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The Planet Sargasso
Covert ONI Mobile Command Center
Doctor Halsey's POV
It shouldn't be long now, she thought as she continued to shift her gaze from one view screen to another as each of them monitored a predicted approach route. Every ship that left Reach between the last time anyone saw Daisy to when I left has had their ETA to Sargasso calculated. The last one should be arriving in less than an hour.
All of the cameras were hooked up to a recognition program that had been fed zero-two-three's face as well as all of her physical measurements. She'd gone the extra mile because she knew that her SPARTANs had been trained to avoid conventional security systems and no doubt Daisy would do her best to keep her face concealed. With the extra data all they would have to do was calculate a possible destination for any candidates that popped up and whichever ones were headed to the home of Daisy's family would become the focus of her attention. She already had a Hornet VTOL on standby so she could get to the house before her troublesome SPARTAN could say anything classified or do anything rash. She had already received reports that two of the SPARTANs that'd been a part of the escape had committed suicide after encountering their clones. It was a terrible outcome and as such there were two snipers on standby ready to move to prime positions with a clear line of sight to Daisy's destination. One was armed with tranquilizer darts while the other had conventional rounds. If it looked like zero-two-three was going to try to kill herself the one with the tranquilizer rifle would fire with the maximum safe dosage for a SPARTAN II. If somehow Daisy was still able to move after being hit with the dart, the second sniper would target the limb holding the sidearm to render it temporarily unusable. The time in the medical wing of the base back on Reach would give zero-two-three time to reflect on the new information and hopefully come to an acceptable conclusion.
I hope that Joyce and Alex can talk some sense into their teammate, she thought as she continued to keep a sharp eye out for the subject. I would hate to have to resort to more… extreme methods.
Nevertheless she had considered them since she knew that there would be those in O.N.I. who would suggest some of the more damaging solutions in order to break Daisy zero-two-three of any rebellious tendencies. It wouldn't matter if she protested that doing so would reduce her combat effectiveness. To THEM all that mattered was that the blonde SPARTAN would obey orders from then on.
They never considered how 'damaging' Daisy might affect the other SPARTANs.
Thanks to the efforts of Alex and Joyce, the SPARTAN IIs had all become more than mere comrades in arms. They'd become a family of brother's and sisters who cared about one another very deeply. Anyone who permanently injured a member of their family, be it physically or mentally, they would be labeled 'enemy' from that point forward. She'd like to think that they wouldn't forget their pride as soldiers, as SPARTANs, and get themselves into serious trouble, there had been some deviation from her intended mental conditioning program. Had they adhered to the original program, their reaction to severe actions by O.N.I. or the UNSC would merely be as frosty a mood as they could get away with while avoiding charges of military misconduct.
Since they had not, anything was possible.
"Doctor! We have a match!" one of the serviceman said from his station, causing her eyes to snap at his screen.
Foolish girl, she thought as she saw Daisy running down the sidewalk still in her base uniform. She didn't even bother trying to disguise herself. Did she really think we wouldn't get here ahead of her?
She had to shake her head at the SPARTAN's foolhardy mistake, making her wonder if zero-two-three had been so focused on seeing her family again that she'd ignored her training. It was a plausible explanation but one Daisy would have to be reprimanded for should she choose to rejoin the ranks of her brothers and sisters. A soldier needed to maintain perfect situational awareness and be clearheaded enough to choose the correct course of action no matter what distractions appeared. It was why she'd originally tried to sever their connections to their former lives. In all practicality none of her SPARTANs would be able to return to whom they'd been, to stand with their blood relations once more as family, and so she'd planned to crush those notions from the beginning. Would Daisy still have rebelled had she managed to successfully stop Alex and Joyce's efforts to preserve the pasts of their comrades? Or would it still have occurred regardless?
It can dealt with later, she said as she began to walk towards the door. For now I must board the Hornet and get into position. "Tell the Hornet pilot to prepare for launch," she ordered as she reached for the doorknob. "Inform the snipers not to move from their current positions until after the target begins to cross the bridge. They cannot risk early detection."
"Understood, Doctor Halsey," the serviceman said with a nod before he began to carry out his assigned tasks.
With that done she exited the room and began to navigate the hallways towards the location of the VTOL at a brisk pace. Based on the location stamp on the viewscreen, Daisy would reach her home in just under twenty minutes. She would need to be in position just before that if she was to have her little talk and reveal the reasoning behind the creation of the flash clones. It was her hope that, with a cold retelling of the facts, zero-two-three would have no choice but to accept that her only home was with her fellow SPARTANs now. It would be painful but it would also yield the best results.
It didn't take long to reach the Hornet and, once in the copilot's seat, she put the headset on her head before signaling the pilot to take off.
As they flew through the sky silently towards their destination she wondered how she would explain this when inevitably she was called before an O.N.I. review board. It wouldn't matter to them that all the escapees had either been captured or killed. No, they'd focus on the fact that she had been unable to prevent it in the first place. That was why she needed to construct an airtight chain of choices and reasons for why things happened the way they did so that the less rational board members wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
She would argue that aggressive denial of the subjects' desire to return home would only make that desire stronger while putting off their escape for a couple of months at best. By permitting their departure and then sending forces in pursuit, it would be possible to show the strength of those forces while allowing the few that made it to their homes to be hit with the horrible truth. The psychological effects of each outcome, capture or replacement, would be enough to break the desire for rebellion and escape, or remove the troublesome subjects altogether. She was sure that before being summoned she'd be able to find at least a few papers and thesis that supported her view of the situation as well as how she handled it.
So long as no sliver of information about the SPARTAN program got out to the public and containment was maintained, she would be able to survive the incident along with her creations.
Looking out of the windshield she saw that the pilot had made good time in getting to the target area but now they needed to conceal themselves just until Daisy laid eyes on her clone. It would be then that zero-two-three would be receptive to the cold, hard facts and more likely to accept that her only home now was with her fellow SPARTANs.
"Hide behind that outcropping," she ordered, pointing to an ideal hiding place.
"Aye-aye, ma'am," the pilot said before complying with his orders.
"Sniper One, Sniper Two, check in." she said through her headset.
"Sniper One on station," a man's voice said through the headset speakers.
"Sniper Two on station," a woman's voice said with the faint tinkle of metal in the background.
"Move to designated sniper nests," she ordered with no room for discussion. "Use directional microphone attachments to monitor target's activity in preparation to strike. Relay the audio to me so I may monitor as well."
"Sniper One acknowledges. Moving to sniper nest," the man said before breaking off communications.
The other sniper did likewise and so the waiting began for Daisy to cross the bridge and discover what had been done to preserve the secrecy of the program.
It didn't take long, her estimations of zero-two-three's travel time proving accurate, and so she spent the next few seconds reasoning out Daisy's thought processes at this point. Based on their discussion back on Reach, it'd become clear to her that, while she might have the knowledge to act like a professional soldier, the subject had chosen to give in to her immature impulses. Mendez had done what he could to suppress any civilian tendencies, to lock them in the mindset of a soldier, but thanks to Alex it hadn't been completely successful. For some the shortcomings were barely perceivable, like with John, but with Daisy it was obvious a refresher course was needed. No doubt now she was seeing her beloved home, treasured in her memories these long years, and pictured a happy as well as tear-filled reunion with her parents. However, when she got to about the halfway point on the bridge, zero-two-three would spot the lone figure tending to the garden of flowers. The SPARTAN would attempt to deduce who it was and would likely pause in her advance until the unknown was identified, giving the object of her scrutiny a chance to change position, allowing the face to become visible.
