0600 hours, January 8th, 2543 (UNSC military calendar)
Camp Currahee, Onyx, Zeta Doradus system

There was a shrieking alarm, waking John immediately. It was the infiltration alarm. Everyone was to report to barracks, lock themselves in, and wait for a complete inspection.. He got to his feet, looking around his 'office' for a possible threat.

He'd been granted a three room residence, with a 'living room' he had filled with training equipment and weapons, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a single office that he barely used.

He checked the clock. It was early in the morning, just before roll call. John put on his boots, sheathed his combat knife and put his Carnifex in a holster. He glanced at the armory station and considered rushing to put on the Mjolnir armor.

The door to his office opened, revealing Zaeed. The former Spartan was wearing a simple BDU, equipped only with a stun rod, and an M6EZ on his belt. The new mass accelerator pistol was the only part of the man's clothes which was still clean. Zaeed immediately spoke up with a clear sense of authority. He sounded livid. "Colonel Ackerson has been murdered. We think it was a Spartan."

John's stopped at those words. The concept of a Spartan killing a superior officer was something he couldn't imagine. "Are you sure?"

"I damn well am!" Zaeed said indignantly. "He was hacked to pieces, there are Mjolnir palm prints across his throat, and his spine and shoulders were crushed to damn powder! I can make an educated guess!"

John immediately tried to think of suspects, and he quickly went through the possible candidates. He ruled out the Spartan Two's and thought about the Alpha Company Spartans. He immediately thought back to the training exercise before Chi-Rho and the one Spartan that seemed unable to handle authority.

John suspected Emile. He couldn't think of anyone else who would do such a thing unless he fundamentally misunderstood his fellow Spartans. But he still had trouble imagining Emile going through with something this violent. "Have the Spartans gather in Barracks One remain locked down. Assume hostile infiltrators. What about the trainees?." John asked as he stepped foot into the armory machine. He would need the Mjolnir if he was going to subdue a Spartan. Mechanical arms descended from the ceiling as they began putting John's armor on. "Nobody moves without me knowing about it."

"Kurt damn near sprinted there along with half the Military Police. Are you sure he didn't father a few of them?" Zaeed said with a vicious grin. "He's sweeping the base. We should look at Ackerson's body, before the spooks come in."

John paused. "You think there could be foul play. A coverup?"

"ONI Colonels don't get assasinated without a coverup." Zaeed muttered ominously. "I'm damn sure of it. He was our only link to Cerberus. We might be next."

John nodded resolutely. "Take me to Ackerson's office. I need to know what happened.

The smell was immediately noticeable as soon as the door slid open. Ackerson had been torn apart, his body ripped and hacked to pieces, and spread throughout the room. His head and upper torso were on the floor, while blood, entrails, and offal had been spread throughout the room. The sight, and the thought a Spartan was behind it, made John feel a profound sense of unease.

"I've seen Brute slave pens that were cleaner." Zaeed cursed. "This was done by one messed up bastard."

Samara and Kirrahe were already inside, examining the room with their omni-tools. Kirrahe was crawling under the desk, examining Ackerson's computer, while Samara was examining the bloody scene. She hovered slightly above the blood as she moved, her biotics letting her move across the blood without disturbing the evidence.

Samara knelt down, looking at the bloody scene without the slightest care or concern of what it was. She looked jaded, and unconcerned, utterly aloof. She glanced up over her shoulder at John. "Whoever did this had great rage in their heart. They tore his body apart for the sheer joy of it. His throat had been crushed and spine severed. This was the work of a psychopath. The Code demands justice."

"Whoever did this will face a firing squad." John said. "Is there anything about the body you can recognize?"

Samara pointed at a chunk of torso, it had been cleft in half, with the ribs on the right side of the body cut apart. "A heavy blade did this. A weapon both sharp, and very heavy at the tip. The attacker cut into the torso time and time again, trying to cause as much damage as possible. This was no UNSC combat dagger."

