Chapter Eleven: Recon, Of Sorts
October 13, 2552 1542 hours
Blade's Bunkhouse
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
Linda was watching the bunkhouse near the southern border of the base; apparently this was Blade's living quarters. Inserting a fiber-optic probe through a crack in the window frame, she sent back to her fellow Spartans an image of an unusually stressed young woman, pacing back and forth and talking to someone they couldn't see. Oddly enough, she was unarmed: usually she had at a pair of combat knives around her waist at all times.
"Lorienna, we don't have much time. Ackerson's sending me on another nasty black op, and I need all the info I can get."
"Say no more, I'll get right on it. What do you need?" The voice sounded familiar, almost Blade's but not quite; it took Linda a moment to recognize it as belonging to Laura's personal AI.
"I need whatever you can find in ONI's database on the Covenant: weaponry, personnel, tech files, ship schematics, anything you can dig up." Blade paused for a moment and added, almost as an afterthought, "If you can pull files on the Spartans, that would be good, too."
"Perhaps I misheard, Laura," the disembodied voice replied. "You want data on the Spartans as well?"
"Yes, you heard correctly. In order to enact the perfect mission, one must know the strengths and weaknesses of all the participants. I need to know exactly what these people are capable of, how they work in certain environments, what makes them tick. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
"Of course you do, and yet, I wonder if this is the entire reason for your interest in those particular files." There was a hint of amusement in Lorienna's tone, enough to make Blade stop pacing and glare at someone Linda couldn't see.
"Just get the files as soon as you can, and we're doing a direct transfer to save time."
"You realize that's going to be painful," Lorienna cautioned. "With the amount of data coming in, there's a risk of informational overload."
"We don't have time to do things safely. Just do the data transfer, and hope." Blade flipped up her braid of dark brown hair to expose her neural interface, and slipped on an unusual headset: it had a point that mated perfectly with her neural interface. Once she had the headset on, Blade flipped a switch and winced as a flood of digital information filled her brain. Watching her face, Linda realized it must have hurt like hell.
"Ow, that hurt," she murmured weakly. "But I think it was worth it. Okay, let's see what we have to work with." She began pacing again, this time appearing less panicked and more thoughtful.
Blade suddenly stopped pacing and looked around, apparently sensing something amiss. She stared hard at the window, and Linda moved away, hiding herself only just in time. Blade came to the window, found the probe, and snapped it in half as easily as if it was only a twig. She scanned the area, a nervous look in her eyes. A moment later, Linda heard her voice, and it almost sounded worried.
"Lorienna, boost intruder countermeasures to peak levels, and lock every door and window. Do it NOW!" There was a definite sense of panic in her voice now.
Linda moved quickly, slipping in the door before it was shut and locked. She soft-footed it through the bunkhouse, marveling at the carved wooden items, the sparse yet comfortable-looking furnishings, and a good-sized family portrait on one wall. She slowed when she heard Blade's voice.
"Ok, let's go over the Spartans' basic strengths and weaknesses. I know they're the best, but even the greatest things have flaws; it proves they're normal. We'll start with SPARTAN-043, William: quiet, dependable, gets the job done, pretty decent tracker, his only real weakness being his stubborn determination to win. They all have that flaw, thanks to ONI: losing is unacceptable, winning is everything.
"SPARTAN-058, Linda: loner, crack shot—better than me accuracy wise, her weakness being that she's a loner—could be a liability in group environment, not to mention that it could easily get her killed when she's on her own.
"SPARTAN-104, Frederic: good leadership skills, decent close-combat specialist, quick to think on his feet, reliable to an extent. Weakness: he feels a bit much for his team, and hates losing to the point of jealousy—could be detrimental in the extreme. Keep an eye on that one, I don't trust him.
"SPARTAN-117, John: Squad leader, brave, apparently a good strategist/leader. Obvious weakness: he tries to win rather than survive. Again, they all think winning is life, and have no consideration for basic survival outside of the mission. Sad, really."
"What exactly do you mean?" the AI asked.
"You above all people shouldn't need to ask me that," Blade replied quietly. No one every taught then that there was more to life than winning, poor souls. She smirked at the thought of what people might say if they knew what she was thinking. "You know my mind better than most. Now, let's look at the Covenant data, what we have anyway. The Spartans will definitely be an asset here, they're bound to be more familiar with Covenant warships than I am."
"I wouldn't be so sure. You've had a lot of experience as well," Lorienna replied.
"Mostly freighters, and the occasional dropship. They've been onboard cruisers more than I have. Now, the plans?"
A schematic of a Covenant cruiser popped onscreen on a data terminal nearby. Blade studied it intently, looking at key areas on the ship: bridge, engineering, barracks, medical. One unusual room caught her eye, and she prodded the image with the eraser end of a pencil.
"Lorienna, what is this?"
"It would appear to be a central access point for the Covenant environmental controls. Specifically, this recycles their atmosphere, which is mostly oxygen. The atmospheric controls for the Grunts' barracks appear to be unaffected by this air recycling system."
"Interesting, a possible weak point in the mighty Covenant armor," Blade mused, tapping the pencil thoughtfully against her chin. "There may be something there we can use. See if you can find anything more." She turned around in time to see Linda standing in the doorway. Her shock lasted only for a minute or two before she assumed a fighting stance, clearly expecting the worst.
"What the hell are you doing here? How did you get in?"
"Why I'm here is not important. As for getting in, I managed to slip in the door before you locked it down. What are you doing with our files?"
"Trying to figure out a way to complete an impossible mission, not that it really concerns you. Besides, I'm not stupid: once the mission is over I'll be dead either way." Blade's dark eyes narrowed dangerously, reminding Linda of the briefing they'd had with Ackerson a couple weeks ago. "You and your ilk aren't welcome in my quarters. If you're as smart as your files portray, you'll leave and not come back. Unless you really want to see what I'm capable of, I suggest you leave."
