Chapter 1:
"How bad?" asked Rear Admiral Osman as she sat in her command chair aboard the UNSC Port Stanley. She was addressing BB, as he droned on and on about a failed capture on a high priority target of interest for ONI. The problem wasn't so much the failed capture as… there was also an above average amount of collateral damage.
"We lost contact with Black Site 034, seven hours ago and it wasn't until recently that a rapid response team managed to reestablish contact. Not only was the detainee missing, but we also concluded that the entire holding station had been… for the lack of a better term… silenced. Of the fifty permanently stationed ONI personal, there were no survivors. Based upon the initial survey of the combat damage by first responder Captain Adrian Hell, it would seem as though energy weapons were mostly to blame, which of course begs the question…"
"Is she working with a former Covenant Faction?" Osman finished while propping her head upon a raised and resting fist atop her chairs armrest, "These guys are extremists and suspected insurrectionists, but also pro-human… why would they openly recruit alien support because based upon what information we've already gleamed from preliminary infiltrations of Minister, they aren't exactly the NCA."
BB's holographic image hovered before her visage, bobbing side to side as he pondered numerous strategic possibilities before giving a proper reply, "Perhaps… the Arbiter is returning the favor by starting his own Civil War within the UNSC. Of course, if this was the case… well… his Telcam certainly is much more capable."
Osman reflected upon that, and thought while plausible that the Arbiter might have discovered ONI manipulation into triggering the Sangheili Civil War, ultimately, the possibility was far too remote, too improbable, and very out of character to be possible.
"If that was the case I think the Arbiter would have responded differently, most likely with a direct military confrontation rather than with this high degree of counter espionage."
BB instantly gave his next possible conclusion, "Then… perhaps, Ms Natalie Marquett has hired former Covenant Forces as an Auxiliary. It is possible that certain disenfranchised Kig-Yar or Unggoy might have been bought off as a mercenary force. Though, I must admit that the very idea of a Sangheili Mercenary Band tending to the military whims of a pro-human military movement, while possible, remains highly improbable due to both cultures. After all, Vata 'Gajat's only sided with the NCA because they were hired mercenaries and also because both the Vata 'Gajat and NCA were anti-UNSC. Officially, the NCA is merely anti-UNSC and not distinctly pro-human, needless to say… Minister does not possess the political leverage necessary to gain such trustworthy Sangheili Allies as the NCA. "
"Hummm," pondered Osman, "How did you come to these conclusions? Tell me, how do we NOT know if the energy weapons were merely used by humans in order to make it appear like an alien attack?"
BB's bow tightened and curled up, a slight holographic alteration meant to signify a smile, "The report filed by the onsite AI's compared the plasma hits to the possible locations of the firing personal in order to determine the heights of the raised weapons as they were being fired. The weapons were either fired by individuals averaging 3-5 feet tall or 7 feet tall. Meaning, either lots of very below average in height humans, or…"
"Uggoy, Kig-Yar, and Sangheili…"
BB's instantly filed in the last possibility, "Or… Jiralhanae?"
Osman's eyes narrowed. Brutes, she hadn't considered that, "What about blood splatter?" she asked.
BB cocked his boxy shape to one side, clearly in repose for a snarky response, "Blood," he stated simply, "Can always be planted. We found Uggoy, Kig-Yar, Sangheili, Jiralhanae, and other samples from another half a dozen races, but no bodies. As things stand, the height data is the only hard information we have regarding the incident."
"And what of the detainee? Ms. Natalie Marquett?" she asked with a hardened stare.
"We've already confirmed her location. She arrived at Indigo Seven roughly two hours ago with a full security detail. As you would expect… our undercover operatives at Indigo Seven were rather… surprised by that turn of events."
"Do you think they are in any danger?" she asked.
"No need to worry. I highly doubt any of them have been found out by either the colonial defense forces on Indigo Seven or whatever personal are with Ms. Marquett. They should be safe… for now."
"Good… just make sure they keep monitoring the situation… until we know who exactly helped free Ms. Marquett from Black Site 034."
"Of course, and while I'm at it… I'll also make sure the new bagmen know to 'actually' put a guard on her when we catch her this time…" he smugly replied, "Clusmy humans… where would you be without me… lalalalala…"
BB disappeared from the bridge, more for show since he was the ship, in order to give Osman a sense of isolation so that she may ponder the greater strategic situation on her own. She had everything she needed, and ultimately as the new Director of ONI… the final battle plans were hers to make on how exactly to covertly handle this situation.