"That narrows down what weapon was used. But we do not have a motive." John glanced around the room. "Does not look like there was a motive. This was done for fun." He looked at Kirrahe, who was greedily digging into the bowels of the computer. "Was the computer destroyed by the attacker, or by a failsafe?"

The Salarian looked up from his work and nodded. "Self-destruction feature. There was a Thermite charge inside the computer that went off. I think Ackerson did it before he died. He must have been trying to protect whatever was on here. I doubt I could scavenge anything from it. It was very thorough work." Kirrahe crawled out from under the desk, carefully avoiding touching any of the blood."

"This place looks like cult work. Reminds me of some fundamentalist Insurrectionist sect." Sergeant Johnson complained, waiting at the door opening. "Chief, we've locked down the Camp. Everyone is accounted for. Whoever did this, they've hidden themselves well. Kurt is sweeping the trainee quarters along with the MP's."

"Anything from the base AI?" Kirrahe asked.

Eternal Spring, the AI at the nearby ONI base at Zone 67 was the closest thing to a dedicated AI Camp Currahee had. But it was also loyal to ONI. Thinking back to what Hood had warned John about, he bypassed the AI, and instead brought up the logs himself using his limited command authorisation.

No sensor logs available. Wiped by command of Colonel Ackerson- 20:36

"Nothing." John said. "Whoever did it, hid their actions with ECM to avoid triggering an alarm, and then wiped the logs." John noted the date staging when the logs had been wiped. "When did Ackerson die? Can a time of death be determined?"

Kirrahe looked at the corpse. "I'm not sure. There's not a lo-"

Zaeed interjected. "Check his neural interface. It should be standard issue spook Implants. You might not be able to access the core functions, but it will record the time of death."

Kirrahe glanced at Zaeed. "How do you know that?"

Zaeed shrugged. "I've done my share of Wetworks." He glanced at Sergeant Johnson, who just nodded firmly. Something passed unspoken between the two. John had a growing suspicion Sergeant Johnson was a Spartan One like Zaeed was. It would explain Johnson's physical capabilities.

Kirrahe pressed a few buttons on his omni-tool. He then held out his arm so everyone could read what it said. "The implants indicate the time of death was 20:34." Kirrahe's eyes narrowed. "Whoever killed him somehow used his implants to order a data wipe. We're dealing with a skilled hacker here."

John nodded. "That could narrow our suspects."

Samara harrumphed to get everyone's attention. "I have found something. The residue of the weapon used to dismember the corpse. Titanium A is lodged in the ribs." The Justicar moved her omni-tool towards some ribs that jutted out from the pile of meat that had once been Ackerson. She projected a laser pointer to mark the location of the residue.

"Composition matches….." Samara stopped, raising an eyebrow. "The rotor blades of a "UH-144 Falcon". Curious choice of weaponry."

Sergeant Johnson whistled. "Rotor blades you say? You'd need some tools to fashion those int a cutting weapon. It'd be a brute force cleaver." Johnson paused. "You'd need to be a Spartan to swing a weapon like that. I don't like this. What kind of Spartan would do something like this?." He motioned for the gory spectacle in the room.

John felt something angry inside himself. Someone had besmirched the Spartans by doing this, and he wanted to find out who did it. He stood up and started giving orders. "We'll do a full sweep of the Spartan Barracks, every scrap pile, every waste bin and recycling container. Samara, Johnson, you're with me. Zaeed, Kirrahe, find me the murder weapon."

Samara held up a hand to stop John. "I just made another realization." She motioned for the ribs of the torso that had been cleft in half. Samara motioned for the wounds. "The Colonel had his throat crushed, before his body was chopped apart." Samara pointed a light at the crushed throat, which still had visible markings where the palms of a suit of Mjolnir armor had wrapped around it. "This murderer reads like someone who needed Ackerson's body mostly destroyed, but enough of the throat left that the gauntlet's marks remained. I think the killer was sending a message. He killed Ackerson quickly, then destroyed the body to leave a message."

