Chapter 25: In Conspectu Mendaces
June 9th, 3239, 1620 hours
The Office of Naval Intelligence
Shinjuku District, Tokyo, Earth
The darkness of the maintenance room kept an air of insecurity among the Marines as they were still coming to terms with the fact that they were inside of Naval Intelligence. NICOLE's light was the only thing that was keeping them still. The powerful beam coming from her console cast mean-looking shadows across the walls. Barrels appeared twice as high as they actually were, and several shadows appeared to have the form of a Human being, causing some gasps from the men.
Borne and Konstantinos stayed near the door to the storage room with their weapons close by should someone decide to come in. They were totally still, blending into the darkness unless you knew where to look. Reyes was with Vennettilli as he consulted NICOLE.
"We have to acknowledge the fact though sir that we have no knowledge of the floor plan, or even how far this building goes into the ground."
"Well, if my short internment in an ONI holding cell has taught me anything, Reyes, it's that they like to hide things deep in the earth. It's just their way. I have a funny feeling that there's still a whole lot more to this facility than we are seeing a ground level."
"I'll take your word on that one, sir." Reyes gave a quick flash of a smile.
Chris scratched his scalp and noted that his hair had been much longer than regulation length for quite some time now, but he rubbed his smooth jaw. I need a haircut once this is all over. "NICOLE, can you tell me about the ship that was destroyed in orbit?"
The Mobian lynx's hologram nodded. "I can do that. The ship was called the Reaper, an Orpheus-class heavy frigate, crewed by about three hundred and sporting a Heavy MAC cannon."
"Three hundred. What a waste." Reyes breathed. "You said it was destroyed in orbit?"
"Yes, Reyes." NICOLE reported. "Fetching ships are trying to gather as many large chunks of debris as they can. However, reports are stating that they won't be able to destroy some of the pieces that are already entering the atmosphere. They will try to deflect them so that they burn up over the oceans or uninhabited land. There's no danger of anyone getting hurt."
"Any surviviors?" Chris asked, almost in desperation.
"Chris, I'm sorry, but I've checked about twelve news sources, and none of them report finding any survivors." She paused. "They found plenty of dead though."
Borne called over, "A clean job of it. Make sure nobody lives to tell about the deception."
"If Marshall weren't such an ass about it, I'd call it brilliance." Reyes stated.
Chris' brow furrowed. Reaper. Where did he know that name? He could have sworn that the name had come up in some combat reports or something. Reaper. Did he hear it over Talahan, or on one of the other worlds he had been shifted to? It was gnawing at him, but he couldn't focus on it.
He put that out of his mind and focused on a course of action. Borne had seen the most of the facility on the times he was debriefed here, which was, ironically, very little of it. He followed a set series of passageways that led to a meeting room. He was sure that he passed a brig, but the only monkey wrench in this plan was that the directions would only be helpful if he remembered where the entrance passageway was.
He was just as lost as the others were.
So, naturally, they would have to rely on NICOLE's unique talents for mapping and intrusion again.
"Our primary objective is recon then." Chris said, taking a knee. "Map our current location outside of this door for our move. If possible, we should locate a directory which will show us where the brig is. From there, we break out whoever is being held in there."
"Are we assuming that there will be armed guards, sir?"
The voice didn't come from any of the Marines, but a shimmering shade that was to his right. He gazed at it and recognized it as Bruce Aer, a Private First Class that actually survived the whole war with distinction. Aer was never in Benedict's Squad like Chris was though.
"Armed guards are a possibility, so we are going to be carrying concealable weapons only. I hazard to guess that the best course of action will be to hide our guns."
"But we're breaking into a brig, Vennettilli. There'll be weapon detectors, metal detectors, whatever the hell they can toss at us so that weapons can't be smuggled to prisoners."
Lieutenant Kapplin was to his left with a scar running under his left eye. Chris couldn't remember Kapplin ever having a scar.
"Yeah, expect detectors of some kind. If they ask to relinquish our weapons, that will be the signal for NICOLE to disable all of the cameras in the room with an EMP pulse and we can do what we do best."
Borne raised an eyebrow. "She can do all that?"
The AI smiled. "I am very versitile, Sergeant Borne."
"This is ONI we're talking about here." The Mobian said. "The most paranoid military organization in pretty much all of Known Space. They probably have backup systems of their backup systems."
"They probably even put cameras in the urinals. Nowhere to hide." Kapplin said lighting a cigarette.
Chris smiled at the shade's joke.
"Speaking of paranoid," he then said, "do a quick search to see how many Mobians are in the roster at this ONI facility."
NICOLE nodded and put a hand to her forehead. She searched through data silently to get a roster for all Operatives here. "Nothing but a whopping zero. There are no Mobians that hold any positions here in this ONI base, although I am seeing about twelve Galvente Majors in office…"
"Irrelevant." Kapplin spat.
"Irrelevant." Chris repeated, or rather, stated on his own. "No Mobians means that Borne will stick out like a sore thumb. If ONI's as paranoid as they lead us to be, they'll report you very easily. No offense, but Humans would blend in a lot easier."
"No offense taken." Borne acknowledged. "If I'm going to be more of a hindrance, I'll pull guard duty here in the dark."
"Very good then. Konstantinos, I want you shacking up with Borne. If anybody comes in unexpectedly, send them to slumberland."
"I'll do that, sir."
"Reyes, I want you with me. You're a rather large individual. Less chance that they'll stop us if you're walking around with me. Hell, you could pass for a Hunter if you were half a foot taller."
"You're making me blush, Captain." The Marine smiled.
