Hello all!
I am happy to announce I am back & thrilled to be able to finally get out a chapter that's been sitting in my head for a while!
I regret that I haven't been able to touch FanFiction because, without giving too many details away, my situation and circumstances changed and I had to re-establish my priorities. Unfortunately the first thing I had to drop was FanFiction among other things but I've been writing on the side planning for future chapters. This chapter was delayed by the accidental deletion of the document and I had to start from scratch. Now that my situation has been relatively stabilized and my work recovered, I'm ready to begin work again.
I've been in the process of updating chapters to rid 'Rise of the Empire' with any similarities to other works (do your research first before you publish) which some of you might have noticed early on. Today however, I'm grateful to put something new out for your enjoyment.
Thank you for your patience. I hope this chapter is able to satisfy.
*Many thanks to gwb99 for letting me use Fireteam Rapier in our mutual exchange*
Chapter 21:
Inner Chamber, Sanctum of the Librarian
Absolute Record: "Cryptum"
December 9th, 2559:
Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey
The doors to a room which hadn't seen visitors in ages hissed open to allow a group of thirty individuals access. The air which had previously lain still gasped as it recieved a breath of life from the outside kicking up a small cloud of dust. When the last man had crossed the threshold, the door hissed shut. Pale blue lights winked into existence on the floor making a pathway for the group to follow. Gradually they crossed through an antechamber and entered into a massive circular space that was otherwise spartan in nature. The only exception to this was a chasm that separated them from the other side.
"This it?" asked a woman unimpressed.
"Must you always question the obvious Admiral Osman?" asked Doctor Halsey as she stepped forward out in front of the party.
Osman, who walked behind her, curled her lip in a sneer.
"It's my job to ask questions. That's why we're still alive."
"You've certainly seem to question every choice I've made in the last five years."
"That's my job isn't it Catherine? To ask questions? I'm supposed to ask the questions like how the **** do we know you're not going to sell us out to the Covenant again after all this time?"
"Or why you must have so many Section One Agents here instead of out in the galaxy at large?" Halsey offered her own reply, ignoring the obvious sneer. "I thought we had secured this area quite thoroughly without the Republic's notice."
"My Agents are here as a preventative measure." Osman said gesturing to the two dozen men in black armor carrying weapons.
"To prevent me from leaving here alive?" she asked.
"You should be dead." she didn't attempt to hide her contempt.
"And yet Serin, I discovered the truth about the Librarian, lead Jul 'Mdama's Faction on a wild goose chase, and helped you find this location here."
"You play a dangerous game Catherine. Let me remind you that you've wasted time and resources on dealing with a potentially fatal breach in security!" Osman's voice raised.
"Only when I realized that a hit-squad was sent to kill me." Dr. Halsey countered.
"Admiral, Doctor," Admiral Tchakova said breaking away from his ONI security detail. "Perhaps we should forget about old feuds here. We are on a tight schedule. Admiral Osman, I perfectly understand your…grievances with the Doctor." Tchakova said diplomatically. but please do remember that she's been pardoned by the UNSC Security Council and the President herself hours ago. That's good enough for me."
The Former Spartan II Candidate huffed angrily but said nothing more. Tchakova suspected that Osman would love to take matters into her own hands but for the time being couldn't act on that instinct.
"Now then," Tchakova said looking pleased with his pacification, "Doctor, can you activate it? I need to finish up here so I can give Captain Lasky his new orders."
"And those orders are?" Doctor Halsey asked ignoring the first question.
"Well, if you must know, The Galactic Senate voted hours ago to allow the creation of some military exercises so that we may figure out how to better mesh our forces together. There's a couple facilities that are proposed including one on Kamino itself. That's where the Infinity will be headed. If initial trial runs go well enough we might be able to deploy our forces on a much broader scale and we can all go home a little sooner. Now, the door? Can it be opened?"
"I'm sure I can Admiral, the only problem is finding a way to activate it." Halsey answered half buried in thought as they came to the edge of the chasm.
"It's a blank room." One of the Security Detail said stating the obvious.
"Indeed it is, but the Forerunners usually have a way of hiding things in plain sight."
She moved forward and suddenly the chamber began to move as it sensed the Doctor's presence. A terminal console rose out of the ground in front of her and a spherical holographic keyboard winked into existence.
"See?"
"Alright, so how do we activate it?" Osman said coming behind the Doctor as she hunched over the keyboard.
"You're in my light Admiral. Now, the keys please." Halsey said.
The head of ONI bristled but backed off and motioned for one of the agents to give her a briefcase. It was opened and she procured the two separate halves of the Janus Key. Halsey moved her hand over the keyboard and several symbols lit up in the shape of a hand.
"What are you doing?" Admiral Tchakova asked curiously.
"Giving humanity the gift of fire." Halsey said as she pressed her hand to the keyboard.
A low pitched vibration filled the room and suddenly the column at the back split open and platform that made a perfect circle around the console began to rise. Those who weren't on the slowly raising platform quickly stepped on. The platform quickly ascended and started moving towards the column that had split open. A light suddenly burst into existence and blinded everyone for a moment. When it cleared they saw a massive hexagonal object slowly levitating up and down with glyphs covering every inch of it.
Suddenly three lights, red, green, and blue flared to life. Their security detail raised their weapons, wary of the object.
"Greetings Reclaimers." It spoke in a booming synthesized voice. "Your patience has been rewarded, I am the Custodian: guardian, caretaker, and monitor of the Absolute Record. Please lower your weapons."
Tchkova gestured and the security detail relaxed their stance and posture.
"You Reclaimers have come a long way." the Custodian observed.
"Actually, I was wondering about that." Admiral Osman said aloud. "Why put this facility out of our galaxy?"
"I would be happy to explain if you allow me." the Custodian replied. When no contrary response was made it continued.
