1000 hours, January 18th, 2543 (UNSC military calendar)
Camp Currahee, Onyx, Zeta Doradus system
The Prowler landed outside Camp Currahee. Within moments, the trainees emerged from their barracks and were ushered towards the boarding ramp of the Prowler.
Mjolnir Armour had been taken from the armoury and laid out in pallets, and they were quickly being brought aboard the prowler through a cargo elevator that descended from the belly of the craft.
John stepped off the personnel ramp alongside the other Spartans, quickly forming a defensive formation. The Spartan Trainees emerged in good order and were led aboard the Prowler. The children were still young, but they had grown to be weathered and experienced from their training, and they were the future of the Spartan Program.
John ignored the work and headed towards the medical building as fast as he could walk without breaking into a sprint. He dodged trainees and Spartans carrying equipment, and slammed open the door.
Kelly was lying on a medical bed, firmly tucked in. Her hair had been cut away leaving a bald scalp, and her eyes had a somber lifeless look to them. Linda and Fred were around her, each holding a hand. Linda had attached a holster to her wheelchair, with a large SMG inside of it. Meanwhile Fred was keeping a shotgun at the ready.
Fred's eyes were red and watery, with him constantly having to rub away liquid before it looked as if he was crying. There was a pair of black sunglasses akin to those a blind man might wear resting on his forehead. He looked up at John, giving a firm nod. "She's been through a lot. We're lucky we found her before they could add her to… to whatever they turned Cassandra into."
Images of the Amalgamation chasing the Spartas through the depths of Zone 67 flashed through John's mind, and he filed them away for later perusal. Now he just wanted to be sure that Kelly was alright. "Whatever they were. That thing wasn't Cassandra. Not anymore. "
Linda wheeled herself around to face John. "It's a crying shame we weren't there to help you wipe out those monsters. I want to get out of this wheelchair and help you fight ONI."
"In due time." John said. "You did a good job organizing the evacuation of the camp. But let's count ourselves lucky that it wasn't attacked while we went after the Zone." He looked at Kelly again. He wasn't sure he could have handled losing Kelly on top of Kurt and Jorge.
Kurt. The name hurt. Kurt had gone from a loyal comrade, to a traitor with barely a moment's warning. It spoke volumes on the ability of the Leviathan to manipulate the minds of others. He wondered just how long it had been seeding the Spartans with pawns. He doubted the process was completed. Kurt and Naomi alone couldn't have destroyed the Spartans. Many more would have had to be converted.
He looked over at Kelly again. Had she been earmarked to also be indoctrinated?
Could she be indoctrinated? The thought put a tingle of fear through John. She had been inside the Zone for far too long. But she had been in a coma. Did that provide protection from the process, or make it easier? There were just too many questions that went unanswered.
"Stop treating me like I'm dead." Kelly said with a groan.
John put two fingers on his helmet in a Spartan smile, followed quickly by the other Spartans present. "My bad. How are you feeling Kelly?"
Kelly leaned over to the side and vomited on the floor. A cleaning robot quickly activated and rolled over to begin cleaning. John calmly waited for Kelly to finish throwing up after glancing to see if there was blood in it, then continued. "A lot happened while you were unconscious. This is going to take a while."
John pulled up a Mjolnir-certified chair, and sat down next to the bed.
"ONI has gone rogue."
Kelly looked at John in complete silence for ten seconds, as if she was waiting for a followup, or a punchline. "More than usual?" She said, pained. When John didn't respond to the remark, her jovial appearance quickly evaporated. "Fully rogue?"
John nodded. "They were preparing for a coup, yes. But that's not the worst of it. They've been working for an... " John sought the words for it. "An entity. Some form of ancient alien intelligence which can manipulate minds. It subverts intelligent beings and turns them into puppets. Parangosky was under its effects, and through her, this creature was working its way into the highest levels of governance. We warned Lord Hood, and if he's received my warning. Then we'll be waging civil war soon."
"What does ONI have?" Kelly asked. "They'd be wiped out in a conventional fight, but you sound concerned. What kind of forces do they have?"
John brought up a video of the fighting inside Zone 67 on his Omni-Tool, showing Kelly images of the carnage inside the base and the hordes of cybernetic monstrosities that were thrown against the Spartans. "We call them husks. She's even been cloning Spartans to turn them into supersoldiers. We destroyed what we think was their primary embryo storage facility. But I'm not counting out that they have more elsewhere."
Fred glanced at the part on Kelly's hospital gown that hid the surgical scars. He softly held her hand. "They harvested you for biological material. Others among us too. They've been mixing and matching Spartan DNA to create clone templates. We guessed they've been removing the ovaries and testes of dead Spartans and putting them in storage. If they did so to the washouts, they'll have enough material to clone hundreds of thousands." Fred sounded angry, let go of Kelly's hands, and then clenched his fists. "They've been taking apart our dead for their experiments."
Kelly's eyes went wide in confusion and indignant anger. She pulled aside her gown and growled when she saw the surgical scars on her belly. "They recycled me like I was a car." She said, "Cut out what they could use, and left the rest in stasis." There was little true anger in her voice, only quiet resolve and simmering hate. "This is personal."
