Chapter Five
1200 Hours, September 17,
2547 (Military Calendar) /
Arcadia, Outskirts of Abaskun City,
Inside Insurrectionist Base
Raven hobbled down the green hallway, her right foot protesting whenever she put weight on it. After assuring the Lieutenant Colonel she had gotten the intelligence, and that she wouldn't think of returning without it, he had instructed her to deposit the files from her NACC chip into the data base of the Insurrectionist rebel hide-out, and then proceed to the medical room.
Machine guns and stolen turrets surrounded the base, protecting it from a small UNSC invasion that the rebels feared would come sooner rather than later. The base was filled with semi-trained civilians, although most could barely able to shoot a gun straight. They were the ones who had a bit more courage than the rest.
The base was located close to a civilian colony, Aloide, which was neither Insurrectionists nor UNSC. Neutral. It was a large colony, fairly advanced, with no real aggression ever being shown from its governor. It also happened to be Ravens home, where she'd grown up, where her parents and sibling lived now, and where she'd always have painful ties. She'd struck out at the age of eight, and had paid dearly for her decision.
Raven scratched the back of her head, where her NACC chip was located, otherwise known as the Neural Automated Communication Conductor, which was found in her deep limbic system. Whenever she laid her right hand on a machine, of any kind, she automatically had control of its commands, data, and apparently on vehicles, the engines. It hadn't stopped itching since she had stolen the data from Bravo Base 070. Sometimes it was too complicated for even her to understand. Raven didn't like that.
She was unsure how the Insurrectionist's acquired an NACC, but she guessed in a similar fashion to her 'borrowing' the UNSC intelligence.
Raven continued down the hall, passing officers on patrol, nodding to them. She knew everyone at this base, and everyone knew and respected her, as her accomplishments where well known. Raven had no real rank, as she technically was not military personal, but she was second in command to Lieutenant Colonel Kam. Although she rarely gave orders, Raven still enjoyed the prowess she received.
"Raven Stone, please report to the data center." A female voice sang over the speakers. It was Annie, the Innies AI, basically telling her to hurry up and let her peek through the files Raven stole. Annie loved knowing the secrets of the nooks and crannies in the UNSC, and continuously pressed Raven for more and more info. Annie was nearing her fifth year of operation, so she was fully capable of her mental functions, and would be for a few more years. Hopefully.
Stone lengthened her strides, increasing her pace. A few moments later, Raven entered the empty data storage room. It was cold and damp in here, and made the girl feel like she was constantly under surveillance. Raven shivered but trudged forward farther into the room.
A single console lingered in the middle, shaped like a vase with a liquid pool of black ooze suspended above it. A holographic version of Annie appeared on top of the glowing ball of liquid and fake-smiled up at Raven. Annie had faded red hair, and an angular face. She wore a dimmed yellow sundress that swished in a virtual wind.
"Hurry now, we need some new warthogs to go along with the two pelicans and the scorpion." Annie chimed, impatiently tapping her small foot. Raven felt a small pang of accomplishment as her intel had gotten the rebels more resources. Raven also liked that the NACC automatically transferred small files to Annie, without it, the rebels could not have received the data files and the ODST's would have still been on the base. The only down part was that the AI was unable to receive large files, or hold onto the smaller ones for an extended period of time, so Raven still had to upload them into Annie's core. Luckily, Annie was specifically designed to receive the data at a distance, act on the most important one, and wait to acquire a hard copy of them. Raven sighed, and strolled over, her hand hovering just before the goo ball.
"Raven." Annie hissed impatiently. Raven knew what to expect, but it still shocked her as she thrust her hand into the orb.
A hot spike crashed into Raven, her vision blurring and then completely went black. She staggered, but remained standing, as only her mind perceived these side effects, and they weren't truly a physical threat. Ravens mind ached like someone had shot a rocket through her ears, and her skull a cracked egg. She felt the AI start sorting through the new files from the NACC chip, reading them as she copied them to her system. The AI absentmindedly hummed happily as she worked, until Raven felt Annie suddenly stop, as if she'd run into a brick wall head-on.
Suddenly, Annie gasped in horror, something Raven had never heard her do. Ravens vision flooded back to the dark room, the blackness running from her sight. The room quit spinning, and settled back into its normal rhythm. Annie's image disappeared from the vase-like table, but not before a stricken look crossed her face. What was happening? The AI had never behaved like this, Raven thought. Raven waited with furrowed brows as Annie's voice flowed out of the speaker, strained.
"Colonel Kam, report to the data core immediately, bring security," she said. Raven automatically reached for her dented and banged up SMG's who had taken the brunt of the fall (not to mention a bruise shaped like one of them on her right leg) but then realized she was in friendly territory. She trusted these people. Raven let her hands fall back to her sides.
The lieutenant burst into the chamber a few moments later, a team of six soldiers following close behind him. Four of them lined up on the walls beside the door, and the other two trailed behind Kam into the chamber.
"What is the meaning of this, Annie?" the colonel asked, anger steaming from his eyes.
"Her," Annie said, her hologram re-appeared onto the console and motioned to Raven. The colonel turned to stare at Raven, his black shark-like eyes boring into her. He was thin and tall, with greasy black hair. She had known him all her life, even begun to consider him a sort of father figure. Raven shrugged her shoulders, she knew no more than he.
"What about it?" he asked, suspicion rising in his voice.
