Ilana sat cross-legged on a couch in the observation deck. She stared at millions of holo screens per minute trying to find something, searching for something that was just right. "There!" She yelled to herself as she stopped on one screen. The view was of a planet. Type K-6, habitable, no natives, 1.0 Earth gravities, two moons, two suns, nominal temperature. The planet, named Asmos by Humans and something that really sounded like multiple warbles and hoots for the covenant, was quite lovely. It was fully terraformed, meaning that it was in all honesty an Earth, before humans did anything. Ilana deleted all other screens except for one other, which was tracking signals and communications from planets known to have Forerunner outposts and bases. She continued to watch the planet, however, and zoomed in. She had sent nine probes to the planet to scan and verify a specific spot, which happened to be under an Aberon Tree. The tree looked similar to an old oak, but six times larger, and had bulbous blue fruit growing near its leaves. From her scans, the fruit seemed incapable of being ingested by humans or covenant alike, unless they wanted to gain a serious case of constipation.
Ilana zoomed in some more and saw that the tree was near a cliff area, overlooking a beach near the northeastern coast of the third eastern continent. Short grass that had similar genetic make up to what humans called "Kentucky Blue" surrounded the tree. Lush greenery was everywhere, due in fact to the place being in its third spring of the year. Perfect place for a picnic Ilana mumbled to herself. She had been reading the romance stories that the humans had created, although most of them had been centered around sexual maneuvers. She seemed confused in some ways as how a woman could fall so easily for these masculine men, seeing as how by the information given, most were controlling bastards who seemed to have an overactive libido and did not have enough blood reaching their brains to do anything productive with their lives aside from be farmhands or gardeners. The woman on the other hand seemed to be successful lawyers or corporation owners. She would have to ask a few questions from Garrett later involving these things.
Ilana realized at that moment what her first questions needed to be. She started daydreaming about her asking him to go with her for a picnic, and he would accept, and she would wear a yellow pokadot dress and strap sandals and a sun hat, and their eyes would meet while eating and… She started to giggle profusely and hugging herself. She wondered if Garrett was thinking similar thoughts…
MEANWHILE>
Damnit… Damnit… No… Where does this wire go… AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL WOULD HELP GOD! Garrett played with the innards of a Pelican brought aboard. The thing was a mess: plasma scarring, bullet holes from stray rounds, burn marks from reentry, and parts of the left wing's two thrusters were missing. Jack sat nearby, popping open containers that were aboard the small craft. Apparently, after being brought onboard and basically accepted as no threat, having found similar medical evidence to another soldier having a similar incident happen to them, he was allowed to move about on his own accord. Ilana still wouldn't let him near her however. "What the hell is that smell?" Garrett asked and looked up at Jack.
Apparently, the smell was coming from the box Jack had just pried open. "Like rotten eggs… Jesus… That ain't natural…" Garrett covered his face and coughed. "Close it up! Close it up!" He yelled under coughs and choking. Jack closed the container and sneezed. "Were those supposed to be MREs?" He asked. "You mean Meals Rejected by Everybody?" Garrett said, his eyes watering. Jack rubbed his eyes from the fumes. "That I'm guessing goes in the trash pile doesn't it?" Jack asked, and Garrett rapidly nodded his head up and down. Jack picked the box up and threw it out into the large pile nearby, seven times larger than the useful pile. "Does plasma do that to all human foods?" Maya asked. "Not to my knowledge. I've never even seen plasma do anything to any item, aside from melting it" Jack said. Maya sat in the cockpit checking panels. "Again, why do you want this thing fixed up? Hardly worth the effort to use something as primitive as this for transport. Just keep using the corvette that Ilana ferries you around in" Maya said as she flicked a few switches to find that two of them would come off in her hand. Garrett jumped back from a spark in the wires. "We need this to get by patrols on human occupied planets, and what better way then to go in with a Pelican? Besides… Ilana won't let me drive the corvette…" Garrett mumbled. Maya stifled a laugh. "Your manliness is being stomped on by not letting you drive?" Maya chuckled. "IT'S NOT THAT! I just don't like leaving my life up to any flight jockeys… even if it is Ilana." "Amen to that brother" Jack said as he opened a weapons locker and the contents of junk spilled out. Garrett smacked his hand over his face. "I'm never getting this bucket to fly…" He groaned and shook his head slowly. "My words exactly" Maya said. Garrett and Jack in unison grumbled "Shut up" and stopped what they were doing.
