[UNSC-DP-SWMS-v.5.7]

[Date]-[8/11/2547/1748]

[To]-[Captain Dean White/SN: 00244-81437-DW]

[From]-[Captain Courtney Jsarez/SN: 99342-72810-CJ]

[File/Open/Begin]

Captain.

The docs finally released me, and I'm so far doing great. I'm still feeling Red's nausea from his surgery, and my head and brain hurt like hell, but the docs said that it's to be expected, and painkillers are starting to bring the pain down.

The pain I went through will leave me permanently scared for life; I don't need a doc to tell me that. And due to this, Klyn has recommended me for sessions with Doctor Joyce. Not quite sure whether or not I should go along with it as Freud has confirmed my suspicions of Joyce relaying confidential Intel of us back to ONI. But I suppose it doesn't matter as by the time what Intel he collects on me gets into ONI's hands, they'll already know that I'm pissed.

Anyway, back onto the point. Like I said, the pain I went through has left me mentally crippled, and I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight. But first, I'm going to eat like a pig.

I've invited Keyes to have sushi with me as eating alone right now doesn't really sound good to my ears.

Now, Keyes would be enough, but I wanted to also invite you.

You volunteered to save me, and you're not choosing to hate me over my state of pain getting Trinsky and Call killed. I can respect you for both your loyalty, bravery, and your logic.

I can't do much to thank you, though. But I think getting to know you better is a start.

I admit that it's not good for morale that I don't interact with my crew to the level that I should. But they never really cared, anyway. At least that's what Keyes tells me.

I want to change this... starting with you.

You can refuse, of course, and I won't resent you for it. But I'd really like it if you accepted... I have some things I'd like to discuss with you and Keyes.

If you do accept, dress in your normal fatigues, wear Clinshic Freshness, and bring a bottle of Carlo Rossi. Oh, and bring something for yourself if you don't like sushi.

If you decline, you better not act awkward around me as that will severely tamper out operational effectiveness.

Looking forward to your reply.

[File/End/Close]


November 8 2547 [1842 Hours] Human Military Calendar.

UNSC Kryptonite's Captain Quarters, Installation 06.

Courtney Jsarez...


The door to my room opened, and Lynda walked in with a plastic bag in her hands.

"I have to give credit to Petes; he knows how to cook sushi. Smells just about right."

I grinned; not many chefs on UNSC ships could cook food from Earth so perfectly unless they were Japanese. I fell in love with sushi after moving to Pirth City on Arcadia that had a Japanese restaurant.

I befriended the family, and learnt a lot about Japanese culture, and I learnt a lot of things I did in the restaurant likely pissed them off or made me seem rude. The family didn't seem to hold it against me, and came to accept me as almost family.

They all died when the Covenant hit Arcadia.

Thinking about how such beautiful and friendly people died reminded me that those who served their killer were on my ship. 'Lodam, and his Diverted.

"You okay?" Lynda asked me, seeing the dark expression that appeared over my face.

"Just remembering." I didn't hear about the family's death until after I met Lynda back on Earth; I thought they made it by the reports. And when I heard, I broke down. And Lynda was there, caring for me when I hardly even knew her.

That's what a good Human was. And I needed to do the best to make sure Humans like her survived. And the opposite... ONI... they would all die.

Lynda walked past the bed I was sitting on, placed the plastic bag on the bench, and walked over to me.

I peered over to the bench with the plastic bag, and took a deep sniff of the smell emitting from it. I loved that smell so much, and the memory of the sushi I used to eat with that Japanese family bought tears to my eyes.

Lynda broke into a hurry and sat down on the bed where she comforted me. She knew what was happening, and she didn't say a word. All she did was place her hand on my head and shoulder, and hold me tight.

Lynda wasn't the type of person to show caring emotions around the crew. But when it came to me, she would comfort me no matter what. Thankfully, I never really needed comforting around the crew.

I quickly shrugged Lynda off and got up. "Sorry," I apologized. "I need to clean myself up before White arrives."

"Of course." Lynda nodded. I turned around and began walking to my private bathroom.