…..
The phantom smell of ashes seeped up Natalie's nose as she stood in the shower, beads of water running down her naked body while her palms rested against the tiled aperture where the water fell from a faucet upon her waist long blond hair stuck against her white skin.
"I smell burning Angels," she smiled wickedly, "Oh… how they have fallen from good grace, upon iron spikes, stuck like roasting pigs." She heard them screaming, always the screaming, the wicked begging for release, begging to properly die as they melted in the fires of hell. Their eyes, always staring at her, accusingly… arms outstretched, but it didn't matter… they remained trapped.
In an instant the image was gone and Natalie was back in her shower, the hot steam circling around her naked body as she regained her fortified mental composure. This was her, the real her, not the twisted thing deep down inside her mind, clawing away at the fortress gates to be released and unbound… uncontrolled.
In a way, she envied them, the actual Spartans. It was true, Dr. Halsey had turned them into biological weapons, but she always knew where to stop. She always knew when certain drugs or augmentations could cause long term complications. Sure, most Spartans were sterile social inverted killing machines, but… they weren't like her, they didn't have a monster deep down on the inside.
Natalie pushed away from the shower wall and sat down upon the tiled floor, the falling water landing between her bare legs as she reflected internally within the white noise, yes, the mental static caused from hearing the bathing water, it drowned out everything else… it kept the monster from clawing its way out.
"When this is all over," she said with a sense of conviction, "I think I'll kill myself."
There was a sense of finality to it, kill herself and kill the monster, simple as that, a self sacrifice. She couldn't let it loose, not again.
The Spartans were different though, they weren't like her. They didn't suffer from dementia, from schizophrenia, or from any of the other numerous mental disorders that turned her mind into a twisted maze filled with murderous warped personalities. She envied that about them… because… the monsters' strength wasn't worth the price.
"Lady Marquett," said a distinguished elderly voice as a set of knuckles rapped against the bathroom door, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Ghillian," she replied while sitting on the shower floor, starring at her wrists, as thoughts of slitting them open slowly evaporating away while she remembered her mission, her goals, her revenge. She had to hold it together until them, keep the monster subdued until it was all done… until the UNSC burned in the hell of its own creation.
Slowly, Natalie stood up, and turned off the shower, a few small beads of water trickling down upon her scalp as she opened the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the bathroom floor, wet feet touching cold metal as she started to wipe away the watery moisture from her feminine curves with a padded white towel.
"Very well my lady," replied Ghillian, "I'll make sure to lay out your clothes and see to the car."
"Thank you Ghillian," she replied in a whisper while taking a brief moment to catch a glimpse of herself in the bathroom wall mirror. It took a few brief seconds of concentration to change her eyes from gleeful murderous intent bordering upon twisted ecstasy into something more tamed and distant. She was glad the old man hadn't seen her like that… he had always served her even as a 'pretend' child… and the very last thing she wanted was to make him suffer in his far more progressed age.
Suffer? How odd… she was going to murder millions before this was all done, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to harm a single old man. How silly. How… she stopped briefly to shed a single tear, was she even human anymore?
…
Tek stood within the human woman's apartment, standing more because of the awkwardness of the situation rather than out of some sort of latent disgust. He could hear her, the human he had been hired to rescue, bathing in the next room.
On his home world the female gender was matriarchal dominant, but… she was 'different' despite the power she obviously wielded. In fact, when he and his merry band of mercenaries had first discovered her whereabouts following the brutal butchery of every single living flesh and blood human being at what appeared to be a secret UNSC prison on a not too distant tropical planet… she seemed very tame and unaggressive unlike the foul feather witches of his race. And so it was, he performed his contract to the letter, picked up the human woman, and returned her to this specific world.
It wasn't until they arrived here, at this world called Indigo Seven, when he learned of her wealth and power. She was important, and a possible source of future contracts, thus his interests in observing a continued course of interaction.
Tek had been the only mercenary allowed to travel planet-side once their vessel arrived. The remainder of his men were in orbit, hiding from Indigo Sevens Military Craft, and awaiting his return while…
Out of the corner of his eye Tek saw movement. Slowly and methodically an elderly human dressed in a finely tailored black suit, wearing white gloves and a manacle eyeglass walked in from a nearby private bar holding a metal tray with ornate white ceramic cups. He stopped briefly outside of his clients bathing chambers and rapped his knuckles against the door.
