-1After a good night's sleep and nothing hampering it like covenant, the Spartan and marine awoke, got ready for the day, and got loaded up on the pelican. They headed for the Resilience, one of the first heavy cruisers off the line with ablative heat resistant armor. The shielding systems used by the covenant require enormous amounts of power to keep functional, something the human ships as have yet to produce, so new types of armor were used in exchange. The shields could recharge, but the armor was quite a bit tougher than the shields could ever be, allowing a plasma torpedo barrage on the flanks and only leaving scorch marks. More than one barrage and things would probably start to break apart. It allowed the ship to at least stand toe to toe with one of the larger covenant ships and have a chance at winning.
However, this mission happened to be its maiden voyage. The ship was huge, although most of the space on the outer parts was used for the honey comb structuring and coolant systems for the armor, similar to the halcyon cruisers like the late Pillar of Autumn. Four Heavy MAC guns were mounted on the head of the monster, with a new weapon system running down the spine of the ship, an ion cannon. The ion cannon allowed the ship to drain the energy of the enemy's shields, allowing more conventional weapons to finish them off. However, this weapon required the ship to move at half speed, using three of the six engine cores to power the condensers of the weapon's compression system. The ship was also one of the first to be equipped with internal defense weapon systems. If a covenant boarding party wanted to say hello, all they have to do is waltz in and the AI controlled defense turrets and security droids would take care of it, although they still required assistance from live troops. The pelican dropped under the belly of the beast, easily passing by 50 laser and auto cannon turrets along the way. Garrett whistled. Whoever built this thing didn't want their baby to go down without a few covenant bastards going with her.
The pelican rose up as the pilot maneuvered the small craft into a docking bay. Clamps grappled onto the little ship as it moved along the corridor, allowing the pilot to stop doing his job and sit back. The clamps moved along rails toward a parking area, the rear doors closing and locking down. The pelican was landed safely on the ground; although it was more along the lines of the clamps disconnecting as the craft was two feet still off the ground and falling. The clang of the pelican landing and the jostling of the passengers told them they were aboard. The Spartan picked up his gear and walked off, Garrett following after. Marines were parking warthogs and ATVs all over the place as tanks rumbled by and put in cargo locks to keep them in place. "Welcome aboard sirs. I'm Sergeant Griswold, and I'm to escort you two to the bridge. If you'll walk this way…" a marine said as they walked toward the ramps.
They followed him up to an elevator shaft, got on board once a platform was there, and raised about six floors before getting off and moving toward a large door. The marine accessed security control through a terminal nearby and the door opened to reveal the bridge on the other side. They walked in, and Garrett looking around at everything. The bridge wasn't at all large, though it did have quite a lot more control stations and system activation pods in the walls than he was used to seeing. Probably for all the extra weaponry he thought. The most interesting thing he noticed was the bridge was inside the ship, similar to the covenant ships. It looks like we've learned He thought.
They walked towards the front and stood for a moment as the marine saluted to the two women standing there. "Ma'am, Ma'am, I've brought the two soldiers here as ordered." The Captain turned around as well as the other woman, and Garrett and the Major saluted. "At ease men. My name is Captain Wallis, and I believe one of you already know Dr. Halsey." Garrett barely broke into shock. This was Dr. Halsey? Garrett felt uneasy. He didn't expect one of the council members being here. She greeted the Spartan like an old friend, asking how he was and how things went down on the planet. He answered with a few short sentences, and then stood back.
She then walked up to Garrett and greeted him. He saluted her. "You don't have to do that for me Lieutenant, I'm a civilian. I don't have a rank." She smiled and put her hand out for him to shake. He lowered his hand from his head and looked uneasy. He didn't know what to do. He put his hand out and shook hers. She then lowered her hand and looked back at the Spartan. "The Major tells me you've been stationed at that base for about a year you say? And now you have this powered armor artifact found from a forerunner complex? I'd like to study it tomorrow." Garrett started to get slightly confused. "The complex or the armor ma'am?" he asked. "The complex, if possible. I know we are supposed to head to Earth, but that isn't for three days."
He sighed, and then told her about Auron engaging the big bang inside the base. She stood there, blinking at him. He thought she was annoyed at him. His back became even straighter, standing at attention even more. "We should talk about this in private." She motioned for both the Major and himself to go into a conference room with her to talk. He walked in, scared that he had said something wrong. It's the truth that the place was destroyed He thought.
