1700 Hours, November 27, 2525 (Military Calendar) / UNSC frigate Commonwealth en route to the
UNSC Damascus Materials Testing Facility, planet Chi Ceti 4
"So you used a rocket launcher to blow up their robot?"
"It was simple see…"
0600 Hours, November 22, 2525 (Military Calendar) / UNSC City of Chord, planet Coral
"You're Spartans, aren't you!"
"Correctly deduced sir, now here is my rocket! Say goodbye to your robot army!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"
"Daniel, what the hell are you talking about."
Daniel huffed as he turned around to see Ruchi staring at him. This was the second time she had interrupted his story and he was slightly annoyed she kept telling the truth. Daniel, for whatever reason, had wanted to exaggerate the story beyond reality, at one point there was Godzilla in it.
Ruchi shook her head in shame as she began to retell the events on their mission with John.
"We will enter the plaza at these two locations."
John pointed at the map, showing two different marked spots. He traced his finger throughout the small city and then stopped on a building.
"This is where we will rendezvous if anything goes array."
Once again his finger started moving, following roads and pathways until he reached another building.
"And this is the final location, our pickup and their base."
His index and middle finger spread to show both locations.
"Sir, there is three of us. How will we split up?"
John pondered for a moment, looking at Ruchi and then to Daniel who seemed to be oblivious for whatever reason. John had started to take a liking to Daniel, they worked flawlessly together, but his attitude at times could be worked on.
"I will take Daniel, hopefully our 'lucks' will balance each others out."
Ruchi smirked and , who had just been snapped out of his current day dream looked at John and nodded as well as though he had been listening the entire time, which in turn made John let out a small sigh.
Daniel and John stood at the same time, John just had to say something. "You should cut your hair. It is beyond regulation, that's why you sleep with your helmet on."
Did he really need to say that, Daniel wondered to himself. Pulling off his helmet his hair was that of a civilians. John wondered how he got away with it, even Ruchi was taken back. While not as long as he would like, his hair was almost down to regulation for a female marine's hair cut. His hair was an inch above the colar.
"Put your helmet back on. We have a mission to take care of."
Daniel complied and smiled, "Do you remember what the mission is?"
"To find and execute Hilford Janos. He might be heavily guarded or not guarded at all. Intel was not clear on that."
Daniel watched Ruchi nod and begin to run towards her destination, this would be a simple mission. He and John began to walk towards their destionat-
"Why are you telling them everything? I will skip to the fighting scene for you."
After walking around for what seemed like a good hour or so they had arrived at their location. Daniel was the first to notice that there were no guards at the door. "A trap?" John had suggested.
They had agreed that John would go in first then Daniel then Ruchi, to look nonconspicuous. Everything was going to plan, the dust picked up as they stared at the building. John walked straight in.
Daniel felt his heart beat, one after the other. He counted to thirty and then went in. He walked in to see John being security checked before being let in. This place was ridiculous, metal detectors, gel layers, scanners, the whole shebang.
"May I see your ID." the first guard asked.
Daniel checked his pockets before realizing he didn't have an ID, "Don't have one."
"Then why the bloody hell did you come in here?"
"I am Spartan Daniel 047 on a mission to eliminate a threat to this planet. We believe he is hiding at the top of this building so if you could just kindly let me pass…"
The alarms went off, hundreds no MILLIONS of soldiers as strong as Spartans rushed into the room. They all held rocket launchers and sent them flying, Daniel dodged them all.
"Ahem!"
Ruchi stared at Daniel who was using his arms and hands to explain the story. Realizing he was caught in his lie he went back to telling the truth.
All three Spartans had made it past security, they were sloppy and lousy. The Spartans walked to the elevator and rode it to the top. That's where they found him and they won the mission.
"So your mad I didn't let you over exaggerate your story?" Ruchi questioned.
"Yes!" Daniel almost yelled.
"But we preformed flawlessly, isn't that enough?"
"No!"
Ruchi rolled her eyes, she knew he was just acting childish in order to provoke her. Something like teasing but in a more sarcastic manner.
"Spartan-117,"Dr. Halsey's voice blared over the loudspeaker."Report to the bridge immediately."
John snapped to attention and keyed the intercom. "Yes, ma'am!" He turned to Sam. "Get everyone ready, in case we're needed. On the double."
"Affirmative," Sam said. "You heard the Petty Officer. Dog those cards. Get into uniform, soldier!"
The Spartans scrambled about, in a professional way mind you. Cleaning up the 'mess' they had made and got into their uniforms. It was done in less then two minutes.
