0600 Hours, December 16, 2520 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Erandi System, Reach Military Complex, planet Reach
"We knew there would be fatalities" Mendez said coolly, standing unshaken and emotionless on the other side of Halsey's desk.
"We did" Catherine conceded, reclining back slightly into the plush leather of her office chair "I just did not expect them so soon"
"I think it's a miracle we have not had one already" Mendez said taking a draw on his Sweet William cigar.
"They are developing quicker than we expected it seems" Halsey said, suppressing a cough as the pungent but flavoursome smoke drifted towards her. She didn't mind the Senior Chief smoking; he had been through enough in his long and decorated career to earn the right to indulge one his few little pleasures without a civilian telling him otherwise.
"You don't have to tell me twice" Mendez said as he exhaled "They have surpassed all expectations. While they may not know it yet they are more than a match for most of the marines on site"
Catherine knew what Mendez was going to suggest next, and as much as she would have liked to have denied him as she had the last fifty times, she knew this time there was no way she could stand her ground.
Since the very start of the project Mendez had been pushing for his men to be better armed, he seemed to be constantly worrying about the threat of rebellion within the ranks. Halsey knew that the Chief respected the Spartans immensely and did everything he could to instil in them a sense of loyalty, but he had seen discontent and uprising tear apart nearly the whole UNSC, so he couldn't be blamed for having mild paranoia.
The ONI brass who supported him though, they were a different story. While Mendez's concerns were bred through experience, the ONI higher ups were bred from necessity. During every monthly report and quarterly performance assessment, Halsey had to stand against the pressure of her superiors who questioned her methods. But they did not call her out on being too extreme as she had expected when she first laid out her plans for the Spartans, instead they called her out on being too soft. ONI seemed to want automatons rather than soldiers, and an internment camp rather than a training facility. She had managed to baulk their requests for an increase in personnel and armament a hundred times over, but now with a man being killed onsite at the hands of one of the children, she knew that if she didn't give in, they would replace her with someone who would.
"I think we need to increase our security measures doctor" Mendez said as if on cue "The Spartan's might soon become too much to handle and the men are already on edge"
"I don't think so Franklin" Catherine fretted; she knew she couldn't hold out forever but god damn it she would try.
"Look ma'am, I understand how you are feeling" Mendez said, stubbing out his cigar into her desk's clean and unused ashtray; she always made sure it put it out during her and Mendez's little chats "But we need to maintain order among the ranks. Things are quiet for the moment, but we need to be careful. In case something happens we need to be ready, before the Spartans figure out what they are"
"And what are they Franklin?" Halsey said, swivelling her chair round to face the open blinds.
"Deadliest killers mankind has ever produced" Mendez said sternly.
Through the shutters she could see almost every corner of the duskily lit compound. To the south she could see the long-shadowed silhouettes of the Spartans already going through their morning routines outside their trio of long-houses. While it was odd for Mendez not to be there putting them through their paces, they were more pressing matters to attend to, and hopefully the Spartans would not question it is things went on as normal. Well, as normal as things could be when their number on this chilly winter morning was seventy-four rather than seventy-five.
Halsey hadn't been on site when yesterday's incident had happened, but if she had been she may have stopped what had happened to Carris. When she returned from her briefing at CASTLE base and Mendez had informed her what had happened she had feared the worse, she knew how crazy people got when they were scared. A thousand thoughts had run through her mind, she feared for the girl and what they marines may have done to her. But luckily Mendez had been on hand to stop the worst of it.
Halsey knew she hadn't been told all of what had happened when the suppression team had arrived at the armoury; the marines had made sure they were keeping their stories consistent air tight and notably leaving out how Carris and the rest of Yellow Team had received the majority of their worst injuries. She had only met Hughes on a handful of occasions and she thought that he was a distasteful slob, but she knew that he was popular among the men and they weren't taking his death well.
While most of Yellow Team had been sent back to their bunkhouses with only a handful of superficial injuries, Carris had been beaten within an inch of her life, cuffed, wrestled into the back of a flatbed warthog and locked in solitary confinement. Halsey needed to decide what to do with her. The scientist in her knew that Carris was far too valuable to be kept out of training for too long, as were all the children. But the women in her knew she couldn't imagine how the girl was feeling. While they had been trying to make the Spartan's relatively detached with a mixture of emotionless contact, brutal conditioning and a slight lacing of inhibitors in their food, they were still only ten years old, and to kill a man at that age, with your bare hands no less, must have been hard to cope with.