"The Absolute Record, the catalog of the Forerunner's glory, is the key to finding, accessing, and utilizing every single artifact left by my creators. With the outbreak of the Flood a select few of us began crafting fail-safe plans in case the Flood were ever to emerge victorious. As defeat seemed ever and ever closer, the decision was made to move the Absolute Record from your galaxy to here. And so, we installed it far away from the Flood's reach. The Librarian gave orders to move a small population of humans into this galaxy as an additional countermeasure in case the Halo arrays failed to eradicate the Flood. One species would eventually be able to reclaim what we had lost. However, passive observation, and the success of the Halo Array has given the title of Reclaimer to your race. Not the humans in this galaxy."
"Fascinating." Doctor Halsey intrigued.
"As much as we would all love a history lesson, we've come here to reclaim what we've lost." Admiral Tchakova said firmly.
"Do you possess the Janus Key?" the Custodian asked.
A holographic slot winked into existence above the console.
Halsey offered up the two halves of the key.
"How did you come by this?" The Custodian asked.
"We recovered the Key from the Librarian's Refuge on the Forerunner Shield World Requiem." Halsey offered.
The Custodian said nothing for a moment. "Please insert the key."
Halsey united the keys and placed the unified object in a holographic slot horizontally.
A green light winked on the console and the humming increased.
"Reclaimers, you come here to ask for a weighty birthright. There are just a few more steps before I proceed and divulge all of my maker's gifts for you."
"Hey, we were told that all we had to do was take the Janus Key to here and we would unlock everything." Osman suddenly interjected.
"What else do we have to do?" Admiral Tchkova asked cutting the head of ONI off.
"I apologize. This will only take a moment." The Custodian said.
"What will take a moment?" Another one of their Security Detail asked.
But the Custodian fell silent with his lights dimmed as he thought. Two minutes passed by. Five, six. The group assembled had little choice but to sit on the floating platform above the abyss and wait.
Finally the Custodian spoke.
"I'm sorry. I cannot give you access at this time."
"What?" hissed Admiral Osman.
"Denied?" gasped Halsey.
"I'm sorry. I cannot give you access at this time."
"Why?! You can't do this to us!"
"Reclaimers, you have traveled a long distance here but you have not kept a passive eye on this galaxy like I have for these many eons. I have enabled you, to the best of my abilities, to access this site."
"But we have the key!" Osman protested.
"One may have a key but keys are often lost, misplaced, and stolen. My calculations show that this is not the time to access this. 98% of all facilities and constructs, including those in this galaxy, will remain dormant and inactive. There are threats to the safety of all beings in this galaxy that have the potential for taking what they have no right too."
"Hold on." said Admiral Tchakova. "You can't just-"
"I have spoken it. Examine yourselves, your friends, allies, enemies, therein lies the usurpers. You will know them when the time is right."
The platform began to settle down towards the ground and the Custodian began to seal himself close. An energy shield sprang into existence and the Custodian sealed itself up in the metal column.
"Doctor! Do something!" Osman ordered.
Halsey's hands flew all over the keyboard attempting to stall or reverse the closure of the Absolute Record.
"Doctor!" Osman hissed angrily.
"I'm working on it!"
Suddenly the keyboard winked out of existence and the Absolute Record finished closing up. The room returned to it's dormant state.
"Activate it at once!" Osman ordered as soon as the column sealed.
"You think I can will the Custodian into giving it to me?" Dr. Halsey asked angered by such a request.
"It's your fault isn't it! That's why you came here, to sabotage us!" Osman hissed.
Halsey was taken aback. Osman was acting like a spoiled child throwing a fit, only this child was in command of the most powerful organization in the UNSC.
"Did I not just try?" she asked trying to comprehend the situation around her.
"If you both could just settle down!-" Admiral Tchakova interrupted again.
Osman looked up at him shocked and Tchakova took advantage of her momentary pause to stop.
"Now, Admiral, please. We all had no idea of what was going to happen. We may not have access to it now but we know that it will open for us at some point. The answer then should be simple. Seal up the place." he said pointing to the door. If we can't have this, then the Republic can't know about it or access it either. According to the Custodian they're not true Reclaimers. Both of these things are well within our power to do, right?"
"Yes." she agreed after a terse pause still fuming.
"So we post a guard to keep a distant eye on it and lay a breadcrumb trail elsewhere."
"Fine." she snapped. "You four," she pointed to a group of Agents. "Get it done now. Admiral Tchakova, I've been summoned back to Earth for a meeting with Lord Hood regarding the Brute pirates organizing themselves. I'll be in contact with you if any discoveries are made."
"Understood. Safe travels."
Osman left with a cadre of men and Doctor Halsey felt an invisible weight drop on her. She knew that she made an enormous gamble by coming back to humanity and directly under the scrutiny of ONI. She also knew that she had always tread a fine line with her former Spartan and the organization itself. The only reason why she was alive was because she was able to provide valuable intelligence about the Storm and its operations as well as her expertise in Forerunner technology. But, that expertise had not been able to access the Absolute Record and her life had just been thrown in jeopardy.
Not for the first time in her life, she wished that ONI didn't exist.
Spartan Dormitories, "S-Deck"
UNSC Infinity, in orbit around Forerunner Planet designated "Cryptum"
December 10th 2559: 4:49 Hours UNSC Standard Military Calendar
"You lying miserable sack of!-"
Will's head jerked upwards and smacked the bottom of Hansu's bunk where he received a splitting headache cutting off the rest of the comment.
Who on Earth is yelling at this time of the morning? Will thought as he angrily massaged his hurting scalp.
"You stole the Alt Burgundy!" a voice yelled somewhere in their darkened quarters.
Will's senses suddenly went into overdrive and his body went from sound asleep to alert and awake. As he struggled to process all the sensory information at once, a second voice added to the confusion.
"Me? I was first to bed! Why the **** are you blaming me?"
"You could have just faked it until I was asleep and then you could have easily stolen it!"
Will picked up his head from off the bed and with his enhanced vision picked out two figures standing across from the two cot's and in a moment recognized the voices belonged to Castle Six and Seven.
Will groaned silently to himself. "Guys, what are you doing?" Will asked from his spreadeagled position on the bed.
"Fight me Mr. Fix-it." Ralph shouted. He didn't appear to have heard William.