"Move out, pilot. Advance towards the bridge and begin scanning for any earpiece comms-devices on the bridge," she ordered, feeling that it was time to take the stage.
The pilot was competent enough to react promptly to orders and, looking down at the screen in front of her, she watched as the scan soon found Daisy's comm-piece.
Another foolish oversight on the SPARTAN's part since the piece of technology could have been used to track her. The only flaw to using such a method was that zero-two-three would've been made aware that she was being tracked due to the reaction the device would have to the tracking method. It was why she'd not permitted its use once the waiting began since it would've only driven the SPARTAN to ground, increasing the odds that her adversaries in ONI would take action.
She would NOT permit that to happen.
Establishing a connection with the wireless comm-piece, she prepared to say her piece.
"Notice any resemblance?" she asked and watched as Daisy reached for her comm-piece before looking in the direction of the VTOL. "The secrecy of the SPARTAN II program could not be jeopardized. The disappearance of seventy-six recruits for the program would've led to difficult questions. But if the children never vanished there would be no questions to ask, would there?"
She waited, letting Daisy work through the possible explanations, until she felt it was time to speak again.
"The clone lives a… life in your place," she said, hesitant to use the term considering what she knew laid ahead for the copy. "The life that WAS originally meant for you. Come back to the base, twenty-three. It is where you belong. It's home and your fellow SPARTANs are now your only family."
There.
She'd said it as plainly and as bluntly as she could without wasting words.
With any luck zero-two-three would have the wisdom to accept that she could never go home again and withdraw from the area to the nearest UNSC facility.
Still, to be sure, she changed to the frequency the snipers were on.
"Take aim at the target. If she attempts to self-terminate, STOP HER. She must be captured alive."
She waited for the acknowledgment of her order, waited a full ten seconds, but got nothing but silent air for her patience.
"Sniper One, Sniper Two, acknowledge," she commanded, hoping that the soldiers hadn't gone rogue due to unknown orders from another member of ONI.
Nothing.
Just more silence and this worried her.
She knew from reports that the other escapees were either captured or dead, so it was unlikely that one or more of them had accompanied Daisy to the planet. While not the cream of the crop, both snipers were skilled enough that a mere civilian would not be enough to keep them from their duty. The more she thought about it, the more she came to believe that they'd gone rogue due either to orders from someone above her in power or someone with deeper pockets. She cursed herself for not taking more precautions to prevent this sort of outcome!
"Ma'am! New contact on the bridge," the pilot said from his seat ahead of her. "Advancing towards the target."
Turning her gaze to the top of the bridge, she immediately spotted a lone figure in ODST armor advancing towards Daisy. Using the console in front of her, she directed the Hornet's exterior camera towards the new contact and zoomed in so that an attempt at identification could be made. A MA37 Assault rifle was on the ODST's back but she was puzzled by the unknown's actions. Surely, if her opponents in ONI had sent someone to interfere, they would've properly briefed the soldier on what he'd be facing. A standard issue assault rifle wielded by a Helljumper would hardly be up to the task of subduing or killing a SPARTAN II, given what needed to be done to ensure that the instructors would survive training sessions back on Reach.
Was this one meant to be a distraction while others lined up their shots?
Looking at Daisy, she could see that the wayward SPARTAN had noticed the new arrival and had immediately brought her M6D Pistol to bear on the potential threat. Watching as the ODST raised his empty hands in an effort to put Daisy at ease, she could tell even from this distance she could see that the SPARTAN was a little too agitated to make that possible. She couldn't hear what was being said due to her termination with the link to Daisy's comm-piece but it looked as though the ODST was trying to talk zero-two-three down. Too bad it would take something more significant than words to affect the state of mind of a SPARTAN in shock.
It was then that the ODST did something unexpected when he reached up to take off his helmet and revealed something that shocked her almost more than she could conceal.
It was Alex zero-six-nine!
"How the hell did he get here?" she whispered with a rhetoric inquiry as she worked to understand this change in the situation.
Amidst the shock and confusion within her mind, though, a part of her conceded that this could prove to be enough to convince Daisy to return peacefully to Reach.
Fifteen Minutes Earlier
Alex-069's POV
I have to hurry! he thought as he left the UNSC base that the Pelican had dropped him off at. I refuse to be too late!
It'd taken almost intolerably long for the Spirit of Fire to get to Sargasso but, once they had, he'd gone immediately to the Pelican launch bay. Fortunately for him there was one ready to go and so, with a brief exchange of words both with the pilot as well as with Captain Cutter, he'd soon found himself descending through the planet's atmosphere. All the way down he'd reviewed what he knew of Daisy's home and where it was located but it was only when he could clearly see the city as a whole that he realized that he'd overlooked something.
While Daisy had given a pretty good description of what her house looked like as well as the area around it, she'd told him nothing about how to get there from the UNSC base.
Immediately he began moving towards the civilian spaceport since he didn't think that Daisy would've stowed away aboard a military transport. She'd have gone civilian since the security would've been less both in terms of internal sensors as well as security patrols. With an objective in mind he began moving using what he'd seen through the cockpit of the pelican on the way down to move towards the civilian spaceport. He knew he was getting looks from the civilians as he passed, both from the pace at which he was running as well as the ODST gear, but he didn't have the time to slow down to more normal running speeds or do his best to stay out of sight. By his reckoning Daisy was either a few minutes behind him or a few minutes ahead of him and that meant that, if he wanted to save her from ONI sanction, he had no time to waste.
When he arrived he went inside and checked the list of arrivals from Reach, evaluating each one by what type of ship it was and when it'd departed. One by one he crossed possibilities off of the list until there were only two left. One was only touching down right then but the other had landed ten minutes ago and in his mind that meant that he was ten minutes behind Daisy. Utilizing the console he brought up a holo-image of the entire city, looking for anything that resembled the terrain Daisy had described, and whilethat only gave him a general area, it was better than the entire continent. Leaving the spaceport he followed the mental map he'd imprinted on the forefront of his mind to get to the most likely location of his teammate's home. He took the most direct route, the most expedient, since time was against him and he needed to make up what he'd lost. People, objects, they didn't register as what they were to him, but rather they registered as obstacles to be navigated around in whatever manner cost the least amount of time.
Once he entered the mental red circle he'd put on his mental map he began to look for any sign of Daisy's passage that would give him even a basic direction to go in.
He was on the edge of a park, a bubbling fountain a dozen feet away, with a variety of people going about their usual business. His memories of what it'd been like back on Arcadia might've been a bit faded but he could still recall what such places were like, as well as what he'd done there with Joy and the others. Striding forward, he looked at each of the people to determine if any of them would've been observant enough to both see and remember Daisy if she'd been through here.
An old man who seemed to be giving him quite the hairy eyeball seemed an ideal candidate so he made his way over to the edge of the fountain where the elder was sitting.
