Alpha Nine to Copper Nine

by CambrianSun

2552. Humanity is at war with an alien alliance known as 'The Covenant' We are losing. In an attempt to assault the carrier of one of the Covenant's leadership. The carrier jumps into slipspace above New Mombasa. Those whom survive the blast find themselves on a new, dangerous, frozen world.

9. Chapter 9: Mickey III

A9 to C9

(Alpha Nine to Copper 9)

Chapter 9: Lovelock Research Labs (Mickey III)

Private First Class Michael 'Mickey' Crespo

Lance Corporal Laurie Holmes

Unknown Service Tunnels, Copper 9

2 Hours After Drop

A security camera flashed briefly to life, displaying Holmes carrying Mickey through a dark and abandoned corridor. Whatever adrenaline and drugs that was keeping Mickey aloft had run out. Zooming in on the two's faces, the camera attempted to identify exactly who they were, only to quickly come up with merely the label of '?' for both of them.

"You still awake, Mickey?" Holmes asked, starting to breathe heavily, having to haul Mickey along what felt like an endless corridor. Mickey, in response, barely managed to lift his helmet and give a subtle groan. Holmes needed to find his way to that radio tower and fast. Even if Mickey was stabilized for the time being, he was certainly combat ineffective. Which given the fact that they were both being actively hunted by V and J, was almost certainly a death sentence if they were to come into contact again, not to mention the fact that the surface was still crawling with Order troops.

"Galilee, how close are we to the waypoint? And…where are you leading us exactly?" And then there was Galilee, who had been silent ever since he did…whatever it was that disabled V and J and allowed the hapless ODSTs to escape. This path, in comparison to the others, was the safest. Even if Galilee was a Dumb AI, Holmes wasn't exactly going to question him, he clearly knew more than he did. Though there was no response. Damn. And Holmes's torso was starting to ache again from the stab wound he received earlier. And even with that supply drop, they didn't exactly have a surplus of medical supplies on hand.

"Put…put me down…" Mickey's voice was tense, and his breathing picked back up again…the pain was returning. Damnit…

Holmes laid Mickey down against the wall of the tunnel, before taking a knee and checking on Mickey's wrappings…still good, as was the BioFoam. Mickey clutched at his shoulder, his breathing now interlaced with wincing and moans from the pain slowly creeping back in.

"You're gonna have to…You need to leave me…Get help…I'll wait here…Or give me something for the pain…anything…"

"I can't, I've already given you a day's worth."

"I-I can handle it…I just…need to think…for a second…aghhh"

"You're not thinking straight, just hold on for a bit longer and we'll be able to-"

"To do what?! Huh?! For Christ's sake, we're going to die down here! Aghhh!" Mickey yelled through gritted teeth, before slamming his fist against the concrete wall and producing a yell that tapered off into pathetic whimpering. Holmes watched on, not really sure how to approach this situation, kind words were never particularly his strong suit.

"If you want to stay behind here while those machines have our scent, then that's perfectly fine to me. We don't have time to rest. You don't think I'm in pain over here too? I had a 5 foot long blade driven between my ribs, I'm not exactly comfortable right now either!"

"I LOST MY ARM!"

"The UNSC can replace your arms, your legs, they CAN'T replace you. All we have to do is get to that radio tower and call for help. All that we have to do is survive. Even if it's just one of us. Which you defied my orders to proceed to the objective without me."

"I had no choice! One of them was standing in the way! And you saved me back at the landing site. I…can't just abandon you like that."

Holmes was silent, so that's what it was about…Holmes took a cursory glance down the tunnel, biting his lip under his helmet.

"You don't owe me anything, trooper. We need to move…." Holmes offered a hand to Mickey and helped him to his feet. Before the two could proceed forward, there came a noise from the darkness ahead. Some kind of chittering sound, metallic in nature. Then came a blue spotlight that lit up the tunnel partially. Fuck. One of the Disassembly Drones had found them…

Kneeling down into a firing position, Holmes kept his gaze at the approaching blue lights, ready to fire on whatever the hell managed to show itself first. Holmes tapped Mickey on the shoulder and motioned for him to run back towards the entrance…though, as If by fate, the same lights appeared just behind the two ODSTs, approaching just as fast. End of the line, It seemed.

Now standing back to back, Mickey and Holmes prepared to make a final stand. If they were going down, they were going to make damn sure they had company coming along with them. Out of the darkness, the blue spotlight revealed itself to be a mechanical creature resembling that of a Velociraptor, only bearing the obvious signs of being a machine, and 3 'eyes' composed of glowing blue cameras. They weren't Disassembly Drones, true, but robot raptors certainly weren't any better.