"That's not all, though. They took the other washouts and created a monster." John began to talk about just what he had seen, even as the medical bay began to be dismantled around them. He felt the words flowing out of him as he explained in detail just what he'd seen inside the base. The Amalgamation. The reanimated Spartans guarding Parangosky. The way Kurt and Naomi had been turned on the Spartans. The fate of Emile. By the end, John felt an ache in his chest he'd not felt before. Was this what other soldiers called 'emotional exhaustion'? He'd always found the concept a confusing one. Emotions were ephemeral things without weight. They shouldn't be capable of physically wearing someone down.
Kelly was silent. Then nodded resolutely. "Could I be affected by this indoctrination?"
There was a prolonged silence as John, Fred, and Linda quickly exchanged eye contact and glanced back and forth. Their body language told John they expected him to tell the truth. "You could. But we just don't know how it works. Your coma could have protected you."
Kelly nodded. "Then chain me to the bed for now. Psych evals. MRI scans. Use me to figure out how this works. I don't feel anything worming its way into my mind. But we don't want to take any chances."
John nodded. "We'll get you to Halsey. She can figure out if there's any 'indoctrination', I'm sure of it" He then got up to return to leading the evacuation.
-
Four spare suits of Mjolnir, and twenty kits of spare parts. John mentally processed the battle in the mountain, reminding himself of which Spartans had taken damage, lost parts of their armour, or been wounded. The Spartans were going to need a new supply of Mjolnir Armour, that was a certainty.
"Zaeed. How long before all the ammunition is loaded?" John asked. Zaeed was busy overseeing the loading of ammunition onto the prowler. The Spartan One had quickly become a common sight to John, always around to help Spartans out, and offer nuggets of wisdom to anyone who could use them.
Zaeed glanced up from his datapad. "Goddamnit. I just need a few minutes. We're loading in order of priority. We can leave at any time, sure. But unless you want to fabricate munitions from feedstock, we should take as much with us as possible."
John nodded. He wanted to leave as soon as possible. But leaving without stocking up on foodstuffs, ammunition, and medical supplies could be a damning mistake when the Spartans knew so little of what was going across the UEG.
The Civil War has probably begun already. John thought glumly. That, or ONI has already taken over, and we'll need to punch our way through to Citadel Space. They should provide asylum for the children at least. Perhaps a government in exile.
The mountain over Zone 67 exploded and the entire world shook. John was nearly thrown off his feet when the ground suddenly shook beneath him. He steadied himself and looked in the direction of the blast. The drones were swarming around the expanding cloud of rubble, firing their lasers at the largest chunks and melting them down to expanding balls of gas that washed over their shields.
"Launch!" John commanded. Everyone dropped what they were doing and moved up into the Prowler as fast as they could.
A massive blue and black shape blasted up on a pillar of red lightning, beams of red light shot out from it, carving burning red swathes through drones. The drones opened fire, thousands of smaller beams slamming into the escaping spaceship. As John watched large chunks of it begin melting and dropping down to the ground, The bottom tendrils breaking off one after the other until the bulk of the Leviathan looked more like a single blue and black droplet flying up into the sky.
John hoped for a few brief moments to see the ship destroyed by the Drones, only to see the signature flash of a ship jumping to FTL. Beams of light shot downward from the drones to where the chunks had fallen. Nearly half the ship must have broken up as it jumped away, but there hadn't been the catastrophic lighshow of a failed FTL jump.
Deafening silence descended over the camp as people paused mid-evacuation to see the remnants of the Leviathan falling to the ground.
"Goddamnit," John said.
Every Spartan within earshot immediately turned to look at him, their body language portraying shock and surprise. Sergeant Johnson dropped the box he was holding and looked at him slack-jawed, before whipping his head around to glare at Zaeed. The same Zaeed who was grinning madly and flashing John a double thumbs up. John gave him his closest thing to a glare he could muster and climbed aboard the Prowler.
-
The initiates were asleep on cots in the cargo bay, while the Spartans were in the armour or the med-bay, making repairs to either their equipment or their physiology. With everyone distracted, John took a moment to deal with a personal matter.
John knocked on one of the doors leading to a person suite, and opened it . "We need to talk, Samara," he said. Samara was sitting at a desk in her room, weapons spread out before her. The room smelled of incense and gun oil.
"Naturally, John." Samara said, looking up from the table she was laying her equipment down upon. She was cleaning her Tempest, moving with the ease of practice, not even needing to look at her gun to clean it perfectly. "Could you pass me that gun-cloth?"
John passed her the cloth, then sat down. "I've been thinking." John said. "Was that offer you made to join me in my chamber because you wanted to talk without ONI overhearing, or was it genuine? I thought the latter at first, but I've had time to think."
Samara nodded. "I needed to speak to you without ONI overhearing us. Yes." She took the cloth and began to clean the now-dismantled Tempest. "Although I would be lying if I said I was not surprised you declined the way you did." She sounded just a little bit disappointed. "I am not used to such a firm rejection."
