Chapter 16
Slight Changes
September 18, 2554
08:30 Hours, Earth Time
AESIR's Headquarters
ODST Spec Ops Unit, November Six, aka Nova Team
Personnel: Commanding Officer Trent Miles
Location: New Mombasa, Southern Kenya
[Play Halo Cloaked in Blackness on YouTube]
"Demons, huh?" Lt. Miles utters trying to make his way to his feet still gripping his side."Might as well have called me an inhuman freak!"
"Chill out" Armin interjected, "It's not like demon directly translates into SPARTAN. More like a powerful foe... or ya know just a pain in the ass." she takes her helmet revealing her all too memorable dark red hair, she had let it grow out, now tied into a ponytail resting just below her shoulders and her eyes now had an intense fire to them. "And after seeing the smackdown you two gave that split chin freak, I'd believe it..."
Lt. Miles reaches for his communicator only to remember it had been stolen from him with frustration in his voice he speaks, "Still the know it all I see."
She chuckles, "What can I say? Some habits die hard."
"Armin, I assume you've been briefed?"
Armin places her helmet on the ground rest her right foot atop it and lights up a cigarette she takes a single puff looking up as she does before returning her gaze to the lieutenant and giving him a wicked smile, "You mean about the suicide mission."
The lieutenant is taken aback as he feels his heart sink, "The Director didn't tell me anything about a suicide mission." Although he never ruled it out as a possibility.
Armin takes another puff from her cigarette before continuing, "It's just a hunch, in my line of work, once you see a certain number of zeros on you're paycheck you're either getting paid to get killed... or they're tryna buy your body, and I don't think this is that type of party."
Lt. Miles notices the rookie making a futile attempt to salvage his crushed rifle, it was bent at a forty-five-degree angle, The lieutenant knew that no amount of elbow grease was gonna fix that. "What happened to you Armin?" he said as he approached the rookie.
She exhaled softly, "I grew up." in one swift motion the lieutenant pinned the rookie up against a nearby wally and proceeded to search him only then did he manage to find the data module the Lance Corporal had previously recovered from the elite's dead body. Lt. Miles shakes the module in front of the Gideon visor. "What's going on over there?" Armin says in a detached tone.
"What's on this?"
Gideon shrugs. It was clear that he didn't know. Armin now interested chimes in, "Yo Forge, toss it here." he hesitates for a moment now entirely sure who's side she's on, "Hey asshat do the words not your domain ring any bells." he tosses it to her as she extinguishes her cigarette. She takes a knee and placed the module in the device attached to her left arm, the data module slides in perfectly.
"Anything?"
"Nothing right now. It's encrypted. I could probably bypass it but stayin in one place for too long makes my stomach turn... Who's the new guy?"
"A work in progress." The lieutenant releases his hold on the young trooper," We'll continue this back on the ship. Extraction has become the primary objective?"
"Slow your roll Forge." Armin interjects, "I still have a mission to complete here."
"What? Playing terrorist." Lt. Miles interrupted
She places one of her hands on her hip, "So you already know my employers? That makes this easy."
"Mission's over!" Lt. Miles continues, "We're getting out of here and you're coming with, that's an order."
Armin laughs, "I see the Director didn't go over the minutiae of my contract with you now did he?" She smirked, "I didn't rejoin the UNSC for this little mission of yours. I enjoy my freedom as a merc way too much, So the director hired me on as a private contractor." She tosses him back the data module. "Meaning, I'll still work with you, but you're not the boss of me."
"Is that so?" Lt. Miles exclaimed, "Yet another detail the Director conveniently forgot to mention. So what exactly is this mission of yours?"
"I'm so glad you asked." Armin smiled, "We're gonna bring down a warlord. Gina Sergei, otherwise known as Sergei of the North Star." Lt. Miles eyes sharpened as he recognized this name, Gina Sergei a former leader of the Insurrection who was abandoned even by them for what could only be described as crimes against humanity. Noticing the lieutenant's body tense up Armin continued, "I see you've heard of her. Poison gas, child soldiers, nuking from orbit on populated areas... to her victory is more important than anything even human life... Especially human life."
"Sounds like a complete psychopath."
"My thoughts exactly!" Armin enthusiasm in her voice, "She's got a hefty bounty on her head too, I don't mean the brag, but let's say it's somewhere in the ballpark of half the GDP of this shithole of a city, ya know before we wrecked it... the second time..."
"So what, you joined AESIR to get closer to your target?"
