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The Halo of the Hero
Chapter 5 The birth of an Soldier
Catharine Halsey walked into the office of Dr. Izack Foret. The last eight years of war had changed him, he no longer had the small smile instead it was replaced with a look of total defeat. Both his son and daughter had died in this war, his son as one of the billions of dead colonists, and his daughter as a UNSC Marine in one of the countless battles. The only thing he had left was the science.
"Catherine, have a seat" He said as he closed a folder and placed it into one of the desks drawers.
She did as she was told.
"Catherine, I want to know how far you have come with our work" he asked as he took out a cigar from another drawer.
She raised an eyebrow.
"What work" she asked.
"Cut the crap Catherine, I know about your work for ONI, section three" he said a little irritated.
"How… It doesn't matter. But you know if ONI finds out they will have your hide" She said
"Yes I know, but I want to change that"
"What? How?
"I also know about the cut in your funding, that you will have to stop the project if you don't get additional money" he said as he puffed on his cigar.
"And?" She asked.
"I will provide you with that money, if you would give me access to ONI files"
The money to continue my research. It's almost too good to be true. But can I convince ONI about it? They are known for their paranoia when it comes to hand out information. She looked up into the eyes of Izack. He is a respected scientist, and could be very useful to ONI, they would probably allow him access, but with a lot of restrictions. With her decision made she replied.
"I will have to talk about it with ONI. I can't promise anything." She said and then left the office.
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"So, how far are we in the project" he asked. They where currently standing in a research lab in one of ONIs facilities. It was located 3 km underground in the former titanium mines on Reach, protected, by layers of concrete, dura steel and titanium-A battle plate. It could withstand almost anything including a 250 megaton nuclear warhead.
"Before I let you access this file I want too ask how much you know about the project"
"Well, almost nothing. Just the basic, create a genetically enhanced soldier"
"Okay, well the project is called SPARTAN-II, and you are right it is to create a better soldier. The project is split into three parts. The first part is the Spartans themselves, only subjects with excellent physics and intellect was even considered. Even fewer are even genetically compatible with the later stages of the project so a good part falls out. Because of the fact that genes aren't everything they also need the proper military training and discipline to become the soldiers we want. We have the location of 189 potential subjects, children between the age of five to seven years. The will undergo extensive training in all fields of warfare to be able to counter any threat.
She typed in some commands on a keyboard. The massive screen dominating one of the walls came to life and displayed the photos of the 189 children, Then it started, from the top left photo, display the files of each and every child, names, dates of birth, parents, school, every little bit of information the ONI was able to get.
"You will use children as soldiers?" Izack said shocked.
"After fifteen years of training they won't be children anymore"
"And where are the children coming from?"
"Everywhere, we will have to abduct them from their parents and then replace them with flash clones"
"But…"
"I know that it's unethical, but these children may very well be our final hope"
"I… I understand"
Catherine looked at Izack, an emotionless expression on her face.
"The second stage of the SPARTAN-II project is the geneticall enhancements, cybernetic implants and augmented body which will make the subjects faster, stronger and smarter. These are based on the geneticall-information found in the derelict spacecraft on Moln. We couldn't copy the serum found, but it gave us a few hints on how to create our own augmentations. We couldn't use it either, the change would put the subjects' body under a lot of stress and probability of survival is about 1:1439."
She typed in another command, and the screen changed and displayed strings of DNA, neurological implants, medical files and procedures too successfully implant the different augmentations.
"So how big are the odds of survival for our own enhancements?"
"About 60%, but the increase in performance is well worth the risk.
"The third stage of the SPARTAN-II project is the Spartans armour, also based on some of the information we attained on Moln, codenamed MJOLNIR. The armour has a personal shield generated by a small fusion-reactor built into the armour."
"You have shields?!"
