Halo: Predator Lost ch-16 tests and final preparations.
Warning, this chapter may get bloody and quite gory. Let me know in a review or PM if I need to change the rating, thank you.
UNSC Paladin, Stalwart class frigate, less than an hour away from Algolis.
Seeing the girl on external cameras was like no other frigate ever created. She was longer, wider, taller, and in many ways no longer looked like a Paris class frigate. The forked bow wasn't there anymore, now having both a mac and a massive Spartan Laser underneath with the ship's long-range sensors and subspace com arrays underneath that.
The number of batteries was also increased and clearly seen with at least two dozen point defense cannons spread through the vessel, with a number of larger secondary guns situated on both dorsal and ventral sections of the bow. An additional large turret was added underneath thus equalizing the total number of broadside guns from twenty to twenty-four. From its appearance, the ship appeared to be completed. Just as the group entered a pelican and headed planetside the distinct red glow of the ship's Spartan laser fired.
The beam was clearly targeted at Algolis's moon and was likely done as a test to ensure everything worked.
Upon landing they were greeted by Colonel Stein himself, whose expression was still just as warming as a Wolverine ready to kill. The man needs to get a life.
"Welcome back, before you head any further, you need to see this." Handing them a pad that showed a test while they were gone. Sarah who had just eaten, couldn't take it, and just hurled her breakfast onto the pad. Young, Mike, and Emily didn't fare much better as they had turned green but were only just keeping their contents from spewing.
"Looks like someone had powdered eggs and toast for breakfast. Don't be sad specialist, half the people in the room filled up a garbage can with vomit. I've only seen Brutes kill with such brutality. Now then I trust your mission was a success?" Colonel Stein asked.
Finally getting his stomach under control Young was the first to respond, "Yes Colonel, they gave us everything we asked for along with the name of our mission. We are free to carry out our brand of destruction but since Ackerson had turned the audio devices off. It stands to reason we are in for a number of war crimes or the man has it out for us. Either way, our success will determine whether or not we continue to get support from ONI.
"I see, then we'll have to make it look good. by the way, the reason why you were shown the footage was to test you and show you what is about to happen to the Covenant.
I for one don't like ONI's special brand of secrecy and hogging all the developments that can be used for mainline fleets and troops but here we are. In one month all four of you will get acquainted with the Frigate we've now renamed the UNSC Spirit of Vengence. In that month you'll learn the new systems and how best to implement them and then all your names will be removed from the roster and declared MIA"
The others widened at that.
"you have one month to decide, after that, you won't return until you need a resupply either be it men or ordinance. Welcome home" Stein walks away.
Walking back to their homes they may lose gave Mike a lot to think about. Algolis was a safe small Colony and while the war may continue until they were either all wiped out or the Covenant took enough losses to stop. Either way, he now knew that upon seeing the footage, the soldiers in their desperate state were being influenced into the same way of thinking as the Predators. Seeing Sara vomit from that alone has given him more than enough evidence to see that what Young intends to do was very much against the very foundation that makes them human.
"Are you okay?" Sarah asked as they continued to walk down the path from the spaceport.
"Uh, what, sorry I was just thinking about this whole thing and you know what, I don't think I can do it."
Sarah raised her eyebrow at that and decided to grab his hand and squeeze it gently. " I understand, meeting them was a rush but it's now clear we didn't know what we were asking. Sometimes in order to win, we must give up all that is moral and just do it. Ironic really since what is human?"
"I don't follow." Mike had his eyes narrowed.
"Think about it, many people today still have sex for pleasure and not marriage, others even have children but don't get married simply because they fear divorce. I mean just look at Winter, he is the epitome of a sentient being, following a code and not his baser instincts for hundreds of years. I knew a girl back in high school who couldn't stand waiting and became the school slut and had two babies. But I never belittled her, in fact, I helped her and upon that help, she found a boy willing to raise those children as if they were his own.
Anyway, the point is, we have nothing to stand on because the whole laws and morality aspect change with each new law or new government.