Despite my rooms size, it was definitely a Captains quarters with all types of home appliances. Next to my door on the left between where the front and left wall connected was a desk with my private terminal on it. My bed was on the right side of the door on my front wall, going along the right wall. By the end of my bed was the entrance to my private bathroom, and to the left of my bed where my head rested was a small table with a digital clock and a few other miscellaneous objects on it. Going across my back wall was the kitchen area with all the essential appliances. Going along the right wall leading up to my desk was the small table with a few seats around it. Everywhere save my kitchen and bathroom were covered in carpet while my kitchen and bathroom had tiles. The ceiling of my quarters was low with lights built into it. The walls themselves were kinda nice and didn't have the tubes, pipes, and cords that appeared along the walls in the corridors thanks to some shielding put up.

It was small, but it was enough for me.

I entered my bathroom and made my way over to my sink, sniffing. I looked up to the mirror and saw redness in my simple green eyes. I quickly wiped my eyes, attempting to get rid of the redness. I was tired, and still in a great deal of pain.

Eventually the redness began to die down, and I started washing the tears away from my face. I was pathetic. I couldn't believe I wanted to doom Humanity while in my state of pain. Even thinking like that insults the memory of that family. I didn't believe in supernatural forces, so no one could know what I was thinking. But I still needed to atone for how I thought. But how could I?

I was in the bathroom for a couple of minutes, and being worried, Lynda called out: "Courtney! You okay?!"

"Yeah." I replied, wiping the water off my face before leaving the bathroom.

Lynda had wasted no time getting plates and other utensils out and began dishing up the sushi. The box that the chef, Petes, packed the food in contained different variants of sushi from Makizushi -my personal favorite- to Inarizushi. The raw fish could often set people off -it set me off at first- but it's easy to work around. But I must admit that I originally found Japanese weird when I heard that they ate raw fish. I still hated myself for being so judgmental.

I ultimately came to find sushi to be my favorite food. It may had just been me, but I figured that it was always foreign food that was the greatest.

I made my way over to the table and seated myself as Lynda continued dishing the food up.

I was not surprised when White accepted my invitation. But I was surprised that his reply made no mention of the deodorant brand I joked about in the message. Perhaps he was too embarrassed to mention it -I didn't know. I still felt bad for putting that in, but Lynda convinced me after saying that White could take the joke. But did he really? Perhaps taking jokes from friends was one thing, but your Captain may had been another.

I didn't even know why people wore perfume and deodorant. I understood male teens' needs to wear deodorant. But why the heck a grown man? Whatever the case, I often enjoyed the smell.

"Captain," Timmy's voice said over my quarter's intercoms. "I am detecting a high stress levels and an increase of your heart rate from 78 bpm to 136 bpm; I recommend a cease of your planned dinner."

I would've normally scolded Timmy for what he said, but I realized during my state of pain that I didn't show enough appreciation, and that this was his personality -not him being annoying. Timmy saved the asses of me and the crew on a number of times, and I needed to make sure that he realized that I acknowledged and appreciated it without downright saying it out loud.

"Thanks for you concern, Timmy, but I'll be fine in a couple of moments." I placed my hand over my heart and began pressing down on it in an attempt to calm myself.

"Understood, ma'am. But it goes against the doctor's recommendation along with my own. If you feel dizzy, nauseous, or your chest hurts, please report it to me immediately without refraining due to current events."

"Gotcha, Timmy. I'll do so. And thanks."

"Of course, ma'am."

"That's odd." Lynda observed, bringing the wine glasses over to the table.

I figured she'd pick up on it; Lynda was one of the ones who knew very well that I got annoyed easily by Timmy. "I'm not gonna complain to him when he's just worrying 'bout me." I told Lynda.

"That hasn't stopped you before." Lynda reminded me, placing the glasses down on the table in front of the seats that me, her, and White were going to be seated in.

"I was an idiot before." I admitted as Lynda turned and made her way back over to the bench to finish dishing the food up.

"I hope you ain't realizing that for the first time."

