to be the most tricky. Forty Spartans with still intact armour were assigned to dragging the rebel ship out of the jungle and onto the clear landing strip nearby with the help of some Warthogs. It was a hard job, but they managed to do it.
They numbered only a hundred now. Forty more were severely injured and some even maimed, loosing arms and legs. They had been gathered together in a triage area where their fellow Spartans worked to apply bio-foam to their injuries. Thankfully, one of Gamma's merits was that they were made for deployment as a company rather than just squads, thus amongst the company there were those who'd received specialist training in treating severe injuries in the field. Sadly, only one of the company medics was still alive today.
G-164 Reece had foregone armour to another squad member who was busy working on the ship, and now she was constantly going back and forth treated wounded Spartans in overalls as well as a plain leather jacket nicked from a fallen rebel. Night was falling and a deep cold was coming to replace the scorching heat of the day. Kelly watched on, seeing Reece handle so many wounds. Bio-Foam was running low and they certainly wouldn't have enough. Some squads were already bitterly mumbling about the lack of evac and why they were still here watching their comrades die.
The Falcons that had brought them in no longer responded and everything else had dropped off the radar. Time was running out and Kelly didn't know how longer they could delay. Someone must be stalling for time since they weren't dead yet.
"Scimitar Team, report."
"We've reached the southern end of the base, encountering light resistance," Isaiah called from the other end of the radio. "We've managed to commandeer eight Pelicans from enemy hands. They're undamaged and ready to go."
"That's the best news all day, Scimitar," Kelly responded, looking at the air around them. She thanked existence for small miracles. The bio-weapon had dispersed now, allowing them to actually escape. "Get your Spartans aboard and fly them to the southern end of the landing strip. Get the wounded loaded ASAP."
Good, commandeering the rebel's own vehicles would take so much burden off what they needed to do now. They had to get the rebel ship that had just fallen out of the sky flying again. Like all vessels designed to survive in vacuum, it was significantly tough and it had survived the fall with only minor damage and minus the entire crew. Gamma Company had finished dragging it onto the air strip and began repair operations as instructed. It wasn't designed to take out like a conventional aircraft, but with clever use of the remaining rocket pods, they could get this thing off the ground.
"Your going to have to operate on them later," Kelly told Reece. "Evacuation is coming."
"Yes, Ma'am," Reece answered, wrapping the arm of a fallen member of Saber team with bandages. All the skin had melted away. Thankfully he'd live. "Permission to speak, ma'am?"
"Granted."
"Where exactly are we evacuating to? You've already told me we aren't returning to the fleet," Reece questioned. "Some of them will not survive without operations we can only do with the proper equipment.
"We're evacuating elsewhere," Kelly told her, glad nobody could see behind the visor. She gritted her teeth. "I'm afraid your going to have to make do with what you have here."
"Yes, ma'am," Reece answered.
The Pelicans appeared on the horizon now, in the grey-green colours of the Brandenburg Liberation Army. They set down on the far end of the runway and everything started to get under way. The work teams dragging the ship had returned and about eighty Spartans assembled.
"Alright, everyone!" Kelly shouted. "Listen up! This is what we need to do. We need to get that freighter up into orbit, and we're going to have no help from the fleet to do it. That thing is going to fly and we're going to follow behind in with the Pelicans."
"With all due respect, commander," the assigned leader of the work teams, G-028 Hammad spoke up. "That ship has been heavily damaged. Only five of the rocket pods still work, and you'd need twelve to get a proper lift off. It's not going anywhere."
"That's why it's on the landing strip," Kelly explained. "It's not going to go straight up, it's going to climb like an the old conventional aircraft we had a few centuries ago. Scrap the fifth pod and put two on the back and front. Angle them so that we can just get the lift necessary to point the freighter skyward. Then all the we need to do is fly out of here on the freighter's own engines. Forty will be aboard and the rest will follow behind in the Pelicans. Do you understand that? Get on it!"
They didn't need to ask any more questions. They returned to the freighter now and began removing the rocket pods and then putting them into the necessary positions. With them balanced out, they could get a stable lift and tilted to the right degree, they should be able to got hurtling down this runway to either take off or certain death. It would be worth it though, because the only alternative was failure and death anyway.