After all, we were the ones who decided to stay on as their supervisors, so we might as well bite the bullet and see where it goes, just like our relationship"
Stopping in their tracks, Mike couldn't help but now think of Sarah in a different light. At one point he thought of her as just his subordinate, then someone to joke with after having his butt kicked by aliens who could give Elites a run for their money. If nothing else he was a man of his word and sadly or fortunately, he could now see a future with kids and getting old. All with Sarah.
Sarah couldn't help notice as Mike's breath went from calm and collected to suddenly hitching and his eyes widening. "What did you just figure out?"
Mike almost didn't hear her, as the sudden realization now dawned on him and it was terrifying. He had fallen in love with a nerd, granted a somewhat angry, shy, and very cute nerd but still.
"Okay now your blushing like a ripe tomato, are you sick or something?" Sarah was now getting concerned not noticing a very slight shimmering behind them.
Target located, heart rate at max, good. What can only be a true test of stealth, Scythe had brought with him a syringe coated in a numbing compound. Thus very carefully inserted it into an exposed section of Mikes's body. and pulled out as swiftly as one would a mosquito. Now to observe how fast the drug takes effect.
Slapping his arm from what felt like a minor bug bite Mike now tried to answer Sarah and figure out plans to either propose or even confess. However, something now felt weird as he felt a boner coming on as well as distinct arousal, very strong arousal. Thoughts of just taking Sarah and mounting her like a lion right here and other lewd thoughts penetrated his mind. "Yes, I think something I ate or maybe that video caused some adverse reactions. I think I'll go to the infirmary now." His voice was huskier than it should and the smell of his arousal was now beginning to permeate the air.
Sarah after letting go of his hand took a good look and smelled something very intoxicating and alluring. Thus began to follow her boyfriend only to notice she wasn't the only one as other women were sniffing the air and being drawn towards him. Warning signs were going off in her head as it now occurred something was very wrong and very turned on.
Meanwhile, Scythe was enjoying the show he caused, as well as congratulating himself on being able to use Mike as an unwilling test subject for something Dr. Emily wanted to try. Well, truth be told he was running out of ways to annoy Mike, and thus given how slow Mike was at mating, Scythe decided to find an ingenious way of doing it. Sadly though the number of females now being attracted to him was not something Scythe anticipated. Oops
Over the next few days and weeks, the various systems of the UNSC Vengence were tested. As it turned out, the enlarged spartan laser was very reliable and thanks to the third fusion core had a higher reload speed than the ship's mac. The Mac itself though now had a higher rate of fire and improved velocity thanks to the railgun data shared by the one named Winter. Allowing the ship's light mac to fire twice as fast at one round every thirty seconds. The excess heat built up from this is then harnessed and used to boost the power of other systems.
What remains is then vented into the void spaces in the hull.
Overall these incremental improvements were all great leaps in technology and would in turn be incorporated into refits or newly built warships as the war continues.
Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in the northeast mountains.
The ODSTs and Spartan threes were training with their new armors.
While the Spartan threes were using modified Mjolnir mark four armor and getting accustomed to the enhancements, the ODSTs were having a far different experience. The so-called semi-powered infiltration armor mkII. wasn't designed for infiltration at all, instead what was shipped was the needed components and hardware needed to build versions of them on Algolis which was the leading colony on mech research and development.
Like everything else as of lately the alien Predator known as Winter, heavily upgraded the design. In many ways, it was now the direct predecessor to the armor the Spartans wore. A muscle body suite using similar crystalline technology as the Mjolnir suit was worn underneath, with the rest of the armor being put on with relative ease. Even when compared to the armor used by the Spartans.
In terms of power, the armor has enough juice to last several days without recharging and unlike the previous SPI armors, it had enough life support to last twenty-four hours. Equipped with a single engine on the back for drops and general flying in low gravity though this jump back could be removed in favor of a full ruck pack for longer duration missions. On each side of the back and on each arm were hardpoints for various retracted weapons mimicking the mechanisms used on the predator's shoulders.
Overall what has been named the Predator armor was a vast improvement over even the new next generation of SPI armor but its firepower, ease of production and interchangeability came at a cost. The armor didn't have any of the stealth camouflage features sans the ability to silence one's footsteps.
