The end of an era
Chapter 3
Joe stared at the Colonel, only now did he realize it was actually Colonel Ackerson. He was known for his not so secret projects that were supposed to save humanity. Joe could see the shock of the ODSTs through their visors. No one flinched. Joe was actually going to turn into a super soldier like the Master Chief Spartan-117.
Finally, Ackerson broke the silence. "You will all be sent to a top-secret ONI facility, your drop ships are fueled and ready to go. I want all of you in the Landing Bay 60 seconds ago." "Haul ass to the Landing Bay troopers," an ODST sergeant shouted. Though the others had not yet recovered from the shock, they complied.
In the Landing Bay, two D77-TC Pelicans waited for them. The marine and ODSTs loaded up and the Pelicans left. Joe stared at the ODSTs as the Pelican entered Earth's atmosphere. Joe stared out of the port window and saw their destination, High COM Facility Bravo-6.
It was a massive structure. Machine Gun emplacements studded the perimeter and Thick slabs of Titanium-A and rock covered the main facility underground. The main facility nicknamed the Hive, was three-kilometers below the surface and reinforced with massive blast plating, anti-EMP armor, and three-kilometers of solid rock.
Small little figures that were marines scrambled all around the structure. The scale of the High COM Facility Bravo-6 was so huge that it could be seen even from the Pelican's great height. M808B Scorpion MBTs littered the entire ground; there must have been hundreds of them that were deployed. The pelican finally came to rest on an Instacrete landing platform.
The ODSTs got out and Joe followed suit. There were dozens of Field Medical tents and soldiers carried the wounded on stretchers. A marine led them to a 1 metre-thick blast door and opened it by sliding his card across the scanner. The door slid close after they passed through it. The marine led them to some sort of medical room and then left.
"Ahh… the Spartan-111s…Come here all of you…...lie down on the bed." The Doctor, Jenkins, said. The doctor and her assistant administered anesthetics to the soldiers sending them into deep sleep.
3 days later
Joe woke up abruptly. He felt his body spasm as he got used to his new body. "Doctor, this one is awake!" an assistant spoke excitedly. "This one will do great things in future..." The Jenkins spoke. Joe let his sleep carry him away and lapsed once again into deep sleep.
1 day later
Joe woke up and rubbed his eyes. He no longer felt weird in his newly modified body. He flexed his muscles, enjoying his newfound strength. Joe looked around and found that only 8 of the 20 ODSTs he came with were in the room. He assumed the others were dead. "Hello Joe. You will accomplish great things in future. But for now, you must rest." Joe closed his eyes and fell asleep for the second time.
"Doctor, we have checked him. His body is functioning properly, in fact, he's the healthiest among the group." Whispered an assistant, in front of Joe's bed. "O, he'll turn out as a great warrior, I have checked Halsey's medical logs and none of the first generation Spartans was as fit as this tough bloke over here, I would have made him an ODST if I were an ONI officer. " spoke Jenkins softly, barely audible.
2 days later
Joe had begun his training with the other ODST. He felt much stronger now and according to Jenkins, the survivors of the "treatment" were stronger than the Spartan-11s. Theoretically, Joe could lift a M808B Scorpion MBT without much trouble though he had yet to try that. CPO Mendez, the trainer of the old Spartans, who put them on a strict training regime, was training the new Spartans.
They were having a HELL of a time. Their typical "normal" day went like this. They would wake up at 5:30am, and then have breakfast at 5:40am. After breakfast they would go on 10km runs around the facility, once they were winded they stopped and went to the obstacle course. They would then go to the firing range to shoot some paper targets. It was the same old monotonous routine for everyday.
3 months later
Giant muscle bulged out of his big strong arms. Joe was ready for combat as were the others. It was the end of their training and they would finally get to see some action. The day where they would be presented with their armor had come. Joe waited anxiously in the headquarters of ONI. Joe and his squad-mates walked into the armory, fists clenched in excitement. His stomach churned with every step he took.
The Spartan armor that was in front of him was extremely different from what he had though it would be. "Spartans lets get you in your new armor, "the scientist bellowed pointing to 9 suits of black armor.
The armor was a marvelous thing. "Come; come ill show you your new armor." The armor was Jet-black in color and was fully sealed. The armor was code-named, MJONIR-X and was extremely light. Its design was very different from the original, bulky MJONIR armor. It was sleep with smooth curves.
"Marvelous? Isn't it? It has a shield that withstand 10 Fuel Rod Cannon rounds or 10 rockets before overloading, it can take a lot of punishment and will not overload even after 4 swipes with the Plasma Sword. The main body of the armor is made of an alloy called Vergium and is 1000 times tougher than diamond. It is also extremely dense and light. The armor also enhances your reflexes by 48 times and your speed by 80km/h. This suit is meant for stealth and speed rather than for conventional combat and has a camouflage drive that can keep you camouflaged for an infinite amount of time."
"There is one more point to be noted, it comes with a Smart A.I that will not "die"." Muttered the scientist.
