Legend:
Bold- Scene Transition
Italics- Sounds
'Thoughts'- '...'
Chapter 4
God's Eye
As the team made their way out of the training simulator Forge immediately signaled them to board the Ship. Moreno placed Chamber's arm over his shoulder to escort on-board as she limp enthusiastically trying to match his pace.
"You still got it commander." Moreno laughed, the team laughed and joked ecstatic for the battles to come, and why shouldn't they? It had been an overwhelming victory against an opponent they had never faced before.
The Lt. Miles however was not amazed the rest of the team may not have picked up on it, but he was absolutely certain that a prototype MECH entering the simulator was no accident, nor was the fact that it was loaded with live rounds. It was a test. The Director wanted to see what he could do, and hopefully he gave him exactly what he wanted, less likely he'll interfere in the team's future endeavors that way. Forge decided to ignore the director involvement for now, he had already decided that he didn't trust him. Lucy, however was another matter, whether he liked it or not she was on-board his ship. The fact that she might choice to follow the Director's orders over his own during a life or death situation was more than a little unsettling. He had to make a move, but what? It was at times like this that the isolation of command became almost too much to bare, it was at times like this that more than anything he wished he could ask Hawkins for advice, but she wasn't here. Instead Forge had to pick himself up and despite being faced with the unforeseen he had to press on, but what frightened him most is that he'd be doing it all alone.
[Play Halo ODST Project Valkyrie The Director Theme on You Tube]
Director's Office
The Director sat in the darkness of his office starring hungrily at the continually cycling footage of Forge's and Phantom's recent impressive display. "Glorious." The Director whispered under his breath just loud enough for the man dressed in the white lab coat just behind him to hear.
"Impressive." The man dressed in white said nonchalantly, "It would appear that the lieutenant is finally able to access his mutation at will."
"Mutation?" The Director mocked," That word has such negative connotations. What we have here is a classic case of Darwin theory of Evolution."
"Natural Selection sir?" The man in white added.
"Indeed." the Director smiled, "If organisms don't evolve they'll die out. Humanity is no different. With humanity being consumed by war for the last half century individuals like Lt. Miles become evermore important for the survival of our race." As the director finished his sentence he handed the man in the white lab coat a file pretaining to the lieutenant. A file that he failed to bring to the lieutenant's attention when he was present.
The man in white began to browse as he spoke, "What am I looking at here?"
"Tell me." The Director spoke "Are you familiar with the Spartans?"
"Of course." The man in white answered, "In fact from what I've heard the Spartan IV program is already well underway."
"No, before that." The Director explained, "To a time where we still fought among ourselves, to a time before the scope of our battles could leave an entire planet uninhabited for a millennia"
"You mean…" The man in white tried to speak only to be cut short.
"Yes!" the Director interrupted,"I speak of course of the Spartans of ancient Greece. Then was a time when we took it among ourselves to eliminate the weak with our ranks so that only the strong could thrive." the Director paused, "We've move away from that way of thinking, believing now that the weak must be protected."
"Diversity is necessary for the evolution of a species, The more genes present in a gene pool the unique and adaptable that species can became. If we were to lose the 'weak' as you call them, well... who knows what else we'd be losing"The scientist's eyes were captured by a certain phase as he continued the glance over the lieutenant's file. "Ab... Absolute Perception." The man in the white coat couldn't stop himself from uttering those words as he eyes came upon them.
"Indeed." the director cracked a smile, "The lieutenant's gifts are indeed quite rare. Of the billions of homo-sapiens that exist throughout the cosmos I can count the amount of people who possess this ability on a single hand. Absolute Perception; one of the controversial and as yet unproven theory about the continuation of human evolution, those who possess this ability are thought by some to be the next stage of human development. The God's Eye allows an individual the capability to enter into a state of enhanced awareness and peak physical ability. While in this state, said person can demonstrate heightened reflexes and extremely quick information processing."
"The God's Eye?" the man in white uttered with curiosity in his voice.
"My apologies." the Director caught himself, "That's just what me and my coalition of interested individuals have gotten into the habit of calling it. As of right now very little is known about this ability the only physical characteristic we've been able to observe have been a decrease the natural tremble exhibited by all humans and a blue tint in the eyes. Little else is known."
"You make it sound like you've been able to observe this phenomenon up close, however I doubt the lieutenant would ever consent to such a thing." The man in white observed.
"Remember the part where I told you that there were a hand full of people with this ability some were more willing to cooperate than other," The Director smiled.
"Young Adam Gideon?" The Scientist whisper under his breath.
"He was a potentially lucrative Investment."
Boarding the Ship
As they boarded the ship they were surprised to see that it appeared to be bigger on the inside than the out, if that's were even possible. Moreno stopped for a bit to admire the scenery whistling an impressed tone while uttering a single word, "Beautiful." Chambers was all too happy to remind him that he was carrying a wounded Marine with a swift jab to the gut with her free hand.
"You can be mesmerized later, now take me to the med bay before I bleed out all over the new carpet" she exaggerate knowing full well how shallow the wound truly was.
"Yeh yeh." Moreno groaned, "You know.."he started before Chambers place another soft blow to his mid section. "Ouch, okay okay. Loca."
Lt. Miles made his way to the bridge, only to have Lucy appear on a the Monitor soon after. He knew she'd follow him, whether she wanted to state her calm for what had happened before or merely gaze his reaction and pretend like nothing happen he was unsure. However, whether she was the Director AI or not he felt that she desired his approval for one reason or another. The lieutenant quickly decided to use that to his advantage. Lucy started,"uh..."
