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- OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: He’s after me. You know he is.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I also know he has good reason to be. What does he
want with you, sir? This time?
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: “Sir”? Son, I’m retired now. I’m no sir, or even a
mister.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: OZYMANDIAS, what does DRACULA want you for? Maybe I
can help.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I should warn you now, SHOGUN, you can’t trace the
call. I cover my tracks well, as you should know. Don’t even try.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m not stupid, sir.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Good. Then you’ve improved since I last knew you. You
brought in CAIN?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: A few years ago. He gave up a few projects, and has
been sitting in the cells since then. Protective custody.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ll bet. You just send one of your agents down to
talk to him. He’s got a lot more to give up than the pitiful things he told you.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Like CHISEL? Like GENOME? Like INDIGO?
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You blame me?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No. But I’m disappointed. I thought you were better
than that.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I was better than that. It took a lot to make me just
as bad.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’re not defending yourself?
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What can I say? There was a war on, one that would
determine the survival of our species. We needed every advantage we could get,
even if we suffered for it. That’s what I’d say if I was DRACULA. But I’m not.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You approved of CHISEL. Of all the things that appal
me, the fact that you let OXFORD run loose among the colonies, kidnapping the
people we were meant to be protecting, experimenting on them-
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And using the results to create the ORIONs, the
SPARTAN-IIs and IIIs, the TROJANs, VOLSUNGs – the list goes on. They won us the
war, SHOGUN. In exchange for a few thousand lives, most of whom would have died
of disease, murder, Inner Colonist thugs or the Covenant, we gained hundreds of
supersoldiers who held the enemy off.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Was it worth it?
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You want the truth? I don’t know. But we’re here. The
whole reason we’re alive now, to play out our little game of cat and mouse, is
because of what I did. Does that make it right? No. Was I wrong? No. So where
does that leave me?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You can’t hide, OLYNDICUS. If I don’t find you,
DRACULA will.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d like to see him try. I have my own guards now,
SHOGUN. Look up Baselard and Kukri sometime. I had nothing to do with it, but
it’s an interesting read. And it makes Ackerson look like the idiot he was,
which is always a plus.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: OLYNDICUS, please, I could help you.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No you can’t. I’m not ending up in a freezer at the
Hague. If I’m going out, then it’ll be in a fiery blaze of righteous glory.
Would you care to join me?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Bloody hell.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ll say hello to the Devil on my way down.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: OZYMANDIAS, what does DRACULA want with you? Why is
he hunting you? Specifically?
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Because of a little project called JAVELIN, and a man
called TAIKUN.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: TAIKUN? He’s in our custody now.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Don’t lie to me, SHOGUN. He’s working for you. I wish
him luck. I also hope DRACULA doesn’t suddenly remember that he isn’t as dead as
he thinks he is. The man deserved a long, happy retirement after what I put him
through. Reactivating him was cruel.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You know better than anyone why he’s perfect for the
job. Be glad he’s not hunting you.
OZYMANDIAS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: How did you know about TAIKUN?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Take a look at your staff, SHOGUN. They’re not all as
bright eyed and bushytailed as they look.
- ORPHEUS: You're not Dr. Langstrom.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: No, I'm not. He was... called away on urgent matters. Please, sit.
ORPHEUS: Just to clear the air of this pretense, I know you're lying.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Briefing said you were sharp. Would you mind answering a few questions for me?
ORPHEUS: Depends upon what you intend to ask.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: I'll ask what I want, and you will damn well answer, Operative. Sierra or no, you still answer to the Office.
{NOVEMBER OSCAR presents their NOVEMBER BLACK clearance, laying it on the table.}
ORPHEUS: ...very well.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Let's start with Agent OEDIPUS--
ORPHEUS: An ironic name, looking back on it.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Yes, I suppose you could say that. Back to what I was going to ask...
ORPHEUS: Certainly.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: God damn it, ORPHEUS. Stop interrupting me, or so help me, I will make you regret it.
{ORPHEUS smiles}
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Wipe that grin off your face, Commander. This is a serious discussion and shall be taken as such.
ORPHEUS: Very well. Continue your line of questioning.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Tell me about your relationship with Agent OEDIPUS.
ORPHEUS: I think you know all about that. Why ask?
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Answer the question, Operative.
ORPHEUS: Very well. OEDIPUS was my controller, right out of augmentation. And I'm sure you know the whole story behind that.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Involved loosely with LEONIDAS, I know. But we're actually here to discuss how OEDIPUS managed to erase you from that program and repurpose you for his own personal agenda.
ORPHEUS: I only recently discovered he had done so. Few months back, as I'm sure the operational reports note.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Ah yes. The Pelagiad-3 Anomaly. I hope that provided you with... closure.
{ORPHEUS nods}
NOVEMBER OSCAR: And after the Mike Papa incident--
ORPHEUS: How high is your clearance? That's way past even November Black.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Let's just say we have all the access we need to sort this train of nasty projects and half-credit murder-mysteries out completely.
ORPHEUS: A nice story. You know who I work for now, then?
NOVEMBER OSCAR: I certainly do. And I have his express permission to question you. I think it's safe to say that you know more about the inner workings of this agency than any other of our Sierra operatives, even HIGH DRAGON and CHRONO. For that reason, you and I will continue this series of chats until I get the information I need. OEDIPUS ran you out on so many projects and jet-black ops that there's no telling what grilling you will reveal.
ORPHEUS: That's if I choose to cooperate.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: Oh, believe me, you will.
ORPHEUS: You seriously think any of your Sierra lapdogs, fresh out of their post-aug comas stand a chance in hell of stopping me if I don't want to do something? I answer to the Director himself, and you know why? Because I am the deadliest and most experienced field agent you have ever had.
NOVEMBER OSCAR: You cocky bastard! How do you ever think you'll get away with this direct violation of orders?! I ought to-
{Intercom is activated}
BRAVO ROMEO: Ortega. Get out of there. You're done for today. Commander, please stay where you are.
{NOVEMBER OSCAR departs, ORPHEUS remains, smiling.}
{Observer's Note: NOVEMBER OSCAR has started to lose the conversational advantage, as well as their personal composure. Recommend postponement of interview until a more-skillful interrogator can be found to replace NOVEMBER OSCAR}
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- BACHELOR: You were the project head for MYRMIDON, correct?
Victoria Brawler: Yes.
BACHELOR: So you admit that you headed an effort to produce supersoldiers without sanction?
Victoria Brawler: It was sanctioned.
BACHELOR: I'm sorry, but I fail to find any mention of such a sanction in my files-
Victoria Brawler: Then you haven't dug deep enough. Not my problem.
BACHELOR: I have scanned the list of sanctioned projects around that timeframe thrice. It is clear that beyond JAVELIN and SPARTAN-II, there was no other supersoldier program sanctioned in 2517.
Victoria Brawler: And I'm telling you, it was sanctioned. Remember General Albert Kits? Of the Security Committee? He sanctioned it, as did other officers of said committee.
BACHELOR: As I said, there was no supersoldier projects other than-
Victoria Brawler: And I'm telling that handy list you've got is junk. You've searched for the wrong thing; you searched for projects labeled "supersoldier development", when you could have done the sensible thing and searched for "MYRMIDON". How you got assigned to this investigation eludes me.
BACHELOR: That hurt my feeling. All one of them.
Victoria Brawler: Sucks to be you.
BACHELOR: Back on topic...you said I should have used "MYRMIDON" instead of "supersoldier development" as a bench mark. Essentially, you're saying that MYRMIDON wasn't put forward as a supersoldier program.
Victoria Brawler: Took you long enough. Yes, we put it forward as a weapons project.
BACHELOR: That makes you guilty of fraud- wait..."we"?
Victoria Brawler: General Kits knew what it was, like I did. We decided together to keep the Spartan-thing secret. And it's not fraud.
BACHELOR: You lied about your project's purpose-
Victoria Brawler: Did we? Spartans are weapons, aren't they? Tools of war? Used against the enemies of the UNSC just as any weapon.
BACHELOR: It's clear you can't be reasoned with.
Victoria Brawler: I didn't get to where I am by bending myself to everyone telling me what's right or not.
BACHELOR: Then you leave me no choice. {To guards} Take her away. We're done here.
Victoria Brawler: No, you're just getting started.
BACHELOR: I said, we're done here.
Victoria Brawler: With me, perhaps. But there's many others out there. You'll be in for the worst time of your life - trust me. Not every convict will be as nice as me.
BACHELOR: I'll keep that in mind.
- PUYALLUP: Man, you got a nice place here SHOGUN. Real roomy.
SHOGUN: I don't believe we've been introduced. Is there a reason I should be talking to you?
PUYALLUP: Oh come on SHOGUN, can't a guy face his accuser? If I'm gonna rot in this prison anyway, I at least ought to have a chance to talk to the guy who caught me, right?
RAINFALL: You’re a small fry charge in here on a bribery indictment. People like you don't normally call us in. If you've got a point, make it.
PUYALLUP: I'm sorry, I think I was talking to your boss...Ms. Intern? Junior officer? Recruit? Booty call?
SHOGUN: Ok, I've heard enough. Get him out of here. And don't call us in again for some idiot, will you?
PUYALLUP: Man, I knew you guys were stiffs, but I didn't think you'd be this boring. The Field Investigation Team folks are so much more entertaining...
SHOGUN: ...what did you say?
PUYALLUP: I said you bastards are a really dull bunch. You gotta have more fun with this job SHO--
SHOGUN: What did you mean about the Field Investigation Team. How do you know them? What do you know about them?
PUYALLUP: Oh, touchy touchy.
SHOGUN: Are you going to cooperate?
PUYALLUP: Are you going to force me?
SHOGUN: It can be arranged.
PUYALLUP: You really don't know what you’re getting into here, do you? You really are ignorant. It isn't even an act.
RAINFALL: You know what I think? That you’re just some punk screwing with us, throwing out buzzwords that you overheard an old boss saying.
PUYALLUP: Oh ye of little faith...I guess it's obvious SHOGUN doesn't keep you around here for your quick wit. Makes me wonder why you bother which such a...modest uniform, though.
RAINFALL: Ok, now I've heard enough. Can we call ORPHEUS in already, or can I just pummel him myself?
SHOGUN: Go ahead and bring him in.
[ORPHEUS enters]
PUYALLUP: Well well, nice to see my friends didn't lie about the Sierra backup. Don't you just love good intel? Shame when you don't have it...
SHOGUN: Quiet down and tell me about the Field Investigation Team.
RAINFALL: Before we let ORPHEUS here take out the issues he has with ONI on you.
PUYALLUP: I really would love to, but it seems rude to call someone of his stature by anything but his first name. Don't you agree Jared?
ORPHEUS: What?
PUYALLUP: Sorry, do you prefer your formal name? Mr. Ninety One seems a little stiffy to me.
ORPHEUS: You must have me confused with someone else.
PUYALLUP: Oh, my mistake. I must have been thinking of the other Jared who had his death faked by ONI and was kidnapped as a private agent, in an operation with close ties to INDIGO and LEONIDAS. Sometimes I get you Spartans all mixed up, what with all the...illegals I've worked with lately.
SHOGUN: Who the hell are you. You’re no cheap delivery boy.
PUYALLUP: Stunning conclusion, your brilliance.
SHOGUN: We captured you eight months ago. Why come forward now?
PUYALLUP: Situations...change. Certain...unsavory characters are back in the game, and time...well, lets just say I have my reasons.
SHOGUN: And who exactly are these "unsavory characters"?
PUYALLUP: That's a touchy question.
SHOGUN: Tell me.
PUYALLUP: Answering that would be none to beneficial for my health.
RAINFALL: Quit stalling and answer the question.
PUYALLUP: Oh you really are no fun. I suppose you want me to start from the beginning.
SHOGUN: I want to know about your relation to Section Zero, but if that’s what it takes, then go ahead.
PUYALLUP: Boy, do I miss the days when I actually had a CSV. Going through the whole thing is so tiring.
SHOGUN: We have time, don't worry.
PUYALLUP: You spooks always do, don't you? I guess I'll start at my recruitment. Graduated top of my class at the Sydney Institute, and the bastards yoinked me the first chance they got. ONI can always use neural studies specialists.
SHOGUN: Your a neuro technician?
PUYALLUP: Hard to believe, huh? A lot of the folks at Section Three couldn't either, but that was just spooks being dumb. I worked whatever jobs they wanted me too, though. Not a lot of people can work selective neural paralysis.
SHOGUN: Memory wipes?
PUYALLUP: Yes, they were quite the rage within the office during the first two decades. I even almost mind wiped the Spartan candidates back in '17. Isn't that nice Jared? Dear old Dr. Halsey almost had your brain wiped. It must be great to know your welfare was valued so much.
[ORPHEUS remains impassive.]
PUYALLUP: Huh, I see there's no love lost there.
SHOGUN: How did you get involved with Section Zero if you started with Section Three?
PUYALLUP: I'm getting there, thank you. Section Three spent a couple of years grooming me to be head neuro, but a bastard spook with a gambling problem got busted for lifting money off of infantry pensions. The FIT caught up with him right during one of my meetings with him. They popped a few rounds in him and grabbed me.
RAINFALL: Was that sanctioned?
PUYALLUP: How the hell would I know? All I was thinking about was staying alive.
SHOGUN: When was this?
PUYALLUP: Early '23. A few years after Halsey decided against the memory wipe.
SHOGUN: And you've worked with them since then?
PUYALLUP: On and off, yes.
SHOGUN: Did you have connections? Know people on the inside?
PUYALLUP: Section Zero didn't work that way. Everyone was very self-contained. I rarely knew codenames, much less anything concrete. CHAUCER kept me very well contained from almost everyone. And I'm sure you already know who he is.
SHOGUN: But you knew CHAUCER? Field Investigation Team leader?
PUYALLUP: Uh huh.
SHOGUN: What was your role there?
PUYALLUP: A little bit of everything. A neuro tech has a lot of jobs. Memory manipulation and elimination, truth tests, interrogation assistance, psychological profiles, flashing learning for operatives...
RAINFALL: We get the point. Why come to us? We know plenty about how Field Team investigative methods already. None of that is part of our operation.
PUYALLUP: Your intellect really never ceases to amaze me, girl. I'm getting to my point, thank you.
SHOGUN: And what would that point be?
PUYALLUP: That Section Zero's Field Investigation Team didn't always work alone, or prosecute everyone they should have. SHOGUN, does the name All Under Heaven ring any bells?
SHOGUN: The carrier that went missing in '49? What about it?
PUYALLUP: It's not as missing as you might think.
[ORPHEUS's vitals jump for a moment.]
ORPHEUS: Explain.
PUYALLUP: Huh, looks like that struck a nerve, eh big boy? I don't know all the details, but I know it came back sometime after '51, and that the Field Investigation Team's assets were put to use on a recovery Op--an Op that did not originate with Section Zero.
SHOGUN: How do you know?
PUYALLUP: Because I was one of those friggin assets, SHOGUN. I blanked the memories of three very special members of it's crew. Dear Jared, you must remember three people by the names of...
ORPHEUS: Keiichi, Carris, and Joseph.
PUYALLUP: Yellow Team, I believe they were called. CHAUCER lent me out to an...acquaintance of his to erase some sensitive data. Unlikable bastard named ORIGAMI. I had a hell of a time getting rid of the memories they wanted without destroying their minds, because the secretive ass wouldn't even tell me exactly what I was supposed to erase. It got very messy with a few of them.
SHOGUN: And you’re sure this wasn't a Section Zero operation?
PUYALLUP: Oh yes. The bastards we were working with were even more clandestine than CHAUCER's ilk. I barely even knew the name of the Operation I was working under.
SHOGUN: Hold on, you said "we" a second ago. Were there more Section Zero assets on this mission?
PUYALLUP: Very perceptive, SHOGUN. You need to realize that you’re digging into some dark things here. You have no grasp of how broad this will get.
SHOGUN: My team has dealt with worse. Give me the names of the other assets.
PUYALLUP: You won't believe me if I tell you.
SHOGUN: Try me.
PUYALLUP: CHAUCER never let anyone work with those people without close supervision. As far as I know, there was only one other Field Investigation Team resource allocated. CHAUCER's personal agent, tasked with keeping an eye on me, I guess. A Sierra. Leonid One-Forty-Four.
ORPHEUS: That's not possible. Leonid's dead. He was killed--
PUYALLUP: --In augmentation? Just like you, right? Just like Jeremy and Riker and Lazlo? There are more of you than you know, even now, even thirty years later.
SHOGUN: A Leonidan? I thought--
PUYALLUP: That you caught all of them? Oh, SHOGUN, your always one step behind. Haven't you noticed in all your cases? Always one step behind. You think your investigation has uncovered all the deep dark secrets? Shed light on all the nasty schemes and secret cabals? How wrong you are. There are things you've barely even scratched the surface of.
SHOGUN: Then I'll find them.
PUYALLUP: Honestly, I don't doubt it. Everyone else has spent too long at the top, too long in comfortable leniency without threats. They underestimate you. But at what cost?
SHOGUN: Whatever cost it takes.
PUYALLUP: I hope you’re willing to back that up...
SHOGUN: I always am. I'll look into a lighter sentencing based on all this, but we'll be speaking again soon.
[SHOGUN gestures to guards, who uncuff PUYALLUP.]
PUYALLUP: Eh, don't bother.
[Electrical discharge detected; guards register as unconscious. Motion trackers detect PUYALLUP breaking free, drawing concealed weapon. Fires two rounds at RAINFALL.]
RAINFALL: Shit!
SHOGUN: Down! Down down down!
[Noise registered: sound of M6D sidearm. ORPHEUS fires two rounds into PUYALLUP.]
ORPHEUS: Target down, repeat, down.
SHOGUN: Anyone hit?
RAINFALL: I don't think so.
[SHOGUN moves to critically injured PUYALLUP.]
SHOGUN: What the hell! Why'd you...how...you son of a bitch!
PUYALLUP: I'm...dead anyway. Even if CHAUCER doesn't get me...they won't let me get away.
SHOGUN: Who? Who were you and Leonid working with? Who did ORIGAMI work for?
PUYALLUP: Oh Captain, my Captain...
SHOGUN: Names! I, want, their, names!
PUYALLUP: Take...a second look. All Under Heaven...Yellow Team...ACCRETION.
SHOGUN: What else?
PUYALLUP: BLUE...BLUE NIGHTS. That was the...the...the operation...
[Bio signs flat line. SHOGUN gets up.]
SHOGUN: Shit. He's gone.
[ORPHEUS approaches PUYALLUP, inspects weapon.]]
ORPHEUS: Blanks. He loaded the gun with dummy rounds.
SHOGUN: The bastard wanted us to kill him.
RAINFALL: Shit, I've heard of suicide by cop. Suicide by Spartan, though? That’s a new one.
SHOGUN: There's a first for everything. Get a full check started on PUYALLUP and go over the reports of ACCRETION and the All Under Heaven. Anything that was missed the first time--we're finding it now.
RAINFALL: That's a long list of facts to check.
SHOGUN: They're our only leads. We'll run them down.
- GLAURUNG: Files assimilated for your viewing pleasure, TAIKUN.
TAIKUN: Great. So, what’s your take on all this?
GLAURUNG: My…"take"?
TAIKUN: What’s your reading? What do you think?
GLAURUNG: Of what, precisely?
TAIKUN: Everything! Sending a rookie off to do his job, sending you, me and a damn Spartan to keep an eye on her-
GLAURUNG: Technically Codename: ORPHEUS is no longer registered as a Spartan-
TAIKUN: Don’t care. What’s SHOGUN up to?
GLAURUNG: My opinion is that RAINFALL is a skilled investigator whose personal idealism and motivation make her ideal for team leadership.
TAIKUN: So you think this is just him giving her a chance to prove herself?
GLAURUNG: No. She has already proven herself on Beta Columbae.
TAIKUN: I read the report. SWAT dead, that…thing barely contained. And then DRACULA’s men storm the place and make off with it. Seems like that might scar a girl.
GLAURUNG: Agent RAINFALL’s gender has nothing to do with-
TAIKUN: You KNOW what I mean. She thinks she fucked up, that she shouldn’t be taking this assignment on, on some deep level.
GLAURUNG: Your analysis of her psychology is…accurate.
TAIKUN: So you think she’s got her own issues going on?
GLAURUNG: What I believe is of no consequence. I have my orders. You have yours.
TAIKUN: Alright, you don’t want to offer an opinion on her. I respect that.
GLAURUNG: My opinion of her is that, as I mentioned, she is idealistic and motivated.
TAIKUN: That isn’t always a good thing. Ideals tarnish, and motivation can dry up.
GLAURUNG: Not, I think, for RAINFALL.
TAIKUN: Don’t get me wrong, Smokey. I’m not passing judgment on her. It took me a few years to get the hang of it, and it took SHOGUN even longer. I’m just saying, bringing your own baggage on an op is never a good idea. Especially when it involves something like the Flood.
GLAURUNG: You know about the Flood?
TAIKUN: I’ve been briefed. Alpha Halo, Delta Halo, the Ark – and that little mishap at Ares.
GLAURUNG: I see.
TAIKUN: And I’ve faced down a friggin’ Xeno barreling towards me. Those things are almost as bad.
GLAURUNG: I offer no comparison between the two, other than the fact that they are both virulent parasitic life forms that prey on sapient species specifically and non-sapient species nonspecifically.
TAIKUN: Parasites. Yeah. Those things that cling to the sides of sharks, sucking them dry bit by bit. That’s what it’s like. You either put up with it, or you bang it against a bit of coral, knock it off, leave it behind.
GLAURUNG: You’re waxing poetic today, TAIKUN?
TAIKUN: Hey, I wasn’t a Marine my whole life.
GLAURUNG: Another time, perhaps. One where cave painting was still practiced.
TAIKUN: Screw you!
GLAURUNG: You raise doubts about RAINFALL’s ability to conduct this investigation?
TAIKUN: No. Just her clarity. Her father’s not an easy man to get along with – maybe that’s why she went and joined the Army instead of following in his footsteps. And when you take a guy like SHOGUN as your mentor, you start to wonder if the human race doesn’t just deserve to slip into extinction. Add to that self-doubt, and it’s a potent mix.
GLAURUNG: You underestimate her, I think.
TAIKUN: I hope so. I hope she proves me damn wrong, and I hope I’m there to see it.
GLAURUNG: I hope so too.
- CAIN: I’m glad you came. Please, have a seat.
SHOGUN: You happen to be sitting in it.
CAIN: Oh yes, how silly of me.
SHOGUN: Out.
CAIN: Forgive my sense of humour. When all one has to look at for weeks at a time is grey polycrete, one tends to acquire a…skewed look at the world outside.
SHOGUN: Yeah, yeah, life as a prisoner isn’t working out for you. Don’t drop the soap, try not to get shanked. What do you want?
CAIN: I’m hurt, SHOGUN. What makes you think I don’t just want to catch up?
SHOGUN: Because there’s nothing in it for you.
CAIN: Shrewd. Well then, let me get to the point – what did you find at Matariki and Raptors Nest?
SHOGUN: You know what we found.
CAIN: Exactly as I predicted?
SHOGUN: Not exactly, but similar enough.
CAIN: Not a coincidence, then?
SHOGUN: No.
CAIN: Then you believe that I was telling you the truth?
SHOGUN: I believe that you told me something that I could corroborate, and that was not so out of date that it would have changed that noticeably.
CAIN: it was a gesture of goodwill.
SHOGUN: And yet I remain unconvinced.
CAIN: You know, you remind me so much of DRACULA.
SHOGUN: Well, if you’re going to insult me…
CAIN: I meant it as a complement, SHOGUN. You’re both thorough. And you’re both very good at what you do, and convinced, utterly convinced that it’s the right thing to do. There’s a difference between you, though.
SHOGUN: Yes. He’s wrong.
CAIN: I won’t quibble over that, but for the conversation’s sake, let’s put that aside. Do you want to know what your real difference is?
SHOGUN: Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.
CAIN: It’s vindictiveness.
SHOGUN: Really? You’re not going to tell me that I had an unhappy childhood in a poor black family, while DRACULA was a rich white snob?
CAIN: Is any of that true?
SHOGUN: No.
CAIN: Then why should I do any such thing?
SHOGUN: Because all you’ve ever given me is misdirection, all the while handing me bones that have been picked clean so that you can get a few amenities. Your books. Your music. Your window with a view. I’m tired of OLYNDICUS giving you chances.
CAIN: Trust me, SHOGUN. I’m getting to the point. Please, just indulge me for a while.
SHOGUN: I’d like to just walk out that door, but then I’d have the Colonial Ministry of Justice breathing down my neck-
CAIN: Civilians? I’m surprised, SHOGUN. I’d have thought the military would play this tight to the chest.
SHOGUN: We are. What do you want to make fun of me for now? That DRACULA is more vindictive than me?
CAIN: No. in fact, I wanted to say exactly the opposite – if anything, he’s more worried about you than vice versa.
SHOGUN: I’m thrilled. Can I throw you back in your broom closet now?
CAIN: What’s the rush?
SHOGUN: I have BACHELOR interviewing HOLLYWOOD, I have Indigo and VECTOR still en route after their initial report, and frankly, you creep me the fuck out.
CAIN: Well, if you’re going to insult me…
SHOGUN: What is this about, CAIN.
CAIN: Vindictiveness. As I said. I want to help.
SHOGUN: Then start being helpful.
CAIN: I am. And you’re not listening.
SHOGUN: Because you’re not telling me anything I want to hear.
CAIN: What you want to hear and what you need to hear are two different things. And you need to hear this, SHOGUN.
SHOGUN: What?
CAIN: Vindictiveness is what you have over DRACULA – you’re far more driven to punish him than he is to kill you. If you weren’t standing between him and his goals, I dare say he’d respect you. But since you are, and you have a drive that he cannot hope to match, he needs a game changer. A secret weapon. A loaded gun to counter your own armour.
SHOGUN: A weapon…and Raptors Nest was the firing range?
CAIN: Not exactly, SHOGUN. It was more like the Forge.
SHOGUN: And these…biological agents…that we’re going to find there. They’re the weapon?
CAIN: I’m afraid not.
SHOGUN: Then you’ve just led me on one long goose chase.
CAIN: Please sit down, SHOGUN. They’re not the weapon, but they are one key step on the path to what DRACULA wants.
SHOGUN: And what would that be?
CAIN: I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you.
SHOGUN: But you know what it is, right?
CAIN: I have my suspicions.
SHOGUN: And are you going to share them with me?
CAIN: How can I? All I will say is that you have not yet given VERONA, MARISKA or ELERI the look you should have.
SHOGUN: Really? Violation of TEMERITY, EXCALIBUR and MJOLNIR. Fourteen rogue operatives brought in, two killed during apprehension. Ringleaders rounded up. What exactly did I fail to cover?
CAIN: Who do you think was going to wear them?
SHOGUN: Pardon?
CAIN: Look at, say, ELERI. Powered armour appropriation – MJOLNIR, GUNGNIR, KATANA, hell, even some of the VAJRA assets fell into his hands. DRACULA wants a suit of powered armour, and he wants it to be his own. And who is going to wear it? And look at MARISKA – advanced weapons, stuff even EXCALIBUR is only beginning to bring online. He wants whoever uses it to be ahead of the curve. Who? And why?
SHOGUN: He has operatives of his own, as you well know. Ex
ORIONs like BLIGHTBLOOD. Former TROJANS, a few ex-VOLSUNGS, maybe even some washouts from the Spartan programs-
CAIN: I doubt that last point, though your basic surmise is correct. He has augmented henchmen of his own. But this goes deeper. He’s been funding ACCRETION for so long, and he was interested in CHISEL enough to bust its head developer out of cryo prison. And then you have his infiltration of CHRYSANTHEMUM, the theft of the GENOME data, and incident at the DHARMA research facility. What’s he putting this towards? The only name I’ve heard is GREY, and given how well you know me, the fact that this is all I know on the matter should give you cause to fret.
SHOGUN: For a man with no access to the chatternet, you’re remarkably well informed.
CAIN: I’ve learned self-reliance during my stay in your care, my dear SHOGUN. You are truly your brothers keeper.
SHOGUN: I’m not your brother.
CAIN: You might as well be, “Abel”.
SHOGUN: As I recall, the original Cain killed his brother. Out of jealousy.
CAIN: And he walked the earth for eternity, as penance for his sin.
SHOGUN: I don’t plan on going anywhere just yet, CAIN.
CAIN: Nobody ever does, SHOGUN.
SHOGUN: Go back to your cell. If you want to drop the games and tell me something I don’t already know, I’ll be there.
CAIN: Of course, SHOGUN. Who else would I trust my well-kept secrets to? Give my best to Doctor Brawler, by the way.
SHOGUN: Guards. Take him.
CAIN: Oh, and SHOGUN, one very last thing before I go. When BLIGHTBLOOD turns up again, give him my regards too.
SHOGUN: …what?
- PRIORITY TRANSMISSION 1073741824-VS
ENCRYPTION<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: CEMETARY
- NOCHE: Ma'am! Reporting as ordered.
RAINFALL: Codename: NOCHE, I assume.
NOCHE: Yes ma'am.
RAINFALL: Thank you for coming. I know things are busy. Please take a seat. I need to ask you a few questions.
NOCHE: Of course ma'am.