There was a coming fire on the horizon. New Brandenburg was burning as the Navy dropped MAC strikes down on the planet they orbited. They needed to get out of here fast.
"Move it! Move it! Get to your positions!" Kelly continued to shout. They'd gotten the rocket boosters secured now, working with commandeered power tools from the nearby hangers. The Pelicans were ready to take off behind them. All that was left now was launch. Once every team leader gave the green signal, they got under way. "Take off."
In the end, she'd only placed twenty Spartans on the freighter, the left overs from those who couldn't fit on the Pelicans. This take off was going to be risky. The piloting Spartan activated the rocket boosters and the ship shuddered. They weren't enough to lift the freighter off the landing strip and the ship shuddered.
"Begin the tilt," Kelly commanded. The engines were slowly rotated, and the freighter began skidding along the runway. "Now, give a bit of power to our engines."
The powerful freighter engines activated, enough power to send them hurtling through space. At a mere hundredth of their power, they were sent thundering down the runway. The rocket boosters were pointed forward, pushing the freighter off the ground and moving the nose upward. Slowly, they were able to slowly angle upward, lifting off. Well, it all turned out better than expected but it was no easy ride. The ship continued to shudder as it took off and narrowly avoided crashing into the jungle at the end of the runway. The flight of Pelicans followed behind them as they boosted up into the atmosphere.
"Open this COM channel," Kelly ordered, transferring the numbers. The team working to pilot the freighter opened the channel.
"Spartan-087," an AI spoke through the channel. "Good work on successfully retrieving the rebel vessel. I am taking remote control from here to bring it to the desired slip space coordinates. Disable the ship's security protocols."
They quickly worked on the console and opened the ship's network to the outside. Immediately, the unidentified AI took charge and began accelerating the freighter away from New Brandenburg; a world burning behind them.
"Pelican Pilots," The AI instructed, "Bring your craft into this approximate radius of the Freighter. I am expanding our shielding to allow you to piggy back off this ship through Slip Space."
The Pelican fleet behind them formed up and carefully took their place alongside the Freighter, brushing up as close as they could. Inside the freighter's shields, they wouldn't get torn apart or lost in the void of Slip Space. As soon as they were all within the radius safely, their AI controller activated the shielding and spun up the Slip Space drive. Soon, the portal appeared before them and they slipped inside and away from the storm.
On the bridge of the Idella, Admiral Belforn scowled at the planet below as another MAC strike was launched. It fell to the planet below and impacted with the force of ten megatons. There had already been about seventy strikes, each adding more and more damage to the planet.
"Confirmed hit," his weapon's officer reported. "Rebel target destroyed. Proceeding to next target"
Belforn rubbed the stubble underneath his chin, not able to pin down just how wrong this was. He thought he'd left the days of being left in the dark when he was only a captain. The Admiralty deserved to know what was going on. The way ONI had been holding all the cards over the years had made them ever more uneasy. It just got worse and worse until now he had no clue to what he was shooting at.
"Domocos, do you have any visual on this rebel targets?" Belforn questioned.
"Negative, sir," the AI centurion answered. "They are concealed targets. We're purely targeting them on the Intel provided to us by Intelligence."
"What's just the source behind this Intel of theirs?" the Admiral questioned.
"Sir?" Domocos queried.
"I said, where are they getting that Intel?" Belforn repeated.
"Unknown, but obviously, these are observations by ground side forces," Domocos told him.
"Sir, we have visual on rebel ships!" an officer reported. "We have confirmed sighting of a freighter and a number of BLA Pelicans!"
"Bring it on screen," the Admiral commanded and the enhanced visuals of the escaping rebel fleet appeared. "Get our fighters on them immediately."
"Longsword Squadrons are pursuing," a bridge officer informed him. "The freighter is jumping to Slip Space, Admiral. We won't be able to intercept."
"Can you plot a trajectory, Dom?" Belforn questioned. The AI blazed with red right.