Joe stood in awe. "What are all waiting for? Go put it on!" spat the scientist. Joe stood in front of the suit and waited for the ONI technicians to finish putting the armor on him. Joe watched the armor being put on bit by bit noticing the contours of the suit. It fit him perfectly! Joe looked up and saw himself staring into a HUD. It contained all sort of useful information.
Joe marveled at the number of sensors he had. The suit had infrared sensors, motion sensors, altitude sensor, air sensor, temperature sensor and dozens more. "Hello!" sounded a voice that came from a corner of the Helmet.
"Nice suit eh…" a quirky voice said. " Hi I'm Coralla, Cortana; A.I of the Spartan-117 is my sister." Joe enjoyed the brief introduction and felt that the A.I was more important than any part of the armor as two brains were better than one.
Joe spoke softly as he walked along the dull grey Titanium-A corridors leading to the briefing room. Soon, he arrived at the briefing room. It had a 2-metre thick bulkhead door and was clearly for high-ranking officers to plan battles. Joe stepped in.
"Spartan!" a certain Major General Nicolas Strauss snapped. "Sir!" Joe said, saluting the General." At ease, Spartan. I've a mission for you." Handing Joe a badge with a UNSC Insigne. Joe realized he had just been promoted to Lieutenant Corporal, commander of the Spartans. "Now about the mission, you and your team will infiltrate a covenant frigate in the Epsilon Eridani system. Your mission is the same as the first Spartans, find out the Elite home world's coordinates, plant a NOVA nuke on it and get the hell out of there. The super-carrier Trafalgar will escort you and your team there. Your pelican will on the landing pad fueled and ready to leave, go and may god bless you." "Yes Sir!" Joe said.
Joe could barely contain his excitement. He was finally going to be able to test his suit out. Coralla could not help but noticed his slowly but steadily increasing heart beat rate. "Nervous eh….."Said Coralla as he "jogged" to the landing pad with his team. Joe just could not stop feeling edgy as he and his team drew inexorably closer to danger. He wondered how Fred was.
To his surprise, Fred was standing on the instacrete-landing pad, smiling as Joe approached it. "Hey Joe, heard you became a Spartan eh…..I'm coming along with you, to guard your clumsy ass." Fred
1990 hours, Super-Carrier Trafalgar, Epsilon Eridani system, 6 January (Military Calendar)\
Joe looked out the window, outside was the nothingness of space, stars glittered all around him. "Joe, time to go," Fred said softly tapping Joe on the shoulder. "We're there aren't we?
"We are let's go gear up before Strauss screams at us."
Joe strode into the carrier's landing bay; dozens of mechanics were repairing Longsword fighters and Pelicans, his team spread out behind him. They were armed to the teeth and had the new Metal-Storm cannons that could shoot one million bullets per minute and the firing rate was so fast that it would seem that it was shooting water unless you had enhanced vision.
Joe gripped the handhold of the Pelican tightly. His team members did the same. The Pelican levitated above the Titanium-A floor of the landing bay, tilted towards the exit and soared off into space.
Almost immediately, two Longsword interceptors flew out of the landing bay escorting the Pelican by its wings. Joe checked his bio-monitor at the top of his left hand HUD. The Spartans' heart rate, though it was their first mission together, was stable but the pilot, Major Tifton's heart rate was shooting like an assault rifle.
"Hold on! We're docking!" said Tifton.
The Trafalgar warped out of the system back to Earth but not before shooting a MAC round at the Covenant frigate to take out its shields. Now that the Covenant had found Earth, the Cole Protocol did not apply anymore. The Pelican docked in the landing bay of the Covenant only to find an entrenched enemy. There were Hundreds of brutes, Jackals and Drones but the usual complement of Elites, Grunts and Hunters were nowhere to be found.
"Go Go Go!" Joe screamed at the top of his lungs as they piled out of the Pelicans.
Joe and his team took cover behind a Covenant weaponry crate. It was bristling with weaponry." Show these bastards our shit!" Joe yelled over the COM. The Spartans unleashed the bullets they had tearing the entire Covenant to shred. Joe had battle lust and did not stop despite the pain of the Plasma bolts zinging paste him and some hitting him. Even the barricades made of the extremely strong Alien Metal could not withstand the sheer power of a Million armor-piercing bullets. "Conserve ammo team!" Joe said.
It was hard to conserve ammo when your gun shot a million rounds per minute. Joe checked his ammo counter and it read 8750000. The rest of his team also had similar figures. "It uses a lot of ammo eh?" "Joe, put me on that pedestal over there. I'll get you the ship's Schematics." Coralla said as a NAV marker appeared on Joe's HUD.
Joe strode over to the pedestal and removed the crystal data chip from the slot on his helmet. Almost instantly, A Holographic figure appeared, its body made of code. "I've uploaded the topography of the area, Joe I suggest you split your team into two, one to clear the ship and the other to take the bridge."
Joe did that. He was to lead the bridge clearance and Fred the other. "Fred, you're team gamma and I'm Alpha. You are to clear the ship and I'll clear the bridge, inform me of new developments via COM, good luck and may god speed your return."