"What." I coldly questioned Lynda.

"It'd be pretty crazy if you only realize now that you've always been an idiot," Lynda turned around and smiled. "I'm just fucking with you, Courtney."

"I still outrank you," I warned her. "You wanna get court-martialled?"

"Nope. But I think It would be funny to see the face's of those FLEETCOM morons when they see you taking your best pal to court."

"That would be pretty funny..." I agreed.

"Wanna try it?"

I laughed. Why the hell not? I was already planning on fucking up every law in the book to go against ONI, so why not fuck around a bit more. "Hell yeah."

Timmy's emotionless voice immediately cut in. "Captain, I highly advise you to reconsider your words."

Shit was what immediately came to my mind. As much as I didn't care what Timmy did, he could lock me out of the Kyrptonite's systems if he considered me doing war crimes and going against protocol. I could just have the Monitor or the Monarch kick his ass in turn, but the trouble wasn't worth it, and the spooks on the Kryptonite would surely find out about Timmy's reasons, and give me hell in return.

"I'm joking, Timmy." I calmly reassured the AI.

"You were?" Lynda asked, sounding annoyed.

"Of course I was," I confirmed. "I'm not stupid enough to try that!"

"To be honest, Courtney, I still don't really know how stupid you can get."

I laughed again. "And hopefully you never will."

"Glad that you have reconsidered." Timmy said. As much as I wanted to fuck with FLEETCOM, I didn't want to do anything that could harm Timmy. Plus, there was the chance that the fat-faced morons at FLEETCOM didn't know about ONI's bullshit, so they don't really deserve my backlash.

Lynda finished dishing up the food and bought the plates over to the table before setting them down and taking a seat. Not even a minute after he last spoke, Timmy's voice was heard again. "Captain, Captain White has arrived at your quarters, and is awaiting for me to request your permission to let him in."

I nervously smiled. "He can come in, Timmy, but tell the lazy bastard that he can let himself in."

"Affirmative, Captain." Timmy replied.

The doors opened to have White walk in, dressed in his off-duty military fatigues carting a bottle of Carlo Rossi in his hands. What impressed me was his lack of a bag carrying his own food which meant that he liked sushi, or was willing to try something different.

It was rare that anyone not born on Earth had tried sushi as the ingredients for it were not easy to come by. Thankfully Japanese chefs managed to adapt to growing the ingredients on foreign planets. And from personal experience, they taste exactly the same.

Lynda wasn't initially into sushi -thinking that she wouldn't like it. But all I needed to do was buy her one serving of Makizushi to make her instantly love the food. I was very proud of myself that I made Lynda admit she was wrong.

Lynda burst out laughing with me turning around to face her. I was about to ask what she was laughing about when I smelt it. White was actually wearing Clinshic Freshness. I couldn't help but burst out laughing as well -men were so stupid when it came to trying to impress women.

White looked confused at first, but eventually figured it out, and began laughing his head off as well.

Once we all stopped laughing, Lynda smashed her hand down onto the table, making me jump. "Dammit, White, haven't you learnt anything over the years?"

"Excuse me, ma'am?" White asked, a shit ton of confusion in his tone and on his face.

"You haven't saluted." Lynda informed him, anger in her voice.

"Shit." he muttered, quickly placing the wine bottle down onto my terminal desk and snapping to attention.

I decided to play along. "Don't put the wine there!"

"Fuck." White muttered as he snapped the bottle back up into his hands, breaking his salute.

"I didn't say at ease!" Lynda snapped at him.

"Captain White," Timmy broke in over the intercoms. "After analyzing the tone and voice patterns of Captain Jsarez and Lieutenant Colonel Keyes, I have established that they are joking."

Timmy always ruined the fun. "Thanks, Timmy." I growled in annoyance.

"Apologies, ma'am, but your joking with Captain White was very inconvenient and unprofessional." He had a point, could White think me as a joking idiot? Did I just screw up my reputation.

"It's fine, Timmy," White chuckled. "I'm just glad to know that the Captain has the sense of humor that Colonel Keyes said she had." Could he read my mind?