"I'll be taking NICOLE with me for hacking into other devices around the base. We'll keep in contact if we can reach you from the Brig. If there's a chance you might be compromised, get the hell out the same way we came."
"Not to state the obvious, Human, but you'll have no backup that way." NICOLE said.
"It's me they want." The Captain said. "If I can get to the brig and free Roan, Jackson, Sally, or even the Major, I'll have a shot of getting out of this place. Do not come in after us if the operation's FUBAR, clear?"
"Yes, sir." They nodded.
However, the shades of his former colleagues stood at attention.
"Screw that, sir!" Jeff Winston's shade said, uncharacteristically loud. "We're with you every step of the way!"
Chris didn't acknowledge them, even though he really wanted to. He knew what the others would think. They would think he was talking to people that weren't there.
They'd think he was crazy.
He wasn't crazy.
Maybe they were the crazy ones.
But he wouldn't say anything. He did smile though. Because of the darkness, it seemed that the action was lost to most of his companions, but NICOLE narrowed her holographic eyes at the Human, and made a mental note that something appeared to be accelerating in his - she had to say it - insanity.
She was starting to get really, really uncomfortable watching what was happening in front of her. He was smiling and looking around… as if he was seeing something they couldn't. Oh well, at least he wasn't trying to bash his head in for the time being, but she knew that she should not stand by while he was going to do something really wrong. Out of love for her friend, she held her tongue.
"We'd better get moving. Our time's running out."
Chris snapped out of it immediately. "Agreed. Reyes, keep your pistol on you. Leave your rifle here."
"You've got it." He passed his gun to Borne, who grabbed it by the handguard. "Keep her safe for me."
"No problem."
Before they left, Chris picked up NICOLE's console and clipped it onto his utility belt. "Comfortable?" he asked with a half smile.
"I can't complain. How are you doing?"
Chris' smile fell slightly. "Ah… I've felt better."
"Clearly."
"Is there something you want to talk about, NICOLE?"
"No. Nothing at all."
With handguns placed in their hip holsters, they walked out of the storage room into a large atrium. "What the hell is this?" the Captain said with his jaw dropping.
Chris had been in an ONI facility once before, and it had looked nothing like this. While the ONI building on Mobius had a lot of white synthetic material, metal, and hard plastics contrasted with grey granite floors, the floors were made of what he thought was solid, black, polished obsidian that had such reflectivity that they were perfectly mirrored in it. In the center of the atrium stood a floating slab of stone. It was in the shape of a square base pyramid, also highly polished black obsidian with the single ivory white All Seeing Eye staring down at them. Reyes and Chris looked at the slowly spinning pyramid and scowled. "Yuck. Modern Art."
Reyes cracked a smile. "Just ignore it, sir. We're gonna find that directory, right?"
"You'd be right." The younger man nodded. "Don't get too close to anyone." He pulled the ship cap further down on his head, shielding his eyes. "If anybody asks, we're here for a debrief."
"Yes, sir."
They worked to avoid the moving Naval personnel in full dress uniform. Because they all had somewhere to be, they really didn't seem to pay these two intruders much attention. If not for a 'sorry' or 'pardon me' every now and then, they would be invisible.
"If I were sneaking in," Kapplin's shade said, "I'd want to steal a uniform."
Funny, the thought was also on his mind as well. "I just realized that we're going to need to get our hands on a uniform if we're going to get any further into the facility."
"Good thinking. There's got to be a locker room around here somewhere." NICOLE said.
They wandered around the atrium and surrounding area while NICOLE did a little peeking through security cameras. "I've got one about a floor beneath you. There should be a stairwell somewhere around here that'll take you down. And hurry up, will you? I can't distract the security system's AI forever."
Ryan, Johnson, and the Human known as Jolee Bindo were one of the few people that the royals could trust nowadays. The King and Queen of Knothole were becoming more and more frightened by current events. After officially losing power and possession of the Kingdom where they served as regents, their daughter had now gone missing. Whatever political push they had was being strained. So, they wanted someone to look into all of this. Since the Captain was missing, their daughter was missing, Sonic and Bunnie Rabbot were missing, they had to entrust some of their closest friends.
The grounds were quiet in the mid afternoon with fountains flowing in the background. The trio of men walked to the last place anybody saw Princess Sally. Johnson took a puff of his cigar and looked around.
"This ain't gonna be easy. The guards didn't see anything at all. We have nothing to go on."
Bindo adjusted his jacket, a far cry from the robe he usually wore. "Calm down, sonny. We just have to think where she would have been in the first place. You ever go someplace to think when you're angry?"
Johnson said, "Yeah, my cigar." With that, he took a drag.
"Jolee, can't you just use the Force to help us find the Princess?" Ryan asked. "It was pretty useful when you were slugging it across the other galaxy with the Captain."
The old exiled Jedi sighed sadly. "Hmm… if only it were that easy, kid. You know, nobody really knows the extent of the Force, but it seems like it picks and chooses which universe it wants to work in."
"Oh, right. The Force just turns off here." Ryan said, shoulders dropping. "Oh man, that sucks."
"Yeah, kid. It sucks something fierce." The old Jedi said. "But, I DID live on Wookieeworld for the past twenty years. I know a thing or two about tracking."
"Then by all means," Ryan said, waving his hand in a bow, "Let's watch the expert work!"
Jolee huffed. He made that sort of noise when he was amused. "Take notes." He said. The old Jedi got down on his knee and looked around. He did everything from test the wind to practically looking at every blade of grass. He gave a realizing hum. "Hmmm. Hmmm."
"What, you're not going to taste the grass? Just to be sure?" Ryan asked.
"Shush!" Bindo bit back. "I don't know for certain, but it looks like there was some sort of struggle.