[S-010 takes a seat]
RAINFALL: You were a member of the SPARTAN-II program under Doctor Catherine Halsey, correct?
NOCHE: Yes ma'am.
RAINFALL: You trained with Petty Officers Keiichi-047, Joseph-122, and Carris-137 between 2517 and 2525, did you not?
NOCHE: Affirmative.
RAINFALL: Good. Petty Officer, can you tell me about your service with this group between 2525 and 2531?
NOCHE: That's classified, ma'am.
RAINFALL: I'm aware, Petty Officer. Let's both agree to some mutual respect. You don't be coy, and I'll be honest with you. You know what my investigation is charged with. I've got the clearances.
NOCHE: DECEMBER WHITE?
RAINFALL: Try NOVEMBER BLACK.
NOCHE: Ah. Sorry ma'am. Mutual respect it is then...
RAINFALL: Good. All I care about is information. Your not under attack here.
NOCHE: Sorry for my blunt question then, ma'am, but if you've got clearance that high,
why do you need me? You can look up all the details you want regardless.
RAINFALL: I need you because I know those reports don't tell the whole story. Things get left out, lost in the translation to bureau speak. Context. Feelings. Inexplicable feelings. The little details.
NOCHE: This isn't about Halsey again, then.
RAINFALL: No, it's not. I'm afraid I can't tell you what it is about, however.
NOCHE: Because you don't know, or don't want to, ma'am?
RAINFALL: A little of both, Petty Officer.
NOCHE: Thank you for that, ma'am. I'm guessing you probably already know all this, but I served with the Spartan II Green Team unit from 2525 until 2530. During the Harvest Campaign, I was transferred to Spartan Team Omega and worked alongside Keiichi. After that, I spent a short period attached to Blue Team. Joseph, to the best of my knowledge, was still imprisoned at that time.
RAINFALL: On what charges?
NOCHE: Him and four others had…complications from augmentation. We were told they suffered a psychotic break.
RAINFALL: Is that all you were told?
NOCHE: Yes ma’am.
RAINFALL: Do you know more besides that?
NOCHE: Any other information I could provide would be purely speculative, ma’am. Rumors.
RAINFALL: I doubt professionals like yourselves would spread rumors if they didn’t contain some modicum of truth. Please speculate for me, Petty Officer.
NOCHE: Of course ma’am. Augmentation affected us all in different ways. Some of them were subtle or unexpected.
RAINFALL: Give me some examples.
NOCHE: Fred ended up with silver streaks in his hair. Jorge kept growing long after he probably should have stopped. A lot of us, even the ones who made it through unscathed, ended up with weird neural side effects. Confusion, falling over, trouble with our reflexes and what have you. Sometimes it took a while to manifest. And sometimes it was more…severe.
RAINFALL: Was that the case with Joseph-122 and the others?
NOCHE: That was the general consensus, ma’am. Joseph wasn’t himself after augmentation. He got paranoid and unpredictable. So did a few others. Daisy and Ralph-303 got it. Same with Keiichi and Cal. Cal and Joseph got it the worst though. They were messed up bad.
RAINFALL: And that’s the group that held Dr. Halsey hostage and attempted to escape?
NOCHE: Yes ma’am. Joseph didn’t even make it off world before he was captured. He was struggling just to function. Ralph and Daisy both eventually came back of their own accord. And Keiichi and Cal were caught later on.
RAINFALL: Our records show they all spent some amount of time in counseling before being released.
NOCHE: That’s correct ma’am. Daisy and Keiichi both got out pretty quick. I didn’t work with Joseph or Cal for a long time, though. I think their issues were more difficult to treat.
RAINFALL: And Ralph-303?
NOCHE: I don’t know, ma’am. Not all of his enhancements took. I never actually even saw him after augmentation day.
RAINFALL: So Keiichi-047 was already on the field and Joseph-122 was still in lockup. What about Carris-137?
NOCHE: Carris was...still recovering from augmentation.
RAINFALL: Recovering from augmentation, Petty Officer?
NOCHE: Yes ma’am.
RAINFALL: An interesting way of putting it. The records show she was dead.
NOCHE: I believe that’s technically correct, ma’am. Cariss was one of the casualties during augmentation. We were told Dr. Halsey was able to revive some of those that died. I’m not exactly sure when Carris was resuscitated, though.
RAINFALL: Did you ever serve with her?
NOCHE: Yes ma’am. I was attached to Green Team from early ’44 onward until Reach. We operated alongside Yellow Team at Miridem, Actium, and Paris IV.
RAINFALL: What was your experience with Yellow Team at that time? Was it odd to be working with comrades you formerly believed to be dead or imprisoned? What struck you about their performance?
NOCHE: I wasn't particularly close to them during training, but I was well acquainted with them. Working with them was a positive experience, despite everything. They were good soldiers and hard fighters. Gutsy, but they kept a level head in a fight. Their records might not have reflected it the best, but you could count on them.
RAINFALL: And you said you served with them on Paris IV, correct?
NOCHE: Yes ma'am, and very briefly beforehand on Actium and Miridem. We ended up in different theatres by the end of the siege, though.
RAINFALL: When was the next time you encountered Yellow Team, Petty Officer?
NOCHE: In 2552, when the unit was rotated back together for Operation: RED FLAG. They were present when the rest of us were deployed to Reach.
RAINFALL: Can you recall any information about the team prior to this?
NOCHE: Not much. I think a few other members of the unit mentioned serving with Keiichi's team for a few months before Reach.
RAINFALL: And you’re sure about that?
NOCHE: To the best of my memory, ma'am.
RAINFALL: Thank you. Based on the post-operation reports of those Spartans that survived the Fall of Reach, it appears you are the only remaining one with personal experience with Yellow Team. Is that true?
NOCHE: I believe so ma'am. Keiichi and his squad were placed under my control when Fred put me in charge of Beta Team.
RAINFALL: I've read the report, and I know Keiichi-047, Carris-137, and Joseph-122 were the lynchpin of a force that stayed behind to protect the escape of you and another Spartan. Why would they do that?
NOCHE: We were all trained to do what's necessary for the survival of the unit as a whole, ma'am.
RAINFALL: Are you sure that's all it was, Petty Officer?
NOCHE: I thought you said this wasn't an attack on me, investigator.
RAINFALL: It's not. I just want to make very sure there isn't anything you're leaving out. Like I said, I've read all the reports had to offer, and I'm looking for anything else you can think of.
NOCHE: Ma'am, if I do have something to say, you need to realize that I can't necessarily prove it or give you concrete evidence. All I have is feelings.
RAINFALL: I understand.
NOCHE: Ma'am, the Fall of Reach was years ago, but I got the feeling that they made that sacrifice because of the way they...changed.
RAINFALL: The way they changed?
NOCHE: Yes ma'am. They...they changed during the battle. Or changed back, I should say.
RAINFALL: Explain.
NOCHE: After we met for RED FLAG, I noticed it. They were different. Off. Out of it, kind of detached and weird. Not all the time, not always so bad, but just...different. It wasn't combat strain, either, I think. I saw plenty of that during the war. And it wasn’t the post augmentation neural problems coming back. But it did get really noticeable during the battle. They barely spoke, and sort of clung together. They didn't act like they were even thinking.
RAINFALL: So they displayed confusion? Isolationism? Mood changes?
NOCHE: Yes. All of them. But after we beat back the first Covenant force, something changed back. Carris was the first one to snap out of it, but the others followed suit right after.
RAINFALL: And you think they chose to stay behind because of this...change?
NOCHE: It sounds crazy, ma'am, but it was like all of a sudden they knew something we didn't. They were level headed again. More so than anyone else, I think. It was like they'd passed some burden and the whole battle just paled by comparison. Carris saw what I didn't, realized no one was going to escape unless someone drew the attention of the Covenant.
RAINFALL: Interesting. Thank you, Petty Officer.
NOCHE: Is that all ma'am?
RAINFALL: I believe so, Spartan. I'll let you know if we have further questions.
[NOCHE exits. TAIKUN enters.]
RAINFALL: It certainly seems PUYALLUP was telling the truth.
TAIKUN: The things NOCHE described are all consistent with selective neural paralysis?
RAINFALL: To a tee. Something happened to those Spartans that someone desperately wanted to keep hidden.
TAIKUN: What the hell was big enough to gut the minds of three multi-million credit operatives over, though?
RAINFALL: I'm not sure yet. But PUYALLUP mentioned ACCRETION. If there is a connection, then he was right. We're on to something new. Something big. Indigo might be busy, but we’ve still got ORPHEUS. Get him online. This is going to be a hunt.
- BACHELOR: Next up. DRACULA, know the name?
HOLLYWOOD: Nope.
BACHELOR: Good, that clears a lot.
HOLLYWOOD: Oh really? What makes him so special?
BACHELOR: NOVEMBER BLACK
HOLLYWOOD: pfft. Fine, have it your way.
BACHELOR: Anyways, now that I've gotten that out of the way. Tell me the specifics of THRUDVANG.
HOLLYWOOD: What can I say that hasn't been covered? Secret program, espionage, declared a failure. The specifics of which are irrelevant to your investiga-
BACHELOR: S-241
HOLLYWOOD: Oh....him. Well why didn't you just ask about that in the first place?
BACHELOR: The role he played in THRUDVANG, why was he chosen? What did you do to him? Why is he dead?
HOLLYWOOD: Judas filled the same role as Kurt for the S-III's, and Mendez for the original class ones. He was an instructor and a leader. He was also a great genetic template.
BACHELOR: What?!
HOLLYWOOD: Projects are given names for a reason. Projects MODI and MAGNI both failed and were combined into THRUDVANG. MODI AND MAGNI were the son's of THOR. The trainees were, in a sense, the son's of 241.
BACHELOR: But you said THRUDVANG wasn't a super soldier project!
HOLLYWOOD: Like I said, it wasn't......at first.
HOLLYWOOD: [Grins]
BACHELOR: You son of a b-
HOLLYWOOD: Now now, if you want any info out of me you'll have to be polite. I'm no good to you bleeding.
BACHELOR: How many?
HOLLYWOOD: How many, what?
BACHELOR: How many were active?
HOLLYWOOD: Exactly 2000 in the first batch.
BACHELOR: First!?
HOLLYWOOD: Yes first, and by the way. They're still active. They work with SPARTANS, VOLSUNGS, MYRMIDONS. All very "hush-hush lock and key" commando type of things. Not surprising that you wouldn't know about it.
BACHELOR: And how the hell do you know about it!?
HOLLYWOOD: [Smiles]
HOLLYWOOD: Judas may have been their genetic origin, and he may have been their trainer, but I...
HOLLYWOOD: [points at self]
HOLLYWOOD: ...was their daddy. And so, I know a few things.
BACHELOR: A loyal slave army...
HOLLYWOOD: Hardly! They all have the same genes, sure, but personality and free will is something that's required for a good soldier. Or two thousand good soldiers. Besides there were those that rebelled, three actually...
BACHELOR: And you killed them like dogs, right?
HOLLYWOOD: Please stop thinking I'm some heartless monster. I loved each and every one of them. Why kill three of your children when you can just have their brothers talk them into a compromise?
BACHELOR: You're sick.
HOLLYWOOD: No. I'm a father. Halsey did similar things, worse things! And yet she has an entire memorial dedicated to her! Her children were stolen from their families! I, created, my own family.
BACHELOR: If I were to find any of these THRUDVANGS, I'll bet they'd say you were a terrible "parent".
HOLLYWOOD: They all loved me. The first ones that is. I can't say the same about their successors. Never got to know them.
BACHELOR: [deep intake of breath]
BACHELOR: [rubs temples]
BACHELOR: Whatever you say. Speaking of which, you said something about them working with other super soldiers? Some kind of secret operation going on?
HOLLYWOOD: I'd love to continue talking but I'm starting to get tired. Listen, if that little database or whatever it is you use has access to everything, I'd look up TACS.
BACHELOR: TACS?
HOLLYWOOD: Spelled T, A, C, S. You'll find what you need, and you'll be shocked. Can I go back to my cell now?
BACHELOR: Fine, but if this leads me nowhe-
HOLLYWOOD: You'll find something helpful, trust me.
HOLLYWOOD: [stands up]
HOLLYWOOD: [is escorted out by MP]
BACHELOR [whispering]: TACS.....
- TAIKUN: Hello there? I believe you have a prisoner within number three cell.
Receptionist: Yes sir? Can I help you?
TAIKUN: Yes, I believe you can. Could I talk with Detective Chief Inspector Cartwright?
Receptionist: I’m not sure whether he’s still here, sir. Let me just check. Tom, is DCI Cartwright still in the building?
Staffer: He’s upstairs, Nancy. Packing his things.
Receptionist: Could you wait for a moment sir?
TAIKUN: Of course, my dear. I’ll take a seat here.
Receptionist: Can I say who is trying to contact him?
TAIKUN: Sorry, no.
Receptionist: He’ll need a name.
TAIKUN: He has one. I just don’t intend to give it to you.
Receptionist: Is he expecting you?
TAIKUN: He’s the one who called me.
Staffer: Nancy, he’s on the way down. And he looks pissed.
Receptionist: Thanks for the warning. He’s just on his way down, sir.
TAIKUN: Thank you.
DCI Cartwright: TAIKUN? That you?
TAIKUN: who else would it be at this hour of the night…sorry, morning?
DCI Cartwright: Late to bed, early to rise, nabs the crooks with sand in their eyes.
TAIKUN: It’s good to see you, Willy.
DCI Cartwright: Nancy, you can go now if you want.
DCI Cartwright: But sir, I-
DCI Cartwright: I’ll lock up the nick, take one last patrol around the station before lights out. The duty officer is still here, so I won’t be alone. Now get some shut-eye, you look dog-tired.
DCI Cartwright: Yes sir.
TAIKUN: She’s a good girl.
DCI Cartwright: She ought to be. She’s one of your people.
TAIKUN: ONI?
DCI Cartwright: Maybe. A plant, at any rate – she’s far too qualified for the job she applied for, and frankly, she’s far too efficient.
TAIKUN: It’s nothing to do with me, mate. I’m strictly Navy and Marine. Though I do dabble in Army and Air Force affairs – strictly as a hobby, mind you.
DCI Cartwright: Well, keep it that way. I have enough noses being poked in my business without friends from the old platoon sticking theirs in as well.
TAIKUN: She didn’t get anything out of you?
DCI Cartwright: Oh, she’s angling alright, and I’m feeding her enough so she doesn’t suspect anything, but really, its all useless or readily available elsewhere. They underestimate me, whoever they are – and I WILL find out who they are.
TAIKUN: I don’t doubt it, Bill. Keep your enemies close, as the old saying goes. Now, you wanted to show me something?
DCI Cartwright: Yeah. Follow me.
TAIKUN: So…how’s Stacy-
DCI Cartwright: Tracy.
TAIKUN: Sorry, Tracy.
DCI Cartwright: She’s fine. The kids are fine.
TAIKUN: Kids? Geez, you’re making me feel old.
DCI Cartwright: You? You already had a wife and kids when we were in the Corps.
TAIKUN: Yeah, but that was then. I wasn’t-
DCI Cartwright: Hey, not another word. You’ve no right to be calling me old, after that fiasco in Sydney.
TAIKUN: Oh, come on, it was just one biker!
Duty Officer: Sir? Can I help you?
DCI Cartwright: Yeah, Charlie. Cell number six. I’m just showing the occupant to my…associate.
Duty Officer: Just sign the check-in sheet, and I’ll take you through.
TAIKUN: Well, that presents a bit of a problem for me, sonny boy. I don’t put my name to paper unless it’s a tax refund.
Duty Officer: Sir, you’ll need to sign the sheet before I can take you through.
DCI Cartwright: He’s alright, Derek. He’s ONI.
Duty Officer: Any what?
DCI Cartwright: No, ONI. Office of Naval Intelligence.
Duty Officer: Oh…military. Sorry, sir. I’ll still need to verify your status, then.
TAIKUN: I have an authorisation card. All services.
Duty Officer: Okay…uh, what’s NOVEMBER BLACK?
TAIKUN: Its above any of our pay grades, sonny. Can I have my card back?
Duty Officer: Yes sir. I’ll unlock the cell. You…might want to stand back a bit.
DCI Cartwright: He’s a good kid, our Charlie, but he’s a little..rigid.
Duty Officer: Thank you sir.
DCI Cartwright: No offence, Charlie.
Duty Officer: None taken, sir.
TAIKUN: Best person to have running the cells, I’d have thought.
Duty Officer: Right this way sir. Do you have a handkerchief?
TAIKUN: No, why?
Duty Officer: The smell can be…overwhelming.
DCI Cartwright: Take one of mine, TAIKUN. Trust me, you’ll need it.
TAIKUN: Oh…dear god…
DCI Cartwright: Yeah. It’s okay, Charlie.
Duty Officer: Thanks. Freak gives me the shivers.
TAIKUN: What the hell is…who the hell is this?
DCI Cartwright: Buggered if I know, TAIKUN. Someone called it in, thinking he might have suffered some kind of horrific accident.
TAIKUN: Well, it was certainly horrific alright.
DCI Cartwright: We took him to the hospital, but they didn’t want anything to do with it. The administrator insisted that it couldn’t be human, until it started…well, it’ll start soon. You’ll hear him then. And then he was just terrified that there was a threat of contamination, and quarantined it. After a while, they decided that it wasn’t a risk – or, at least, someone decided that it wasn’t a risk.
TAIKUN: They let it- they let him out?
DCI Cartwright: Yeah.
TAIKUN: How long ago was this?
DCI Cartwright: Yesterday. I called you while he was still in quarantine – next thing I know, the administrator has signed him out and is asking us to keep him isolated.
TAIKUN: Oh, sure, because a police station is a much more secure unit than a hospital quarantine unit.
DCI Cartwright: I tried to point it out. The man was terrified, but not of…our guest here.
TAIKUN: Did they run any tests at all?
DCI Cartwright: Enough. No genetic abnormalities, no traces of chemical, radiological or thermal burns, and the x-rays showed no sign of breakages to cause…that. Whatever it was that did this to the poor blighted, they had no idea what it was. After that point, the administrator foisted him onto my men.
TAIKUN: So someone discovered he was there, and intimidated the administrator to get him out. Any ideas?
DCI Cartwright: No. But I know they were military – there’s a base on the planet, top secret status. I called Navy officials, trying to contact it to see if they had anything to do with it. They denied the base even existed. That night, I had a sniper on my rooftop.
TAIKUN: Really? What happened to him?
DCI Cartwright: Sonic pulse through the head. Brain aneurism. I’m told it was painless.
TAIKUN: A pity.
DCI Cartwright: Did you have anything to do with my rescue?
TAIKUN: I wish I had. I’ll ask my superiors when I make contact. Right now, I need to decide what’s to be done about this poor guy. You…are sure it’s a man?
DCI Cartwright: I hope so.
TAIKUN: I’ll assume whoever is responsible knows that their runaway is here. Your “secretary” seemed nervous when I met her – so I’ll also assume that she knows who I am, and is perfectly justified in her worry.
DCI Cartwright: Do you want me to bring her in?
TAIKUN: If you could. It was a sloppy plant – perhaps she can give us some information. Can I have a moment?
DCI Cartwright: Sure.
TAIKUN: Hi. Can you hear me.
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Can you speak?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Are you going to?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: That’s okay. Now, normally I’d tell you who I work for, and that I’m here to help. But I’m reversing that, because I know that it would just freak you out. Lets just say, for now, that I’m not here to hurt you, or to kill you, or to take you back to whatever hellhole you’ve been through. Do you believe me?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: That’s okay. I don’t blame you. I’m going to ask you some things, and if you can, I’d like you to nod for yes and shake for no. I won’t push you. You don’t have to answer. Can you do that?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Are you from around here?
{victim appears confused}
TAIKUN: If it helps, we’re on Matariki. Aroha Republic.
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: Are you from another country?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: Are you from one of the colonies?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: From this system?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: Okay. From the Inner Colonies?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Okay. An outer colonist. Do you know who brought you here?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: Do you know how long it was?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: Okay. Do you know who brought you here?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: If I show you the insignia, can you identify it as belonging to them?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Okay. Here it is.
{victim nods head, seems agitated}
TAIKUN: Right. Does “VENATOR” mean anything to you?
{victim nods head multiple times, seems agitated}
TAIKUN: Easy, mate. Uh…this might seem a bit insensitive, but…are you male?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: Oh geez. Uh…right, miss. Can you tell me how you got here?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Can you do it in your own words?
Unidentified Victim: A….a…I…I escaped. It…it didn’t…
TAIKUN: Steady, miss. Hold on a moment. Derek! Come in here!
DCI Cartwright: What is it?
TAIKUN: She’s started to talk, and I need you present to make sure I’m not intimidating her or anything a lawyer can use.
DCI Cartwright: “Her”? Oh god…
TAIKUN: Derek!
DCI Cartwright: Right here.
TAIKUN: Alright miss. Can you tell us your name?
{victim shakes head}
TAIKUN: Can you tell me how you escaped?
Unidentified Victim: There was…a truck. Big. I…I hid. They thought we were…but I wasn’t…
TAIKUN: They thought you were what?
Unidentified Victim: Cows. Sheep.
TAIKUN: Passive? They thought you were passive?
Unidentified Victim: Broken. But I wasn’t.
TAIKUN: So you hid on the truck. And then?
Unidentified Victim: It stopped. I got out. I ran. They…shot after me.
DCI Cartwright: Did they hit you?
{victim shakes head}
DCI Cartwright: Could you identify them again if you saw them?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Derek…
DCI Cartwright: Sorry, TAIKUN, but this is my line of work. We’ll find the buggers, miss. Don’t you worry.
TAIKUN: Derek. This is too big for you. It’s going to take every resource I can call a favour in for as it is.
DCI Cartwright: Well, I think every copper in this station would like to be there when you smash the doors in.
TAIKUN: I’d like them to be there. Really. But my bosses are kind of strict on civilian involvement.
{victim seems alarmed, shrinks back}
TAIKUN: No, don’t worry. I’m not one of them. I’m one of the good guys.
Unidentified Victim: Military. You’re military.
TAIKUN: I am. Internal affairs. I-
Unidentified Victim: You…you…
TAIKUN: I’m not one of them, miss. I didn’t do this to you. I put people like them away. Maybe up against the wall, if it comes to it, and I think it will.
DCI Cartwright: Miss, do you know where you were being held?
{victim nods head}
DCI Cartwright: Can you tell us?
Unidentified Victim: Black fire. Glass flowing around me. Hell. A dark sun. Hell.
TAIKUN: That sound like anything to you, Derek?
DCI Cartwright: Nope. We don’t get any phenomena like that on Minister.
TAIKUN: Miss, we need details. Walls, ceilings, landscape.
Unidentified Victim: It must be hell. There were demons.
DCI Cartwright: What kind of demons.
Unidentified Victim: Black. Evil. They danced, and killed, and I ran.
TAIKUN: Oh jesus… Derek, send out an evacuation alert. Everywhere within fifty kilometres of the base. I’ll get the UNSC garrison on the horn, get some people in.
DCI Cartwright: What are you talking about?
TAIKUN: The administrator was right to worry about contamination, but not pathological. Trust me, Derek.
DCI Cartwright: Okay. This had better be big.
TAIKUN: It is.
{victim becomes agitated when DCI Cartwright leaves cell, begins crying}
TAIKUN: Please, I need to know. These demons. Can you describe them more?
Unidentified Victim: Two…
TAIKUN: What?
Unidentified Victim: Two mouths. a tail.
TAIKUN: And spikes coming out of its back? Long head?
{victim nods head}
TAIKUN: Oh god…look, maybe we can do something for you, but right now I think we’re going to have our hands full. I just wish Indigo and VECTOR were available…
Unidentified Victim: I…
TAIKUN: At least there’s still NIMRAVID, and maybe a few of the Gammas…maybe I could call in Fauchard?
Unidentified Victim: I…
TAIKUN: And…huh?
Unidentified Victim: I…Its coming, isn’t it?
TAIKUN: I don’t know, miss. But if it is, then I’ll be damned if it wins.
Unidentified Victim: We’re already in hell.
TAIKUN: Then I’ll give the Devil my regards when I ram a gun down his throat.
- RAINFALL: Where do we stand on the investigation?
GLAURUNG: I'm running the data on ACCRETION still, but I haven't found anything new. These BLUE NIGHTS people cover their tracks well.
RAINFALL: TAIKUN?
TAIKUN: Combat records for Yellow Team are pretty slim since they came back into service after '49. I've been having trouble even finding mention of them. Best I can tell, they re-entered active duty in '51.
RAINFALL: Keep at it. Interviewing NOCHE won't go unnoticed.
[ORPHEUS enters]
TAIKUN: I thought you were supposed to be waiting for a go signal?
ORPHEUS: I've got better things to do than sit on my ass in the hangar. Do we have any intel to warrant this gathering yet?
RAINFALL: We're running data on ACCRETION and Yellow Team now.
ORPHEUS: I'll take that as a no.
RAINFALL: We need to approach this from a new angle. What's the common connection between All Under Heaven and ACCRETION? How did the two connect?
ORPHEUS: All we have to go off of is PUYALLUP's testimony?
TAIKUN: Yes.
ORPHEUS: Well, starting from there...isn’t it obvious?
TAIKUN: You have something to share?
ORPHEUS: ACCRETION worked on research into the Flood parasite, and pretty much nothing else. Correct?
RAINFALL: That was the thought. But if they're connected to this BLUE NIGHTS, then we must have missed something when we destroyed the facility. They must have had more operations than just Flood research--
ORPHEUS: Why? What evidence is pointing to anything other than the Flood?
TAIKUN: Yellow Team reappeared in 2551. That's well before the outbreak on Halo. It would be impossible for Yellow Team to be Flood-related.
ORPHEUS: Would it? To my knowledge, every Forerunner structure we've encountered has held Flood in stasis of some kind, or at least information on them. What's to say All Under Heaven didn't stumble onto an artifact years earlier than Halo?
TAIKUN: You’re suggesting that we made first contact with the Flood three years earlier than we thought? That it was covered up?
ORPHEUS: What, surprised an automaton like me can come up with an idea?
TAIKUN: It is quite the leap of thinking.
RAINFALL: ORPHEUS is right, though. Selective neural paralysis on Spartans--that's the embodiment of extreme security. And what but the Flood would both link to ACCRETION and require such security?
GLAURUNG: Not to mention, it would conveniently explain where all the Flood research data from the Battle of Earth came from.
RAINFALL: It's all theory though. Without PUYALLUP or any suspects, there's no way to substantiate any of it.
TAIKUN: What about CHAUCER, sir? If the people in charge of this BLUE NIGHTS trusted him enough to use his assets for the cover up, then he had to have connections.
RAINFALL: CHAUCER is an old hand with a lot of people behind him. The Field Investigation Team was Section Zero's top tier trigger group during the war. We need evidence before moving against him.
TAIKUN: So we're right back where we started, then.
RAINFALL: Not quite. We know what our next step has to be now.
GLAURUNG: And that is?
RAINFALL: To find someone, other than CHAUCER, who'd have connections to this whole op. Someone who served on the All Under Heaven during it’s last days. Someone in command who would have known what had happened. Someone who was there from the beginning, and who would have been crucial to keep quiet.
TAIKUN: Who?
RAINFALL: The Captain of the ship.
TAIKUN: That was…Edgar Sykes, correct? Would he even still be alive?
RAINFALL: If he is, then he'll be working for BLUE NIGHTS.
ORPHEUS: Oh Captain, my Captain...that might be it.
RAINFALL: ORPHEUS?
TAIKUN: Another stirring insight?
ORPHEUS: It's what PUYALLUP was saying after I shot him. A quote from a Walt Whitman poem.
RAINFALL: I'm familiar with it.
ORPHEUS: Everything PUYALLUP said in that room had a meaning. He was a step ahead. If all these assumptions are right, then he knew we would come to them.
GLAURUNG: I think ORPHEUS is onto something. I just searched Section Zero records and reports on ACCRETION. Guess what mysterious operative has allegedly been reputed to be in command of a Prowler with dubious connections to Flood biomass transfer?
RAINFALL: Codename: WHITMAN.
GLAURUNG: Hit the nail on the head.
RAINFALL: What intel do we have on him?
GLAURUNG: Not much in the way of history--a half dozen incident reports, all ambiguous and unconfirmed. But...
RAINFALL: Tell me that’s not all.
TAIKUN: It's not. I just checked a register of ONI vessel trackers. A suspected Prowler under surveillance just departed from Sol on a course for Epsilon Eriandi.
RAINFALL: ORPHEUS, get down to the hangar and get your hands on a boarding team. We need to intercept that Prowler.
ORPHEUS: Yes sir.
RAINFALL: TAIKUN, assemble a team for a possible hostile boarding action. HAZMAT suits and full combat prep. We don't need another incident like ACCRETION.
TAIKUN: You think it'll come to that?
RAINFALL: I think there's no such thing as being too certain.
- It worked out. As far as SHOGUN's concerned, I'm now undeniably dead, and no longer a threat to him, or his so-called investigation.
I hardly think he'll believe a word of what my clone hopefully managed to tell him concerning OZYMANDIAS, OLYNDICUS and CAIN before dying, but the fact that "I" died will be enough to throw him off my case. If he does actually decide to investigate whether I was right or not, he'll be going on a goose chase for months, if not years to come. Whatever happens, I've bought myself momentum to go completely off the radar and conceal any remaining programs I was or is still responsible for.