I sighed. "Come take a seat, Captain." I gestured to the empty seat where his plate and glass were.

"Thanks ma'am." He nodded, making his way over to the table where he placed the bottle of Carlo Rossi down before taking a seat himself.

"So, you like sushi, Captain?" I asked White, trying to make up conversation as Lynda poured the Carlo Rossi wine into each of our wine glasses.

"Haven't tried it before, Captain." He replied.

If he hadn't tried it before, why didn't he bring his own food in case he didn't like it? "You should had bought your own in case." I rolled my eyes.

White chuckled. "I've never not liked a foreign food after trying it. And I'm already a fan of rice."

"Not even raw fish?" I questioned him.

Lynda butted in while handing me my glass back. "Ma'am, if you actually remember the Captain's file, you'll know that he's eaten a lot worse than raw fish."

"What do you mean?" I questioned Lynda, noticing White redirecting his eyes in what seemed like shame.

Lynda turned her gaze to White. "Can I?"

"There isn't a reason you can't. "White replied.

Lynda returned her gaze to me. "He and his platoon were pinned down during a battle on Harvest. Supplies couldn't get flown in, and his boys were dying of starvation. So, doing what I consider admirable rather than disgusting, he began eating his dead comrades -raw."

"That was him!" I exclaimed. "I thought that was Frank Sullivan!" I was tired when I began reading my CO's files, so it was likely that I got facts and info mixed up.

"And like I said, you should had taken a rest instead of reading all the CO's files in one sitting." Lynda grumbled.

White was a cannibal... how did I feel about that? Lynda said she admired him for it... "You ate your friends..." I suddenly said, not thinking to hold my tongue. I instantly regretted saying that as I couldn't judge him like that.

Before I could apologize, Lynda spoke up. "Ma'am, I would do the same to your dead corpse and I expect my man to do the same to me. This war will cripple Humanity if we do manage to survive it; we can't take the risk of losing soldiers over what is morally wrong or right."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that." I apologized.

"It's okay." White reassured me, smiling as well.

"It just shocked me." I admitted.

Lynda let out a chuckle. "If you think you were shocked you should had seen me."

White chuckled as well. "Yeah, the Lieutenant Colonel tracked me back to the base I was stationed at prior to joining your crew and actually hit me; saying that I wasn't a soldier but a monster."

"But the Captain here has his way with words," Lynda added. "and he managed to convince me that his survival could save hundreds of people, and that dying over what is taboo wasn't worth those hundreds of lives that could be lost."

"And ironically, I have saved thousands of lives." White added, but not sounding proud.

He was right. Back on Quaint he managed to successfully EVAC thousands of civvies from a city under siege by the Covenant. I intended to have him receive the Colonial Cross for his efforts, but never got around to the recommendation as it was the next day that the Monarch approached the orbiting Human fleet for assistance. I also felt shameful that I didn't try to get to know White more after his deeds, or personally congratulate him -I was a pathetic Captain.

"I was meant to congratulate you," I admitted. "I also intended to have you receive the Colonial Cross."

"Thanks ma'am," White smiled. "but you didn't have to congratulate me or do all the paperwork for the recommendation."

"A good Captain always shows acknowledgement for their crew's deeds." I calmly reminded him.

"You're already a good Captain." He reassured me.

"And a good person overall." Lynda added.

"Thanks." I smiled as I picked up my chopsticks and began carefully picking up my Makizushi rolls.

White looked at me curiously. "What are those?" He questioned me.

White grew up on Itamin II which wasn't know for its' Asian population, and likely had no idea what chopsticks were. "Chopsticks," I informed him. "Commonly used by the Asian Nations back on Earth instead of forks or knifes."

"Seems... complicated, Captain."White observed.

He had no idea. It took me months of using the chopsticks each day to get the hang of it. "It is." I confirmed.

"That's why I never use them," Lynda added, picking up her fork and knife before cutting up her food. "Life's already too complicated for me to have me try to learn complicated things that have no relevance."