"I see your point Franklin" Halsey muttered, "And you know I don't like it"
"I do ma'am" Mendez said, Halsey heard the strike of a match as he lit another cigar "But I don't like putting my men at risk either"
"I'm not doing this for your men" Halsey said, swivelling her chair back to face the aging officer "I'm doing this for the Spartans. If I hold out and go against the higher ups yet again, I'm sure they will replace me. And that means I will end up shipped away to some backwater research base and some hardliner will step in with a bunch of big ideas about upping the children's inhibitor intake and turning them into some kind of legion of unstoppable zombies instead of humanity's best soldiers"
"I see" Mendez said with a nod "Well if it means anything ma'am, if ONI ship you out, they can kiss my ass goodbye as well"
Halsey chuckled.
"Well that's good to hear" She said with a smile "But I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. Just tell me what you want and I will send out the requisition orders when I submit my report"
"Good to hear that too ma'am" Mendez said with a nod "And thank you"
"Lethals will still be confined to the ammo lockers though, and only you and I will have the authority to have them loosed"
"Understood"
They were interrupted as there came a heavy knocking on the frosted glass of the office door.
"Come in" Halsey said raising her voice.
The door swung open and a man in neat military dress entered. Halsey recognised him as Gunnery Sergeant Rivers, one of her facilities more senior staff and one of the few men directly under Mendez. She couldn't help but think he would have been handsome if it were not for his hideous pencil moustache. He saluted rigidly and removed his boxy green cap.
"Sir" He said looking at Mendez, before turning to Halsey and saying "Ma'am"
"What is it marine?" Mendez said, his voice sounding noticeably irritated at its underling's interruption.
"Sorry sir" Rivers said, obviously picking up on Mendez's unhidden annoyance "But it is number 137, she has come too"
"And what's she doing?" Catherine cut in.
"She crying ma'am" Rivers answered frankly.
Catherine felt herself feel like she wanted to run to Carris's side but she quashed this fleeting thought and tried to remain stone faced. She gave a brief look at Mendez and could tell he knew what she was thinking. While she knew he wouldn't exactly approve of her level of personal investment, he would appreciate the thought and it was moments like this that let him know that she wasn't merely some kind of cold hearted lab technician.
"You will release her" Halsey said firmly.
"I'm unsure that is wise ma'am. 137 is both dangerous and unstable" Rivers frowned, obviously not having a moments regret at questioning her orders. It was times like this that the marines and naval personnel on site liked to remind her that she was still merely a civilian, despite her commission.
"I said you will release her. She is part of my programme and I will not have her taken out of her training for any longer" Halsey glared "You will remove her from her confinement, send her to the infirmary to receive treatment for the wounds your men inflicted on her, and then allow her to rejoin the rest of the programme"
"With respect Doctor" Rivers said, she could tell he didn't take her seriously "137 is a member of the chain of command, and she murdered a superior officer. She should be dealt with in the proper manner benefitting one of her position"
"You have got to be kidding" Halsey spat angrily
"No Ma'am"
Halsey clenched her fists. So this was the start of it, if she didn't know better she would think the military men were simply playing a childish game for control, but she knew it was much worse than that, they wanted revenge, revenge against a ten year old girl.
"Didn't you hear the lady?" Mendez said; his voice hard as nails and cutting as a razor.
Rivers looked at his superior officer nervously.
"I did sir, but..." He begun
"Then if you did" Mendez hissed harshly "What's the problem? "
"With respect..." He continued
"With respect nothing marine!" Mendez yelled, just as he would raise his voice to a cadet "You will release 137 or you yourself will be facing a court-martial for insubordination"
Rivers clenched up and said nothing, sweat visibly beading across his forehead.
"These Spartans are under the protection of ONI and any questions regarding their future go through me and the Doctor" Mendez growled, a vein pulsing on his thick neck "And I say that you will release number -137"
Rivers stood silent.
"Now Sergeant!" Mendez bellowed.
"Sir yes sir!" Rivers cried, turning about on his heels and scampering from the room and leaving the door swinging on its hinges behind him.
Halsey couldn't help but give Mendez a smile.
"Thank you Franklin" Catherine said.
"I trust you doctor" Franklin sighed, calming himself with a long draw on his Sweet William "And I hope that you know what you're doing"