"Excuse me, sir, but has a young woman passed through here in the last twenty minutes?" he asked, being professional while also trying to make himself sound older than he was. "She'd be about three inches shorter than me, short blonde hair, blue eyes and would be dressed in a red and white bodysuit. It would only have been within the last twenty minutes."
"Why should I tell you anything? Ya fuckin' storm trooper!" the old man replied, sounding like he didn't like the UNSC or the ODST very much.
"Because the life of one of your fellow citizens is at risk and I could be the only one capable of keeping her alive," he said bluntly, hoping his honesty and resolve would make the old man change his mind.
The words did have an effect on the elderly gentleman, he could tell from the change in expression, but it didn't last long.
"More like you're the one that's gonna kill her," the elderly man growled before getting up off the edge of the fountain.
Without another look the old man walked off, leaving him with nothing but wasted time and no new intel on where he could find Daisy.
Looking around, he tried to find someone else when his eyes caught on something in the water of the fountain, causing him to sharply look down to see what it was. In an instant he recognized it as a dog tag identical to the one he had around his own neck. With speed honed through training he pulled it out of the water and, flipping it over to look at the other side, he confirmed the presence of his teammate's name as well as her military ID number.
She's been here, he thought, feeling encouraged by the confirmation that he was on the right trail.
However, while promising, this didn't tell him where she'd gone after tearing off her dog tag.
With a frown of annoyance he pulled at the neck of his ODST armor and shoved the tag beneath the collar of his bodysuit so he could give it back to her later. However the moment the metal touched his skin he was overcome with sensory input that he instantly recognized as being foreign. He saw two men in suits reaching for him from elevation… no, they were just taller than him. Echoes of fear and longing flowed through his mind but were quickly crushed underneath a boulder of anger. The scene shifted and he was looking down at the tag but it wasn't his hand holding them for they were too small. The hand then clenched around the tag before giving a hard yank to snap the chain before tossing the piece of metal into the fountain.
It was as the input began to fade, though, that he saw which direction Daisy had turned towards and, as his sensory information became his own once more, he knew where he had to go.
Breaking into a sprint he moved in the direction his teammate had settled her eyes on before he'd stopped seeing what she'd seen. Pushing himself to his upper limit of speed, he moved as quickly as he could with the shadowy fear of what'd happen to Daisy if he was too late, forcing him to work harder. As he crested a hill his eyes fell upon a small island with a house built on it connected to the mainland via a single bridge. A person was on that bridge, about halfway across, and to his right there was a Hornet VTOL approaching at a leisurely pace.
ONI, he thought as his fears began to creep out from the pit he'd tossed them in. I've only got until after they issue their ultimatum to get to Daisy.
It was as he reached the bridge that he chose to slow to a walking pace, if only to keep himself from being classified as a hostile in the eyes of the Hornet crew. Their confusion over his arrival and appearance would buy him extra time so he could speak with his teammate. He got to within a little over fifteen feet of Daisy before she heard him, spun around and pointed her M6D Magnum at him.
"Stay away!" Daisy yelled with a look in her eyes that told him she was VERY volatile at the moment.
"I'm not here to hurt you, Daisy," he said as he raised his arms in the universal 'I mean you no harm' position. "I'm just here to talk."
"I don't believe you!" Daisy yelled, her anger spiking. "You just want to take me back there! I WON'T LET YOU!"
"I know you're upset, Daisy, but believe me when I say I'm just here to talk," he said as he began to move his hands towards his ODST helmet. "You can trust me."
Then, before she could shoot him, he pulled off his helmet letting her see his face.
"Alex?!" she asked, looking completely floored by presence. "What're you doing here?!"
"You took a field trip to see the folks," he replied, putting on his best lopsided smile. "Figured you might like some company."
"You're here with them!" she growled, having come to the less favorable conclusion.
"No. They have no idea I left Reach to find you," he said, shaking his head but remaining calm. "I figure I'm in for a MONTH of solitary once I get back one way or another."
"Why? Why'd you come here?" she asked, sounding less sure that her presumption of his motivations was correct.
"I told you: to talk," he replied before hooking his helmet onto the belt of the ODST uniform. "About what you plan on doing now, specifically. You do have a plan, right?"
"I…I don't…" she said, obviously trying to lay out some sort of idea but failing.
"I know. It's gonna be hard with that Hornet hovering close by, especially since you've just got that sidearm," he said, trying to lead her towards the truth rather than force her to see his point of view. "Still, we're SPARTANs. We've been trained to overcome worse odds."
From her expression he could tell that she was running through the scenarios, debating tactics and generally trying to come up with a plan that would get her what she wanted.
"Of course now that they know you're here I wouldn't be surprised if they arranged for all the spaceports on the continent to be locked down," he said conversationally even as he glanced at the Hornet for a moment. "They'll toss out some kind of excuse, of course, to keep anyone from thinking something's going on of course. Probably give orders to any UNSC ships in orbit to open fire on any ship trying to leave, or at least take out their engines. Still, if you found a place to hole up, you could try to outlast them. ONI can't lock down this continent forever without attracting unnecessary attention."
He saw her wince as her own mind came to similar conclusions and didn't like how they made her odds drop.
"Then again they'll probably send down ODST and ONI search teams to search the area for you. Try to pass it all off as being in response to a suspected Insurrectionist plot," he said, laying out the weaknesses in trying to outlast ONI and the UNSC. "They'll have some leeway with what they can do without ruffling some feathers but not too much. ONI will likely anticipate that you'll stay away from populated areas to minimize the odds of someone ratting you out, so a search won't take as much time as looking through the entire city would. Plus, if you take out any of the people involved in the search, you'll basically be sending up a signal flare letting them know where you are."
He could tell from her expression that he'd just painted her into a corner and desperation was beginning to rise within her.
"Then what… what can I do?" she asked, sounding like her spirit was shaking under the strain of the odds against her. "How can I get my life back?!"
For a moment he was hit with a sense of déjà vu, as though he'd heard similar words before, but it left as quickly as it came.
And THEN he dropped the hammer he hated having to drop.
"You can't." he said, feeling a pang in his heart as he spoke. "We're not who we used to be. Not in body. Not in mind. Time only flows in one direction so there's no going back to who we used to be."
"So I'm just supposed to ACCEPT IT! Just fall in line and be her TOY!?" Daisy asked, her anger rising to the forefront once more.
"We're not toys. We were NEVER toys," he said, not letting himself get sucked into her fury. "We're soldiers now. Soldiers trained to protect the people unable to protect themselves. We were conscripted to end the conflict with the Insurrectionists, to save the lives that'd be lost if the conflict drags out too long. I know you see what we've been through as a curse but, if you look at it from another point of view, you'll see it as a blessing."
"A BLESSING!? HOW THE HELL IS THIS A BLESSING?!" Daisy yelled, her defiance and anger surging.
"It's a blessing because we're now in a position to do the most good. The UNSC and ONI have been trying to stop the Insurrectionists for almost three decades without success. WE, all SPARTAN IIs, are now the best chance to end the conflict before it escalates further," he said with conviction and resolve. "There's been no real pattern to their attacks, Daisy. One UNSC target is as good as another in their minds. They might even target Sargasso, seeing as how there's a UNSC base here. That would put your parents at risk of being caught up in one of their bombings."