Sergeant Johnson whistled. "You're good. I see what the Chief sees in you." Zaeed chuckled, while the rest of the group ignored the remark.

John stepped into the Spartan barracks. The first thing he saw was that every able-bodied Spartan was standing in neat rows in front of their beds. The large concrete building gave each Spartan their own bed, with a large reinforced storage crate they could put their personalized equipment and Mjolnir armor into. The Barracks was perhaps the only place that the Spartans engaged in the closest thing to socialization that they understood.

John raised his voice, and every Spartan in the room turned to face him. "Present your kit for inspection immediately."

A wave of disbelief spread through the room, with the Spartans quietly and non-verbally communicating their shock and confusion. But their training immediately took over, and they quickly began organizing their gear as ordered.

John walked the line of Spartans, examining each of them for anything out of the ordinary. Each Spartan's arsenal was almost identical, except for small variations in the form of pistols and other close combat weapons that had been customized in one way or another. But there was nothing that stood out of the ordinary. John went down the line, not finding anything out of the ordinary until he reached Emile.

The Spartan's gear was in good order, but much of it was not a regulation issue. The Spartan had an extensive collection of knives and other bladed instruments, many of them with skulls or tally marks carved into them. They all spoke of a violent and unstable mind to John's ordered worldview. John reached for the large sheathed blade and picked it up. He carefully took the weapon from its scabbard. It was a Kukri. The favored weapon of an ancient group of warriors he'd learned about in his military education.

It was a sizable bulky blade, which looked as if it had received a great deal of uss. Its blade shine was dulled, and the handle was worn. It looked as if a great deal of care and attention had gone into the maintenance of the weapon. It had been carved out of a single solid piece of Titanium, and was as much a cutting weapon as a bludgeon.

"Spartan Emile. This is not a regulation issue blade." John said as he took a swing through the air with the weapon. It was an excellent chopping and slashing weapon. But it wasn't made of the self-sharpening metal used for UNSC blades. It was instead much heavier. Most likely carved from a substantial chunk of titanium. It would take a man two hands to lift it, and he would have trouble swinging it. He handed it over to Samara, who began to analyze it with her Omni-tool. Emile grimaced at this, looking pained.

He smelled the weapon. It reeked of cleaning chemicals. Bleach specifically. "Where were you last night, between 20:00 and 21:00, Spartan?"

Emile answered with annoyance. But there was a hint of concern in his voice. "Jogging, Sir."

"In your armor?" John asked.

"Yes. But with powered movement disabled." Emile said proudly. Training with the Mjolnir effectively locked up was a known method for Spartans to get more out of basic jogging training.

Samara sent a message to his HUD. It read:

"The Kukri is made from the Rotor Blade of a Falcon. It also fits the profile of the weapon used."

Emile's Kukri certainly looked and handled as if it'd been made from a rotor blade. It had been lovingly shaped into a brutal blade. Everything lined up, even though he didn't want it to. Who else had Mjolnir armor gloves, and a massive Kukri?"

But Emile wasn't clever or insane enough to hack an ONI Colonel's implants, and certainly didn't have the required equipment. He was a Spartan Three, trained for warfare, and warfare only. A Spartan had killed Ackerson, but had used a Kukri to try and frame the most psychologically unstable Spartan for the killing. Was that why they'd strangled Ackerson? To leave Mjolnir handprints?

But the work could be somewhat sloppy. Was the framing the purpose? Or was it merely an attempt to lead investigators on a chase? Perhaps it was not a framing. But then why had the information been wiped? And why would Emile kill Ackerson? It just didn't add up.

John placed the Kukri back onto the table. Whatever the case, a murder had happened, and Emile had the closest thing to a murder weapon. He had to get Emile somewhere safe, somewhere any potential conspirators couldn't get their hands on him.