"I found something on her chip…something way above her pay-grade." Annie answered, seeming to hold back.
"Well what is it?!" Kam yelled, his anger building.
"A UNSC encrypted file. Whatever she picked up when she was on Bravo Base was big and very important. I tried to crack it…but the UNSC have it heavily guarded, I do not have the required programming to break it." Annie huffed, obviously disappointed at not knowing the files secrets.
Raven considered this, all the puzzle pieces suddenly clicking into place. The annoying tingling in her data chip, the way the alarms had tripled when she infiltrated the system and stole the files, and how the UNSC had tried so hard to halt her escape. Raven wondered what she had stumbled upon, what fascinating adventure would lie ahead.
"How important?" Kam's black eyes narrowed, processing what this meant.
"So immensely important the UNSC will be banging down our doors just to retrieve it. And if that fails, they will blow us to bits."
Kam paled. This was the rebel's worst nightmare, their efforts halted, and their entire cause wiped out. This base was the last one left on Arcadia, and without them the UNSC would be free to have the planet all to themselves, to enslave and use as cannon fonder for the Covenant. He would now allow that to happen, even if it meant shoving a knife through the young girls back that stood in front of him, totally relaxed despite the situation.
"Back up her NACC chip, re-upload the file back into her head. Don't leave any trace of it. I want her off of this base in two, and if she refuses to leave, stick her in front of one of the turrets on the west side." Kam turned, and quickly paced out the chamber, his hands nervously stroking his slick hair.
"Wait! What's going on? Why are you doing this?" Raven shouted, as the two soldiers came forth and grabbed her arms, she struggled only slightly, too stunned at the betrayal of the Lieutenant Colonel. Of all the people here, he was the least likely one to stab her in the back. Or so she thought.
The strange tingling in her head returned as Annie wiped the system of all its contents, trying to destroy every last trace of it, almost as if it had never been there. The men hauled her to the front of the base where she had entered, and dragged her out onto the hard dirt. They shoved her to the ground, a few meters away from the edge of the forest. They turned and jogged back onto the base wordlessly. Raven just looked after them in stunned confusion.
"Please leave the area, kid. I don't want to have to fire the turrets on you." Annie's voice popped into her head. The NACC also doubled as a communication COM.
"I don't-" the girl tried to answer, but the now enemy turrets turned to train on her chest. She heard the clank of metal as the clip for the turret rounds were inserted into its chamber, and prepared to fire.
Out of pure instinct, Raven spun on to her feet and sprinted off into the forest, as fast as she could with an injured ankle. She never did receive that medical attention.
The ground where she had just been sitting lit up with the seven centimeter rounds of the machine gun, pounding against the earth. She ran faster. She was already exhausted from the events of the day, and only adrenaline kept her going. She crashed through the brush, twigs snapping and crunching as they tried to claw at her.
She leapt over a fallen log, but her long pants caught on one of the jagged branches, and flipped her mid-air until she landed with a thwump on the hard ground. The air rushed from her lungs, and she remained stunned for several seconds, gasping for breath and staring up between the gaps in the canopy.
Eventually, Ravens heart stopped pounding, and she was able to slowly get to her feet. Now her lungs burned as well. She was surrounded with nothing but green forests, and a small stream that trickled to the east of her. She knew where this river led, but she didn't care now, she followed it anyways.
Her mind was numb, and thankfully so was the pain, as Raven trudged on. She didn't know why her friends -her family- had betrayed her so harshly, and then tried to blow holes in her. What was so important about the intel that she carried? Bravo Base 070 was only supposed to have inventory, the location of vehicles, weapons armories etc., not top secret files that would cause the UNSC to send troops for her. This was not what she had signed up for.
Raven continued stumbling through the thick vegetation, tree limbs grasping at her, until her boots sunk into mushy ground. The side of a mountain. The stream she had followed cut through it, but it was much too narrow for Raven to crawl in and out the other side. So Raven went up.
It was steep and slippery from recent rain, and rocks would occasionally tumble all the way down the side and crash at the bottom with a resounding schrack.
The girl's legs began to burn near the top, but Raven banished the throbbing from her conscious and continued upwards. The sun was just about to fall below the mountains opposite the valley from her, and Arcadia's two moons, Pishon and Gihon, were just beginning to peek out through the scattered clouds in the sky. Only a few traces of warm rays of light remained as Raven made her way over the last little hang-off, and slid onto the sandstone plateau that marked the tip of the mountain. It was flat and hard, and a few large boulders riddled the top. A dark, shallow cave gaped at her from across the plate of dirt.
The girls' leg shook, and she shuffled to a boulder, collapsing, panting against the cool surface. Ravens shoulder smoldered and stung where the stray bullet had struck her back at the base, and the blood was just now starting to dry. Her body was black and blue, with small cuts strewn on her arms and legs. The ankle that she had tweaked was now red and swollen, throbbing on the inside of her black boots. Raven sighed, trying to ignore the pain like she had been taught. She wasn't very good at it. She wished Kam had killed her, or she hadn't been quite quick enough to escape the turrets reach. She settled down by fiddling with her SMG's, rubbing off the dirt and trying to get the dents out. Just as the last rays of light disappeared over the horizon, Raven noticed a distant smoke mushroom billowing up into the dwindling light, but she didn't make the connection to Bravo Base. Neither did she notice the covenant fleet that slowly drifted into the planet's atmosphere.