I don't believe I'll manage to stay hidden forever. SHOGUN will find me again eventually - maybe even rather soon. But at least I've bought time. That's what everything's about, it seems. Time.
- SHOGUN: Karlsson has just reported in. Nothing about a SIERRA-108 was found in Halsey’s files, or any pre-Reach combat reports.
HEPHAESTUS: And yet we have a “Laszlo-108” in the field, conducting black ops that would make Noble Team pale, using gear that’s supposed to be in testing.
SHOGUN: VAJRA-II is
going nuts. They cooperated with Project INDIGO so that they could control the release of their technology – if ONI’s been using it elsewhere anyway, they’re going to be facing charges of conspiracy. I’m working a lead on CAIN, but you’ll have to face up to the possibility that you have leaks of your own.
HEPHAESTUS:
Impossible.
SHOGUN: That’s what they all say.
HEPHAESTUS: All my staff know the risks. They know better than to consort with ONI's shadows.
SHOGUN: You know better. Do all of them?
HEPHAESTUS: I handpicked them myself.
SHOGUN: Ah, well, even the best of us make mistakes.
HEPHAESTUS: Like CAIN?
SHOGUN: …that was a low blow.
HEPHAESTUS: I’m sorry. But I’ve worked with these men and women for nearly thirty years now – if there’s a leak, then it’s an old one, one that I not only didn’t notice, but that has been leaking our secrets to people who we can’t trust them with. We’ve got material from TEMERITY here – what if that fell into the wrong hands?
SHOGUN: I’m reliably informed that it already has.
HEPHAESTUS: Oh, shit.
SHOGUN: Yeah. I’ve managed to contact Indigo Team, and they’re willing to assist me – as much as they’ve been an asset to the UNSC, they want to see these bastards brought to justice as well. They saw a lot of good people die during the S-II augmentations – they know what kind of sick, warped mind must have created CHISEL.
HEPHAESTUS: And the…artefact?
SHOGUN: You know about that?
HEPHAESTUS: Not much, but I know you recovered it from Delta Pavonis, and that it wasn’t Covenant. This is more TEMERITY’s area of expertise, though – and even then, all I heard was rumour.
SHOGUN: Then it’s best if you forget about it. I can’t tell you, and you don’t want to know. Other people have more efficient, reliable, and unscrupulous ways of gaining information.
HEPHAESTUS: You don’t need to convince me of that. I’ll have to get an internal affairs team in here, shut down the labs, double the security…you’ve just cost me a third of my annual budget.
SHOGUN: I’ll try and transfer some from TALULA. She’s always wanted to get involved in some hands-on R&D, and she’ll be thrilled.
HEPHAESTUS: TALULA? I don’t think I’ve heard of her.
SHOGUN: I’m not surprised. She’s a civilian – brilliant, but…eccentric. Has some funny ideas about how energy shields should work, but she’s been of great help on
VAJRA-II.
HEPHAESTUS:
Well, I look forward to meeting her.
SHOGUN: Oh, I very much doubt that.
- Contact with the City of Newshire on the planet Voren have been presumably lost. A city known for its vitality and its close proximity to an Ultor Facility, it remained a hub for commerce and a fine place for anyone seeking work. However, all of that disappeared a few months ago when communication was abruptly lost. Worried families and other officials tried to get hold of the city but to no avail. Fearful of an Insurrectionist attack, acting military forces were sent to check up on the city. But when the soldiers arrived, they discovered that Newshire was completely wiped off the face of the planet. From the inherent surroundings, it led the authorities to believe that the large scale bombing had taken place. But for what reasons, remain to be known.
Recent reports confirm that the UNSC has taken recent action towards the Ultor Corporation, the reasons remain unknown. It was reported that Ultor had recently downgraded their Bioweapon Research Firm. Could this possibly be response to the recent event on Voren? It remains to be determined. Read more on pages 2-5
- ENCRYPTION CODE: BAKER
- ENCRYPTION CODE: JOLLY ROGER
- FROM: CODE NAME VALERI
- FROM: Codename LE STRADE
- FROM: LIEUTENANT MATTHIAS KARLSSON
- RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: HEPHAESTUS has the results back.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Walk with me.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sir?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d like to have a little talk with you.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: If it’s about the operation, I’d rather-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s nothing bad, I promise. Walk with me. Please.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What did you want to talk about?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I thought you did well on the op. I said as much to
the DDO. A good word in the right ear can take you places, lieutenant, and the
ladder you intend to climb is a tall one. A little help on the way up wouldn’t
be turned down, would it?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d like to climb it on my own merits, sir. For
better or worse, I’d rather make my own way to where I’m going.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That’s a good answer, and it’s the one OLYNDICUS gave
me. You’re very much your father’s daughter, lieutenant – I know you don’t
consider that a complement, but it is.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sir, I’d rather not talk about my father-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That’s a shame then, because that was going to be my
next topic of conversation.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sir…he’s a Helljumper, through and through. Married
to the Corps.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I know that can be hard on a marriage. Is that why
your mother left him?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t know. I can remember him being on leave, and
even then it was like he wasn’t there. He’d just sit in the chair in front of
the heater, staring at nothing.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: When you’ve been in combat against the Covenant, your
opinion of him may change. He’s an ODST. They see things most Marines can never
dream of, things that should never be seen. Did you know he was at Draco III?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I… I didn’t, no.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: When he was a lieutenant. Almost his entire platoon
got wiped out by Jackals, torn to shreds in front of them. Then he sees
Spartan-II’s dropping from Falcons, to save him. To save him. This is a
man who is absolutely convinced that his men are the best of the best humanity
has to offer. It was a hard lesson for him.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: They saved him, though. Shouldn’t he be grateful to
them? Every time the conversation turned to them when he was drunk he’d start
shouting. Then after he quit he’d just turn away.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Pride is a fragile thing, Janice. Your father is a
proud man. That can be a sin and an asset.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d still rather not talk about my father, sir. I
don’t see what relevance it has – we’re hunting down rogue operatives, not
organising family reunions.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You think so?
{Elevator doors open}
Col.
V. Forrester:
What-Jan?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Dad?
Col.
V. Forrester:
SHOGUN, what the hell is this!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Now before the both of you rip my head off, let me
first say this. Your daughter is the most promising junior operative I have –
not the best I’ve ever seen, but up there. Your father is an experienced special
forces commander, the best I’ve ever seen. In our line of work, is it so odd
that you two should work together? I didn’t plan this, but I didn’t go out of
may way to obstruct it either. You can use the briefing room to wait – catch up
with each other if you want, or not. It doesn’t matter to me. I have business
downstairs, and then I’ll be with you.
{elevator doors close}
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Charlie Oscar? Take the VENATOR materials to briefing
room 7A.
Charlie Oscar: Yes
sir. How did they react?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Surprised, but with no hostility. Yet.
Charlie Oscar: I’ll
keep an eye on them sir.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Like you already have been? Leave them alone for a
while Petty Officer. Father-daughter get-togethers can be an emotional thing.
Charlie Oscar:
Speaking from personal experience sir?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Wouldn’t you like to know? Get to it.
{elevator doors open}
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Ah, SHOGUN. Did RAINFALL-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: She told me you had the results. I didn’t ask what
they were – I know you like to surprise me.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Well, for the most part it’s exactly what you
expected. Places, dates, times – no names. We can send out a few field
operatives to try and pick up his contacts, but given the time between now and
his death, I’d say they’ve gone cold. I wouldn’t expect much there.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You said for the most part. What about the rest?
Anything that can lead us to DRACULA?
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I doubt he’s even involved.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Why?
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Come now, SHOGUN. Does DRACULA come across as the
kind of man who would send incriminating evidence right into your hands? You’ve
had to prise it from cold dead fingers up until this point – unless he’s
desperate, which also doubt, we didn’t have a hand in this. This was amateurish
compared to him.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Great. So there are two groups out there working on
those things?
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: A scary thought, isn’t it? Most of the CNI is
standard material – service profile, including the parts blacked out by his time
in ONI. The hard copy often goes overlooked, thankfully. Nothing in there
relevant to us – a few covert operations, mostly against the Insurrection, and
then minor spy work against internal diplomats. After that, however, we get some
odd stuff – let me show you.
{Terminal 6A-7c accessed.}
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: He may not have been the most skilled agent DRACULA
had, but he wasn’t stupid. Brutal, yes, but smart as well. He had his own
contingencies in case he was caught, or in case his employers tried to
double-cross him. Quite ingenious really – image and video, no text and no
specifics. He was banking on someone capturing him, and holding this information
as either bait or blackmail.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The interrogation room isn’t for the likes of him.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I heard about Agent Fenworth. Very unfortunate – you
will of course send my condolences to her when you next visit?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You can give them to her yourself, HEPHAESTUS.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: She’s coming back? Can she walk?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No, but I don’t need her to. She was a better handler
than field operative – and now she knows to be careful. I don’t have the luxury
of experienced agents, HEPHAESTUS – they need to get the experience as they go,
and they need to learn their lessons well.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Is she okay? Obviously not physically, but mentally?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: She’s pissed as hell, and that’s how I want to keep
her. Anger is better than shame, and it’s a good motivator.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Well, back to the files – he encrypted thirteen
files. A few of them are shots of the stars – we can try to pinpoint stellar
coordinates using celestial positioning, but given the sheer volume of space
that may take a while. Some shots of terrain, geology – that’ll be more helpful,
if we can use the CAA database. And there’s a video clip.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s just a corridor.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Wait for it. He enters the room, and then-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What was that? Freeze frame.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It appears to be cages. Its occupant is blurred – it
moves too fast for a clear resolution, and there seems to be other factors
interfering with the quality, but-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That definitely looks familiar.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I thought it would. It seems to match VECTOR’s
description of the creature, although it’s certainly hunched a bit more – it’s
either quadrupedal, or perhaps the effect of captivity. But from this
information alone, it seems obvious that whoever went after WOTAN has more of
these things. They could be breeding an army of them.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What about other locations? Are there any outside
shots?
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes. As you can see here, it doesn’t look much like
one of our colonies, or those of the Covenant for that matter. It certainly
seems to be volcanic – igneous and metamorphic rocks as far as the eye can see.
There’s a scraggle of weeds in these pixels here, so it has an atmosphere –
whether it’s breathable I don’t know.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It is.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Really? How can you tell?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Because I’ve been there before. Are ORPHEUS and
Indigo still deployed?
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: VECTOR is on an op right now. I’m not sure where or
for how long, but then you never tell me anything so what’s new about that?
Indigo are in, and so is ORPHEUS.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d rather have ORPHEUS after that stunt she pulled.
Charlie Oscar?
{elevator doors close}
Charlie Oscar: Yes
sir?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I have some supplemental information. Forward it to
the briefing room, with an apology for my lateness attached. I’m on my way up
now.
Charlie Oscar: Yes
sir.
{elevator door opens
Briefing room door opens and closes}
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sorry about the wait. I had some things to take care
of elsewhere. What had you gotten up to?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The WOTAN incident.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Ah, yes. Thank you lieutenant, you may leave. Get
your material ready – JUNO will be serving as control from the dropship. You’re
going in with the team.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes sir.
{Briefing door opens and closes}
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: She’s a good kid, Verdani. You should cut her some
slack.
Col.
V. Forrester: She
joined the Army, SHOGUN. I brought her up on a Navy base, surrounded by Sailors
and Marines. All her brothers enlist as Marines or Sailors and she chooses the
Army? It’s hard not to think she’s sending me a message.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Kids rebel against their parents. It’s a natural
process.
Col.
V. Forrester: Not
my kids.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You must have done something right. She volunteered
rather than waiting for the recruiters.
Col.
V. Forrester: Did
WOTAN put up much of a fight?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Frankly, no. I expect he thought we were taking him
into protective custody. His mistake.
Col.
V. Forrester: That
was cold-blooded of you, even for a spook.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: After what he did to JUNO, the Director herself gave
me approval. I don’t lose my temper, colonel.
Col.
V. Forrester: Don’t
I know it. You want my Helljumpers in on this op?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d like you to cooperate with my own field agents,
yes. No more than a platoon-strength, if you can spare it. I know this war with
the Blood Covenant has been particularly taxing on your men.
Col.
V. Forrester: Damn
politicians hear our name and suddenly it’s a PR coup for ONI. Frankly, its
gratifying to get back to some good old black ops.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: This is as black as they come, colonel. Would you
like the details?
Col.
V. Forrester: All I
need to know is one thing – where to shoot, and what I’m shooting at. My XO and
the damn AI can handle the logistics.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And to think I missed that blunt attitude. I’ll
forward you the files – paper hard copy. Burn them after you’re done – the last
thing I want is this getting out.
Col.
V. Forrester: You
don’t trust me? I can keep a secret – after Minorca and Ares, I’d have thought
you of all people would have understood that.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I do. I trust you not to leak it to any civilians –
my concern is distributing it among your men, even out of good intentions. This
is the kind of thing that can cause a panic, and the last thing I want is for
your men to get overconfident, even if that confidence is well-deserved. If any
briefs them it is going to my team.
Col.
V. Forrester: They
deserve to know what they’re heading into. From what Jan tells me, just one of
those things took apart a fully armed SWAT team and nearly gave your precious
Spartans the slip. What if there are more of those things? I want my men to know
what they’re facing, and how to deal with them.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: They will. But they will be told by us, and we will
decide what they need to know.
Col.
V. Forrester: I
haven’t said yes to this yet, you know.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: But you will. And if you don’t, you’ll get orders
from higher up and you’ll be removed from the chain of command. I need your men,
and I’d like you to stay in the know. If you make things hard, it won’t be for
me.
Col.
V. Forrester: Go to
hell.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Feet first all the way.
Col.
V. Forrester: I
want one thing made clear. If we go in, we don’t need Spartans. We’re not a
bunch of green militiamen, and we’re not Marines – we’re Helljumpers. We can
handle this ourselves.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I know you can. I’m going to send them in anyway –
I’ve seen these things in action,a nd I’m telling you, you’re going to
need them, if only as cover to fire from.
Col.
V. Forrester: Shit.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I get that a lot.
Col.
V. Forrester: What
happened to the good old days? Bravo kilos don’t hide in the shadows – they
stand out in the light, guns blazing.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: They passed, my friend, as all days must. Its night
time now, and these things are lurking in the dark. You want morning to come?
Let’s light a few lanterns.
Col.
V. Forrester: I’ll
assume that’s a euphemism for “blow shit up”.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You assume right. I’ll stay in contact with your
staff. Glaurung will process the data, and have it ready for you when you get
back – remember, burn it. Trust me, you’ll want to after you finish it.
Col.
V. Forrester: I’ve
seen a lot in the Helljumpers.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Nevertheless, this might make even your stomach turn.
{sound of
sirens blaring}
Charlie Oscar:
Security breach, level one, level two, and level seven! All personnel to combat
alert! Fire teams, scramble!
Col.
V. Forrester: Is
this some kind of a joke, SHOGUN?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Maybe, but if it is it isn’t mine.
{power
is cut – no further additions to transcript
Please
see INDIGO
- BACHELOR: You were one of the project heads for STYRKT, correct?
HOLLYWOOD: Yes. You killed WOTAN, correct?
BACHELOR: Nope. You can thank SHOGUN for that.
HOLLYWOOD: And CANDLEMAKER? What became of his fate?
BACHELOR: That old ORION? Hell, he's done the least damage outa all of you. We'll take care of him later. Man's earned his peace.
HOLLYWOOD: Shame. Never really liked him myself.
BACHELOR: Whether you liked him or not is irrelevant. What I want to know is-
HOLLYWOOD: How the hell did we manage to get THRUDVANG off the ground?
BACHELOR: Hit the nail on the head there bucko.
HOLLYWOOD: Good question. I asked myself that every night for five years, sometimes it still eludes me. What with VOLSUNG, TROJAN, MYRMIDON, countless SPARTAN spin-offs, all of which had better funding, the mere thought of getting THRUDVANG off the ground was daunting. And while it did have a shaky start, we had our own specific little trick. Our "ace in the hole" if you will.
BACHELOR: TCHIBA.
HOLLYWOOD[Mockingly]: Hit the nail on the head there bucko.
BACHELOR: No need to get snippy.
HOLLYWOOD: Whatever. Listen, is there anything else you need answered? I'm starting to get tired of this.
BACHELOR: Why wasn't THRUDVANG listed as a super soldier project? Did ya take a page out of MYRMIDON's operating standards?
HOLLYWOOD: Because it wasn't.
BACHELOR: Yet the volunteers were trained by a SPARTAN and yielded super soldier results.
HOLLYWOOD: We were as much a super soldier project as ORION was. The point wasn't to make indestructible, non-feeling, armoured death-machines. It was an attempt to give soldiers the same fighting chance as a spartan, without the cost, both monetarily and on so many other levels.
BACHELOR: Even if that means forcibly taking information from members working on VISR, MJOLNIR, VAJRA. Attacking EXCALIBUR, TROJAN, and VOLSUNG in an attempt to slow their progress so that you could get ahead of the curve? Staging raids where you literally, stole people and technology in the middle of the night?
HOLLYWOOD: [Chuckles]
HOLLYWOOD: Business was, and still is, business.
BACHELOR: If I had a cRed for every time I've heard that....
HOLLYWOOD: Then you would be set for a thousand retirements. And so, I assume, you already know that the extinction of our people was going on. In which case I'll save you the lecture, if it hasn't swayed you so far I doubt my pleas will change your perspective.
BACHELOR: It's always a poor excuse.
HOLLYWOOD: [Grabs cigarette on table and precedes to light it]
HOLLYWOOD: [takes a long drag from it]
HOLLYWOOD: [Smiles]
HOLLYWOOD: Then I guess we've got a lot of talking to do, eh?
BACHELOR: Indeed we do.
- PUBLIC KEY: N/A
- Turns out BLIGHTBLOOD and VECTOR failed . An unfortunate development. But I'm not down for the count. Time and time again, I've learned to always be at least two steps ahead of the opponent. I prefer to be three.
BLIGHTBLOOD's failure means that SHOGUN will be after me - he knows how I usually plan ops - but that would have been the case even in the event of his success. In fact, the discovery of my involvement could be the key to my survival. And for humanity's sake, I must survive. Were it not for my actions, thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, more would have died by the war. SHOGUN just doesn't want to understand.
So he wants me? I'll turn myself in, straight into his open clutches. Just not the "real" me. And he wants information? I'll give it to him. Just not the information he'll expect.
Misinformation, Flash-Clone, Death. The keys to my release from SHOGUN's so-called investigation.
- SUBJECT: Incompetence
- SUBJECT: PERSONNEL QUERY
- SUBJECT: UPDATES
- TO: CODE NAME DRACULA
- TO: CODE NAME SHOGUN
- TO: Codename MORIARTY
- Interviewer: Testing...testing...one,two,three
CANDLEMAKER: Can we hurry this up?
Interviewer:Awfully impatient for someone who's imprisoned, and a spook at that!
CANDLEMAKER:My line of work usually called for a speedy way of handling things.
Interviewer:Yes, about that. Now's a good time to begin. Mind telling me something about, oh I don't know, STYRKT?
CANDLEMAKER:I was hardly involved with the-
Interviewer:Well tell me waht you DO know than. Alrighty?
CANDLEMAKER:When I was called in to help with project STYRKT they were still working on the Model 3...
Interviewer:Excuse me? The model 3? What's that, exactly?
CANDLEMAKER:The Weapon/Anti-Tank Model 3 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, we nick-named it the Ares Laser. Imagine an "up-sized" version of your standard spartan laser, that you can change the ammount of energy emmited from the tip for a more controlled burst. Now imagine that you could reload it with battery's rather than waiting for a recharge station.
Interviewer:Sounds like it could've helped quite a few people. Why did it fail again?
CANDLEMAKER:Well the main problem was weight, the rifle itself was damn heavy, and the battery's each weighed in at about 1 kilogram each. Most normal troops found it WAY over cumbersome, and the only people who could hold it comfortably where-
Interviewer:Spartans?
CANDLEMAKER:...Or spartan-grade soldiers,yes.
Interviewer:And , what about him? What was his relationship with project STYRKT?
CANDLEMAKER:From what i know of, nothing, why?
Interviewer:No reason, just trying to peice some things together. I think this do fine for now [REDACTED-CANDLEMAKER], you can head back to your cell.
CANDLEMAKER:I'm just brimming with joy....
font>
- SHOGUN: What do you mean, “civilian”!
OLYNDICUS: Relax, SHOGUN. They’re just here on an advisory capacity.
SHOGUN: Why are they here at all? They’re not even ONI recruits! I don’t want to have to worry about a confused chain of command.
OLYNDICUS: For a civilian yourself, you’re taking this pretty hard, SHOGUN.
SHOGUN: I don’t want the government boosting off with VORAUSSICHT, sir. This is too important.
OLYNDICUS: “Boosting off”?
SHOGUN: I don’t want the UEG making this a scapegoat to target ONI, sir.
OLYNDICUS: Nobody wants that, SHOGUN. Your operation is one hell of a cannon to hold to our heads.
SHOGUN: I’m more concerned about the wider scale, sir. If the Ministry of Justice takes over, they’ll try to deal with the psychopaths we’re tracking as if they’re normal people. Habeas corpus. Miranda rights. Search and seizure. You want DRACULA to bring a lawyer with him? Or OZYMANDIAS getting off because we didn’t have a warrant when we raided CHISEL headquarters?
OLYNDICUS: Sit down SHOGUN! You’re way out of line.
SHOGUN: I’m sorry sir.
OLYNDICUS: You’re also right. If this thing leaves ONI, the UEG would screw things up so fast we wouldn’t have time to duck and cover before we heard the bang. And that is what I’ve been telling MAGPIE for the past seven years, SHOGUN.
SHOGUN: MAGPIE? I thought we were in her good books?
OLYNDICUS: We were, but she’s not happy about how successful your team have been. She doesn’t object to you putting mass murderers like OXFORD up in front of the firing squad, but she’s concerned about what would happen if someone got a hold of VORAUSSICHT’s files. She’s not the only one.
SHOGUN: NOVEMBER BLACK has been ramped up, sir. BLACK WIDOW is online. Nobody’s getting through without my approval.
OLYNDICUS: Good, because this is the kind of tar that wouldn’t just stick to ONI, but the UNSC – hell, even the UN and UEG, especially after the bureaucratic labyrinth we ended up with during the war!
SHOGUN: So…she thinks we’re a threat?
OLYNDICUS: I know you’re a threat, SHOGUN. You’re totally loyal to the UNSC, doing work that needs to be done, and doing a damn fine job, and you still keep us both up nights. If you wanted to damage ONI where we’re most vulnerable, what would you do?
SHOGUN: I guess…I’d declassify…CHISEL.
OLYNDICUS: You paused. You should. That’s just one headache we have to deal with, SHOGUN. If they can access CHISEL, then they can also access ACCRETION, VENATOR, FORGE, TROJAN, VOLSUNG, and a dozen other projects. If they got out, we’d be right back where we started in 2490. If they declassified INDIGO, INDIGO-II, JAVELIN, or the other LACEDAEMON-grade projects, I think the military itself might revolt.
SHOGUN: …another Insurrection?
OLYNDICUS: That’s what MAGPIE’s analysts tell me. Repeatedly. If you found out ONI had been torturing, kidnapping and indoctrinating, and letting billions die, would you be happy? The few colonies left would break away, denounce us as genocidal murderers – which, I’ll be honest, we are.
SHOGUN: I don’t believe it. Not after the hell we went through in the first Insurrection.
OLYNDICUS: You underestimate the ability of people to fall apart under pressure, SHOGUN. We don’t have the Covenant as a unifying threat for us anymore, and the war effort against the Brutes is running relatively smoothly. The EXCALIBUR innovations have really made the difference. It’s only been seven years since the end of the Great War, and people are getting complacent. I’ve had Indigo running operations for me – Hydra, Mamore, Harmony, and another half-dozen colonies. The worlds we have left are wondering whether they still need the UNSC.
SHOGUN: How can they say that? The Covenant is still out there. Blood, New, it doesn’t matter – someone is going to gain ground, and decide to restart the genocide!
OLYNDICUS: ONI won’t declassify the material we need them to. If the public learnt about the attack on Middangeard, the death of Hood, morale would plummet across the board. But it would galvanise us into action, a real war of vengeance as the Elites are calling this conflict. But they aren’t, and they won’t, because they know that it means leaving small, almost unnoticeable trails back to other stuff. Like VORAUSSICHT. Almost unnoticeable.
SHOGUN: But if they knew about things like the New Covenant, the Middangeard ruins, the Labyrinth-
OLYNDICUS: They’d panic. Did you ever look over the Carver Report?
SHOGUN: Not really, sir. My line of work was in dealing with the people we brought in, not understanding why they were fighting.
OLYNDICUS: You should look over it sometime. The man was an idiot, and we lost millions because of him.
SHOGUN: Didn’t he predict the Insurrection?
OLYNDICUS: No. He caused it. His report basically said that the colonies might rebel by 2510 if the UNSC didn’t put boots on the ground and keep them under Earth control. Sent the CMA into a panic, and they overreacted. Soldiers turning up on their doorsteps, house raids, armoured patrols in city centres, all of that created a lot of resentment. Because of him, it flared up thirty years earlier, worse than he’d ever predicted.
SHOGUN: But it couldn’t happen again.
OLYNDICUS: Why not?
SHOGUN: We know what we did wrong, what to do right, we have enough troops and ships, we-
OLYNDICUS: I’ve got news for you, SHOGUN. We’re fighting a war. If the Innies decided they didn’t need the UNSC, they’d be on us in a flash.
SHOGUN: But they need us!
OLYNDICUS: They don’t think so. With the technological leaps we’ve been making, pretty soon we’ll be able to hold our own against a Covenant-level attack. Once that happens, the colonies might decide that they don’t need the UEG to protect them anymore.
SHOGUN: All because of VORAUSSICHT?
OLYNDICUS: No. But consider it the new equivalent of the Carver Report. It would…accelerate things. People are going to be asking themselves what they need the UNSC for after that point.
SHOGUN: But even so-
OLYNDICUS: Then there’s DRACULA and OZYMANDIAS and their respective compatriots out there, running around and stirring things up. DRACULA’s a psychopath, in every sense of the word, but he’s not crazy, or an idiot. He just arms and supplies them in exchange for reliable help. But OZYMANDIAS? Do you know?
SHOGUN: He ran all our counter-insurrection operations. If he showed any reluctance or sympathies, I didn’t see it.
OLYNDICUS: But he’s hid other sympathies from you. Section One thinks he’s a true Innie now, won over by their independence philosophy. Rumour is that he’s equipping some of the Insurrection, and doing a damn good job of it. Starships, advanced weapons, even very limited shields. The whole shebang. I don’t know where he’s getting his stuff from. That’s your job.
SHOGUN: I have some leads that ISTARI is running down now, including the EXCALIBUR and TEMERITY projects. VOLUND wasn’t too happy, but HEPHAESTUS has already run background checks, double verification. No further leaks at the moment.
OLYNDICUS: Then he must have another source. And I want to know what that source is, SHOGUN.
SHOGUN: Yes sir.
OLYNDICUS: Was that all?
SHOGUN: Yes sir. I suppose I’ll welcome the “advisors”.
OLYNDICUS: Break them in gently, SHOGUN. You know civvies.
SHOGUN: …yes sir.
- TAIKUN: Who the hell are you?
RAINFALL: Easy grandpa, put the gun down.
TAIKUN: Sorry. Old habit.
RAINFALL: Yeah, he said. You sleep with that under your pillow?
TAIKUN: Yep. I’ve shared a bed with this pistol longer than I have with my wife.
RAINFALL: Please don’t tell me you-
TAIKUN: Don’t believe everything you hear about jarheads, missy. Anyway, what do you want?
RAINFALL: I have an assignment. You do to. You, me, ORPHEUS and GLAURUNG.
TAIKUN: Oh, great.
RAINFALL: You got something against me?
TAIKUN: It’s not you, it’s that damn Spartan.
RAINFALL: You don’t like Spartans?
TAIKUN: Oh, I like Spartans fine, except when they’re not Spartans. Which seems to sum up our old pal ORPHEUS just fine. What did he call himself? A Leonardo?
RAINFALL: Leonidan. It was a project, one you don’t need to know about.
TAIKUN: Miss, I was in the loop on the SPARTAN-II and III Programs, and before that ORION.
RAINFALL: Things change.
TAIKUN: I don’t trust him is all. Don’t mean I can’t work with him.
RAINFALL: So it’s not going to be a problem? Good. We have a few leads to go on that I want you to follow up. I’ll get GLAURUNG to debrief you at 1400. And in future, when you address me, you will refer to me as lieutenant or Ma’am. Dismissed.
TAIKUN: Hey, wait a minute! Aren’t you gonna ask me?
RAINFALL: What?
TAIKUN: C’mon, I know you’re itching to ask.
RAINFALL: How do you know SHOGUN?
TAIKUN: Sorry El-Tee. It’s classified.