The Captain's voice came onto the intercom, a hint of aggravation was laced with his words, "General quarters: all hands to battle stations. Seal bulkheads. I repeat: all hands, battle stations. This is not a drill. Reactors to ninety percent. Come about to course one two five."
The Spartans stood still, waiting for their orders.
John's voice boomed over the intercom, "Sam, muster the squad in Bay Alpha. I want that Pelican loaded and ready for drop in fifteen minutes."
"We'll have it done in ten,"Sam replied."Faster if those Longsword interceptor pilots get out of our way."
-
1845 Hours, November 27, 2525 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Damascus Materials Testing Facility,
planet Chi Ceti 4
The Spartans held true to their word. They had prepped the Pelican within ten minutes. Although it would have been quicker had it not been for the intersteller battle happening and the constant shaking. They were now groundside and confined to a very tight fit elevator. How they all fit was unknown but they did.
The elevator doors slid open painfully slow. The Spartans and Halsey entered what seemed to be a well-lit hangar. At the other end there was an obstacle course set up with walls, trenches, dummy targets, and barbed wire. Daniel smiled as it looked easy compared to the one they had to run as kids.
Daniel watched as at least a dozen AIs walzted about in the center of the room. They seemed to be going over something with the three human technicians. They, the AIs, all had different forms; a mermaid, a samurai warrior and one that seemed to resemble a dinosaur rather then a human.
Dr. Halsey cleared her throat. The technicians turned—the AIs vanished.
Daniel's focus shifted as he took notice of the Plexiglas mannequins that were set up in rows. On each was a suit of armor.
The armor had many layers; the outer layer reflected the overhead lights with a faint green-gold iridesence. It covered the groin, outer thighs, knees, shins, chest, shoulders, and forearms. There was also a helmet and integrated power pack, much smaller then the standard "battery sacks." Underneath were intermeshed layers of matte-black metal.
"Project MJOLNIR," Dr. Halsey said. She snapped her fingers and an exploded holographic schematic of the armor appeared next to her.
"The armor's shell is a multilayer alloy of remarkable strength. We recently added a refractive coating to disperse incoming energy weapon attacks—to counter our new enemies." She pointed inside the schematic. "Each battlesuit also has a gel-filled layer to regulate temperature; this layer can reactively change in density. Against the skin of the operator, there is a moisture-absorbing cloth suit, and
biomonitors that constantly adjust the suit's temperature and fit. There's also an onboard computer that interfaces with your standard-issue neural implant."
She gestured and the schematic collapsed so that it only displayed the outer layers. As the image changed, Daniel watched intensly. His interest with this armor could be defined of 'through the roof'. Ruchi had started talking in a whisper, "Veinlike microcapillaries, a dense sandwich of optical crystal, a circulating pump, a miniature fusion cell in the backpack. Interesting."
"Most importantly," Dr. Halsey said, "the armor's inner structure is composed of a new reactive metal liquid crystal. It is amorphous, yet fractally scales and amplifies force. In simplified terms, the armor doubles the wearer's strength, and enhances the reaction speed of a normal human by a factor of five."
She waved her hand through the hologram. "There is one problem, however. This system is so reactive that our previous tests with unaugmented volunteers ended in—" She searched for right word. "—failure." She nodded to one of the technicians.
A flat video appeared in the air. It showed a Marine officer, a Lieutenant, being fitted with the MJOLNIR armor. "Power is on,"
someone said from offscreen. "Move your right arm, please."
The soldier's arm blurred forward with incredible speed. The Marine's stoic expression collapsed into shock, surprise, and pain as his arm shattered. He convulsed—shuddered and screamed. The breaking of his bones were sickening. The man's own agony-induced spasms were killing him.
Halsey waved the video away. "Normal humans don't have the reaction time or strength required to drive this system," she explained. "You do. Your enhanced musculature and the metal and ceramic layers that have been bonded to your skeletonshould be enough to allow you to harness the armor's power. There has been . . . insufficient computer modeling, however. There will be some risk. You'll have to move very slowly and deliberately until you get a feel for the armor and how it works. It cannot be powered down, nor can the response be scaled back. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am," the Spartans answered.
"Questions?"
Daniel raised his hand only to see John had raised his hand as well. "When do we get to try them, Doctor?"
John had beaten him again.
"Right now," she said. "Volunteers?"
Every Spartan raised a hand. Daniel even got on his tip toes.
Dr. Halsey allowed herself a tiny smile. She surveyed them, and finally, she turned to John.
"You've always been lucky, John," she said. "Let's go."
He stepped forward. The technicians fitted him as the others watched and the pieces of the MJOLNIR system were assembled around his body. It was like a giant three-dimensional puzzle.
