Chapter 7: Dancing Lessons
New York, Earth, Sol System, Infiltration of rogue UNSC and ONI officers…
"The only weapon you'll have with you is a pistol so don't start any firefights, you'll lose," Fred said.
"They'll probably have guards too, with assault or battle rifles. So if it does get hot, along with us you should try and subdue one of them," added Will. Linda was standing in a small hotel room with an expensive black dress on looking at nothing in particular as she got into the mind set of her mission. The Spartans were temporarily on loan to the ONI to help with an investigation into some high-ranking officers planning a hostile takeover of the UNSC, and ONI. Essentially gaining control of the human military units. She rocked back and forth, uneasy without her sniper rifle and MJOLNIR armor. Fred and Will finished their last minute preparations. The targets were inside of a popular club that was the perfect place to have a discussion but not be conspicuous, considering the suspects were all in their late twenties early thirties. Soldiers who had seen the Humans steadily losing and wanted a policy change. Linda looked around the room hoping that she hadn't forgotten anything important. Not seeing anything she grabbed the silenced pistol on the nightstand and slid it into the concealed thigh holster. Her dress was specifically designed for this occasion; the right side went to her knee while the left, after tapering up, ended at the middle of her left thigh. She double-checked that the holster was concealed before leaving.
" Remember, hold your fire until you are fired upon. You have no armor on, just like us," advised Fred.
"Got it." She walked out of the room and down an orange hallway to the emergency exit. She fixed her hair to keep it out of her eyes and placed the color changing contact lenses in. The pistol rubbed uncomfortably against her leg but she didn't move it. The pistol had to be on the inside or people would see it, and if it were in the back she'd be at a disadvantage having to reach farther. She reached the stairway and checked to see if anybody was around. The stairway was a stark contrast to the elegant hallways behind her. Her high heels clicked loudly as she rushed down and onto the pedestrian walkways. She moved quickly towards the club on her right. Sneaking a glance to the entrance of the hotel a man in an overcoat left and started to follow her; Will. After walking one block she stopped to look at a sign, which was really just a sign for Will to head to the club and for Fred to be her tail. She felt a slight brush on her back as he slipped by. The club was five blocks away but she could already hear the blasting music. They had already agreed that any kind of communication would be almost impossible in there.
After walking the distance to the club she entered in alone, a rare thing to happen. She entered in and was blasted back by the music and thick air. The club was lit up in a light blue color that made the occupants silhouettes against the huge blue cubes stacked randomly in the middle. Only about fifteen feet in the club's ceilings shot almost straight up revealing the second floor and the huge dance area in the middle. It made her sick thinking that almost all of these people could care less about the war either because they were constantly high or to drunk to pass boot camp. She walked further into the large crowd. Suddenly the music stopped and she stood rigid fearing that she had already been spotted. Looking up though she saw that the cube complex was actually the DJ's area.
" Yo, Yo, I think we need some new scenery," he yelled out. The crowd around her started to cheer wildly apparently knowing what would happen. Around the second level balcony and from the roof holo projectors started to come out and came to life. Right above her the air started to glow then burst into life with random shapes that immediately flew around the room on cue with the next song. She started moving again looking for the officers around the outer tables. She knew that they would most likely be in a corner away from the bustle of the partiers. Upon reaching the edge of the depressed dance floor someone bumped into her, but it was deliberate. Fred had given her the signal that he was with her. Then she spotted them, there were the six suspected officers seated at a booth in the corner. She looked at the booths and saw that they were full too; highly unlikely in a club like this. They were also all men with buzzed cuts, definitely standard issue military. Cautiously moving forward she came to within feet of the table and waited. She hoped her height wouldn't give her away because all of them had at least seen one Spartan in their careers; luckily they had all taken medication to tan their skin so they didn't look like ghosts. Every once in a while she would spot either Will or Fred walk past quickly glance and then move on. Even with her enhanced hearing their conversations were hard to hear. But what she did hear wasn't incriminating.
Most likely proving each other's loyalty, she thought. But where they were in the conversation lent her to believe it would be a while. She realized that she had been standing in the same spot for almost twenty minutes without moving at all. Fred came by and she flagged him down acting as if they were friends who were lost.
"Fred! Hey where'd you go after that last dance?" she called out. He looked startled but started to play along.
"Bathroom, then I got a drink sorry."
"That's okay, come on lets dance." He nodded and the joined up.
"I needed to move away and not look like an eavesdropper," she whispered as they moved to the dance floor.
"Got it, Fred'll probably keep an eye on them for us," he replied.
"Yeah, they weren't saying anything important."
"Testing each other." They arrived in the middle of the dance floor and weren't sure what to do. Even with their liberty that they got they never done anything recreational, just target practice. But Linda didn't want to attract any suspicions so she grabbed Fred's hands and placed them on her hips.
"Just rock back and forth," she whispered into his ear with a smile. He gave a low chuckle and listened. They danced for two songs and then went back to spying on the officers. After another five minutes of waiting one the men got up and headed past her. She let him get in front of her and then put her hand by her rear end and made a "Tail" in the air to alert Fred and Will who were watching her. He was heading towards the bathroom but she saw a dark corner she could get him into. Speeding up she gained on him along with retrieving her pistol discreetly. He was ahead of the alcove when she grabbed his shoulders and quickly threw him in. She rammed him against the wall and jammed the gun into the bottom of his spine.
"What the hell?" the man yelled out, he turned his head and was looking at Linda with a smug smile on his face, "You bit-." She cut him off by ramming the silenced pistol deeper into his back. Linda repositioned her body making it look like they were to lovers trying to hide themselves. She leaned in closer to his ear and decided to play with his mind.
"Do you remember the ancient city of Sparta?"
"Yeah kinda," he replied quickly.
" Their soldiers were the most skilled and deadly during that time period."
"Good for them."
"They were the most feared peoples of that time period, don't you think so?" she asked coldly.
"What, is this a history lesson or something?" she rammed the gun harder into his back making him answer her question, "Yeah, they were the most fearsome."
"Well, you should fear me then, considering that I'm one of them."
"What's that supposed…to…mean…holy crap…" he said realizing what was happening.
"Ah, you're a very bright man. I wouldn't do anything that might make my finger slip."
"You Spartans never make a mistake."
" A touché. Lets get down to business then. I hear that you want to take command of the Human forces into your own hands…illegally."
"What? No-no- no, that's not it. I swear, we just thought that we needed to do something about the High Command and their military tactics."
"And how were you planning on doing this?" she asked calmly while quickly tapping the screen on her small watch.
"We…we just wanted to screw up a mission and show them that their tactics were not working," he replied nervously, his voice cracking.
"Sounds like insubordination, heresy, murder."
"MURDER? What the hell are you thinking? There is no such thing as murder in combat."
"Yes there is, if you purposely get people killed that sounds like murder to me." He wouldn't be able to reply for at that moment screams erupted in the crowd as ONI Spec Ops troops came storming in. People were rushing around the dark club trying to get out. Linda yanked the officer around and used him as a plow to get through the people. Three marines came up, their faces illuminated by the green data screens over their left eyes.
"Ma'am, the rogues have been apprehended," stated the middle one. He flicked his hand and the two around him came forward and grabbed the officer.
"Something else?" she asked.
"Yes, initial reports from the Master Chief's mission are that there was one-hundred percent casualties." It hit her like a sack of bricks. A wave of guilt flooded over her as she remembered that they were late to his departure and weren't able to say good-bye to John. Her eyes started to glisten and she felt light headed.
"T-thank you." The marine saluted and rushed away obvious that it had hit her hard.