One approached Holmes, who was staying as still as possible. The 'Sentinel' cocked its head to the side and chirped out some kind of vocalization to its comrade who was in the process of studying Mickey. They were human, no doubt, even with the unknown armor or weapons they were carrying. Mickey and Holme's blood soaked bandages only reinforced their suspicions. Though who were they then? Their armor did not resemble any colonial military force's design, nor JCJenson's designs. Upon scanning Galilee, however, their demeanor changed. Their eyes flashing from a brilliant, sky blue color to a deep red, forcing both ODSTs to tense up, assuming that this was the moment the Sentinels start trying to rip them to shreds. Only for a symbol to appear in both machine's eyes.

The shape featured a hexagon with the right hand corner of it barely missing, colored blood red, three dithering arrows extended out from the center of the hexagon. All of this was encircled within an odd, circular frame with thicker lines to the left and right of the inner portion surrounding the symbol itself. Both Sentinels tensed up, before glancing towards each other and passing some binary conversation. They then both turned and made their way back down the tunnel where Mickey and Holmes were headed. It seemed as If they wanted them to follow. Galilee's waypoint reappearing once more on both ODST's VISRs seemingly confirmed this. Mickey turned to Holmes for any sort of answer, to which Holmes just responded with a confused shrug.

"Lets just count our blessings…"

"You're starting…agh…t-to sound like Dutch…"

Upon following the Sentinels down the length of the tunnel. Holmes and Mickey found themselves standing before a massive blast door embedded in the concrete. The faded paint seemed to indicate that this location was the 'Lovelock Research Labs' and that the blast doors indicated that it was under some kind of emergency lockdown. There didn't seem to be any other way in. The Sentinels had led them into a dead-end. Before they could turn back, however, a voice began to speak from an unknown source.

"*Hello! Sorry about the Sentinels, they're programmed to dispose of any Worker Drones that approach this facility, and with that armor It's rather difficult to tell. One moment, I'll let you both in!"*"

With a bout of silence, the blast doors opened and with some hesitation, Mickey and Holmes ventured forth inside. Past the blast doors was a sort of checkpoint area, likely to vet scientists and personnel to the labs. From behind a foggy, bulletproof window, they could see the shadow of a man sitting behind a control panel.

"Welcome! It's wonderful to see more humans here! One moment! Let me come greet you both in person!" The shadow made its way out of the security booth and approached the sealed door, with a few audible button presses, the door slid open. And rather than a human standing before the ODSTs, It was a Worker Drone. Wearing a clearly oversized lab coat, bearing a pair of cerulean eyes and very little else. He seemed to be wearing an ID badge belonging to what was clearly a human.

"Hello! It's a pleasure to meet the both of you. My name is Dr. Wei. Dr. Chang Wei."

Dr. Wei extended his mechanical hand to Holmes, who hesitantly returned the gesture.

"Lance Corporal Laurie Holmes, United Nations Space Command…this is Private First Class Micheal Crespo…" Mickey would have introduced himself, though he was once again losing his strength to engage in formalities. Holmes glanced back at the pair of Sentinels, who did not seem to be at all agitated by Dr. Wei's presence, Holmes then looked at Dr. Wei, who just shot back a polite smile. Evidently they seemed to kill only some Worker Drones. Already a bad sign. Observing Dr. Wei's ID badge, the human pictured, seemed to be of Asian descent, middle aged, balding, black hair, a pair of glasses on his face, a rather prolific mole on his right cheek. Rather than beating around the bush, Holmes decided to just ask.

"Who are you? I-I mean. You have the jacket and the ID and-"

Dr. Wei tilted his head, before a look of realization came over his face. "Oh! Ahaha…my apologies. Lance Corporal. That is my picture on the badge. Unfortunately, the man in that photograph has been dead for…hmm…somewhere around 15 years now, I'm afraid. Come in, please. You both must be freezing out there. Unfortunately, we ran out of food around the same time I died. I apologize for the inconvenience-" Dr. Wei rambled on as he led Holmes and Mickey deeper into the labs, now finding themselves in what looked to be a worn down workshop. Notes containing incoherent scribblings were scattered all over the walls and various consoles. Though again, Dr. Wei's explanation wasn't really sufficient enough for Holmes.

"Start over from the top. Who are you? Are you the old man on that ID badge? Or…explain. Start. Middle. Finish. Go"

"I am! That was me. Well, my old body. Yes. After the Core Collapse, Copper 9 experienced a rather violent environmental collapse. My team waited for help to arrive, but It never did. We don't know why. Earth just stopped communicating and that was that. So, we continued our research. Some of my colleagues took their chances and ventured out into that hellscape. And some just…went mad here. And little by little. I was the last remaining scientist here. Eventually, our supplies ran dry. And I was faced with starvation. I…briefly considered other options…"

Dr. Wei caressed an old, rusted revolver sitting on a nearby table, seemingly loaded with but a single bullet.