"A struggle?" Johnson asked. "One sided?"
"Oh, sure looks that way. Can you see the way the grass parts? The way the land lowers in the subtle ways?"
"No. Where did you see that?"
"Here. You see this footprint?" He pointed a finger towards a depression in the ground. "Have to be something pretty heavy to make a footprint like that."
"Well, I know of plenty heavy things in this universe. One is a tank… and the other is a tank that walks."
"Oh man, you're talking about Spartans?" Ryan asked. "Well, there goes the day."
Johnson took a puff on his cigar. "Pipe down, Percy. There's more to this story that simply Spartans."
Jolee chuckled and looked into the forest. "Indeed you're right, Sergeant. The tracks go straight into the forest. Looks like at least three people."
Ryan bit his lip. "They must have been carrying them on their shoulders. Not as suspicious as dragging them."
"Nah, they wouldn't drag." Johnson said walking towards the trees. "I've known enough Spartans to know that they treat prisoners with dignity. Now… substitute those Spartans with Brutes…"
"Ugh… now you're giving me nightmares."
"Yeah. I just did too." The sergeant said shaking his head. "Sorry."
The three men walked into the Great Forest, the woods that surrounded the castle. All around them were thick trees that extended for miles in all directions. It was pretty dim, but sunlight poked through the canopy. All around them, they saw life. A pair of Terran foxes watched the Humans with curious eyes. They sniffed the air as Jolee passed by them and one of them even barked in surprise.
Jolee smiled at the creatures. "So, that's what Mobians are descended from."
"Hell of a family tree, ain't it?" Johnson growled. The Sergeant noticed a couple trees were cut down, and an ax lay beside the trunk. "Woodcutters?" He rolled the tool over in his hand, examining the design. It had to be one of Human make. It was light, probably made out of titanium, and the head was punctured with three holes spaced out as a triangle. "This doesn't seem like a lumber zone."
"This close to the palace?" Jolee weighed in. "I doubt it."
"This axe doesn't look Mobian-made. The design doesn't fit."
Ryan said, "Well maybe it was sold on Mobius."
Yeah, it could have been. Johnson put the ax right back to where he found it and the trio continued farther and farther into the woods. The trees got taller and taller. Soon, the woods were blocking out a decent amount of sunlight. Under better circumstances, this would be a very nice nature walk. Deer bounded in the distance, and birds called from the trees. A calm breeze blew through the trees. Jolee sighed in appreciation. This was somewhat similar to what he experienced back on Kashyyyk, minus the three kilometer high wroshyr trees. "See this, boys? This is nature. Not like Coruscant. Always keep in touch with nature."
"Duly noted." Johnson growled. He took a drag on his cigar and sighed appreciatively. He tapped the Sweet William. "And this is getting in touch with nature too!"
"I'm sure your lungs would disagree in 20 years sonny."
"I'm as old as you are!" Johnson pointed out. "I made it this far!"
"Sarge. Look up ahead!" Ryan called out. "The forest is breaking."
"Yeah? So we're coming to the edge of the forest."
"Not exactly. I spy more chopped trees."
He was right. The chopped trees that they saw earlier had come back with more strength. Up ahead through the break in the trees, a natural clearing beckoned them forward. Although, it looked like someone had tried to extend the clearing by chopping down the trees.
They didn't need to follow the tracks any further. They went towards a large scorch mark in the middle of the clearing. The trio of Humans could tell a landing site when they saw one.
"Well, looks like we found out where the tracks led." Jolee chuckled. "Looks like this clearing was used for a landing pad."
"You're not wrong, Jedi." Johnson. This place looks like a base of some sort. No equipment lying around aside from the ax. Looks like ONI was covering their tracks well."
"Well, nothing implicates them yet." Ryan shrugged. "We can't make an accusation."
"And we won't. Not yet." The Sergeant said. They all looked to the sky as they heard a roar. A passenger plane flew over their heads fairly low and in detail.
"Planes wouldn't fly this low unless they were just taking off. We must be getting close to the airport."
"Whatever ship landed here could blend in to local traffic."
Ryan looked around. "Just how long were these guys here for?"
"Too Long." Johnson said taking the cigar in his hands. "Look around for any more clues. Check that landing area with the scorched grass."
"Yeah Sarge. No problem." Ryan walked away from the pair and scouted around the area. He swept his eyes over the clearing and wondered why someone would want to land in the middle of nowhere like this. There was nothing covering the clearing, meaning that anybody who had half a brain from an airplane would spot them. If this was where your superhuman soldiers wanted to land, it wasn't a good place to do it. He suddenly shaded his eyes as the sun started to come out from behind the clouds. The flash was unexpected and squinted to fight it. But as soon as he did that, he saw it. A shadow.
"Uh… Sarge?"
"What?"
"You'd better get over here. Like, now."
Within seconds, the Sergeant Major and Jolee jogged over to the stunned Corporal. They too saw what he was pointing at. Johnson gulped and tapped Ryan's shoulder. "Percy… throw something."
Ryan looked around and found a baseball sized rock. He hefted it and threw it above the shadow. With a metallic clank, the rock seemingly bounced off thin air and rebounded towards the thrower.
The ship was still there.
"Oh boy. I think we're done here." Ryan said.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." The Sergeant looked around the clearing and suddenly got very nervous. "Maybe they aren't around."
"Or…" Jolee speculated, "We could have been followed here."
"Nope! Nope! For Christ's sake, let's just get the hell out of here!" Ryan hissed.
Johnson decided to agree with Ryan. "We're out of here. If we move fast, maybe we can make it to the Freedom Fighter's secret base and lay low for a little while."