I agreed with her. She didn't have an easy life as a Lieutenant Colonel, and was constantly stressed. I noticed that when she ate, it was almost like she was having a warm bath; like she was relieving stress.

It was the same with me. But I learnt how to use chopsticks before the full constraint of being a CO hit me.

I put the roll I picked up into my mouth while observing White put his own in his mouth. "Wow," White's eyes widened. "This is really good!"

Something was bothering me that I needed to get out-of-the-way. "Captain, not to bring up past events, but I'm really, really sorry about bringing up your past just then."

"Courtney..." Lynda sighed, using my first name in an informal matter that I didn't want her to use in front of the crew.

"It's fine, ma'am," White reassured me. "I think about them constantly every day, so you didn't make me remember anything I wanted to forget."

"Don't blame yourself," I told him, taking a sip out of my wine glass. "Now that you have explained why you did it, I'd likely do the same."

White let out a sigh. "I only hope that they would understand what I did if they were still here."

I decided to make a suggestion. "Do you have counseling sessions with Doctor Joyce?"

"No, ma'am; never really seen the point."

"It's right there." Lynda informed him.

"I guess..." White trailed off.

"Will you be so reluctant when I order you to see him?" I asked White.

"No, ma'am."

I let out a sigh. "Fuck regulations and protocol; call me Courtney."

"Finally!" Lynda grumbled. "I hate calling you 'Captain' and 'ma'am' it's annoying as hell!"

Timmy's voice sounded off as I predicted. "Captain Jsarez, I highly recommend you keep to a professional level as per protocol."

I let out an angry sigh. "Protocol can go screw itself because listed in these protocols is the damned law that said it was okay to kidnap my six-year-old brother along with who knows how many more and conscript them to fight Humans."

"Naval Code 45812 was put into effect by ONI without the knowledge of the UNSC and remains a Naval protocol -not a military protocol. So these facts conclude it irrational to disobey UNSC formality protocols."

I took this in consideration, and quickly gave my answer. "Timmy, I thank you for your commitment to uphold regulations. But I frankly don't care anymore. Do what you want in retaliation, but know that this ship ain't returning to Earth without me as it's full and operational Captain. Whatever happens after that can be of ONI's concern -not yours."

Timmy gave in. "Acknowledged, ma'am. I'll be making a full report to file when we return to Earth. I apologize for this turn of events as I saw great potential in your career."

I chuckled. "I only joined the Navy because it was connected to ONI. And getting to ONI was what I wanted more than anything as I knew ONI were behind what happened -who else could it be?"

"Whatever happens, ma'am, we're with you." White reassured me.

"Yeah," Lynda agreed. "I'm not gonna take orders from assholes that would sacrifice the innocence of a child for their own personal goals."

I smiled at their loyalty. "Thanks, guys. But all this talk of a future conflict against Humans has made me remember that we're meant to be having a nice dinner."

White chuckled. "Glad to know I ain't alone in thinking that horrific topics get bought up way too much."

"Well, I've got a topic," Lynda announced. "How 'bout getting to know each other."

I chuckled again. "Lynda, I know what your favorite color is, so I don't see the need to 'get to know each other'."

Lynda smiled like she was thinking of something, took a sip of her wine, and put her wine glass back down. "Oh yeah? What's my favorite color."

I smiled. I would first say what her color is, and then she would ask me how I knew about it. "Purple."

She slammed her fist down onto the table in annoyance. "How the hell do you know?!"

"You muttered it as I was taking you home from that club we first me at."

"You remember that small detail from all those years ago?" Lynda questioned me.

"Lynda, some of the things you said in that taxi will remain with me for the rest of my life." I chuckled.

White cleared his throat. "My I divert the topic?"

I nodded for him to continue which he did. "You said in your invitation that you needed to talk to me and Lynda about some stuff."

I let out a 'ohhh' of realization. "Yeah, that was mostly related to Red and ONI -what we just talked about. I was kinda gonna ask for your stance on it, but you guys made it clear."

"Well, I guess I have no reason to be here anymore." White got up off of his seat and walked over to the door where he opened it and walked out, leaving me and Lynda dumbstruck.

