Dr. Catherine Halsey
Reach, Castle Base
March 4, 2525
"That's quite obvious, Chief. Make him a squad leader."
Those words echoed in Halsey's mind following the beginning stages of the Augmentation Phase. She had the pain of observing the risk projection before seeing the children off to their Pelicans. It was where the candidates would be taken to one of the orbiting stations where Project: ASTER was being initialized. In the lasting, final details of the project's boot camp being complete; Catherine stuck behind to chronicle her thoughts regarding her conversations with a couple of the candidates. One candidate, in particular, kept her mind pressed; making her dread looking at the possibilities of what may happen to him.
However, even while she was inscribing her thoughts into her journal, all the lights in her office would shut down for the moment; causing her to stand and look around for any intrusions from her position in the Northern section of CASTLE Base. Moments later, the emergency lights would flicker on and the emergency lockdown procedures were initiated with security.
They were underground, so something like this was very wrong and out of place.
"Déjà, status report."
In the appearance of the holographic projection, Déjà's holographic display would show above the platform beside the office desk. "An unknown energy spike has disabled our sector of the electrical grid. Power outages in non-essential localizations, emergency power online. External sensors detect extreme temperature increases in the general area and dissipating at every moment. Strange, no residual radiation," Déjà spoke with a rather display of suspicion.
Halsey hummed, crossing her arms with an intrigued outlook.
"That is strange. Did security find out what was causing the disturbance?"
"Not ye-" Déjà would pause as she was beginning to explain. Suddenly, the holographic projection of Déjà would switch herself to displaying a map of the base. "Intruder detected in section thirty-three." Exclaimed the AI. That would elicit a response from Halsey, who, at that very moment, turned from looking at the door and then turning herself to face the map projection with suspicion.
"Are there any security cameras still operable?"
"Correct, should I-?"
"Yes," Halsey interjected. She didn't pause to think about what was happening, she couldn't. Now, what was a strange phenomenal discharge; it turned into something much more concerning. Upon receiving the window of the hidden cameras displayed from the internal corridors, Halsey would see the 'intruder' within the facility.
A man? Who could be able to have the capabilities to do this? Catherine thought to herself, thinking heavily into the suggestive implication of what was happening. She could only see specific imagery from the human's coat and manner of sneaking around.
"Should security personnel be sent to capture the intruder and send him in for interrogation?"
"Not yet." Halsey ordered, looking at the identifying marks of a lab-coat and even a security card clipped on the pockets of the man's cloth. "Keep an eye on him and entrap the intruder if he reaches any of the decontamination chambers, question him when captured. At least we can control the chokepoints."
"It will be done," Déjà replied in compliance to the order. However, as Catherine Halsey observed the man's movements in sneaking along the still discharging electrical corridors and small hallways; just seeing the man assume that a UNSC military installation would not have security measures in place was an interesting point indeed. It was like she was watching a child scour random columns, avoiding what they fear and rely on intuition alone to find a way out. The man reminded her of mice scrounging a maze, watching him randomly select a hall and move when there was no one around or where the shadows were greatest.
It was even stranger when she observed the man entering the decontaminating chamber. His lack of searching for any security measure nearly impressed Halsey for the sheer amount of neglect he had as a mere intruder. So, when Déjà sealed the decontamination chamber and then followed through on her protocols, Catherine would merely lean forward and speak up.
"Déjà, patch me through."
In that moment, Catherine would hear the patchy voice of the young man replying to Déjà.
"Christian Oscar Rodriguez, Computer Scientist; Tech Specialist for the Crescent Tech Corporation. I don't know what happened nor how I can verify myself, but I do know how I can help prove that I am not an intruder."
"Crescent Tech doesn't exist. Be prepared for interrogation, insurrectionist."
Widening her eyes at the prompt escalation of Déjà's use of knockout gas, Halsey approached the platform and started to speak up. "Déjà, disengage-!" Before Halsey could be able to disable the gas, she was completely blindsided by the quick actions and words of the unknown individual:
"Undid Iridium!"
The moment when the male's voice carried into the speakers, Déjà would quickly vanish from the platform and stop working entirely. Even by voicing automatic commands would be met with nothing more than silence. Halsey would rush to the door and try to open it with a simple entering of a few codes.
Damn! Halsey voiced in her mind as lockdown procedures prevented her from exiting the room. Her codes could not be able to open the door correctly and manually opening the door would take too long for a man in control of a 'Dumb' AI. How could he have known? He was lost for one moment and then took complete control of the base with my passphrase. Catherine questioned herself, unable to deduce her innermost secrets in the development of AI being used against her. No one soul could have known nor figure out the phrase.