Garrett got up and slowly walked out of the docking room. He had spent the past sixteen hours cleaning the inside of the Pelican and now he had one thing on his mind… beer, and perhaps food to go with the beer, and then immediate unconsciousness from exhaustion. He rubbed his eyes and closed the door behind him to have both Jack and Maya walk into it. "Sorry" he mumbled as the door opened again. "I guess everyone's gotta sleep sooner or later" Jack said. "Hey, how come you rarely sleep?" Garrett asked Maya as he headed for the nearest mess hall. "My kind can go for six days without sleep, then we have to rest." Jack giggled. "And on the seventh day, god invented the bed, and everyone hibernated… which is what I'm going to do…" he giggled as he headed down another hallway. Garrett didn't even answer to the joke, just kept walking and finally reached a door with the words in Forerunner. Before they could alter to English, he walked in and headed for the opening in the wall. He checked his movementwhen his body decided suddenly that an emergencyharddroptoa sleeping area would be appreciated,and instead walked right over to the couch closest to him. He aimed, missed, and crashed right into the ground, fast asleep.
Garrett awoke to something poking him in the arm. He threw a punch, hit the target with lightning speed, and went back to sleep.
Thirty minutes later>
Garrett awoke to find a bewildered Jack, now nearby a collapsed table holding his jaw. "What the hell happened to you?" Garrett asked. "You don't remember?" Jack mumbled. "Remember what?" "You hit me." Garrett blinked at Jack. "No I didn't" He said. "Yes you did" Jack nodded. "No, I didn't… did I?" Jack nodded again. "Were you the one poking me?" Garrett meekly asked. Jack nodded again. "Whoopsie" he said, then got up. His right cheek seemed to have the imprint of the carpeting he laid on. "Maya's got some info for us. We need to head to the lab pronto." "Food first?" Garrett asked. Jack shook his head. "Crap. (mumbling incoherent insults)"
Garrett and Jack walked into the lab and Maya sat down at a station. "As you are well aware we are trying to stop the factions of Earth's government from gaining any new forerunner technology. From what I've been checking, we've succeeded. The one thing we haven't been able to figure out is why they are so interested in the lost outposts so much now, and as well as the flood." Garrett decided to take a seat, thinking that this would take awhile. Jack jumped up on a tech bed and realized all the sharp objects nearby him were for dissection, so he jumped off and took another seat. "Power hungry warmongers. They want advantages over the rest. Nothing new" Garrett said. "Not really. Do you realize the reason for excavating New Reach's outpost was not just for technology or archeology? The other reason was something else. Your squad, Lieutenant, was that reason." Jack scratched his head. "Come again? Why? For what?" He asked. "They were using you to get infested by the flood. They would dissect you and research the parts, and make a potential new weapon. Something on par with the Spartans."