"Bingo! Problem is she stays at the center of the facility, I'd never get out alive. and that's assuming she doesn't kill me first, making a move anytime before now would've been suicide plain and simple."
"What's changed?"
She points Nova team emblem on his shoulder, "Stronger together, am I right?"
"And why should we lift a finger to help you, Private Contractor?"
"Assuming that we're doing a hop, skip and a jump over the part where I just saved your ass... Plainly, I'm already out of time." Armin sighs, "Any longer and I'll be forced to turn tail before she gets wise to what I'm up to."
"Sounds like all we need to do is just wait until your whole plan falls in on itself."
"You would say that until you realize that if I run she'll assume I betrayed her and ran off with the fragment of the Superintendent."
"Fragment of the Superintendent?"
"The thing she hired to find." She continued, "I guess the best way to describe it would be sort of a pseudo-A.I. Smart enough to run a city and inconspicuous enough not to be discovered unless you're actively looking for it, completely harmless on its own."
Just then Lt. Miles nonchalantly leans up against a nearby wall, "You've already found it, haven't you?"
Armin stands stunned for a moment carefully trying to pick the right words to convince him how dumb the notion of such a thing would be. However the words fail to come to her, and the lingering silence of her lack of response lasted for far too long. Even if she could come up with something believable, it'd be clear she was hiding something. She raises her arms in defeat a mischievous smirk ever present on her face. "Fucking A! You got me."Armin reaches into her backpack and pulls what could only be described as a piece of rubble, but there was something strange about it. Glowing runes circled it in opposing direction. The collective coloration gave it a bluish tint. There were wires connecting it to Armin's backpack "How'd you figure me out?"
"You just told me... So that's it then?"
Armin nods, "Feast your eyes on probably the last fragment of the Superintendent. Found it a couple weeks back. Been holding onto it for, ya know..." She makes a motion towards her weapon, "This thing's insane, it's be optimizing programs I didn't even know I installed. I can see how it could definitely have its uses, but as for what AESIR could want with it... Your guess is as good as mine."
"So what? Your boss has just been sitting on world twiddling her thumbs until now?"
Armin shakes her head, "They've been trying to build one from scratch for months now, been using the notes of some scientist that died during the war, Dr. Endes... Endoha, I can't remember."
"So what do you think Sergei would do if she found out you left the city?"
"Can't be 100 percent sure on that, but if I had to go with my gut she'd probably blow up the city."
"You can't be serious..."
"It's just a hunch, but I don't see why she wouldn't. I do have the fragment after all."
"Then get rid of it!"
"And give up my only bargaining chip! Are you sick in the head Forge?"
"And if we tried to take you by force?"
[Play Battlefield Ambience Warhammer 40,000 on YouTube]
Armin pulls her SMG out of her holster examines the left side of it followed by the right. Ejects her magazine and takes notes of the ammo inside. She inserts the clip and calmly states, "I'd like to see you try." The lieutenant could only shake his head in disbelief. Just then an orange flare fills the sky with its light. Hovering just beneath the clouds causing them to reflect the light and emit an orangish hue although not quite as intense as the flare. Knowing with this means instinctively reaching for his communication device only to be reminded that it was still missing. He makes his way to the rookie who braces himself to be ravaged again only for the lieutenant to hold out his hand and ask for his communicator, the rookie quickly obliged. "Someone you know?"
Lt. Miles holds up one finger in Armins direction suggesting that she give him a minute."Attention this is Lt. Miles of the UNSC! Can anyone read me?" The sound of distant gunfire continues to permeate throughout the city. He raises his voice hoping that it will make a noticeable difference.
"..."
"I repeat, this is Lt. Miles is anyone there?"
"...mander..." Just then an explosion goes off slightly closer than all other before, the lieutenant isn't about to make out what was said.
"Say again!"
"Commander this is Ssgt Chambers! Great to hear the sound of your voice sir."
"Chambers, we've rendezvoused with Armin, but we're behind enemies lines. We need an assist!"
"We'll do what we can on our end, but I can't make any promises."
Thinking back to the color of the flare the lieutenant recalls it was orange meaning this was an unsecured channel. "Understood! We're heading in your direction."
"Commander we've made contact with the local UNSC forces. The situation's much worst then we've anticipated."
"We've run into a few complications on our end too. Remember the mission objective we discussed?"
"Sir?"
"Well, there's been slight changes!"
"Roger that. We'll send a flare-up every fifteen minutes to give you some direction."