"Would they check for IFFs?" Ryan asked.
"If they weren't actively looking for us, probably not. The sooner we leave the better. Then we tell Their Majesties about this."
Chris and Reyes blended in quite well looking inconspicuous among other people in the ONI base. So far they've been lucky in avoiding eye contact. Despite his wrongful status as a terrorist and a murderer, the majority of the junior officers around him paid him no attention. People were going about their daily business bringing paper to another part of the building or sending new tactical announcements to ships in space. Thanks to the daily grind, Reyes and Vennettilli were invisible.
How long that would last for though, was totally up to fate.
"See a locker room?" He whispered to Reyes.
"Yeah. There it is." The Marine announced. "Also looks like we have a uniform donor." He nodded towards a Navy Lieutenant who opened the door and stepped inside. Before the door could slide closed, the Captain and Reyes shifted in.
The locker room as far more streamlined than that of a starship. The walls were angled in a way that the room seemed to resemble a trapezoid. A single light strip covered the ceiling. Lockers jutted out of the walls and each had a card lock on it. Chris felt a slight pang of jealousy. Even the locker rooms were much better for ONI. He took a glance around for his targets. He spotted the Lieutenant undoing his uniform collar. He would have to act fast.
The Captain put on a quick smile and approached the man. "Excuse me, sir."
"Yeah?" the man asked. "What is it, I'm off duty."
"You wouldn't happen to have the time, would you?"
The tired officer groaned and checked his wristwatch. "It's 5:40-"
Chris threw the hardest punch he could at the man's jaw and made sure he put all his weight behind it. The Lieutenant's head snapped to the right and hit off the locker's door. The man collapsed at once into unconsciousness.
"Good hit!" NICOLE said.
"Damn!" Reyes said, "Looks like you killed him!"
Chris checked the Lieutenant's pulse. "No need to make my tarnished reputation worse. He's fine, but he's going to get a hell of a bump in the morning." He removed the officer's uniform and tried it on. It was a good fit. "Oh!"
"What?" Reyes said, suddenly startled.
"I just realized! Watch isn't set to local time! Thanks, buddy!" He smiled at the unconscious man. "How do I look?"
"Very nice, Lieutenant Goddard. What do we do about our friend?"
"The showers will be fine." Chris said. "Hmm…" He picked up the Lieutenant's ID card and stuck it into the card reader. The door slid open to reveal the content of Goddard's locker. On the door itself, the officer had a photo of what he assumed was his wife. A smiling woman who was holding a fluffy dog in her hands. Chris felt momentarily bad for what he just did, but moved it out of his mind as he scoured through the locked for more things. He spotted a couple of pistol magazines that looked like they would fit his gun and slid them in his pocket. He then smiled as he found a pair of eyeglasses on the middle shelf. This would probably come in handy. He looked the glasses over and tried them on. Apparently, Goddard was near-sighted and needed the glasses to see farther away. The room was fuzzy, but he fought the slight nausea. The last thing he did was put his utility belt around his waist so he would have his items.
"All loaded up?" The Mobian AI asked.
"I think so." The card will get me past a couple of security layers. Maybe even the brig itself. I hope."
"If not, I can always crack some heads." Reyes smiled. "Where's my uniform?"
"They're after Chris, not you, Reyes." NICOLE explained. You'll probably be invisible. Most of the personnel around here will be lower ranked anyway. They won't question you."
"What if they want my service number?"
"I'll get back to you on that one."
Chris nodded. "Let's go. I think I saw a directory outside."
"You don't look half bad with glasses, sir."
"Well, I feel sick to my stomach. Why do people still wear these things?"
"Cheap, sir."
"Sure, OK." Chris and Reyes went back into the hall. They found what looked like a pedestal against the wall with a small white 'I' printed on it. That had to be an info panel of sorts. Chris tapped a button, and a floating logo of ONI appeared. Chris sneered as he looked into the single unblinking eye.
"Welcome to the Office of Naval Intelligence Information Console #287. How can I assist you?"
"I'd like directions to the Brig." Chris said evenly.
"Certainly! Brig level can be reached by elevator terminal at the end of this hall." The hologram shifted to a map of the current level. At the end of the hall, a tube extended down about ten levels. It looked like the brig itself was built into the bedrock. "Be advised, Brig Access is restricted to Section 2 Operatives and higher."
Chris breathed a sigh of relief when he looked at his badge and saw 'II' staring back at him. "Thank you." He said out of reflex.
"You're welcome! Continue to serve the Navy well and expand the sphere of security!"
"Sphere of security my ass…" Chris growled under his breath. "We're good, Reyes."
"Excellent, sir."
"Hey Human," NICOLE whispered into his ear. "Congratulations on your luck. Here's some more good news: I managed to pull some of Lieutenant Goddard's personal information from the database. Also, could you hold me in front of your face? And keep it straight, OK?"
Chris did as told and held NICOLE's case in front of his face and made no reaction.
"OK, got it! You now ARE Lieutenant Jerry Goddard. Congratulations, Human: your first true identity theft."
"I feel so proud."
Reyes cracked a smile.
As they walked towards the elevators, NICOLE coached Chris on his new identity. "You're 35 years old. You were born on Durandal. Your home address is 742 Duradi Crescent. Your wife's name is Marijana, middle name Adda, and lastly and by far the most important, you have a 2 year old Pomeranian named Chester."
"A dog?"
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how many password questions that dog's name the answer is to. I mean, wow."
"NICOLE, one thing though?"
"Yes, Chris?"
"Once this is all over, we never do this again."
"I understand, Chris. Desperate times calls for desperate measures."