"Yes, this will put the Spartans on even ground with the Covenant. The armour consists of a multilayer alloy which can deflect and absorb ballistic and energy based weaponry with ease. The under layer consists of a stretchable layer of Kevlar 8 which can change density depending on the situation. The armour is airtight and can operate in the vacuum of space, it has a supply of air for 90 minutes. The armour is filled with coolant gel which will regulate the body temperature and protect against heavy plasma burns. It will increase the reflexes of the Spartan due to a neural interface. The armour has its drawbacks however, it weighs almost 500 kilos, 600 with Spartan in it. The weight will reduce strength, speed and mobility of the Spartans before they get used to it. To compensate we have decided to train the Spartans in increased gravity so they can get used to the feel of it. If anyone besides a Spartan tried on the armour they would be crushed. The armour is in the final stages of testing but we have decided that we will modify and try to increase the armours performance until the Spartans have grown up, which gives us about ten-fifteen years"
"This is a really impressive piece of hardware you have got here."
"Yes, the prototypes are finished and are running without any malfunctions. Care too take a look?"
"Sure, why not"
Izack was still shocked at the way Dr. Halsey disregarded human life, but he also understood how she reasoned, the Covenant had won victory after victory, destroyed all attempts to win in space, but they had more luck in ground engagements, scoring some rare few victories. But it wasn't enough, the covenant had eight years into the war glassed over 230 of the outer colonies, killed over 78 billion civilians and the weren't stopping. They needed something that could go toe to toe against superior numbers, something that could fight superior technology, they needed the SPARTANS-II.
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1800 Hours, January 12, 2539
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex
Planet Reach
John sat in one of the chairs in the amphitheatre, looking around at the other two hundred children or so, all looking terrified and scared, all like him.
"As per Naval Code 34951, you are here by conscripted into the UNSC special warfare unit, named SPARTAN-II…"
He turned towards the voice, a lady in white lab coat and with glasses was standing on the platform in the middle of the room.
"You have been called upon to serve, you will be trained and be the best we can make you, you will be the protectors of Earth and all its colonies…"
John looked at the lady puzzled, what was she talking about?
"This will be hard to understand, but you can't return to your parents. Your training begins tomorrow."
What, he couldn't go home? Why? That was all he thought as he was herded towards the exit.
Left in the empty room was Catherine Halsey and Izack Foret.
Both looking at the departing children, and both knowing that now there was no turning back.
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Ranma was moving slowly through the forest, clutching the deep wound on his chest.
The forest was quiet, no animals, no birds no wind, the only sound the crunching of the cold snow under his bare feet. He had woken up about an hour ago when he fell into a cold river.
He was only barely able crawl out of it and into the shore. He was in the middle of the forest, with wet clothes in the middle of the winter. He didn't know where he was but he was pretty sure it wasn't the forest he been in before.
There it was in the middle of the summer, but here it was snowing. He didn't know what would kill him first, the biting cold or the wounds. The night had already fallen and he began to think that it would be the first alternative. The wounds he could probably treat, but the cold was slowly numbing his body, making his movement sluggish.
He stumbled on a root hidden under the feet of snow, crashing into a pile of snow. He slowly turned, lying on his back he looked up at the stars. He was becoming sleepy, slowly closing his eyes. NO! Can't… give up… Mu…must… continue… only a little…more…His thoughts began to fad away, his mind disappearing away into the darkness. The cold of the snow began to fade away. NOOOO! CANT… GIVE… UP… He slowly began to stand up, and then one step at a time began to move through the forest. Each step was like a thousand knives on his bare feet. And after just fifty meters he fell to the ground and this time he wouldn't get up.
"Goddamned weather" the driver muttered as snow smacked against the windows of the truck. He looked at the back-view mirror and saw the five marines and three medics in the back compartment, and through the back window the lights of the truck behind him. This truck was part of a five vehicle convoy bringing some additional personnel to the Reach military Complex which was located in the middle of the Erandus mountain chain. They had been driving non-stop for over 8 hours. The driver silently cursed the weather. The personnel should have been sent with a ship, but the weather had made the flight impossible, the airstrip was full of snow. Instead the HQ had decided too send them with trucks. Five times they had been forced to dig trough snowdrifts.
"Goddamned weather" he muttered again. He took a look at his passenger.
In the passenger seat sat a man, maybe 40 years with grey strands of hair around his temple. His nametag identified him as M.Chief Mendez.