"What did you want to talk about, Samara?" John asked. "Did you discover something?"
Samara was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "It is too late now. But it was about our next course of action against the Entities. I wished to talk without ONI overhearing us. That is no longer an issue." She looked somewhat embarrassed. "I apologize for making you feel ill at ease if I did. It was not my intention." She paused. "You did not have an easy childhood, did you John? I can see in your eyes there is much pain and repressed emotion. You do not move or act like any other human I have met here." Samara narrowed her eyes. "You were uncaring about the prospects of children being hit by shock prods. Was that what your childhood was like?"
"Yes." John said. "I was beaten and shocked when I failed. It made me what I am today. Parangosy talked about putting all children through what I went through, when she raised me up as a perfection for humanity." He paused. "And I saw some sense in it. As immoral as it was."
Samara's eyes went wide as John described the beatings, and she shook her head. "John. What you went through is unacceptable. And it pains me that you do not see it that way. Were it not for my promise to you to destroy ONI, I would have to kill Mendez right now. But perhaps you could do with some measure of therapy? Someone to talk to."
John paused. "Therapy. Like a Psych-Eval? I am behind schedule for one, but I have passed all of them." He wondered for a moment if ONI had its thumb on the scale when said evaluations were performed.
She shook her head. "No. Like talking to someone about your problems. How you feel." Samara said, her voice tinged with sadness. "You are a fine warrior, like every Spartan, and an even finer commander for them. A soldier through to the core… but that is all you are. You are more a weapon than a man. There is a void in your being, an emptiness that you've been conditioned to ignore through training and self-induced stasis. I believe you were never taught to truly be a human. Merely a weapon."
Samara flexed her hands and concentrated deeply, manifesting a sphere of biotic energy between her hands, which she began to meld and shape as if it were made of clay. "Us Justicars feed our souls with prayer, meditation, and ritual. Our lives, although focused on duty, are rich tapestries of experience in a way the life of a Spartan is not."
John was silent. He didn't like to think about his childhood or training, except when he found those nuggets of accomplishment or camaraderie that stuck around. Was there truly something wrong with him? The thought disturbed John. He could not let such a thing remain. He'd need to solve it.
John took a deep breath and sighed even deeper.
"My entire world has broken down, Samara." John said. "The government which I swore to uphold is breaking apart. The organization that made me has turned traitor. And I have done things that go against every fibre of my being. I shot a fellow Spartan, Samara." John said. "James was being converted. But he was still a Spartan, and I shot him. And then Emile. I thought I'd subject him to torture or interrogation at the most. Not what the Leviathan did to him."
He took off his helmet and looked directly into the faceplate. "My entire world has fallen apart. I have broken my most deeply held beliefs. I killed a Spartan, and I subjected another to a fate worse than death."
"You couldn't have known what ONI would do to-"
He continued. "I saw his eyes, Samara." John said, looking the asari right in the eyes. "There was pain in them. I think he died afraid and in pain. And I was responsible for it."
"I think he is still fighting, John." Samara said. "When he grabbed my throat, he could have snapped my neck in an instant. But there was restraint. Something inside that husk stopping him. He was strong. I think that whatever the Leviathan is could not suppress him completely. Perhaps we can still save him?"
"How, Samara? You and I know how insidious the Leviathan is. We can't replace the chunks of his brain that the Leviathan replaced. What makes you believe we could ever save him?"
Samara gave John an assuring smile. "As a Justicar, I have learned that life is an eternal struggle against darkness. The moment we abandon hope, we let evil win. Whether we can save him or not, we must make the attempt to do so. And if we can not, we can at least deliver peace to what is left."
"Thank you," John said. She reached for his hands and gently held them. John ignored the urge to pull back. He tried to force a smile but found it came easily. There was an awkward feeling in his chest, and he looked directly into her wise eyes.
Samara paused and avoided eye contact. "I have been looking through this room and found something. I think this was Parangosky's own room." She reached for the file cabinet built into the desk and opened it. She took out a real paper folder and put it down on an empty part of the desk. "I've been looking for the right time to broach the subject."
John glanced at the file. He raised an eyebrow at the tab named 'John-117' which Samara was indicating. "Are these our files?" He asked, some measure of disbelief entering his voice.
"Your full files, John," Samara said. "Your last name. Your family. The entire history that ONI took away from you. And those of every Spartan in existence."
"Did you read it?" John asked.
She shook her head. "I stopped when I saw your last name. I realized it was a personal file instead of enemy intelligence. You command the Spartans, you should decide what happens to them. But if you wish, I can burn the files. The truth could hurt."
John took the file and held it in front of him. He slowly and gently opened it. "If ONI doesn't want me to know, then I want to." He said. He slowly made his way down the page for his full name. He saw a picture of a young child, still bruised for reasons that he could no longer remember. In the back of his mind, it reminded him of a playground. Next to the boy was a woman in a dress uniform, a proud hand on his shoulder.
"Seen: Subject John 117 with his mother Hannah Shepard."
