An: I'm back with another chapter. I've been focusing on schoolwork, which is why I've been gone. Here's chapter 11. Enjoy.
1750 Hours, November 27, 2525 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC frigate Commonwealth en route to the UNSC Damascus Materials Testing Facility, planet Chi Ceti 4
Virgil robotically bobbed up and down as he did push ups in the Spartan's bunkroom of the Commonwealth. Linda lay on her back on top of him as he did them.
He couldn't keep his mind from drifting to the the events of the beginning of the month. The second day of the month to be exact.
All of the Spartans had been called to muster in their dress uniforms and had all gathered in the secure briefing chamber on Reach. Admiral Stanforth had appeared and spoke to them. He told them about Harvest and its contact with an unknown entity. He had then gone on to explain that contact with Harvest was lost soon after and that the surface of the planet had been turned to glass. The unknown entity near Harvest was then revealed to be an alien spaceship. A broadcast had been sent by the alien vessel, which is believed to be called 'The Covenant', which said "Your destruction is the will of the Gods. . . and we are their instrument."
Virgil was unafraid to admit that the words sent chills down his spine. He was certain that the chills were a result of the broadcast being directly transmitted and not a translation by the UNSC. His thoughts then moved to the Spartans accelerated training. It's final stage: Project MJOLNIR.
Linda rolled off of Virgil's back, allowing him to begin performing sit ups. Virgil thought about the details of the project. From what little he knew of the word, Mjolnir was the hammer used by the Norse god of thunder. To that end, Project MJOLNIR had to be a weapon of some kind. It had better be a powerful weapon if the Covenant were as strong as they appeared to be.
Virgil surveyed the squad at the peak of his sit ups. The bunkroom had one hundred beds- one for each Spartan- the Spartans chose to cluster together, playing cards, polishing boots, boots, reading, or exercising. Sam sparred with Kelly. Linda exercised in time with him. JD and Zer0 sparred together as well.
During the last three weeks the Spartans had handled a variety of minor missions for Dr. Halsey. Virgil had been assigned with Linda for each one. Each mission brought the Spartans closer to Chi Ceti System and Virgil and Linda closer together. He was almost certain that the feelings he had for the sniper were the same feelings she had for him.
"Spartan-117," Doctor Halsey's voice blared over the loudspeakers. "Report to the bride immediately."
"Yes, Ma'am." John replied after keying the intercom. He turned to Sam. "Get everyone ready in case we're needed.
"You heard the Petty Officer." Sam barked. "Dog those cards. Get into uniform, soldiers!"
Virgil and Linda hurriedly climbed to their feet and jogged to their bunks. Virgil was unashamed to admit that he admired Linda's physique as the two changed.
"Sam, muster the squad in Bay Alpha. I want that Pelican loaded and ready for drop in fifteen minutes." John said over the intercom.
"We'll have it done in ten." Sam said.
"Faster if those Longsword interceptor pilots get out of our way." Virgil huffed.
"Virgil says we could be faster if those Longsword pilots weren't in our way." Sam chuckled.
Suddenly the collision alarm sounded.
"Brace for impact!" Virgil shouted and braced himself against his bunk.
Something slammed into the Commonwealth. The walls shook, lights flickered, and people fell over. Linda was on her way to a painful collision with the bunk room floor, but was saved by Virgil catching her.
"What's happening?" Linda asked.
"Either the Rebels have decided to take an aggressive stance or we're about to have our first interaction with the Covenant." Virgil replied.
The Commonwealth was hit several more times. The lights dimmed and the Commonwealth shuddered.
"MAC blast." Virgil whispered.
Something slammed powerfully into the Commonwealth. The air filled with popping and sizzling. The Commonwealth listed to starboard, then rolled completely over and continued to tumble.
A few seconds passed before the Commonwealth stabilized itself.
"What the hell was that?" Sam asked.
"Hell if I know." JD replied.
"Was that the Covenant?" Virgil asked. "Because that sure as hell wasn't anything the Rebels are capable of doing, that's for damn sure."
Virgil realized he was still holding Linda in his arms when she detached herself from him and stood to her feet. "Whatever it was," she said. "We have our orders. We have to head to Bay Alpha. If it even exists anymore." Virgil nodded his agreement and followed behind her with the rest of the Spartans as she lead them out of the bunk room.
XXX
Virgil listened intently as Dr. Halsey explained that they were going to a testing facility on the Chi Ceti 4. She seemed to be in a hurry to get them there. Virgil hoped he never had to find out why.
1845 Hours, November 27, 2525 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC Damascus Materials Testing Facility, planet Chi Ceti 4
Virgil wondered how far down the testing facility was. He and the other Spartans had been packed into a freight elevator for the past fifteen minutes.
"John." Virgil whispered to the Spartan next to him.
John-117 looked at him. "Yes?" he acknowledged.
"The Commonwealth. That was the Covenant wasn't it?"
"Aye." John nodded slowly.
Virgil swore. "You felt it didn't you? The air? I've never felt anything like it."
John nodded. "Neither have I."
"Whatever Project MJOLNIR is I hope it puts us on even footing with the Covenant."
"So do I, Virgil. So do I." John sighed.
After another six minutes the doors finally slid open. The Spartans filed out and emerged into what appeared to be a well-lit hanger. The far end had an obstacle course set up with walls, trenches, dummy targets, and barbed wire.
Three technicians and at least a dozen AI figures were busy in the center of the room.