This man was moving way too quickly.
Before she even knew it, Halsey heard static patching up into the holographic matrix.
"Doctor Halsey," came the same voice of the man that had infiltrated the base and was able to take control. Now he knew her name? What did this man not know about her?
"I am her... and you must be this Christian Rodriguez?"
"Yes. Are you alone?"
"Would you care if I weren't?"
"I would. Are you alone?"
"For now."
"Good, did you find a background of me in the UEG database?"
"No, I have been unable to do anything since you have decided to hijack my AI with my own passphrase," Halsey replied back with a quip. She was fairly annoyed over the mere notion that the man would want to see if he was when he had complete control of the base. He had complete control over the base, call the insurrectionist movement on their location, kidnap her, or worse; and yet the most important question he had was to see if he existed in the UEG database?
Halsey almost felt disappointed.
"Sorry about that, truly."
Now that royally pissed her off.
"Are you? It seems you're here for more than a simple question about your history. And if it is, I would be really concerned with your mental health if you decided to enter a UNSC compound just to ask questions about your identity," Catherine replied in a mere contemplation of her annoyance.
"I am. If there was any defined reason for me being here, I would give you it. However, since I am not in such position to easily explain myself in such a manner; you will have to bear with me," Christian exclaimed in the PA system. There was something in the man's voice that Halsey could see. He had the conviction to act rather promptly to danger, the intel to subvert an entire base of its operations, and even bore the intuition to not beat around the bush. Yet his intrusion into the system and display of complete confusion and uncertainty about his environment was almost comical to witness.
"Enlighten me on what I should bear."
It was at that moment, the front door would open, revealing Christian as he rushed into the room and closed it shut.
"Things beyond Tier-One classification and something I would not wish to speak on com channels."
Christian took a deep breath as he stood right before the figure of Doctor Catherine Halsey. He could see the woman just how he had imagined her. The woman's hair coloration, the difference in lab-coats, and even the same hardened facial expression she carried with her. He could see her annoyance of the man, but he had done his best to ensure he would not end up being taken to an ONI interrogation room where he knew he would be tortured, imprisoned, and most likely executed for being at a place that didn't exist.
Whether the case could be, the young man entered the office space regardless; taking the moment to ensure no one would corner him.
It was a bet, a risky one that relied on his choice of words; one that staked his life on the line.
He was carrying the pistol, but he struggled to carry it with the burn marks stinging him at every possible movement. It was a painful motion, but he was more paranoid this time for good reason. To know what was to come, especially when untold trillions of lives were at risk of being wiped out; being unarmed to carry out revealing the truth would be a horrible idea.
"Now I am very curious. If you're trying to talk to me about some intel that is beyond my superiors clearance level while carry a pistol so sloppily; just what is your end goal here?"
"That, Doctor Catherine Halsey, is solely for the benefit of you and John-117."
"What do you want with him," Halsey spoke with fire. At that moment, she stared at Christian with much hate and fury in her eyes. Her aggression displayed on the notion towards anyone who may threaten the children of the program she established.
"Nothing, but I want to make sure he has the proper intel he will need in the coming war."
"Are you referring to the Insurrection?"
"No, something worse."
"They wouldn't know yet, but if it meant billions of people are going to be alive because of my actions; Halsey would be one of the few people who could be trusted with this information," Christian thought to himself. He couldn't live with the thought of holding so big of a secret from people who could do something about it. Instead of using the information as a bargaining chip, the man would rather reveal it to the right people and ensure it was delivered effectively.
This was one of those times. In seeing Halsey's confused face, it was easy to tell what her next few words were going to be.
"Enlighten me." Was all Halsey could speak, crossing her arms. "If I am being held at gunpoint, I might as well humor you."
"Again, I am sorry for-"
"Just get to it."
That was the moment Christian slightly turned his head towards one of the holographic platforms in the room. "Déjà, are there any holographic monitors operational right now?" In record time, Déjà was quick to appear above the platform and speak in reply:
"Affirmative."
"Are there any anomalous transmissions from an unknown transmission in Harvest recorded or detected in Colony Space?"
"Correct, there is an unknown anomaly from the planet Harvest; but it has been difficult to decode. It is fragmented and incomplete, and it has stopped repeating its transmission," Déjà replied.
"Display it to the projection," Christian ordered Déjà. His calm sense was the only barrier keeping him from freaking out about the revelation of The Covenant. Upon Déjà displaying the garbled transmission in holographic detail, Christian would walk around Halsey. There, he would evaluate its' shape and design whilst observing Halsey's reaction towards him. He could tell she was very much curious as to how he knew that information, but he saw she did not display any expression that could determine explicitly how she felt about him showing it.