John continued to read through the file, memories of a childhood that had been robbed from him flooding back into his mind. There were names he did not recognize, but which were mentioned to be friends or family of him. As he read, he got more and more of an impression of just what a happy young child he'd been. The son of a Captain in the UNSC Navy, and a General in the Army, raised by an uncle and aunt while his mother was serving with a list of commendations and merits.
And all the while his family had served, ONI was planning to steal their only son. He felt a fiery hot fury at ONI. He'd always thought that he'd been taken from a relatively unimportant family, elevated to a better life and purpose. Not that he'd been stolen from parents who had already given their all to the UNSC. Nearly his entire extended family had been killed fighting the Covenant, with only his mother surviving. She was currently serving aboard the UNSC Carrier Einstein. She was now an Admiral for the solar system Garrison.
Should he try to find her?
Next time he met Doctor Halsey, he would have a very firm conversation with her.
1600 hours, January 18th, 2543 (UNSC military calendar)
Senate chamber, Reach Senate Complex, New Alexandria, Planet Reach.
The Reach Senate building was swarming with activity as Hood worked frantically to coordinate the massive rebellion that even now spread like wildfire throughout human space. Messengers ran in and out, carrying reports from battles that raged across Reach as Hood's loyalists fought the ONI forces. But these were not as important as the messages that were coming in from outside the Epsilon Eridani system. Many Comm Buoys had escaped destruction after the Salarian backdoor had let Hood spread his message of dissent, although many Comm Buoy pairs had lost their partners from ONI-alligned ships.
Messages were being passed from buoy to buoy in the hopes that a connection to Reach could be found. The word from outside was grim, but there was a fire of hope.
"Sir!" A messenger said, offering Lord Hood a datapad. "Word from Earth! A few Buoys aimed at remote parts of the Solar System are still intact. They're trying to contact the planetary governments to organize a resistance."
Earth was the only planet in the UEG which still had planetary governments to some extent. And that meant police forces and small scale militias that were not under direct UEG or ONI command. It wasn't much, but could be the start of something bigger.
Loyalists. Hood couldn't help but draw a sense of pride from that. Here he was, overthrowing the government, and he was still being called the loyalist. It was the kind of small moral victory that one needed to keep going in dire times such as the one he lived in. "What's the word from Earth?"
"Sir. I have messages from Earth. There is fighting in the streets across the planet. But ONI took control of most planetary administrations. I am receiving scattered reports of the Russian Republic and the East African Protectorate refusing orders to disarm. They are arming their civilians with military surplus and telling them to disperse into the countryside."
"They're desperate." Hood muttered. "Continue to coordinate resistance in any way we can. But it is best to assume Earth is a lost cause. ONI has too much control there to be dislodged in any meaningful sense."
The messenger grimaced. "Mars is in open revolt. The planetary government was removed by the planetary police force and elements of the civilian administration that remain loyal to us. Mars's Comm Buoy connects to Meridian, which connects to Reach via the primary Comm Buoy Hub." Another aide handed him a datapad, which he scrolled through. "The Saturnine and Jovian colonies have been seized by ONI. They've got our Sol fuel supplies."
"We'll make do." Hood said as confidently as he could muster. He then turned to General Hogan who was contacting his Marine Corps through every method possible, ordering strategic strikes and attacks upon logistics and communications across human space. He seemed to be taking the circumstances well for now. Some part of getting to shoot his way through ONI had definitely struck a chord with him. "Can you send any forces in Sol to retake the Saturnine stations?"
Hood just hoped the hatred ONI had fostered could continue to overpower the fear it caused.
"I'll see what I can do. I'm trying to convince the Titan garrison to join us." Hogan said, looking into a smaller holotank. "The Carrier Einstein has declared for us. We'll send her alongside her escorts to contest the Saturnine fuel depots for as long as possible. We can wage a guerilla war from the outer Solar System and deprive ONI of fuel."
Someone on the far side of the room was giving a status report to Major General Strauss, nearly distracting Hood for a moment.
"Meridian's planetary government has been overthrown by a loyalist revolt. There's fighting in the streets against ONI forces, and civilian militias are forming. Meridian Orbital defenses have engaged naval forces loyal to ONI. If they lose, ONI can bomb our allies from orbit."
Strauss examined the information and began yelling at an officer across the room from him. "Strap guns to freighters if you have to. We need naval assets over Meridian, and we need them now!"
Strauss had been the hardest to convince of the need to wage a coup against ONI, but also the most important. As representative of the UNSC Army on the security council, he had immense weight when it came to influencing the actions of Army forces caught in the midst of the coup.
"Hood! I have a line to Vice-Admiral Jeromi." A Colonel said from behind one of the many laptops put up in the room. "He's demanding to know what's going on."
Ysionris Jeromi was a trusted friend of Hood. A man with a solid sense of morals, and a history of recklessly charging his hospital ships into battles to save the crews of dying ships. Hood had wanted to contact him for his actions against ONI, but he hadn't found a safe way to contact the man. He immediately aimed his Omni-tooled arm at the laptop and took over the transmission, bringing up a holographic video call.