"Destination unknown, sir," the AI answered. "That trajectory can only take them beyond UNSC space."
5th August, 2576 (UNSC Standard Military Calender)
"We have problems," Admiral Curtyn told her as he walked into the office. "Serious problems."
"Do we?" Parangosky asked, looking up from the papers she held. It was late night, and the shutters had closed, leaving the office only illuminated by a desk lamp. Curtyn took a seat across from the CINCONI.
"I've forwarded you the letter," Curtyn said. Parangosky slowed placed the papers down on the table and stared at him.
"I read the sentimental piece," Parangosky told him. "Very touching in its points, but a divided Korea we are not. As far as I'm concerned, the new chief of the Prowler Corps assures me that no insurrectionist ships have reached Venezia in the past few months. Our invisible blockade is intact as far as I know."
"The danger is that the letter infers that they've already received data," Curtyn pointed out. "That very special type of sensitive data."
"Now, that very special type of data has found its way Venezia," Parangosky said, crossing her frail arms. "Maybe I misjudged replacing you. That data should have never left New Brandenburg."
"New Brandenburg was four years ago," Curtyn pointed out.
"Secrets never die," Parangosky answered. "It doesn't matter if it was a thousand years ago. There are always loose ends. We do our best to tie most of them. With this however, we have been too slack. From what I read from the Brandenburg debriefings, that data is no doubt even more diluted now. It's likely that even Venezia considers the concept of another Human empire a myth. Do you advise any options?"
"Save invading the planet?" Curtyn said.
"Not on the table, I'm afraid," Parangosky replied. "It's only survived so long from the wooden top navy because of those leeching media idiots. It's only survived from us so long because we have all our worst enemies right where we can see them. We've built on that for years. Ironically, a citizen of Venezia is monitored a hundred times more so than anyone in the whole of UNSC space. We see every last bit of data there and no monitor has reported anything from the watch list."
"They posses the power to make something of this data though, even if its just on pieces of paper," Curtyn said. "Work with it? Sell it to the Kig-Yar?"
"Kig-Yar nationalism is out of hand as it is, I admit," Paranagosky agreed. "The last thing we need is the former Covenant states joining the Citadel Council block. That would be a disaster beyond control. It's an unlikely scenario however. Venezia and the Republic of Eayn are firmly under our watch and there is no possibility of an expedition getting out without mysteriously suffering a Slip Space malfunction. Thank the lord for Prowlers."
"Section Three has already drawn up contingency plans," Curtyn said. "In case it does happen however."
"I'm sure Admiral Rich has many good ideas," Parangosky said, a cruel smile appearing on her face. "I'm sure he has plenty of time to make contingency plans from where he is now."
Curtyn did his best not to react to that. Somebody must have caught on about something because for the past few years, Admiral Rich had been stuck on ONI's flagship project, far away from any civilization. Parangosky might have thrown him into a cell for all intents and purposes. The only time he wasn't on that non existent shipyard was when he was observing the progress of the Spartan program on Trevelyan.
"It's become visible to me that these plans more and more are beginning to include the deployment of our Spartan corps?" Parangosky questioned.
"Yes, you would have seen that the program is proceeding at the desired speed," Curtyn replied. "Rich tells us that they'll be ready for deployment in a maximum of six years. Meanwhile, we've finally suspended. No more new Spartan IV's. They'll stay as a force of two thousand only. That era is over."
"The galaxy moves too fast these days," Parangosky mused. "I'd ask him cutting that estimate down to four years at the rate things are going. We aren't doing enough to quash this threat. If I could turn back time, Anthony, when you asked me for close up surveillance, I should have slapped you. Would have saved me so much trouble. You should now consider it your top priority to fix this mess from your position in Section Three. The ideal solution is zero contact, not even from us here at ONI. That's why now I am going to order you to return this order to Section Three.
Destroy all technological samples. Clean slate all artificial intelligences and wipe the memories of all staff who have ever come into contact with Relay Space materials or Intel. From here forward, the Shield World shall be sealed completely and the Spartan program shall proceed in isolation. Anyone outside of ONI who even has the faintest clue of Relay space needs termination, immediately."
