Part 38 - Infiltration
CPO Mendez wasn't as young as he used to be. Whilst he wanted nothing more to be fighting on the ground, his health problems made this impossible. He'd never taken to the Spartan I augmentations as easily as Sergeant Johnson had.
It hadn't been all that much of a problem when he'd been younger, but the recent months had taken their toll upon him. He'd have been more of a hindrance than a help on Sangheilios.
So, to his dismay, Mendez had been assigned to sentry duty on the UNSC Galapagos.
One of the Longswords which had been sent out on a rescue mission was fast approaching the Galapagos. Sensors indicated it was low on fuel. Sighing at his misfortune, Mendez hailed the small Longsword.
"Lima Romeo 264, hold where you are please," he instructed the pilot of the Longsword. The small fighter ground to a halt, just inside the kill zone.
"Is there a problem Galapagos?" a muffled voice replied, the voice coming from the Longsword.
"You sound distorted Lima Romeo, what's wrong?" Mendez questioned suspiciously.
"Radio transmitter got smashed against an asteroid, I got careless," the voice replied, that of a man's. He seemed to have an English accent, although it was hard to tell through the distortion.
"Roger that." There were plenty of asteroids in the space above Sangheilios, nothing strange there. "Lima Romeo, I'm going to ask you the question you were assigned before you left on the Longsword."
It was a precautionary measure, in case the ship was captured by the Flood. If everything was above board, then the pilot would reply 'Alpha.' If he was under duress, then the pilot would answer 'Omega.' The question had been designed by Admiral Eden before his treachery, and so far had lead to seven ships being detected and subsequently destroyed.
There were a few tense moments, as Mendez's finger held over the button which would send a pulse laser straight at the Longsword.
"Alpha," the voice finally replied. Mendez let out a sigh of relief.
"Affirmative, you are cleared to dock. An armed response team will meet you as you exit your craft, do not be alarmed."
"Copy."
A few moments passed in which the docking clamps latched on to the Longsword, securing it. As the small craft was lowered gently through the shield door into the docking bay, an armed unit of three rushed past Mendez, all of them holding MA5Cs. The bullets in the gun were softer than usual, so that they wouldn't penetrate the ship's hull if fired.
Mendez stayed in his booth, bored. The same routine had been happening all day, with ships moving back and forth. As he often did, the CPO reminisced about the old days, fighting with Johnson and the other surviving Spartan Is in the early days of the Covenant war -- after the IIs had been trained. The Spartans Mendez were trained were incredible -- of course they were, Mendez had trained them after all --, but there simply weren't enough of them. And when funding for a second class had been put on hold, Mendez and the other S Is had been approached by a division of ONI.
The Spartan I project, had been, for the most part, a failure. A tiny percentage of the candidates had survived. Still, the ones that had were better than the average marine.
And so a little task force of Spartan Is had been formed. Mendez had led them, with Johnson as his second in command. They'd fought in the early years of the war, making quite a difference. Sometimes they'd even fought alongside the Spartan IIs, and had given them quite a run for their money too. Their identities had been masked at all times, and most soldiers who had seen them in action thought them prototype robots built to fight in the war.
Good days, Mendez thought ruefully. Of course, it hadn't lasted. One by one, the Spartan Is had fallen, until only Mendez and Johnson remained. And when Mendez had been approached by Colonel Ackerson to train the newest class of Spartans, the Spartan IIIs, that had been the end of his adventures. He hadn't seen Johnson since, not until a couple of months ago.
Even the Spartan IIIs were gone now, mostly. The only two who remained were Tom and Lucy. Then again, Gamma team had shipped out shortly before the attack on Onyx. Hundreds of them, little more than teenagers, albeit teenagers stronger than 21 year old Olympic athletes. Where the hell were they? Probably dead as well, killed on some suicide mission.
The door to the Longsword was sliding open now. The marines securing the landing had their rifles pointed in the opening.
Suddenly, a small object was tossed down the ramp where it rested at the foot of the marines. Mendez jumped out of his chair, staring through the bulletproof glass of his boot with dread.
One of the marines looked down, and nudged the small canister with the barrel of his rifle. Greenhorn kid, by the looks of it.
Mendez knew what the canister was, and quickly turned his eyes away from the small object. Almost immediately after he did so, the object exploded in a flurry of light.
The armed marines stumbled back, all the photosensitive cells in their retina momentarily activated at once, clouding their vision. Before Mendez could react, rifle fire came out from inside the Longsword, ripping through the armour of the marines before they knew what hit them.
They tumbled to the ground, motionless. Mendez felt his heart constrict, and willed himself to calm down. A heart attack wouldn't be good at a time like this.
He tore back the cover of a shelf on the wall, and grabbed from the rack an 8 gauge shotgun. He put a Kevlar body suit on, before affixing a fully encompassing helmet upon his head. As an afterthought, he grabbed a Jackal shield and affixed the gauntlet to his wrist.
A figure was striding down the ramp of the Longsword now. Mendez posted against the corner of a wall, breathing deeply. Pumping the shotgun, he swung out of cover, aiming at the figure. He fired a shot without even shouting a warning, the shotgun kicking back against his hands.
To his dismay, the rounds merely dissipated against a kinetic barrier which suddenly formed in front of the man. He was wearing one of the new prototype shielding systems, developed by humans with the help of some Engineers who had stayed loyal to them, even when the Elites had begun an insurrection.
Not good.
"Throw down your weapon soldier and I won't kill you," the figure shouted, with an air of authority. Mendez looked down at his weapon, and looked at the shielding equipment which twisted around the blood stained Admiral's uniform the man wore.