Such a handy piece of equipment. He thought. Even if it didn't have as much processing power as a portable battlefield laptop, he'd quickly grown to appreciate the sheer versatility of a computer that could be operated purely using body language, gestures, and voice commands.
Jeromi was an almost hairless man of caucasian descent, with sunken eyes that were filled with passion and purpose. His uniform looked like it had hastily been thrown on without any medals or insignia on his person.
"Hood. I just got a message from FLEETCOM that you are staging a coup. And HIGHCOM was telling me they were being attacked, only to say that you are leading a counter-coup against ONI. Do you mind telling me what's going on?" "
"Naturally. I just wanted to hear it from you personally." Jeromi said. "Where do you need me? The Hopeful is ready to handle up to ten thousand patients. And my escort fleet numbers four cruisers and twelve destroyers."
He thanked small mercies like this. ONI had made too many enemies, and hadn't yet secured enough power to succeed at their planned coup. There were still good men and women ready to fight against tyranny. "Meridian can use your defensive fleet. The fighting there is bloody, and you're within a day of there." Hood said, waving over Major-General Strauss. Strauss ran over, followed by his aides and adjutants as he continued to bark orders to his own forces. "Major-General." Hood said. "Vice-Admiral Jeromi can provide assistance to Meridian. Coordinate it with him."
Strauss nodded, and turned to the holographic projection of Jeromi. "I am diverting several troop-ships and ordering the planetary defense forces on Meridian to join the government there. If your escorts help take the orbitals, we can take over their shipyards.."
Hood just listened to the sounds all around the room, using the information to form a mental map of just what was happening. Messages from across the UEG ranged from hopeful to disastrous, with clearer battle lines starting to form between the territories subverted by ONI, and the forces loyal to the UNSC.
"Fifth and seventh fleets exchanging fire over Alluvion. No clear side chosen by anyone. They're accusing each other of siding with ONI."
"Send my ID codes and demand a ceasefire immediately." Hood ordered. "Then order them to support Hogan" He turned to General Hogan. "Take the Fifth and Seventh Fleets to support your Marines." The Marine Corps's leader seemed to be in his prime among the chaos in the room, successfully coordinating a dozen uprisings by UNSC Marines, as well as multiple offensives against ONI supporters throughout the UNSC.
Hood felt just a little bit concerned about how quickly the UNSC Marine Corps could have been turned against the government. Was this coup just something that had always been in the cards? If so, it was a damning statement about the stability of the UEG.
"Fifth UNSC Army Group has been taken over by a group of Colonels and staff officers loyal to us. They shot general Petrov after he attempted to put down riots in Sverdlovsk, Perm, and around Central Asia."
The Fifth UNSC Army Group was a formidable force indeed. It garrisoned much of Russia, but primarily focused on protecting the defensive installations built deep into the Ural mountains. If they seized their bunkers, lit the experimental Eezo shield generators, and kept their bunkers recycling systems running, they could become a fortress in Eurasia around which to organize resistance.
"Promote whoever has the most experience to General and give them operational independence. They are to cause as much damage for ONI as possible." Strauss ordered.
"We have no communications with the Fifth Army Group. But they're transmitting messages across Russia calling for people to rise up." The communications officer paused for a moment, adjusting his headset and looking very much confused. "I think they're transmitting Sacred War across the radio to taunt ONI."
Strauss cursed profusely. "We need to support them. They're the biggest force of resistance on Earth right now. "He looked at Hood. "Any naval assets in the system that can provide support? Civilian uprisings on Earth aren't going to last without military backing."
Hogan walked up, changing a nearby holo-tank and showing it to display the Earth Orbital Defense Grid. "Marines aboard the Moscow Orbital Defense Platform can turn the gun upon earth targets and fire at minimal power. The impact should only be on the level of a tactical nuke."
The two Generals began discussing the finer details of feeding the fire consuming Russia, while another aide walked up to Hood, holding out a datapad. "Admiral Mattius Drake and Vice-Admiral Hackett have pulled their forces off the line against the Covenant and are heading towards the Inner Colonies at full speed."
Hood looked at the map of the developing situation. It was becoming clear that precious few UNSC forces on the side of the UEG sphere opposite the Covenant Invasion Corridor were reporting to him. Had Parangosky seeded the half of human space not yet invaded by the Covenant more heavily with her agents? It was a worrisome prospect. It could mean that Hood would have limited resources to work with.
Hood expanded the holographic sphere representing the UEG, and split it down the middle between Earth and Reach. He drew two lines which split into pieces. One marked Mattius was heading to the borders between the two pieces, while Hacket's forces were aimed deep behind enemy line, to the Outer Colonies under ONI control.
"Negative. Tell Hacket and Mattius to split their forces and have them focus on establishing a line through the centre of the UEG Sphere. Mattius will establish a front line through the center of the UNSC, and move to contain any ONI forces from their side. Hackett will take his forces behind enemy lines and cut off any Outer Colonies that support Earth. We can not allow Parangosky to build up resources superior to ours."