"I wish it didn't…"
"We all know that we have to do what we have to do." A shade whispered out of the air. Dean Sheppard said, "We don't blame you."
"I blame myself." He whispered this in a low voice so nobody would hear. They mustn't hear this.
The ghost of Lieutenant Kapplin appeared, strips of flesh hanging off his face, his nose missing, and one eye bloody red. "You know, maybe he's right. Maybe we should blame him."
"Knock it off, LT, it's in the past."
"It's not fair that he gets to live and we had to die! I say we have some payback!"
You're not real. None of you are real. Get out of my head! You're not real!
"Oh no… we're as real as we want to be." Kapplin gritted his teeth.
You can't hurt me.
Kapplin's ghost wrapped his hand around Chris skull and squeezed. Pain gripped the Captain's brain as he tried to keep it in. His tongue started to feel like it was being zapped.
"Maybe you don't understand. I can do. Whatever. I. WANT. With. YOU!" the ghost chuckled and looked at Sheppard's shade. "Did you know that this man left me to die? He didn't even go into the jungle after I cried out in pain?"
NO! he shouted in his mind. I DIDN'T!
"Damn right he didn't. Just let them take me and do… THIS to me! Just because we couldn't play nice!"
Dean's face suddenly changed. He looked sad, betrayed. "Captain… is this true? You left Lieutenant Kapplin to die?"
No…
"I… I thought you'd never leave a man behind." Dean slowly faded into nothingness.
NO!
"Well… looks like I can end your suffering once and for all. Put you out of your misery. It was a hell of a lot more than the Tallies gave me!" Just as he was about to do unspeakable horrors to his mind, Reyes grabbed Chris' shoulders and shook hard.
"Sir! Sir, are you alright?!"
The hallway was nearly empty. A guard walked up to him. "Excuse me sir. Are you OK?"
"I'm OK." Chris said. "I was a bit lightheaded, that's all."
"Probably the pressure." The guard said with concern. Do you need a doctor, Lieutenant?"
"No. No. I'm fine." Chris said. "Could you actually get the elevator open for me?"
The guard nodded. "Yeah, sure thing, sir." The concerned man walked over to the wall and tapped the elevator control switch. Seconds later, the wall slid open. Their ride was here. Reyes nodded to the guard and helped the Captain into the elevator. The tall Marine tapped a control for the basement. Chris half laughed in relief. "Man… we made it!" He tapped Goddard's ID badge. "Looks like we didn't need this thing after all."
"I wouldn't calm down yet. You're just going down to a tighter security level. Expect people with guns."
"Good." Chris nodded. "I can do more damage than with this pistol."
"Actually, I would advocate the exact opposite."
"Always the staunch tactician, aren't you?"
"Always the stereotypical space marine, aren't you?"
"Touché."
Before NICOLE could revel in her smugness, the elevator started to slow down.
"Something's wrong. We're still far above the Brig level."
The door opened and two men with peaked caps walked into the elevator. Chris saw stars on the men's shoulders and automatically saluted thanks to years of indoctrination. "Admirals on Deck!" Reyes did so immediately on seeing them.
The lead Admiral, a Rear Admiral to be precise, gave a quick smile but went back to being stony faced. "At ease Gentlemen. Just taking the elevator." The other admiral had a thick beard covering his chin. A spike of fear shot through Chris. He actually recognized these two men. The bearded man was Admiral Blake Jeromi, the man with an ax-crazy history that went before the Judge Advocate General and was thrown out of court before a verdict could be reached. Since after the incident involving ramming his ship into a Covenant cruiser and supposedly killing a commanding officer, nobody, absolutely nobody would cross Blake Jeromi. God help you if you did. He would fit well in ONI.
The other man he only recognized through the nametag. His name was 'Devenson, D'. Admiral Devenson was the person in charge on locating Shadow the Hedgehog after he first escaped custody five years ago during the Battle of Carson Valley. The Navy granted Devenson whole ships and was basically told to go wild by HIGHCOM and CENTCOM combined. Hell, the Royals gave this man their blessing. And a hell of a fucking job he did. Shadow evaded Devenson's men at every turn, and with a Chaos Emerald always hiding in his back pocket, he could teleport away at a moment's notice.
"Good afternoon, Lieutenant." Jeromi said. "We are going down, correct?"
"Absolutely sir."
The car started to move again, and the two Admirals started chattering to themselves. Chris couldn't listen in, but NICOLE would try to understand what was going on. Reyes tapped Chris' shoulder. "I… ah… may not have ever mentioned this before, but I've never seen an Admiral in person before. You know, aside from Andsworth."
Chris suppressed a smirk. "Don't trust them. An admiral can only be as good as his crew."
"Agreed, sir."
Ten seconds later, the elevator car came to a halt at the bottom of the shaft. They had finally reached the Brig level. Suddenly, Chris was now curious. He wanted to know what the Admirals were doing down here? This was where all of the interrogators chose to do their work, and the ONI angels of death sharpened their blades for their next assignment.
This place was too dirty for the loft admirals, who sit in their cushy chair and order men to their deaths! They were only here to wring the deepest secrets from some poor bastard! The BASTARDS!
But he checked his anger. He could feel his blood pressure rising and breathed. Admiral Devenson and Jeromi exited the elevator. "Have a fine day Gentlemen." Jeromi called out before turning away. Reyes shrugged.
"You know, for a man who supposedly killed his old Captain, he's very polite."
"Yeah. I noticed that too. Let's get our bearings."
