| abstract | - The following excerpts are transcripts from a series of messages sent between Agent 2994 and another party. Copies of them were found pressed into the pages of the diary in the order that they were posted in. I charge a lot because I'm the best in what I do. End of story. There aren't too many mercs like me around these days who are willing to stretch the boundaries of the law. I've always felt that a little crime is good for any society, but the UNSC can be such a damn police state these days no one else seems to share that sentiment anymore. So most people who want me to work for them are both rich enough to be somewhat safe from the law and to afford me. Anyway, the codes you gave me got me into the UNSC's system no sweat, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting anything concrete about this Alice in Wonderland business. It's like they've got an eternity code protecting this thing, or possible multiple AIs dedicated to generating new eternity codes for the system every day. What I have been able to gather is part hard facts and part speculation on the part of my own. For a start, something called the Arcturus Committee has just sprung out of nowhere and it's heavily linked to AiW. I can't get anything else on it, be it a member list or a meeting record. Next, it seems that ONI has pulled some kind of submarine, the UNSC Atlantis off the charts. I can't imagine what they need to look for that's underwater, but then again it is ONI we're talking about here. Before I go any further, I need to tell you something that pertains to this investigation but has come up before. In recent years the UNSC has been almost as crazy as the Covenant were about finding Forerunner relics. A lot of money has gone into research in this subject and it seems that one Beyond Veil's Azure has been assigned to search for more Halo installations. That alone is enough to make me uncomfortable. Two items are of particular interest to me: one "Pandora's Box" and something called a "Ragnarok Circumstance" they seem to be related somehow and the Box at least seems to refer to an object that ONI has. I haven't uncovered further details on it, but a lot of the references I'm finding are bad, real bad. I think this box is some Forerunner thing ONI has got, maybe some kind of master Index or something. If this info starts getting any more ominous I might have to halt this investigation for you and launch one of my own. If the UNSC is screwing with Forerunner WMDs someone has to try and at least make it public. Agent 2042 This final message seems to have been unfolded and read several times: Alice in WonderlandTOP SECRET PATRIOT UNSC Office of Naval IntelligenceUNSC Department of Strategic IntelligenceRunning Title: Alice in Wonderland Summary Report, 17 MAR 2954A Memorandum from the UNSC Naval Intelligence Office of Special Investigation to the Arcturus Committee and the Vector Thirteen DO NOT DISTRIBUTE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE DO NOT DISTRIBUTECOUNT YOUR PAGES COUNT YOUR PAGES COUNT YOUR PAGES COUNT YOUR PAGES You are on Page 1 of 1. Count your pages. Report any missing pages immediately to NIOSI. THIS IS THE DAILY TACTICAL MEMORANDUM FROM THE UNSC NAVAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE UNSC DEFENSE FORCE WITH DELTA X-RAY FIVE STATUS, INCLUDING BUT NO LIMITED TO MEMBERS OF THE ARCTURUS COMMITTEE AND VECTOR THIRTEEN. YOU ARE ON THE DISTRIBUTION LIST FOR THIS DOCUMENT BECAUSE OF YOUR DELTA X-RAY FIVE STATUS. It is the conclusion of the UNSC Naval Intelligence Office of Special Investigation that as of March 17, 2954 that Alice in Wonderland is reaching the end of its useful operational capacity. Galactic peace is on the verge of disintegration. Strategic long-range predictions by Blue Chip indicate with a 0.999993 probability, within ONE MONTH OF RECEIVING THIS REPORT, ONE OR MORE EVENTS OF APOCALYPTIC SCALE WILL OCCUR with non-UNSC and non-Covenant origin. Integrity calculations of Blue Chip indicate that its reality-recursive hardware and wetware has not been compromised. High-order probability calculations support Blue Chip's initial calculations. Apocalypse is inevitable. It is without doubt that within one month, the RAGNAROK CIRCUMSTANCE will be triggered. Immediate action must be taken to find alternative solutions. Subproject 77 and MH ULTRA still remain as last-resort options. We must endeavor with all due speed to find alternative solutions, with the weight of mankind resting on us. Pandora's Box, as previously agreed, has been relocated to Midgard under the safekeeping of [censored]. A substantial UNSC Special Operations Command battle group, code-named TASK FORCE 51, has been stationed on Midgard. The security of Pandora's Box rests upon [censored] and Task Force 51. We have no other choice; there is no other UNSC military force that can be trusted more than Task Force 51 to ensure the temporary safety of Pandora's Box. We report that the UNSC Ether A Go Go has been detached from UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence reconnaissance duties, and that the Ether A Go Go is standing by above Midgard to take the citizen with DELTA X-RAY NINE status to Atlantis (read: Security Zone 77). With mankind prepared to collapse, we have no other choice to ensure that the bearer of Pandora's Box has immediate access to Atlantis. While Subproject 77 and MH ULTRA are last-resort options, Alice in Wonderland is prepared to take any option that will avert mankind's inevitable fate, no matter the cost. Counterintelligence sweeps have located one system security breach: this is believed to be an offensive information operations (IO) intrusion by Agent 2042, a former PROGWARDIV/HPA operator. With the instigator(s) of the RAGNAROK CIRCUMSTANCE currently unknown, we will not take any chances. A sizable UNSCSOCOM task force with over one thousand direct-action operators has been sent to apprehend or neutralize 2042. We have been entrusted with mankind's last defense. It is a task that we will not fail until the very end. If we have one hope, it is this. Our ability to trigger mutual assured destruction is still active. We still have Directive 0-9 and Pandora's Box. If we die, we can at least ensure that our mysterious foe dies with us as well. Signed, UNSC Naval Intelligence Office of Special InvestigationAlice in Wonderland, UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence
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