Hood refocused himself on the matter of Reach, and the many reports coming in from across the planet. He needed a planet with heavy industry that he could rely upon in the battles to come.
Messages from all over Reach were flooding in, each of them trying to clarify just what was going on across the planet. It was taking the best AI the UNSC had to filter out the useful messages to pass along to Hood's staff.
"HIGHCOM fully secured. ODST's are chasing ONI forces to Sword Base. ONI is fiercely defending it. Civilian militias and local farmers have joined in the siege of the base. The New Alexandria police department just opened their armory and is handing out guns to civilians who want to join the fight. But they're unfocused. We have unconfirmed reports of people firing into the crowds." "Casimir city police forces have stormed the mayor's office and taken him into custody. I am sending a squad of marines to convince them to join us in the push for the spaceport."
"Firefights on the New Alexandria Orbital defense platform. ONI agents have barricaded themselves in the control room. Workers in EVA suits are puncturing the room to assist the Marines." "The Reach Rural Liberation Front just launched an uprising around the Fenyot Basin. They're declaring a 'Free people's Commune'. Scattered reports of other insurrectionist activities."
Hood perked his ears up at the mention of insurrectionists. "What's the Reach Rural Front?"He asked the ensign who'd brought in the report.
The young woman jumped up at being spoken to, and offered a stern salute. She brought up a file on the group and began reading it out loud. "Anarcho-Communists. Possibly connected to the Colonial Freedom Alliance. They're declaring they'll shoot anyone who intrudes on their communes."
"Give me a line to their leadership." Hood immediately demanded. An idea was forming in his head. A way to kill two birds with one stone. "I don't want to deal with insurrectionists on top of ONI."
It took a minute for the ensign to patch Hood through to the leader of the group. Hood quickly examined what was known about the man. He was supposedly the leader of a labour union of farmers in the Fenyot Basin area, connected to several disappearances of local landlords and police forces.
There was a static-laden message on the datapad Hood used to contact the man, but there was a basic outline of the man's face. A tough and grizzled man of hungarian descent, with a cybernetic eye and a disfiguring scar that ran down the length of his face. The man looked like he'd spent his entire life performing backbreaking labour, but only grown stronger for it. "This is Jorg Ortanos. Leader of the Reach Rural Liberation Front. Speak, but know we are not standing down."
"I have no time to talk with you about the merits or detriments of your little anarchist collective." Hood said abruptly. "But you're within striking distance of a garrison of ONI aligned forces. If you attack them and pin them down until I can deploy an airmobile regiment, then you can have the basin."
There was a pause from the man. "Do you have the authority to negotiate on behalf of Reach's government?"
"I am Reach's government. I'll give your little band of Marxists the entire basin if you car bomb ONI instead of the UNSC for once."
"We're not Marxists, or Kozlovics for that matter." Jorg corrected. "We are an anarchist collective. Please get that right. I'll even organize our cells across Reach to assist, so long they are allowed to enter the basin."
"Whatever you say." Hood rolled his eyes off camera. "Tell your terrorist friends to contact me, and we can talk about dealing with ONI." Hood said, cutting the connection. He had never liked the more left-leaning insurrectionist groups, nor the more right-leaning ones for that matter. He'd normally stop anyone who rose up against the UEG. But he knew when it was time to break bread, and when it was time to break people. If these rebels could be satisfied with a slice of farmland and the promise of self-governance, Hood would pay that price in exchange for military support in the right location.
Major General Strauss turned to Hood, having handled getting reinforcements to Earth. "Hood. Are you sure you can trust these men? They're a bunch of diehard anarchists with a history of violent insurrection. They're not some college age protestors. They've got serious firepower. We should roll in the Ninth Reach Armoured and disarm them before they fortify." He brought up the map, motioning for a military base a hundred and ninety kilometers from the Basin. "Then send them on to reinforce the attack on Sword Base."
"ONI is the real target here, Strauss. We save more lives if we let them soften ONI up, and then hit Sword with our tanks." Hood said, before swiping the image aside to return to the dynamic view of Reach from orbit, and the sections marked as belonging to either the UNSC, or ONI. "How are your men doing in rounding up Reach's civilian leadership?"
Strauss looked disturbed in a way Hood hadn't seen before from the man, but nodded. "We've seized most of the planetary administration and the political apparatus. We're rounding up everyone on that list of agents loyal to Parangosky. It's most of the higher levels of planetary government. But most of their staff wasn't indoctrinated yet. Many were arrested or even killed by their own men and women upon declaring against you."
Hood nodded gravely at the thought of what would come next. "Round up everyone on ONI's list with extreme prejudice. Blow off their legs if you have to. But do it quietly. We don't know if whatever ONI did to them is contagious." There were some looks of disbelief around the room from those close enough to hear it over the orders being handed out left right and center. In the end though, nobody spoke out against the order. "Find everyone on the ONI Kill-list and put them in protective custody."
"So we're really overthrowing the government as well as ONI, then?" Strauss asked, then shrugged with a deep sigh. "We're already knee deep in this mess. We might as well wipe the slate clean and make it official."