- -{Alert: Data Corruption - Redirect to Source Document}-
- CLASSIFICATION: NOVEMBER BLACK
/START FILE/
ALL ASSETS FOR PROJECTS [VERONA], [ELERI] AND [MARISKA] SUCCESSFULLY RELOCATED TO SAFER FACILITIES. BITS OF FILES AND MATERIÉL "ACCIDENTALLY" LEFT BEHIND TO LEAVE A BREADCRUMB TRAIL TO VAJRA LEAK - HINTING AT CREATION OF PERFECT EXOSKELETON USERS FOR NEW GENERATION OF VAJRA SUITS - AS ORDERED.
NEWS OF THE AUTOSPY OF "YOUR" BODY ARRIVED YESTERDAY. CASCADE METABOLIC FAILURE WAS DISCOVERED - BLOWS YOUR COVER, DOESN'T IT? IN RELATED NEWS, VECTOR HAS RESURFACED...ON SHOGUN'S SIDE. APPEARS HE SHOWED HER SOME THINGS IN YOUR RECORD.
PROJECT [GREY] HAS MADE ANOTHER REPORT; THE NEW FORMULA IS DEFINITELY A SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT TO ALL PREVIOUS ONES. SUBJECT [WARDEN] IN PARTICULAR SHOWS PROMISE - TESTS CONFIRM ENHANCED STRENGTH, AGILITY AND SPEED, AS WELL AS IMPROVED REGENERATION RATE . BOUTS OF SUDDEN PRIMAL AGGRESSION STILL PRESENT, THOUGH WITH FAR LONGER INTERVALS THAN BEFORE. SUBJECT [REDCLIFF] NOT DOING AS WELL: LESS AGGRESSION INSTANCES, BUT ALSO LESS IMPROVEMENT. THE NEW SUBJECT - [TEAGAN] - BIT THE DUST, JUST AS [EAMON] AND [ISOLDE].
- I don’t
know what to tell you, sir. DRACULA screwed me pretty good. You know it. I know
it. He knows it. I know he’s alive, but that isn’t much. I know he’s onto
me, but that isn’t much. And I know that he’s actively trying to cover his
tracks and lay new ones, wild goose chases and diversions. I’ll chase them,
because I get the feeling that he wants me to find some of the things he had a
hand in – either our of some subliminal sense of guilt or, more likely, to
demonstrate a point. I’ll be the first to admit that his projects generated
results – without GENOME and CHISEL, we wouldn’t have the Volsung operatives, or
the Trojans. His aims were admirable, but that doesn’t decrease my
disgust at the methods he used.
VECTOR is
cooperating fully, far better than even I expected. DRACULA had quite a large
hand in her history, larger even than he suspects. Perhaps its coincidence, but
her involvement in ORION? Gibsons death? ACCRETION? All these things have links
to her past, and DRACULA has had a hand in all of them. She understandably wants
to know just what she owes the man, and how much firepower she has available – I
currently have her and Indigo on an op right now. I can’t say where, except that
its close. When she gets back, she’ll have an answer for me on that other
subject – the ORPHEUS question. I’m not entirely sure what she’ll say, or how
he’ll react – an element of unpredictability is always a factor in this job.
I’ve also
begun to hear some disturbing things coming out of RECLAMATION, the
recolonisation effort – teams have been lost on at least three worlds dating
back to the early 2290’s. CMA involvement seems to have been minimal, but has
been confirmed on the LV-426 and Fiorina-161 colonies. I don’t know if DRACULA
was involved in it, but I doubt it – it doesn’t have any of his hallmarks. The
colonies were listed as November Black, though, so somebody thought they
were important – I’ve dispatched a small force to investigate.
That’s
all for now. RAINFALL is bringing in Codename: ORPHEUS now for another interview
– with any luck, VECTOR will be done deciding by then as well and we can finally
get the two in the same room. I already have Indigo, but if DRACULA is throwing
his most potent resources at me I’d like some pretty powerful shields. And they
don’t get more powerful than ORPHEUS.
- SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You wanted me? Here I am.
PUPPET
MASTER: I wanted to
see what you would do. And you didn’t disappoint.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Save it, PUPPET MASTER. What do you want?
PUPPET
MASTER: Want? Wants
are but fleeting and arbitrary. You have nothing I want that you can, or would,
give to me. What I need is refuge.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Refuge? From who?
PUPPET
MASTER: If I knew
that, I wouldn’t be here.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We went through a lot of trouble extracting you.
ORPHEUS in particular was…testy. If you’re not worth it-
PUPPET
MASTER: You’ll
what? Erase me? First of all, the security defences I and others have in place
are far too robust, even for your gear. Secondly, I can guarantee that what I
have to provide will be worth it – even if you wanted to delete me, you
wouldn’t. This is going to interest you, I can tell.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I disagree with you on the first point – you and your
cohorts may have pilfered a lot from EXCALIBUR, but there’s a lot that you
didn’t get your filthy hands on. In the second point, you have yet to give me
any reason to believe you.
PUPPET
MASTER: Well then,
let me start at the beginning – OXFORD.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What about it?
PUPPET
MASTER: Not an “it”
– a “him”. He was a section head in Project CHISEL.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: CHISEL is old news. We rounded up or neutralised it
long ago. And if we’re talking about the same OXFORD, Professor Henry Thornton,
that I personally apprehended, then was is the operational
adjective.
PUPPET
MASTER: Really?
What do you know of the eventual fates of the CHISEL staff you didn’t bump off?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: All prosecuted, either imprisoned for life or
executed for treason. I witnessed some of the executions myself.
PUPPET
MASTER: I’m sure
you did. But there were others that you did not, and others had an interest in
CHISEL as well.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Others.
PUPPET
MASTER: You are of
course familiar with DRACULA?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Is that question rhetorical?
PUPPET
MASTER: You two
really are quite alike. Both brilliant in your own fields, both determined to
the point of stubbornness, and both absolutely convinced that the other is in
the wrong. Did you ever stop to wonder if you’re in the right?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I lost any doubts after CHISEL.
PUPPET
MASTER: Quite. Yet
for all the suffering induced, so many benefitted from CHISEL – hundreds of
Spartans, Trojans and Volsungs, as well as whatever other supersoldier projects
that may or may not have occurred. And how many lives did they save?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m not questioning its effectiveness. My problem was
with their methods, and their refusal to go through the chain of command.
PUPPET
MASTER: They knew
ONI would say no. It was a dark time, and strong stomachs were required for
survival.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Normally the interrogator is the one who asks the
questions. Is there a point to this? I wrapped up my work on CHISEL years ago.
PUPPET
MASTER: My point,
SHOGUN, is that some of the people you apprehended slipped through the cracks in
the system, with help.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: DRACULA.
PUPPET
MASTER: Yes.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And OXFORD?
PUPPET
MASTER: He was, as
you said, found guilty of war crimes against humanity. Rather than execute him,
they commuted his sentence to permanent cryonic storage for his helpfulness in
arranging the downfall of much more important figures. And officially, to this
day he still resides in the Hague Cryonic Storage Facility. Unofficially, he was
smuggled out before ever setting foot within the cryo-tube and recruited for
other projects.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ll be verifying that independently.
PUPPET
MASTER: Perhaps
RAINFALL would be a good candidate? I heard she was a little rattled by the
assault last month – and she is more methodical and professional than her
compatriots, with the possible exception of JUNO.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ll decide who is sent, thank you. What happened to
OXFORD?
PUPPET
MASTER: The last
concrete news I heard of him was in 2555, where he was project leader for
ACCRETION.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: ACCRETION?
PUPPET
MASTER: Can I take
your confusion as a sign of interest?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We went over the ACCRETION materials thoroughly. The
surviving computer records showed no hint of any involvement in CHISEL.
PUPPET
MASTER: They
wouldn’t. DRACULA covers his tracks, and those of his underlings, very well. Add
to that the THOR strike you ordered, and I’m not surprised you didn’t find
anything. But I very much doubted you would, because he was reassigned in any
case.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: To where?
PUPPET
MASTER: VENATOR.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And what is VENATOR?
PUPPET
MASTER: Ah, now,
that would be telling!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Alright, I’m ready to deal. You want refuge? We can
give it to you.
PUPPET
MASTER: I want an
EMP hardened safe room, constant military protection of at least VOLSUNG or
TROJAN grade, and I want access to declassified materials without filtration.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes, yes, no.
PUPPET
MASTER: I said
filtration, not monitoring. You have your own AI’s do you now? I’ll assume
you’ll be having them recording what I access and cross-referencing them against
relevant or potentially relevant areas of investigation, regardless of whether
you are or not. For what it’s worth, I have no intention of double crossing you
again. Once was quite enough.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And what do I get in return?
PUPPET
MASTER: You get
VENATOR, GENOME, GREY and whatever else DRACULA has dipped a hand in. Obviously
I’m not telling you everything I know-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Obviously.
PUPPET
MASTER: -but you
will be getting more than enough to occupy yourself in the immediate, and
perhaps distant, future.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m not stupid enough to ask you for any assurances
of validity, or promises of genuine intent, but why are you doing this? What are
you running from?
PUPPET
MASTER: I made a
bad decision, and it has cost me much. That is all I will say on the matter.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That isn’t fair, is it? You give me the fifth degree,
and suddenly when I ask a question you clam up?
PUPPET
MASTER: Is this a
personal quid pro quo? I didn’t notice. How’s your daughter?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ll take it to the DDO.
PUPPET
MASTER: But you’ll
recommend it?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What do you think?
PUPPET
MASTER: According
to your so-called scientists, I don’t. Technically.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ll take it to him. Goodbye.
PUPPET
MASTER: Goodbye,
SHOGUN.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: But before I go, I’d like you to know something. This
is going to interest you.
PUPPET
MASTER: That
remains to be seen.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We received a Threat Code HYDRA from an outlying star
system a week ago, claiming to be from a “Raptors Nest” site – it was intended
for someone else, neither me nor DRACULA, but we were the ones who intercepted
it first. The transmission was labelled VENATOR. I have a team ready for
deployment. And if you get approved, I want you on it.
PUPPET
MASTER: Me? What
happened to security?!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You will receive every condition you have requested.
Mobility was not a factor in your bargaining.
PUPPET
MASTER: It’s a
Prowler, yes?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The Hunters Arrow, as black as they come.
PUPPET
MASTER: Good. And
if I say no?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t think you understand me yet. Even if you
wanted to leave, you couldn’t – we have BLACK WIDOW up and running now. And this
time it’s minus the plethora of painfully obvious backdoors your goons left
behind.
PUPPET
MASTER: BLACK
WIDOW? How dare you-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You are not a witness, PUPPET MASTER. You are a
suspect. I don’t care if you're the Pope himself, if you set up a meeting I
ensure you can’t get away until I want you to. If the DDO agrees to your
demands, then you will be inducted into the program with limited immunity – what
you tell us, nothing more. If he says no, I’m setting off an EMP right now –
frying every system in this building, but finally getting you out of my hair.
And the Hunters Arrow has the same systems. Remember that.
PUPPET
MASTER: I’ll find a
way out. No security system has ever beaten me.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That’s inductive reasoning. Just because a system
hasn’t withstood your crude attacks up until now doesn’t mean no system ever
will.
PUPPET
MASTER: What’s so
different about BLACK WIDOW?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That would be telling.
PUPPET
MASTER: You’re so
confident that I will want to cooperate. I’m here for refuge, in return for
which I offer a portion of my knowledge. What have you to offer me for my
services?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You.
PUPPET
MASTER: I’m sorry?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’re familiar with flash cloning, yes? It all goes
back and on to your birth and death. What I have to offer you is what you’ve
been searching for – answers.
PUPPET
MASTER: Answers are
generally provided for questions. I have yet to ask mine.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Or obstacles that need to be overcome. Sometimes that
obstacle is yourself.
PUPPET
MASTER: Elaborate.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No.
PUPPET
MASTER: You have
given me nothing to whet my appetite, SHOGUN. What reason have I to trust that
this is not an elaborate hoax?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You don’t. I have given you no reason, no assurance,
no promise. Just as I have asked you for none. I’ll take your “offer” to the DDO
– he gets the final say, yes or no. If it’s yes, then I’ll see you in a few
hours. If it’s no… well, then I won’t. Either way, this is goodbye, PUPPET
MASTER.
PUPPET
MASTER: Goodbye,
SHOGUN.
- -{Alert: Data Corruption - Information Unavailable - Awaiting Restoration Process]}-
- RED ONE: Red Team, in position.
BLUE ONE: Blue Team, in position.
GREEN ONE: Green Team, in position.
RAINFALL: All teams, prepare for breach. Watch your fire. We need as many of them alive as possible.
INDIGO ONE: With respect, ma'am, we don't know what's in there. If this group is conducting Flood research, then any potential threats need to go down. We either go in hard, or we don't go in.
ORPHEUS: What's the matter, Indigo? Cold feet after VENATOR? I think four Sierra's is overkill for this anyway.
INDIGO ONE: Cut the chatter, ORPHEUS.
ORPHEUS: Hurry the countdown up, then.
INDIGO ONE: All teams, execute in three...two...one...execute.
RED ONE: Red Troop, breaching south perimeter.
BLUE ONE: Blue Troop, breaching north perimeter.
GREEN ONE: Green Troop, breaching east perimeter.
ORPHEUS: Race you to the west side, Indigo.
RED ONE: Red Troop here, perimeter's clear, prepping for breach. Team A, stack left. B, you've got rear security.
Red TWO: One, two, three, go!
RED ONE: Dead space, front!
RED TWO: Dead space clear, one up.
RED ONE: Two up.
RED THREE: Three up.
RED FOUR: Four up, Team B in.
RED FIVE: Friendlies coming in.
RED ONE: Command, Red Troop's inside, sweeping lobby--shit, shit, contact!
RAINFALL: Status update!
RED ONE: Fireteam strength shooters, ma'am! We've got heavy incoming.
TAIKUN: They were expecting us. I thought BYRON said they didn't think we'd find them?
RAINFALL: Doesn't mean they aren't prepared. Indigo, get in there. ORPHEUS, keep moving on the west.
INDIGO ONE: Copy, Indigo is moving. Three, you have eyes on?
INDIGO THREE: [text transmission] Negative. No visual on shooters.
INDIGO ONE: Old fashioned way, then. Indigo Two, on me. Three, watch the roof for snipers.
GREEN ONE: Control, Green Team securing east wing. No contacts. Proceeding south.
BLUE ONE: Blue Troop here, leapfrogging through the northern sector. No contacts.
ORPHEUS: RAINFALL, ORPHEUS here. I'm inside sweeping the ground floor.
RED ONE: Red Troop to Indigo, can we get a little help over here?
INDIGO ONE: Hold position. Indigo One and Two have eyes on your location.
RED ONE: If you've got eyes on, then can you hurry up and kill the bastards with the guns? They really don't seem to like us.
INDIGO TWO: Frag--out.
[DETONATION]
INDIGO ONE: Go, shields up.
[GUNFIRE DETECTED: BR55HB SR BATTLE RIFLE, MA5C ASSAULT RIFLE]
INDIGO TWO: Indigo Two, three shooters down.
INDIGO ONE: Indigo One, two down.
RED ONE: I swear there was more of them.
INDIGO ONE: Did you ever have a visual?
RED ONE: No, but--
[DETONATION, ROUNDS FIRED]
RAINFALL: Indigo, what the hell is going on in there?
INDIGO ONE: Red Troop's down! Pursuing hostile.
RAINFALL: Hostile? Singular?
INDIGO ONE: Affirmative. One tango.
RAINFALL: How the hell did he take out Red Troop?
INDIGO ONE: Less chatter, please, ma'am.
ORPHEUS: That's his way of telling you to shut up and let him work, RAINFALL.
RAINFALL: Noted.
GREEN ONE: Green Troop here, south wing is secure. Still no contacts. I think they're hiding.
BLUE ONE: Blue Troop here, I've got audio feedback coming from a locked room. Thermal is hot.
RAINFALL: Get inside.
BLUE ONE: Already set, ma'am. Blue Troop, flash and clear.
[DETONATION, FLASH BANG, DOOR DOWN]
BLUE ONE: Down! Everyone, hands on the ground! No one move! Down down down!
ORPHEUS: ORPHEUS reporting. I just pinged a phantom contact on my motion tracker, heading north. Watch out for company, Blue Troop.
BLUE ONE: Copy that ORPHEUS, but we've got prisoners. No motion or visual on that contact. Might have been a glitch.
RAINFALL: How many prisoners, Blue Troop?
BLUE ONE: Four ma'am...and a positive ID on CHERUBIM.
RAINFALL: Alright, rendezvous with Green Troop and get them out of the building, now.
BLUE ONE: Copy ma'am, we're en route.
RAINFALL: Indigo, what's the status on your target?
INDIGO ONE: Tracking him, ma'am.
RAINFALL: You don't have him yet?
INDIGO ONE: We're being careful ma'am, seeing as you want him alive. And he's...quick.
RAINFALL: Augmented?
INDIGO ONE: Possibly.
GREEN ONE: Blue Troop, this is Green. We're at the rendezvous. Where the hell are you?
BLUE ONE: Sorry Green, we had to take a detour. Blast doors came down over the primary route. Someone is trying to stall us.
ORPHEUS: Blue Troop, that phantom contact just pinged again. Check your six.
BLUE ONE: Motion tracker is going haywire, we're going to try and make--for--corridor.
RAINFALL: Blue Troop, repeat, your breaking up.
BLUE ONE: --shit! Man down, man down! Where the hell is he?
BLUE TWO: Sarge, I got no visuals--oh hell.
RAINFALL: Blue Troop, give me a status update, now!
BLUE ONE: --get behind the barricade! Look for a shimmer or blur!
BLUE THREE: There! I see him!
BLUE FOUR: Fire, fire!
EGOR : Nice try.
BLUE ONE: What the hell--
RAINFALL: ORPHEUS?
ORPHEUS: Already moving. Give me forty five seconds.
RAINFALL: Indigo, can you assist?
INDIGO ONE: We've got the target cornered, ma'am. He wiped out a whole team. You sure you want to let him get away?
RAINFALL: Damn it. Get him. Do it quick.
INDIGO ONE: Affirmative. Indigo, breach.
[GUNFIRE, IMPACTS ON SHIELDS, DETONATION]
INDIGO TWO: Shields down, shields down. Damn he's quick. Backing out.
INDIGO ONE: I'll cover. Flash bang--out.
INDIGO TWO: Damn, he's not bad. Back in in three...two...one.
[PAUSE]
INDIGO ONE: Second flash--out. Grab him.
INDIGO TWO: Copy, going--ouch!
[PHYSICAL IMPACT ON ARMOR, INDIGO TWO INCAPACITATES TARGET]
INDIGO TWO: He recovered from that damn flash bang pretty quick...
INDIGO ONE: You got him?
INDIGO TWO: Confirmed. He's out cold. Might need to be treated for a concussion.
RAINFALL: Indigo Two, can you ID the tango?
INDIGO TWO: Wait one. Maybe...CONSTANTINE? Sorry, his head is a little...dented.
RAINFALL: That explains some things. Green Troop, re-route to that position. ORPHEUS?
ORPHEUS: I'm in position. Vitals on Blue Troop are cold.
RAINFALL: Be careful.
ORPHEUS: Copy, I'm moving in. No sign of CHERUBIM or--oooff.
RAINFALL: ORPHEUS?
ORPHEUS: --let's go then!--
RAINFALL: ORPHEUS!
[SOUND OF HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT, ARMOR CLANGING]
ORPHEUS: I got you you SOB--shit!
RAINFALL: Indigo, get there, now!
INDIGO ONE: On the way.
[SOUND OF HELMET DETACHING, GAUNTLET ON CHEEKBONE]
[ORPHEUS REGISTERS AS UNCONSCIOUS]
INDIGO ONE: RAINFALL, we're on site, no eyes on hostile. ORPHEUS is down.
RAINFALL: What the hell took him out?
INDIGO ONE: We're working on that ma'am.
INDIGO TWO: Lead, ORPHEUS is alive. I'm pumping a wake up stim.
INDIGO ONE: ORPHEUS, what the hell happened?
ORPHEUS: Ugh...shit...it's him.
INDIGO ONE: Get your head clear mate, who?
EGOR: Me.
[IMPACT DETECTED ON INDIGO ONE]
INDIGO ONE: RAINFALL! It's a Sierra!
RAINFALL: A Sierra? A Leonidan?
INDIGO ONE: He's got MJOLNIR! Indigo Two, he's coming up on the flank. We'll double team him.
ORPHEUS: You'll...need my...help.
RAINFALL: Your probably concussed, Sierra. I want you out of there.
ORPHEUS: Shit.
INDIGO TWO: Lead, he's heading for the roof.
INDIGO ONE: Copy. Three, get a visual. I need eyes on.
INDIGO THREE: [text transmission:] He's got active camo. Thermal only. Sorry.
INDIGO ONE: Good enough. Two, you ready?
INDIGO TWO: Affirmative.
INDIGO ONE: Three, when we breach, hit the target. Go for the legs. That should drop his shields at least.
RAINFALL: Indigo, I'm near positive that’s EGOR. Leonid-144. I need him alive.
INDIGO ONE: That makes our jobs difficult ma'am...
INDIGO THREE: [Text transmission:] Lead. I have a shot.
INDIGO ONE: Take it.
[SRS99D ROUND FIRED]
INDIGO ONE: Go go go!
EGOR: Yebatʹ!
INDIGO ONE: Drop the gun, Leonid!
[RIFLE DETECED HITTING GROUND, SOUND OF COMBAT KNIFE BEING DRAWN]
INDIGO TWO: Oh. Well that's an improvement, I guess...
[SOUND OF KNIFE BEING THROWN, HITTING INDIGO TWO IN CHEST]
INDIGO TWO: ...Oww.
[INDIGO ENGAGES TARGET IN HAND-TO-HAND]
RAINFALL: Indigo Three, I want eyes on the roof.
INDIGO THREE: [Text transmission:] Transmitting visual.
RAINFALL: Dear god...I don't think I've ever seen someone move so fast.
INDIGO ONE: Shit, he's quick. The hostile Leonidan would be the close quarters expert.
INDIGO TWO: The knife in the chest is kind of a bitch, too.
RAINFALL: Indigo, ORPHEUS is already injured, and I don't need any more casualties. Take the gloves off.
INDIGO ONE: Copy. Three, when you get an angle, put one in his chest. He should survive.
[FURTHER COMBAT]
INDIGO THREE: [Text transmission:] Move him to the west.
INDIGO TWO: Copy...come here you bastard.
[INDIGO TWO MANAGES AN UPPER ARM THROW ON TARGET]
[SOUND DETECTED: SRS99D ROUND FIRED]
INDIGO THREE: [Text transmission:] Round out.
RAINFALL: Is he down?
EGOR: Ugh...
INDIGO TWO: Wait one.
[SOUND DETECTED: INDIGO TWO KNEES EGOR IN HELMET]
INDIGO TWO: He's down.
RAINFALL: Restrain him and patch him up. I need to confirm that's EGOR.
ORPHEUS: That would mean CHAUCER is involved.
RAINFALL: It would make it very likely.
INDIGO ONE: RAINFALL, what about the rest of the op?
RAINFALL: Green Troop, status update.
GREEN ONE: We've secured CONSTANTINE and some of the escaped prisoners. No sign of CHERUBIM ma'am.
RAINFALL: Indigo, get EGOR up here. Green Troop, secure any personnel on the second floor. ORPHEUS, retrieve CONSTANTINE and get out of there. I'm inbound with more troops.
ORPHEUS: Ma'am, I'm green.
RAINFALL: You were knocked out by a punch to the head, from someone in MJOLNIR armor. You're going to be lucky if it's only a severe concussion. Get out of there.
ORPHEUS: Copy...I'm on my way.
INDIGO ONE: RAINFALL, EGOR is ready for pickup. We're back in.
RAINFALL: Copy. Extra teams are groundside.
GREEN ONE: Green Troop to RAINFALL, second floor secure. Jackpot. We got prisoners, at least a hundred.
TAIKUN: That many? We must have caught them more by surprise than we thought.
RAINFALL: Pack them up and get out of there.
INDIGO ONE: RAINFALL, this is INDIGO. We've got...something else.
RAINFALL: Explain.
INDIGO ONE: Blast doors on a sublevel--marked with biohazard symbols. You said this place was for Flood research.
RAINFALL: Yeah, shit. Green Troop, are the prisoners evacuated?
GREEN ONE: Got them on the roof and loading them on the birds now, ma'am.
RAINFALL: Get airborne. Indigo, we need to know what's in there--but if there's the slightest threat of contamination, I want you out ASAP.
INDIGO ONE: Understood.
[SOUND DETECTED: BREACHING CHARGE DETONATING]
INDIGO ONE: We're in...uploading visual.
RAINFALL: It's...
TAIKUN: Empty.
RAINFALL: Either they never used this place, or they evacuated it. Either way, we're done here. The fleet will handle occupation. Get airborne, Indigo.
INDIGO ONE: Ma'am.
RAINFALL: TAIKUN, start ID'ing prisoners. Someone is going to tell us what the hell just happened here.
- RAINFALL: You were a tough man to track down, agent BYRON. This interview has been a long time coming.
BYRON: I'm not one of the usual stooges you go after. We're not the kind of group you'll ever figure out.
RAINFALL: I found you, didn't I?
BYRON: You think I don't know how you got me? Between PUYALLUP and WHITMAN...I'm disappointed it took you as long as it did, RAINFALL. This one fell into your lap.
RAINFALL: You don't sound angry at them. Generally I find traitors to be a little more upset at informants.
BYRON: They did what they had to do. And PUYALLUP was never really part of the operation, anyway.
RAINFALL: You’re not saying you're glad to be caught, are you?
BYRON: I see no point getting worked up about it.
RAINFALL: You’re a very strange prisoner, BYRON.
BYRON: No, I'm simply a pragmatist. And I recognize that this was the best point to be captured.
RAINFALL: You'll have to explain that one to me.
BYRON: I assume you have a vague idea of who CHERUBIM is, yes?
RAINFALL: WHITMAN mentioned him.
BYRON: Well, without going into the sort of details I'll reserve for a plea deal, CHERUBIM was running the program the wrong way. Working with people like the likes of ACCRETION? He was driving security into the ground. It became obvious over time that the way he was running things would eventually end in a security breach. Inevitable, really,
TAIKUN: So your happier being captured now, because you think you'll be able to squirm out of a punishment in exchange for information.
BYRON: You’re such a clever boy, TAIKUN.
TAIKUN: I do believe I'm older than you.
BYRON: Older? Yes. Smarter? That remains to be seen.
RAINFALL: Tell us about BLUE NIGHTS.
BYRON: Are you going to make me an offer first?
RAINFALL: Not until I know the quality of information you have.
BYRON: Ha! I appreciate you trying to cover your ass, RAINFALL, but it's an empty gesture.
RAINFALL: I don't see how. If you don't give me the information I'm looking for, then things get simple. I throw you in a cell to rot, the courts charge you with the transfer of a biological weapon of mass destruction--don't forget about the Flood biomass samples we found on your ship--and I interview someone else and get the info I need. You said yourself that security on BLUE NIGHTS is declining. I'll find someone else eventually.
BYRON: I see how you reached that conclusion, but I'm afraid it's a bit off. Yes, security was degrading, but even CHERUBIM isn't an idiot, RAINFALL. He knows that you captured PUYALLUP and WHITMAN, and I imagine it won't be long before he realizes you have me too, if he hasn't already. His security will tighten. Quite rapidly, in fact. You'll be out in the cold with no leads to go on.
RAINFALL: How do you know I don't have any right now?
BYRON: Because I'm not an idiot, either, RAINFALL. I know exactly how much you know--and how pitifully little that is. You only captured me because of WHITMAN, and you really only found him because PUYALLUP squakwed. Everything you've found so far has simply come to you. You never had any idea BLUE NIGHTS was going on, until someone else told you. And you could search for years and find nothing, because we've infiltrated everywhere, for so long, that you can hardly tell the difference anymore between where we end and everyone else begins. Oh, I imagine you know about the Flood data from Earth, the All Under Heaven, the overall objectives of the Operation, and likely even CONSTANTINE's strike team. But precious little else. Did I get it right?
RAINFALL: I have quite the team. Even if CHERUBIM locks down his security, there will be evidence predating his security crackdown.
BYRON: If there is, then good luck finding it. Perhaps you didn't understand me from before, or simply thought I was exaggerating. I was not. You have no idea how good our group has become at security over the years. It's really heartbreaking, RAINFALL, to see you struggle like this. I actually admire your investigation, especially for shutting down those fools at ACCRETION. Those imbeciles were about to cause the next galactic outbreak. You've got a noble pursuit here, really. But like I said, you have no idea how deep this goes. How far it has spread. CHERUBIM--he has eyes and ears everywhere, RAINFALL. Section Zero, Section One, Two, Three, the Navy, the Marines, the Army, Spartan, Air Force, Special Forces, other black projects--everywhere.
RAINFALL: If he's so omnipotent, then why aren't you more afraid of collaborating? Of retaliation? PUYALLUP killed himself rather than let these people get to him.
BYRON: PUYALLUP--he was an idiot. Brutal reprisal killings? That's Section Zero's policy or DRACULA's style, not ours. CHERUBIM and Echo 9 roll with the punches, and they can because no one is ever able to track them long enough to land one. They have no need to kill when they can simply avoid detection.