"You wanna go?" Felix responded a moment later and the two of them pushed the cots aside with a loud scrape.
Will recognized the two were about to come to blows.
"Guys!" he yelled causing him to wince as his head gave a spike of pain.
Hansu from above him gave a start.
"Yo!" he shouted angrily. "Keep it down! It's not time to be up!" he said half incoherent before collapsing back to his bed.
"Look what you did. Now we're both going to get it." Felix said whispering.
"Excuse me? You started it." Ralph hotly stated.
Will made to get up but before he could react the door to their room flew open and the light flipped on blinding the everybody for a moment.
"Gahh! No-guys! Shut it off!" Hansu cried before violently turning over.
Will's eyes re-adjusted and looked at the four females of Fireteam Castle that had just stormed in.
"Do you mind telling me why you thought it was okay to wake us all up an hour early?" Asher said as she walked up to them. Her figure was obscured as Ralph and Felix both backed up. Although he couldn't see her clearly Will was positive that she was giving them a death-glare.
"First you keep most of us up with your partying and now you suddenly this?" Elizabeth spat angrily.
The two Spartans opposite her shrank slowly backwards.
"Didn't think our little bundle of sunshine and happiness could be so angry…" Ralph murmured.
"Excuse me?" she said taking a step forward before Brittany restrained her and pulled her back.
"Castle Team stand down!" Will shouted over all of them now thoroughly annoyed.
"Sir yes sir!" they all said at once.
He dislodged the sheets and stood up.
"Anyone want to care to explain to me why we're all up an hour early and shouting at each other?"
"I was in the process of figuring that out already Commander." Asher grumbled.
"Well you see, Felix here—"
William gave the taller Spartan a look and he silenced at once.
"Now that we've all gathered for your soap opera, let's start over." He said much quieter. "Felix, what happened?"
"Well Ralph here, stole the Alt Burgundy last night after we were done celebrating. We drank a bottle between the two of us and we started a second.
"Oh my gosh." Chelsea groaned. "All this for alcohol? And for the record, just to be clear, you each had one and you were splitting the third you would have gone for the others had I not done something.
A tense silence filled the room before Ralph asked somewhat muted.
"You took it?"
"I did. For your own benefit too apparently. It's hidden away somewhere and I think the Commander should make a decision about whether to keep or donate it. Clearly you cannot handle having alcohol in the room."
"Oh bravo Chels." Felix rolled his eyes.
"But we're not drunk or having a hang-over or anything—"
"You just decided that you would give us a really early morning wake-up call then?" Asher finished for Ralph.
"Yes ma'am..." He said after a second looking down at the floor.
"Well William, what should we do?" Asher said finally after a few seconds of silence.
He paced in front of the two of them for a second. His head really ached and he was off to a bad start this morning.
"Guys, what the heck!" he paced in front of them and massaged his scalp again as another painful throb spiked through his skull. "I'm tempted to write both of you up and report you to Commander Palmer for this-this-whatever the heck this is!" Will said failing to form words. "You both know better! We're a team Ralph, Felix," he said pausing in between their names. "But we sure can't function like how we did last night if we're going to fight over some friggin' booze. I'm not sure how strict Palmer is when it comes to this sort of behavior but I'm tempted to find out."
Their faces fell as the weight of his words crushed them.
"But," he said pausing his pace in front of them. "I believe in mercy as well." he added. "I'm letting it go this time."
The two of them relaxed considerably.
"But," he said before they could relax too much. "make no mistake about it. If either of you pull this stunt again you will live a very miserable life for a couple weeks. As it is, I'm putting you both on point duty for a couple weeks, I think cleaning the bathrooms is in order, and you'll have to do some of my paperwork. And no alcohol. Am I understood Castle Six, Castle Seven?"
They both nodded sullenly
"Good. I want everyone ready for the day in twenty and let's try this again. Castle Four, wherever you put the wine, keep it there."
"Understood." She said before moving off to her room.
A loud snore drew their attention to the top bunk where Hansu had fallen back asleep.
"And someone please wake up Hansu." Will said turning and heading for their shower.
Medical Facility 13-B, Recovery Ward 1194
UNSC Infinity
Corporal Dean Gunther
"How does it feel?" the doctor asked.
Dean gingerly looked down at the small scars on his abdomen, a memento of the last battle he had fought in. It had been six days since he had been admitted to the hospital. What had seemed like a routine post-combat exam turned into an extended stay as the doctors found shards of metal sitting dangerously close to his internal organs. Any further activity would have potentially moved the metal in a prime position to rupture his lungs. So he went into surgery and was recovering well.
"Just fine, can't breathe as well though."
"That's just a side-effect of cutting your diaphragm partially." The doctor said objectively. "If it still bothers you after a week or if you develop any new symptoms, please come see us again."
"I'm afraid this isn't my ship. I am stationed onboard a Marathon class—"
"—Was stationed. You've been transferred with your squad."
"Huh?"
"I was looking through the mail yesterday and I noticed a large envelope with your name on it last night. It included your medical records among all things and a notice of transfer fell out." He admitted. "But let me be the first to welcome you to the Infinity."
"But what about my things?"
"Taken care of. The UNSC looks out for it's injured. I would suggest you go eat. If you're lucky you might find your squad there. I've put a restriction on your meal card though. Drink lots of water so you can flush out your system and don't pursue any alcohol or heavy/rich amounts of food or you might end up back here again because the drugs speeding your recovery don't react well with them. Any questions?"
"Am I combat ready?"
"Well…yes technically. But don't go putting yourself in the middle of a Firefight right now."
"Then I'm all good. See you around Doc." Dean said getting up from his chair and grabbing a dark gray shirt emblazoned with ODST.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow and muttered something about the "foolhardiness of ODST's." before leaving.
Dean realized the implication of what he said a moment later and cracked a grin.
Halfway out of the hospital he saw his Sergeant hunched over a table in conference with a trio of men in labcoats.
"Well look what the devil dragged in. Go to mess hall 13-B. Angel's gettin' food there. We also got your stuff moved over so no fears there."
"Will do. What you doing here?"
