Chapter Eighteen: Killer Obstacle Course
November 25, 2552 1030 hours
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
General West looked out over the obstacle course uneasily; Laura was scheduled to run it this morning in preparation for the upcoming operation, but Colonel Ackerson had made some 'modifications' to the course. He turned to the older woman standing next to him.
"Dr. Gedeon, maybe you shouldn't be here. You won't like what you see."
"Laura said the same thing, but I don't believe her reasons as to why. It's hard to believe that the UNSC would want to harm one of their own soldiers, no matter how different."
West didn't have the heart to contradict her; he'd seen what they tried to do. It's amazing how blind a parent can sometimes be, but how could she know? He cleared his throat and looked up to see Ackerson and four Spartans approaching. The Spartans were clad in normal military uniform, but looked uncomfortable and out of place in it, whereas Ackerson wore an uncharacteristically pleased look on his face.
"Blade should be about ready, General."
"Good. Bring the cameras online."
A nearby table held several viewscreens, which all came to life at the same time. Five showed the various sections of the obstacle course, one showed the end of it, and one showed the inside of a field command dome. Inside it, a young woman in a form-fitting blacksuit was finishing her preparations. She paused for a moment to flip her dark braid over her shoulder, look up and wave, a smile on her face that spoke volumes—she was worried, but prepared for whatever would be forthcoming.
"General West, you there?" From the sound of her voice, she was completely unconcerned about the day's events.
"I'm here, Laura. So's Colonel Ackerson. He's made a few minor… adjustments to the obstacle course."
"I had I feeling he might, so I prepared accordingly. You mind if I do some calisthenics while I wait? Nothing clears your head like a good round of callys."
"No, Blade, make whatever preparations you need." Ackerson's voice dripped with scorn that Laura and her mother both heard.
Inside the command dome, Laura stretched her limbs, did a series of slow backflips, and finished with slow karate moves. As her countdown elapsed, only West saw her hand move down to flip a switch at her belt. She turned back to the entrance as several Helljumpers entered and opened fire.
Dr. Gedeon was shocked. "What are you doing? This isn't an obstacle run, this is murder!"
West turned to her and shook his head. "I was afraid this would happen. You shouldn't be here, Doctor."
"I have to be here! That's my daughter out there!"
Laura, meanwhile, had known for a while about this attack, having confirmed her suspicions the night before by hacking into ONI's database. She had accordingly prepared some surprises of her own. The portable shield generator was one of these surprises; while she still hadn't fully worked out all the bugs yet, it was more than enough to counter standard UNSC munitions. She watched as the Helljumpers fired at her, then noticed her shieldbar was dropping ever so slightly. I think I've freaked them out enough. At that point, she moved like a blur, incapacitating her attackers with incredible speed. When the dome was clear, she waited while her shields recharged, taking guns, ammunition, grenades, and combat knives from her fallen enemies. She strapped as much as she could to her blacksuit, and loaded the rest into a hip-satchel she'd stowed there earlier.
"So, Ackerson, what did you think of my latest toy? Portable shield generator I designed for our Marines, which I've been aching to suitably test." There was a definite sound of sarcasm in her tone.
"How dare you--"
"I'll dare quite a few things to ensure my survival, just as you will to try and ensure my death. I'll still complete this course, in spite of your stacked deck, and by your own twisted rules."
Dr. Gedeon was speechless as she glanced at Colonel Ackerson, who was white with suppressed rage. Then she realized the truth: Laura had been right all along. How could I have been so blind? All this time she tried to tell me, and I never listened? She continued to observe the obstacle course, hoping and praying her daughter would survive it.
Laura had finally reached the gravel field, which recruits had to cross barefoot. She had a suspicion about this part of the course; pulling a grenade from her hip-satchel and arming it, she threw it into the gravel field and winced when a Lotus mine detonated.
"I had a feeling this would happen. Ackerson needs to get some new ideas; either that, or he needs to start using more complex encryptions on his files."
She looked exactly where the mine had detonated and backed away; getting up a good running start, she leapt into the air and landed in the safe zone. Several thrown grenades and several jumps later, she was through the minefield and running to the next part of the course.
This was a more difficult part: recruits had to crawl under barbed wire while live rounds were fired overhead. As she suspected, chainguns were lining each side of the course. Pulling a box-like shape from her pack, she held it to her face and said:
"Sever power lines to chainguns."