"Give us lights," Tammerson instructed and Ann flicked on the ceiling lights high above them. From their observation post on the side, the sealed warehouse beyond the protective glass was now illuminated. Halsey stood beside the chief instructor, watching on as the first round was due to start.
At the centre of the warehouse was a bunker, guarded by an eighteen strong platoon of Thor Droids a buffer and more heavily armed version of Loki Droid. The heavy weapons platforms had seen use in the Asari space during the Reaper invasion. Equipped with in-built Reverent Machine Guns, they could apparently make short work of even the toughest Reaper troops though in reality, they never had much success and were just too costly to construct. These machines weren't to be trifled however with and unlike all tests before this, they weren't playing around. These machines would shoot and hit hard, with countless stun ammunition in those assault rifles.
Not that it worried anybody but Ann, who never stopped finding reasons to disapprove of this exercise. Tammerson was totally confident in his recruits and Halsey didn't even need to bother to worry. Her Spartan II's could have cleared the room of these overweight robots within seconds. All they needed was a good push for the Thor's to loose their balance.
"The test begins now," Tammerson spoke into the loudspeaker. The THOR droids began their patrol routine, eight circling around the bottom of the bunker while another eight stood guard on top, keeping over-watch. Tammerson was surprised when Halsey requested of that the Engineers make this space without rafters. It eliminated the one route that the Spartan II's had taken the most advantage of. If these Spartans were to survive, they would need to find their own paths and not just mimic their predecessors.
Ann's holographic form wandered about the control room, looking at the monitors. There was still no sight of anything after ten seconds elapsed.
"Think its too challenging, Ann?" Tammerson asked the AI.
"My concern primarily is for the possibility of a failed exercise," Ann answered. "Are heavy machine guns necessary this early on in the program? No Spartan before has faced such a dangerous test at such an early age."
"Well, I think the stock answer there, is that they aren't like any Spartans who've gone before," Tammerson replied, smiling. "Twenty seconds now."
The AI Hades who controlled the droid team grew restless at the lack of finding a threat. Perfectly synchronized patrols covering all angles continued to find nothing and the AI who looked like some medieval Eastern European prince materialized to laugh.
"I believe I'm too good for this crowd," Hades claimed. "There's zero percent of them approaching unseen."
Finally, there was an audible crack and the lights above the bunker went out. Hades spun around and the droids continued their patrol patterns, switching sensor modes. They continued to circle the bunker, always facing outwards with rifles raised.
"I'm in agreement," Ann spoke up, "there is no chance of an approach that does not result in termination. There is no chance of avoiding a direct approach. This exercise is futile unless defeat is the desired result."
"Just wait," Halsey told the AI.
A cluster of grenades flew down from the sky and landed amongst the Thor droids, detonating in a thunderous explosion. The droids emerged unscathed asides from minor damage and the collapse of their shield units, unmoved. What they missed however, was how it blinded them to what was above. Four blurs landed after the grenades, right into the centre of the bunker top. The eight Thor's immediately spun around, but they were rammed into, thrown from the bunker top onto the dirt far below. The drop broke them.
A mixed team consisting of a Salarian, Bartarian and two Quarians immediately went prone on the bunker top as Hades had four of the machines turn to fire on the bunker while the other four continued to keep outwards watch. Unable to hit the bunker team, the Thor's back-pedalled away from the bunker and ran right into the trap. A hailstorm of rocks suddenly came over the nearby hill, bombarding the Thor's from behind. The chunks of stone bounced off the shields, but the Thor's spun around, Hades aware of the Spartan's position.
Choosing an offensive strategy, the AI had the killing machines scatter. It was too late now, because with that distraction, the Spartans on the bunker salvaged the heavy machine guns from the fallen machines. Two pairs handled a machine gun each, laying down suppressing fire on the Thor's below from the top of the bunker. The fire-fight continued, the Thor's still unable to hit the prone bunker team.
They were facing the wrong way now, because a Human Spartan suddenly appeared behind one Thor and stabbed a combat knife into the machine's core, scrambling the electronics inside. Before the machine's partner could bring its own weapon to bear, its fallen compatriot was suddenly lifted into the air. The Thor was chucked by an invisible force and crashed into its comrade, taking both machines out of the fight.