"You don't know that!" Daisy exclaimed, looking afraid for her mom and dad.
"You're right. I don't. But neither do you. That's the point," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "If we don't know where or when they're going to attack, then the only chance we have of protecting the ones we left behind is to take down the Insurrectionists as quickly as we can. WE are the only ones who can do that, Daisy. But it's going to take every last SPARTAN to pull it off. Including you."
He could see that she was fighting against his reasoning, her emotions trying to smother the logic of it all, but to his point of view all that was needed was one more thing to finally bring her back into the fold.
"We NEED you, Daisy. I need you," he said before holding out his right hand for her to take. "Come back to Reach. Come back to your family."
He waited for her to take his hand and was prepared to wait for as long as he needed to, but thankfully Daisy didn't take long to make her choice. With teary eyes she took his hand and, as the sobs started to affect her ability to stand up straight, he pulled her towards him, embracing her in a hug to convey his sympathy for what she was going through. It wasn't that he didn't know what she was going through, he wasn't made of ice, knowing that going home again was little more than a lofty dream. Still, he felt that as SPARTANs it was part of their job description to overcome the odds and make the impossible possible. So, while in the short term he would keep any word about retiring back to civilian status to himself, his long term plan was to rack up as many IOUs from powerful people as possible. It was his hope that, with enough of them, a deal could be struck with the people in charge to at least allow the SPARTAN IIs the option of retirement and at most the reclamation of their former lives.
If they had any sense of honor they'd realize the debt humanity owed their protectors and would feel an obligation to repay them.
"Um… hello?" a voice said that sounded like Daisy's but softer in tone. "Is she alright?"
He looked over Daisy's shoulder and saw a young woman who looked virtually identical save for a few cosmetic differences that could be explained with a different lifestyle. The twin was in a wheelchair, implying that she was paralyzed from the waist down or at least lacked the lower body strength to stand on her own two legs. The girl didn't seem afraid even though there were two armed strangers standing a couple of feet away.
"Not now. She will be, though, once I get her back home," he replied, not doing anything foolish like divulge facts that'd complicate things.
"Maybe… maybe this will help," the twin said, reaching into her pocket and pulled out a little bear keychain out of it.
"What makes you think that?" he asked as he saw Daisy look at it with emotion out of the corner of his eye.
"I've had it since I was a little girl. It's the most precious thing that I own," the twin replied, looking down at the item in her hand.
"Then why do you want to give it to my friend?" he asked, curious about why the girl would give up something so important to a stranger.
"I don't know. It just feels… right," the twin replied with a grin on her face. "When I look at her I remember a dream I've had off and on for as long as I can remember. I dream that I'm strong, stronger than anyone, just like I think your friend is. I believe that even if I'm too weak to help her that maybe this will give her a little bit more strength. The only strength I have to give."
He could sense through his empathic powers that she was being honest and that the dream she'd been having had a powerful emotional hold on her. Watching as Daisy reached out and took the little item, his teammate deeply appreciated the gesture. No doubt his teammate would keep it close to her and physically 'dissuade' anyone from trying to take it from her.
And if someone managed to destroy it, they'd know how big a mistake they'd just made before the end.
Maybe.
"Thank you," Daisy said, the item clutched to her chest as tears slid down her cheeks.
The twin nodded and then turned her wheelchair around, rolling back the way she came towards the house.
Taking the ODST helmet off his belt, he put it back on before opening a comm-channel that he hoped that the Hornet would pick up on.
"This is Sierra zero-six-nine," he said once he was sure the transmission wouldn't extend much past the Hornet. "Will return with Sierra zero-two-three to local UNSC spaceport for extraction. Over."
"Acknowledged, Sierra zero-six-nine," came a voice he hadn't been expecting to hear. "However I expect a THOROUGH debriefing when we meet face to face."
Doctor Halsey. Crud. He'd thought that it'd be some ONI agent, with Doctor Halsey waiting back at a central control room overseeing everything from relative safety.
Guess she prefers to be a little more on hand with certain things, he thought, guiding Daisy back along the bridge in the general direction of the UNSC's base. Lucky me.
Reach High Command Complex
Doctor Katherine Halsey's POV
"They will see you now, Doctor Halsey," the nameless UNSC officer said from the door that led to the meeting room.
A polite nod was all she had the inclination for as she got off the seat she'd been sitting in for the last HOUR waiting to be summoned before an ONI council to review the escape of the five SPARTAN IIs. She already had a list of answers for the questions that she suspected they would ask, as well as a solid defense for the actions she took from the beginning right to the very end. Nevertheless, she expected that there'd be at least one hard ass that'd do their level best to make her appear completely incompetent and a threat to UNSC security. Fortunately she was no stranger to these types, having encountered them before, so unless the one she encountered in this meeting proved unusually cunning they wouldn't do much harm.
However, if they tried any more of the cliché methods for knocking her off her guard, she was going to show them that she could play mind games as well.
Walking through the door she almost rolled her eyes at the cliché, a semi-circle table with the lights strategically placed so that the faces of the council members couldn't be clearly seen. If they were so foolish to employ vocal distortion devices to further hide who they were, she really would roll her eyes regardless of how they'd take it.
She came to a stop at what'd be considered a respectful distance from the table and waited for them to speak since, in these cases, it was often best to let the enemy make the first move.
"Doctor Catherine Halsey. You have been called before this council regarding the incident in which five subjects of the SPARTAN II program successfully managed to escape Reach in an attempt to go home," the central council member said, sounding like most ranking officers did. "According to testimony by technicians who witnessed the event you permitted them to escape. Care to explain?"
"There have always been subjects who were… less than accepting of their new duties. However, up until the breakout in question, there had never been conclusive evidence indicating that one was about to occur," she replied, going with her prepared answer. "Knowing what I did of their abilities, I decided that direct opposition would lead to unnecessary damage, both to the subjects as well as the base. Instead I chose the more efficient solution: let them find out for themselves that that they couldn't go home again then take advantage of the shock to persuade them to return."
"Considering that you only managed to recover three of the five escapees, I'd say your solution was less than perfect," a woman to the left of the center of the table said, sounding a bit sarcastic.
"Considering that we would likely have lost four of them had we fought inside the base, along with who knows how many members of base security, I don't regret making my choice." she said, ignoring the woman's tone entirely.
"What I'd like to know is why you had such trouble finding them," a man two seats left of center asked, sounding like he questioned her intellect. "You knew they were running back home. Couldn't you have just gone ahead of them and taken them down?"
"Some of the families involved relocated after the acquisition of the subject. It was uncertain whether the subjects would anticipate that or simply return to the home they knew," she replied, a bit of frost in her tone. "Due to the classified nature of program I only had enough manpower to cover a set number of locations. We chose the ones that had the highest probability of success, however where chance is involved failure is always a possibility."
"Was your lack of manpower also the reason why another SPARTAN II left the base without authorization?" a man at the left end of the table asked, sounding more reasonable than the others.
"No. SPARTAN zero-six-nine was acting under my orders," she replied, giving away none of the falsehood of her words.
"Your orders?" the sarcastic woman asked, sounding borderline incredulous.
"Yes. SPARTAN zero-two-three was assigned as a member of zero-six-nine's team," she replied, as though the connections were painfully obvious. "I thought that the connection they shared could be useful in convincing her to return to the fold."