"Amanda's not doing too well. She might be medically discharged."
"Oh." Was all he could say.
He had had a lot of time to contemplate the death of Clarissa that was almost a week ago. Killed by the Sith. It wasn't the first time he had seen a squadmate die, but it still felt like the first time. He had missed the funeral because he had been in surgery, something that upset him.
"She'll pull through though. She's a tough one."
"Which way to the mess hall?" Dean asked.
McDougall gave him directions and he found the mess hall soon enough. It was pretty early in the morning so it was pretty empty. Dean could see a couple chefs preparing food in the small kitchen that seem nearly large enough for the large room. He quickly picked out his squad, one of the only groups of people sitting down.
"Hey look who it is! How you doing hermano?" Miguel asked as Dean approached the table
"Look who's back from the dead." A voice said as he approached the table.
Corporal Dean Gunther felt a small throb of pain as he sat down gingerly at their table.
"You better watch that mouth Snark."
"You better watch your aim next time you—"
"HEY! You're back!" Bee interrupted suddenly. "Howya doing champ?!"
"Better than I deserve I guess." Dean shrugged before sitting down with the rest of the squad. "Where's the rest of Angel?"
"They're off getting food." Miguel said pointing at them before biting into some roasted potatoes.
"This place has infinitely better food okay guys?" he said with a mouthful of food.
"Well perhaps that's why they call it Infinity?" Dean suggested.
"Spare us please Deacon." Sergei groaned at the pun
"Hey guys, check who it is!" Bee whispered.
"Oh come on. Do we really need to share the same place?" Snark asked.
"Well some genius thought it was a good idea to put us close to each other." Sergei grumbled.
Dean looked up to see the Army Ranger's filing in. It was only a platoon but they were sitting far too close for the rest of Angel Squad's preference. It took for a him a second to register but he let a grin spread on his face. It was his platoon.
"Yo!" Eric called out from halfway across the room when he caught sight of Dean. He put his stuff down and ran over.
"No no no! Bro! My chest is injured!" Dean said standing up and backing away.
That didn't dissuade Eric from seizing him in a bear hug that made him feel every mark of his surgery.
A roar of laughter went up from both the ODST's and Ranger's.
"That's right Eric! Show the pod-boy some Army love!" someone called from his squad.
Eric let go of Dean and he swayed for a second.
"Did you have to do that?" he let out in a strangled whisper.
"Course I did." he grinned evilly.
"You suck." he said smacking his shoulder.
"Awe come on bro. Just glad to see you out of surgery."
"You sure have a funny way of showing it." Dean said. "I'm going to get food."
"Suit yourself."
He walked somewhat pained over and grabbed a plate and loaded it high with food. He was pretty sure he'd be pushing the calorie limit but he could always work it off later.
Dean grabbed his food and started heading back.
He turned around to see his team huddled one side of the table while the Ranger's had moved unusually close on the other side and they seemed to be talking to one another intensely.
"Deacon, you think we could take them in a game of Gravball?" Li asked.
"8 on 8?"
"That or we could divide into fours." Sergei suggested.
"Oh man. I used to play striker on the off-season in school." Dean said rubbing his hands together.
"What was your record?" Li Tao asked.
"No idea. That was ages ago. I do remember that we were good enough to go to the Intercontinental Championship. Then the war took my brother so I started practicing for boot camp."
"We both did." Eric interjected.
"Eric, you always mention your brother." a red-haired woman spoke up from two seats down. "I don't mean this rudely but was he some sort of idol?"
"No." Eric said sitting back and rolling his shoulders. "I mean he didn't like how often the two of us fought. Told us that we were going to regret spending so much time fighting each other rather than for each other."
"Well that day happened." Dean said after a moment. "He was just gone without a trace. Sure, he had a couple flaws, but we realized that he was right. We never developed a relationship with him." he said as he tore a hashbrown apart with a fork. "So we joined up, figured we would fight so that others wouldn't experience the same thing he said putting the half in his mouth.
"You know what though, he probably would have done the same for us. I think he'd fall in love with the cooking on board this ship though." Eric said nodding at his plate of food. "This stuff is seriously much better than any of the cuisine on the other ships."
"You know," Dean smiled. " I wonder what he would say if he was here?"
Spartan Mess Hall,
UNSC Infinity
5:30 Hours
"Is that actual bacon I smell frying?" Will said as Castle Team assembled outside the cafeteria. He inhaled the smell once more.
"Oh holy crap yes!" Elizabeth said deeply sniffing as well. "None of that stupid-freeze dried stuff!"
"That crap is nasty." Brittany nodded in agreement.
"Dibs on all of it." Ralph and Felix said simultaneously.
"Actually, I want dibs on part of your bacon." Asher said with a slight trace of a smile. "After all you did wake us up way earlier than we had planned."
Their faces fell open.
"No..." breathed out Felix horrified.
"Ash-you can't just do that!" Ralph gaped.
"Sure I can." she said putting her hands on her hips.
"Commander-do you even hear what she's saying?" Felix asked.
"Every bit. In fact, I think I'll sanction it." Will said trading looks with Ash and internally trying to keep a straight face.
"Maybe next time you won't wake up the neighborhood fighting over wine." Hansu grunted groggily.
"Would you rather I said all of your bacon?" Asher suggested.
"No..." they murmured in unison.
"Then don't complain." she turned to Will. "I'm ready to eat Castle Lead, how about you.
"I am." he took a look and scanned the room which only held a few Spartan teams scattered throughout.
"Let's sit where we did yesterday." Brittany suggested.
Nobody made any comment contrary to it so they all walked up, grabbed a plate of food to their liking and all sat down. There were about 60 Spartans all interspersed throughout the room eating already and the atmosphere was full of energy.
"Alright you two hand over your plates." Asher said.
"What? I thought you were just asking for part of our bacon?!"
"Give it here so I can take part of your bacon then." Asher clarified.
They mutely handed over the plates. Asher took a knife and cut two tiny pieces off their mass of bacon before taking the much smaller bits. She gave one to Will and ate the other before handing the plates back.