There was only six machines left standing now and too many angles to cover with the bunker in the midst of them. Two Spartans, the knife wielder and his Biotic comrade, took cover behind the fallen machines as Hades grew furious with the ever growing chances of defeat. He had his machines go back to back, all six of them facing out. Together with their combined fire power, two kept the team on the bunker pinned while the other four searched for targets. They moved out from the bunker and into the open.
Covered by shields, they were immune to Biotic attacks. The mechanical phalanx stood firm as more salvaged Reverent machine guns were fired down from the bunker. The machines were being worn down though.
"Permission to change the rules, instructor?" Hades asked Tammerson. The chief nodded.
"Surprise em."
A Thor outstretched its arm and an OMNI Tool flared to life. An electronic burst shot out, taking the nearest Turian down with a stun charge. Another machine sprinted around the Bunker, running as fast as a Warthog as it sprayed bullets. The eight Thor's that had fallen from the bunker earlier reactivated and stood up, battered but still intact. Now with fourteen machines in the fight, the rules had changed.
The Spartans reacted quickly though, not giving time for the machines to reform their perfect defence. They descended from the south side of the bunker, smashing into the droid's still finding their way up. The Biotic was no longer pinned down, standing up and throwing up a barrier that covered them from the quickly flanking attackers. The bunker team slipped away, escaping from their pinned position and off the bunker. Spartans fought hand to hand with the machines that stood three heads taller than them.
They started a retreat though, Hades bringing the rest of the machines back around the bunker to respond. The AI controlled force they faced was like no other military unit the UNSC would have encountered before. While a force of organic defenders would have been dead ages ago, the machines were adapters. For every attack, there was an instant response. They feared no enemy and would never break formation. It was a perfect simulation for a Geth opponents, though they were possibly more mobile and dynamic that a bunch of buffed up security droids.
Halsey knew some candidates stood out above others. One such candidate wasn't retreating, but continued to fight a Thor by herself. V-021 Ellie, Team Leader of Hornet fought the lumbering machine, kicking it in the centre of its frame but lacked the force to bring it off its feet. Hades responded, the Thor swinging its arm forward, which was easily dodged. Hades unexpectedly threw a kick, slamming the Spartan in the side and sending her toppling to the ground. The AI's hologram developed a grin as it worked with its greatest advantage. He knew how the enemy fought.
Hades moved to finish off the Spartan with a kick, but she rolled out of its path and back to her feet. The AI repeated the kick move but as it did, the Spartan seized its leg and pulled. The Thor struggled to bring its leg back down, but her grasp was too strong, yanking the machine forward. Unable to support itself, the droid fell back and collapsed to the ground. V-021 released the leg and leaped on top of the Thor. Before Hades could throw her off, she reached underneath the Thor's humanoid head and found purchase, tearing out wires. The Spartan bailed from the machine as it flung itself back up, but stumbled and collapsed face first into the dirt as its motorization went haywire.
The melee continued, more so in the Spartan's favour. Hades fought a dozen battles at once. Two more Thor's had taken up positions, exchanging fire with Spartans wielding stolen Reverent's. The machines just fought more unpredictably. One reactivated its OMNI Tool and stunned the Human in front of it, bringing the Spartan down to the ground. As it readied for the final blow however, it was thrown off its feet as it was shoulder barged by the Sangheili Spartan M'ka and sent stumbling back. Before it could use its OMNI Tool again, a stone that size of a head came out of the sky and cracked the Thor's metal casing open. The machine collapsed to the ground.
A hailstorm of dismembered machines flew through the air, crushing another Thor. The Biotic Spartan; May V-134, caught the attention of Hades and was peppered with stun rounds. The Spartan swayed for a moment before she collapsed.
"Was this what you intended?" Ann questioned.
"Chaos, yes," Tammerson replied. "This wasn't meant to be an easy stroll or completed within a minute. The advantage of these machines here is that they won't go down until I judge that they've completed this exercise. Bring more back, Hades."