"We failed humanity, Strauss. " Hood said. "We gave ONI too much power, and she completely twisted the civilian government to her whims. Even if we just removed her direct followers, we'd still have a political structure that leans towards ONI's brand of clandestine politics. We need to start fresh. From the ground up."
Strauss looked incensed, but did not meet Hood's eyes. He just glanced at the holographic projection of Reach. "Yes. We're to blame. And it is up to the army to save humanity. I can get a list of military governors and administrators to take over Reach. Good people experienced from the Insurrection."
"That's a dangerous line of thinking, Strauss." He replied quickly. "We are still human beings. Us being military doesn't make us better or worse. What we're doing is something we should pray never gets repeated." The thought of establishing military rule was tempting. It could be so easy. Hood could declare himself ruler of mankind, and be accepted. He could change all the things he had always wanted to.
And it would corrupt him into becoming a tyrant within a decade. Hood knew himself too well to trust himself with absolute power over life and death. It would become too tempting to use brute force when a softer touch might be required. Within a year he would be assigning loyal military officers to important planets. Within two, martial law would be deployed against the smallest amount of political unrest. Within five years, protests would face military tribunals handing our gruelling sentences.
But there had to be some kind of change. After all the excesses Hood had seen in the UEG's leadership over the decades, he knew the status quo would just be delaying the inevitable. Humanity deserved a representative government. And it would get one soon. But he would see about making some small changes, if only to cut out the parts of the government that ONI had irredeemably tainted.
"You should declare yourself provisional president, Hood." Strauss said. "That's effectively what you're going to be, is it not? We can hold elections when Reach is secured, and then your term is either officially sworn in, or you return to leading the Navy if you lose." He paused. "And if you don't abide by the election's results. I will drag you out of your office myself and shoot you in the back of the neck."
Hood held up his hands in a mock surrender. "Provisional government sounds like it would be the best solution. I'll start drafting up a list of cabinet members, and we'll get to work writing a new constitution as soon as possible. We'll have proportional representation for colony worlds, and for spacers. And most of all, we're going to reduce the power of the presidency."
Strauss looked somewhat surprised, then nodded. "Bureaucracy, checks and balances. We can't let anyone ever get as powerful as Parangosky ever again. And we must make it absolutely impossible for the military to take control over the government."
Hood nodded slowly and returned to his train of thought. Just restoring a functional government wouldn't be enough. He'd need to oversee the complete restoration of humanity's form of governance. There'd need to be a new Supreme Court, a new legislature, and a new executive branch.
God. Do we even have enough judges for a judiciary? They would have been a priority for ONI to subvert. And where am I getting a cabinet? The old one fell apart after the old administration dissolved during the war, and after Parangosky's soft coup after the president died.
"Hogan." Hood said. "Consult with Reach's civil AI's and make sure that we find and secure every judge, attorney, and lawyer on the planet. I have a feeling ONI is going to make it hard for us to get a proper government going." He then added. "Economists. Historians. Teachers. Guard the libraries well. "
While Hood thought through how he could reform the UEG in a way that would give him as much legitimacy as possible, he found himself interrupted by an aide just when he'd begun thinking of a framework for his emergency administration.
"I have an incoming message from someone named Hector Nyeto on Gao." An ensign approached Hood, offering a datapad. The ensign's eyes were widened with that distinct look of someone on stimulants, while also filled with something approaching a childish awe. Hood bristled at the mention of the name. Hector Nyeto was a traitor. A man who had attempted to kill the Spartans during Operation: Silent Storm by leaking their location to the Covenant, and who had stolen several Prowlers when he'd been discovered. The man was rumored to lead a shadow government upon the jungle world of Gao, and had evaded constant attempts by ONI to capture him. He'd refused any offer of amnesty by Parangosky, or to join Cole's wife when she'd gathered the Insurrectionists under her banner.
The man was a traitor, liar, and a coward.
And he owned a small fleet of Prowlers with his own army of orbital drop infantry. And Hood could use them.
Hood tore the datapad from the ensign's hands and spoke into it with barely concealed fury. "Speak, Nyeto." Hood restrained himself from cursing the man out. "Why are you contacting me?"
The smug self-righteous voice of Hector Nyeto sounded just as infuriating as it had always been. "Lord Hood. Or should I be calling you 'King' or 'Emperor'? I was most surprised when I heard that the United Earth Government finally collapsed into Civil War. Even more so when both you and Parangosky accuse the other of starting this whole dreadful affair." The man sounded older, and it had definitely lost some of its power. But Hood still felt an overwhelming urge to reach through the datapad and choke the man to death.
"Gao is declaring independence from the UEG. We've already taken control of the planet. Our allies upon Venezia are taking the death of the UEG as our rightful time to seize our independence. You can either accept this, or you will face two enemies in your civil war."
Venezia and Gao. Two of the most rebel-infested colonies in the UEG. Hotbeds of secessionist and rebel activity. The former a corporate fiefdom that pretended to be Libertarian, and the latter the capital of dirty nuclear bomb production. Hood would be happy to see them go. But he didn't have a lot of options right now.