The prison level was much barer than the upper levels. Things were extravagant on the upper part of the facility. Whereas the first levels were shiny and high tech, the Brig was hard, grey, and squared away. Whatever needed to be seen were on computer screens embedded into the wall and guards patrolled the halls with riot shotguns. Chris and Reyes guessed that they were loaded with beanbag shells, judging from the green tint on the hull. The guards themselves were dressed in high-durability riot gear. High collars protected their necks, and their helmets had a hard transparent visor that revealed their grizzled faces. They seemed like a combination of a soldier and a football player at the same time. As Chris and Reyes passed the guard, the man's head tilted to follow the two as they passed. The guard's grip on the shotgun's grip tightened. Probably out of reflex. "Where do you think you're going?"
Chris bit his lip and turned to face the guard. "Lieutenant Goddard." He said, tapping the ID badge. "I have clearance to be down here."
The guard raised an eyebrow. "That better be a Level 2 pass."
"It is. See for yourself." Chris unclipped the badge and passed it to the man.
"Goddard… Goddard… Full Lieutenant… Section 1. What the hell is Section 1 doing down in the Dungeon?"
"We all have our reasons, my friend."
"And what reasons may that be?"
For a second, Kapplin's voice entered his head, "Oh for Christ's sake. Just shoot him already."
What shocked Chris was that his hand was already moving towards the pistol grip, and only a blast of will stopped him.
"I want to see some prisoners, alright? I want access to the cell block."
The guard shrugged. "Alright. You could have just said that in the first place. Alright Goddard. Follow me."
It was incredibly boring in the maintenance room. Sitting in half-light wasn't doing well for the rest of the men. Borne sat in a corner slowly hitting the back of his head against the wall. Konstantinos just paced the floor. They had been here for God knows how long just pissing time away waiting for the Captain and Reyes come back.
Borne was always a man who needed to be moving. He hated standing still. So after one final bored thud, he got up and started pacing with Konstantinos. "Alex, right?"
"Yeah. Alexander Konstantinos." The Marine said.
"How long have we been standing in here?"
Konstantinos checked his watch. "Well, just under two hours."
"Two hours is a long time to do nothing. We should be out there, man!"
"You heard the Captain. The minute you stick that muzzle of yours out there, they're going to get an agent to tackle you. Then they go to interrogation."
"What do you think they'd ask question us about?"
"Hell if I know. I've never been in an interrogation."
"I've conducted a few."
Konstantinos leaned against a wall. "Oh that's right! You said you were a parajumper, right?"
"Yup! For the past couple years. I was told to get some 'Work Experience' to gain access to OMEGA. Turns out it was an invite only gig."
"And how did you do that?"
"I was an ODST Parajumper. My pod opened well above the surface and I parachuted down behind enemy lines. Turns out this wasn't a very sought after job in the branch."
"So, what was your job then?"
"Assault, sabotage, reconnaissance, sometimes medical. I'm actually trained to give basic medicine."
Konstaninos nodded in appreciation. "Well, no offense, but I hope we're never in need of your services."
"None taken. I hope I never have to use them." He chuckled. "Answer me this: what's your story?"
Alex's eyebrows bounced. "Me? Well, I'm nowhere near as interesting as you."
"Well we're here."
"I was born in Athens. My family moved to North America when I was ten, so I retained my Greek citizenship. The Corps was an easy way off the planet, so I enlisted in '32, after the Talahan Conflict. Didn't have to fight, but I was still on-hand to help the other men leave the planet. Seriously, what a terrible planet."
"You know, every single planet can't be 100% terrible." Borne reasoned. "There are parts of Mobius I hate, but it isn't terrible."
"It wasn't the planet, but it was the way things were run. Corporations owned entire cities. People lived in a place where everything they owned was purchased from the company. I wouldn't even call that a government."
"That's pretty bad."
"The only place where things get better are the Taigas. It's cooler up there, but no corporate city-states. But, that was only Talahan. I curse the day I ever laid hands on one of those Chaos Emeralds. That was four years later. Wouldn't you know it, I just happened to pick it up when on a march."
"What was the story behind that?"
"Sousex II. Another resort planet. Planet was struck by an asteroid two hundred thousand years ago and put a spin on the planet. The place was originally tidally locked to the star. Now it all gets a nice even bronzing."
"Wow. Sounds like fun."
"So, the date was March 17th, 3235. Routine patrol, and in a sandy hill of red, I spotted a glint of violet looking back at me. I broke away from the platoon and picked it up. It looked like a carved cylinder. It barely had any weight. There's no way that this could have come from underground, like you'd expect a jewel to. I looked it over and, thanks to regulation, handed it over the Sergeant." He shook his head. "If I was a civilian. I'd be able to keep that thing over my fireplace back home in Michigan, but no… I had to pick up the ancient alien supercomputer or… whatever the hell it is. And now I have men after me trying to kill me."
"I'm sorry. I wish I knew what that felt like. Having that burden."
"Yeah. Being a Human sucks sometimes."
"Dude, being a Mobian is even worse."
Borne's ears twitched as he heard noises from outside the door. "Oh no."
"What is it?" Konstantinos asked.
"Hide."
"Hide? Where?"
"Find a… a crevice, or a box, or something!"
The men fumbled around in the darkness. Konstantinos found himself a nice cubbyhole behind a stack of metal crates. In the darkness, he would be invisible. Borne on the other hand, with his superior night vision, had a better time finding a much more creative spot. He saw that the turbines in the back of the room had something like a trench of some sort surrounding it. He was about to make a mad dash to the trench when he realized that he left his gun out in the open. He sprinted to pick the rifle up and ran as fast as he could to cover.
