Chapter 2: Blood, Sweat and Tears
//AI Helmet Connection To Subject Karen //: Complete
Karen was dumfounded, standing in a glass case was a black suit. The suit had a slight silver shimmer to it hovering next to it was a helmet that matched exactly to the suit. Gloves were also hovering nearby. Standing behind the case were two techs. One was the familiar Sarah while the other was somebody she didn't recognize. "You should put the gloves and socks on now." Karen put both gloves and both socks. Once they were on she felt a pulling. She realized that the gloves and socks were combing to the suit. The stretching stopped and she noticed that there was no seam line between the socks and gloves. "Karen since you are the squad commander you get this first. This is the Mark-7 MJOLNIR suit. It is just a more high- tech Mark-6." Karen just stood looking at it. Then a small white line appeared going vertical on the glass. The glass then moved so that it was only half of what it used to be, the tech Karen didn't recognize moved towards the suit and motioned silently for Karen to come over. Since the chief had told her about the suit he had moved to the back of the room and seem to be fumbling something in his hand. "My name is Sam. I'll be your suit tech from now on." "What about Sarah?" she said not concealing her worry. "Oh. She will still be your main tech, I just help with your suit." "Oh. No offense but I consider Sarah as a big sister." This caught Sarah by surprise, she turned her head to see Karen looking directly at her. Karen hoped that Sarah would reply. "Thank you,' mouthed Sarah. Thank god thought Karen as she looked at her feet. She looked up in time to see a tear come down Sarah's cheek. Sam had grabbed both boots from the suit and was waiting for Karen to get back to the suit. "Since we usually don't make suits for fourteen year old girls it will be a little big," sensing worry in Karen's eyes Sam added quickly, "Don't worry it'll form to you once the whole suit is together." "Thank god I thought I'd have a huge suit for a couple years till I grew into it." Sam couldn't help but smile and give small chuckle. " Here lift you foot up," Karen lifted her foot up and had the metal boot put on it. This process repeated until everything but the helmet was on. "Okay. Now this is important. The helmet has a HUD for ammo, shield energy and battle info. Since your commander your helmet will have red dots appear when a unit acknowledges you. It might be snug at first but don't worry." Sam took the helmet and slid it over her head. Her Brown hair was taken up into the helmet and held in place. Suddenly Karen felt a squeezing and saw that the whole suit was moving, conforming to every part of her body so that it felt more comfortable and tighter. "Engaging suit connection." When Sam finished saying this the under suit Karen was wearing started to heat up. "What I just did was to have your under suit turned on. What that means is that you will stay warm in cold environments and vice versa. Also the suit will now feel like it almost isn't even there." Sam waited a moment, "Can you hear me?" "Yes" Karen replied. "You can take your helmet off now everything is finishe-" "No, wait." The master chief moved towards Karen. He extended his hand and Karen saw what it was, it was a small AI chip. "This is from me." Karen grabbed the chip gingerly and fit it into the slot in the helmet. "This is Cortana's 'sister'." As if in her head Karen heard a voice nearly identical to Cortana. "Hello, my name is Nephritis." "Nephritis?" Karen asked. "Yep. I will give you all the info you would ever need." "I'm sorry to ruin you meeting but I need to do some diagnostic work on the computer." "I have to take the whole suit off?" "Oh no. Just the helmet." "Oh okay." Karen took the helmet off and handed it to Sam. "Karen can I talk to you, if it's okay with the chief?" it was Sarah. "It's okay. I have to meet the others now anyway." "Thanks." Karen walked over to Sarah. "What did you want?" "I want to talk to you about your past. There isn't any info on you." "That's because I was born right before Rafey 3 was destroyed. They never had time to enter by info." "How'd you escape?" "My parents got me on a lifeboat before the planet was glassed." "Then we found you at age five and trained you for the Spartan program. Your parents would have been proud." She looked down and saw that tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I want you to know that I consider you a little sister." Karen looked at Sarah and hugged her hard. "Um, Karen not so hard, you're a lot stronger than I am." "Sorry" she said.
