Authors Note: This is my first attempt at writing a non-action related story. Instead, this is a story I came up with while I was replaying Halo 4's Spartan Ops. In this story Spartan Jackson and by extension fireteam storm, is in command of a science attaché. Full disclosure, this is my way of expressing distaste of certain characters personalities. This story is told from Spartan Frank Jackson's perspective, so the parts where it switches to Jul 'Mdama's or the captain and Palmer's perspectives have been left out. I also have split the story into sections where each episode's cutscene would start.

CODENAME: LASSIE'S CALL

ASSIGNED TO: FIRETEAM STORM

ASSIGNED BY: ADMIRAL OSMAN

ASSIGNMENT DATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2558

MISSION LOCATION: INF-101

MISSION GOAL:

Escort Dr. Catherine Halsey to the Infinity after an event with a forerunner artifact caused a temporary loss of power, along with the disappearance of the ship's Chief Engineer Dr. Glassman.

Chain of Command: During this mission Fireteam Storm may act at their own discretion, the only authority they will answer to is Commander Musa, Admiral Osman, and in cases of ship security and safety Captain Lasky. *Note: While aboard the Infinity, Storm will have contact with other spartans including Commander Palmer, however Storm does not have any authority over them, nor does Commander Palmer have authority over Storm.

Orders: Ensure the safety of the doctor and assist her and Infinity in finding a solution. No less than two members of Storm are to accompany the Dr. at all times. Do not interfere with her work unless it threatens the safety of the Infinity and her crew or ordered by Captain Lasky.

EXPECTED RESISTANCE:

NONE

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT:

ANY NECESSARY ASSETS

Mission Brief:

During an investigation of an artifact retrieved from the surface of Requiem, Infinity's Chief Engineer, Dr. Glassman interacted with the artifact. The artifact in turn 'grabbed' him and dissolved his body. The other scientists aboard Infinity theorize that it teleported him, however after the initial reaction Captain Lasky, ordered that no one else was to physically interact with the device. The captain then requested the assistance of Dr. Halsey in the matter. CINCONI granted the request, on the condition that specialized Spartan squad be assigned to guard and escort the doctor. Storm was assigned the job.

End of Briefing.

CATHERINE

The forward ramp of the Aladdin's loading bay lowered to reveal the inside of one of infinity's many hangar bays. A few feet from the edge of the ramp stood a group of three spartans and an officer. I recognized the female spartan as Commander Palmer and the officer as Captain Lasky, but the other two spartans were strangers. I walked down the ramp first followed by Speedy and Barnes, then the doctor, followed by Blitz and Faux. I gave a quick salute to the captain then turned to the loading officer and nodded. He turned and slapped a button and the ramp closed.

The captain spoke first, "Dr. Halsey, thank you for coming."

She held her arms up so he could see the binders on her wrists, "I'm not walking around the ship I built with my hands cuffed."

Lasky nodded to the spartan on his right and the spartan removed the restraints. The doctor turned to the captain, "Show me the artifact."

Lasky turned, sweeping his arm for her to follow and moved towards the tram station. Once we had boarded and were moving, I flipped on my team's private channel, "Alright Storm, we will go with the Doctor to investigate the artifact initially. After her assessment, I want Speedy and Barnes to 'make camp' while Faux, Blitz and myself stay with Halsey. Once we get settled, we will switch up watches. Ok?"

All four of my teammates nodded once, "Good. Let's hope this doesn't take long."

Faux replied, "Speak for yourself, this is exciting. An entire planet created by the forerunner."

Blitz chuckled, "Of course it is, lots of screens, and no flying bullets a nerd's paradise."

The lights flickered, and Barnes replied, "If it wasn't for the nerds, we wouldn't have this armor, and Infinity would be screwed."

The tram slowed, and we came to stop. The station looked like a horror movie, half the lights were out, and those that were on flickered at random. We entered through an open bulkhead door to a dark hangar. The only light came from a couple portable light stands set up around a black object.

Halsey spoke for the first time since the hangar, "Rather dark for a proper investigation."

"Random fluctuations all over the ship, doctor." Lasky responded, "Power still completely out at ground zero." He turned to face her, "I'll get additional lighting set up ASAP."

"That would be good." She replied, then paused and asked hesitantly, "Have there been any other reactions since..."

"Since what happened to Dr, Glassman?" answered Lasky, "No."

"I see." She approached the black metal object and reached out to touch it.

"Careful." Lasky warned.

The doctor paused to turn her head and give the captain a side glance, "I'm not Henry Glassman, Captain."

"Trust me, Doctor." He turned to look at Commander Palmer, "I know who you are."