The last eight years Mendez had spent fighting the Covenant on many different worlds earning a reputation for being one of the best. After almost twenty years of active duty his dress-uniform was filled with campaign-ribbons and medals. His new mission was to work as a Drill Instructor to the SPARTAN-II. He should have been there yesterday but the weather had stopped him.
The snowing then began to increase, and the roar of the engines was drowned out from the howl of the wind. As they rounded a corner the driver saw something lying on the road and hit the break. The truck stopped and the driver and Mendez steeped out of the truck.
They ran over to the bundle that lied in the middle of the road and saw that it was a child, maybe 5 or 6. At first they thought that he was dead, because he was cold as ice and his body had a white almost blue tone to it, but when a small almost nonexistent breath escaped the boy, the driver called into his microphone built into his helmet.
"MEDIC, GET A MEDIC OUT HERE IMMEDIATELY"
The back hatch of the truck opened and three people jumped out and ran up to them. The medics slowly lifted up the boy on a stretcher and the covered him in blankets. Mendez saw the tracks of the boy lead into the forest.
He then ran to the second truck and opened the back hatch.
"Why have we stopped" The sergeant in charge of a group of five marines asked.
"There was a boy lying on the road, half frozen to death. He didn't have any winter-gear, just a thin shirt, pants and no shoes, so he couldn't have walked far. I want you and your men to follow the tracks and see where the boy came from, maybe there are others that need help."
"Sir yes sir!" The sergeant replied.
"You heard the man, now get moving Marines. MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"
Mendez walked back to the first truck and jumped in the back-compartment. The medics where busy treating the boy. He heard as the engines of the truck started and felt as the vehicle began to move.
"How is the boy" Mendez asked
One of the medics walked over to where Mendez sat.
"Bad, real bad. The boy is severely under cooled. A couple of more minutes out in the cold and he would have died. We aren't sure if he will make it"
"Take of his clothes, they are wet and cold" One of the other medics said.
As they got his shirt of, the face of one of the medics paled and he said almost in a whisper.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to him?"
Mendez and the medic next to him walked over and looked down at the boy. He had seen many injuries in his life, plasma burns, shrapnel wounds and shot wounds, but never ever had he seen anything like this. The chest and arms of the boy was full of deep gashes and hundreds of small cuts, all bleeding. It looked like someone had taken a scalpel and then went amok and attacked the boy. Apart from his face he couldn't see much skin, only bloody pieces of flesh. It looked like someone skinned him alive.
"Biofoam, I need biofoam now." One medic said
The medics then began from the head and down towards the chest. The filled his wound with the regenerative/anti-infection/wound-sealing-biofoam. They had used a lot of biofoam when they where done.
"I need one bag of medical blood" The medic said again.
The blood was to compensating for all blood he lost from his wounds. They had him connected to a Health Stat Monitor (HSM) monitoring his pulse, blood pressure and other vital signs.
"His pulse is very weak and irregular, don't know if he will make it"
Mendez climbed to the passenger seat besides the driver.
"How's the kid" the driver asked.
"Bad, we need to get him to a real hospital fast"
"We will arrive at the military base in about 50 minutes." The driver said and then shifted to a higher gear and then began to increase the speed.
"We are losing him" one of the medics said as he ran over to the boy.
As the medic said those words all hell broke lose in the cabin. The three medics began to give him drugs to stimulate his heart.
"Vitals are dropping, get me the electric pads FAST"
One of the medics ran over to one of metal containers and opened it and pulled out a small generator and two metal disks attached with a cable. He then placed the generator next to the boy.
"No pulse, CLEAR"
The medic placed one of the disks over the heart and the other under his left armpit. There was a loud Thounk as the electricity went right into the boy. The HSM piped once and then went dead again.
"CLEAR"
The HSM went up and then flat lined again.
"CLEAR"
The same effect again.
"CLEAR"
Nothing.
After five minutes and no response from the boy.
"He is dead, we lost him. There is nothing we can do" Mendez said to the medic who sighed and shock his head affirmative.