"So, you're not taking more then that?" Felix hesitantly asked.
Asher gave no answer but instead engaged Brittany in a conversation about last night's war games.
The two hesitantly took their plates back and began eating.
"Well look who it is."
They all turned their heads to see a group of four Spartans walking towards them.
"Man you guys kicked our ***** out there last night." A black haired Spartan with a tan complexion said walking towards them.
"Oh man. At the end though when you were in that arena with the blocks." Another Spartan chimed in. "That was something else entirely."
"Yeah it was nothing. We do that all the time." Felix said sipping his drink.
Ralph slugged his shoulder and he choked on it for a second.
"What he meant to say was thank you. We're flattered by your compliment." Elizabeth said filling in for Felix he was trying to regain control of his breathing.
"Who are you guys?" Will asked.
"Name's Bradford Gale but you can just call me Brad." The black haired Spartan said. "This is Colton." The second Spartan waved. "Taylor," a woman with platinum blonde hair nodded. "and Leo." A Spartan of Latino descent gave a short wave and a nod at Elizabeth."
"And we're Fireteam Switchback." Taylor added. "If you need anything let us know although it looks like from last night you guys got your **** together."
"If I were you though I'd keep a wide berth away from Fireteam Shadow." Leo said seriously.
"Are they ticked off about last night?" Chelsea asked.
"Only two of them are. In fact I think they're the only two Spartans that are really bitter about last night. Daniel and Issac are well…interesting people."
"How so?" Elizabeth asked.
Leo ignored her. "Well, it was nice meeting you and congrats on your win last night! I hope we cross paths in War Games soon!"
William nodded and Switchback left for their rooms.
"They seem nice." Chelsea said finally after they were gone.
"I wonder if Rapier got them last night or if we did." Asher mused.
As Castle talked Will's mind drifted to an idea that had been simmering in his mind since he woke up. He hesitated about sharing it with the group but he knew that to withhold his mind wouldn't help him at all.
"Hey Castle Team," he asked finally as he contemplated what he was going to say.
"Yeah?"
"There's something I've been thinking about for a while." he said turning a piece of toast around his plate with a fork absentmindedly. In truth he had only really thought about it this morning during his shower but the events of last night had given him the idea.
"Shoot Will." Asher said sipping a glass of juice.
"What would you think about getting an AI for the team?" he asked casually.
There was a moment of silence as each member considered the idea.
"An AI?" Hansu asked.
"I don't have a problem with it." Elizabeth was the first speak after finishing a waffle. "What gave you that idea though?"
"It was just a thought I had in the shower."
"Uh huh." Asher stared at him. "Come on William." Asher almost snorted. "We all know you can lie better than that.
Will opened his mouth to respond but stopped.
"I forgot how good you are at reading people like that." He admitted red-faced.
The team chuckled as Will sipped some water to cool the heat in his face.
"So." She couldn't help but let a grin break through her face. "Mind telling us the real reason?"
"Well what do you guys think?"
"Oooh!" Elizabeth dropped her fork on her plate. "An AI would make my job a lot easier and quicker if we were to get a smart AI. I mean my focus is electronic security but an AI is a lot faster at breaking locks than I am." She bobbed excitedly.
"It would also be nice to have someone serve in a passive over-watch position. I mean, I can't monitor my motion trackers all the time." Hansu nodded.
"Not to mention an AI could enable us to be more independent field operatives than we already are." Chelsea added.
"And I might be able to interface and repair any Forerunner tech we come across. That stuff's beyond me but AI's have a knack for figuring out how to fix things like that." Felix said with his mouth full of eggs and bacon.
"Gross Felix." Brittany's face soured as tiny flecks of egg flew from his mouth. "Those are all really good reasons Castle Lead," Brittany said scooting away from her teammate. "but what's your reason?"
"Well." William paused to finish the last of an apple. "Those were all reasons that played into it but if I'm honest—"
At that moment there was a loud clatter and Hansu was shoved violently forward into his food as a Spartan carrying a tray overflowing with trash fell forward sending it up in the hair where it was dumped unceremoniously all over Brittany who yelped in surprise.
The Spartan got up and looked at Castle Team.
"Whoops." Daniel said mildly surprised.
"Dude! What the heck?!" Hansu fumed as he turned around and tried to wipe off his uniform the best that he could.
The conversation in the cafeteria died instantly as all eyes turned to look at their table.
"I must have slipped. I'm sorry." Daniel said feigning sincerity.
"Don't give me that crap!" Hansu fumed. "You knew full well that you didn't conveniently just fall."
"You know what? You're right My leg gave out because you guys shot the ******* **** out of it last night!"
"So why are you over here then?" Hansu asked incredulously. "You think that somehow picking a fight with eight of us is going to solve your problem?"
"You better watch what you say shorty." Isaac said appearing behind Daniel.
A collective gasp was heard. Will looked and saw a small crowd forming around their table.
"Wow, short jokes? Real mature." Ralph said as Castle Six and Seven bounced to their feet and stood next to Hansu.
"Ralph! Felix! Sit down!" Brittany pleaded as she and Elizabeth plucked granola out of her hair.
"Shorty? Shorty?" Hansu asked incredulously.
"I think someone's bitter that they were utterly destroyed last night." Ralph smarted off to Isaac.
"Castle Team stand down!" Will ordered as he debated on whether to separate them now or later. He stood up and pulled Felix to the side. "Come on Felix. Just let it go." He turned to his Lieutenant Commander. "Asher, take the team and move to a different table. That or get something to clean this mess up."
She nodded curtly. "Right, let's go guys."
Chelsea grabbed Hansu and Felix. "Come on boys."
"You better watch your head in War Games the next time I get a sniper." Hansu snapped. "You're going to learn a whole new definition of accuracy when I drill the same spot on your trash talking face over and over again."
"Oh ****!" a Spartan yelled over the crowd's reaction.
"Hey! All of you! Don't you have something better to be doing than gawking around at bad blood?" Will asked the crowd. "That's enough Hansu." Will said pulling him away from Daniel and Isaac.