Sighing, Mendez dropped the shotgun on the ground, kicking it away. He dropped onto his knees and lifted his hands up in the air.
The figure moved over, and with a shock Mendez realised he recognised the face.
"Eden?" he whispered in disbelief. "But, you're dead!"
"I escaped the Soul of Ice in time. Lucky me. Now tell me soldier, where is Captain Daniels?" Eden demanded, aiming his rifle at Mendez's beating chest. The CPO spat on Eden's boots.
"Go to hell. I'm not telling you," he told the treacherous Admiral defiantly. Eden smiled, shaking his head.
"Oh you will tell me soldier. Or I'll have to go through the ship and kill some other people until I find someone who will tell me," Eden threatened.
"What do you want with the Captain?" Mendez questioned. Eden looked at him quizzically for a second, before laughing.
"I'm not killing him! No, I won't do that. Think of me what you want soldier, I'm acting in the best interests of humanity. Join me, I'll see to it you're rewarded afterwards."
"No thanks," Mendez declined with scorn.
"What a shame. Regardless, tell me where he is," Eden flicked the safety of his rifle.
"You're a traitor. He's up in the bridge, obviously. Where else would he be?"
"I don't know. He could have been in the observation deck. He could have been asleep. He could've been anywhere, this is a big ship. Anyway, are you sure you won't come with and help me?"
"No," Mendez gritted out.
"Oh well."
The shots fired smashed into Mendez's chest with an air of finality, ripping through the Kevlar vest like a hot knife through butter. With a cry, the CPO sprawled backwards.
"Terribly sorry mate, but, well, I can't have you sounding an alarm or anything like that," Eden bent down to Mendez's level. The CPO was gasping for breath, shuddering violently. Eden regarded him with sympathy, taking off his helmet.
"This is a good death. An honourable one. There is no shame in this. Your duty and dedication to your cause will be remembered. When this is over, I'll make sure you have a fitting funeral. Rest in peace."
Mendez could only watch as Eden stood up, gave one last, regretful look down at the CPO's bleeding body, and walked off in the direction of the bridge, reloading his rifle.
I've led a good life. Without the Spartans that I trained, humanity would have been wiped out long ago. I'm ready to die.
That was the last thought Mendez had before he fell into the murky well of the abyss, exhaling his final breath.
* * * * * *
Lord forgive me, Eden prayed as he moved down the long, silent corridors of the Galapagos, moving in the direction of the bridge.
He made sure to use an override code, locking most of the crew in their rooms. That would stop any unexpected interruptions.
Eden rounded the corner, and came face to face with a security guard. After a moments hesitation, the guard swung a fist at Eden's face, sending him sprawling backwards. Eden knew the next few seconds were vital, and so, ignoring the pain, drew out his Assault Rifle, pointing it at the frozen guard.
I could knock him out -- but what if he wakes up before I'm finished? He could sound the alarm. No, there is only one option.
Eden squeezed the trigger, letting five rounds exit the rifle, and embed themselves in the guard's chest.
Checking for certain that the man was dead, Eden moved along, once again reloading his rifle. He was wasting nearly full magazines, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Finally, he ascended some stairs and came to a pause just at the mouth of the corridor leading to the command bridge. Two marines stood outside, smoking and each holding a cup of coffee. Without slowing down his stride, Eden attached a silencer to his rifle and shot each of them once in the head. The cups of coffee splashed to the ground, and the two marines slumped.
Moving over to a security panel by the heavy blast door which cut off the bridge from the rest of the ship, Eden rested his hand on it. His authorisation levels hadn't been deleted yet, and Eden had full control of the command bridge.
Captain Daniels was located in his own, sealed compartment, where he held meetings. Perfect.
With a few small movements, Eden depressurised the lower half of the command bridge, where most of the crew was. Daniels would be safe. Oxygen levels fell, and through one of the security cameras inside the room, Eden could see the crew suffocate to death, wondering what was happening. One by one, they all toppled, until no more remained alive.
I'm going to burn in a very special level of hell for this, Eden thought grimly, before reminding himself that this was all for the greater good.
He strapped an oxygen mask to his face, breathing in deeply a few times. Then, he opened the first door which led to the command bridge. The system worked on a gate like mechanism. One door had to be closed for the other to open. Eden stepped into the gap between the first and second gate. Slowly, the first closed, which then prompted the second to open.
Eden suddenly found himself in a vacuum. The anti gravity technology -- UNSC ships no longer used gyrating centres to create artificial gravity -- had also been shut down, and the Admiral found himself rising through the air.
At the far end of the room was the entrance to the upper command bridge, where Captain Daniels and the system which would allow Eden to take basic control of every ship in the UNSC fleet lay. Bracing himself, he pushed himself away from the wall, floating without any gravity or air resistance battling against him. At one point, a suffocated corpse drifted past him, and Eden could not suppress a shudder. After a few moments, he reached the flight of stairs leading to Daniels, and grabbed on to the railings of the staircase to stop himself from floating.
With precision, Eden began to move himself up the stairs, coming to a rest outside the airtight door. There was another security panel beside it, which Eden easily gained control of. This time, he didn't drain oxygen levels, and merely started up the door opening process.
Halfway between the two 'gates', Eden took of his oxygen mask, and drew out his rifle, flicking the safety off. This was it, this was everything he'd been leading up to.
The second door swung open into Captain Daniels' upper command bridge.
Waiting for him inside was an armed Captain, and five Elite Rangers, alert and all aiming plasma rifles at him.
Crap.