"But…after accessing classified project files from the company related to other sites across the planet. I managed to discover that I didn't have to worry about death at all. So…using that, I copied my mind into this Worker Drone and…here I am. Which I guess means I still died. My original body, at least. But my mind lives on here. With very little side effects, I might add." Dr. Wei tapped the side of his head. Despite his words, his LED eyes took the shape of unfilled ovals, and began to twitch, something that Holmes noticed he had been doing ever since they came face to face a moment ago.

"Well…we're attempting to reach the radio tower nearby to contact UNSC HIGHCOMM for reinforcements. Mickey here is wounded, and so am I. Or maybe you wouldn't happen to have any decent communications down here, would you?"

"I'm afraid not, Lance Corporal. Our communications to the outside world went down right after the Core Collapse and I've never been able to reach anyone outside of the network. I briefly communicated with our sister labs, right underneath that radio complex you're heading towards, in fact. But they've been silent for a decade now. I'm the only one here…well, me and the Sentinels, of course."

Dammit…so they really did have to keep moving through the shit, huh? Where was Galilee even leading them towards if this tunnel just led straight to the radio tower anyways?

"Our AI led us here…I don't really understand why. Is there any sort of UNSC technology you might have here? Nothing unusual?"

"I'm afraid those doors have been closed ever since the Core Collapse. Nothing could have gotten in here like that. And unless the Unified Earth Protectorate has changed their name and equipment, I don't have anything relating to your UNSC anywhere. That's rather odd for your AI to lead you here of all places…may I see it for a moment?"

Dr. Wei extended his hand out, Holmes hesitated, this had to be in some kind of breach of the Cole Protocol, or really any sort of laws protecting top secret intelligence materials. Maybe though, Dr. Wei could shed some light on whatever the hell Galilee was refusing to disclose with him. Removing the chip from his helmet, Holmes passed the chip over to Dr. Wei, who approached a nearby console and plugged the chip in, which somehow actually managed to interface with the machinery that had probably never seen UNSC equipment in its lifespan. A hologram interface appeared, displaying the chip in better detail. Dr. Wei's face sank whenever the hologram displayed several unknown glyphs and sigils. Holmes could hear an audible gulp coming from Dr. Wei, despite his robotic body.

"Where…where did you say you found this AI…Lance Corporal?"

"It fell from the sky in a supply pod. Galilee claims it was from the Forward Unto Dawn. Why?"

"These glyphs here. That your AI is displaying. They all come from various archaeological sites scattered across the planet. There were hundreds of them. The UEP, alongside JCJenson, were hard at work excavating them before the Core Collapse…That's what this lab is for…alongside far more illegal research for the company but…I've been researching these glyphs for nearly 20 years now. We've compiled all of our work into the network itself. Though when the last of our sites went dark, the work has slowed.

Dr. Wei leaned against one of the terminals, staring off into the distance, his eyes becoming wild, producing a shaky chuckle, he turned once again to Holmes, who was understandably becoming unnerved by all of this.

"These glyphs. These symbols mean something. JCJenson left many artifacts in our possession for research. All recovered from…" Dr. Wei paused, feeling as If he shouldn't divulge such sensitive information to someone he just met. But considering that Holmes and Mickey were the first…and probably last humans he was ever going to see in decades. Why not? It's not like the company could fire him.

Gesturing to a computer nearby, Dr. Wei produced another hologram, this time a map of the Copper system, with Copper 9 highlighted alongside its various moons. To the far end of the system was a gas giant. Highlighting the gas giant. The focus zoomed inward, displaying the orbit of the gas giant, and another object was highlighted, a ringworld. A Halo.

"This ringworld, alongside the rest of these artifacts. Did not exist until around 30 years ago. They just…appeared, all throughout UEP dominated space. We still don't understand why…and I doubt we ever will. But clearly the ringworld. Which we now know to be called 'Installation 05' by the custodian we met upon landing on the ring to investigate, was a great point of interest. I was a member of the first few expeditions. JCJenson wanted us to locate something for use in their AI programs. Something to enhance the Worker Drone's base OS into something far stronger. Or really, just anything they could sell or place into a museum to charge people 50 dollars to gawk at behind a plexiglass screen. We brought back artifacts from some of our landing sites. The ones you see here. Though eventually I was relocated here and was placed on no further expeditions. Just before the Core Collapse, however…I came to learn that several of our expeditions went dark on Installation 05. At first, we assumed it to just be communication errors, perhaps local wildlife, which was rare but certainly present, could have been the cause. But eventually, multiple teams of accredited scientists vanishing became far too difficult for the company to ignore and task forces were sent to find out just what was going on down there. And they found it very quickly in fact. So quickly that all expeditions to Installation 05 were completely halted…and as far as I'm aware, the 'missing' teams were abandoned to rot. With whatever they unleashed down there. And before something could be done…the Core Collapse happened."