"Even so, I see you've decided I rate seven of the new models." Halsey replied, while she continued to study the artifact.

The other spartan I did not know whose IFF read Demarco, Majestic Lead, spoke up, while turning his head to grin at the other spartan, "Captain Lasky asked for the best."

"And yet..." she walked around the artifact until she was facing us, then touched the artifact lightly. A wave of orange light rippled over its surface, highlighting the curious angled grooves that ran across it, and it emanated a slight warbling sound. She stopped and stared at the object, the look on her face was blank.

"What is it, Doctor?" Lasky asked.

Halsey looked up at him and simply said, "Engine room."


As the tram raced through the bowels of the Infinity heading towards the aft section, myself and Storm stood silent, watching. I noticed the spartan named Demarco turn his head to the one next to him, whose tag read Madsen, Majestic Sniper, and asked him, while gesturing to the doctor and me, "Why do they have us guard some old lady, I mean how does she rate her own Fireteam Escort."

Madsen replied, "She's bad news, man. Mad scientist stuff." When DeMarco rolled his eyes, Madsen continued in a rather (amazed) tone, "She created the original spartans; Master Chief?"

DeMarco looked at her again this time with disbelief, "No way."

"Yeah." Madsen responded, "Story goes, she kidnapped a bunch of kids."

Halsey turned to face Majestic.

"What!" Demarco said, turning to face Madsen with a look of incredulousness, "What would an old lady like her do with kids?"

Madsen started to reply, but noticed Halsey staring, and instead gestured to her with his eyes. When DeMarco turned and noticed her looking at them, he stopped grinning.

"First we taught them to be silent," Halsey stated in a flat tone. She then turned her head to look at Commander Palmer, who was sitting across from her, and spoke again in the same tone, "Then we taught them how to be spartans."

I chuckled to myself, these three obviously knew a little about her, but not enough to respect her. I keyed my team's comms, and asked, "Faux you ever see an artifact react like that?"

"No," she replied, "But that isn't what I found interesting. Almost all the artifacts and structures I have ever seen have glowed with a bluish color, this is the first time I've seen an orange glow."

Blitz responded, "Well I'm no expert, but after seeing the images of the promethean constructs from Infinity's first contact, perhaps the orange glow represents a military significance."

Faux replied with, "Possibly, but no way to know that for sure, unless it tells us directly."

I finished with, "When we get off the tram, Speedy, you and Barnes can go settle in; Blitz, Faux and I can handle this." Their status lights winked green in acknowledgement.

The tram was silent for the rest of the trip. We entered the engine room and Halsey went to one of the many control stations. Roland's avatar appeared, and he stated, "Engine rooms on lockdown, captain. All systems operating nominally. You know I can fly Infinity without human aid."

"Don't worry Roland." Lasky responded with a small smile, "We'll take her off your hands again shortly."

"Obviously not," I muttered on the team's channel, "Or else we wouldn't be here."

While Dr. Halsey worked at a console, we watched, and Palmer and Lasky discussed. "So now we're letting the war criminal touch things," Palmer bitched.

Lasky countered with, "She installed these engines. No one else in the UNSC understands them as well as she does."

A sudden whooshing sound and the engine core lit up; a pulse of yellow energy ran through the room. Palmer pulled her magnum and pointed it at Halsey's head, "Hey!" DeMarco and Madsen ran forward and covered Halsey as well.

"Storm, safeties." I said as I pulled Demarco aside, and stepped between Palmer and Halsey, raising my DMR to aim at Palmer's exposed head. Behind her Faux and Blitz raised their weapons as well, aiming at Majestics' heads.

"Palmer," I ordered, "Stand down. Doctor, what happened?"

Halsey calmly replied, "The artifact, Forerunner, is talking to Infinity's engines, also forerunner. The power surge was the engines communicating to other subsystems."

Palmer lowered her weapon, as did everyone else, but I remained between them. Palmer couldn't see my face through my helmet, but I could see hers. Though she wore her armor she was not wearing her helmet. "Palmer, I assure you, if Dr. Halsey does anything to endanger Infinity or her crew, we will follow our protocols, but we also have orders to ensure her safety as well." I then looked at the doctor, "What other systems is it communicating with?"

"Health systems, some electrical, and lower deck life support to name a few," she replied.

"But those are human systems, Doctor," Lasky stated, "Only the engines are forerunner."

"Indeed, but the artifact is reaching out to them," Halsey affirmed, then turned to a screen that showed a data stream being sent from the Infinity to the shield world, "and it and your engines are transmitting. . ."

Lasky interrupted, "To Requiem."

"You came here to study the planet." Halsey continued, "Instead, something on the planet is studying you."