"I doubt you'd try to kill me," Linda replied. "If that were the case, you would have tried it by now. Maybe you should reconsider before something happens that you'll regret."
"I've been regretting things for nearly thirty years, so what's one more. Now get out." Blade clearly wasn't going to allow her near, so Linda pretended to listen. As she made her way to the exit, a voice seemed to echo in her mind: it was as though an AI was interfacing with her neural net.
"Don't worry, she's just paranoid lately. Stay here and listen, I'll try and take care of everything"
Linda stopped and listened, her sharp ears catching the conversation between Blade and the disembodied voice of Lorienna, who apparently had some sort of plan in mind.
"You know, Laura, that was rude even by your standards."
"She's ONI. She and the others trust ONI to the core, and would do anything they were ordered to do without question. They're going with me to capture the Covenant ship, but I have a feeling they'll be the only ones coming back."
"You seriously don't think—" the AI began.
"Yep. If Ackerson ordered them to kill me and gave them even a vague reason as to why, they'd do it without question. I can take out one, maybe two if I'm lucky, but not all of them at once."
"I seriously doubt they'd kill you without question. Perhaps you're just being paranoid since Ackerson hates you."
"Lorienna, trust me. I know what I see. I know people, even those who barely qualify as such, and Ackerson most definitely fits into that latter category. I've had thirty-seven years to learn about the world, and I don't like some of what I'm seeing. People respect and fear the Spartans, but they hate and fear me, and they always will, even though I'm one of them." Blade shook her dark hair out of her eyes, since a few strands had come out of her braid. "I'll always be alone. Not even the Spartans would befriend me even if it were allowed."
"The way you just treated that one, I'm not surprised they're less than interested in your company."
"Even if I were civil, they wouldn't associate with me. They think I'm a civilian, of all things." Blade paused, her eyes narrowing again. "You had to have known she was here, Lorienna. You knew and gave no warning. Why?"
"You can't continue like this, Laura, it's killing you," the AI responded. "Yes, I knew she was there, and I knew she was unarmed. It won't hurt to trust them a little, but you've been hunted for so long you see death in every place. This can't continue."
"Lorienna, why have you betrayed me?" Blade asked, her voice cracking slightly as one hand maneuvered over a keyboard. Linda realized she was powering down the AI, and Lorienna must have realized it too. When the AI spoke again, her voice was sad and resigned.
"To have done nothing would have been a greater betrayal, Laura. The Spartans aren't your enemy, ONI is. They don't know what happened to you, but they aren't as cold-blooded as you fear. You simply refuse to see it." Then there was silence. As Linda watched, Blade clenched her hands into fists, obviously trying to regain control. Her dark eyes flicked to a small dresser nearby, and she moved out of sight for a moment; when she came back, there was a pair of combat knives strapped to her waist. Clearly she was planning to make sure her bunk was secure; Linda moved quietly back towards the bunkhouse entrance, slipping out of the door. She'd barely made it out of sight when Blade exited, dark eyes flicking around. Just as she was approaching Linda's hiding place, a noise distracted her.
"Blade!"
Helljumpers, great, Laura winced inwardly as she saw the soldiers approaching. Rookies, too, from the looks of things. Glad that she had her knives with her, even though she hoped she wouldn't need them, she stood nonchalantly as they approached.
"Do you have nothing better to do than waste my time?" she drawled, trying hard to sound bored; inside she was angry at what she knew would be coming.
"Why ain't you on the front lines where you belong, freak?" the leader asked.
"Gee, maybe because the brass won't let me go? I'd much rather be out there than cooling my heels here." She tried hard to keep her voice controlled, knowing how bad it would get if she let the hurt show, and knowing what else was coming.
"Don't get insolent with me, freak," the lead snarled. "I'll wipe the floor with you."
"Bring it."
Linda watched in fascination as the four Helljumpers charged, each trying to catch her off guard. Blade stood her ground, waiting for them to get in close, then flipped over the one in front of her. Grabbing his wrist, she twisted and broke it, kicked him in the chest, and smacked him in the side of the head; the Helljumper dropped to the ground, out cold, and Blade turned to deal with the rest of the attackers. She was a blur of motion, kicking, blocking, punching, and dodging with lightning speed. In a matter of seconds, it was all over, and the four soldiers were unconscious in front of their target, who shook her head sadly.
"When are they ever gonna learn?" she murmured sadly, before she went back inside.
Lorienna had guessed that her creator would shut her down, once she knew that she'd let SPARTAN-058 slip into the bunkhouse. She also knew she'd only have a few milliseconds before complete shutdown, and had slipped into ONI's networks for safety's sake. Lorienna sensed the various AIs in the system, including the famed Cortana, and avoided them as best she could. It was easy for her to lie low in the system, and as soon as she could she slipped herself into Nicole Mitchell's terminals. I'll be safe here, at least until Laura comes to her senses and reactivates my terminal. She's never been like this before, but then again she's never had reason to be before. I wish I could help her, but what can an AI do, especially when she's powered down?
When Nicole turned on her computer terminal later that evening, Lorienna materialized next to her.
"Miss Mitchell, we have a problem."
"What else is knew?" As Lorienna relayed her creator's activities to her best friend, Nicole sighed and shook her head.
"I should have guessed this would happen sooner or later. She's becoming more paranoid every day, thanks to ONI. Lie low here for a bit, Lorienna, until she comes to her senses. She always does, after a while."
"I hope you're right, Miss Mitchell. If she doesn't, I'm not sure what might happen."