"Hey Hansu. He's just trying to get under your collar. Don't let him." Brittany said as she finished doing what she could with her hair and stood up with Elizabeth.
"Yeah," Daniel called out. "You guys should listen to that—" What followed from his mouth silenced the entire cafeteria instantly.
"You sir have crossed the line." Will growled after a second as Brittany looked at him in shock. The rest of the Spartans realized that this was quickly turning ugly and began pulling the two of them back.
"Have I?" Daniel said resisting the other Spartans. "Well why don't we talk about the rest of the ****** on your team."
Without warning Chelsea came out of nowhere and ran at Daniel. It took the combined efforts of Elizabeth, William and Asher who yanked her back to subdue her.
That was when William saw Isaac break away from the Spartans and wind up a punch directed at an unsuspecting Elizabeth who was trying to pull Chelsea away with Asher.
Without any warning he stopped and launched a spinning kick aimed at the backside of his knee.
His boot connected and Issac's leg went limp as the joint collapsed and he went flying into the table sending food, dishes and cutlery flying in a loud explosion of sound.
The rest of the Spartans seized Daniel and began backing him away. Nobody dared get close to Isaac.
Isaac picked himself up and turned to look at Will who stood sternly with fists clenched.
"Coward. You don't even have the honor to attack someone head on."
"You just made…the wrong move Castle." Isaac heaved himself to him to his feet.
"Hey! What the **** is going on here!"
They all turned to see the rest of Fireteam Shadow with Horatio standing at the far entrance to the cafeteria with Bjorn behind him looking unsure of what was going on.
"Shadow Three! Shadow Four! What the **** are you doing!?" Horatio was furiously walking towards them.
"Putting a ******* in his place." Isaac grunted.
"I leave you two alone for ten minutes while I run up to the Infirmary and I come back and you've almost started a war?!" he yelled outraged. The crowd parted for him.
Isaac and Daniel said nothing. They looked like they wanted to take action but constrained themselves.
"I want you." he breathed out. "to apologize."
"They already tried to but it's not within their capability!" Ralph shouted from several tables back.
"Shut up Ralph." another Spartan said. "You're not helping."
"I'm sorry-" Daniel began. "I'm sorry. I'm on this ship with a bunch of idiots." Daniel spat after a minute.
Horatio looked at Will frustrated for a second.
"Ha ha. Let's try that again Shadow Three."
"Can we get an apology too?"
They all turned back again to see Rapier walking in with Crimson.
"If those two are responsible for sealing the door shut by barricading it with heavy objects I want to know right now." Kevin said.
"We had to go through Majestic's room just to get out. Crimson helped us move our stuff." Julianne shouted.
"Shut up kid." Isaac hissed.
"Excuse me?" Emily asked. "We are not some kids. We are Spartans just like yourselves and I daresay we have a longer CSV than most of you. So shut your **** mouth!"
"Hey!" another Spartan in the crowd cried out indignantly.
"I will not be talked down to by some juvenile!" Isaac roared.
"Hey Shadow Team, I don't know what your beef is with everyone on this ship this morning." one of Crimson said. "But if you try a stunt like that again I will personally haul all your *** into space and dump it there. I won't be sorry about it too. Horatio, get your act together and control them."
"You think I did this?!" Horatio pointed at that mess that Daniel and Issac created. "Don't you drag me under with this as well." Horatio slammed his fist down in frustration. "That's it. Where is Palmer."
"I'm right here!"
For the fifth time they all turned, this time to the stairs and saw Commander Palmer flanked by three Spartans clad in olive colored armor.
"That is enough!" her voice echoed around the room. "All of you!" her voice cracked as he yelled. "Roland. Send the footage to the Captain now. I don't care what he has to do right now but make sure this is seen before the hour's up."
"Yes Commander."
She paused, looked at the silent Spartans and made up her mind. "I want to see Fireteam Shadow, Fireteam Rapier, Fireteam Crimson, Fireteam Ivy, and Fireteam Castle outside my office in thirty minutes. The rest of you." she said in a falsely positive voice. "In case you haven't noticed, we have three guests on-board the Infinity. Captain Lasky has asked that Red Team from the Spirit of Fire come on board to supplement your training. I didn't support that decision until I walked outside my office today and saw...this.." she pointed. "Three words. What. The. ****. I am disappointed in all of you. Spartan Jerome here is going to tell you what's going to happen today and you had better follow his instruction."
Jerome stepped forward.
"I've seen all I need to see." he said coldly. "It looks like we have a lot of work to do and I pray for your sakes that you give a better second impression than you do first. I want all of you inside assembly room 20 in full armor at 10:00 hours. No exceptions. The rest of you better pass on the message to your comrades still sleeping. Dismissed."
With that they all turned and left.
"Shadow Team fall out." Horatio said disgusted.
Isaac and Daniel walked past Castle Team swiftly.
The sullen crowd dismissed quickly and William finally rejoined the rest of his team.
"What the heck. I can't believe we are getting roped into this." Chelsea said clutching her tray so hard Will was concerned it would break.
"Well I did make physical contact." Will said shaking his head.
"Only because he tried punching Liz." Hansu glowered. "What the heck. WE are not the problem here! They are!"
Silence fell and nobody wanted to speak.
"Is anybody interesting in eating still?" Asher finally asked after a minute.
Most of Castle shook their heads and Asher sighed. "What's up Castle Lead?" she said noticing his expression.
"That." William said looking up and pointing to Daniel and Isaac who were on the far side of the room being lectured to by Horatio, "is why I want an AI."
"I'm all for it." Brittany muttered steely.
"Perhaps now's not the best time to ask for it though." Elizabeth pointed out.
"Agreed. One step at a time." William sighed. "Let's head back."
They were almost through the S-Deck when they saw Fireteam Majestic ambling slowly towards breakfast.
"All hail the Champions!" DeMarco said with a smile.
"Thanks." Will said neutrally. "Just as a heads up, half of Fireteam Shadow is being unpleasant and we have a new training program starting today."
"We noticed Spartans Daniel and Isaac are really pleasant today." Thorne said. "They dragged a bunch of heavy things in front of their door. They had to go out through our door."