//AI Helmet Connection To Subject Karen //: Complete
Karen was dumfounded, standing in a glass case was a black suit. The suit had a slight silver shimmer to it hovering next to it was a helmet that matched exactly to the suit. Gloves were also hovering nearby. Standing behind the case were two techs. One was the familiar Sarah while the other was somebody she didn't recognize. "You should put the gloves and socks on now." Karen put both gloves and both socks. Once they were on she felt a pulling. She realized that the gloves and socks were combing to the suit. The stretching stopped and she noticed that there was no seam line between the socks and gloves. "Karen since you are the squad commander you get this first. This is the Mark-7 MJOLNIR suit. It is just a more high- tech Mark-6." Karen just stood looking at it. Then a small white line appeared going vertical on the glass. The glass then moved so that it was only half of what it used to be, the tech Karen didn't recognize moved towards the suit and motioned silently for Karen to come over. Since the chief had told her about the suit he had moved to the back of the room and seem to be fumbling something in his hand. "My name is Sam. I'll be your suit tech from now on." "What about Sarah?" she said not concealing her worry. "Oh. She will still be your main tech, I just help with your suit." "Oh. No offense but I consider Sarah as a big sister." This caught Sarah by surprise, she turned her head to see Karen looking directly at her. Karen hoped that Sarah would reply. "Thank you,' mouthed Sarah. Thank god thought Karen as she looked at her feet. She looked up in time to see a tear come down Sarah's cheek. Sam had grabbed both boots from the suit and was waiting for Karen to get back to the suit. "Since we usually don't make suits for fourteen year old girls it will be a little big," sensing worry in Karen's eyes Sam added quickly, "Don't worry it'll form to you once the whole suit is together." "Thank god I thought I'd have a huge suit for a couple years till I grew into it." Sam couldn't help but smile and give small chuckle. " Here lift you foot up," Karen lifted her foot up and had the metal boot put on it. This process repeated until everything but the helmet was on. "Okay. Now this is important. The helmet has a HUD for ammo, shield energy and battle info. Since your commander your helmet will have red dots appear when a unit acknowledges you. It might be snug at first but don't worry." Sam took the helmet and slid it over her head. Her Brown hair was taken up into the helmet and held in place. Suddenly Karen felt a squeezing and saw that the whole suit was moving, conforming to every part of her body so that it felt more comfortable and tighter. "Engaging suit connection." When Sam finished saying this the under suit Karen was wearing started to heat up. "What I just did was to have your under suit turned on. What that means is that you will stay warm in cold environments and vice versa. Also the suit will now feel like it almost isn't even there." Sam waited a moment, "Can you hear me?" "Yes" Karen replied. "You can take your helmet off now everything is finishe-" "No, wait." The master chief moved towards Karen. He extended his hand and Karen saw what it was, it was a small AI chip. "This is from me." Karen grabbed the chip gingerly and fit it into the slot in the helmet. "This is Cortana's 'sister'." As if in her head Karen heard a voice nearly identical to Cortana. "Hello, my name is Nephritis." "Nephritis?" Karen asked. "Yep. I will give you all the info you would ever need." "I'm sorry to ruin you meeting but I need to do some diagnostic work on the computer." "I have to take the whole suit off?" "Oh no. Just the helmet." "Oh okay." Karen took the helmet off and handed it to Sam. "Karen can I talk to you, if it's okay with the chief?" it was Sarah. "It's okay. I have to meet the others now anyway." "Thanks." Karen walked over to Sarah. "What did you want?" "I want to talk to you about your past. There isn't any info on you." "That's because I was born right before Rafey 3 was destroyed. They never had time to enter by info." "How'd you escape?" "My parents got me on a lifeboat before the planet was glassed." "Then we found you at age five and trained you for the Spartan program. Your parents would have been proud." She looked down and saw that tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I want you to know that I consider you a little sister." Karen looked at Sarah and hugged her hard. "Um, Karen not so hard, you're a lot stronger than I am." "Sorry" she said.