Immediately detecting what was on the holographic display, the blue glow of the ship promptly set the man into a near panic of recognition.
"That is exactly what I feared," Christian sighed dejectedly.
"Explain," Halsey spoke with a rather quick and curious implication.
"That-" Christian spoke, pointing to the shape of what now he recognized as the most recognizable and familiar ship design of The Covenant. "-is a Covenant CCS-Class Capital Cruiser."
To see a stone-faced woman such as Halsey show immediate change of facial expression, it nearly worried the man to see if she was either going to capture him for more intel or give him to ONI to make him give it out. In seeing Halsey not saying a word in that moment, the young man continued:
"I know this is strange, but-"
"How do you know this might be the correct intel? This information seems at best a manufacturing of a lie and at worst, a guess."
"Would you believe me if I explained on how I got here? Maybe that would at least provide the context you need to know how I know this."
"Please do. It would spare me from the monotony."
Christian would give Halsey a tired look before deciding to take the moment and holster his weapon in his pocket. "Doctor Halsey, I do not know how I can make this easier... but I am going to come to you straightforward and honestly here." The young man soon took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then voiced himself.
"I am from the past. Over five-hundred years ago. All of this around me, even you, is nothing but a part of a game series. I don't know if my being here is the result of time, dimensional hopping, or a multiverse theory proven right; I am unable to answer that for you. But what I am saying, even here, is implicative of ONI's operations with the unknown alien tech on this planet."
Catherine took this piece of information rather blankly the moment Christian revealed himself as such. For the man to have so much on herself, Déjà, the candidates, possibly the program, ONI, and the UEG... there was so much that could not be explained, but there was far too many holes in his theories to be prove the man of his truth or lie. She was in a state of disbelief, and it showed in her conflicted emotions over the information he had at his command. In the end, however, the one thing she could prove with a certainty, is the signal that no one would know without triggering every UNSC com beacon in the sector. If this man's predictions proved to be correct, then she would have compelling proof to believe him.
"There is too much unverified data in your words to allow me to directly accept what you say is true or not." Halsey spoke in reply to Christian's statement.
Christian merely sighed, nodding in understanding that he knew he would not accept nor trust anyone with the same story he was spinning. However, this was one of those occasions for him; where he had to at least reveal some of the truth to someone he knew would at least help him survive the initial stages of his arrival.
"I understand, Doctor Halsey," Christian replied in respect and candor to the woman's position.
"But, there is something here that can be proven. You imply of your ability to know certain events that will happen. Tell me, what is currently happening on Harvest?"
She would see Christian deflating. The man was displaying signs of nervousness, fear of something as he tried to explain. "The Covenant, as stated in relation to that ship, is currently wiping out the colonial population as well as the UNSC peacekeeping force there. What is currently happening is a war of extreme attrition, with five separate races being used to kill humans and take what is necessary to know about our species... just so they could wipe us out easier." Christian sighed, soon continuing, "They will reveal themselves formally when a UNSC battlegroup enters the space a few months in time. These aliens will declare war on humanity, stating that 'Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument.' This will begin a war for humanities survival against extinction. The Covenant's tactics will seek to wipe out our kind from orbit and on the ground, " the young man stated.
"There is more behind what you are talking about this... Covenant." Halsey was perceptive to see there was something to his words. However, she was not so keen to not let a leading statement stand by itself. He had stated the beginning of a war, now she wanted to know more than how these aliens wanted to exterminate humanity from existence.
"Yes, there is. But-" Christian confirmed with Halsey, shaking by what truth he would reveal. Yet, Halsey's raise of hand caused him to be silent for the moment.
"But... what?" Halsey interjected.
"The Covenant... they are going to war of extermination because we-humanity, are a direct threat to the existence of their religion."
"Okay... that is what I was not expecting," Halsey thought in the moments passing Christian's explanation of what was currently happening on the colony. All she knew about what was happening on Harvest-was the loss of contact after the colony made long-range contact with the unknown vessel. If his intel proved on-point for what was going to happen, then anything he could say would have merit. Halsey crossed her arms at that point, thinking about what else she could find out from an open book of an individual.
"Why?"
"That's... way more complicated for me to explain," Christian sighed. "-but our colonies, even Earth, are gold mines in buried and ancient alien technology. This planet, Reach, is one of the largest and most important finds of the conflict. CASTLE Base and SWORD Base are two of the more important locations where we find said technological finds. The Covenant declare the alien race they revere as gods to be rulers of the galaxy and therefore proclaim the planets we are on as sacred, and so they use this to brand us as mass desecrators."