Dr. Halsey cleared her throat. The technicians turned and the AI vanished.
Virgil noticed that here were forty plexiglass mannequins set up in rows. On each was a suit of armor. The armor reminded Virgil of the exoskeletons he had seen during training, but much less bulky and more compact.
"Project MJOLNIR," Doctor Halsey said. She snapped her fingers and an exploded holographic schematic of the armor appeared next to her.
"The armor's shell is a multilayer alloy of remarkable strength. We recently added a refractive coating to disperse incoming weapon attacks- to counter our new enemies." She pointed inside the schematic. "Each battlesuit also has a gel-filled layer to regulate temperature; this layer can reactively change in density. Against the skin of the operator there is a moisture-absorbing cloth suit, and biomonitors that can instantly adjust the suit's temperature and fit. There's also an onboard computer that interfaces with your standard-issue neural implant."
She gestured and the schematic collapsed so that it only displayed the outer layers.
"Most importantly," Dr. Halsey said, "the armor's inner structure is composed of a new reactive metal liquid crystal. It is amorphous, yet fractually scales and amplifies force. In simplified terms, the armor doubles the wearer's strength and enhances their reaction speed by a factor of five."
She waved her hand through the hologram. "There is one problem, however. This system is so reactive that our previous test with unaugmented volunteers ended in failure. Normal humans don't have the reaction time or strength required to drive this system." she explained. "You do. Your enhanced musculature and the metal and ceramic layers that have been bonded to your skeleton should be enough to allow you to harness the armor's power. There has been insufficient computer modeling, however. There will be some risk. You'll have to move very slowly and deliberately until you get a feel for the armor and how it works. It cannot be powered down, nor can the response be scaled back. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am." The Spartans answered.
"Questions?"
John raised his hand. "When do we get to try them on, Doctor?"
"Right now." she said. "Volunteers?"
Every Spartan raised a hand.
Dr. Halsey turned to John.
"You've always been lucky, John." she said. "Let's go."
John stepped forward. The technicians fitted him as Virgil and the others watched as the pieces of the MJOLNIR system were assembled around his body. It was like a giant three-dimensional puzzle.
"Please breathe normally," Dr. halsey told him. "But otherwise remain absolutely still."
John held himself as motionless as he could. Then they set the helmet over his head.
"Everyone move back." Dr. Halsey ordered.
The Spartans cleared a ring with a radius of three meters around him.
"Listen carefully to me, John."Dr. Halsey said. "I just want you to think, and only think about moving your arm up to chest level. Stay relaxed."
John's hand and forearm sprang forward to chest level. Virgil nodded appreciatively and the other Spartans gasped. Sam applauded. Even Kelly seemed impressed.
Dr. Halsey slowly coached John through the basics of walking and gradually built up the speed and complexity of his motions. "Petty Officer, run through the obstacle course." she said. "We will proceed to fit the other Spartans. We don't have a great deal of time left."
John saluted and his hand bounced off his helmet.
"Carefully, Petty Officer. Very carefully, please."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Several technicians started fitting Virgil with the armor as he watched John run through the obstacle course. John leaped over a three meter high wall. He punched concrete targets shattering them. He threw knives, sinking them up to their hafts into target dummies. He slid under barbed wire as bullets zinged over his head. He stood and let the rounds deflect off the armor.
The technicians set a helmet over Virgil's head. Health monitors, motions sensors, suit status indicators pulsed into life. A targeting reticle flickered on the heads-up display. Virgil didn't like the setup of the heads-up display so he changed things around. He moved the motion sensor to the bottom left hand corner. His ammo indicator he moved to the top right hand corner. The grenade indicator was moved to the top left hand corner. Finally his shield and health monitors were moved to the top middle of his heads-up display.
When it was his turn to run the course, Virgil ran awkwardly and clumsily through the obstacles. He missed the concrete targets. He threw knives but they bounced harmlessly off the target dummies. He tripped and became tangled in the barbed wire.
The other Spartans rolled on the floor laughing. Linda placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. With Kelly's help, she helped him to his feet and freed him from the barbed wire.
"Fear not. It will come to you soon enough. You've already received some subliminal training during your last cryo sleep." Dr. Halsey told them. "Now all you need is time to get used to the suits."
After drilling for thirty minutes, Virgil had regained all of his original coordination and more.
Over the hangar's speakers, the Spartans heard Dr. Halsey's voice: "Spartans, so far so good. If anyone is experiencing difficulties with the suit or its controls, please report in."
"Do we get to keep these?" Virgil asked.
"Most likely." Kelly said. "We are the only ones who can use these after all."
"That's true." Virgil nodded.
Captain Wallace's voice broke over the COM channels. "We have contact with the Covenant ship, Ma'am. Extreme range. Their slipspace engines must still be damaged. They are moving towards us via normal space."
"Your repair status?" Dr. Halsey asked.
"Long-range communications inoperable. Slipstream generators offline. MAC system destroyed. We have to fusion missiles and twenty Archer missile pods intact. Armor plating is at twenty percent." There was a long hiss of static. "If you need more time. . . I can draw them away."
"No, Captain." Dr. Halsey replied. "We're going to have to fight. . . this time we have to win."
An: Another chapter done. I have the next chapter planned out already. After that, I'll need to plan out the rest. That's all for now. Alright, well I'm done writing this chapter. Don't forget to favorite the story, review the story, and follow to see chapters similar to this one. See ya.