RAINFALL: How civilized. And arrogant.
BYRON: One of the reason I believe the operation was better run by HAYSTACK.
RAINFALL: So if you’re not looking for a safe haven to avoid reprisals, what are you hoping to gain for your information? You’re not going free, I can tell you that right now.
BYRON: I'm well aware of that, thank you. I'm also well aware of what you will try to do to me otherwise.
RAINFALL: We don't execute prisoners--
BYRON: Please don't insult my intelligence with that kind of BS, RAINFALL. I know how you people handled WOTAN.
RAINFALL: That was...a special case.
BYRON: Well, pardon me for not taking your word on it.
RAINFALL: Well, then I guess we'll include 'not being in front of a firing squad' as one of your conditions for cooperating. Anything else?
BYRON: I love well people prove themselves...not entirely unintelligent. I want pleasant holding conditions, access to the news, the data on my research, and a promise of no prosecution on other charges. Indefinite holding--I don't care.
RAINFALL: That seems oftly modest.
BYRON: I'm not done. I also want the after action reports from your investigation and full access to a research facility, with my data.
RAINFALL: Why in the hell would I do that?
BYRON: RAINFALL, must we really go over this again? You'll do it because you need the information I have, and because my research, far from a threat, is necessary.
RAINFALL: I don't like being dictated to, BYRON. What do you mean by "necessary"?
BYRON: Ah-ah-ah, RAINFALL. You don't to get to know that until you agree.
RAINFALL: Fine. You have a deal, BYRON. Now explain why you want that research facility.
BYRON: The Flood hasn't gone anywhere, RAINFALL. It's still out there. There will be other outbreaks. Research...research is key.
RAINFALL: That's all? Continuing your research? You seem like you would have bigger plans.
BYRON: Bigger plans? What is bigger than studying the greatest threat in history? The Flood destroyed the greatest empire this galaxy has ever seen, and damn near conquered all life. All this time you've spent prosecuting my operation, all the interviews you've done, and you still don't get it, do you? We--I--are trying to prevent the apocalypse. Find ways to stop the Flood. Contain. Quarantine. Cure.
RAINFALL: Cure?
BYRON: Now whose uninformed? Yes, it can be done. It's been done in the past.
RAINFALL: But the Forerunners--
BYRON: Not the Forerunners! Us! Humanity. We stopped them.
RAINFALL: What are you talking about?
BYRON: Surely you’re not that uniformed, RAINFALL? Obviously you haven't seen my group's research, but you must have at least seen the research ONI has done. The logs from SPARTAN-117 on Halo, the Ark. Translated symbols off Forerunner ruins. The AI fragments recovered by the Prowler corps. Hundreds of thousands of year ago, humanity left the cradle. We had an empire. We beat the Flood, created a cure. Then the Forerunners destroyed us.
RAINFALL: You'll never be able to recreate that cure.
BYRON: I wouldn't be so sure. But I guess you don't know how to operate. You’re just like your mentor, RAINFALL. To set in your ideals to realize the truth.
RAINFALL: I think I've heard enough. Tell me about BLUE NIGHTS.
BYRON: Suit yourself. I was brought in later than some of the others, when they needed a bio technician for studies on the Flood. They had started uncovering what you might call actionable intel. Starting moving beyond theory towards...direct action.
RAINFALL: Were you abducted? Like WHITMAN?
BYRON: Not like him, no. He took convincing. I simply required creative extraction to erase my old identity.
RAINFALL: Who were you contacted by?
BYRON: APPARTION. He was one of the project originals. The entire thing started with him.
RAINFALL: What do you mean?
BYRON: He was working on TEMERITY and translated a Forerunner glyph meaning--
RAINFALL: --TEMERITY was compromised?
BYRON: Of course. I just told you, it started there.
RAINFALL: Never mind how it started. What other groups did Echo 9 penetrate?
BYRON: It'd be quicker to tell you the ones it didn't.
RAINFALL: Your exaggerating.
BYRON: Why would I be? I already have my lab. Lying serves no purpose. Yes, TEMERITY was breached. So was HYPODERMIC, TROJAN, VAJRA-II, VOLSUNG, GUNGINIR, REVELATION, and a host of others. And those are simply the more interesting ones. If it was low level, we could breach it in a heartbeat. We infiltrated who we wanted, when we wanted.
RAINFALL: Some of those are other illegal projects. How the hell did you manage all that?
BYRON: I was a researcher, RAINFALL. The day to day wasn't my domain. Most of the hard work took place long before I joined, anyway. The network was well established by the time I was recruited. But in my experience, it's amazing how much you can do with a little motivation and a lack of oversight.
RAINFALL: And a lack of ethics, I would venture. This 'motivation' came from your leadership? HAYSTACK?
BYRON: Mostly, yes. But everyone was committed to secrecy.
RAINFALL: Except you.
BYRON: Like I said before, circumstances now require a different course of action.
RAINFALL: Let's go back. How much do you know about the way the operation started?
BYRON: Like I said, with TEMERITY. They translated some of the ruins on Onyx, found symbols indicating an "enemy". Early indications of the Flood.
RAINFALL: I've been told those ruins were indecipherable. Tandem AI's haven't even been able to come up with translations.
BYRON: Ah, yes, one of our more brilliant moments...why do you think that was?
RAINFALL: You sabotaged the translations.
BYRON: Me? Of course not. But HAYSTACK ordered APPARATION too. Didn't you find it questionable that Halsey was able to translate the ruins on Onyx so quickly, when TEMERITY was never able to in five decades of study? All she needed was an independent AI, a little bit of background data, and poof! Instant comprehension.
RAINFALL: Information in those ruins could have shot technology forward a thousand years. Could have saved millions from the Covenant.
BYRON: That wasn't my decision. But as a third party, stop and think. That kind of revelation, then, could have been disastrous. Humanity wasn't ready for that kind of power. It would have been cavemen playing with fire. We would have burned ourselves. And then what kind of shape would we have been in when the Covenant arrived? And can you imagine the panic that could have erupted over the Flood? The Carver Report findings did enough damage. And Insurrectionists don't consume entire galaxies.
RAINFALL: For someone "innocent" of that tampering, you’re oftly well versed at rationalizing them.
BYRON: I spent years with HAYSTACK. That was his logic. And he was right.
RAINFALL: It still wasn't his choice to make.
BYRON: Well, then I'm dearly sorry he's dead. You have to prosecute someone else instead.
RAINFALL: Don't patronize me.
BYRON: Oh, I do apologize. How rude of me.
RAINFALL: So they translated the glyphs, and then what?
BYRON: HAYSTACK was...stingy about details. But they built a network, scouted outlying systems, and researched the Forerunners. When the Covenant attacked and HAYSTACK noticed their proclivity towards Forerunner relics, he had HYPODERMIC infiltrated. They recovered religious texts discussing the Flood.
RAINFALL: When did you get involved?
BYRON: Not until a few years later. From what HAYSTACK told me, they started narrowing down their search after they translated those texts. Looking for live samples.
RAINFALL: Did they find them?
BYRON: HAYSTACK always avoided saying directly. But I believe they did encounter them in 2542. I was brought in a year later.
RAINFALL: Did you begin researching immediately?
BYRON: Effectively. At first it was just dead tissue samples and video recordings--from the '42 incident, most likely. Within a few years, I was getting more footage and data--still no live samples, though.
RAINFALL: You got them eventually, though.
BYRON: Yes. In 2551.
RAINFALL: The year All Under Heaven returned.
BYRON: Exactly. The crew obviously didn't bring back specimens, but they had plenty of data from medical records and video recordings--
RAINFALL: You said live specimens.
BYRON: I'm getting there, RAINFALL. When they returned, they brought the coordinates of the Flood infested station back with them.
RAINFALL: You went back? How did you manage to retrieve samples? WHITMAN said they destroyed the station by overloading a Covenant ship’s plasma reactor.
BYRON: You'd be amazed at how durable the Flood can be, RAINFALL. That was just the beginning, though. I assume you've done research into the Forerunners.
RAINFALL: I know enough.
BYRON: Well, then you should hardly be surprised to know that the discovery of one Forerunner artifact often leads to another. Technically, of course, that station wasn’t really Forerunner, but it was from the same time period. I believe it was a co-opted, emergency research outpost. There was Forerunner tech there, in spades. I don't know all the details, but pretty soon we were receiving frequent samples of biomass.
RAINFALL: For how long?
BYRON: Up until you caught me. We've been researching as much as we can for the last eight years. When the war ended, there was some confusion as for what to do next, seeing as ONI had finally stumbled onto the threat for themselves. So we focused on heavily on preventative research.
RAINFALL: Did you discover anything?
BYRON: A little. We found traces of a virus in the Flood DNA--it's been rendered harmless for thousands of years, but it might have been a cure of sorts, at one point. But we produced little in the way of our own direct cure. The technology and information to study it properly simply doesn't exist yet.
RAINFALL: Did you get around it?
BYRON: We focused on more blunt methods instead. Built contingencies for outbreaks. Plans to quickly sterilize systems. We infiltrated and co-opted some other programs, SUPERNOVA and REVELATION--
RAINFALL: --Those are very extreme ways of dealing with an outbreak.
BYRON: Oh, that’s rich coming from you lot, after the way you dealt with ACCRETION. Fighting the Flood isn't like fighting a conventional battle. It requires a policy of total scorched earth. Mass resource depravation.
RAINFALL: I understand SUPERNOVA. Bomb affected systems to contain a serious outbreak. But REVELATION?
BYRON: The Forerunner's had the right idea with the Halos, but too late. Don't kill the Flood. Kill their food. The bioweapons from REVELATION showed promise in that regard.
RAINFALL: Meaning...?
BYRON: Meaning it killed faster than the Flood could spread, and was able to render most of the biomass too decayed to be of any combat use.
RAINFALL: Interesting. I'm sure there will be ONI scientists who will want to see those plans. As for me...
BYRON: You want something concrete.
RAINFALL: We have a deal, don't we?
BYRON: Of course. I still have ambition unrelated to the simple will to live.
RAINFALL: Why are you stalling, then?
BYRON: Because, dear girl, it's just oh so much fun to watch those gears turn inside your head.
RAINFALL: BYRON...
BYRON: Don't get your panties in a knot, RAINFALL. I've got your "concrete" details. Epsilon Perseii Eight and Biko. You'll likely want to treat both of them with the utmost caution.
RAINFALL: What do a glassed colony and an outer system have to do with this?
BYRON: I do hope that question is rhetorical. It'd be shameful to have been captured by someone too stupid to figure things out.
RAINFALL: I've done enough of figuring things out. Tell me.
BYRON: Epsilon Perseii Eight is an uninhabited, dead system. It also happens to have a moon with a very interesting interior designer. A very old one. That would be where our biomass samples were acquired. As for Biko...well, sparsely populated former colony worlds are ideal hideouts for BLUE NIGHTS leadership.
RAINFALL: A headquarters? That seems too easy. Why would they all be gathered there?
BYRON: They won't, not all of them. But the big players will. CHERUBIM will issue a recall when he hears you've caught me. He knows you’re on his trail. He'll think you'll go after the usual spots--he won't expect you to attack the safe house. He trusts me. He won't expect me to give the location.
RAINFALL: You seem oftly sure of that.
BYRON: It pays to be known as the advocate of greater security in your chosen organization.
RAINFALL: I think we're done here, then. I'm sure the scientists will want to debrief you.
BYRON: I'll look forward to destroying some ignorance, then.
RAINFALL: We'll be in touch. If there are things about this intel you haven't told me, if it's a trap--you'll be hearing about it. We may have a deal, but it's only valid as long as you don't break it.
BYRON: I'd expect nothing less, RAINFALL. Have fun. Oh, and one more thing.
RAINFALL: What?
BYRON: Watch out for your soldiers. The people CHERUBIM has--they're quite formidable. Half of them believe strongly enough in this cause to defend it, even if it means killing marines or your Spartans.
RAINFALL: And the other half?
BYRON: Those ones don't believe in anything. They get orders, and they don't question them. Those ones are the most dangerous of all. They require no rationalizations or explanations from their superiors and are all the more deadly for it.
RAINFALL: Oh don't worry, I've heard all about EGOR. The Spartans from the first class still remember plenty about Leonid-144.
- CAIN: Did you find anything, SHOGUN?
SHOGUN: No. Did you expect me to?
CAIN: I expected to find myself back in this room facing another barrage of questions.
SHOGUN: Which you have been reluctant to answer. Remind me why I shouldn’t just toss you out the airlock?
CAIN: Oh, so we’re on a ship now, are we? That’s news to me.
SHOGUN: We found nothing. It was a dead end.
CAIN: And that’s why I remain in an atmospheric environment.
SHOGUN: Then tell me, what was JAVELIN?
CAIN: Before I do, I want to clear some things up from my last interrogation. I can’t tell you everything, because for once I don’t know everything. What I do tell you will be relevant to your investigation. And that is all.
SHOGUN: You don’t usually give your speeches a disclaimer. What’s with the sudden cooperation?
CAIN: Lets just say I’m working against the clock.
SHOGUN: Then explain to me what you know about JAVELIN.
CAIN: Supersoldier program. Not very imaginative, when you come to think of it – using recruits that were passed over by SPARTAN-II, flash-cloning others, identifying and abducting more.
SHOGUN: Flash-cloning?
CAIN: The technology is more refined than most believe. It still isn’t perfect, but the results are more than adequate. Especially with the genetic templates they used.
SHOGUN: We already have MODI, MAGNI and THRUDVANG going, and there were other cloning projects going on?
CAIN: It really wasn’t that hard, SHOGUN. Don’t feel bad. You weren’t in charge of oversight, afterall.
SHOGUN: No, that was your job.
CAIN: What can I say? I love my species, and I love Earth, and I didn’t want to see either of them reduced to glowing radioactive ash.
SHOGUN: So you lose your humanity to save it?
CAIN: Don’t be so dramatic. Have you ever met a Spartan? They’re happy with their lives.
SHOGUN: They’re not happy. If they had to choose, knowing what they do now, they would have chosen to go through with it. But they’re not happy about it.
CAIN: They didn’t have a choice, though – not the II’s, at any rate. We had to make that choice for them, and it was the right choice – not the good choice, the right choice.
SHOGUN: You sold all our souls to the devil with a contract of blood.
CAIN: And here I pegged you as an atheist!
SHOGUN: I am. What happened to the JAVELINs?
CAIN: Deployment. Generation one in 2525 with twenty nine, generation two in 2532 with sixty six. Only two generations before it was shut down, but it produced some excellent warfighters – I’ve met a few of them. Professional, skilled, and dedicated to the UNSC.
SHOGUN: Brainwashed.
CAIN: You’d be surprised. LE STRADE did his job well, better than MORIARTY wanted. By the end, they were all volunteers who knew exactly what they were and why.
SHOGUN: Is it any wonder that so many went rogue?
CAIN: What depends on your definition of “rogue”. If you mean they turned on MORIARTY, I saw it coming before the program even started. If you mean they became disloyal to the UNSC, then think again.
SHOGUN: Really? So the fact that most of the survivors have disappeared doesn’t mean anything?
CAIN: It just means they’re not active anymore.
SHOGUN: Dead?
CAIN: Perhaps. Or in cryo storage. Or captured. Or deep behind enemy lines. The Brutes are still out there, you know.
SHOGUN: I shot a boarder through the head with a pistol the other day.
CAIN: Really? I thought I heard sirens. We seem to be extremely mobile, and close to the front lines, for a Section Zero ship.
SHOGUN: We were attacked – retribution for Operation: TACK HAMMER.
CAIN: I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with it.
SHOGUN: Trust me, you’ll be hearing about it a lot in the next few years. But that’s irrelevant. Believe me when I say that you would have been long dead before they ever reached you.
CAIN: A courtesy that I hope someday to return.
SHOGUN: I’m sure.
CAIN: Returning to the subject of the JAVELINs, they were at least well equipped. At first, it was just KATANA and HAYABUSA gear. Castoffs that the Spartans looked over. And then SPI. By the end, though, they were using MJOLNIR variants.
SHOGUN: Any specific types? GUNGNIR? VAJRA-II?
CAIN: Not sure. Sorry. I know that they cooperated with other projects, with or without their permission I might add, but no standard was set.
SHOGUN: I see. Do ELERI, VERONA and MARISKA seem familiar?
CAIN: They might, though for different reasons.
SHOGUN: Did they cooperate with JAVELIN?
CAIN: Cooperate? Perhaps. Their assets ended up in JAVELIN’s hands regardless, though. As did assets from other projects.
SHOGUN: Like DHARMA?
CAIN: DHARMA was used for a lot of projects. Odd, when you consider that perhaps the greatest breakthrough in gene therapy experimentation was developed by civilians to reduce genetic predispositions to disease – especially when you think that it fell into the hands of ACCRETION and REVELATION.
SHOGUN: Bio warfare projects. Anything like VENATOR?
CAIN: Hardly.
SHOGUN: And what happened to JAVELIN?
CAIN: The project was cancelled.
SHOGUN: Why?
CAIN: Expense. Compare the effort in kidnapping the SPARTAN-II Programs leftovers, cloning others, and then using the same augmentations the original used, not to mention training and conditioning them. Now take a look at SPARTAN-III, which used gifted volunteers, looser genetic restriction parameters, cheaper armour and more effective training. I don’t know how a JAVELIN would stack up against an S-III, but my bet would be on the Spartan, even without the MJOLNIR.
SHOGUN: So it was a question of cost effectiveness?
CAIN: The JAVELINS simply proved too difficult to acquire, train and equip. A lot of them died during the war – many were simply wasted. Others pulled through, though – I don’t have any idea how many, but given how narrow a margin we had for our survival I’m guessing not a lot.
SHOGUN: Gamma Company is still blacked out.
CAIN: I can’t offer anything on that. I kept well out of Ackerson’s affairs – for my own safety.
SHOGUN: You seem to be one of the few people who didn’t cross him.
CAIN: I enjoy life. I didn’t want to waste it in futile gestures.
SHOGUN: And yet S-III was breached. Numerous times.
CAIN: But always from within.
SHOGUN: Then it was deliberate? Intentional?
CAIN: Or perhaps Ackerson had a hand in it himself. Or perhaps he didn’t care, or he didn’t think it would affect him. The man may be dead, but he still left a lot of loose ends to tie up.
SHOGUN: Was he involved in JAVELIN?
CAIN: I doubt it. He despised the project leader, and the feeling was mutual.
SHOGUN: Understandable. Continue.
CAIN: You don’t want to know who the project leader was?
SHOGUN: Oh, I have a fairly good idea. Sooner or later, everything seems to come back to DRACULA.
CAIN: Very well then. The actual training didn’t differ too much from the original S-II, though it wasn’t quite as thorough as S-III. Many of the candidates were trained from “birth” – no need for indoctrination, when you raise the child as a soldier. But LE STRADE did a decent job – he let them know the risks, let them know the costs and the benefits, what little there were of those. And he told them all who was responsible, and why. He gave them a choice – wash out, or continue with the program. Only one chose to wash out.
SHOGUN: Who?
CAIN: I don’t know. Though I hear they did very well in other projects.
SHOGUN: The rest chose to continue?
CAIN: Not with the program. This was their graduation. They chose to fight for the UNSC – despite all MORIARTY’s demands that he simply brainwash them into compliance, LE STRADE knew it would just produce zombies, useless in combat. So he gave them all the information – he hid very little. The atrocities of the Insurrection, on both sides. The horrors the Covenant have inflicted upon us. The desperate situation of humanity. They knew exactly what was on the line, and accepted the burden.
SHOGUN: It wasn’t much of a choice.
CAIN: But they made it. Is there anything more noble?
SHOGUN: Some things come to mind, mostly including the Hague. Where was JAVELIN based?
CAIN: Mostly on Coral.
SHOGUN: Mostly?
CAIN: They had training and research sites elsewhere. I believe they had full-body flash-clone facilities on Reach – no doubt long abandoned when the Covenant glassed it.
SHOGUN: And then there was the Querencia incident.
CAIN: A nasty business. I thought we might come to it eventually.
SHOGUN: I know some of what happened. For all ONI’s propaganda, it wasn’t an Insurrectionist nuclear explosion, was it?
CAIN: No. There were…problems. Renegades. Internal dissidents. The upper echelons thought it best to sweep the entire affair under the rug, metaphorically. And then there was the outbreak from the VENATOR labs based there.
SHOGUN: Nuke it from orbit?
CAIN: It’s the only way to be sure.
SHOGUN: VENATOR and JAVELIN on the same planet?
CAIN: I assure you, it really was coincidence.
SHOGUN: I don’t believe you. DRACULA ran both projects, and the fact that they had bases on the same colony is a coincidence? The fact that VENATOR research has found its way into stuff from REVELATION, ACCRETION, and probably GREY?
CAIN: First of all, you are labouring under a misapprehension. DRACULA has had very little to do with VENATOR.
SHOGUN: He sent one of them to cover his tracks. The WOTAN incident.
CAIN: Somebody sent it. But it wasn’t DRACULA. Even he isn’t mad enough to let one of those things loose in a civilian population.
SHOGUN: And the Raptors Nest facility?
CAIN: I’m sure DRACULA is punching the walls that your teams have got to it before he could get anything from it. No doubt OXFORD would have been a valuable asset. You really mustintroduce us, when he gets back.
SHOGUN: So DRACULA has been after the VENATOR material as well?
CAIN: Yes. For his own ends. VENATOR is an attempt to weaponise Linguafoeda acheronsis as a species, and it has failed dismally. But there are other uses to which they can be put – chief of which would be GREY, DRACULA’s crowning achievement. Whatever it is.
SHOGUN: Alright then.
CAIN: And so we come to the only real reason you came her today.
SHOGUN: Really?
CAIN: You know all the things that I’ve told you.
SHOGUN: Yes.
CAIN: I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a few JAVELINs working for you.
SHOGUN: I don’t at the moment, but I have field agents working on that.
CAIN: Then the only real information you need from me is exactly where BLIGHTBLOOD fits into all of this.
SHOGUN: I have some idea, but I need confirmation for much of it.
CAIN: He was... well, he was a hard man to describe. Certainly very professional, and skilled. His files said he was ex-ORION. Almost certainly faked. No ORION could do the things he could do. And he was too old, as well. Officially, he was a drill instructor for Sienna Team – to be honest, I don’t know how involved he was in their education, but if they learnt anything good it wasn’t from him. They aren’t nearly as vicious.
SHOGUN: If he wasn’t an ORION, then what was he?
CAIN: I couldn’t say, except that he might have been from the CMA’s Phase One.
SHOGUN: The aborted first attempt?
CAIN: Ostensibly, from what I hear, it was a failure. Performance wasn’t what was expected or demanded, and only five were subjected to the procedures. Phase Two was the more successful UNSC ORION stage, and even that had problems.
SHOGUN: Then BLIGHTBLOOD was one of the five?
CAIN: I don’t know. Regardless, he performed well above even the Phase Two ORIONs. Almost like a proper Spartan. And he was much more bloodthirsty – how he got his codename. He made quite a name for himself during the Insurrection, though none of it went into his file.
SHOGUN: And you know this because…
CAIN: I met him, once or twice. We hit it off.
SHOGUN: Birds of a feather.
CAIN: SHOGUN. I’m insulted. I’m nowhere near as nice.
SHOGUN: So, he was an early supersoldier, employed to train JAVELIN personnel. Involved on the Querencia incident. And then DRACULA sent him and VECTOR after me at ACCRETION.
CAIN: Indeed.
SHOGUN: Is there anything else I need to know before I close his case?
CAIN: Close it? But you’ve only just begun.
SHOGUN: He’s dead now. Hardly a priority.
CAIN: Dead? Oh, I very much doubt that…
- The Hunter’s Arrow arrived yesterday. Looked pretty battered, and I saw some of the crew before debriefing. They didn’t look too happy either. They were…unforthcoming. ORACLE has scheduled a meeting with SHOGUN, and ordered all personnel involved with VENATOR confined to quarters, not to talk to anyone, until she gets back – I can only assume it’s important.
SHOGUN is still denying me access to the reported accounts. I have a few open, up until [redacted], but the rest are still classified as he and OZYMANDIAS pour over what they have and what I need to know.
What could they have seen there worse than Linguafoeda acheronsis? What exactly do they think is so important they can’t even tell me yet?
- HEPHAESTUS
- TARASCAN: What's going on, TOLTEC?
TOLTEC: Got some dirt on DRACULA, sir.
TARASCAN: You mean, more than we already have?
TOLTEC: Aye. One of our agents monitoring salvage ops on Mars stumbled across a half-burned storage chip. It was pretty damaged, but some of the contents could be saved.
TARASCAN: And what kind of "contents" are we talking about here?
TOLTEC: Resource allocations. Biological augmentation lists and research. Training techniques. All of it linked to a single program: JAVELIN.
TARASCAN: JAVELIN...wasn't that a November Black project running parallel with SPARTAN-II?
TOLTEC: Not only that, but it was also a supersoldier development program. Two projects running at the same time; it's assumed that HIGHCOM wanted to test different methods of putting down the Insurrection. Perhaps they wanted to see which was most effective.
TARASCAN: Which was more effective?
TOLTEC: The Spartans, obviously. The Javelins were close, but never quite catched up. That's despite the extra augmentations-
TARASCAN: Extra augmentations? I assume that's the interesting bit of intel, right?
TOLTEC: Aye.
TARASCAN: Tell me.
TOLTEC: Well, in addition to all the ones Halsey used - the carbide ceramic ossification, muscular enhancement injectors, occipital-
TARASCAN: I get the picture.
TOLTEC: Well, DRACULA added five more procedures to the mix. Three of them banned by the medic corps in 2513, the other two deemed too risky for usage on human beings. Among the aforementioned three was 009762-OO, a neural-altering non-carcinogenic mutagen.
TARASCAN: I remember that...it was authorized by Kurt Ambrose for Gamma Company. I assume the other two outlawed drugs are the same as the two counter-agents Gamma had to take?
TOLTEC: Exactly.
TARASCAN: And the two "too risky for usage on human beings" drugs?
TOLTEC: Adrenal thermal metabolase and neuron surface viral microphages.
TARASCAN: Impossible. The adrenal turns into toxic waste inside the body; any soldier injected with it would die within a month. And the microphages? Tampering with neural pathways is usually not a good thing.
TOLTEC: Apparently, he managed to counter the toxic waste effect with a coenzyme inhibitor. And the microphages worked out in most cases, so the projected risks may have been overestimated.
TARASCAN: But how did he gain the knowledge to create a working coenzyme inhibitor? As far as I'm concerned, Halsey was unable to do it, and there was no other research going on at the time. And would he really risk using such a potentially devastating procedure as the viral microphages on his precious supersoldiers?
TOLTEC: Well...that's the dirtiest part of the information. DRACULA was conducting top secret research into all known biological augmentation procedures known to man before and alongside JAVELIN. And unlike Halsey and other scientists, he didn't stop at conducting his experiments on chimpanzees.
TARASCAN: You mean...
TOLTEC: Yeah, he used other humans as test hubs. He ran his own private CHISEL project, if you will.
TARASCAN: Christ...what subjects did he use?
TOLTEC: Rebel prisoners, outspoken innie sympathizers or criminals, mostly. I guess he decided to use people the UNSC could do better without.
TARASCAN: That son of a bitch! No one deserves to be injected with god knows what kind of stuff that could be labeled "augmentation drug". *sigh* Well, I'm happy to be on SHOGUN's side against that bastard.
TOLTEC: Yeah, me too...but there's no denying that what DRACULA did produced a lot of results. He discovered countermeasures to augmentative side effects that would be invaluable for decades to come. And seeing some of his notes...he's brilliant. A nightmare come true, but still a genius.
TARASCAN: I hate to admit it, but you're right. Unfortunately, it makes him much more dangerous, doesn't it?
TOLTEC: Agreed.
TARASCAN: Now, take that to SHOGUN. It won't change his opinion on D, but he'll want to know all the same.
TOLTEC: Aye aye, I'm on it.
- DRACULA: Well, it seems SHOGUN's decided to poke his nose in a tad too many corners.
MEDICI: He's doing what he thinks is right.
DRACULA: Don't tell me you're getting a conscience problem now, MEDICI. You're in this too deep by now. SHOGUN won't hesitate a second to jail you, now that ISTARI decided to become a songbird.
MEDICI: Speak for yourself; you're not even listed as a suspect yet. I, on the other hand, must've set off alarms in SHOGUN's mind when he learned I stonewalled Lieutenant Karlsson.
DRACULA: That's a minor setback, nothing more. You'll just have to remain under the radar for a while.
MEDICI: Gee, can't wait.
DRACULA: You know as well as I do that what we did was necessary, even if SHOGUN can't get it down his naïve, ideological bullcrap throat. Should've expected as much from a pawn of OZYMANDIAS. Hypocrites.
MEDICI: "Hypocrites", sir?
DRACULA: Men like them are all the same; when they do something, it's all nice and dandy, no matter how many November Black classifications they have to use. But the moment someone else does the same for the same reasons and for the same cause, it's a capital offense.
MEDICI: You mean, they've been doing these things too?
DRACULA: There's no proof, but call it a qualified guess. I assume this whole operation is just a way for OZYMANDIAS to burn a forest he helped to plant to avoid accussations of using stolen seeds.