Now this was a curve-ball that twisted Halsey's mind. It caused the woman's shifted mindset to shift just a little more. To hear that not only they were sitting on a gold mine of ancient technology, but as well as the rest of humanity; the thought would bring Halsey to a state of debate within herself. She had just heard about The Covenant, but now there was something else going on entirely? What if this was true and it was a fact that potentially every colony could contain this buried tech? That meant even The Insurrection could potentially use that tech to their benefit and cost humanity everything.
"Well... as much as I would like to entertain your intel. You may know what is to come in the future, but what would you know about the immediate past?" Halsey would inquire, keeping herself stoic and blank as to insure not only her safety from the man, but also from ONI sensors if they were still operational.
"You went with Lieutenant Jacob Keyes on a recon mission to a colony, where you discovered the boy known as John playing a child's game called 'King of the Hill' against other kids. The boy won and you tested him with coin tosses. He saw each coin flip in where it will land, perfect reflexes before you gave the coin to the boy. If you are talking about something more immediate, John will have led and brought every Spartan candidate from a training exercise where he, Blue Team, and the rest of the class injured undercover trainers with rocks before taking their vehicle back to base. If this has happened, you recommended he be promoted to squad leader to Mendez."
Satisfied, Halsey would now cross her arms and peer closer to his better judgements. "Now that you satisfied the past, do you you have any physical evidence that may prove useful to back up your claims?" She asked.
The moment would be long for Christian in the midst of such a critical moment. From revealing Halsey what basic information he had on The Covenant and revealing what little of The Forerunners he could without confusing the doctor to a point where he may get put into a holding cell for his safety; Christian would lower his right hand near his hips and rubbed his clothing. When his hand felt the hardened rectangular shape of a phone, the young man shoved his hand into his right pocket and pulled out his Android Phone.
This might be it, this could be enough! Christian thought to himself, his eyes glossed over the reflective material and lack of damage on its screens. It was complete, undamaged, and possibly in good condition. Now, all that was left was the phone's power. As his finger pressed the phone's on-switch and held the pressure... nothing would prepare him for the sight.
The Phone turned on.
"Halsey, I think I may have found your evidence." Christian exclaimed, smiling to her for a moment as he would turn his attention to watch the Google logo switch off and turn the screen to the password section. With his easy-to-guess entering of his passkey, the man had access to his phone. Not wanting to allow anyone to remote-hack his phone, he would begin to disable the Wi-Fi connection port and Bluetooth function in his cellphone. There, when he was finished with securing his device, he would look into the downloaded section of his Kindle Library and saw all of his Halo Collection still available.
The young man was even more happy the moment he had closed the Kindle application and opened up YouTube. He was overjoyed in discovering that his downloaded content of every Halo Trailer, Soundtracks both released and unreleased, and even a few of the short films of Halo were still there in the downloaded section of his application. However, when he had scrolled down to see the listing of Halo 4 and 5's trailers; Christian's face would furrow upon looking at such content. In reaction, the young man would close his eyes and sighed, soon turning his head and looking directly at Halsey.
"Here, if my words do not hold weight; this most certainly will," Christian implied as he moved forward to Déjà and placed his phone onto the table. He would soon turn on his Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functions to allow its connection to any network. "Déjà, can you be able to connect to this device," he asked.
With an acknowledging connection to the phone, the young man nodded to Déjà.
"Download all the data inside the phone and then sabotage the Wi-Fi port and Bluetooth function to the device. I do not want anyone else to download and find out what you already know."
To see the phone displaying an error message, Christian smiled and pocketed his phone. "Good, now you have all the grounded intel. However, I have to warn you Halsey, do not go beyond our war with the Covenant in the books. There are things far worse than genocidal aliens," he would warn.
Halsey, looking at the young man who moved like an excited child. When she witnessed Déjà downloading all the data from the device and then seeing the man pocketing the device after sabotaging it, the woman was much more flabbergasted to see the man display such oddities. If he was performing, ONI would need to hire him.
"What will you do now... Christian?"
That would cause the man to pause. He looked down at his own lab-coat, even reading his own companies logo on his chest. Christian had no idea what he would do next. Honestly, he knew Halsey would be someone who could be able to keep a secret and keep ONI from knowing everything. Hell, she even crossed Vice Admiral Parangosky and lived. He trusted Halsey with his secrets, but he was scared about what would come next.
In his silence, the man would pull out the pistol and place it on her table. He even took out his wallet and phone and placed it there.