Immediately, several disks shot out from the box in all directions. West had seen them before: Laura used them for her workouts. He was also one of the few who had a basic idea how they worked. The disks were equipped with retractable blades and voice-encoded, Laura had told him once. All she needed to do was give a specific order and radio transmitters controlled the disks remotely. While they were severing the power lines, Laura crawled under the razor wire to the other side, and spoke one word: "Return." The blades retracted and the disks slotted themselves into the box.
"How did she know?"
"She's a lot smarter than she lets on, Ackerson. The fact that she was able to view your private files proves it. You only see her as stupid because you only see her as a mistake. As such, she can easily fool you."
"Blade is a nothing, a nobody, a mistake! I should have eliminated her long ago!" Ackerson snapped, momentarily forgetting where he was and who else was around.
"How dare you!" Dr. Gedeon screamed, the rage in her voice surprising the onlookers; they'd never seen her so angry. "That mistake is my daughter, and the most valuable asset you have! She is somebody, and worth more than you!"
Meanwhile, completely oblivious to the shouting match going on elsewhere, Laura had arrived at the rock wall, where the harness had been pulled to the top and the grips had been removed. No big deal, she thought. I can handle this. Taking her bladed disks out again, she threw them one at a time above each other to make handholds in the wall. It was a slow climb, and her hands were bleeding by the end of it, but she made it to the top. The Spartans were impressed, even more so that she could have invented the machines to get her this far. John remembered a similar situation on Reach, over twenty years ago, where a twelve-year-old girl had climbed a rock wall without a harness.
At the top of the wall, Laura called her bladed disks to return before she attached a rappelling rope to the top and started down, but Ackerson had other plans. A Helljumper sprang into view at the top of the wall and cut through the rappelling line. Laura fell like a stone to the bottom, several feet below; she hadn't expected this, because it hadn't been done to the Master Chief on Reach. Laura hadn't looked beyond those files, and mentally cursed herself for her arrogance and stupidity. She managed to slow her descent by rotating her body, but it wasn't nearly enough; when she hit the ground, several bones were fractured. Still, she limped on to the next part of the course.
While she was completing that, her mother had begun pleading with Colonel Ackerson to desist, but he refused. The Spartans were shocked that he could allow such brutality, but were afraid to do anything but watch. General West was appalled by Ackerson's behavior, but he too was helpless to do anything; Ackerson was a member of the Security Council, and he had immunity. He suddenly drew attention to the monitors, where Laura was beginning the sprint to the end of the course. A Skyhawk jet had just completed a strafing run and was wheeling about. Laura had only gotten halfway to the end of the course, but she stopped and turned to face the oncoming jet.
"General, do something! She'll never survive!"
"Doctor, my hands are tied. I can't do anything."
As the jet approached its target, they heard Laura's voice over the com, sounding tired but triumphant.
"My last toy that needs testing. Tell me what you think."
As the jet approached, the Spartans tensed; the Chief remembered running the course under similar circumstances. Fred leaned close and muttered, "She doesn't have armor! That missile will tear her apart!" John nodded, not wanting to share the fear he felt for this mysterious Spartan. He felt strongly for her, but didn't understand why.
The jet fired a Scorpion anti-tank missile at Laura, who stood her ground, not even trying to run. As the missile got closer, she started finally to move: as her hand moved to her belt and flicked a switch, she disappeared in front of everyone and threw a grenade as far away from herself as she could. As she'd hoped, the missile's motion-sensors locked on to the grenade and the missile turned toward the movement; when it did, Laura turned and began to run as fast as she could, just as the missile detonated a few meters away. When the smoke cleared, all the observers could see was a smoking crater.
"My baby! Laura!" Dr. Gedeon collapsed into sobs. John wished he could join her in grief. Only Ackerson looked triumphant, until the sound of a bell rang out clearly. Thirty-seven times it rang, a clear, piercing note. After about five seconds of silence, a tired voice came over the COM.
"One ring for every year of torment I've been through, one ring for every year ONI stole from my life. I'm heading back, so don't bother to send out a recovery team."
"Laura? Where are you?"
"Right here."
She appeared from out of thin air next to her mother, pale and bloody and limping, but alive. Everyone was shocked, thinking she had been killed by the blast.