"Then why didn't you bring him with you when you left Reach?" the sarcastic woman asked, sounding like she thought she'd dealt a potent blow to her story.
"As always it was my intent to acquire the escaped subjects before they reached their homes so as to prevent contact with their families. To that end I intended to employ a prototype tracking device that could be keyed to a specific target's DNA," she replied, not sounding or looking worried in the least. "However it wasn't ready when I had to leave Reach so I asked zero-six-nine to bring it to me once it was ready. Unfortunately it wasn't ready soon enough to save the two who committed suicide."
"This sounds like quite the valuable piece of hardware. I trust that it will be mass produced now that it's been successfully field tested?" the center man asked, sounding genuinely impressed with the device.
"No," she replied, deciding to make the man pull out the details he wanted.
"What do you mean 'no'?" the sarcastic woman asked, sounding irritated at the denial.
"While the device proved successful in leading zero-six-nine to zero-two-three, it could only pick up traces of her DNA rather than her. Basically it could only find bread crumbs rather than the entire loaf," she replied, keeping frosty as she spoke. "Most likely a combination of electromagnetic interference and distance prevented the device from getting a solid lock on zero-two-three. As a result she almost made it to her home. Clearly the device requires further refinement and enhancing."
"I see," the center man said, sounding disappointed but not suspicious. "I am curious as to why he had to fabricate orders to take him to Sargasso and disguise himself as an ODST."
"The secrecy of the program required it. Zero-six-nine's appearance was not typical of a male his age and would have raised questions better left unasked," she explained, glad that this member of the Council could stay professional. "As for the fabricated orders, they were merely meant to act as a smokescreen, to keep anyone watching from being suspicious of the Spirit of Fire's unexpected departure. I'm having Déjà create an official paper trail to support the original fabricated orders and Chief Mendez is making sure the base personnel have their stories straight if anyone asks."
For those that were buying her story they were reassured that the loose ends were being tended to but, for those suspicious ones, they scowled as they realized she was already covering her tracks. She had to smile at this because, within ONI, only a handful were a threat to her and she very much doubted they'd waste their time by attending this meeting in person. Likely the people before her were subordinates or allies of her true enemies, sent to cause her as much trouble as possible while fishing for potential weaknesses that could be exploited.
She would not be so easily manipulated.
"ONI is fortunate to have you, Doctor Halsey," the center man said, sounding like he planned on wrapping things up. "You have an eye for detail and cunning intellect. Therefore unless someone else on this council has any questions, we will adjourn."
She waited, figuring that at least one of the council members who'd verbally attacked her would try for one final swing, but surprise of surprises there was only silence. She supposed that the subordinates of her enemies were smart enough to know when not to press their luck and had chosen discretion over stupidity. Whether or not that would lead to 'consequences' afterwards, she didn't know or care.
"Very well, I adjourn this ONI council meeting," the center man said with the authority he possessed. "All record of what has happened will be classified scarlet triple A and archived. The standard secrecy clauses apply, of course, along with the penalties of speaking of it to those without the necessary clearance level. Good day."
With that the lights around the table turned off, leaving only the one illuminating her as well as her path back to the door that she'd entered through.
Clearly they're lovers of drama clichés, she thought as she turned and strode towards the exit.
Still, she was a decent actor herself and, while she would remain on guard, it would appear as though the truth of Alex's newest ability would remain known only to him, his team and her.
Psychometry, the thought with a small bit of wonder. Another mental ability. I'll admit I didn't know what ability would come next but I had hoped that it would be physical in nature instead. Still, I suppose it's for the best to keep to abilities that can be more easily concealed.
In any case, she would enjoy every minute of her time working with him to master the ability since she had no few artifacts that she would appreciate his now 'unique' insight on.
It would be quite rewarding indeed.
Reach High Command Complex
Unknown Office
"Blast that woman and those FOOLS!" he growled as he dumped himself in his chair, fuming over the less than productive debriefing of Doctor Catherine Halsey.
Ever since he'd officially joined ONI he'd been on the lookout for opportunities to rise through the ranks and gain enough power to steer matters in the direction he believed that they should go. His efforts hadn't gone completely unrewarded but they'd been mere breadcrumbs compared to the payoff he anticipated he would receive with the sinking of the SPARTAN II program. It was no secret around the metaphorical watercooler that the amount of money going into Halsey's program was enough to buy a small continent if a person was so inclined. He'd read the proposal and listened to the woman deliver it to an ONI committee but he'd found her ambitions to be too grandiose and too unreliable. By the woman's own admission the number of successful super soldiers would be less than half of those put through the first two phases.
He had dozens of ideas inside his head that would be much more practical and cost only a fraction of what Halsey was asking for every year at the budget review meetings.
Unfortunately far too many who outranked him were enthralled by the promises the woman had made to them and concerned about the growing threat of the Insurrectionists.
As a result his misgivings had been ignored and his exposure of Halsey's numerous shortcomings had been treated as mere jealous outbursts. However he had not given up. No. He'd kept watch over the financial black hole that was the SPARTAN II program and looked for even the smallest blemish that he could use to his advantage. A few attempts had been made to insert agents into the program for more firsthand information but Mendez and Halsey were being rather paranoid with their security measures. Almost all of his agents had been found out within a week and required that he issue them their 'termination papers' to keep them from bringing trouble to his doorstep. Eventually he'd been forced to content himself with being someone on the outside looking in rather having eyes and ears on the inside where the most damaging information could be found.
When he'd learned that five of Halsey's little freaks of science had managed to escape, he'd nearly started laughing in villainous joy at the opportunity he had, but managed to keep it contained. If even one of them could cause a big enough commotion that it would require a significant amount of ONI resources to contain, it'd be all the ammunition he needed to shut Halsey down. At the very least he could make it so that the program would be assigned an almost impossible to please overseer to monitor things. At most the program would be shut down, the freaks would be put down, and all assets connected to it would be signed over to him, allowing him to put them to much better use.
Unfortunately his hopes only dropped after that when three of the remaining five test subjects were recaptured and two committed suicide after encountering their flash clones. Sure, one of the recaptured freaks had killed his flash clone, but the number of witnesses had been non-existent, so the damage to Halsey wasn't worth talking about.
It'd been during the scenario on Sargasso that he'd pinned his last hope. So much so that he'd used his pull with an 'asset' there to neutralize Halsey's sniper support. It'd been his hope that without a means of safely neutralizing the AWOL freak, the situation would deteriorate either with bride of Frankenstein going on a rampage or Halsey's Hornet opening fire. Both would be too high profile for ONI's top brass and provide him with the opening he needed to sink Halsey for good.
Then another of her freaks showed up and defused the entire situation!
Even when his ally on the debriefing committee had tried to inflame the woman's mistakes, she'd managed to escape with little to no damage to her standing or reputation.
"You might've escaped the lion's maw this time, Halsey, but you can't do it forever," he said as he tapped the fingers on his right hand on his desk. "No one can."
SPARTAN-II Program Compound
Joy's POV
"Nervous?" Alex asked as the team walked to the briefing room where they'd be given their first official mission as SPARTANs.