"I do not know," Christian stated. He would look at the Doctor and cross his arms. The man looked to Halsey with a great deal of trust. His brown eyes displayed such implications, a near indication of loyalty, even if she didn't know what he was meaning behind every moment.
"I do," Halsey spoke. She looked even more steeled and edged up with what she was intending. Not much time was went into thinking about what she needed to do, especially in such circumstances where it concerned with keeping a man in secret. Much had to be done with this person, but so too did she have to verify all of his intel. "-but you must release your hold on Déjà to me," Halsey insisted.
Content, Christian turned to Déjà and smiled.
"Déjà, release override code."
"Releasing override instructions."
Déjà's artificial lights flickered and soon, she appeared again and looked to Christian and then back to Halsey.
"What should I do with the intruder," questioned the Dumb AI.
Before Christian could be able to turn to Halsey, he would feel a sharp sting slotting into his neck. He barely had a second to react as the contents inside the stinging sensation filled his neck with some kind of fluid. That was when he realized he was being injected with a sedative.
He would fall to the ground before he realized he felt the effects of the sedative hit him.
"What shall be done with him," Déjà questioned Halsey. They could see the nurses taking what would be a lab-coat-less and item-less man onto a gurney and strolling him to the medical wing. It was very clear that the Artificial Intelligence was very much close to initiating ONI protocols. However, the fact that she was the nearest person with an ONI clearance... she was the only person here to decide the fate of the strange man; protocols were strangely diverted to her eyes only.
"Keep watch on him, alert me when he wakes up. And... ensure he is brought into Section Three's side of the base."
Halsey was quick to simply return to her table and sit down on her chair. Comparatively, Halsey had already confiscated the intruders' wares and trinkets. All of his items were placed in her desk for evidence and safekeeping. No one in the room could identify the man, so the nurses took him into the medical wing with Halsey's supervision. She had kept the items within the drawer, ensuring she could only find out what else she could discover.
What was strange about this incident, Christian's intel had kept the woman on her toes. So much verified and unverified information was in the air, but if this war was real, this would make him a walking cloud of black ink. Her mind spun on the information he gave, but sitting on it would do her little to no good for both of them.
A threat greater than the Insurrection. I thought I had heard everything. Halsey hummed to herself. Her elbows clung to the surface of the metallic table, eyes glistening to her datapad.
"Déjà, transfer a copy of the data and store it into my datapad. Full encryption," Halsey ordered Déjà.
In milliseconds, the screen on her pad flickered alive with a quick translation of small bits of information transferring into the device. It wouldn't be long before all the stored information was entered into the datapad.
"Transfer complete, Dr. Halsey."
Immediately when the transfer was complete, Halsey gripped the pad and began scrolling through files and videos that were older chronologically. Even if there was an end, it was easier to scroll to the beginning and then uncover what information was useful or useless. However, it did surprise Halsey of the images and iconographies of the helmets and armor configurations on the cover screens and book covers. They were all eerily similar to the armor style of MJOLNIR Armor designs.
Another sign that this is going to ruin my day.
"Indeed, now Déjà; inform the security personnel that there was a glitch in the system and that there is no intruder."
"Done," Déjà replied.
"Good, now get engineering to clean the network. ONI will want a full report by the end of the hour," Halsey ordered Déjà. "...and Déjà, open camera feed to section thirty-three. Record inner and outer camera recordings and then replace the data with false imaging."
With an opened camera view displaying onto her datapad, Halsey would see security personnel hauling Colonel Ackerson and two other officials into the hallway. By now, the woman smiled as she watched the men being ferried into a different medical wing to recover. For bearing with the intel, she was rewarded with the man's humiliation.
"Déjà, be sure to establish a com link when you are able to; encrypted transmission only."
"Understood, who will be the recipient?"
"Lieutenant Jacob Keyes."
Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone,
I really hope you all have enjoyed the first couple of chapters of Halo: Modern Evolutions. Since this is the first story I have written regarding a game series I have been really passion about since Halo: CE, I have considered the idea of utilizing a different perspective into an already defined Sci-Fi series. This story is made to give unique takes and provide humor, insight, and even "what-if" scenarios if one thing were to change and to see their butterfly effects on the current storyline.
In the event there is a mistake in lore or grammar, please go ahead and point it out; Halo as a game series has so much information that mistakes are bound to happen. If there are apparent mistakes regarding a perspective or point of view on a take in this series, feedback is always appreciated even if some things cannot because of the plot.
However, if you like this story and you would wish to follow every update; please go ahead and give the Follow Story box a doughnut and promptly eat the pastry in front of it. Favorites are always appreciated!
Thank you all so much for your time, generosity, feedback, and support!
-True