Jack 's eyes bugged. "We were guinea pigs?!" He gritted his teeth. "Almost. None of the flood combat forms were recovered, as an FAE was launched into the tunnels to stop the onslaught. Still, this is troubling and it will probably happen again. The second reason for starting this infestation is a little more troubling however…" Maya hesitated. "How troubling?" Garrett asked. "Do you really want to know?" Maya whispered. Both of the men nodded. She sighed, then turned back around and pressed a few keys on a holo screen. "Halo. A research platform, home to live on, as well as a weapon. That is what they want to have." Both of the men were silent. "I get it. They'll send in their own modified troops to take control of the rings, then use them as trump cards. The altered troops wouldn't be able to be infested as they were already infested before. But what use would a halo be? It destroys ALL life in the galaxy, not just on a planetary scale. They'd be killing themselves" Jack said. "Not necessarily. The information a specific A.I. Brought back after one of the halos were destroyed has allowed their researchers to try and create a way to specialize the weapons on the ring world to hit pin point targets. The research is currently being applied on four planets, which Ilana and I have not been able to gain information on. We can't seem to download the data as they have some odd two hundred special ops A.I.s keeping any external sources out. One A.I. Is no problem against Ilana, but two hundred is difficult even for her. They are under heavy guard, and with…" Maya couldn't finish her sentence before Garrett and Jack walked out. "Where are you going?" Maya asked to the backs of the two men as they exited the room. Neither answered. She hated being ignored, so she followed. They walked toward an armory that was altered with UNSC weapons and covenant alike.
Garrett and Jack started to suit up in black ODST combat suits and weapons. "What are you guys thinking of?" Maya asked eyes wide. "Infiltrate those planets, steal or destroy the research, and kill the research specialists." Maya's eyes widened even further and she gawked. "You're not serious?" She asked. Jack threw a satchel of pineapple grenades to Garrett as he picked up a BR55 Battle Rifle. He was still used to the old MA5Bs, but these were more accurate with three round bursts, and the SMGs cover the bullet hosing. He packed a couple of the old "pod" grenades as well because of the concussive effect they had over the new pineapples. "Garrett, pass me the charge packs for the BR55P" Jack asked and Garrett chucked them over. The BR55P was a prototype hybrid between the Battle Rifle and a Plasma Rifle. It fired superheated tungsten rounds with a rail effect to pack the plasma into a magnetic field around the bullets. They didn't fire any faster due to the plasma surrounded the bullet, but they were effective against shields as well as flesh.
"Why aren't you using the battle frame? Wouldn't it be easier?" Maya asked. "Hallways are too small. Besides, if they saw me coming, they'd download all the information they had into multiple portable mainframes and evacuate the scientists. Mission failure" Garrett said as he strapped a Jackal shield to his arm and attached three other items: An Elite's energy shield, an active camouflage, and an electro magnetic reflection device that lasted for five seconds. The jackal's shield was for keeping them alive in a firefight, and the elite's shield was the same. The camouflage was for keeping them undetected, although they'd shrug them off if the enemy started using IR goggles. The new reflection device actually sent a magnetic field around the wearer, allowing bullets and other ammunition sent at them to hit the field and reflect in a random direction. Since it only lasted five seconds, this was meant for running between cover or when you were caught off guard and needed to retreat to said cover. It recharged, however, so it was still quite useful. The entire object of the mission was to not get into a firefight, so all of the extras were for added precautions. Garrett put his black baseball cap on with a sage green raven on it, and Jack tied back a black bandana. "Ilana. We have repair mechs near the Pelican right?" Garrett asked over the com. "Huh? What? Oh… yes, we do… but why do you need them? Why not…" Garrett cut her off. "Get them working on the Pelican ASAP. I need that thing notorized and motorized in one hour. Alright?" Ilana hesitated. "Alright. But what are you going to do?" Garrett checked the HUD on his Rifle, then checked his M6CP in the holster, and finally the SMG he had clipped to his vest. His combat knife was strapped to his right leg, and an M90 was slung over his backpack. Jack looked similar, although his rifle wasequipped with a grenade launcher underslung, and a sniper rifle strapped to his back. "Hopefully… we'll stop a major shift in the balance of power… and a very big mistake…"
(So Jack is a comrade now, and I had him in my head long before Garrett was in the story. The reflection thingy I got from Metal Gear Solid 2, but it just seemed too powerful to ignore all attacks without running out of juice in such a small package. I'd rather it be at least somewhat realistic I know it isn't THAT realistic in terms of such a small package doing that for a large mass, but it still works. OH! And one more thing. For all those people who think Ilana is just some shy A.I. Who is in love who can't do much aside from fly the ship and ferry Garrett around, you are in for an interesting surprise!")