"A little," she replied even though she knew she looked calm. "Even if the Chief's training was as close to real life as he could get, it was still just training. If we got something wrong or failed, the worst thing that happened was getting twice as much work to do as before. This… this is going to be different."
"Yeah. Still, we'll get through it like we always do," Alex said with his usual smile as the door to the room came into view. "Just keep the hostiles off my back long enough to let me or Daisy to take them down."
A nod declaring her intention to do just that was her reply to his statement.
Entering the room, she found that they had arrived ahead of the UNSC officer that was meant to brief them on their mission. As such she took her seat along with Alex and Daisy to wait while contemplating the possible mission scenarios. John and his team had already returned from successfully capturing Watts so the man could be tried for his many crimes, so retrieval of an enemy leader was a possibility. Based on what she'd heard, she and the other SPARTAN IIs were to be assigned missions that conventional UNSC and ONI forces had been unable to achieve on their own. In most cases the obstruction was the physical limitations of the unenhanced human body or the fact that since there were concerns of leaks within the ranks sending information to the Insurrectionists. It was a fact that not every citizen in UEG space thought of the 'Innies' as enemies and some even sympathized with the plight of those that'd been cheated by the major powers of the inner colonies. As such the sending of classified information or even just calling in the departure time and heading of UNSC ships was a distinct possibility. By employing SPARTANs, a force unknown to all but the top brass of the military and intelligence agencies, there was almost no chance that the Insurrectionists could be tipped off.
Another possible mission was to eliminate an enemy compound and all within.
One of the benefits of running a terrorist group was that you didn't have a clearly defined base of operations and, more often than not, operated as a multitude of cells scattered across a territory. Each terrorist cell varied in size and resources but there were always a few that were especially important to the overall group. These cells either had important commanding officers that could not be easily replaced or served as the source of supplies for the smaller less important ones. If their mission turned out to be the elimination of one of these places then it would seriously hamper the efforts of the Insurrectionists in the surrounding area. It could also lead to the discovery of intel that could point them towards other promising targets and so, like a row of dominoes, they might well be able to cripple an entire group.
Still, I guess there's little point to guessing since we'll get our answers soon enough, she thought as she looked over to Daisy.
It'd been a week since her teammate had returned to the fold but there was no mistaking that, aside from their brothers and sisters, the rest of the UNSC personnel on base were keeping a close watch on the penitent ex-rebel. While in her opinion Daisy had given up any desire to leave, it was likely that ONI didn't have the same faith that the SPARTAN II would do her duty from there on out. She didn't know how long this would go on but hopefully, after a couple of successful missions, they'd reduce their surveillance back to what'd be considered ordinary for the program.
A few minutes later the door opened and Chief Mendez entered with another UNSC officer, with the latter in full uniform wearing all of the usual accessories.
"ATTENTION!" Mendez yelled, causing her and her team to immediately stand up before snapping off perfect salutes.
"At ease, SPARTANs," the officer said, apparently choosing to take on a more informal atmosphere for the briefing.
It was a bit odd considering the fact that most other ranking officers insisted on the observation of military protocol and etiquette but welcome nonetheless.
Taking her seat, she watched as the officer took a position to the left of the large screen hanging on the far and then pressed a button to activate it.
"For the last several months ONI has come across numerous suspicious materials discovered after the shutting down of an Insurrectionist cell. These items by themselves are fairly unimportant but what caught our attention was not only their lack of connection with established tools or weapons used by the various factions but also how well the containers they were in had been disguised," the officer explained as images of both the locations as well as the various materials flashed on the screen. "However it wasn't until we began simulating the various ways in which these materials could be combined into something useful that we stumbled upon a troubling possibility. While they're still missing a few vital components, it is possible that they're attempting to amass nuclear weapons."
This was enough to cause her to raise an eyebrow since, while not lacking explosives, the Insurrectionists had never attempted to create a nuclear weapon stockpile. What it could be used for would depend on the yield of each individual device the Insurrectionists managed to construct, but at any size many innocent lives would be lost in nuclear fire if even one of them went it off.
"Since this possibility was determined steps have been taken to monitor as many locations where the remaining components can be found, but unfortunately we can't cover them all, not without tipping our hand to the Insurrectionists and causing them to cease their activities temporarily," the officer said before the image of a planet appeared. "That is why we need to find out where all these materials are coming together and shut the problem off at its source. That will be your mission."
"How, precisely, do we find the source, sir?" Alex asked in perfect soldier tone.
"While many of the mission materials can be found at numerous locations, there are two that can only be acquired from a few places. You will go to the most likely of these places and conceal yourselves inside the building across the street from where they're located." The officer changed the image displayed to a specific building. "You will maintain surveillance for as long as needed and, when the faction's forces arrive to steal them, you will follow them to the transport vessel that'll take it off world and stow away inside. Needless to say it will be imperative that your presence not be detected before you arrive at the convergence point of the materials."
"And once we've located the convergence point?" she asked, wanting to know what they were to do once that happened.
"You will then be tasked with eliminating all possible avenues of escape and the securing of the location for UNSC forces. Once this has been done, activate the beacon you'll be equipped with and the nearest reinforcements will converge on your location," the officer replied promptly, looking somewhat pleased with the questions he was receiving.
"What is the name of this faction, sir?" Daisy asked, keeping her voice disciplined and professional.
"The United Rebel Front," the officer replied, turning his head to look the blonde in the eye. "Other SPARTANs are engaged in missions of their own to stop the URF's various operations so it's possible your activities may overlap. Never lose sight of your own mission, though. Each team has its own objective that's equally important."
"Understood, sir," Alex said with conviction and resolve. "We won't let you down."
"I know you won't, son," the officer said, sounding like he had true faith that her team would come out on top.
"You will be departing for the target location in one hour," Chief Mendez said in his usual 'I AM GOD' tone of voice. "Get into uniform, get your gear and be at the landing pad ready to take the Pelican up to the ship that'll transport you. DISMISSED!"
"SIR!" she said along with the others as they all stood up and saluted the Chief before turning as one towards the door.
Once they were clear of the room and around the corner she began to contemplate what she should bring with her on this mission. An obvious must would be tech that would aid in circumventing security systems without being detected. Locks on doors as well as masking their life signs from any scans would be essential if they were to follow the materials back to their source. When considering weapons, she concluded that they would have to be concealable and equipped with suppressors in order to minimize the chances of discovery. She could not decide if the ammunition should be tranquilizer darts or live rounds since both eliminate anyone who managed to spot them, but the former held the possibility of the alarm being raised without any warning.
Live rounds it is then, she thought, making a decision on the ammunition.
While a dead body killed by gunfire would cause the alarm to be raised anyway, it would deprive the URF of any information regarding their numbers, appearance or weaponry. A change of clothes and careful utilization of the facts would allow them to go undetected a while longer, increasing the odds of achieving all their objectives. It would also result in the Insurrectionists casting a wide net in an effort to locate the intruders, making it that much easier to slip through the holes inherent in such a net.
One of us will have to bring explosives, she thought as they made their way outside. While it's possible we could acquire them onsite, there's no guarantee of that.
There was also the question of how many vehicles the URF would have at the convergence point but, without having any way to guess, she'd simply have to bring as much as was practical.
The debate continued until they reached the barracks but she was confident that by the time they were airborne, they'd be ready for departure.