MEDICI: Didn't know you were a botanic, sir.
DRACULA: Sierras learn a lot of things.
MEDICI: Wait, what?
DRACULA: Nothing, MEDICI. Nothing at all. Now get going. I'll file you the hiding place I've arranged for you in an hour. In the meantime, send in BLIGHTBLOOD.
MEDICI: Yes...sir.
[2 (1/2) minutes later]
BLIGHTBLOOD: You called for me?
DRACULA: Indeed I did. There's something I'd like you to do for me.
BLIGHTBLOOD: I'm listening.
DRACULA: I need you to deal with SHOGUN - one way or another. Make use of VECTOR, she's an expert. But be swift, silent and careful. He has a few Sierra lackeys with him now, so there won't be any second chances in the case of a miss.
BLIGHTBLOOD: Consider it done.
DRACULA: Don't underestimate him, or anyone working with him. I'd rather not you end up in interrogation. Not her either, for that matter.
BLIGHTBLOOD: You sound like I haven't done this before.
DRACULA: And you make the impression of underestimating Sierras; a fatal mistake one only does twice in their lives. Trust me, I know.
BLIGHTBLOOD: Allright, I get it. I'll be careful. But I'll definitely pull it off. Have I ever failed you before?
DRACULA: No, and that's what concerns me.
- UNITED
NATIONS SPACE COMMAND PRIORITY TRANSMISSION 8346-5622/ALJ
ENCRYPTION<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Red Phantom
FROM:
Codename: TAIKUN
TO:
Codename: PRIVATEER
SENT:
19.01.26 / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach, New Alexandria Spaceport
RECEIVED<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: 23.02.26 / Sol System, Mars, New Legaspi
SUBJECT:
INDIGO
CLASSIFIED<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: TOP SECRET / NOVEMBER BLACK
// START FILE //
We’ve
been lucky, you know. Damned lucky. Are you willing to see just how long our
luck holds out?
When you
told me you wanted Spartans, I almost laughed in your face. I told you it
couldn’t be done, and that if I tried I’d get thrown into the brig by the
Security Committee itself – if I was lucky! You told me to find a way.
I think
I’ve found it.
I have a
dozen candidates in mind – such a shame the ONI bureaucrats couldn’t stretch
their purse strings a little more and take the full 150. Even a fraction of that
will still be enough – more than enough in fact – to bring the Insurrection
collapsing in upon itself. These warfighters will be the best trained, best equipped fighting force anyone has ever
seen – I’m told Halsey is adapting her MJOLNIR for Spartan use. Who else is she
going to find to wear the damn things? The whole thing was a money wasting
boondoggle, worse than TEMERITY, but it’s nice to see we can still put it to
use.
As I
said, I have some targets in mind. Some will no doubt elude me, either through
circumstance or refusal. Others…may not have a choice. The augmentations took
their toll, and half of the 75 lie dead, dying, or mangled and deformed. There
are a few among them who would be ideal for recruitment – 125 especially is more
than capable, even if she can’t talk. Halsey is being an idiot wasting such
talent on a desk job. Is there an ulterior motive behind that? I can’t tell yet
– she’s a civilian, so I expect her to be devious if she’s survived among ONI
spooks this long. There are even a few of the “dead” who we managed to save –
Black Team will be up and running, no worse the wear after the supplemental
prosthetics and surgery, Grey Team are already on deployment, and 068 revived
with no apparent side-effects whatsoever besides confusion and alarm.
But there
are still not enough recruits among the “failures” for what you’ve asked me to
accomplish. So I’m putting my neck on the line, and approaching the successes.
I’ve been
warned off of 051 by someone else from ONI – they evidently have plans of their
own for him. Ackerson perhas? I’ve been hearing rumblings on the horizon
concerning him – nothing concrete yet, but I have my suspicions, and they work
to our advantage. He always was a jealous bastard. Most of the rest have their
loyalties to Halsey hard-wired – we never had a shot with 117 or the rest of his
private clique, but 052 and 306 show some potential – 052 is personable and
intimidating at the same time, but he has a big mouth, and his sympathies for
colonial independence are pretty open. The man actually hates Innies with a
passion, but I doubt you’d want a team leader whose loyalties are under
scrutiny. So we turn to 306.
Anyone
can make a two-dimensional map in their head. We do it all the time – walking
along familiar routes, forging new ones, etc. Some can build that up to a
three-dimensional, but even that isn’t as rare as we like to think. But it takes
quite a mind to make the leap from three to four dimensions – the fourth being
people – and those minds are the ones naturally suited to being leaders.
306 is one of them, no matter how hard he tries not to show it. He can think in
so many dimensions it would make our head spin – maybe it makes his? He has
charisma, intuition that borders on the supernatural, and a deep-rooted sense of
right and wrong, something I’ve always been able to exploit to your advantage. I
approached him yesterday, and for once I went wielding nothing. He appreciated
that, until I told him about 125 and 068 – and then he threw me out of his room,
told me he needed to think. Thank god I prepared the entire operation for
disassembly – you already have the other recruits, and I left no trace to follow
to me. If he wanted to, he could bring the rest of my operation down – but what
I’ve already done will stay done.
Thankfully he didn’t. He came to me today. He agreed. He wants in.
I don’t
know what did it – knowing his teammates were still alive, still able and
willing to fight, or finding out what Halsey tried to do to Laura. The successes
don’t know much about the failures, probably an intentional precaution by Halsey
to stop just this sort of thing. Whatever happened, it made my work a lot
easier. He’s joining the other recruits on the Parenthesis now. It took a
lot to get him transferred, especially with Halsey glaring at everybody like a
vulture waiting for something to die, but I think she bought it – she knows
about the Volsungs, and knows they’ll need trainers. And they’ll have them –
just not for long.
My next
task is to equip these Spartans. Halsey’s supersoldiers will have the benefit of
hundreds of technicians, constant updates to their armour systems as
improvements and innovations come online, access to the entire UNSC arsenal. We
can’t hope to match her in terms of scale, but we can make sure our own
operatives are at least equipped so that they can look and act and feel
like Spartans – I’m working on a contact in MJOLNIR, former VAJRA – if I’m very
lucky, I can get access to armour that is actually superior to Halsey’s
teams. The rest of the arsenal can probably be “requisitioned” from elsewhere –
the black market has always proven untraceable, and I hear you can get huge
bargains if you walk in with half a tonne of powered armour and demand the
merchandise. I may be a thief, but I keep what I steal. The Insurrection is
going to be supplying its own worst enemy – how fitting.
The
Prowler is nearly ready, and the cryotubes are loaded aboard it – I’ve made the
storage bay a virtual faraday cage. I’m still paranoid about Halsey hunting me
down, but that was why you hired me – I’m afraid of everything and that
means I plan for everything. I’ve planned for every contingency on this
one. I’ve made some gambles, but they were educated guesses and reasonable
risks. I’ve performed actions that Parangosky would quite happily line me up
against the wall for, and I don’t mean for a mug shot. And I’ve finally got
almost a dozen Spartans out from under Halsey’s boots. Maybe now they can
finally get down to business?
// END FILE //
- The office is empty, except for the man
hunched over his laptop. The offices to either side of his are packed to full
capacity, shelves filled with bound hard copy files, boxes filled with paper and
materiel, and trays stacked with inbound and outbound documents. But this office
is clean, almost sterile in the meticulous way the occupant keeps it.
It’s almost unnerving – this man can
cover his entire portfolio with only a laptop.
The woman sits before him, a little
agitated as she suppresses her impatience. Legs crossed, hands folded into her
lap, trying not to make eye contact with the man but looking around the office.
Perhaps this is why he keeps it this way? There is nothing for her to see,
nothing to report to those he wants to keep in the dark, nothing that provides
leverage. And perhaps he wants to keep those who wait on him this way – if so,
then it is an impressive psychological attack.
Regardless, the man is nearly finished.
He leans back, looking over what he has written, makes a few corrections, and
then closes the file. He folds the top of the laptop down, looks up at the young
woman, and smiles.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting for so
long, Miss Forrester.”
She frowned a little. “Lieutenant. Its
Lieutenant Forrester.”
The man shook his head a little
apologetically. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant Forrester. I keep forgetting that rank is
everything to some people. I myself have no military rank.” Unsaid was the fact
that he held a non-military equivalent of a Brigadier General. “I wanted to
follow up on some things we didn’t have the opportunity to discuss yesterday.”
Lieutenant Forrester tried to keep the
concern off her face, out of her eyes especially. “Yes sir? What exactly did you
need to ask me about?”
“Your career in the Military
Intelligence Division has been exemplary, and your superiors and commanding
officers have nothing but good things to say about you. And yet you have
requested a transfer to the Office of Naval Intelligence – and my
department in particular. Why is that?”
She had been prepared for this. “Because
I believe that my talents can be put to better use in Section Zero. I have
extensive experience with investigations, and have served as a special agent for
three years. Before that, two years as a propationary special agent, and before
that five years at Luna Officer Cadet School, specialising in-”
The man held up a hand. “I am well aware
of your service history, lieutenant. It has been very impressive – especially
the parts of it that I was not supposed to see. Your commanding officers and
superiors have had nothing but good things to say about you, and I have been
unable to find anyone willing to talk off the record about you – I am forced to
conclude that there is either nothing to find, or that they fear retribution –
either option is appealing to me at the moment. What I wanted to know is more
along the lines of satisfaction – was MID not good enough for an agent of your
particular skill setting?”
Forrester thought for a moment. “No,
sir. I simply saw no further opportunity for advancement.”
The man grinned. “Don’t dance around the
elephant in the room, lieutenant – everyone knows ONI takes up 90% of the whole
Military Intelligence Division’s total budget, and siphon off their personnel at
a whim. But we rarely get UNSC Army approaching us – I just want to know you’re
not aiming to prove something.”
She snorted. “I have nobody I want to
impress.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Motivation is
always a good thing.”
“I have all the motivation I need. Sir.”
He leaned back, staring at her for a
moment thoughtfully before he continued. “I understand you have a father in the
service – a highly decorated Marine Colonel.”
“506th ODST Force Recon
Battalion commanding officer.”
“I know who he is, lieutenant. I’ve met
the man twice, and recommended him for medals on at least three occasions. He’s
a good, honourable man devoted to the Corps. Can I assume he didn’t take his
daughter’s enlistment into the Army kindly?”
Her poker face genuinely impressed
him.“I wouldn’t know, sir. I haven’t spoken with my father for seven years.”
“I can’t guarantee that you won’t in the
future. This line of work often takes you places you don’t want to go. But that
is neither here nor there – can I ask why you enlisted in the Army in the first
place?”
“Because I wanted to serve, sir.”
“On your own terms?”
She looked a little surprised. “Yes
sir.”
He gave her a knowing smile. “You’re not
the only one, lieutenant. Rebellious children find outlet any way they can.”
“If you say so, sir.”
He glanced at his watch, almost
theatrically, and continued. “You mentioned that you have had experience in
internal investigations. Any ops with co-workers?”
“Two – GREED and ENVY.”
“That was you? I am impressed. Given the
timeframe, that would make them your last investigations?”
“Yes sir.”
“You were then suspended pending a
military courts martial over your conduct on the case, and the manner in which
you confronted the accused. You needn’t worry about that, by the way – I have it
on very good authority that you will be acquitted just before your transfer is
approved – if it is approved.”
Forrester’s eyes widened in shock for a
moment, but she regathered her composure. “Yes..er, thank you sir.”
“Don’t thank me, lieutenant. I’m just
the messenger. And you didn’t hear it from me, is that clear?”
“Perfectly, sir.”
The man cupped his stubble-covered thin
thoughtfully for a moment, looking at a point just above Forrester’s head. He
chuckled to himself for a moment.
“Sir?” she asked, apprehensively.
“Oh, don’t mind me lieutenant. You just
remind me of someone I knew a long time ago, who sat in that very chair. He was
young, worried, but full of verve – his youth and eagerness disappeared, but his
worry never went away. This is not an easy job, and it is not a kind job. There
will be things you will wish you didn’t have to know, things you will wish you
didn’t have to do. There will be people who look at you sideways, and your
exceptional poker face will get considerably more use. Your existence will be
classified November Black, everything you do will be classified November Black.
You will stay off the grid, and you will make no permanent or casual contacts
outside of work. Do you understand?”
She nodded, steeling herself. “Yes sir.”
“Even after knowing all that, you still
want in?”
“I want to put my skills to use, sir.”
He smiled wryly. “Good. If you accept
the position, you will report to this office tomorrow at 0800 Hours, and I will
have one of my assistants show you to your office and familiarise you with the
rest of the facility. You will be assigned a case, and you will give it your
full attention. You’ll get hazed a bit at first – nicknames, panties in your
locker, maybe a ritual involving a bucket and lemons that I assure you I have
never observed or experienced. But you will fit in perfectly here, lieutenant.
For the first six months, you will be known only as “rookie,” “proby,” “newby”
or “tyro.” After your trial period, I will assign you a codename, and henceforth
that will be the only name you will answer to. Don’t worry, I’ll make
sure its memorable but not too memorable. I may even ask for submissions from
you and the department.
“You will address me as “sir”, and refer
to me always as SHOGUN. That is my codename, and it is the only name and rank
you will ever be given. Every reference to me will be classified November Black
– as far as ONI is concerned, I don’t exist, this facility is not here, and you
have been deleted from the register of active personnel, MIA presumed KIA. Our
investigations will be conducted in the dark, and should never see the light of
day. What we root out would harm the UNSC if it ever got out, and we ensure that
it does not.
“We have perhaps the most important job
in ONI – cleaning up after the messes we have made. The war took a lot of effort
just to hold our own, and we became desperate – and in our desperation, we
turned to people who we should have locked up and thrown away the key. We did
things that let us survive, but at what cost? We opened Pandora’s Box -
VORAUSSICHT is going to put that lid back on.”
He looked at her directly, right into
her eyes. “That is, if you accept the position. Do you?”
“Yes sir.”
“Even after all that? Even after what
I’ve just told you? There’s no exaggeration there – if anything, the job will be
harder.”
“Yes sir.”
He leaned back again, smiling. “Good. If
you have no more questions, then you are free to leave. Report back here 0800
tomorrow, and we’ll start from there.”
- Charlie Oscar:
RAINFALL, this is Charlie Oscar. Fireteam Kilo is in position, preparing to
breach.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Fuck. Not yet. For the love of god, not yet.
Charlie Oscar: I
don’t think praying is going to help you.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Just keep your eyes open. Wait. Indigo will come
through – they have to.
Charlie Oscar:
Breach! Kilo have breached the apartment complex! Moving through – first floor
clear, moving up to the second.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Do we have sound?
Charlie Oscar: Not
yet, ma’am. It’s just muffled now. When they get closer, we’ll be able to hear
what they’re saying – hell, we’ll be able to hear their breathing.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Remind Indigo that the last thing we need is a
bloodbath. These guys are civilian cops, not Helljumpers – nonlethal force
should be enough.
Charlie Oscar: And
if they can’t?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: They can. They have to.
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Do you want me to go in?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I said nonlethal.
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I can do nonlethal.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sure, and I can do bonsai.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: RAINFALL, Indigo One. We’re on the roof. Is
extraction available?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Negative. They took us by surprise – DRACULA must
have tipped off a contact in the local PD, the bastard. Hold on, and use
nonlethal force.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Affirmative. Indigo out.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Jesus, come on SHOGUN!
Charlie Oscar: You
seem antsy today, dear.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: This is my first VORAUSSICHT op. I wanted it to go
well, not end up being surrounded by cops just doing their job!
Charlie Oscar: A
few deaths may be unavoidable. We’re clearing up ONI’s toxic waste – deaths
happen.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Not if they don’t have to.
Venom-231<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: RAINFALL, this is Venom-231, on approach and coming
in hot. ETA three minutes.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Copy that, VENOM. Is SHOGUN aboard? Can you patch him
through?
Venom-231<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: One moment ma’am…patching you through.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Janice? What the hell is going on down there! It
sounds like a damn battlefield!
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m sorry sir. We were mid-way through extracting the
asset when the black vans and SWAT teams pulled up. Charlie Oscar gave us enough
warning to get him to the roof, but they’re good. Not Spartan good, but not bad.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Any fatalities?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Not yet.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t care if a few cops have to die. Send some
flowers to their families afterwards. This is more important than individual
lives.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You still don’t want to tell me what you’re after?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Not on an unsecured COM channel, no. No offence,
warrant officer.
Venom-231<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: {muffled} None taken.
Charlie Oscar: I’ve
got the SWATCOM.
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Red Two, set your charges!
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Third floor clear! Secure the stairwell!
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Bastard just cut the elevators. There goes Charlie team.
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Small arms fire above us!
{sound
of gunfire – M37A ICWS}
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Is that us?
Charlie Oscar: I
can’t tell. Sound’s like an MA5, older model – could be second-hand military
surplus, I suppose.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Indigo did secure the asset, right?
Charlie Oscar: Of
course they did. They reported objective complete.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: So its not the cops, it’s not the asset…
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m going in.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Remember, nonlethal!
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Screw you lady.
{sound
of gunshots – M37A ICWS, BR55HB-SR, M6G PDWS, M7/C SMG}
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
New target, on our six!
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Fuck he’s fast!
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
She’s on me-goddammit!
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Red One, are you reading me? Blue Team, move out!
{sound
of gunfire – M90 CAWS}
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
More gunfire, fourth floor! Green Team, weapons free!
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That’s not all VECTOR is it?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: If she’s back up to full strength, then it wouldn’t
surprise me.
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Green Three is down!
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
What the hell is that thing?
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Open fire!
{unknown – hostile SWAT}:
Put the gun down! Put the-hurgk!!!
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Are you getting this?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Just audio, but yeah.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Helmet cam active.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Do it.
Charlie Oscar:
Roger that.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Who the hell is that? Is that a Sierra?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Could be a Leonidan?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Negative. I’d know.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What the hell is he doing here?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I asked him to come. You have a problem with that,
lieutenant?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No sir. Just surprised is all.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Jared, get down there. Find out who the hell DRACULA
sent after me this time.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sure thing. And my request?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Approved. Now get down there.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Venom-231: beginning to circle –RPG countermeasures
active.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Indigo, get the asset aboard. ORPHEUS can handle it
from here.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Affirmative, sir. Permission to engage the enemy?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Denied, Spartan. ORPHEUS works better alone.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I didn’t mean our attacker.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: …approved. Good luck and good hunting.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Thank you sir.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Boots on the ground, SHOGUN. Aren’t you going to wish
me good luck?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You don’t need luck, ORPHEUS. You need a boot to the
head. Get in there.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s all yours, buddy.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Don’t worry, I’ll handle the big bad boogyman.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’re luck we have better things to do, or we’d kick
your ass right here, right now.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Three on one? That’s hardly a fair fight!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: CHRIST ORPHEUS GET IN THERE NOW!
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We’re aboard, Venom. ORPHEUS is clear. Drop us off
two blocks south-east. We’ll handle it from there.
Venom-231<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sir?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Do it, Marine.
Venom-231<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Affirmative. Moving to new LZ.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Eyes on-Calypso? What are you-
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Move it you big lump of iron!
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I thought you said I worked better alone?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: VECTOR, fall back. I have a Leonidan in play, and I
have better things for you to do.
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Negative, sir. Bastard took my gun.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What?
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m very attached to my gun.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Jesus, VECTOR, we’ll get you a new one. Now get out
of there.
VECTOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sorry sir, you’re breaking up. {COM Channel
disenaged}
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Ballsy. I like that.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {VECTOR }: Don’t get any bright ideas.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I wouldn’t dream of it, missy.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We’re deploying, moving out.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sir, what do you want us to-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You and Charlie Oscar keep up the surveillance. If
something happens to ORPHEUS and VECTOR, I want a third pair of eyes ready.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes sir.
Charlie Oscar: Nice
to know hasn’t completely forgotten about us.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And cut the chatter, Private.
Charlie Oscar:
Sorry sir, didn’t know the COM was on.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Eyes-on! Jesus, the bastard’s fast!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Is it even a Spartan?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: If it’s a Two, it’s not one I knew.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Fuck.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s not even wearing armour – I’m not sure its
human. No tactical skill, no cunning – just speed and brute force. Maybe it took
the SWAT by surprise?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Just one of those things took down an entire SWAT
troop? Jesus.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {VECTOR }: I could have told you that.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Can you give me a description?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Jet black, about two meters tall…Jesus, it has a
tail!
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {VECTOR }: Definitely not human.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What’s the status on the SWAT team?
Charlie Oscar: I’ve
got no COM chatter. It just ended about two minutes ago.
{Sound
of gunfire – MA5C ICWS and BR55HB-SR}
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Engaging – got it! No, scratch that – missed. Barely.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {VECTOR } : Pinged it! Bullet just
deflected!
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: VECTOR isn’t having much luck either.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Got the bastard – fuck!
ORPHEUS <span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">{VECTOR }: Jesus Christ!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What is it?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The thing’s blood is melting through the friggin’
floor!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Thermal or chemical?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t know, the thing’s just melting – steel,
polycrete, the works!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Is it dead?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yeah, it’s dead.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Can you get me a visual feed?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sorry, I don’t have a helmet camera. I don’t usually
need one.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Understood. Can VECTOR get any visuals?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: She’s using her chatter, but there’s not much left of
the creature.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’ll be enough.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Affirmative. You want us to get out of here now, or
wait until the building topples over?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Get out. We’ll pick you up from the street – if the
structural support is compromised, the roof is hardly the ideal LZ.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Got it. We’re leaving the building. How’s the asset?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Coming around now.
WOTAN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What the f-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Shut up. You still have your CNI Transponder?
WOTAN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: My what?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Your damn Command Neural Interface, standard issue to
all UNSC officers.
WOTAN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yeah, but-
{sound
of a gunshot – M6D PDWS}
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And I’ve retrieved what I needed. RAINFALL, when we
get back I want this CNI analysed by HEPHAESTUS. Emergency priority Tango Alpha Zulu Four One Niner.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Y-yes sir.
- CLASSIFICATION: FALSE NOVEMBER
// START FILE //
Telepathy. Telekinesis. Pseudoscientific tripe. What do you take me for, a
conjuror of cheap tricks? I’m a scientist not a magician. If you want miracles,
leave them to Halsey and her Spartans. I’m trying to give you the best I can,
and having uninformed military officials breathing down my neck for
results I can’t and won’t give them.
When you
approached me, I was told I would be working with the best. And in terms of
manpower, I have all that I could want and some extra that I don’t. My concerns
are not with staffing – I can afford to cut back plenty. My concerns are
with the oversight you have saddled me with – I’m trying to develop
supersoldiers, as contracted, and for that I need access to material that your
liaisons are refusing to disclose. I need the Spartan augmentation files, both
II and III. I need access to some of my counterparts in TROJAN and VOLSUNG. I’ll
even ask for the ACCRETION data, though my stomach still turns every time I
think about what you did there. What I DON’T need is your men getting in my way
so that I can do my damn job. For a project breaking so many rules, your
liaisons are sticklers for keeping them.
My
biggest problem is their expectations. You’ve assigned me a bunch of
superstitious colonials. Hardly the professional types I expected. None of them
were medically trained, and some of them are barely out of basic. CMA transfers,
I assume? They heard that we’re working on supersoldiers, and they think we’re
building superheroes. One of them asked how I’ll get them to fly! I told him a
good jetpack would do the trick, and bade the young man good day. I made sure
he, at least, got reassigned to a frontline unit – with any luck, he’ll get to
SEE a real Spartan in action, and know that superheroes are a figment of our
imagination. When you told me money would be no object, I never thought about
WHY the budget was still relatively small – I’m starting to think you don’t
want to keep this hidden. Aren’t you worried about security breaches?
Colonials chatter like housewives among themselves, something I’ve always envied
them for, but this is NOT a good trait for staff of a top secret military
program! I am going to have to insist that you improve the quality of my staff,
or I’m gone. You know I’m no security leak – discretion is my byword, the reason
you hired me, not to mention the fact that if I ever went to the authorities
they’d string me up for my work on ACCRETION. But these conditions are simply
intolerable, and I’m not the only one here who thinks so.
The
subjects, at least, are of absolute top quality. They have no idea what we’ve
done, but they know what we’re doing. Especially after I made sure they knew
exactly what we plan, and why. Your liaisons shouted themselves hoarse at me –
I’m glad to say my reserves were much deeper, because I gave them a piece of my
mind. As you know. The augmentees appreciate it, and I think it’s helping –
they’re more willing to undergo procedures that will be torture – there is no
simile or metaphor there, because it IS torture. Their bones will feel like they
are being crushed again and again, their muscles will try to shred themselves
apart, their eyes will feel like they are being torn from their skulls, and
their brains will feel like they’re on fire. They know all this – in spite of
your incompetent staff’s insistence, and expectations, they understand and
accept the risks and consequences. They are willing to go through hell,
so that the rest of humanity doesn’t have to. We begin the first procedures
tomorrow – replacing their neural interfaces, which all seem to be forty years
out of date. After that, we start to prepare them to deal with their new bodies
and minds. The limited material I have from ORION allows me to conduct that, at
least. These JAVELINs will be smart, strong, intelligent, but above all they
will be tough – they already are. They know the stakes, and they know
what’s on the line. They’re volunteers, even if you didn’t give them a choice.
As ever,
the sole exception to this is Subject 005. He remains resentful, especially of
me – 005 claims to have had family on Mamore. If that’s true, then they may know
about ACCRETION, especially after what you did to the Kelorists – and if that’s
true, I cannot let 005 make contact with the rest of the subjects. Their trust
is powerful, but fragile at the same time – I cannot lose it now, in such an
early phase of the project.
This is
not a letter of resignation, or a threat. I want to be very clear, so that I can
tell your goons that you understand. This is a warning. The conditions you have
created are untenable – the subjects already detest your staff, which increases
their trust in mine, a trust we have not earned. When we break it – as
inevitably we must – they will not take it well. Loyalty is a hard thing to
earn, and so far you haven’t even bothered. Is this deliberate?
// END FILE //
- HEPHAESTUS: The autopsy report is back.
SHOGUN: And?
HEPHAESTUS: VOLUND was right. Metabolic cascade failure. At an extremely accelerated rate, I might add - this was extremely crude, extremely fast work. Rushed. Emergency.
SHOGUN: God DAMN IT!
HEPHAESTUS: I know, SHOGUN. It's only a
miracle he spotted it - hardly anyone has had to deal with it, given the, ah,
limited nature of its victims.
SHOGUN: He fucking PLAYED me!
HEPHAESTUS: If it's any help, for all intents
and purposes that was DRACULA in there. Same memories, same personality,
just working with a congenital condition with a lifespan of a few hours.
SHOGUN: Thanks, but it doesn't. And I wasn't
talking about DRACULA.
HEPHAESTUS: You're not seriously considering
treating his information as legitimate, are you?
SHOGUN: Not all of it, no. I know OLYNDICUS,
no matter how much he insists on staying cold and aloof. This investigation is
legitimate, and if he had any loose ends I would have seen them. And he never
liked OZYMANDIAS in the first place - he'd just love to see his ass nailed to
the wall. But...
HEPHAESTUS: Former Deputy Director of
Operations? The man who hired you? That's got to cut pretty deep.
SHOGUN: Yeah.
HEPHAESTUS: So...you don't suspect OLYNDICUS?
SHOGUN: Oh, I suspect him alright - of
keeping me out of the loop, endangering my team through omission of key
intelligence. How many more might we have lost on the ACCRETION investigation if
I hadn't brought INDIGO? Did he know about the Flood? About DRACULA's methods?
Did he know about this stuff when they were being approved? There may still be a
trail to hide, if not the one DRACULA tried to spoon-feed me. I'm going to raise
the subject with him.
HEPHAESTUS: He's not going to be happy about
being accused.
SHOGUN: Accused of what? I'm raising valid
concerns - if he doesn't like that I hold them, then he can shape up or get off
my back.
HEPHAESTUS: It occurs to me, SHOGUN, that
this is precisely what DRACULA wants. He knew once we conducted the autopsy
you'd suspect everything he told you, that you'd be angry, and that you'd start
treating the Delta Delta Oscar with suspicion.
SHOGUN: What's your point?
HEPHAESTUS: Divide and conquer. The oldest
trick in the book.
SHOGUN: Silly rabbit. Tricks are for kids.
And I'm done playing. Get back to EXCALIBUR, go back to the R&D and leave the
grunt work to me. I'll let you know if I need more material analysed.
HEPHAESTUS: That's the thing, SHOGUN.
I'm...sorry about last time. I have a leak. I've confirmed it, internally and
corroborated externally. Some of the former VAJRA assets have gone missing.
SHOGUN: VAJRA? Wasn't that pre-war powered
armour? I thought ARONDIGHT was working on better stuff. Why would anyone want
VAJRA? You're sure it wasn't VAJRA-II?
HEPHAESTUS: I'm sure. I don't know, but I
have my suspicions - not everyone has access to the same materials.
SHOGUN: You suspect Insurrectionists?
HEPHAESTUS: I suspect everyone. I've had
DEW's turning up on private yachts, active camouflage hiding secret labs,
shields used to protect your targets from orbital strike - my security has
become a joke. You need to get in there, and I mean right now.