"Oh damn, oh damn, oh damn, oh DAMN!" He cursed repeatedly as he made ready to slide into the trench. However, once he slid in, his stomach dropped. What he thought was a trench was a chasm. Below him was a tunnel extending into nothingness. A row of turbines and other power devices went down. However, this was the only glimpse he got as he started to fall. Before a scream left him, he thudded on a catwalk that encircled the trench. So all that left him was a rush of exhaled air. Not a moment too soon. The door to the power room opened up.
"So I heard that the boys 2 floors down are having a poker game tomorrow evening."
Just play it cool. Billy, Borne thought to himself. Just don't do anything stupid. He clutched his gun to his chest and just waited for them to leave.
"Who turned the lights off?"
"Sorry, that might have been me. Give me a second, I'll find them."
The lights flashed on and nearly blinded William. He shielded his eyes from the light, but said nothing. He was now exposed. Darkness was no longer his ally.
"Tenshi, run a diagnostic on the power control."
"Yeah, sure. Want me to run an operational test too?"
"Well, it's been about two weeks. Yeah, go nuts."
Borne gulped. He couldn't see the men, he couldn't hear where they were going, and on top of that, it sounded like one of them was going to walk right over him. He held his breath as he saw the technician walk on the upper catwalk. The man tapped on his console, oblivious to Borne's presence, and started the generators up.
Across the room, Konstantinos breathed a sigh of relief as the technicians seemed to ignore him entirely. The technician named Tenchi turned on the generators. Soon, the room had an audible hum to it that covered the technician's voices for the most part.
"How are the displays looking?" the head tech asked.
"Looking good. Turbines one through forty are responding with green."
"What about the other nine?"
"Hmm… They're performing at 89% efficiency."
"Can you boost them?"
"I'll have to spend some time recomputing it."
"Take all the time you need."
On the other side of the room, Borne grumbled and got ready for a long wait.
The brig door was up ahead. Chris bit his lip in anticipation. The guard was still at his side though, carefully holding his riot shotgun. Reyes stood solemnly though and swept his eyes across the hallway.
"That's the door there." The guard said. "You can just swipe in."
"Thank you, guardsman." Chris nodded.
"Yeah, sure." He turned around and walked back down the corridor.
The door was seven feet high and heavily fortified. The word 'DETENTION CENTER' was painted in bright white paint across the gunmetal gray door. A holographic card reader demanded identification. Chris took Goddard's stolen card and held it up to the reader. A thin sheet of light scanned the card.
"Goddard, Jerald, Lieutenant. Access Granted!"
The door split into three parts and folded away from the portal. Inside was the brig. Rows of clear cubes formed columns in this giant space. Each one had a person sitting inside.
"Holy crap. Look at this place." Reyes said. "Are these just regular criminals?"
"I dunno." Chris said. "They don't look happy in there."
Most of the prisoners looked like they were sent here from the JAG offices. A lot of them still wore fatigues. Many of them paced around the room. Chris passed a cell where a man with a shaved head sat on the ground and looked at the walls. Chris read the man's uniform as 'O'Conner'. The man hummed to himself and just looked at the walls. It took a couple seconds before Chris realized that the whole cell composed of a two-way mirror. The prisoners would only see their reflections in the material surrounding them. Chris was about to comment on O'Conner's seclusion when another voice shouted out.
"GODDAMMIT! I DIDN'T DO IT! I DIDN'T MURDER HER!"
Chris and Reyes whipped around. A man in his late thirties with a thick mustache pounded on the walls.
"I DIDN'T KILL HER YOU SONS OF BITCHES!"
"Please step away from the glass." A PA system announced.
"I DID NOT KILL HER!"
"Step away from the glass! NOW!"
He refused. The man froze in place and writhed where he stood. He cried out and fell onto the ground, twitching and moaning.
"Jesus Christ! They've electrified the floors!"
"That's disgusting." Chris said under his breath.
"Welcome to the world of the government prison system." NICOLE said dryly. "Even the King and Queen weren't 100% clean in their treatment of really bad prisoners."
Just to hammer her point home, they saw a couple of men standing in front of a cell. They wore guard uniforms with caps. One of the stifled a laugh. "So, what do you think? Jonesy's gonna give us those names?"
The other man smiled and shook his head. "Nah. Bastard's a hard-ass. But, once Ludo's done with him… I think he'll be ready to talk."
A Hunter supersoldier entered the cell. The man stood so tall he had to duck under the cell entrance. The prisoner fell over and backed against the cell wall. "Aw man! Oh hell!" He cried.
"Want to talk?" the first guard asked.
The prisoner Jonesy bit his lip.
"He Ludo, rough him up a little, will ya?"
The Hunter cracked his neck and chuckled. "Watch and learn, gentlemen."
Before the screams began, Chris turned away and walked on. Reyes followed the troubled young man quickly.
"Looks painful, doesn't it?" Kapplin's shade said. "Well, we can't all be that lucky, can we, captain?" The ghost's face was even more mutilated. His eyes were torn out of his head, his jaw was exposed. His rib-cage was smashed in. His hair was ragged, and patches of flesh were missing from his body. "This was how they found me. You know this. You saw the photos. You were glad I was gone…"
"Go away. You aren't real…" Chris pleaded. His voice was small.
Kapplin stood inside an empty cell. "This reminds me of where I died." He clicked his jaw. "We find it comfortable. Sheppard, what do you think of this?"
Dean appeared in the cell. Chris' stomach lurched as he noticed that half his head was missing right of his nose. That was where the sniper got him. "I should have known you were a snake! It's all your fault! "
"You're not real. Leave me alone!"
"You can ignore us for all you, like." Kapplin cooed. "But we're not going anywhere. We're all right in here." Kapplin placed a ragged finger to his skull and what was left of his face spread into a smile. "Bang." His head exploded.