Mendez walked over to the boy and looked down on him, ice-blue eyes stared back at him, devoid of any form of life, eyes that pierced to his soul, eyes that displayed pain, fatigue and most of all determination. The eyes of a soldier he thought and with one motion closed the boys' eyes. He had done that, closed the eyes of the dead, more times than he could or wanted too count, but closing the eyes of this boy really shock him to the core.
"Time of death, 18.45" One of the medics said in a low voice.
Twenty minutes away from the base, twenty minutes Mendez thought.
Mendez then took a blanket and covered the face and body of the dead boy.
John stood in a line, waiting. Waiting for what, he didn't know, they hadn't told them. He looked behind him, maybe sixty or seventy other children stood there, also waiting for their turn. He looked forward, three more people before him. There was a nurse standing before the door to the next room.
"Name" the nurse asked.
"Jack" the boy replied.
The nurse then wrote the name Jack on the small nametag where the number 114 also was shown.
A green light over the door flashed and then the door opened. The boy Jack entered and the door closed.
"Name" " the nurse asked again.
"Johanna" the girl replied.
A nametag with her name and the number 115, a green flash, the door opened.
"Name"
"Lisa"
Nametag, 116, green flash, open door.
John swallowed and then steeped forward. He looked up at the nurse
"Na…"
"Sorry, coming through"
John looked back and saw three men coming down the corridor, two carrying a stretcher and the third was walking and making a way for the two men carrying the stretcher. The man walked up to the nurse.
"Name, Rank, and reason for visit"
"Mendez, Master Chief…" the man then looked at the children and then said
"We are going to deliver that" He said and pointed towards the stretcher covered by a grey military blanket."
The nurse nodded and then opened the door. The three men walked in through the door and then it closed.
Inside Mendez saw two persons, the first was a man in his later seventies and the other person he recognised, it was Catherine Halsey.
She turned towards him.
"Chief Mendez, good to see you" she said.
"Good evening ma´am"
"What can I do for you?"
His face was grim as he turned towards the stretcher and pointed at it. She looked at the stretcher and then both she and the old man walked over to it.
"It isn't a pretty sight" One of the medics said.
Dr. Halsey removed the blanket and looked down at the pale face of an Asian boy, maybe five or six years old.
"What happened?" She asked and looked down and saw the cuts and scratches covering the boys' chest and arms.
"We found him on the road on our way here, he only had a thin shirt and pants on. I sent away a team of Marines to follow the boys' tracks back, he couldn't have walked far in this weather. The Marines followed the tracks for over five kilometres and they ended at a river where the boy must have come ashore."
"Five kilometres? With these wounds and wet clothes in this weather? He wouldn't have survived fifteen minutes."
"I know, this boy must have been really stubborn to make it that far"
"You don't understand, with these wounds he would have bled to death in less then fifteen minutes"
"Well the marines used GPS an it told them it was five kilometres."
"And the cold, nobody can survive in wet clothes for more then fifteen- twenty minutes."
"Well he walked five kilometres with these wounds and these clothes, that's how we found him. We tried to treat him but we didn't have the right gear to treat heavy wounds"
"Wait… you mean he was alive when you found him?"
"Yes, he died about thirty minutes ago"
"Impossible" She muttered to herself.
"Put him in the scan so we could se who he is" The older man said
The medics did as they where told and placed the body into a tube like scan, and then they left the room.
"Begin the scan for a PIC (Personal Identification Chip)"
Catherine began to type in commands on the scans keyboard. Then a sensor swept from the top to the bottom.
NO PIC detected The robotic voice said as it finished the scan.
"What? No PIC? I thought every UNSC citizen got one at birth" And it was the truth, every person got the chip implanted at birth so police or medical personnel quickly cold determine who you are.
"Make a DNA scan"
No match found The computer replied.
That was impossible, even if the boy was born outside of UNSC territory and without a PIC a DNA match was always found. In the beginning of colonisation all colonist had to leave DNA-sample. If the boy wasn't charted on the DNA-map then at least his ancestors should be. That he wasn't in the register meant that that he didn't have any family. This boy shouldn't exist.
Dr. Halsey began to type in the command to do a full medical scan.
Scanning
Scan complete
She then put up the information on the main screen so that everyone could see it.