Jericho VII, Lambda Serpentis System
Xander's POV
So this is Jericho VII, he thought as they walked onto the sidewalk, looking like a trio of college kids with duffle bags slung on their backs. Pretty place.
Still, they weren't there for the sightseeing, so with a look to the others they moved towards the car rental business a short distance away from the civilian spaceport. He'd already memorized the layout of the area on the trip from Reach so he knew exactly where their surveillance post was located but it'd be a little conspicuous for them to walk all the way there. Whether due to lack of time or laziness, most civilians, he'd been told, preferred to drive wherever they needed to go, plus their bags were quite large, thus being conspicuous to bystanders. Better they be in the trunk of a car, leaving nothing to see by three ordinary looking civilians than out in the open getting looked at by everyone.
It only took a few minutes to go through the paperwork, using the fake identity information that'd been provided for them, and then they were on their way. The car they'd chosen was fairly commonplace and didn't stand out in the least from any other vehicle going down the street, but that was the point. The clothes, the car and the fake I.D.s were all provided in order to make people barely spare them a passing glance, thus reducing the odds of the local URF members becoming suspicious of them. Looking in the rearview mirror for a moment, he saw that Joy was looking at the scenery, no doubt wondering what it'd be like to do some sightseeing. They all did it every once in a while, daydream about what it'd be like to live a civilian's lifestyle, but they all knew it was unlikely they'd ever get the chance to make their dreams a reality. Instead they took solace in the fact that they were the ones charged with protecting places like this so that others could enjoy its splendor and that proved to be motivation enough to do their best.
Once they arrived at the stakeout point they entered the building across the street from where the key part was located and approached the clerk at the front desk.
"Can I help you young'uns?" the old man said, looking up at them once they stood in front of him.
"We reserved a room," he replied, trying to sound like a normal civilian and not a soldier. "Number twenty-three?"
"Ah, yes! I remember that call," the old man said with a smile. "Your parents are putting ya up here while you try to find work. Nice lady."
The elderly man then turned to a rack of keys, perusing it for the right one, before taking one off and handing it to him.
"Hope you find it to your liking," the old man said, the smile still on his face.
"I'm sure we will, sir," he said as he shoved the key into his pocket. "Have a nice day, sir."
"Same to you, young man," the elderly man said as he turned back to the small television sitting on a nearby table. "Same to you."
With that bit done they ascended to the second floor of the building via the elevator and in less than a minute were inside the room that'd been reserved them. Setting their bags on the floor, he looked at both Daisy and Joy, telling them with a look to search the room for any hidden cameras, microphones and sensors that might've been planted there by the Insurrectionists. It wasn't that he thought that the URF were onto them already but it made tactical sense to him that they might keep tabs on all the local hotels, motels and rentable rooms in the area. Longtime residents were trustworthy enough but newcomers that just happened to arrive before an operation were suspicious and therefore needed to be watched carefully. According to the briefing files they'd been given, the owner of the building they were in and the people who worked there had already been subjected to a thorough background check. He presumed that, since their surveillance post hadn't been changed by the time that they departed Reach, that all the civilians checked out as not being Insurrectionists or URF sympathizers.
Still, it was possible that URF members had come here just as they had posing as guests and planted their devices before leaving, so he wanted to be sure the room was secure.
"All clear," Daisy said from the bathroom.
"All clear," Joy said from the bedroom.
"Same here," he said from the main living area.
With that handled he walked over to the window facing the target building and pulled the curtains closed before going over to the bags and unpacking. First out was their surveillance gear, consisting of cameras with a variety of different lenses to allow them crystal clear images of the building where the target item was located. They also had directional microphones that would allow them to eavesdrop on any point inside the fence surrounding the target property. Last was an impressive laptop computer that was equipped with software that'd allow them to connect to the security system on the property. With the speed and efficiency that they'd been trained to use they set up each device perfectly and made sure it wouldn't be readily visible to pedestrians on the sidewalk.
The ONI files didn't specify when the theft was going to occur, not precisely, so they'd have to work in shifts, with one of them getting a few hours sleep before relieving one of the others.
It was around nightfall when Daisy spoke up.
"So what do you think the URF plans to use the nukes for?" she asked even as she paid attention to the sounds being picked up by the directional microphone.
"Hard to say without knowing the URFs strategy and what yield the nukes will be," he replied while looking through the camera at the target building. "If it's a stockpile of the smaller ones it'll be something planet-side, possibly civilian, but if they're all high yield my money's on a UNSC ship or orbital station. They're not exactly picky about their targets."
"Their main focus seems to be using scare tactics in an effort to intimidate the UEG into granting independence for all the outer colonies," Joy said, putting in her own two credits while working on the computer checking camera feeds. "Too bad that's not going to happen anytime soon. Earth and the inner colonies have too much invested in the outer colonies to just let them go. Add to that the need for justice as a result of the civilian body count and it'd take something terrifying to make the UEG even consider it."
Indeed.
What he didn't mention, though, was the possibility that the suspected nukes that were the cause of this mission could be that terrifying 'something'. While he'd like to think that ONI had managed to catch the odd flow of materials early enough, it was possible that multiple nuclear weapons had already been made and the URF were just waiting for the desired number to be made before using them. A coordinated nuclear strike on multiple UEG colony worlds would shake the galaxy and cast doubt on the ability of the UNSC to stop them. The civilian populations of every world would put pressure on the UEG to do whatever was necessary to stop the attacks, including giving into the demands of the Insurrectionists.
That could not be allowed to happen for multiple reasons.
Hours stretched on and time passed but not once did they neglect their duty or allow their surveillance to grow dull. With no way to confirm the identities of the URF members that intended to steal the target item, the only option left was to watch for suspicious activity or listen for suspicious conversations. One point in their favor was that the target item wasn't something you could shove into your pocket, so they'd have time to gear up once Insurrectionist presence was confirmed. Still, they'd have to move fast to sneak aboard the truck that'd likely be used to transport the target item. Depending on its size and configuration, the number of suitable hiding spots for people their size would be limited. It'd be even worse if the URF operatives wound up occupying those spots but he'd cross that bridge when they came to it.
I'll think of something, he thought with great focus. I always do.
Hours Later
Daisy-023's POV
"I've got a possible contact," the said, looking through the camera at the target building. "One HC1500 truck slowing down at the entrance to the property."
"License plate?" Joyce asked from her computer, no doubt intending to look up the vehicle registry.
She rattled off what she could see before zooming back out so she could more easily keep the entire truck in view.
"Two occupants in the driver's cabin up front," she reported before the HC1500 turned to the right, granting her a look at its side. "Window shutters are closed on the side so I can't tell if there's anyone inside visually."
"Give me a minute," Alex said as he aimed the directional microphone. "Confirmed human presence in the back… only one."
"Pretty light putting only one person in back for security," she said even as she adjusted the direction the camera was aimed at.
"Could be they think that the UNSC hasn't picked up on their operation yet," Alex said, keeping his aim true bit by bit. "Could be they think that the fewer people involved, the less chance anyone will look at them too closely."
All were possibilities but at least it'd make things easier for them when it came to catching a ride on the truck so they could make it back to the URF LZ.