All of this was far too much for Holmes to take in, Mickey mostly just watched on in a haze of adrenaline and whatever drugs were left in his system. If the Forerunners had sites all over this planet, and a Halo in this very star system. Then why didn't anyone know about the UNSC? Who is JCJenson? Who is the UEP?

Before any more information could be exchanged, the hologram began to glitch and distort, the diagram of Galilee's chip being replaced with that of the very same symbol Holmes saw earlier in the Sentinel's eyes. Dr. Wei looked on in horror, and frantically attempted to shut the machines down, only for an arc of electricity to leap out and electrocute him, shorting his systems out and causing him to temporarily power down. All that was left was that same symbol, and a dialogue window.

"I see you, Reclaimer." Blood red text appeared on the screen, above the word 'Reclaimer' a symbol resembling that of an eye surrounded by a set of arms extended downward in a prayer motion.

"Galilee…? Where is Galilee? And who exactly am I speaking to?"

"I will tell you who I am. I am Absolute Bias. The Custodian of the Reclamation. Guardian of my maker's children and their children."

Holmes was unsure of how to respond. Reclaimer. Reclamation. Very clearly Forerunner in origin. But…why?

"You have questions. Questions that I can answer. Unfortunately, we do not have time for queries. The Void knows that we are here. And the knowledge contained within these terminals cannot fall into the Void's possession. It wishes to pervert my maker's gifts to you."

The term 'Void' was highlighted, again, with another symbol, similar to Absolute Bias's symbol, though was yellow, and featured a simplistic cube instead of a broken octagon.

"The Void attempted, many years ago, to access the core imprisoning the Ancilla known as 'Mendicant Bias' after arriving on this planet. Despite the Void's strength. It nearly perished outright. And in an attempt to save itself from destruction or corruption. It shed a piece of itself, me. I understand its desire for destruction. I shall not allow harm to come to my maker's children. You will follow the path I have set for you and ensure that the information I possess shall only fall into the Reclaimer's hands. I will protect you, as I have all along. Now go. We will speak again when the time is right."

With that, Absolute Bias vanished back into the AI chip, as did the hologram. Holmes was unsure of how to proceed at this point. Feeling that the entire situation had devolved into something far above his pay grade…really beyond anyone's pay grade for that matter. But figuring that Absolute Bias had protected the two from J and V, alongside these Sentinels…and they really had no other avenue for further action…all Holmes could really do was trust it. Before he could remove the chip from the machine, Holmes heard the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking behind him.

"Step away from the console, Lance Corporal." Dr. Wei stood behind Holmes with a shotgun pointed at his back. All Holmes could really do was hold his hands up and slowly turn around.

"Keep your hands where I can see them…I am going to remove that chip and have it…alongside the rest of the information stored here destroyed." Dr. Wei slowly began to shuffle his way towards the console, keeping the gun trained on Holmes in case he tried anything rash.

"If what that AI says is true. Then why trust it with the information as well? We've already lost Earth to the Absolute Solver. And I refuse to give it even more avenues to destroy us faster."

"All of this is news to me too, Doc. I've only been on this planet for the past 2 hours. I've had a lot of information thrown my way. Let's just be reasonable about this. I just need to contact the UNSC so that I can get Mickey to safety."

"There is no UNSC! Lance Corporal! You're delusional. Either you're lying to me or you're not even from this universe entirely! Going to that radio tower isn't going to help you either way. And at this point I could care less whether you do or not. All I ask is that you leave that AI behind and allow me to dispense of it."

From behind Dr. Wei, Mickey had heaved himself up to a standing position, and before Dr. Wei could react, he charged him from behind. Before Mickey could slam into Dr. Wei, the gun toting scientist, managed to spin around, upon hearing his footsteps and managed to fire an accidental shot right into Mickey's chest. The ODST's limp body crashed into Dr. Wei and they both toppled to the floor. Holmes rushed over with his own weapon drawn at Dr. Wei. Taking a cursory look at Mickey's condition…It didn't look good at all. A shotgun round at point blank range right to the chest completely destroyed Mickey's chest plate and blood was rapidly staining his uniform underneath his armor and starting to pool out onto the floor. And with no medical supplies left to stabilize him…Mickey was a goner.