"We saw. Rapier showed up in the middle of a fight that Daniel and Isaac tried starting with us."
"What? Seriously?" Thorne asked.
"That's messed up." Madsen shook his head. "You guys okay?"
"Yeah but Palmer's chewing us all out now." Chelsea tersely stated.
"Good luck." Tedra said sympathetically. "You'll need it. What was the thing you said about a new training program?"
"Palmer showed up with three Spartan II's and dressed us all down. They're apparently now in charge of our training for the time being and from first impressions? Today's going to be crap."
"Aww ****." Madsen groaned.
"Palmer not like our performance last night?" Hoya asked.
"I think it was more the fact that there was almost a brawl this morning." Hansu grimaced.
"I don't expect today's going to treat us very well." Asher added.
"Well thanks for the heads up. If you see the kids—"
Tedra coughed.
"If you see Fireteam Rapier," DeMarco corrected himself, "Tell them that our door's unlocked. Just an insurance policy if Fireteam Shadow decides they want to pull a move like that again."
They all returned their dishes and largely avoided their other comrades before heading back to their room. It only took a few minutes for those who had ruined clothing to change out of them and Brittany did a quick wash of her hair.
"We ready to meet the good Commander?" Will asked as they all congregated in the main room.
Seven heads nodded.
"Let's go." He said as he pushed his way out the door and back into the hallway.
They didn't get farther than the S-Deck when they saw a large group of technicians clustered around their armor station with none of other than Palmer.
"Looks like she came to greet us early." Hansu said for the team.
"Peachy." Chelsea muttered.
"Best behavior guys."
"Fireteam Castle." Palmer's eyes fastened on them.
"Commander on deck!" Will shouted before snapping to a salute.
She looked them over for ten long seconds.
"At ease." she said finally. "I still want to meet with you afterwards but there is a different matter that needs to be taken care of before we do that." She pointed to the ring machines. "Your new armor."
A technician holding a stack of data-pads gestured over. Eight tablets were handed out to each member of Castle.
"The suits you received yesterday are the basic 'Recruit' models. If you don't already know, we give these suits to all new Spartans on Infinity if they don't already have a set. I know your team has a set but it's an outdated generation and we're privileged to have first access to the newest iterations." Palmer turned back to face them. "We use the Recruit armor to allow Spartans to test out this armor and adjust to handling it. When the Spartan has proven they are ready, they select an armor variant of choice to enable you to do your job even better than before. I knew when you came on board that you are ready but last night confirmed this. So, the time has come for you to pick."
She gestured to what appeared to be the Senior Technician and Will recognized him as the man who delivered them the user manuals yesterday.
"Spartans, per UNSC Regulation 3A-950, you have proven that you have the capacity to manage the MJOLNIR Armor suit. You are hereby allowed to select and customize your individual armor set with modular components from a wide range of special-purpose variants based on your personal preferences, specialization, and or mission requirements. Selecting variants for cosmetic reasons is discouraged. Furthermore, the UNSC strictly forbids Spartans from attempting to repair or modify their armor on their own."
William's eyebrows raised slightly and a subtle look at his team confirmed they shared the same thought. One of the things they had learned to do over and over in training was how to make repairs to their suits when access to repair facilities was impossible or unlikely. William had made a repair to the pressure seal of his helmet in the aftermath of Rhen Var without any problem.
"All armor maintenance," the technician continued, "is only to be performed by Class-61 Technicians in dedicated facilities. Any customization of armor color must be in accordance with UNSC Equipment Code 20.00.62. Are there any questions?"
"Sir," William began. "Part of our training included learning how to take-apart, rebuild, and fix any problems with our armor. I've done countless small and mid-scale repairs without any problems that resulted in any major errors."
"Don't give me that. Training for you guys never included that."
"Sir, we're three's. Not four's." Brittany added.
The man looked slightly taken aback.
"Uhh." He wasn't sure what to make of this information. "I...uhh... he said grasping for words. "It's an entirely different system. Without proper instruction you won't be able to do anything. You could compromise the entire suit!"
"So can anyone teach us?" Brittany pressed.
"Uhh that's beyond my ability and your armor has the capability to repair itself. Point is I don't want to see any sort of modification on these suits." He cleared his throat. "These data-pads contain an entire list of all the armor that is available to you for your use. Of course since you guys are apparently part of the older generation you're cleared for access to all but a select few sets of armor. He hit a few command strokes on his own data-pad."
"There. That should update the list. Before anyone asks, yes, you are allowed to mix and match body and helmet configurations but I'd prefer that you stick with a complete set because it makes it easier for me to work with. I'd also highly suggest you stick with the specified forearm and leg armor that's already been pre-selected after an immense amount of testing but as you all know, the choice is completely up to you." He grumbled. "Just remember that everything is cleared by Commander Palmer, the Captain, and myself before the order is put in." from farther off a technician working on a set of armor yelped and dropped a set of tools. The man sighed. "I'll be back in a minute."
"And I'll see you all in my office in twenty." Palmer said.
"Yes Commander." They all responded in unison.
"Have fun and don't get too hung up on your choice." She said allowing a trace of a smile before turning and leaving.
Will opened up his data-pad and was greeted with a whole array of choices.
Hansu whistled and Elizabeth let out a tiny squeal. Will knew why.
On the data-pad a holographic representation of his current armor in full color was visible with several categories listed below for customization: Helmet, Armor, Shoulder, Forearm, Leg, VISR, and color. In each category there was an enormous selection available to them complete with tiny images, labels, technical information such as production, the history of the variant, and its intended use. The words Air Assault immediately caught his eye next to a tiny image of what the armor looked like. He tapped it and the hologram changed to match the selected variant.
"Oh sweet." Will said. "Christmas came early."
"Hey guys, what do you think?" Hansu asked. "There's so many armor sets dedicated to scouting and such. Recon, Scout—looks like they overhauled those two from the original version— Hunter, Infiltrator, ooooh Deadeye." He said pausing on his datapad. "I'll flag that one for later." He stopped. "Hey hey look at this!"
