Chapter 7: Mark VII

"Spartan Oh-Four-Three, Lord Krakeur has requested your presence in his quarters immediately." The voice over the intercom startled Will and he quickly sat up in his bed. He looked over at Linda who was wide awake in the other bunk.
"What's so important at this time in the morning?" she asked.
"Not sure, but I'll know soon enough." Will got out of his bed and put on a pair of grey and black nylons before leaving the room. Only a few lights were on in the hallways and other than two sleepy eyed techs changing shifts, he didn't encounter anyone. It took about ten minutes to make it to the Lord's quarters and he was brought in almost immediately. Krakeur was standing around a large holotank in the center of his room, ornately disguised with rich wood and polished brass. Three other officers were sitting at couches with holopads and piles of empty coffee cups. Will saluted stiffly and waited for the Lord and other officers to acknowledge his presence.
"At ease, please come over here, I need to talk with you."
"Yes sir," he replied and followed Krakeur as he walked to his desk and sat down behind it. He smoothly motioned for Will to sit down and the Spartan obeyed, sliding into the plush black leather chair.
"It seems that the war claimed one last group of casualties. There were two transports leaving TL-Eight-One, the final training facility for the Spartan-IIIs. A small Covenant assault group arrived there and was quickly wiped out, but they destroyed one of the transports. We originally were expecting about two hundred Spartan-IIIs, now we're down to a little under a hundred. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about though. With a new threat on the horizon and the fact that both sides are in no position to start a war, we've been turning towards keeping our military geniuses around until we need them. The UNSC is considering putting their best strategists into a cryogenic hibernation and they've also decided to do the same with the Spartans. But before they do, they want to give you the Mark VII armor in case you are thawed out and thrown into battle immediately." All of this hit Will at once and he vainly tried to process all of the information. He decided to start with the most pertinent thing first.
"The Mark VII? But aren't the Spartan-IIIs just using an upgraded version of the Mark VI?"
"Well yes, that's true, but we started development on the Mark VII almost immediately after the Mark VI was issued. It's a departure from the tech that we've used in previous iterations, that's for sure."
"This is a lot to try and sort through…"
"I understand, that's why I decided to tell you as soon as I got the news. The Spartan-IIIs are already at the cryo-center waiting for the four of you to meet up with them. A transport will be here around 0900 hours to pick you up and take you down to the surface."
"Thank-you sir," Will said as he said as stood up and saluted. The Spartan exited the room but paused and turned around. "May I ask a question?"
"Go ahead."

"Are you going too?" Krakeur looked down at his desk with a small smile across his face. Tapping his hand on the wood twice he looked back up.
"I've seen enough death for a million lifetimes. That's not to say I wouldn't like to come back and help defend our race, it's just…" he trailed off, shaking his head. What he was trying to say couldn't be put into words but Will understood this.
"Thank-you sir, I'll see you on the other side."
"I'll be waiting." As he left the room, he knew it would be the last time he saw the Lord.

"Come on, get up," Will said, pulling the blankets off of Linda. She squinted around the room a little before swinging her legs off the edge of the bunk and putting her bare feet on the metal flooring.
"What do you need?"
"Start getting your stuff together, I'll explain it in a minute." He pulled a single bag out from an otherwise empty shelf under his bunk and began grabbing different pairs of PT gear and BDUs that they would never use. "Brass has decided we're too valuable to just let rot away so they're taking all those personnel they deem indispensable and are putting them into a cryo-freeze until they're needed again. But that's not the most interesting thing, the Mark-VII armor is ready." It was rare for Will to show any kind of real emotion in his voice, not to mention excitement to the point where he was talking so fast it was almost impossible to keep up.
"What? Are you serious?"
"Would I lie about something like this?" She looked at his bright face.
"Oh my god…this is…wow."
"I know, I'm going to wake up Chris and Kat." He zipped up his half full bag before leaving their room and going across the hallway. Inside the dark room he pressed his hand on a soft blue panel and the lights flicked on. The two Spartans stirred but didn't try and fight the blinding light.
"Need something?" Chris asked sleepily.
"Get packed up, we're leaving in a few hours."
"Wha-?" he said but Will had already gone back to his room. He sat down onto his bunk, letting himself take everything in, or at least trying. Glancing over at a built in clock, he saw it read 0545.
"What do you expect us to do for three hours?" Linda asked.