"What the fuck?!" We both exclaimed in unison.

Before we could continue, the door opened to have a grinning White walk back in. "Sweet revenge!"

"Whatever." Lynda grumbled as White took his seat again.

"Do that again, and I'll send you to the brig." I warned him.

He grinned. "And I'll have you court-martialled for illegally using your superior power for personal use."

He had me there, I must admit. But we were both joking -hopefully he knew that; his playful tone reassured me that he did.

We continued to eat, drink, and laugh all through the night with White telling us various jokes he picked up from the men, telling us the funny story about how he got one of his tattoos, and revealing dirty secrets of some of the COs. It was a surprisingly great night. I didn't learn much more about White other than how his personality worked. He had a good sense of humor, and was surprisingly comfortable around me -his Captain that he hardly even talked to. I guessed it helped that Lynda likely told him a lot about my own personality.

At around 2230 hours White retired back to the barracks, leaving me and Lynda to dwell on what happened. He seemed to like me; why else would he wear deodorant? Perhaps the first time at the med-bay was to impress the nurse, and the reason he wore it tonight was just to joke around. Wait? Did I get it messed up? Did he not like me after-all? Why did men have to be so difficult?!

There was about 5 minutes of awkward silence with us both thinking on tonight's events until Lynda spoke up.

"So, do you like him?"

Lynda wasn't smiling as I suspected her to when she asked me. Unlike the rest of the night, she wasn't joking around. As to if I liked him... "Yes." I confirmed.

"But you don't trust him." Lynda concluded. And no, I didn't. He seemed nice and all... but so did Eric. Trust was something that was really hard for me. The Japanese family, Lynda... I only trusted them out of the love I had for them.

"You're the only person I'll ever trust." I calmly replied, taking a last sip of my wine. This wine was made by a family back in the 21st century and their company was still running. Thinking about it, a lot of stuff from the 21st century were around in the modern years. It must had been due to the groundbreaking century the 21st century was. But wine? Must of sold good.

Lynda smiled for the first time since White left. "Lucky me."

"Not when I come to you with all my girly emotions that I need to talk to someone about."

"Helps that you don't have any 'girl emotions'."

I grinned. "You wanna bet? After tonight... after what I went through over the last 24 hours... I want to get my life back on track."

Lynda narrowed her eyes. "You always said that you didn't want to live life to its fullest until you found Red. But I don't know, I think you've done pretty okay from what I've seen. I mean, I met you in a night-club. Now, if that's not living life to its' fullest, what the hell is?"

I shook my head. "No, no; there's a lot I've wanted to do, but never could bring myself to do so."

"Hmmm?" Lynda urged me.

"Like, get counselling over Eric." My parents originally sent me to a counselor after what happened with Eric. But as if to spite them, I never 'opened up' to the counselor about what happened; never told him how I felt, never talked about the child that grew inside me. My parents never listened to me about Red, and now they wanted someone else to listen to me about what happened with Eric. I wasn't going to indulge them; making them worried was what I wanted most -especially as after what happened with Eric, THEY STILL DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME ABOUT CHRISTINA!

I let out a chuckle devoid of amusement at the irony.

In reply to my out-of-place chuckle, Lynda narrowed her eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"You ain't thinking about seeing Campbell, are you?"

I rolled my eyes -more out of annoyance at Lynda's quite smart speculation. Despite it being false to why I actually chuckled, it did make sense that I would also probably chuckle in a similar matter if I did think about seeing Campbell.

"Lynda, that's not what I was chuckling about."

"Still, are you?"

I shook my head. "After you told me that Freud figured out that the bastard was relaying all our juicy personal conflicts back to ONI, no."

Lynda put her hand on her jaw, musing. "I wonder... Timmy, did you know about this?"

"The topic you wish to engage in is highly classified." Timmy's emotionless voice replied.

Lynda let out a sigh. "Why do I even bother? You know, even though FLEETCOM assigned us this damned AI, I bet he's frickin ONI."