SHOGUN: I'll send my best agents in, old
friend. I have RAINFALL and ISTARI wrapping up the ACCRETION paperwork, and I
need something to get NOVEMBER OSCAR back on form after his mishandling of
Codename: ORPHEUS - if we need additional firepower, we've also managed to
convince the enemy asset we recovered from ACCRETION to turn the tables on her
employers. VECTOR became quite helpful when she got a look at DRACULA's file -
personal revenge is always a good motivator.
HEPHAESTUS: RAINFALL...I seem to recall that
name. Colonel Forrester's daughter?
SHOGUN: The very same.
HEPHAESTUS: I worked with her while she was
in the Military Intelligence Division. She's cold, clean, analytical and doesn't
form personal attachments.
SHOGUN: A chip off the old block, eh?
HEPHAESTUS: Are you talking about Verdani or
you?
SHOGUN: Maybe a little of both.
HEPHAESTUS: Well, you seem to have cheered up
quite a bit.
SHOGUN: Secret ops and revenge is my life now
- it's where I feel at home. When you add betrayal into the equation, I falter.
I may not be a military man, but I have a sense of duty and honour, and when
people rupture that it leaves a stain that's hard to get out.
HEPHAESTUS: Well, look me up next time - I
might have a spray for that.
- SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What do you think?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: From what I’ve seen, it’s apparent that DRACULA is
interested in new technology. It doesn’t matter how well we know how to
deal with it, or even who it belongs to – I’ve been talking to my Elite
counterparts, and they’ve been hearing reports of disappearances in their space.
Weapons facilities, the few researchers they have, either dead or missing.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What does he want all of this stuff for? I would have
expected my hunch on EXCALIBUR to turn up a hit, but then his mole turns up in
TEMERITY? Your project? What do you have that he wants?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: They say knowledge is power. This DRACULA must want
to be a powerful man, because he avoided all of the prototypes and testbeds and
went straight for the data cores – which tells me that he wants something we
don’t have on hard copy.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Information. Like what?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Just how high does your clearance go?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: High enough.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d like to confirm that.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: VOLUND, it’s me, SHOGUN. You know I have the
clearance. You know I’m not going to leak it.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Do I? One stung twice shy, as they say.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: VOLUND, I know about the “Wells” research. I
visited the Kenya excavation. Hell, I’ve seen assets in the field. I’m in the
friggin’ know.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: If this was an unsecured COM channel, I’m sure you’d
be arrested for disclosing classified material. Since you’re only in my face,
and in my place of work, that isn’t an issue.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Look VOLUND-
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Alright, SHOGUN. I wanted to see how important this
was – you usually respect my privacy enough to let me think my pathetic attempts
at stonewalling you work.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t, VOLUND. I find out. And I pretend I don’t
know.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And here I thought you were a gentleman.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What did they take?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The truth of the matter is that I don’t know.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What do you suspect then?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I suspect that MARIGOLD stole a sizeable chunk of
data on our research on the Reach, Onyx, and Kenya ruins, among other TEMERITY
assets. I suspect that one of my best researchers was an agent of DRACULA from
the beginning, and has been leaking the bastard information since FUTHARK was
project head. And I suspect that he’s sitting back, laughing and drinking a
cocktail while we tear each other apart looking for other plants.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Really?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Well, maybe not the cocktail. It sounds like he
detests indulgence.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What would he want it for? You have more resources
than him, and he could just wait until it’s declassified as an EXCALIBUR asset.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Because this information is not going to be
declassified. We’re not reverse-engineering something, SHOGUN. We’re piecing
together a millennia long puzzle, and we’re being handed a lot of sky. I suspect
that there’s a windmill in the picture somewhere, but if there is then DRACULA’s
got those pieces, not me.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What puzzle? The Forerunners sound simple enough to
me – galactic empire, fought the Flood, died, saved life as we know it and as we
until recently didn’t know it. Manipulation of gravitational, electromagnetic,
radiological and Shaw-Fujikawa Space forces.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: For a spook, SHOGUN, you can be incredibly dense.
We’re not studying weapons – we’re studying a people.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: So this is a philanthropic exercise?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Not entirely. You know about the Halo Events, surely?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ve been briefed on them. Alpha, Delta, then the
Ark. Massive constructs of unimaginable power, stopped from activating by UNSC
and Elite personnel. Built by the Forerunners millennia ago before they
disappeared.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And how did they disappear?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Well…they died. Didn’t they? They were killed by the
Halo rings?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Can you prove that? Can you point me to a dig site
and tell me you’ve found a Forerunner fossil? Can you show me records of vast
numbers of colonies left intact?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What are you saying?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The few ruins we found have been remarkably well
preserved. As if they were intended to be found, and since humanity seems
genetically predisposed to activate Forerunner technology, we can only assume it
was intended for us. Why would the Forerunners leave their technology and
culture to us? What makes us so special?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And that’s what you’ve been researching?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes. Well, not just that – among other things, we’ve
been trying and failing to decipher their systems of writing – after decades
looking at the runes or logograms or hieroglyphs, or whatever the hell they are,
I’m starting to doubt there even is a translation. Every symbol has
double, triple, quadruple meanings, depending on context, orientation, and even
colour. Even the Covenant never had much of a lexicon, and their best minds
could only piece together a form of written and spoken pidgin-Forerunner-eese.
But the Forerunners wrote on everything – every artefact we’ve ever
found, on Halo, or the colonies, or even buried inside Covenant gear, has been
inscribed with their symbols. They were trying to tell us something!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And DRACULA wants to know what they were saying?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Let me know if you find him. If he’s smart enough to
translate this stuff, when four smart AI’s working in tandem for their full
seven-year lifespans and forty top xenolinguistics experts have all failed, I
might offer him a job.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: He isn’t going to be doing much of anything where
he’s going.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: DRACULA wants the most advanced technologies in every
field; biology, physics, engineering, psychology. He wants to know everything
about a highly advanced civilisation that ruled an entire galaxy. And from what
I hear from you, he’s interested in applying these to humanity on a permanent
scale. So it’s perfectly obvious what he wants!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: As you say, I’m a little dense. What does he want?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: He wants a New World Order.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: A what?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Forgive me, I forget you aren’t a student of history.
Old conspiracy theory five hundred years ago, died out around the Interplanetary
Wars. A new human race, under the rule of a new leader. Some thought it would be
a good thing – others, not so good. A lot of people thought the UN was
the New World Order until they realised it was, a.) bumbling and bureaucratic,
and b.) not populated by a race of lizardmen.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And what has this got to do with DRACULA?
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m not saying he’s one of the lizardmen. But he
wants to be. He wants to breed a new human race, in mind and body. And he wants
to be at the head of this new human race. He wants the new Ubermensch, the ideal
humans, and he wants to lead them into a glorious new age.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m happy to disappoint him.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Is it so wrong, SHOGUN? Evolution progresses in leaps
and bounds, not a straightforward flow of continuity.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m quite happy with the human race I’ve got now, and
the last thing I want is damn lizardmen.
VOLUND<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I wasn’t being literal, but I see my point has been
made. Well done.
- RAINFALL: It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captain. I have to say, you don't strike me as a typical ONI agent.
WHITMAN: It wasn't exactly part of my plan. But duty and circumstance demand greatly of us, sometimes.
RAINFALL: Duty is always open to interpretation. To rationalization.
WHITMAN: If your reasons are excuses, maybe.
RAINFALL: I wasn't expecting philosophy, Captain. Seems I've underestimated you.
WHITMAN: Oh, I wouldn't go that far. I'm just an old sarcastic grump, lost without a crew or a ship.
RAINFALL: How did a fighter like you ever wind up working for Spooks, Captain? I read your file. You’re not like them. Jacob Keyes spoke highly of you. You made Captain in 2535 and promptly saved over 3 million lives. Took a Destroyer into the atmosphere with no way of getting it back out and took on a Covenant ship of the same tonnage in atmo. Saved an entire refugee settlement from bombardment even as you risked a crash landing. They gave you one of the few carriers left in the fleet. You relish a challenge. You have...compassion.
WHITMAN: People change, investigator. Your whole idea of existence, your whole life, can be flipped on it's head by one crazy discovery.
RAINFALL: And what kind of discovery would that be, Captain?
WHITMAN: The kind ONI still won't let most people know about.
RAINFALL: I have the classifications. The clearances. I've seen things you never have and never will, Captain.
WHITMAN: So why do you need me?
RAINFALL: Because I don't know what you've seen, and I need to.
WHITMAN: Well, then ask away, investigator. I won't stop you.
RAINFALL: How gracious of you. What happened with the All Under Heaven?
WHITMAN: You’re familiar with siege of Paris IV?
RAINFALL: There’s hardly a member of the UNSC who isn’t, Captain. But I am familiar with the details of All Under Heaven’s specific deployment there, yes. Your ship spent a few weeks dodging around the system, engaged in multiple skirmishes, then was roped in as a last minute troop carrier for the evacuating ground forces. You picked up the Spartan Yellow Team along with a few thousand Marines, rendezvoused with the rest of the fleet, and then jumped to slipspace.
WHITMAN: Sounds like you got the basics right.
RAINFALL: Problem is, Captain, you never came out the other side.
WHITMAN: A very serious problem.
RAINFALL: I’m glad you agree. So what went wrong?
WHITMAN: Well truth be told, we weren’t really sure. I’m still not. My chief engineer speculated that we hit a slipspace current of some kind, but we never had any proof. We were right alongside the rest of the fleet one second, and the next we were halfway across the galaxy.
RAINFALL: I see. So where did you end up?
WHITMAN: At a dead system way to close to the galactic center for our liking. There wasn’t much left---a brown dwarf in the center and a few outlying satellites. A few orphaned moons and an artificial structure giving off a really nasty magnetic field. Yellow Team and a contingent of our embarked Marines went aboard to try and disable the field, but there was...an outbreak.
RAINFALL: Flood?
WHITMAN: We didn't know what they were at the time. Yellow and the Marines were nearly overwhelmed, so we had to deploy even more troops. It snowballed rapidly.
RAINFALL: I get why you didn’t retreat, but why didn’t you send a message? Alert the rest of the Fleet?
WHITMAN: I don’t think you realize just how far out we actually ended up. We were completely out of comms range. We might have tried destroying the facility with the ship’s cannons, but I didn’t want to risk passing the infection on the Heaven.
RAINFALL: Smart. What happened next?
WHITMAN: We were fighting a failing battle, then the Covenant showed up. It seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, but it actually ended up saving us. I pulled the Heaven back, clear of the station. Meanwhile, the Covenant attacked the station. Punched holes in it and landed troops. It took the heat off our forces.
RAINFALL: You want to try that again and tell me the truth this time? Because I know there’s no way the Covenant would bombard a Forerunner artifact outright.
WHITMAN: I was telling the truth, investigator. The structure wasn’t Forerunner.
RAINFALL: Then what the hell was it?
WHITMAN: No idea. The right age, but wrong build. Wrong materials. A remnant of a civilization claimed by the Flood. The system’s star seemed to have been artificially brought to a supernova---by the Forerunners, if I were to guess.
RAINFALL: I don’t suppose it’s still there for study.
WHITMAN: Sadly not. After the Covenant landed and drew the Flood’s attention, things got hairy. The Flood managed to fake a Covenant distress signal, after they absorbed one of the landing parties. With all the magnetic interferences confusing things, the dumb aliens fell for it. The ship pulled right up alongside the station and the Flood boarded it right away. In the confusion Yellow Team managed to make it aboard and overload the ship’s reactor. I brought the Heaven in to save who we could, but only a few hundred Marines made it aboard. Yellow themselves barely got back. The blast destroyed the station and got rid of the interference, though. We jumped to slipspace not long after.
RAINFALL: And returned to friendly space. Who met you there?
WHITMAN: No one.
RAINFALL: You didn't strike me as a liar, Captain.
WHITMAN: I did five minutes ago.
RAINFALL: Well, you don’t now. Let's not bullshit, Captain. I know someone met you there. I know a group of people appropriated your crew for their own ends. I know they appropriated you--and I suspect they put you in command of one of their vessels. I know your wife and daughter disappeared less than a year after your return--did these people recruit them too?
WHITMAN: Investigator, please--
RAINFALL: Sykes, you don't strike me as being reticent for the sake of pure obstruction. You’re not trying to block my investigation or throw me off track. You’re honest. You’re quite clearly not a spook. You think you did the right thing, that you were serving a role to help humanity.
WHITMAN: How do you know I'm not just trying to avoid indicting myself?
RAINFALL: If you were trying to cover your own ass, you wouldn't have let my boarding party take over your ship without a fight.
WHITMAN: Your boarding party was made up of Spartans. I've seen them fight enough times to know resisting isn't a good idea.
RAINFALL: Tell me about them, then.
WHITMAN: Yellow Team? We picked them up on Paris IV, and we were lucky we did. Like I said, they were the ones who blew up the Covenant ship. After we got back, they were…reassigned.
RAINFALL: Captain, the people you were working for had those Spartan's memories wiped. It almost killed them.
WHITMAN: That's...tough news to hear.
RAINFALL: Alright, I really don't care how pristine your intentions were or what kind of orders these bastards gave you, your going to tell me what you know.
WHITMAN: I'm...sorry investigator. Secrecy is a tough habit to form, and even tougher to break.
RAINFALL: Spoken like a true sailor.
WHITMAN: Echo 9 never did really breed that out of me. That's who was there, sir. When we arrived back in friendly space, we waited almost a month to be let off the ship. You mentioned BLUE NIGHTS, investigator. Do you know what that is?
RAINFALL: No.
WHITMAN: It was--is--the operation I was recruited for. Covert ONI study of the Flood, conducted by a sub-cell called Echo 9. I was contacted by them and they brought me in as the commander of their strike vessel.
RAINFALL: Strike vessel?
WHITMAN: A Prowler they had procured. They had a team of combat troops, led by a Codename: CONSTANTINE. They were professional, intelligent, and prepared. They knew what they were doing. I was the new guy. But they needed a Captain with experience with the Flood. They'd lost their previous one because he hadn't had that experience.
RAINFALL: Lost him? To the Flood?
WHITMAN: Exactly.
RAINFALL: So they knew about the Flood...even before your crew returned? They'd encountered them? How far back does BLUE NIGHTS go?
WHITMAN: I honestly don't know. But they had certainly fought the Flood before they recruited me. The strike team leader, CONSTANTINE--he was aged, but he himself had fought them.
RAINFALL: And who recruited you? Who did you have contact with?
WHITMAN: Initially, I was approached by ORIGAMI--
RAINFALL: He was definitely BLUE NIGHTS?
WHITMAN: Yes. Cold bastard, even for Echo 9. In charge of "tying up loose ends", I believe. Yellow Team...left with him. I never would have let him take them if I'd known what he was like.
RAINFALL: Who else?
WHITMAN: Obviously Echo 9 never used names. I was forbidden to even use mine when on duty. WHITMAN--I chose that, after the poet.
RAINFALL: We guessed.
WHITMAN: I heard plenty of codenames, though. BYRON, APPARATION, BANDIT, HAYSTACK, CHERUBIM--I can tell you what they all did, but I have no idea who they really are or where to find them.
RAINFALL: They didn't trust you?
WHITMAN: They kept the entire operation under a cloak of secrecy. No one outside it ever had a clue it was even going on. MAGPIE, DRACULA--
RAINFALL: --You know him?
WHITMAN: Who doesn't these days? None of them ever dreamed we were in operation.
RAINFALL: Those names will still be helpful. What kind of operations did your strike vessel perform?
WHITMAN: Anything necessary to further the goals of the operation. HAYSTACK and CHERUBIM--the leaders--were obsessed with field research.
RAINFALL: What for? Bioweapons? Genetic enhancement?
WHITMAN: Are you kidding? The things we had all seen about the Flood--the things we knew that the Flood had done to the Forerunners? Echo 9 would never fuck around with things like that. The research they conducted, it was all about prevention. Containment. Research to prevent future outbreaks and to fight them.
RAINFALL: Why was it so covert, then?
WHITMAN: Public opinion management...among other things. Fear of a panic within HIGHCOM and the civilian government, if incomplete information was released. And to avoid...oversight.
RAINFALL: The Echo 9 folks didn't want to be shackled by rules and restrictions?
WHITMAN: Yes. Even ONI has rules. HAYSTACK believed--with good reason--that the threat was too big to handle in the normal way. It needed more extreme management.
RAINFALL: Was your strike team part of this "extreme management"?
WHITMAN: At times.
RAINFALL: So your team acted as an emergency containment group, then. What else?
WHITMAN: We gathered biomass samples, investigated potential outbreak sources, retrieved necessary personnel--
RAINFALL: Retrieved personnel? From where?
WHITMAN: Other departments. I'm not technically certain. HAYSTACK and CHERUBIM always had other agents outside of my team perform those ops. We were just the chauffeurs.
RAINFALL: Back to your dealings with the Flood. How many times did you encounter them after you were recruited?
WHITMAN: We scouted for samples a dozen or so times. We helped contain two incidents--ground troops succeeded both times. During the Battle of Earth, I wanted to move in and support the fleet in containment of the Voi outbreak, but all CHERUBIM would go for was a release of research data.
RAINFALL: So that intel did originate with BLUE NIGHTS.
WHITMAN: Yes. It was quite a stir up within Echo 9 at the time.
RAINFALL: I can imagine. What else can you tell me about the other operators?
WHITMAN: When I joined, HAYSTACK was in command. Someone named CHERUBIM took over after the Battle of Earth, when HAYSTACK was killed.
RAINFALL: What about the others you mentioned? APPARATION?
WHITMAN: Forerunner studies specialist.
RAINFALL: BANDIT?
WHITMAN: Covenant linguistics expert. A translator.
RAINFALL: BYRON?
WHITMAN: Flood research specialist.
RAINFALL: Did you ever meet any of them? Provide transport to a base or headquarters? Anything?
WHITMAN: No. We were almost always on deployment. We transported BYRON and an escort to the ACCRETION labs in 2555, but that was about it.
RAINFALL: How were they involved in ACCRETION?
WHITMAN: They exchanged samples of biomass in exchange for research data. BYRON looked down on the ACCRETION group. Thought their security was lax.
RAINFALL: These sort of exchanges, are they still going on?
WHITMAN: Not with ACCRETION, obviously. You lot nuked that facility, I hear. But I believe CHERUBIM still has vessels transporting samples for BYRON to research.
RAINFALL: Can you provide any of the routes?
WHITMAN: I might remember a few.
RAINFALL: Then I'll need them. And...one last question.
WHITMAN: Ask away.
RAINFALL: Why not come forward earlier? You obviously have no qualms talking about these groups now.
WHITMAN: Investigator, you may not understand this, but the things we did--they were necessary.
RAINFALL: I've heard that reasoning applied to some very unnecessary things.
WHITMAN: No, listen to me. Have you ever fought the Flood? I'm sure you've seen plenty of footage, but have you ever looked at them in person? Watched your comrades and friends turn into monsters? Its something you have to see to understand. The work we did--no, it wasn't sanctioned. No, our methods probably weren't always the nicest. No, I don't know everything that went on. But it was work that had to be done. If I take the fall for it, then I'll accept that, because someone had to do it. The first thing that I learned as a sailor is that war requires us to sacrifice things. Someone had to stand as a counter to the monsters. If we had to give up some of our morals, or if I had to follow some terrible orders--then it was necessary. It was my sacrifice.
RAINFALL: I'm doing what's necessary now, though. I'll need those patrol routes.
- SHOGUN: Thank you again for arranging an interview this quickly
ISTARI: I'm more than glad to help. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment
SHOGUN: Then you knew about all the projects I've mentioned? INDIGO, TROJAN, LEONIDAS, GENOME? Why didn't you shut them down, or pass on the information to Section Zero
ISTARI: Section Zero was part of the conspiracies! And as much as I wanted to, I couldn't do anything unless Margaret authorized it, and she let a d*** lot pass under the radar because she thought they'd help us win the War. I still don't know if even she knew everything that went on...
SHOGUN: Parangosky? Even she was in on these projects!
ISTARI: More than that: she authorized some of them. SPARTAN-III, CHIRON, REVELATION and a half a dozen others. Granted, there were plenty of other unauthorized and completely illegal ones, but Margaret had her hand in some herself. After all, she was a part of LEONIDAS; she made me carry out the operation.
SHOGUN: You're admitting to the crimes?
ISTARI: I'll face whatever punishment I have to so long as this mess is cleaned up. Now... what do you want to know? I have answers. I know more than most ONI, perhaps all of ONI now. The kidnapping of Indigo Team and the extraction of the four members of Project LEONIDAS is just the beginning of my knowledge.
SHOGUN: What about REVELATION or...
ISTARI: Yes, I have plenty of information on the bio-weapons of REVELATION, the Orion-like soldiers of TROJAN, GENOME's cloning facilities on Guardia, the Spartan-like MYRMIDON's, the creation of PERSIAN because of Admiral Lee's defection, AVATAR's attempts at infiltrating the Covenant, the misuses of EXCALIBUR material within MASAMUNE, and even the last-ditch plan codenamed SUPERNOVA
SHOGUN: ...I don't have records for half of those projects
ISTARI: Precisely why you need my help. I'll take whatever punishment is necessary - I've done more than my share of sinning in my lifetime. Just make sure you kick these ba*****s in their groins for me. Now... where should I start?
SHOGUN: Start at the beginning... Sir.
- UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND PRIORITY TRANSMISSION 6798587294-HP//AA
SENT: 30.08.57, 23:11:04
FROM: Codename: HEPHAESTUS, [CLASSIFIED]
TO: Codename: SHOGUN, [CLASSIFIED]
RECIEVED: 3.09.57 13.59.00
CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET
SUBJECT: RE:S-IV
// START FILE //
You asked me for my opinion on MJOLNIR GEN2. Here it is in a nutshell.
Nothing to do with me.
As far as I know, development of GEN2 has proceeded entirely separate from my own projects, with little exchange of assets. Frankly, I'm jealous of the resources and personnel they're getting. I need all the help I can get just to hold this together, and ONI handpicking talented physicists to develop stuff for a select few isn't helpful. Strategically, I acknowledge the vital need for it. Personally, I think it's a bit of a boondoggle.
If you want my professional outside opinion on the GEN2, it hasn't really changed much since the GEN1, or Mark VI as us older folk used to call it. The micro-fusion reactor is still impressive, and incorporates innovations that post-war reverse-engineering of Covenant and Forerunner systems have brought about. The shields are just as impressive, and seem to have perfected the old hardlight systems we field tested back in the 30s. I would give my assistant's right arm and leg to take a look at their hardware. No doubt it was a simple reapplication of Forerunner hologenerators, but it's everything the old EM shields were and more. Performance-wise, I expect not much of a performance improvement, besides its compatability with S-IV. Most of the advancement there has been in the augmentation process, which is well outside my zone of expertise or interest.
I was surprised, however, that they went with the GEN2 moniker over Mark VII, though given the projected capabilities Halsey expected I agree that it doesn't really deserve a new Mark designation. It's a drastic improvement over the original Mark VI, but not enough of a radical redesign to warrant redesignation. It makes me wonder, though, just how much of an effect Halsey's absence has had on development. She was always the heart and soul of MJOLNIR, and her "loss" at Reach was a huge blow to the whole team. I don't know whether there is anyone in the galaxy who can replace her. On the other hand, there are persistent rumours about the Infinity, and I've always found that with ONI, where there's smoke there's fire. For whatever that is worth.
I've also heard that they are allowing the newer generation to wear colour-customised armour variants. Normally, I would consider it foolhardy to compromise camouflage. But with Spartans, attracting attention can be a definite positive - when all enemy firepower is aimed at the biggest, baddest thing on the battlefield, it allows other units to manoeuvre. Spartans, both new and old, have always demonstrated the ability to hold their own against near-impossible odds, and if hostile combatants are aiming at them, they're not aiming at the troops they're aiding. And of course, it's another strike against Halsey's ludicrous insistence that operators wear specifically designed variants - she was a scientific genius that humanity may never see the likes of again, but she fundamentally misunderstood military procedure. I have managed to give the current set of optional variants a cursory examination, and have been impressed. The variety is greater than the previous three generations combined, and I have no doubt that future development will only add more. If only all of the projects supposedly vital to the continued revival of the human race had the same level of funding and attention.
As for the operators themselves...I'll reserve judgement until I have met some of them. Every S-II I have encountered, while quiet and reserved, have always been consumate professionals, respectful and polite. While the S-IIIs have been a, shall we say "rowdier" bunch, they too were professional and respectful where it mattered. I have my doubts about recruiting directly from the civilian sector, but I suppose in such times beggars cannot be choosers. I have met many special warfare operators who I thought would make good Spartans, but I have also met my share of operators who should be kept a healthy distance from anything Spartan. The Helljumpers' rivalry with the Spartans especially highlight the danger here - now that they are recruiting consenting adults, the ODSTs may percieve them as a threat to the integrity of their own organisation. They have always recruited the best, and proudly boasted that they were simply the best warfighters a human could be without dangerous augmentations and cybernetic enhancements that "sacrifice" their humanity. Now that S-IV is up and running, they lose that defence.
As much as I miss Catherine, I think her project has been left in safe hands. Both projects, actually. And as much as it would pain her to admit it, I think she would too.
// END FILE //
- SHOGUN: I want you taking point on this one.
RAINFALL: Sir, I don’t think-
SHOGUN: Hear me out, lieutenant. Firstly, I’m up to my friggin’ eyeballs in bullshit – DRACULA, OZYMANDIAS, not to mention the stunts PUPPET MASTER has been pulling on GLAURUNG. I’ve got bigger fish to fry, and not enough time.
RAINFALL: Thanks for the vote of confidence.
SHOGUN: As I was about to say, secondly, this could get…political. I’ve pushed my luck with the UEG and the rest of ONI. You know why they stuck me in Section Zero in the first place? Because they knew that it was the only place an unlikable bastard with an inquisitive streak could do some good. You’re a fresh face, and a pretty one too. They’ll underestimate you. Never forget to play to your strengths.
RAINFALL: Also comforting.
SHOGUN: And thirdly, you’re a much better investigator than you think you are.
RAINFALL: Beta Columbae begs to differ.
SHOGUN: You couldn’t stop that from happening. We went in blind, with no coordination with local civilian law enforcement. That was my fuckup.
RAINFALL: No, but I should have-
SHOGUN: BLIND. Look it up. You didn’t know enough to make a call. And then I arrived, and took the responsibility out of your hands. Not your fault. Mine.
RAINFALL: I still feel you should give this assignment to a more senior investigator.
SHOGUN: Who? TAIKUN just came out of retirement, he doesn’t know anything – the whole political landscape changed in one decade. And the others are all either as green as you are, or worse at making friends than I am. Yes, you’re a rookie. But you’re a damn good rookie.
RAINFALL: I’ll need a team.
SHOGUN: I can give you ORPHEUS and TAIKUN. If INDIGO and VECTOR were back, I’d give you them too.
RAINFALL: They’re taking way too long-
SHOGUN: My problem. Not yours. Another to add to the ever-growing list. And now you see why I can’t deal with this right now.
RAINFALL: I’ll need access to high-priority materials. I don’t have your clearance level.
SHOGUN: You do now. You also have Glaurung at your disposal – I don’t need him, the number of damn AIs ONI keep throwing at us. The big war’s over, and now they’re left with more Artificial Intelligence than they can stand, so they throw them at us!
RAINFALL: Where do I start, sir?
SHOGUN: Where every story starts. At the beginning.
RAINFALL: I’ll examine the logs again, but it’s not a lot to go on. Yellow Team could mean anything – there was a Spartan Yellow Team that was folded into Red Team serving on Reach, but they’re presumed KIA-
SHOGUN: Presumed.
RAINFALL: And before that, there was a Yellow Team that went missing on Paris IV. Where the All Under Heaven disappeared.
SHOGUN: As far as I know nobody ever recovered the ship or its crew.
RAINFALL: As far as you know.
SHOGUN: Yes.
RAINFALL: This does go right to the top, doesn’t it?
SHOGUN: Does it matter?
RAINFALL: If I’m going to get supersoldier hit squads coming after me, then yes! Just a bit!
SHOGUN: You have ORPHEUS, TAIKUN and GLAURUNG. ORPHEUS can be an ass, but he gets the job done. TAIKUN is paranoid, exactly the right person for this. And GLAURUNG, whatever his limitations, is a consummate professional. You’ll get this done. And, if you’re still pressed for resources, I can always call for…orbital support.
RAINFALL: No. Keep my father out of this. He has enough going on in his life.
SHOGUN: I heard about the divorce-
RAINFALL: The third divorce.
SHOGUN: Yes. Honestly, I don’t think there’s a woman alive who’s a match for your father. That’s probably a complement to women.
RAINFALL: He’s married to his work. Like you. In fact, you two would make a cute couple.
SHOGUN: I don’t swing that way. But thanks for the offer.
RAINFALL: Just…keep him out of it. He’s deployed, and I don’t want the Marines wondering where the hell their ODST support is when its stuck guarding me.
SHOGUN: Of course. I already have one of his platoons with INDIGO and VECTOR, too – it would probably be pushing my luck.
RAINFALL: You’ve been pushing your luck since you arrived at ONI, SHOGUN. When has that ever stopped you?
- RAINFALL: I should shoot you right here you snake.
CHAUCER: I think OLYCINDUS might have a few choice words to say about that. And Section Zero's director, too.