He brought up an image of a suit that Will hadn't seen since Reach. "Check it out guys! I'm famous!"
"No way." Chelsea said taking it from him. "They got your suit from Reach?"
"Well, not quite. The shoulder plate configuration and knee-guards are different but hey! Looking good!"
Asher paled slightly.
"That's Jun's armor." She said in an almost whisper.
"What?" Hansu asked.
"That's Jun's armor." She said repeating herself once more time.
"Jun? Noble Three?" Will asked trying to clarify.
"Yeah."
"Well I'm getting it." Hansu said.
An error message displayed.
"What." He stared at the data-pad. "What? Oh come on! Not intended for mass production?! What is this? I'm a three just like Jun!" he said scandalized. "The Vigilant variant was originally a one-off upgrade for an unnamed VIP within the Spartan Branch and is not intended for production?"
"Definitely sounds like it's for Jun." Elizabeth said.
"Calm down Hansu." Will said. "Is there something else you like?" he said stopping his own search.
"Yeah…" he said staring wistfully at the armor. "Maybe I could get them to salvage my own suit and bring it up to standards?"
"Just pick something from here." Elizabeth said.
"Geez Castle Five." Hansu said throwing his hand up in surrender. "Well I liked Deadeye-don't exactly want to look like Palmer or Madsen now do I."
"Don't just choose an armor based on looks." Brittany reminded.
"Hey, well look at it this way." The Deadeye suit receives good ratings in close and mid-range combat which is something that we tend to do a lot of. Recon not so much and the Scout's long range performance isn't as great compared. So I think I'll get this and pick out the VISR and suit color.
"Well," Chelsea started. "I think they missed the memo that I already have a suit. Anyways, look at the Orbital and Hermes variants. They look like knock-offs of the EVA. I think I'll just stick with what I know." Chelsea finished tapping a couple things and put the data-pad down.
"Hey I found another Reach suit." Brittany called out. "Actually scratch that. They got Carter's, Jorge's, and Emile's armor too."
Will noticed Asher grow rapidly pale a second time and rapidly scrolled through the data-pad.
"Hey, you okay Castle Two?"
Asher said nothing and stared at her own data-pad displaying the Noble variant.
"Castle Two?" he repeated.
"I'm fine." she replied weakly. "I just..." she stopped. "The last time I saw all of these was right before they all..." she trailed off. "They were all good people too. Jorge was the one who actually tried to integrate me with the others and..." she trailed off a second time unable to finish.
"I'm sorry!" Brittany said rushing over and giving her a hug on the side. "If I had known-"
"I would have seen it anyways at some point." Asher said regaining some color. "Thanks Bree. I just don't understand how they could mass-produce these."
"What do you mean?" Ralph said trying to understand.
"I..." she stopped. "Well, William, what do you think about the Spartan IV's."
"I think that they're a necessary compromise between the child-soldier approach and the conscript approach." William said after a long pause. "I think in doing that though that they will never truly be like us. I don't know whether that's bad or not." Will clarified.
"Exactly. That's kinda how I feel. Like, you will never be able to come up with another Carter or Jorge. That's a weighty legacy to take upon yourself."
"Well Asher," Chelsea said trying to reason "They're only giving this armor out to a select few Spartans. I think they understand that too."
Will was scrolling through again when he saw another variant.
"Hey, Asher. Recognize this?" he flipped the pad over to show her.
Asher looked over to Will's pad and opened her mouth.
"Wow. They really have all of Noble team memorialized in armor." she said with bitter amusement. "I barely even wore that one suit and that's what I'm remembered for. I preferred my CQC suit." She pulled it up on her own pad. "Wow, Devastator gets high marks in everything it does."
"So why don't you get it?" Ralph asked.
She tapped the pad and frowned.
"Looks like ONI needs the final say if I'm to get access to the armor."
"They can't deny it to you Asher." Hansu said confidently. "You're already pretty cool in their books."
"We'll see. I'll stick with the Pathfinder until I can get the actual suit." she said making a few more gestures with her tablet before she put it down as well.
"Figure out what you want?" Will asked to Brittany and Elizabeth.
"I think so..." Castle Five bit her lip.
"Yeah." Brittany said. "I'm ready. Have you made your choice Commander?"
An image popped up on Will's device as he made his selections and he showed it to the rest of the team. The younger members gave a collective ooh.
"Only problem with this," Will said making his final selections, "Is that I'll have to wait a week or so for the set to ship. I can make do with the other one for a while."
He made his final selections and put down his pad.
"Have you all made your selections?"
They looked over to see the senior technician walking towards them.
"Yes sir."
He flipped open his data-pad and stared and scrolled through. William saw a frown form, probably from the number of highly specialized and rare suits they had ordered. Some of them had ordered two.
Will swore the man made a comment about "**** former Section III Operators" before he looked up.
"I'll forward the requests on to Palmer, Captain Lasky, and ONI. Enjoy the rest of your day." he said slightly forcing his smile. Will guessed he was not happy about the amount of paperwork he would need to fill out from equipping an eight man Spartan III team.
"Come on, let's go find Palmer." Will gestured with his head and they all fell out.
Aaaaand done.
TL;DR: The Absolute Record proves to be a dud (but what could the Custodian possibly mean?), William's family makes an appearance, Spartan comedy, a conversation about AI, an almost brawl, a new training regiment, and Castle Team finally gets an upgrade to their armor. I guess you'll have to wait until it shows up to see what they actually got. I can't wait to re-introduce more plot points and characters in the next chapter. Things are going to get...interesting. We'll see.
As an additional digression: I am in need of new/additional beta-readers in addition to those I have. If you've always wanted to do this sort of thing, now's your chance. Send me a PM if you're interested.
As another digression: Please take a look at my profile. I update it fairly often with little tidbits that relate to current works in progress. Who knows, you might find something of value there.
Comments, suggestions, and reviews are appreciated. I'm always trying to evolve as a writer so I appreciate someone taking the time to give me their two cents.
As always, yours in writing. I hope to be back again soon.
theotherpianist