The Thor's resurrected themselves again, bringing a surviving eight back to twelve. Only four were too damaged beyond repair thus far but the Spartans had only lost two of their number, with only thirteen still standing. The Biotic subject V-289 was downed as well as the Turian V-077. The rest of the Spartans were spread between firing captured machine guns from range or still fighting close up.
Halsey grew a bit more disappointed for every misstep. This was the first three team unit to undergo this test and they weren't performing as expected. There was a comradeship of the team now yes, Spartans looking out for their team-mates and working as small units but ever since the first resurrection, the coherence collapsed. They fought separately without any movement as a larger unit. They'd lost two team members because of this.
Of the three teams combined for this operation, Javelin was at least making an effort. Spartan Xev, Cross and M'tras worked together to bring down one Thor after another by combining the fire-power of their captured weapons. The Human, Turian and Sangheili made an efficient fire team but their Quarian and Salarian were MIA. Halsey searched the screens and couldn't find them.
Hornet and Tempest were just slugging it out with the THOR's. It was Hornet that started the brawl and refused to retreat, while as Tempest only stayed for that very reason. The teams functioned on their own, obeying the appointed squad leaders, but couldn't work together as peers. Was hierarchy all they understood? Tempest was finally breaking away now, dragging their fallen Biotic with them. That just left four members of Hornet to fight on their own, their own Quarian also not appearing.
"We've got three Spartans not on screen now," Halsey told Ananke. "Locate them."
"They're wise enough to eliminate the cameras," Ann replied. "Hades is using them."
Hornet was now surrounded, battered and kicked. They were minus one Turian and now the Sangheili Ro'gas went down, kicked into submission by four different machines. Now the last two Spartans, the ever persistent Ellie fighting back to back with V-299, the Bartarian wearily blinking his bruised eyes. Hades encircled them, using his numbers to simply beat them down. They had none of that though.
V-021 Ellie continued to fight, dodging the incoming machine fist. Ketei caught the Thor's arm and held it, while Ellie ducked underneath and slashed a knife across the underside, cutting the exposed cables. The arm now useless, the Thor flailed as Ketei seized the limb. Suddenly, the Thor began firing its Reverent as the Bartarian Spartan steered it to face the nearby machines, peppering them with their own bullets at close range. The Thor's coiled away, their shields collapsing. The circle broken, both Ellie and Ketei escaped, leaving the damaged Thor still firing wildly into the air.
"That's more like it," Tammerson said, nodding. Nearby, Tempest took cover, the Quarian Lena using a stolen OMNI Tool to remotely control the weapon.
"Oh, it's not over yet," Hades commented. There was now only seven Thor's left standing. Two were exchanging fire with Team Javelin while the other five readied themselves. The AI detonated the fallen machines, exploding them into a hailstorm of debris. They kicked up the sand that lined the floors, creating a blinding storm that even the observers were having trouble seeing through.
The Thor's had no issues with this though, because they charged through it, slamming into Spartans who couldn't see them coming. Javelin was forced to abandon their weapons as they had to face two incoming Thor's hand to hand. Hornet didn't manage to regroup with Tempest in time before they were hit.
A Thor shoulder barged Ellie, knocking her to the ground. The already bruised Spartan's vitals flared on the monitors, a notable head injury. Some bones broke. Ann's avatar flared a deep blue at that.
Hades knew the rules and left the crippled Spartan alone, turning the Thor around only to have a small boulder crash into the head mounted camera, smashing it to pieces. The Thor was thrown to the ground as Ketei was upon it, the Bartarian thrashing the machine's head before ramming it into the dirt. Tempest charged in, resuming the battle against the machines. There was now only about seven Spartans now, holding off six Thor's.
One Thor went to step back and got its foot stuck in a pit. Before Hades could bring his attention to it, the machine was disabled with a quick knife through the back of its neck. The electrical circuit within the machine broken, it couldn't function properly and only flailed as it fell to the ground. Their Salarian had reappeared, pulling the fallen Thor up as cover as a hailstorm of bullets came flying at him. The Salarian Kiree V-448 lured Hades attention as the Thor's tightened their formation.