Status: Dead
Sex: Male
Subjects' age: 5 years
Height: 4, 2 feet
Weight: 21 kilo
Cause of death: Massive blood-loss caused by major damage to the chest, shoulders, upper arms, and back, together with extreme decrease of body temperature.
Superficial Body analysis: Legs and abdomen has sustained minor damage. Chest has received lethal damage. Arms have received major damage. Head has sustained minor damage. Back has sustained lethal damage
Internal Body analysis: Legs and abdomen, no damage. Chest has sustained minor damage. Arms, no damage. Head, no damage. Back has sustained minor damage.
No damage to internal organs. The necrosis on subjects' body hasn't begun yet.
Neurological activity: Scanners indicate weak neurological activity. No necrosis.
DNA-scan complete.
DNA compatible with SPARTAN-II to 97, 9 percent.
She looked at the screen then did another DNA-scan and then another. These numbers where correct. She then turned to the Chief.
"Would you please leave, Chief Mendez"
"Yes ma´am "He gave her a crisp salute and then left the room.
She looked at Mendez as he left and then turned towards Izack.
"97, 7 match is incredible, it's the highest number yet"
"Yes I know… Do you think we should try it? He is dead so it shouldn't be any problem with the first part of stage one."
"Yes, he would die of the wounds if we would try regenerate him as he is"
"The first stage would give him the regenerative abilities he needs to survive."
"Do you think he would fit? Does he have the guts and will to be a Spartan?"
"He walked five kilometres with these wounds in wet clothes in a blizzard, he must be strong enough"
"This wouldn't work if he didn't have any neurological activity."
"Yes, I know. He is the perfect candidate."
"Give him the shot and let's put him in the regeneration-tank."
She then proceeded to write on a stick-it note and then placed it on the tank.
Name: unknown
Spartan-117
Authors Notes
Okay, this chapter became a little longer then expected, so the Spartan training isn't in this chapter. Sorry.
Ok, i know that im not following the Halo story, that dates, events and characters are all wrong. Thats because im only following the story losly. Blame writers freedom. So on with the questions.
Now this is a question i have waited for and I thought it would come a lot earlier.
Q: So why couldn't the forerunner stop the flood?
A: The forerunner had godlike powers, yes. Immortality, yes. Science billions of years more advanced then our own, yes. But they weren't perfect. They didn't suspect that their own children would turn against them.
Another fact was that the forerunner didn't have any real kind of military or weapons that could fight the flood. The reason was that they didn't need it they where, besides from their children, the only beings in the universe, so who where their too fight?
Q: And why didn't they use their science to cure themselves from the flood virus?
A: Simple, they didn't have the time. They lived for million of years, to them one year and one thousand years wasn't so much different. Like a second and minute to us. The flood outbreak was perhaps ten-twenty years from beginning to the end. And they just wasn't fast enough to develop a cure, or launch an effective counter-offensiv.
For example, the building of the first gateways was in the theoretical stage for a couple of hundred MILLION years. That was the reason the had so advanced technologi, they had the time to modify it, and trying to find a cure in less then 20 years put them in a fight against the clock. Another reason is that the flood was a virus based on their own DNA, making it impossible for their own immune systems to fight it, and making ki usage completely useless.
The forerunner built the Halo as a last solution to stop the flood.
The cure was finished a little after the last Halo was completed, and by this time only a few worlds was left. The flood ignored those worlds, because the only life was some basic bacteria. The forerunner gave the orders to fire the halos to stop the flood once and for all.
Q: How is it that they could build the Halos in a shorter amount of time than it took to find a cure?
A: To put it simple, the Halo is a really, REALLY big gun, with a HUGE blast-radius, and quite easy to build. Its principle is easy, generate huge amounts of energy and let it lose all at once, killing every living thing in a huge radius around the weapon.
The search for a cure on the other hand was making the smartest of the forerunner screaming in pure irritation. The virus was always changing, and the vaccine against the flood virus must be able to resist the new forms as they turned up, making it harder for the forerunner to make it.
Any questions? Just ask them and i will answer.
Review please
Big thanks to Madrikor for pre-reading this.