My eyes widened at her words. I never even considered that Timmy was ONI. I mean, all his annoying attempts to uphold protocol and that was understandable for an AI of his personality. But why the hell did he know so much about Intel that should had been classified to FLEETCOM?!

I quickly regained my composure, leaving Lynda confused as hell. "You ain't-" I quickly shook my head for her to be quiet. It would be better if we spoke more about the possibility without Timmy watching us. The Monarch would be able to help as it already stated multiple times while in Slip-Space to Halo that if it wanted, it could pull Timmy apart bit-by-bit if it wanted to. Blinding Timmy from a single room so we could speak in privacy would be no problem for the highly advanced alien AI that had a nasty habit of pissing me off. Perhaps this was a chance for it to redeem itself, and actually be of a convenience other than just contradicting our efforts to get home.

But still, if Timmy was programmed by ONI, what the hell could happen? Could he override my orders when we arrive back at Earth? Take control of the Kryptonite and bloody lead us to an ONI orbital facility or something? Getting delivered to the hands of ONI before HIGHCOM or FLEETCOM would not be preferable. Parangosky was a dangerous person, and Timmy was not oblivious to my plans of crossing her. The thought of being in her tight grasp scared me. I couldn't allow that to happen; I couldn't allow her to stop me.

The Security Council had to know. And if they already did, if they allowed for Parangosky and ONI to do this... then no one would stop me from replacing Parangosky as the most dangerous person in the Universe.


November 8 2547 [2249 Hours] Human Military Calendar.

UNSC Kryptonite's Recovery Room A-8, Installation 06.

Rhine Dorhan...


The day had been great!

We found Sierra-098, got the Captain back, and found some possible allies that were apparently extremely effective against the Flood.

But then I had to tell Campbell that I was planning on killing all the crew-members he befriended.

He hated me the moment I mentioned my plan; I could see it in his eyes. And he refused to agree upon it; even if it meant his execution. So, to compromise, I agreed to not actually kill the crew but try to take them captive, and prevent unnecessary casualties.

It would be more risky for resistance, but others may assist us more willingly, and Hallas would feel much for comfortable about the whole thing, and the Monarch and the Diverted may actually be more cooperative.

Thinking back, I felt stupid to not have figured this out earlier. It was a much better plan that would have smaller risks, and actually spare people I myself called friends.

Now, since I had Campbell on-board, I got his advise on who to bring into the planned... 'mutiny'

Fireteam Night, Hallas, Campbell, and Timmy were already on-board. And I made the conclusion that Alex Giles would likely join due to his hatred of Captain Jsarez, and his own personal greed to get far in the Navy. I hated Giles, but we needed him.

David Larson would also assist us due to him being 'ONI material' He would not put personal emotions in front of him. The Fireteam that was harassing Larson may also assist us due to their personality traits; they're runts who don't care about nothing. The ODST Fireteam that got into a fight with Sierra-098 would also prove useful. And perhaps Sierra-098 himself. Though, He seemed back to his pre-indoctrinated self which might prove troublesome. It would be worse if he decided to assist the Captain.

I didn't want to act because whether I wanted it to happen or not, people would die. Tomorrow, I would speak to Captain Jsarez and try to convince her to lean towards reason and logic.

These thoughts were eating me up, so I temporarily put them aside. And with my head clear, I could finally speak to Sierra-098 who was in recovery.

Sierra-098 was lying on in a cot, tied down in case the Gravemind took control. There were armed guards all in the room with Sentinels backing them up, and the Monarch and Monitor were hovering above the drowsy SPARTAN, observing him.

Sierra-08 seemed... normal. But I needed to judge that for myself.

"How're you feeling?" I asked him.

Sierra-098 turned to look at me. His green eyes were pale, and red. His pale skin had dark lines going across it, likely his veins reacting to the Gravemind's presence. Looking at him, I only now noticed how normal in appearance he seemed for someone of a group that many at ONI consider machines. He had shaven dark brown hair, a scar to the left of his mouth where a mole of his was removed, a scar going along his scalp and ending above his right eye. He was huge, standing at 7'0" and weighing 290 pounds. And that was just without his MJOLNIR Mark IV armor.