Just as Thor's stood together again, they went flying as a Biotic explosion ignited between them. The Biotic Charge had delivered one of the absent Quarian from Hornet, who quickly sliced into one of the droid's before it could recover from the blast. Now no longer pinned down, Kiree charged in to support his team member. Javelin overcame their opponents, stomping on the fallen Thor's to keep them down for good.
It was an impressive return but Halsey however speculated why they were so late.
Now Hades only had three machines remaining and he had them retreat. Their hail of stun rounds was enough to keep their attackers away as they made a careful fall back towards the bunker. From the side however, Tempest's team leader Baal V-009 came in at them.
He slammed into the nearest Thor, knocking it but not stunning it. The Quarian Biotic Nawi levitated a fallen Thor and chucked it, knocking down the third last standing machine. The other two turned on Baal though, teaming up to attack from both sides. Hades landed a punch straight and centre, knocking the Spartan to the ground. It didn't kick, but pointed the Reverent straight at him. At that range, even stun rounds would kill.
Before the AI could pull the trigger though, the second Thor raised it's rifle and blew it's comrade's head off. The Thor exploded and collapsed to the ground, betrayed. The hacked Thor itself then exploded, falling back. Hades in temper, began resurrecting even the crippled Thor's. Before he could however, they all self destructed.
Fayn, the Quarian from Javelin, held a salvaged OMNI-Tool.
"I wasn't aware the OMNI Tools the Thor's were using contained hacking software," Tammerson commented.
"They didn't," Ann replied, folding her holographic arms. "Took him long enough to make some though."
"All teams, stand down," Tammerson ordered. "This exercise is over."
As the Spartans slowly limped out, Hades reappeared, not looking amused.
"Hades," Tammerson told the AI, "think you can swap out for the next round. Give Cody control."
"As you wish," the AI answered, still sounding a bit furious. Hades was a bit too dangerous a unit to control exercises. He never liked loosing even once.
"Conclusions, Doctor?" Tammerson asked.
"They certainly picked up at the end, but this wasn't my desired results," Halsey replied. "I would have expected better by now."
"They're only just ten," Ann commented.
"That's not fast enough for the Admiral's liking, Ann," Tammerson told her.
"Indeed," Halsey replied. "Tempest, Javelin and Hornet are our best thus far and this was disappointing. If they really were facing a Geth platoon, loosing half the unit is unacceptable. For now, halve the number of droids. I don't want our infirmary overflowing. What I do want however, is a plan to improve their combat skills within the year."
"Easier said than done, Doctor. You've already had me reduce direct combat training down in favour of stealth," Tammerson replied, glaring. Halsey didn't care however, wanting only results. They were being pressured for immediate proof of the program's success while they had less time than ever with Ananke spending time teaching the Spartans long term infiltration techniques never in any previous program. These Spartans were both spies and soldiers. It was a miracle they'd gotten this far, but her Spartans were yet to live up to her expectations.
"Ann, have all three teams wait in the briefing area," Halsey told the AI. "I'm in need of an insight."
Team Tempest was maybe second worst of in terms of injuries out of the three of them. Baal still clutched his side, knowing there was a pretty big bruise underneath the padding of the black combat gear. He was holding up better than May, who was still shaking off the effect of the stun rounds and had to be held up by M'ka. The Sangheili looked happy at least, feeling he'd done well. Vicus looked less amused, the Turian having the most negligible impact on the fight, being zapped ad taken down so early on. Lena was her usual self, the Quarian completely silent and unreadable behind that tinted visor.
The exercise had been finished yes, but it hadn't been won. That was a significant difference in all their minds.
Javelin, always needing to prove they were hardier stuff, stood at complete attention despite their aching wounds. Easy for them when they had spent so much of the battle staying out of the actual fight.
Hornet had done the most of the fighting and was an absolute wreck. The Batarian Ketei and Quarian Nawi were the only ones left present while their team members were carted off to the infirmary. Hann and Ro'gas were just plain beaten to the ground but Ellie was hammered. Broken bones would need treatment.