"You said the complex was destroyed yes?" She asked. "Yes ma'am." "Then all of the other equipment was destroyed inside." Auron decided to talk at that moment. "Negative. There was no other functional equipment due to length of time without maintenance. All technology inside was either taken with occupants away or destroyed by time." Dr. Halsey became surprised. "Who was that?" She asked him. "I am A.D.N. Auron, the Special Operations Battle AI aboard the Battle Frame." She looked straight into Garrett's eyes. "You never said anything about having an AI with you." I didn't have a chance to tell you he thought. "ma'am, I have not had a chance to fill out a full report, as normally required. I apologize. I will do so…" but was cut off by her. "You will do no such thing. As of this moment, all information about you is considered classified. You are not to respond to anyone about what has happened to you except for me and the Major here. I'll have the captain relinquish you from marine duties. Consider yourself on something along the lines of shore leave until we get to Earth. Cortana will keep anyone from accessing any data on you." Cortana acknowledged, and Garrett nodded. "Now, I would like to know the story. How is it that you have this?" She asked. They all sat down, Dr. Halsey first getting three cups of coffee from a counter nearby and setting them on the table. "Well…"
5 HOURS LATER
Finally, Garrett finished. "So all you did was be nearby the container?" She asked. "Yes ma'am." She thought for a moment. "Major, have you encountered anything similar in the past?" The Major shook his head. "Well then, it seems the forerunners are capable of producing remarkable containment objects for these devices." Garrett piped up. "Actually ma'am, from what Auron told me, it was a prototype. I think that was the only one made." Auron acknowledged that.
"Battle Frame 0001, prototype powered armor used for heavy fire support and anti-ship support, armored support and complex defense, and…" Garrett cut him off as Dr. Halsey tried to stop him from talking. "You mean to tell me I'm capable of Anti-ship firepower?" Auron confirmed. "You said it yourself Lieutenant, that you fired a rifle capable of a small supernova. It probably was made for damaging or destroying ships." Garrett sighed. "I don't want this. Is it possible to remove it?" He asked, hopeful that someone would say yes. "I don't know enough about the internals to know where to begin, let alone take it off without removing your arm" Dr. Halsey said. "You are incapable of removing the armor unit. Your DNA has been programmed into the pilot control systems" Auron said. "Can't you get another pilot! And why was I programmed in! I was only nearby! And another thing: If I couldn't read the terminal nearby, then how is it that you speak our language?" Garrett yelled. Dr. Halsey told him to quiet down. "The frame was in start up phase two when you were nearby, and at that time a pilot is to be scanned in and verified. You were standing in the scanner area, therefore you were the pilot. That was chosen as the procedure by the creation team. As for language, you have a neural interface correct? I was capable of translating language control into what you humans call English."
Garrett tried to abject, but Dr Halsey cut in. "Who is the creation team? The forerunners? The people who made the Halos?" Auron was silent for a second, and then reported his information. "Unable to discern creators. Information matrices used for bioorganic verification has been erased, as well as matrices for production of armor. All other matrices seem to be functioning normally. Is there any other information you require?" Dr. Halsey sighed, bowed her head, and thought for a moment.
"Cortana, can you…" and Cortana shook her head. "Tried once and he blew me away. His security nodes and protection codes are incredible. I've never been stopped before, but there's a first time for everything" She said, folding her arms over her chest. Dr. Halsey's head was still bowed, and she breathed deep. "Alright… as of this moment, you are part of the SPARTAN II program and MJOLNIR project. What I said before about you being on temporary shore leave is still in effect. However, I need to study you more for any problems, anything that you haven't told me or don't know yourself. Tomorrow at 0900, meet me at practice room 2, both of you. I'd like to see a few things. I will see you then." Garrett stood up, saluted, remembered what she said, and nodded, then walked out the door. "Ma'am, permission to speak freely?" John asked. She let him. "Was it right to make him part of the SPARTAN program and MJOLNIR project?" She watched the door for a second before turning toward the green armored man. "John, I don't know what is right for that man. All I know is that if we don't do something, quite a few factions are going to be very interested in using him for their own gains. He'll be under your command after we get to Earth."
He acknowledged, and then saluted. "As I told him and you both, stop doing that. I'm just an old civilian." Old was not quite what she was. Captured covenant technology allowed her to revert some of the years on her, allowing her to be the age of 45 in terms of look and body. She still had a few gray hairs, but other than that she looked fairly striking. If continued, the treatments from the technology might push her down to 30 or maybe always 21. Immortality. This treatment was used on prophets, allowing them to live far longer than any other species in the covenant, giving them the impression that they had ascended, and therefore were higher than the rest. The one side effect is the UNKNOWN side effects the technology might have on Dr. Halsey. She had a check up every week for anything odd.
She pushed up her glasses as he left with Cortana's chip in his helmet, then pulled up some files on a computer and began working on them, mainly data on Lieutenant Garrett Gryphen and moving info around or deleting it.