Speedy asked, "Is there any way to stop the transmission?"

Halsey shook her head, "No. Not until I can discover what its purpose is, or how it works. However, I believe we can limit what the artifact has access to, though I would not try to block it fully. It might respond with another energy pulse."

The captain nodded, "Very well. Roland, Infinity's all yours. Try to find non-critical systems to keep the artifact busy, I don't want whatever is down there to know our situation."

Roland nodded and saluted, "I'll do my best captain." With that Roland's avatar disappeared.

The captain turned to me, "Storm escort Halsey to her quarters, and get settled in. Commander Palmer and I have other duties to attend to, but I will send another spartan to be your escort around Infinity, shortly."

"Yes sir." I replied. We returned to the tram station where Lasky, Palmer, and the two spartans of majestic left in the tram while we boarded a freight elevator and ascended to S-Deck. S-Deck was an entire deck devoted to the complement of Spartans. We moved to the temporary/guest quarters in the midsection and left Faux to guard Dr. Halsey at her room, which was next to ours. Then Blitz and I met up with Speedy and Barnes. They were currently enjoying the view of the armor bay from a balcony facing away from us, their armor was missing, and they were dressed only in their black tech suits.

I called out to them, "Hey Speedy!" They turned towards us, "Where's your armor?"

Barnes replied, "S-Deck rules. If you're not on assignment, training or given special permission, armor is to be stored in the armor bay. Weapons are to be registered to the armory, or in the case of personal weapons, like your blade, kept in a personal locker."

"Correct," I said, "However S-Deck rules only apply to those stationed here, they do not apply to those who are on special assignment, such as escort." I paused, "I understand, not wanting to cause a fuss, but next time someone confronts you contact me, Durandal, or the captain to explain. Lasky is the only one we report to while aboard."

"Yes sir." Speedy replied, then he turned to Barnes, "See, I told you we weren't bound to those regulations."

Barnes smiled, "Well I prefer to not cause unnecessary trouble."

Speedy just rolled his eyes. I waved my hands dismissively, "Anyway, aside from that, Faux is currently babysitting the doctor, and the artifact…" I paused to look around, and saw many other spartans, some were watching us and listening, "I'll brief you later, in private."

A small group of spartans approached, their tags reading members of multiple teams, one tagged as Crimson Lead greeted us, "Hello," he looked at me, "You must be Storm Lead, and I assume this is your team?"

"Yes, I am. Spartan Jackson, pleased to meet you." I reached out my hand and shook his, "This is Blitz our sniper, Speedy my second and demolitions, Barnes expert pilot, and our fifth, Faux, xeno-science and translator, is currently babysitting our asset. What is your name?"

"Call me Sean. Interesting, a xeno-scientist, how did she become a spartan, I thought only military personnel were recruited."

"Very carefully, though I suspect her ties to ONI may have the explanation." I replied, "She and another named Olympia Vale are the only spartans I know of that lack a military background."

"Cool." Spartan Sean paused before continuing, "Are you new to Infinity? Because S-Deck requires that armor be stored in the armor bay."

"Yes, I am aware of S-Deck rules, however as I just explained to the rest of my team, they do not apply to us as we are not stationed here. We are acting as an escort for Dr. Halsey while she is studying the artifact that caused the power outage event and killed or kidnapped Dr Glassman. As such we are to be ready at all times, unless otherwise ordered by Captain Lasky."

"Ah, the black coffin my team and I recovered." Sean replied, "What if you run into Commander Palmer, she won't like you walking around in full combat gear?"

"Commander Palmer has been briefed, and she has no authority over Storm, only Lasky does, and even then, only if Halsey endangers Infinity or her crew. Other than that, we report to Commander Musa or CINCONI."

Spartan Sean's eyes widened slightly as did the other spartans. I guess they hadn't seen another fireteam that wasn't under Palmer's command. I turned back to Barnes and Speedy, "Since you are already out of your armor, you two can be off duty first, but don't go to far."

They nodded and turned to the other spartans and started chatting. Then the loudspeaker dinged, and a man's voice said, "Fireteam Crimson, report to the armor bay, you have a new mission."

Spartan Sean gave a quick salute, then said, "I got to go, I'll see you later Jackson." I nodded and he turned and jogged away.

I turned and left the balcony and went back to our quarters. The door opened to reveal six reinforced bunks and a pair of doors that read 'Shower' and 'Head' at the far end. Our bags had been brought up from the hangar bay and were placed on individual bunks. I went over to mine and unzipped the side pocket to remove the datapad I kept in it. Blitz went to his bunk, moved the bag to the foot of the bed, and laid down. The bunk, though reinforced for spartans still creaked under the weight of his armor.