"Terrible." 098 replied.

"Let's start with the basics: Do you want to kill any of us?" I questioned him.

Sierra-098 looked me dead in the eyes. "Just you."

I didn't waver. "I had no involvement in the SPARTAN II Program, Sierra, so watch you tongue."

Sierra-098 smiled. "That's not why I want to kill you."

Was it possible that he knew? If so, then how? There was no way he could! But why else would he want to kill me? With so many questions running through my mind, it was hard to keep my composure. He was a SPARTAN with the physical and mental alterations from the Flood; if he wanted to kill me, nobody would be able to stop him.

"Why do you want to kill me?" I questioned him, being careful not to let panic show in my voice.

"That doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!" I replied, letting a bit of anger show in my voice.

"I can't say."

I was confused, but the Monitor thankfully elaborated for me. "The Gravemind's Spore has control of 94.16 percent on this Reclaimer's brain. This Reclaimer cannot say or do anything without the Gravemind's Spore's approval first."

That annoyed me. "Didn't you say that you suppressed the Gravemind's control over him?!"

"We only prevented the Gravemind's Spore from taking physical and verbal control of this Reclaimer -save every minimum: 16, to maximum: 23 hours for the minimum of 5 minutes to the maximum of 17 minutes -approximately."

"So, he can't say or do anything unless the Gravemind lets him, but the Gravemind can only take control of Sierra-098 once per day for a couple of minutes?" I double checked.

"That's not my name." Sierra-098 coldly informed me.

The Monitor ignored him, and continued. "Affirmative, Reclaimer."

"Also," The Monarch added. "the Gravemind's Spore has the ability to anonymously access every source of intelligence and info currently stored in the Universe from whenever, and where-ever. The Gravemind's Spore also has the physiological ability to examine and see the thoughts, memories, and emotions of any individual of any species at anytime, and at any location -no know exceptions."

I couldn't keep myself from gaping. "How?!" I said in fear.

The Monarch replied. "Unbeknownst to us until now, the Gravemind has not only integrated itself with Forerunner technology, but technology of a species even older and much more advanced: The Precursors."

The Monitor broke in. "This doesn't add up to a logical conclusion as the activation of the Installations destroyed all architecture of Neural Physics in the radius of 25.000 Light Years from each Installation's location -effectively on a galactic scale. No Precursor artifact could had survived the activation; this artifact contradicts logic."

"As do the species you refer to as 'Hybrids'." The Monarch added.

"Are they connected?" I asked them.

Sierra-098 was one the to reply. Though, it wasn't him. "We lacked a unanimous establishment that merging all life forms together was a triumphal act."

What are you saying?" I questioned him. It seemed as if the Gravemind had chosen now to take control of him verbally.

"Even the Precursors had internal struggle." The Monarch observed, clarifying for me as well..

Red smiled. "Endeavoring to cease our proceedings, our brothers have dispensed us a true armament of anguish."

"The artifact was meant for you, Reclaimers." The Monarch clarified.

That made no sense; they said all of these 'Precursor' artifacts and Neural crap was destroyed when the Halos were activated. So how was this artifact here? "But how?" I asked the Monarch. "How can it be here if all Precursor artifacts were destroyed?"

The Monarch turned to face me. "Both the Hybrids and the artifact are not of this Universe."

This could be either really bad, or really good. Only time would tell.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The ending of this chapter may be confusing for people. Thankfully I made Rhine out to be just as confused which would provide an excuse for the Monitor and Monarch to elaborate for him. Still, you might not get it unless you've read the Forerunner Saga by Greg Bear. I myself haven't read the Saga as I initially felt that the Forerunners would be too complex for me. But I did pick up a lot on the Halo wikis which helped me understand, and I don't really seem the need to read the Saga. Perhaps I'll get around to it one-day.

I'm hoping to get around to bringing Vale back into the picture soon. But how long do you expect someone to be in a coma after being beaten to near death by a pack of Brutes?