"Wait." Hood said. "We can make a deal."
There was an agonizing silence.
"A deal?" Hector said slowly. "This must be serious if you're willing to talk." Another silence, punctuated with some whispering off-screen, before Hector returned. "We're not staying in the UEG if that is what you're asking. But we will be happy to secede peacefully if you recognize u-"
"The United Earth Government as we know it, is dead." Hood said. "The corruption goes too deep, and it must be rebuilt from the ground up. And I know you have allies throughout the Outer Colonies, and allies in the Inner Colonies." Hood took in a deep breath and sighed. "If you convince your old contacts to stage uprisings across the UEG, then you'll be saving a lot of lives from the hellstate Parangosky has envisioned."
Strauss and Hogan had gathered to look at Hood. Strauss had crossed his arms and avoided eye contact, sneering at every mention of Hector's name. Hogan meanwhile was listening attentively, nodding at Hood whenever he looked away from the datapad, making small gestures to spur him on.
"You're not an idiot Hector." Hood growled, causing the ensign to flinch. "You know the fact I am even having this conversation with you, means that things are worse than you can possibly imagine. So here's my offer. A federal system for humanity. Planetary independence. With an interplanetary government and navy for defense. Hell. If you want, I'll talk to the Citadel Council about giving you your own planet out beyond the relays."
Hector was quiet for a moment. "The images from Earth are very concerning. I agree that ONI can't be allowed to rule humanity. But I wasn't expecting you to be this pragmatic… In all honesty, I expected you to refuse to even speak to me. I am only talking because the Gao rebel government requested I formally declare independence." Hector spoke to someone off-screen, muting the microphone before he did so.
"Can't believe it has come to this." Strauss muttered.
"Announce your goals publicly. And you will get your rebel army." Hector finally stated. "My Battle-Jumpers can start occupying frontier worlds before the week is out."
Battle-Jumpers. Marine deserters dressed up as ODST's and trained to operate behind the lines as terrorists. The thought of working with people like them disgusted Hood. But he did not have much choice in allies. "So your ODST Knockoffs are real?" Hood said. "Help me to drive ONI from the Outer Colonies, and have your Insurrectionist friends agree to side with me, and we can work out a deal."
"Done." Hector said, cutting the line.
Hood took the datapad, and threw it against the wall hard enough to shatter it.
"We have video footage from Sydney." Ensign Clovis suddenly yelled. "Putting it on the main screen." Clovis seemed to be the least concerned with the prospect of Civil War, which made Hood wonder if the rumors of Cole planning something illegal had actually been true.
The city was burning. The video, taken from a fast-moving news drone, showed fires raging through the city, and gunfire heard all around. Mobs of civilians led by UNSC servicemen and women, were marching through the city, storming buildings and dragging people out of them. Men in black jumpsuits were being lynched and hung from the lampposts.
The drone caught a shot of a black Warthog racing through the street and across anyone getting in the way, the gunner firing on fully automatic into a crowd of protestors. Men and women were violently pulped by depleted uranium rounds, even as troops in ONI armour were slaughtering their way through the streets.
Clouds of blue gas floated across the city, fires consumed whole arcologies. People were jumping from windows to avoid the blaze coming up from beneath. The room went deadly quiet as footage from other cities was found, showing the same kinds of atrocities.
"Sir..." Clovis muttered as tears streamed down his face. "ONI has stopped transmitting accusations of treason at you. They've announced a curfew and are threatening to kill anyone outside. There's reports of them deploying nerve gas against crowds of protestors Executions of soldiers refusing to go along with orders." He changed the view to a line of civilians being marched down into the sewers of Sydney.
"How do they have so many soldiers?!" Strauss cursed. "ONI shouldn't have this many soldiers, certainly not on earth. Find out what the hell these wannabe-SS are!"
It took half an hour of reports of atrocities and ONI Death Squads restoring control over Earth by force before the first image of an altered soldier appeared. It had once been a man, but now looked more like a robot. Pale blue cybernetic eyes stared out of a soldier whose helmet had been torn off.
"AI identification by the 5th Army Group confirms this man to have gone missing three months ago. A gardener. "Clovis said, bringing up an image of a thin long-haired man, who looked nothing like the ONI soldier. The two figures were compared, and it became clear that the man had somehow gone from thin and pasty, to a hulking soldier.
"That explains it. They are creating their soldiers." Hogan said, pointing at the screen. "And I bet that's what is happening to the people ONI is dragging off. They're turning prisoners into fully trained soldiers."
Hood grit his teeth, then turned to face the men and women looking at him for advice. He took a deep breath. "She is trying to scare us. Frighten us into submission. These are not the tactics of a victory, they are those of one frightened that loss is imminent, and that means we can win this!"
Then while everyone was reinvigorated, Hood motioned for Clovis to get closer, before whispering to him. "Make sure this gets leaked to the Citadel. We all know how the Turians respond to atrocities. Parangosky might have just made the chances of this conflict remaining an isolated civil war very small indeed."