"Lady Marquett are you alright?" this human male, her… servant, protector… such a thing puzzled the Kig-Yar as he waited while standing. It was clear that this male was concerned, did humans typically bath for such long durations of time… Tek didn't know.
"I'm fine Ghillian," she shallowly replied. The old man nodded and slowly walked upright and proper across the room to sit the tray of ceramic cups upon a not so distant table. He then faced Tek, and bowed graciously with an emotionless face.
"Master Tek, please enjoy House Marquett's tea selection. I will return shortly with more itemsyou're your consumption."
Master Tek? He was a master now? Such a thing was odd… he had never considered himself a master of anything excluding a few honorless mercenaries. This concept was baffling and nagged at the mercenary as this human male stood prim and proper and walked off towards a mechanical lift for the luxury penthouses staff kitchen.
As the lift descended, the door to the human woman's bathing chambers opened with a puff of steam. She stood gracefully within the fog and stepped forward with a white robe wrapped around her body, the clothe ending just above her knees.
"Mr. Tek… I see you are still here… this is good. My apologizes for the…" she stopped briefly in thought as if to find the correct word, "Ah yes, for the… 'rude' wait."
She looked at the ceramic cups and smiled, "I see Ghillian has delivered the tea, would you care to join me?"
Tek cocked his head to the side, tea, human nourishment perhaps? He wondered about tasting such… alien things, as this human female walked around him and sat cross legged upon a deep soft chair made out of some sort of expensive fabric.
The Kig-yar, having no real option, sat on the edge of another chair, and upon sensing its comfort through his armor and bones, leaned all the way back sinking into its gentle fabrics, his golden grieves and cuirass aching at his joints as he relaxed.
"So, she said while pouring some sort of dark liquid into two ceramic cups and offering him one, "Drake sent you to 'retrieve' me. How kind of the good admiral. Then again, he was never one to waist potential allies."
Tek took her ceramic cup and splashed the liquid down his throat; it was very bitter and made him cough awkwardly. The human female laughed off to his side, "You were supposed to sip it."
The Kig-yar looked at her with ruffled feathers upon his back, angry at being mocked, as something suddenly shifted in her mind. He sensed it, like a sudden color hue twist in her psyche, and then something else emerged from deep down inside her very being.
"I think… we can end the formalities," she said while placing her ceramic cup to the side and looking at him with a very intimidating glare, "You know that humanity isn't as… consolidated… as many former covenant races have thus far been led to believe. The fact that you were hired to protect and escort me to this planet is proof of that. But, I want to ask you a question… do you know why humanity hasn't totally splintered following the war?"
Tek cocked his head to the side as he pondered the question, "The Spartans?" he asked after a brief pause.
The human female smiled wickedly and nodded in approval, "Exactly Mr. Tek, the Spartans… now, let me ask you another question… let's suppose that another race, another faction, just so happened to come along and create something capable of fighting Spartans on equal footing. Without their little 'fear advantage' as it were, how do you think most of the UNSC colonies would align in relation to Earth?"
He followed the train of logic and quickly responded, "Without Spartans to threaten the human colonies with forced peace… they would probably break away."
The human female nodded once more in approval before speaking, "Thirty years, my wealthy family has spent thirty years preparing to level the playing field between the UNSC and Earths respective colonies. Me… I'm just overseeing the grand finale to those constant years of preparation. Now, tell me… Mr. Tek… did you know that the Spartans once had an ancient historical rival on Earth?"
"No," he replied with a hint curiosity. He, after all, knew nothing of human history.
"It's true," replied the human female, "They were called, 'The Immortals,' and trust me… just like how the Spartan IIs changed the military landscape… my new little pets are going to truly elevate the colonial hostilities."
She now stood from her chair and started to walk away towards what appeared to be a personal bed chamber, "Mr. Tek… I want you to accompany me this evening to a meeting with Indigo Sevens Planetary Governor… and trust me when I say that this will be time well spent. Until then… please enjoy my hospitality…"
As the human female closed the doors to her private chambers, the male manservant returned carrying numerous food items upon a fine silver tray, this included a bizarre bowl of small black eggs, "Master Tek," addressed her servant, "House Marquett would like to treat you to our best selection of fine cheeses and exotic caviar."
Still remembering the horrible tasting liquid from earlier… Teks stomach suddenly lurched in revolt at the very notion of devouring even more bizarre human delicacies.