Once the truck reached the gate she watched as the guard on duty walked up to the driver's side door like he was supposed to in order to verify that the truck was authorized to be there. Everything looked okay on the surface but, as she turned to look at Alex, she could see that he was tenser than he'd been earlier, implying that what he was hearing wasn't exonerating the vehicle occupants. She didn't ask what he was hearing because she trusted him as team leader to know what to look for and what to act on. Not that she had the authority to overrule him if she thought he was making the wrong choice, since that was the province of the second-in-command and Joyce was cemented into that role quite thoroughly.
"It's them. The gate guard told them that he 'took care' of the rest of the security guards and that they wouldn't be 'disturbed'," Alex said as he put down the directional microphone. "Time to gear up."
With that order they went to their bags and pulled out the black bodysuits, vests and helmets they'd been assigned for the mission. Changing into them took a little over a minute and, once they had their gear secured, they left the room via the skylight that'd been the primary reason for this room being reserved besides the view of the target property. With speed, precision and stealth they made their way to the building's fire escape before making their way to ground level. Alex took the lead, using hand signals when he wanted them to stop, when they needed to hide behind a dumpster to avoid being spotted and when they could proceed towards the target building.
It was easy enough for them to leap over the top of the fence once they were close enough and, just as the Chief had taught them, they all managed to land making virtually no sound at all. Heading for the target building was easy enough, moving through the gaps in the lighting, using whatever objects they could to obscure their approach to both camera and person alike. While to some they might be taking more time than most would like, the Chief had told him that a soldier sometimes needed patience more than they needed speed. 'Slow is smooth and smooth is fast' he'd said more than once. They could not allow themselves to be detected and undermining stealth for the purpose of speed would increase the odds of them failing in their mission. Thus, when they reached the target building, they ascended up the side via whatever handholds they could find until they pulled themselves onto the roof. Crouched down on bent knees they moved to the skylight that existed in the center of the roof, going just far enough that they could get a look inside.
The tech of their helmets was enough to see with perfect clarity even with the darkness that existed and, when added to the zoom function, they were able to monitor the activities of the men inside. Seeing what she was, it was confirmation enough that these were indeed Insurrectionists since they were already using a forklift to lift the target item so it could be moved into the truck. Given the dimensions of the container and the dimensions of the target item, there were likely quite a few of the latter inside the former.
This supported the premise that the Insurrectionists were planning on building multiple nukes.
"So what's the plan?" she asked after activating comm-gear in the helmet.
"Based on what I can see and sense, all the Insurrectionists are occupied with moving their target container. We will wait until they're on their way out of the building in their vehicle then leap onto the roof," Alex replied before moving towards the doors the truck had travelled through. "It should be sturdy enough to support our weight without giving our presence away. We will need to lay flat in order to keep from being seen and remain aware of any threats that might expose our presence, such as mirrors or guards at elevated positions. With any luck no one will be the wiser."
"You're depending on luck?" Joyce asked, sounding like she'd prefer something a little more concrete.
"Planning can only account for so much," he replied as they reached the edge of the building. "The rest is completely up to chance or luck."
"Somehow I don't think ONI or the Chief will see it that way if we fail," Joyce said, maintaining her displeasure.
"Then we won't fail," he said, sounding like he had no doubt that they'd accomplish the mission.
They waited, letting their sense of hearing judge where the truck was, and, when it was time, they leapt as one, landing on the roof of the truck as it emerged from the building. She understood the purpose of landing at the same time since whatever jarring the vehicle did could be mistaken for a pothole or a shift in the weight of the cargo. If they'd landed separately it would be impossible to mistake it as anything but unknowns landing on the roof, causing their mission to fail.
As soon as she felt her downward descent slow enough she moved to flatten herself against the roof of the truck just as instructed. She didn't move her head to see if the others had done the same since it might expose their presence but she trusted her teammates to know what they needed to do. Instead she focused on the turns that the truck took, mentally matching them to the map of the city she had in her mind and committed it to memory. She would provide it during the team's debriefing so it could be used to monitor any future enemy activity as well as which spaceport they had influence with. ONI would be able to use such information to make it harder for the Insurrectionists to work out of Jericho VII and the surrounding space.
Time passed but a little over thirty minutes later her eyes spotted a sign that said that the Mark Twain Spaceport was three kilometers ahead. Given that it was unlikely that the terrorists planned on assembling everything on this planet, it was a good bet for their departure destination. Sharpening her focus she did her best to estimate the speed of the vehicle she was on, mentally counting down the distance from three kilometers. When the sounds of shuttles let her know they were close and when the truck began to slow in order to make the turn she flattened herself as much as she could on the roof in order to escape notice.
"What's up, Joe?" a man asked and she presumed he was one of the gate guards for the spaceport.
"Same old, same old. Some idiot behind a desk copied an order down wrong and now I gotta get outta bed, drive to work and then haul a heavy ass crate here for shipping off world," 'Joe' replied, sounding like he was a friend of the guard.
"Makes you wonder who they're bedding to keep their jobs, 'cause they sure ain't there for their brains," the guard said, sounding like he had a similar opinion to Joe's.
"Ugh! If you don't mind I'd rather not think about what those geeks do in the closets back at work," Joe said, sounding quite disgusted with the imagery his mind had come up with.
"Okay. Looks like everything checks out," the guard said, apparently having finished checking the paperwork. "The Merlin's Wings is in its hanger waiting for you. Better hurry on over there before they nod off and you ruin their sleep too."
"Yeah, well, spreading the misery around is what friendship's all about," Joe said humorously before the truck began to move again.
Once the truck reached its cruising speed she felt Alex tapping her shoulder and that was the signal to ditch their ride. A good call in her mind since now that they knew the name of the ship, they could tap into the spaceport's systems to find the hanger it was in and approach it on their terms. Waiting until the luminescence was at its lowest she rolled off the roof of the truck, letting gravity take her to the ground, but once there she moved as quickly yet as stealthily to the nearest option for concealment.
Crouching in the shadows, Daisy and Alex joined her seconds later.
"Joy, I want you to tap into the spaceport's network and get a hanger number for The Merlin's Wings," Alex ordered in his role as team leader. "Once we have it we double time it there and sneak into it and keep a low profile. Daisy, once we're in space you'll pop out only to plant a tracer on the container holding the target item. The ship might be transporting more cargo and we don't want to get off on the wrong planet."
With a nod she pulled out her portable computer and, after connecting wirelessly to the spaceport's computer network, began to infiltrate it for the information they needed.
After all those times learning cyber-warfare techniques and hacking methods, this is almost easier than breathing, she thought as she slipped past the firewall without causing even a slight ripple. Still, best to take it seriously since tripping any digital alarms would be bad at this point.
It took her two minutes of key tapping but after that she had a full listing of all the hangers and the ships assigned to them.
"Here is it is. The Merlin's Wings captained and owned by a Walter Garibaldi," she said, reading through the relevant information. "Hanger Six."
"Let's move, Rogue Team," Alex ordered before taking the lead moving as fast as he could without attracting attention of any eyes in the area.
While the truck transporting the container was a fair ways ahead of them, it would take time to load it onto the ship and then get clearance for takeoff. That should give them the time they needed to reach the hanger, sneak on board and conceal themselves from the ship's crew.
All that was left to do was to do it.