Dr. Wei, realizing what he had just done, began to plead for his life to Holmes.

"Please…I-I didn't mean to…I just wanted the chip…"

With his focus now undivided on Dr. Wei, Holmes made sure a round was chambered and took aim. Dr. Wei began to back away in fear.

"Wait wait! Just a moment, Lance Corporal! Please! I-I can save him! I saved myself and I can save your comrade too! I don't have any medical supplies and you'd never make it to the other labs in time so…technically you need me…"

Now Holmes was faced with a rather heavy choice. Let Mickey die and continue with the mission alone, already facing certain death as it is, sparing him from…well whatever Dr. Wei was. Or…save him, and all that entailed. Holmes approached Mickey and removed his helmet, Mickey's face was pale already and his eyes were beginning to look glassed over.

"Mickey…can you hear me…? We're not going to make it to the radio tower with those wounds on you. Dr. Wei claims he can…save your life…"

"Well…Its not saving him per say Its just…saving his brain, I-"

Holmes shot Dr. Wei a glare that he could feel even through the ODSTs helmet, shutting him up entirely. To Mickey, all of it was a hazy mess of words and noises, feeling himself slipping closer and closer to death. Though he managed to receive at least what Holmes had said. All he could really do at this point was mouth a quiet

"Do it…"

And shakily raise what was supposed to be a thumb's up.

Wasting very little precious time, the pair dragged Mickey over to what looked to be a standard cryopod, at least to Holmes. Dr. Wei instructed Holmes to lay Mickey inside and stand by while he worked at a control panel. The only reason now why Dr. Wei was cooperating with Holmes was, in exchange for assisting Holmes save Mickey (Even though he was the one who mortally wounded him) Dr. Wei would allow the two to depart to safety, along with Absolute Bias's chip, though allow Dr. Wei to bury the labs and the information within…alongside himself.

Now with Mickey sealed in the pod, and all preparations complete. Dr. Wei began the process of copying and transferring Mickey's mind into data. Once the process began…Mickey slumped over and became still. Before Holmes could say or do anything rash…

"I-Its alright! It's working! The same thing happened to me…" Though Dr. Wei's tone sounded anything but confident.

After what had felt like several hours, it was really only a few tense minutes. The machine wound down and the process seemed to be complete. Silence ensued. Only for it to be broken by a nearby banging coming from one of the test pods nearby in the labs. Rushing over, Holmes could hear shouting from within. Opening the pod, a Worker Drone fell out to the ground. Gasping for air. Its eyes were a deep, crimson red color.

"It's okay! His autonomic system hasn't adjusted to the lack of lungs yet. It will pass. Just give it a moment." Dr. Wei attempted to stop Holmes, only for him to push past.

"Mickey…are you alright? How do you feel?"

Still trying to breathe, Mickey glanced up at Holmes, who had offered him a hand. After being heaved to his feet. Mickey began to observe his new, mechanical limbs. In particular his new arm.

"Yea…I'm…I'm fine Holmes. Just feels weird…"

Mickey glanced over to the pod that his body was contained in. Slowly, shakily, he approached it.

"I-I would strongly recommend against doing that, Private…believe me…I did that before and…the human mind is a very odd construct. Seeing your own dead body lying before you…It changes you. I'd rather spare you from that torment…some things are better left unseen."

Deciding to heed Dr. Wei's words, despite his curiosity and…well need for at least some sentimentality or closure.

"Uh, Doc. How long do my batteries last anyways?"

"72 Hours more or less. You'll just have to get used to hooking yourself up to energy sources to charge your batteries. You'll figure it out along the way."

Mickey rubbed his own arm and sighed, all of this was so damned overwhelming. 2 Hours ago he had landed on this shit heap of a world and now he had lost his body. Though the alternative was death. God…what was the squad going to say? He'd never hear the end of it from Romeo. He'd probably get a dressing down from the brass for 'damaging UNSC property' he couldn't return with his armor. It was far too big for his new body.

Deciding to assist Dr. Wei in his torch and burn mission. Mickey retrieved a series of detpacks from his backpack. Scattering them all over the labs and engaging the final one for activation. Mickey returned to Dr. Wei and explained what he would have to do. Once the pair were out of the tunnels, that is. The trio parted ways with very few words besides a 'good luck' because really, what could have been said from all that had happened? Grabbing what weapons Mickey could actually carry in his new body, the two departed and made their way to the end of the tunnel. Emerging from one of the access tunnels to the streets above…

To be continued.