"How on earth--"
"I've been working on this for some time. Cloaking device, stolen from the Covenant, reversed-engineered and modified to reduce heat output. I turned it on, tossed a grenade, and moved just before the missile detonated. If I had reacted any earlier than I did, the missile could have gone from targeting to heat-seeking mode, and I would've been dead; besides, motion sensors would have made running from the missile extremely difficult. It was a risk I had to take." One bloody eyebrow arched upwards as Laura recalled being yelled at during one of her workouts. "Fortunately, my pushing myself too hard too fast during my workouts has paid off; I had the speed I needed to avoid the worst of the impact. I was also damned lucky all the way around; there were so many ways that this could've gone wrong it's not even funny." She coughed, spat out blood, and turned to her mother. "I had hoped you'd never have to see this, never would have found out the truth like this. I'm sorry, Mom."
"You need to get to medical right away."
"Dr. Gedeon, if you even attempt to treat this—thing, it could cost you more than your life's worth." Ackerson was shaking with anger, but the threat behind his words was clear. Before anyone could react, Laura swung her closed fist as hard as she could and hit him across the jaw; there was an audible sound of bone crunching as it broke. From the force of the blow, it was plain to see that Laura had reached the end of her physical stamina; if she'd been at her peak she would have broken Ackerson's neck. As it was, Ackerson staggered backwards as Laura's dark eyes burned with rage, and when she spoke her voice quivered with barely restrained anger.
"You're damned lucky all you got was a broken jaw. But so help me, if you ever threaten anyone I care about again—and I will find out if you do, make no mistake—I will personally make sure you experience the pain and discomfort of the hell you've made me live a hundred times over! And before you get any ideas, remember that you can't court-martial someone who doesn't exist!"
As she turned away, Laura staggered, then fell to the ground, collapsing from extreme pain and blood loss. The Spartans rushed over to assist. Dr. Gedeon checked her daughter's vital signs and looked at them.
"I need to get her to the ER." They nodded and scooped her up. Carrying her to a nearby Warthog, they loaded up and drove to the medical center. John hoped to himself they would make it in time. I've never seen nerve like this before. If she dies, we'll lose a valuable asset. But somehow he knew he was hiding the whole truth from himself.
November 26, 2552, 1245 hours
Adams Medical Facility
Camp Hayes
Laura came to in a hospital bed, grimacing as soon as she realized where she was. I hate recovery rooms, I really do. She felt sharp pain in her right leg, and it hurt to breathe. Trying to sit up, she groaned as a fresh wave of pain flooded over her entire right side. That'll be from the missile; I can't believe I flew three meters, she thought wearily as she forced herself to stand up. Just as she was reaching for her uniform, the door opened.
"Laura Elizabeth!" her mother shouted; behind her Laura noticed four tall figures in the doorway.
"Yes, Mom?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.
"Get back in that bed this minute! You have no business moving this soon!"
"I daresay ONI would disagree," Laura snorted. "Any bets they'll have me back to my regular routine by tomorrow?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Dr. Gedeon snapped as she tried to push her daughter back into the bed.
"Mom, I'm fine," Laura muttered, then winced as her mother examined her right side.
"You always were a bad liar, Laura." The doctor shook her head. "Well, if you're insistent on moving this soon, at least take it easy for a few days, and go heavy on the biofoam, or else you're coming straight back here."
"Yes, ma'am." When the doctor left, Laura grabbed her uniform and started pulling it on, trying hard to ignore the four Spartans standing in the doorway.
"You sure you're fit?" Linda asked.
"Fit or not, I have to be up and about ASAP. There's still a lot of loose ends I need to take care of before we head out on that impossible mission. Besides, I hate hospital rooms."
"Why? I mean, you seem to spend a lot of time in this facility," Fred smirked.
Laura glared at him, her most intimidating look, the same one that could cause hard-core Marines to shit themselves. "I try not to go into in-patient rooms if I can help it. There's something about them that bother's me." And I'm not telling you what it is, not yet.
Reaching for her uniform pants, Laura finished dressing and tried to stand up; she'd been leaning against a chair when she'd been dressing. It hurt, but she detached herself from the pain and tried to move for the door. The Spartans noticed her limping, but she still carried herself proudly. If she can survive that, she's ready for the mission, John thought. I just wish she wasn't going.
Laura sensed the Spartans were studying her, and smirked. They may not be going to kill me, but they still don't trust me. Good, we're all on the same page. Well, almost. Nowadays she was having a hard time looking at the Master Chief without tons of butterflies going crazy in her gut. The last time she'd felt that was in high school, when she'd had crushes on various guys. This may not be a good thing, she thought. Hopefully he doesn't go on the mission. A stupid thought, since Spartans never turned down a mission, but she still hoped for it.