"Chambers... Is she gonna be okay." the lieutenant quickly interrupted her trying to passively make Lucy reflect on what she had done.
"Uh." Lucy quickly began to stubble over her words until she was finally able to respond,"You know her better than then I do it'll take a lot more than that to keep someone like her out of the fight."
"What happened down there?" Lt. Miles asked. She only had two direction to go from here she could either play fool and state she didn't know what he was talking about, allowing him to keep her at arm reach at all times under the pretenses that she was unreliable and uninformed, however if she decided to tell him the truth then perhaps she could be trusted. 'What will you do Lucy will you lie to your commanding officer and hide the Director's dirty laundry or will you come clean?'
To the Lieutenants surprise Lucy wasted not time in ratting out her employer,"Its simple really the director wanted to see what you could do. So... I did what I had to do."
"Oh." The Lieutenant paused trying to found the words.
" I was Impressed to say the least." Lucy continued, "The director said you were good but I could have never imagined."
"It was nothing...just relax and let the training take over that's all." Lt. Miles caught himself realizing he was now on the defensive,"Lucy I need to know whether or not I can trust you, what you did got one of my people injured, the last thing I need is for it to happen again or worst."
"I was under orders commander, what do you want from me."Lucy blustered sounding slightly distressed. The Lieutenant smiled as he relieved a transparent cylinder container with black gears holding it together,"You can't be serious... I designed this ship and now you're trying to shut me off like I'm some kind of vicious dog."
"Consider it an act of good faith." Lt. Miles replied,"I've only taken away your access to the Ships hardware based functions like weapons and steering, you'll still be responsible for the ship's cyber-warfare sweeps and mission Intel."
"Yay." said Lucy with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
"I appreciate the sarcasm." Lt. Miles stated catching onto Lucy settle backtalk almost immediately,"And, just for the record your not helping you case here. "
"Well..." Lucy pondered,"can I at least be stationed in the Bridge, seeing as you just lightened my work load a bit, a good view could make the time go by a little faster."
"That I can do." The lieutenant agreed,"Hopefully, this arrangement of ours will only be temporary. Like it or not Lucy your part of my crew, and I know it may not seem like it now but, I'm looking out for you."
Lucy began uploading herself to the portable unit as the lieutenant left the room, She smiled to herself,"Part of a crew huh? Sounds nice."
[Play Halo 4 Atonement on Youtube]
Med Bay
"Give me that!" Chambers shouts.
"Ma'am I don't think..." one of the ship's medical personnel speaks reaching for the scalpel that Staff Sergeant Chambers had commandeered for herself to no avail.
"Ma'am!" Chambers replied,"Do I look like an officer to you? I work for a living, got that!"
"I heard that." the lieutenant grinned entering the room.
"Not you Forge." Chambers rephrases her statement," I just meant ever other Mommy's boy and rich girl in the UNSC who happens to wear the same rank as you."
"Thanks for the clarification." Lt. Miles smiles as Chambers removed her helmet. He hadn't seen her face in some time she had an aura about her that could only be obtained by the double-edged sword of maturity. She had remarkably soft feature for someone who had almost seen as much battle as himself. Her short brown hair sparkled and clang to her face with the perspiration of the day's training, some how making her hazel eyes all the splendid. he laughed to himself as he thought that if this had been his first time meeting her, he may have made the mistake of thinking she needed protecting. However, Chambers was more than some damsel in distress, always had been. If you need a marine to have your back there were few if any that could fulfill the requirements as well as she could,"How ya hold'in up?"
"This is nothing to me, Commander." Chamber replied,"This is no worst than the time when I had to reattach my own trigger finger back in New Mombasa."
"Yeah... That never happened."Lt. Miles explained.
"Ssssssssshhhhhhhh. The new guy doesn't know that." Chamber welled,"Are you trying to ruin my street cred."
"You don't have any street cred." Lt. Miles interjected.
"Sssssshhhhhh. New guy don't know that either." Chambers laughed a smile ingrained on her face."So what's up Forge? I know you didn't just come here because you missed my sunny disposition."
Lt. Miles glanced toward the two medical personnel that were present and said strongly,"We're gonna need a minute." the two nurse nodded acknowledging the command before saluting the lieutenant and leaving the room. " What's your opinion on our current situation?"
"Hard ball right out of the gate huh Commander?" Chambers acknowledged placing pressure on her open wound to stop the blood flow,"This Director guy I don't trust him. In fact if it wasn't for the fact that he told us you'd be leading the mission I would have left a long time ago. Don't think I'm the only one on the team that feels that way."
"I can't be the only reason you signed on. What did he offer you? How did he approach you?" The lieutenant asked.
"It's... Its complicated." Chamber replied,"Lets just say a problem came up and his way was the only way I could solve it, and believe me I tried a half dozen other ways nothing worked."
"A little too convenient if you ask me." the lieutenant analysed.
"You're preaching to the choir Commander." Chamber continued,"I've talk to Moreno, his situation is a little too similar for me to be okay with anything that goes on here."
"What happened?" Lt. Miles questioned.
"Uh, its Moreno's business I think he should be the one to tell you." Chamber explained. "Is that all you need Commander? I should probably close up this wound before I'm too dizzy to do it myself."
"There is one more thing." The lieutenant began.