Chris gasped out of fear. Brain matter covered the glass. He turned away to look at Reyes. "I'm going insane. I'm going insane…" But Reyes wasn't there. Instead, it was Sally. A smile much wider than her mouth would have allowed covered her face. Her eyes were more distant than comfortable. Trickles of blood ran down her cheeks. She had been weeping sanguine tears.
"Don't pay attention to them. I still love you." She curled her fingers around his chin. "These cells are comfy. We should stay in one!" Sally heard the cries of one of the prisoners. "Oh! You hear that? That's the sound of love!" She nuzzled her cheek against his.
She felt cold. Cold as a corpse. Colder than ice. "I wanted your heart, but you wouldn't give it to me!" She suddenly placed her hands to her cheeks. "Oh! I almost forgot! It was your birthday! I had a gift somewhere… ah, I remember!" The gash that Chris put in her chest was still there, seeping blood. She took her hand and plunged it inside. With a twist and a pull, Sally pulled her beating heart out and held it towards Chris. Her eyes twinkled like the stars, but they were
"I got it just for you! Happy birthday, my beautiful Human."
THWACK!
Reyes fist flew across Chris' cheek, snapping the Captain back into reality. The force was so great that Chris twirled once. "OW! Dude, what the FUCK!"
Reyes fanned his fist. "Whoo! That was something. I thought I broke your jaw with that!"
Chris felt his cheek. It was tended. "Well it feels like it… I… thanks."
"What did you see?"
"I don't want to talk about it. Let's go. Now."
Even as they kept moving, NICOLE kept pestering. "You were just standing there. What did you see?"
"I was just standing there?"
"Like a vegetable."
"Scary."
"What, that's all you have to say?"
"Yeah. Should I be feeling anything else?"
There was a painful three second silence before NICOLE said, "What the hell's wrong with this guy?"
Chris didn't give her an answer. She couldn't understand. She wasn't real. Not really. She couldn't understand. She could never understand. And why should she? The burden was his! Not hers! And NICOLE thought that she had the right to tell him what he should feel! What a bitch!
She didn't see what I saw.
"VIP section dead ahead." Reyes said. "Better get that card ready.
Chris was happy to leave this section of the prison behind. Who knew how many more floors of tortured people were in here. In all respects, it would be very likely that military personnel that had contact with the Chaos Emeralds were here waiting for ONI's 'extraction' methods. A similar door at the west end of the prison stood marked 'HIGH SECURITY' with a flashing red light over it. Reyes and Chris walked up to the door business as usual. Chris swiped Goddard's card across the reader again. Much to his delight, it flashed green.
"We're in."
The walls only showed her reflection. Sally had her knees up to her chin. She had stopped being scared a long time ago. She had no idea how long she was in this cage. There were no clocks. There were no windows. There were no sun lamps. All that was above her were the cold fluorescent lighting that buzzed slightly with a gas leak. She sniffed once and wiped away what was once a tear on her face. She remembered waking up in this cell, lying on her back, probably for protection. She thought she was alone at first, but there was another woman in her cell. She was a Mobian as well. She was a rabbit, and was wearing military clothing. At first, Sally assumed that she was with the UNSC, but then she saw that she was RAF. Her name was Hera. Major Abigail Hera.
Sally was so glad to see someone that she could talk to. The minute she was able to walk properly, she approached the woman and asked about her. Hera was very short with her, only saying her name and staying quiet. Sally wanted conversation, but Hera wasn't having any of it.
"Will you at least tell me what's wrong?"
"No." She said. "Nothing can change how I feel. Even though things aren't the same here."
Sally was confused. Hera wouldn't talk about it, and she could feel her anger. So Hera sat alone at the far end of the cell. Sally felt more alone now than ever before. She just wanted to go home. She was afraid of her own reflection. She was afraid of this cell. She was afraid about what was going to happen to her home. But worst of all was that she was afraid about what these men would do to her.
Would they kill her? By this point it would be a sweet mercy. She had very little to lose at this point. Where was Bunnie? Where was Sonic? Where was…
A noise! The door was opening to the cell block. Was someone coming? It was probably some corrupt Admiral coming to twirl their mustache at her. Maybe it was Marshall, come to personally tell her how better he was than her. She couldn't tell, but she wanted to get it over with. She wanted to be alone.
That's all she had left.
"NICOLE, lock it down."
Her ears twitched. Her head lifted.
"I'm on it. Give me a second to hack into the controls. Hold me up to the IR port."
Her ears twitched again. She got up curiously.
"Done. The room should be secure. At least for the moment."
She laughed quietly. A smile crossed her face. Her eyes opened wide. Oh please. Let it be him. She said nothing, but stood at the cell wall, looking into her own eyes. She could barely contain herself, but she wanted to see him.
"Reyes, stand guard just in case someone decides to crack the code."
"Aye aye, sir."
There were computer sounds as someone manipulated the controls. A second later, the cell walls cleared up. Standing on the other side of the wall was the most beautiful thing she saw in a long time. It was a man. It was a man that had just proved to her than no distance was too great and nothing was too much as long as in the end, seeing each other was all that mattered.
He hurriedly took off the glasses he was wearing and stuffed them in his pocket. He tapped the gate controls. The door opened, and she ran.
He moved to her, and caught her. The Human wrapped his arms around her tightly and held her close to him. Not a word was spoken for a moment. Then, she spoke.
"You came back…!"
He whispered to her. "I promised."
She said nothing, but gave a cry of longing as she placed her head to his. Now it didn't matter what Marshall did to them.
They had each other again.