"Spartan Emile. You are in possession of what I surmise to be the weapon used in the murder of Colonel Ackerson. I will have to place you in confinement pending a full psychiatric and physical examination. As well as a more thorough and comprehensive criminal investigation."

A wave of utter shock and horror passed through the Spartans in the room, as a few sucked in breath audibly at the surprise. The body language changed from quiet confirmations of status, or idle conversation, to frantic accusations, requests for information, or utter silence.

"What!?" Emile said in outrage. His voice was angry and emotional. "Why the hell would I kill him!?"

Spartan Carter stepped forward, putting a hand on Emile's shoulder to try to calm him down. A gross breach of Spartan customs to avoid physical contact. It spoke volumes about just how disturbed Carter had to be because of the accusation. "Sir. Spartan Emile is not a murderer. He's ruthless, but he's as loyal and committed as any other Spartan. There must be a mistake." Carter-259 pleaded.

John looked at the emotional Emile, and couldn't see a true Spartan. All he saw was a PTSD-ridden child wearing the uniform of a Spartan. He didn't feel any anger, just pity. "If there is a mistake, we will discover it. All the evidence so far points to you, Emile. You're only incriminating yourself further. Stand down." John hoped Emile would go along.

Kat-320 spoke up. "Emile." The female Spartan had been a good soldier so far, although her habit of stealing and modifying technical equipment didn't help engender trust from John. "If you didn't do it, the truth will be revealed."

Emile's anger subsided, and he nodded. "Yes, Sir."

John watched Emile being led away by his fellow Spartans, but he was already deep in thought. He was on his own in trying to find the truth of what had happened. He didn't trust anyone in a base where any room could be bugged.

John sat in his own quarters, elbows resting on the barren desk he barely used. Mulling over the details in his head. Trying to make them make sense of the situation. Why would someone want to kill Ackerson? Was this some internal office politics of ONI, or was it related to Halsey and Hood's claim of ONI attempting to seize total control of the UNSC's governing apparatus and cut out any resisting factors?

John took a deep breath. Using an exercise he taught himself as a child, John organized all of the details and information he knew at present and visualized a form to fill out.

Ackerson: Killed 20:34

Methods:

Brute force

Mjolnir gauntlets were used when choking Ackerson.

A blade was used to cut up the body. Matches description of Emile's weapon.

Possible motives for murder:

Knowledge of ONI assets? It could be strife on the inside of ONI

Member of Cerberus?

Tools used:

A Method to hack into ONI command implants. This would be the hardest to acquire. Specialized equipment would be needed.

A Method to avoid immediately triggering the alarms. Most likely a jammer. These would be easy to acquire. Must inspect armory logs.

Framing Emile was intended. That was a high possibility. Why else bring a Kukri?

To frame him, any information Emile could have used as an Alibi was removed through using Ackerson's implants to order a data wipe. Emile does not have the skillset for such a feat.

Hacking into the ONI implants would require specialized equipment. This implies an agent from within ONI, or one with access to ONI assets. One with the specialized equipment to work ONI implants.

Assume ONI killer.

Hood and Halsey's warnings about ONI imply an attempt to seize power and influence. Could Ackerson have been a victim of a purge? An attempt to remove possible opposition?

Framing Emile after a perfect getaway would imply a secondary goal. Potential goals include:

Cause dissent within the Spartans.
Ferment a Spartan Two and Spartan Three split?
Create distraction to escape the planet?

No. Attempting to escape would be easy for an ONI agent. They have access to Prowlers.

File potential effect on Spartans away. Continue train of thought on possible ONI operation.

ONI never executes plans dependent on the reactions of people like Emile. Too many variables.

Purpose of the plan had to have been the death of Ackerson. Spartan framing purely on the side?

Kukri was used in order to throw off the scent.

Whoever did the killing knew Emile had a Kukri.

The Spartan Three Program has been classified beyond top secret for years. Whoever knew, must have been a member of ONI Section Three, or at least someone on the planet.