Aside from the construction of female and male models, the locals have come to dub them mini mechs.
"Okay, boys and girls listen up, the objective of this exercise is to not go against each other in wargames but to hunt. Yes, you heard that right, hunt. Each person here is required to kill and rip the skulls from clone wolves brought here. Any questions?!" Yelled Sargent Thompson
"Uh, sir isn't that sort of wrong and well disgusting" Ask a random private.
" The idea is desensitization, ergo for the next few weeks, we will learn to kill anything and anyone with the emotion of a machine. I know many of us hate the Covenant and some despise the insurrectionists. Hate is murder, we will not murder them, nor will we pity them, we will kill them because they must be killed. The best way to do that is with your bare hands. As such we will also be required to try meditation in order to better focus this. You need to learn to not hesitate even when your best friend is dead or you lose a whole platoon.
Understand this, because what we do here we will be doing to the enemy. Now move it out!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
Over the remaining weeks, Scythe made it his personnel mission to turn these humans into the greatest killers the UNSC had ever seen. The Spartans were already geared to killing things with their bare hands but the ODSTs took a lot more work as many of them had yet to see combat. In fact, the level of brutal behavior being ingrained into these men would be seen as a court marshal offense.
The soldiers would be divided into three groups. The spartan threes would act as reconnaissance and forward observation units. The ODSTs would be split between ambush and artillery units providing fire support directed by the Spartan threes. The Predators would provide nightmare fuel for both Covenant and humans alike.
Finally, the day had come for the mission the year was 2537 just one month after the Predators had arrived and changed a great many things.
"Alright boys, girls, aliens, while we still have more training to do, the fact remains the time has come to be deployed. Now normally a Paris class is designed to fight other ships and nothing else but now she will do more. When we get out there we will be doing one thing and one thing only, killing Covies. Not just the conventional way but anyway we can.
We will kill them, gut them then send their mutilated bodies parts back to their kind in baskets. When they come upon the dead skinned bodies of their comrades they will be imagining the horrors inflicted onto their brethren. This is an all-volunteer so if you want out now, do so." none moved
"That is what I like to see, now then this service comes with a debt, every person here owes Ackerson and his wife one hundred covie skulls plus one more for your own personal collection. Do they want these trophies, probably not but it will provide a record of what we will do.
When the covies stumble upon the mutilated corpse of their brethren, they will talk about us, they will hate us, and they will fear us. When the prophets go to sleep at night it will be us haunting their dreams like Freddy Kruger. If the Spartans are Demons, then we are the Ghosts that hide in the night.
Now then according to the official records, this ship is the UNSC Spirit of Vengence, however, just two days ago it was decided that the name didn't fit with our mission so when we see the side of the ship it will be UNSC Ghost. Because that is what we are, Ghosts, that will bring mayhem and death to the point of bathing in their blood. Do you get me!"
"We get you, Sir!"
"Then load up!" Ordered Captain Lipton.
Sorry for the long hiatus, I've been busy, lazy, and overhit with writer's block. This wasn't my best chapter which is sad since this actually breaks my previous record of chapters and words when compared to my last story.
Followers stand at 38 and favs at 34. Thank you, people.
Now as for the Frigates name change, twice in one chapter. I really did contemplate the suggestions given to me among many others and that alone was driving me nuts to the point of a full stop.
You'll also notice a number of corrections. Unlike the makers of the battlefield franchise, halo developers have a poor understanding of the weapon sizes. So aside from the mac, and the size of the ship, I changed everything else to make more logical sense.
Now as for what you saw in the early part of this chapter I'll expand upon that later but suffice to say when people get bored they tend to do things they normally wouldn't. As such, you'll see Scythe in his true nature soon enough, and I'm looking forward to that.
Also, I was inspired by another fanfiction in which predator mating pheromones instead of repelling humans, actually has the opposite effect.
Finally thank you to Grimly Morbid for a review and having an account. I Look forward to your suggestions.
Also thank you to the guest that keeps reviewing, for while they may be short and sweet, it still provides great motivation so thanks.
I hope you all enjoy this new chapter, thank you and as always please review, share, favorite, follow.