1300 Hours, January 30, 2525(Military Calendar)
UNSC High Command (HighCom) Facility Bravo-5,
Sydney, Australia, Earth
Most officers were not allowed a private state room in a UNSC HighCom facility before they reached the rank of General, Major Ackerson, however, didn't see himself as "most" officers. He amused himself with this fact again as he lit another one of his cigars, and put its successor in the ashtray sitting on his desk. It wasn't his ashtray; it belonged to the general who previously occupied the room. Ackerson had convinced him that he deserved the room, and the senior officer gladly gave it up.
Ackerson's door opened, and a petty officer walked in. She could barely see his face through the shadows, but she knew he had that horrible, snide look he always had on his face, and simply set a data pad on his desk. As she turned to leave she was fully aware that the Major's eyes drifted lower and lower, until her slender frame turned the corner out of view.
He knew what the message would surely say, and decided not to read it. Ackerson never really intended for his plans to work, he simply wanted to keep Dr. Halsey on her toes. He wanted to remind her that he was not someone to play around with. He wanted to make sure that she knew he was still out there.
Ackerson had originally been paired with the Doctor on the SPARTAN project. From the moment he met her he disliked her, but he tried to keep that secret. They had luckily been focused on different parts of the project, and Ackerson only had to deal with her through memos and brief meetings. Ackerson had been assigned the project through an old ONI buddy, and had been expecting great rewards upon its completion. Dr. Halsey, however, wanted only to save the UNSC from crumbling. She believed all the recruitment crap spewed by the High Brass to keep numbers up, and more men and women joining the UNSC. Ackerson knew there was no threat of rebellion, or of any real disaster.
He kept that too himself and slowly watched Dr. Halsey go about planning her little freak show. Ackerson couldn't wait for it to be over, so he could get himself a nice promotion, and then dump the project, and start on something useful. Of course, the good Doctor had something else planned entirely. Upon completion of the Spartan Is she proceeded to disobey direct ONI orders and attempted to save her precious subjects from their predetermined death. Ackerson had planned for this, and installed a toxin during one of the last augmentations. Happy his part was over Ackerson left Reach for Earth. It was only later that he learned Halsey had him kicked off the project only three months before completion, and that one of the Spartan Is had survived.
1500 Hours, November 22, 2524(Military Calendar)/Reach Medical Complex, Planet Reach
Dr. Catherine Halsey adjusted her glasses and began typing in the access codes to her SPARTAN project's datafiles. Around her were several of the Artificial Intelligence units assigned to her project. Her personal A.I., Déja, was examining the most recent test results, and the other A.I.s were surely also working on things related to the upcoming augmentation. The preparations of almost twenty years were coming to fruition, the SPARTAN project was nearing completion, and Halsey was extremely pleased.
The sliding doors that separated her workroom from the rest of the Complex hissed open, and Halsey's assistant walked in. When she had first met Ackerson he had been a charming, ambitious Second Lieutenant. That was five years ago, now Ackerson was a Major, and ready to pounce on anything that could get him a good word with HighCom. He had accepted the project begrudgingly, knowing full well its importance with the Brass. Halsey had often heard him call it a "freak show", but he was a helpful asset, and she was glad to have him. Ackerson had the ability to get Halsey anything she wanted, as long as she never asked where or how he got it.
Ackerson settled himself into his chair, turned on his monitor and got to work. Halsey doubted it pertained to the Project, but she was too busy to care. One of the A.I.s attempted to interact with him, but he shrugged it off and continued typing furiously. Ackerson could not seem to stay focused on one thing for more than five minutes, and Halsey could tell he was up to something new. She just hoped it didn't involve her, and went back to work.
Halsey respected Ackerson, and found him intriguing, but she still kept her distance. She knew full well that he was a dangerous man, and that the sooner he was off the project, the better.
As he turned from his monitor, and began to leave the cramped room, he was startled by the hiss of the doors opening before he reached the sensor. In the frame stood Jacob Keyes, the Naval officer who assisted Halsey while she scouted the Spartan II's. Ackerson simply brushed past him and continued walking, Keyes entered the room, and he navigated through the A.I.s to reach Halsey. She stood up to shake Keyes hand, but he simply saluted her. As Halsey awkwardly retracted her hand Keyes began to speak.
"Ma'am, I have some bad news," he told her. Keyes could tell that Halsey had yet to here the announcement, and she did not know that Section Three had passed down the order to terminate the SPARTAN Is. Not wanting to tell her himself, Keyes directed her to the nearest computer and opened the message. Halsey's eyes darted quickly down the screen, and her expression went from bad to worse. As she stood up Keyes thought she was going to hit him. Instead, she turned to Ackerson's computer and began to enter access codes. She opened up the ghost program she had installed on Ackerson's computer, and found the last program he had been working on; sure enough, it was his Augmentation Simulator. He had added a new element, and Halsey attempted to search for it. She attempted to bring up a list of the processes, but the computer asked for a password, she opened up the ghost program and looked for the password, as it came up she began to type it into the screen, the whole room went black.
Keyes thought he heard her utter a word usually reserved for intoxicated sailors. Keyes was used to such language, but not from Halsey. He watched her in the dark as she
attempted to restore power to the network. As she slid from computer to computer on a small chair the auxiliary power came on. Small flashing red lights came to life overhead, and Keyes sat down watching her glimpse by glimpse as the red lights illuminated and faded. He couldn't help but admire her subtle beauty, and her striking personality. The Good Doctor was definitely one of a kind, Keyes thought to himself. She started typing faster, and switched between computers more often.
For ten minutes she battled the system, and there were several times when the power came on, only to short out in seconds. Finally, she got the system running again and simply put her head in her hands. Then she got up, looked at Keyes like she just realized he was there, and, with a rather suspicious smile said, "Let's go for a walk,"
"Keyes, what
do you think this project is?"
"A UNSC funded physiological
study, ma'am."
"I've told you many times Jake, you're horrible at lying. What do you really think all this is?" She looked deeply into his eyes and for the first time Keyes thought she earnestly cared for him.
"You're up to something, ma'am. This is some kind of genetics experiment. You've been visiting a lot of UNSC hospitals and research stations since we finished studying those kids. Now, I don't know how those kids we studied are tied into this…oh, doctor, please don't tell me you're gonna mess with those kids. They've got so much to live for. Think of John, or Fhajad, or Sam. Are you really planning on turning them inside out for some study? What if John died? Would that be worth it Doctor? What could you possibly learn that would be worth that kid's life?"
"That's what were going to find out Mr. Keyes."