"Please breathe normally," Dr. Halsey told him, "but otherwise remain absolutely still."
John held himself as motionless as he could. The armor shifted and melded to the contours of his form. It was like a second skin . . . and much lighter than he had thought it would be. It heated, then cooled—
then matched the temperature of his body. If he closed his eyes, he wouldn't have known he was encased.
They set the helmet over his head.
Daniel watched intently, staring in awe and jealousy. Of course the lucky Spartan got to go first.
"Everyone move back," Halsey ordered.
The Spartans—from their expressions, they were concerned for him, but still intensely curious—cleared a ring with a radius of three meters around him.
"Listen carefully to me, John," Dr. Halsey said. "I just want you to think, and only think, about moving your arm up to chest level. Stay relaxed."
He willed his arm to move, and his hand and forearm sprang forward to chest level. The slightest motion translated his thought to motion at lightning speed. It had been so fast—if he hadn't been attached to his
arm, he might have missed that it had happened at all.
The Spartans gasped.
Sam applauded. Even lightning-fast Kelly seemed impressed.
Dr. Halsey slowly coached John through the basics of walking and gradually built up the speed and complexity of his motions. After fifteen minutes he could walk, run, and jump almost without thinking
of the difference between suit motion and normal motion.
"Petty Officer, run through the obstacle course," Dr. Halsey said. "We will proceed to fit the other Spartans. We don't have a great deal of time left."
John snapped a salute without thinking. His hand bounced off his helmet and a dull ache throbbed in his hand. His wrist would be bruised. If his bones hadn't been reinforced, he knew they would have been pulverized.
Dr. Halsey had started to help the others get into suits and Ruchi was up. Her suit, just like John's, fitted her perfectly. Molding on to her so it was a second skin. The process went over and over until finally it was Daniel's turn. He wasn't sure why he was chosen to go last but be that as it may, he was more then ready.
The technicians started working on his suit, piece by piece it came together. The helmet was the last thing he had to put on. He hadn't thought about what would happen when the technicians removed his regular helmet, when they did Dr. Halsey immediately started eying his hair up. He was grateful when the technicians put on the new helmet, he saw the HUD come online. It had displays and all sorts of fancy things his old helmet never had.
"You do know you could get in trouble for having hair like that, right?" Dr. Halsey inquired.
"Yes Ma'am."
"We will deal with one problem at a time, first lets get through this suits training. Slowly move your arm up..."
Daniel who was trying to think, got distracted, he felt dust reach up into his inner nostrils and his eyes widened in fear. If he sneezed that might as well be the end of him. He quickly acted and ignored it for as long as he could.
Walking slowly, now running. The dust still trapped and tears welled into his eyes, he had to sneeze, and so he did. But before sneezing he went up to the wall, punched it twice and held on for dear life.
"Achoo!"
His body shook violently but then slowly stopped the convulsions, his quick thinking saved his life, that was the Spartan way. Unfortunetly he hadn't realized what he had punched, two perfectly usuable computers lay shattered inbetween his arms.
"I'm so sorry." He almost fumbled with his words as the technicians and Dr. Halsey stared at him. Halsey pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.
-
Thirty minutes passed. What was awkward at first was now becoming useful, with just a thought Daniel could open up a private com channel with any one of the Spartans. His radar was constantly going, yellow blips all over it. When he had picked up a MA5B the ammo appeared on his HUD, this was very effective.
Over the hangar's speakers, the Spartans heard Dr. Halsey's voice: "Spartans, so far so good. If anyone is experiencing difficulties with the suit or its controls, please report in."
"I think I'm in love," Sam replied. "Oh—sorry, ma'am. I didn't think that was an open channel."
"Flawless amplification of speed and power," Kelly said. "It's like I've been training in this suit for years."
"Do we get to keep them?" John asked.
"You're the only ones who can use them, Petty Officer. Who else could we give them to? We—" A technician handed her a headset. "One moment, please. Report, Captain."
Captain Wallace's voice broke over the COM channels."We have contact with the Covenant ship,ma'am. Extreme range. Their Slipspace engines must still be damaged. They are moving toward us via normal space."
"Your repair status?" she asked.
"Long-range communications inoperable. Slipstream generators offline. MAC system destroyed. We have two fusion missiles and twenty Archer missile pods intact. Armor plating is at twenty percent."
There was a long hiss of static. "If you need more time . . . I can try and draw them away."
"No, Captain," she replied, and carefully scrutinized John and the other armored Spartans. "We're going to have to fight them . . . and this time we have to win."