"Failure," Vicus spoke up, growling. "We failed."
"The exercise was concluded, not failed, Vicus," Lena muttered, her arms folded.
"We destroyed the enemy completely," M'ka said, the Sangheili slamming his fists together. Sometimes, Baal thought they'd been given a Krogan who looked like an Sangheili by mistake. "That's a victory."
"We were sloppy," Vicus argued, the Turian crest standing up. He looked to Baal. "We should have been better!"
"I agree," Baal told them. "We should have finished them off, not let them come back twice."
"Ain't that foresight?" Xev spoke up, looking bit smug.
"Shut up Xev," Baal told his brother. "Where were you in that fight?"
"Don't question my decisions," Cross said, stepping forward. The Turian never came with a name, thus got the nickname he always lived up to. "It was the plan we agreed to."
"Not questioning you, Crossy," Baal told the Turian, who stepped back into line with the squad he led.
"You did nothing in that fight," Vicus didn't let it go. "You couldn't hit the ground with those guns!"
"Shut it!" Cross shouted.
"You won't be telling them what to do," Baal told him. "This is our team, not yours."
"That's right," M'ka added.
"I'll show you!" Cross charged at Baal, grabbing him around the neck. Baal struggled and kicked the Turian in the chest to no effect. Everyone moved in to pull them apart, but Cross knocked them off. "Your dead you-"
Cross was picked up and thrown across the room, sliding across the floor and smacking into a wall. May stumbled for a moment, before collapsing only to be caught by M'ka. The Turian slowly shook off the effects of the Biotic Throw, dazed. Xev grabbed his arm. "Calm down."
Xev was shoved away, but Cross only growled and shook his head before returning back to his former position. He looked at Baal for a moment and whispered. "One day you'll pay for that."
May struggled to keep standing, exhausted by both injuries and the energy expended. Slowly, she recovered and stood up without M'ka's help.
"Nice," Nawi commented, impressed. The Quarian Biotic from Hornet Team looked considerably cheerful as always. Cross didn't react.
"Spartans," a familiar voice called, and they all snapped to attention. "Blatant violence asides for a moment."
Doctor Halsey stepped into the room, data pad in hand. It looked like she'd actually been watching for quite a while and wasn't amused. "I am disappointed to witness yet another failure. You may work as a team, but you lack the ability to work as part of something greater. Please explain to me squad leaders, why that is?"
"Ma'am," Cross said. "We followed the plan we made."
"Yes," Halsey replied. "That plan was followed wasn't it, when Tempest broke from the battle and left Hornet to fight alone. Was it broken when you just sat on a hill shooting away at targets out of range while they overwhelmed the other teams?"
"That's wasn't planned for, ma'am," Cross said.
"Of course it wasn't," Halsey answered. "The second greatest failure today is that you lack to make new plans as new events occur. If you actually put that intelligence I've previously seen in you to good use, V-332, you'd have seen the obvious thing to do was to move your team forward. If there is the standard of the larger company, then I dread to see the teams that come after. After all, Chief Instructor Tammerson believes you are the three top performing squads. Or maybe the others might actually have a clue how to work together. One team doesn't 'win' if the whole company is dead. I think I've made my point. Return to your barracks, Spartans."
They marched out of the room silently. Halsey realized more and more each day how draining this was.
Author's Afterword:
Don't go flicking back chapters, you haven't missed anything. As part of the new revised story, the whole thing has been accelerated to actually get some life flowing through it. That means I just leaped four years after New Brandenburg and the initiation of the Spartan V Program. Yes, that means I skipped a lot with the Spartan V's, but we all know how that would have gone along. Team Building, yadda yadda, you've probably read it all before in Fall of Reach or Ghosts of Oynx. I wanted to skip that road block and only give you the good stuff.
Instead, the story is going to be moving forward in snapshots like this chapter and we get to know the OC's a bit better. The three team trio may seem a bit too much, but it's mainly going to flip between Tempest and Hornet for the next few chapters moving towards Augmentation and Deployment. Give me maybe three chapters and we'll reach the point when this story really kicks off...