Spartan Threes are emotionally compromised and fragile. They do not make sense for ONI wetworks. Too conspicuous as well. Hard to hide. ONI would use someone utterly trustworthy.

If the killer was a Spartan, it was most likely a Spartan Two.

Only one Spartan Two I know of would know Emile used a Kukri, and have intimate knowledge of how ONI operates.

Potentially a washout? None of the washouts can use Mjolnir. No.

Mjolnir variant worn by a regular human? Impossible. Liquid crystal gel layer inside Mjolnir would destroy anyone unaugmented that wore it.

If a Spartan, the killer is very likely to be Kurt. Conclusion logical, but unlikely. Continue analysis.

Killer would need access to specialized equipment to hack Ackerson's implants, and a method of jamming communications.

Kurt has control over the armory. He could modify records and remove a single jammer.

If this was an ONI hit, then the chance Kurt killed Ackerson is high, but there is no solid proof. If Kurt is involved, then the Entire Spartan Three program could be affected.

No. A Spartan Two would never kill a superior officer. That conclusion is impossible.

Wait. Entire nature of Spartan Project thrown into question. Consider recent developments. Discrepancies in UNSC operational and strategic doctrines require re-examination.

The creation of a Spartan Branch is excessive for such a small force. All logic dictates they would be part of either the Navy, the Army, or ONI. Not another segment of the armed forces.

Creating a new branch of the armed forces would involve building from scratch. Potential to insert loyal agents and assets? Military are considered defenders of the UNSC constitution, and required to uphold it.

If the Spartan Branch is under ONI control, the need to subvert existing command structures is avoided. Hood loses advantage of superior infantry in the form of the fiercely anti-authoritarian ODST's.

Conclusions:
Ackerson was most likely assassinated out of political motivation. Out of known Spartans, Kurt is the closest match to skillset/motive/known knowledge.

Emile was set up to be framed. The framing was sloppy. Or intentionally so, for unknown reasoning.

Ackerson's creation of a Spartan Branch as an anti-Slipspace Entity force will be co-opted into an anti-Insurrectionist force.

John opened his eyes. He picked up the glass of the concentrated vitamins, enzymes, and mineral supplements that fed his transhuman physique and downed it in a single clean go, then put it down. He glanced out the windows. It was the middle of the evening. He refused to believe the conclusion he'd made was the correct one. He knew Kurt. There was no way a Spartan could be convinced to assassinate a superior officer. He was missing something and drawing the wrong conclusion. He was sure of it. It was the only conclusion he could draw.

John had to be careful. He had to let the fact he'd found a thread of whatever conspiracy was at play be a secret for now. But he was on a planet completely controlled by ONI. Any room was undoubtedly bugged and monitored, every movement was tracked. He couldn't start a conversation with anyone in anything approaching safety or security.

But that could be turned against ONI. If ONI thought that Onyx was fully under their sway, and that John was firmly in their camp, then that might give John some room to work with.

All he had was the Spartan Threes he was training. If he had limited assets to work with, he would optimize those assets. He'd let ONI think he was a simple grunt. A weapon to be aimed at the enemy and fired. And while he did that, he would train the Spartan Threes to be true free-thinking patriots. Who believed everything the UNSC stood for, and every worth of the oaths they all swore.

But that meant throwing Emile under the Warthog and making the coverup look successful. Could John subject a Spartan to that? One who looked up to him? He thought back to choices like this one, to those occasions when soldiers under his command had died. He'd sent men and women to their deaths. He could live with sending one to an asylum. He'd rescue Emile and clear his name as soon as feasible. Demand weekly reports.

John began drafting up a new training schedule for the Spartan Threes. He started by adding a series of ethics classes disguised as 'collateral damage avoidance.' Followed by plans to instil the same humanitarian principles into them that Halsey had taught him. He wouldn't just make soldiers out of the Spartan Threes. He would make them true defenders of humanity.