Red flames roared around the Pelican as it dropped through the atmosphere. Shaking violently, the Spartans held on tight to the small handles placed around their seats and waited for the hell around them to disappear. Blue plasma burned around the windows before slowly dissipating and being replaced by white clouds of steam that billowed for hundreds of feet behind the red hot craft.
"That's always fun," Chris said sarcastically, popping his helmet off and looking out the window and at Australia steadily growing closer by the second. The wing of the Pelican dipped to the starboard and the land below them filled the entirety of the window while the other windows were filled with a deep blue. Down below, thick columns of smoke still rose up from what remained of Sydney's downtown.
"Damn…they must've had it hard down there…" Kat commented as she looked down at the scene below them. Their Pelican leveled out again and quickly descended down the UNSC's secure zone surrounding the monstrous complex of buildings. Piles of Human and Covenant wreckage were scattered around the landing zones in makeshift piles, some parts still smoldering. A few thick columns of acrid smoke rolled into the air lazily and putting a grey haze on everything. The four Spartans walked out of the Pelican with their gear on their backs and in their hands. Dried blood was pooled around the landing pad their were on although Marines about a hundred feet from them were spraying the concrete down to remove the evidence of their fallen comrades. One Marine came running over to them and saluted before grabbing his breath.
"Sirs, please follow me." He turned back around and the four Spartans followed after him quickly. Inside the building, some lights still hadn't been replaced while others flickered on and off, briefly illuminating the damaged hallways. A few engineers sat reconnecting conduits or shoring up sagging sections of the building but other than their intermittent appearances, no other personnel were visible. "I'm sorry about the mess; we've been trying to get the main sections up and running and haven't had time to work on the less important areas."
"Its fine," Will said quickly. The Marine looked back quickly before continuing forward. They arrived at a miraculously undamaged elevator after walking for a few more minutes.
"This is as far as I go, good luck," he said and left them as the heavy doors opened up. The four of them walked into the elevator and felt it sag down a little under their weight. There were no buttons inside and after a few seconds the doors closed automatically and it quickly descended. Lasting for only about ten seconds, the Spartans felt the elevator slow down before stopping completely. With the doors opening back up again, they exited out and were taken back by the sudden change in scenery. Instead of the dull grey metal that was the norm in UNSC hallways, this area was instead made of a self-illuminating white metal that, after staring at it for a while, seemed as if it moved like gentle wave. About fifty down from them, the hallway was bisected by another one where people moved quickly back and forth, none paying any attention to the Spartans…except for one person. Dressed in a full black set of scrubs complimented by a grey lab coat, the young doctor was radiant as he hurried towards them.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make it any sooner, slight delay with the group before you. I'm Dr. Lincoln, uh, shall we?" he asked, pointing behind him his thumb. The four Spartans started walking but he stayed in front of them. "We're going to first give you a chemical cocktail. Nothing more than some drugs to help keep your cells from being damaged during your 'stay'." They walked into the crowded hall and went past only three doors before swiping a card attached to his wrist in front of a small blue square. The door opened silently and they walked in. The room was a fairly large one with clusters of chairs all facing towards a large set of cabinets and refrigerators that covered the entire wall. Lincoln motioned to the first group of chairs and the Spartans sat down in them as he grabbed four vials of a milky liquid from a small freezer. Knowing the drill a million times, they all popped the small hatch on their right forearm that accessed the needle that would insert into their veins at the same time. He slid the needle into the receptor and squeezed the liquid into their bloodstream. The icy liquid shocked Will and he looked over at the doctor. "Sorry, it needs to stay cool until the last second," he said as he injected Linda with the cocktail. Finishing up Kat's dose they got up and left the room. "This is probably going to be the best part for you guys." Arriving at a set of double doors, he swiped his hard again and they opened much slower than the last one. Four dummies were positioned inside of the room in a small arc. "Meet the Mark VII armor."