RAINFALL: I don't know what the hell you think you’re playing at here, CHAUCER. Any hint of a claim to innocence you had disappeared the moment you had EGOR attack my men.
CHAUCER: You can't prove any of that, RAINFALL. And you know it.
RAINFALL: The hell I can't! I've got testimonies from PUYALLUP and BYRON that EGOR was your Leonidan and some very credible eyewitnesses putting Leonid at the scene.
CHAUCER: PUYALLUP? The nut case who killed himself? And BYRON, the mad scientist spewing nonsense to get out of a death sentence? You’re going to need more than that, RAINFALL. My team has closed more leaks than you can dream of. We've kept ONI in check for fifty fucking years. You should have built a better case before you came after me.
RAINFALL: We captured over a hundred personnel in our raid, CHAUCER. And computer records. I'm going to put you away.
CHAUCER: Those suspects--they'll never talk, RAINFALL. People like this never do; it’s why people like me usually get told to just put a bullet in them and save the hassle. BYRON was not a good example of the norm. And those records, well, if EGOR was there as you said, then I imagine he probably bought enough time for those Echo 9 folks to wipe their records.
RAINFALL: You bastard.
CHAUCER: Me? I've done nothing wrong, RAINFALL.
RAINFALL: Nothing I can prove, maybe.
CHAUCER: As far as the law is concerned, that's the same thing.
RAINFALL: How do you explain EGOR, then, CHAUCER? He attacked my teams!
CHAUCER: I don't control every single one of my operators personally, girl. Even my division is not impregnable, RAINFALL. I assure you there'll be a proper investigation. Those guilty will be dealt with accordingly.
RAINFALL: And EGOR?
CHAUCER: I can only assume he was misguided by some...rogue operative. He's honestly more of a weapon than a person--
RAINFALL: Then he'll need to stay in custody.
CHAUCER: Fine by me.
RAINFALL: You'd give up your own agent like that, just to save your own hide.
CHAUCER: Like I've told you, RAINFALL, I'm innocent, so I'm hardly--
RAINFALL: Just--shut up, you snake. I know what you've done, even if I can't prove it. You make me sick. Your team was supposed to stop things like this from happening--and you just joined right in instead.
CHAUCER: Not that any of that is correct, but did you ever stop to wonder whether those people did what was necessary?
RAINFALL: I've been told that before.
CHAUCER: But did you ever bother to actually consider it?
RAINFALL: No.
CHAUCER: Why not?
RAINFALL: Because I know you bastards will always tell me anyway.
CHAUCER: How shrewd of you. These BLUE NIGHTS people aren't monsters, or even that wrong. Their research--
RAINFALL: Spare me all that. I interviewed BYRON personally, remember? I got plenty of bullshit rationalizations then.
CHAUCER: You’re just like your boss, always so absolutely sure that your right.
RAINFALL: Because I am. You were right, we don't have any evidence tying you to the project. But we've got plenty of other information. We know BLUE NIGHTS sabotaged all sorts of other projects, directly or indirectly. They pulled personnel that they wanted regardless of the consequences, disregarding how it would affect those groups. Dozens of projects and military units and research teams damaged, rendered useless. TEMERITY, HYPODERMIC, SUPERNOVA, SPARTAN--the list goes on and on. And that was wrong. People died because those resources got pulled. Planets were glassed. You can't spin that, CHAUCER, no matter how much you want to.
CHAUCER: I don't know why I would need to. As I said before--I'm not guilty. I was simply stressing the importance of understanding the criminal elements we are tasked with pursuing.
RAINFALL: There's no justice.
CHAUCER: Of course there is! I know my team has doled it out, at the very least.
RAINFALL: I hope you can look those men in the eye, then.
CHAUCER: You can rest assured that I will. To tell you the truth, RAINFALL, I feel bad for you. An investigation like this, shackled with civilian oversight? It must make missions very difficult.
RAINFALL: What the hell are you getting at?
CHAUCER: I feel bad that one of my assets caused you so much trouble. I'd like to make it up to you.
RAINFALL: You have a guilty conscience?
CHAUCER: Call it a shamed one. But I have assets that I would like to offer you.
RAINFALL: We've already got an excellent team, thank you.
CHAUCER: RAINFALL, unless I'm mistaken, you lot still haven't caught DRACULA yet. I'm sure you'll need some heavy hitters when you go after him.
RAINFALL: I've got some already.
CHAUCER: Ah, but doesn't it seem like a waste to have poor EGOR sitting in jail? Besides, Spartans are like candy. You can never have too many.
RAINFALL: I'm flattered that you'd offer up your prize stallion.
CHAUCER: He showed your agents what for on that op, didn't he?
RAINFALL: I'll think about your offer. You’re...free to go, CHAUCER.
CHAUCER: Don't you want me to send your regards to OLYCINDUS?
RAINFALL: I'll pass. I'm done with you. Now get the hell out.
CHAUCER: It'll be my pleasure.
[CHAUCER EXITS, TAIKUN ENTERS]
RAINFALL: Tell me you've got good news.
TAIKUN: Some. A patrol vessel picked up BANDIT.
RAINFALL: The missing HYPODERMIC leak? I guess that's something.
TAIKUN: No luck with CHAUCER?
RAINFALL: No. Intimidating him into a confession was always a slim hope.
TAIKUN: I've been interviewing the notable prisoners, but none of them have fingered CHAUCER yet.
RAINFALL: I figured as much.
TAIKUN: You can never get all of them, RAINFALL.
RAINFALL: I know. At any rate, at least we can turn back to some of the old dangling questions with new eyes. Maybe make new connections.
TAIKUN: What do we do with EGOR?
RAINFALL: CHAUCER offered him to us, oddly enough.
RAINFALL: And you think ORPHEUS and Indigo would be able to work with him?
RAINFALL: Their bruised egos will heal. He might be of use. If not, then someone in Zero will handle him. Where are they, anyway?
TAIKUN: Out hunting. CONSTANTINE disappeared out of the hospital.
RAINFALL: He was under armed guard!
TAIKUN: The doctors think you were right. He was probably augmented. He's just about the right age for ORION, and it sounds like BLUE NIGHTS may have lifted some extra augment protocols from other super solider programs during the war. The whole strike team might have been augmented, for all we know. They're still unaccounted for too.
RAINFALL: Well that's just wonderful.
TAIKUN: Sorry, RAINFALL. I wanted to tell you earlier, but you were with CHAUCER.
RAINFALL: It's alright. Good work, TAIKUN. Keep at work with the prisoners. I have a date with our boss, to tell him he gets to yell at the brass about security.
TAIKUN: I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear about that.
RAINFALL: He probably won't be too pleased with me, no.
TAIKUN: We all have our private punishments for our failures, some small and some large.
RAINFALL: You think CHAUCER has one? Or any of the other BLUE NIGHTS people who escaped?
TAIKUN: Yes, I imagine they do. We all do I think. One way or another, our actions always come back to remind us of the past.
- CAIN: How long have you known?
SHOGUN: About Indigo? Since ’49. A few helpful Helljumpers let me know, and I got onto their case.
CAIN: And that led you to me?
SHOGUN: Hardly. You’re much bigger than Indigo. Hell, you’re probably the biggest security breach the UNSC’s ever had.
CAIN: I’d be flattered under different circumstances.
SHOGUN: Circumstances change, my friend.
CAIN: And just what is that supposed to mean?
SHOGUN: You did what you thought you had to. You approved these monstrosities, but even you didn’t know the details. Kidnappings of street people on Minister? The massacre on Troy? The Volsung defects? Tell me you didn’t know about them.
CAIN: I’m sorry to disappoint.
SHOGUN: Even after all that, you still…
CAIN: Yes. We were fighting a war, not of victory or defeat, but of survival or extinction. A few hundred people were killed, more kidnapped, tortured, brainwashed. But we survived. How many Leonidans did it take? Or Myrmidons, or Trojans?
SHOGUN: You knew about CHISEL?
CAIN: I never took you for a stupid man, SHOGUN. Of course I knew.
SHOGUN: You knew? And you still approved?
CAIN: Don’t look so surprised. And I’d do it again, in a heartbeat – we’re not in the same position we were in, but if it came down to a few kids or civilians or the survival of the human race, I’d choose survival over ethics. Better to be a murderer than a victim. That’s the price I paid – that we all paid, even if we didn’t know it. We all climbed to safety on the backs of corpses. Now you’re surprised that our hands are dirty?
SHOGUN: I really thought I knew you.
CAIN: You never knew me. You still don’t.
SHOGUN: Apparently. I’m done here. {to guard} open the door. I’m finished with the prisoner.
Guard: Yes sir!
CAIN: SHOGUN! You said circumstances change…
SHOGUN: I said I’m done here.
CAIN: But I’m not. I can give you names. Places. Dates. And so much more. Do you know about Kukri, or Baselard? Or FORGE? How about YOUMA? Ring any bells? No? I take it I've got your attention.
SHOGUN: And in exchange?
CAIN: A price you’ll be willing to pay.
- FORMULA WILL RECEIVE IMPROVEMENTS BASED ON FAULTS DISCOVERED WITH [WARDEN] BEFORE WE USE IT ON [MAGI], [DALE] AND [COMMONER]. PROJECTED ESTIMATES AS OF NOW POINT AT A TRULY SUCCESSFUL FORMULA IN FIVE YEARS' TIME. ASSUMING WE HAVE THAT LONG BEFORE SHOGUN PUTS A BOOT UP OUR ARSES.
/END FILE/
(PRESS )ENTER( TO CONTINUE)
- SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Tell me about INDIGO.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Nice bunch of kids. Enthusiastic. Eager. You really
thought just because Halsey was a little squeamish we’d pass them up?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No, I didn’t. I’m not arguing with your reasons or
the results. I’m disputing your methods.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Oh, good. You break into my house in the middle of
the night just to have a little debate? It’s nice to know the noble art is being
kept up.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Stop being facetious and tell me about INDIGO.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You can’t ask them yourself? I hear they work for
you.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: One of the conditions of their cooperation. Smart of
them, and convenient for me – they go where I tell them, pull who I tell them,
and in exchange they get immunity. Not that I was going after them anyway. That
means I need other sources on their history. You.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I didn’t handle them. I just hid the paper trail –
not an easy job, let me tell you.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: But you know who they recruited. Who did the
recruiting. Who handled the arsenal, and who ran their ops.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Ran their ops? They’re Spartans, not toddlers. You
don’t “handle” Spartans – you point them at the enemy and sit back to watch the
fireworks display.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I want names, and I’m not leaving until I get
something.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ll give you a name then – OZYMANDIAS.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Nice try.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m not joking, kid. Whatever roots you’re trying to
dig up, they run deep, and reach high. OZYMANDIAS had his roots dipped in many
ponds – some of them muddier than others.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ve been hearing a lot of plant metaphors lately.
Have you taken up botany?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I like to think I have a green thumb. There’s not
much left to do after forced retirement.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I could fix that. VORAUSSICHT is running down so many
targets we can barely keep up. We need all the hands we can get.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I heard. VOLUND and HEPHAESTUS as advisors? They
can’t be happy about that, especially after CAIN’s infiltration was found.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’re remarkably well-informed for a retired man.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What can I say? I keep up on the news. I work my
sources. I keep up with old contacts.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’re still in the game, you just like to think
you’re not playing.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m not.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Lets return to the subject of OZYMANDIAS – you said
he knew of INDIGO?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No. He approved INDIGO. He didn’t order it,
but he definitely liked the idea. Throwing away capable operatives just because
of a few defects, no matter how serious, was just a waste. He decided he could
put them to better use. We used THERMOPYLAE assets to return some to combat
readiness, others went back under the knife.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And the rest?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Andrew. We got Laura and Jeremy – poor girl was
rendered mute, but was otherwise capable of killing an Innie with her pinky. And
Jeremy just fell into our laps like an act of god, as he always does. But
Andrew? He came to us.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Why?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: He’s a Spartan. Loyalty, I think – to his team mates,
and to the others who didn’t make it through augmentation. I think Halsey’s
dropping Laura just because she couldn’t talk damn near broke his heart – so he
left. It can’t have been easy, but even if it wasn’t our orders I would have
recommended accepting him.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And all of these orders were approved by OZYMANDIAS?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Who gave them?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t know.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Bullshit.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m telling you, I don’t know!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And I’m telling you that I don’t believe you.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Listen, they kept us compartmentalised! You think
they’d tell us who was handing us all this November Black material? You think
we’d try to look up who was doing all this stuff? Who were breaking rules even
ONI considered rigid? If we did, they’d have dumped us – hard. They did
dump a few of us – JERICHO and LATVIA? That was them, I’m sure of it.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: JERICHO? You involved JERICHO in it?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I didn’t. They did. I don’t know what he did,
but-
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I think I have a pretty good idea. You think they
were picked off by OZYMANDIAS?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Or his goons, yeah. PRIVATEER maybe, or CAIN, I don’t
know.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: LATVIA died peacefully in his sleep.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You think he slept? You can’t have known him
very well. The nightmares the poor guy had…
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And JERICHO was an accident.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I never thought you of all people were the gullible
type. Buses don’t just crash into houses. Not these days, not with the safety
regulations and security buffer programs they install.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I think you’re paranoid.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And I think I’m right. Look into PRIVATEER. I don’t
know anything for sure, but I have suspicions.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I didn’t say you were wrong, just that you were
paranoid. I’ll have November Oscar look into it.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: So… how you doing, Proby?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m… well, I’d say I’m fine but you always could
sniff out a lie.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: That’s what they hired me for. I heard something
happened on Majorca?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I can’t discuss it. If you sign back up, then I might
be convinced to-
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No. I’m retired. I’m not interested in looking at the
past. It’s the only reason I still have a future.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You still sleep with an M6?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: On the bedside table. I keep hitting my head if I
keep it under the pillow – my reflexes aren’t what they once were. If I needed
it, I wouldn’t have enough time to reach for it unless I had warning. And of
course Margaret doesn’t want the barrel poking her eye if she rolls over.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: She’s alright? The kids?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yeah, they’re fine. John just got accepted to OCS –
he wants to be a Marine. Marie is still in medical school, trying to become a
surgeon. I keep telling her that surgery is a messy place, but she comes back at
me with automated machinery. No hands-on these days. It’s a damn shame.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: If John ever wants a job, he knows where he can get a
reference. Smartest kid I ever met. He’ll make a damn fine officer some day.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: A reference from you will get him killed, so no
thanks. You really doing alright?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: DRACULA sent a hit squad after me.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No shit? I assume they were unsuccessful?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I had Indigo Team with me at the time, so I was
lucky. One operative killed, and the other defected to us.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It must be something, knowing the bastards are
gunning for you.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: If they aren’t trying to kill you, you’re not doing
your job right. That’s what you taught me.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s a lesson I learnt every damn day. ONI hasn’t
changed.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No. But its still… rattling to know that someone is
out there, three steps ahead of you, trying to shut you down. Especially when
both of us think we’re in the right.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: DRACULA was a hard sunuvabitch when I knew him, but
he had…commitment. He always was convinced that what he was doing was in the
best interests of humanity.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Let us raise a toast to all our bombers, all our
bastards, most unlovely and most unforgivable. Let us drink to their health…
then meet with them no more.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Alan Moore? It s been a while since I read his work.
Ah, the classics.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I have a library. Moore, Pratchett, Miller…the
twentieth century greats. I keep it in my office – behind the wall. I like to
know that most people who come in will never know about it.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d very much like to see go through it someday.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Perhaps you will?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: My intelligence days are long over, SHOGUN. Stop
trying to recruit me.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m not asking you to come back because I want
to. You deserve a nice quiet life after the hell you went through on Harvest and
Reach. OLYNDICUS wants you on the team, and he won’t take no for an answer, I’ve
tried.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Shit. God damn it.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m sorry. Welcome to VORAUSSICHT. I don’t know what
card game you thought we were playing, but we play for much higher stakes than
you. And I don’t even need to check to know that I have the better hand. Do
yourself a favour. Fold.
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And now I’ve been caught black handed.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Don’t you mean “red handed”?
TAIKUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No. I don’t think I do. Happy Guy Fawkes day.
- CLASSIFICATION: ZULU BLUE
/START FILE/
YOUR INQUIRY REGARDING THIS SIERRA-108, OR LASZLO, HAS BEEN MOST DIFFICULT - IF NOT NEAR-IMPOSSIBLE - TO INVESTIGATE. NOT ONLY BECAUSE A CONSIDERABLE PERCENTAGE OF OUR LOGGED ARCHIVES WERE LOST BEYOND RECOVERY BY THE COVENANT INVASION OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC, BUT ALSO BECAUSE OF AN ONI MEMBER LIKE YOURSELF, ONE CALLED "MEDICI", WHO TOOK THE LIBERTY OF CONTINUALLY STONEWALLING ME.
WHAT I FOUND DOES NOTHING MORE THAN SOLIDIFY THE FACT YOU STATED BEFORE; HE DID APPEAR, JUST LIKE THAT, AFTER THE FALL OF REACH, AS IF HE HAD HIDDEN IN A HOLE THE REST OF HIS LIFE. HE LEAVES NO VISIBLE TRACES IN ANY RECORDS I HAVE AVAILABLE WHATSOEVER - DESPITE THE FACT THAT HIS CSV IS LONGER THAN MY LEGS. DEFINETLY FISHY. BUT THEN, THAT'S WHAT ONI IS, ISN'T IT? NO OFFENSE TO YOU, OF COURSE.
THE ONLY THING WORTH NOTING BEYOND THAT, IS THAT THIS "MEDICI" FELLOW'S BEHAVIOR SUGGESTS THAT HE KNOWS ENOUGH ABOUT THE GUY TO WANT TO HIDE IT ALL. I'M UNSURE IF THAT MEANS ANYTHING, BUT IT COULD BE OF HELP TO YOU ALL THE SAME. I MYSELF CAN NO LONGER PARTAKE IN YOUR INVESTIGATION IF I WANT TO KEEP MY JOB. I APOLOGIZE, BUT THERE IS SIMPLY TOO MUCH FOR ME TO DO RIGHT NOW, WHAT WITH RECONSTRUCTION AND EVERYTHING.
/END FILE/
(PRESS )ENTER( TO CONTINUE)
- A wave of terrorist attacks have hit various UNSC facilities throughout the colonies this month. While losses in terms of lives have been minimal - an Ensign worker, two Military Police guards and four terrorists - structural damage to said facilities was still enough to warrant concern from a great amount of UNSC officials. Word is spreading that this may be but the beggining of an Insurrectionist resurgence, though there is no concrete proof, as the UNSC have so far failed to make any arrests.
Recent reports also confirm that a COM relay hub has been malfunctioning in the Beta Columbae System. While many assume that this is the sign of another attack, UNSC officials have so far refused to comment on this event. Read more on pages 2-5
- {View
chamber door opens – OXFORD and VENATOR enter
Sound
of viewer opening}
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Activating cameras inside the chamber.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t see anything.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We keep the lights off because the creature
gets…violent.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Well turn them on. If I’m going through the trouble
of coming here, I might as well get a look at the thing.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Activating internal lights.
{pause: 1 second}
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Jesus.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yeah.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It looks like a damn Prowler.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It doesn’t show up on infrared signatures – I don’t
know what kind of heat retention and regulation systems these things have, but
it’s very efficient.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And you say it has acid for blood?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: A very concentrated acidic material. I don’t know if
it’s blood, but it goes through titanium in minutes. One of the subjects got
loose early on – you should see what it did to the guards’ body armour.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Any luck isolating the specific compounds?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It all decomposes rapidly after death. Hanson thinks
it’s an intentional failsafe system – disposes of all the evidence, leaving no
trace of what it was.
{sound
of impact against viewer}
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s really going ballistic in there. Is that normal?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Believe it or not, this is subdued. We’re keeping the
isolation chamber at negative thirty degrees Celsius, studying the effect of
prolonged cooling. So far it seems to have had little. Turning up the heat has
even less effect. We think our presence is what triggers it.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Our presence? It can see us?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t know if it can see anything. It may
use thermal, electromagnetic, or some other type of sense we’ve never
encountered. We’ve turned the chamber into a virtual faraday cage, and it can
still feel when we’re here.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s this…animated at thirty below? I’d hate to see
it at full capacity.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I have videos, if you like to see them.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’d like to very much.
{Viewer is closed, sounds of thrashing continue
Terminal 88876-HOTEL in use}
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We tried to keep it caged initially. For feeding – at
the time, we had a couple of guards drag a cow carcass in while the creature was
chained at the back. The chains snapped. The men were dead in less than thirty
seconds.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Dear lord…
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Trust me, sir, god had nothing to do with this. A few
of the lower staff call it the Black Devil – I’m inclined to agree with them.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What’s that thing it’s using here?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The bite? That’s a secondary jaw. I don’t know what
point it serves, but it’s damn effective. And strong too – half a tonne of bite
force. Look, you can see it just takes a chunk out of Waterson here without much
effort. The other Marines draw their weapons, but they can’t penetrate the
exoskeleton – here you see Janson go down. That tail is razor sharp.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And the last one-
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Not pretty.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Jesus…
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I told you it wasn’t pretty. Needless to say the
feeders are automated now.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And all this was done by just one of these things?
How many of them did you capture?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The facility currently holds thirty two individuals.
They have a complicated life cycle that I really don’t want to go into in
detail, but to boil it down to it’s simplest components they lay an embryo
inside a host, and the embryo bursts out, killing the host, and survives on its
own until it’s fully grown. They mature rapidly – a few days at most. They can
impregnate virtually any creature larger than a cat, so long as it had a mouth –
any creature.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’ve tried it?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Most body types. Bipedal. Quadrupedal. Amphibious.
Aquatic. Aerial. Every body type yields a different result – they seem to take
on some characteristics of the original host. I won’t go so far as to say
genetic transference, but adoption of basic body structure and method of
locomotion. They’re very adaptable – this above all else may be the key to their
success.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I can imagine. They target the most successful
lifeforms, use the traits that made them successful as they build up their
strength, and then expand to other species.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You can see the results in this specimen – this one
gestated within a bipedal host. You can see that it’s able to move on all
fours, especially when it climbs on the walls and ceiling like now, but it
prefers bipedal locomotion.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You have another specimen ready?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We have two observation chambers, yes sir. But
specimen two is-
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Show me.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It might come as a bit of a shock, sir-
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Show me.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Okay then…this is a Queen.
{Sound
of viewer opening}
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The bitch is huge!
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We think they get bigger in the wild. This one is
missing the egg sack – we removed it three days ago. We’re getting ready for
phase two of the project, deployment, and for that we need the eggs. Usually she
secretes a resin, gluing herself to the walls and ceiling for anchorage to
support the egg sac – you can see the stumps are still there from last time.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s not moving.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No. It isn’t. We’ve tried turning up and down the
temperature, bombarding it with microwaves, alpha waves, beta waves, gamma
waves. It hurts her – we think – but as soon as it stops she calms down. She’s
smart; maybe even sentient. The rest of the specimens are barely on an animal
level – all instinct, rage and viciousness. But not her. She’s cold,
calculating. If she had eyes, she’d be looking through the camera at you.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And she controls the rest of the specimens? Like a
hive?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We’re blocking the pheromones – we vent this chamber
directly to the outside, taking the air for the other specimens from a separate
source. The vents don’t cross. We have a few backups, but we’ve never had to use
them.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You don’t think it’s risky?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You want this place in the open air?
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Point taken. What about the others? You said they had
several body types – can you show me a few of them?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Both of the observation chambers are full, but we
have some footage from previous analyses. I can freeze a few frames, get you a
better look at them.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Do it.
{Sound
of viewer closing
Terminal 88876-HOTEL is activated}
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You can see the aquatic form here – graceful isn’t
it? You can see that the forearms are vestigial, and the legs are replaced by a
massive tail. We used a dolphin, but the fluke is still vertical. There are
Runners, too – this one hatched out of a dog, but it looks identical to one
hatched out of a cat. Body types, not genotypes. And here we have-
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Another queen?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Hah, no, but you’re close. Using ants as an analogue,
most of the forms are workers and lower-class soldiers – the drones. These are
the elite soldier class, the personal body guard of the Queen. We’ve nicknamed
them Praetorians.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: They look like queens.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: But notice the paler exoskeleton, the more subtle
crest, the less bulky frame? We really don’t know what they are – we don’t
currently have any Praetorians, not after the last outbreak. BLIGHTBLOOD brought
down our only specimen himself, but after his…accident…we weren’t confident
enough to create another. It’s a hormonal metamorphosis, triggered by the Queen
– the actual transformation drives the rest of the hive crazy, they attack the
fledgling Praetorians, drive them from the hive. When they return, fully
transformed, they’re welcomed back without any fuss. We think they’re either
male drones used to fertilise the Queen, a “king” if you will, or perhaps a
hormonally stunted Queen to replace the current matriarch if anything happens to
it. We haven’t tested out the latter theory, because it’s a valuable specimen
and if we’re proved wrong we’ll have to start again. Breeding a queen is a
tricky process.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I heard. How many “staffers” did you go through?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: More than I care to mention.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Any luck with weaponising them? Can we control them?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We’ve had some luck with specific, targeted
deployments. We tested one against SHOGUN – it didn’t succeed, but it caused
enough mayhem for them to completely overlook Codename CATARACT. They just got
WOTAN – no great loss. Took out a whole SWAT team with no effort, eventually
brought down by ORPHEUS and VECTOR. Not sure who got the killing shot-
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It was probably VECTOR. Best marksman I ever met. Or
“marks-woman”. Shame she lost her stomach on her last op, but I doubt we’ve seen
the last of her.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The real problem is targeting. The entire species
seems designed to wipe entire planets clean of all life, sentient or otherwise –
it’s as virulent as the Flood in that respect, if a little slower to spread. If
you wanted a Covenant world wiped out, then we could drop a few eggs – the new
hive would wipe everyone out in a matter of months, or maybe even weeks. Sending
them after one or two people is next to impossible.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I expect you to find a way. After your work on
ACCRETION, you came very highly recommended.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I know sir, but the Flood is an entirely different
matter – the problems there are biological, not behavioural. These creatures are
the perfect planet steriliser, but they aren’t exactly assassins. As the Majorca
deployment showed. Are you working on getting that specimen back?
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: DRACULA is sending in his best, for what it’s worth.
They’ll bring back what’s left.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Good. We’ve been too cautious to actually kill one
ourselves, so having a look at post-mortem remains would be a welcome
opportunity.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Are Weyland-Yutani providing you with adequate help?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I must confess their experience with the creatures
has been most helpful, but I have my reservations about them. The private sector
has never been the most trustworthy partners for projects like this – profit
matters more than results.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I assure you, doctor, I share your reservations
completely. I have GARGOYLE and TOLTEC looking into the LV-426 and Fiorina-161
incidents right now – I can’t say I blame the company for their eagerness, given
what we stand to gain from your work, but their recklessness is disappointing.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ve heard they’re trying to perfect full-personality
cloning?
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Good luck to them. Let them chase wild geese. We’ll
stay after the real game.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We’re ready to test a wide-scale deployment in a few
weeks – we’ve selected a Blood Covenant colony, small, out of the way, only a
few million inhabitants; Brutes, Grunts and Jackals. No shipyards, very little
in the way of military assets – a perfect target.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You expect a hive to wipe it out in a few months?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I expect them to wipe it out in weeks.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’ll forgive me if I don’t hold my breath.
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You can do whatever you want to spend your time –
pick something short. Go skiing. Take a cruise. Read a good book. By the time
you’re finished, they’ll be done.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’ve got the NOVA bomb?
OXFORD<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It took four of your teams to get it. It’s not
necessary, I assure you – our subjects will be quite enough.
VENATOR<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: The bomb isn’t for the Brutes, doctor. Its for
other contingencies. Good day. Merry Christmas.
- Charlie Two<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Who cut the lights?
Charlie Oscar:
Security breach, level, level two and level seven! All personnel to combat alert
alpha! Fire teams, scramble!
Bravo
Three<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What the hell, man? How’d the find us? Even ONI
doesn’t know where we are?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You heard the man, Marines! Grab your gear and move
out! THREE, take Alpha and Bravo and head on down to the basement, reinforce the
safe room – keep communications to visual hand signals. TWO, take Echo through
Juliet and move up to the roof, sweep-and-clear room-by-room. Charlie and Delta
on me – we’re evac’ing level two.
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You heard the man, boys and girls! Move out!
{Jostling and clattering as personnel are deployed. Sound of doors being pushed
open.}
Charlie Oscar:
Backup security camera shows seven…no, nine teams. Bastards are rapelling down
the side of the building.
{Sound of
an explosion}
Charlie Oscar:
Sounds like they just ran into ORPHEUS. What’s your status Indigo?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Evacuating second floor, on the move. How do you have
eyes-on?
Charlie Oscar:
Secondary power. There’s a generator buried under the basement – you’d need to
knock the building down to get to it.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Don’t put anything past them, Charlie Oscar. You’re
secure?
Charlie Oscar: I
locked myself in the quarantine block. Bastards are going to have to get past
the machineguns, flamethrowers, and mines if they want to reach me.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Stay armed anyway.
Charlie Oscar: Copy
that. Second floor, two hostiles entering through the window – they’re in. Right
by the window.
{Sound of
shots fired, MA5C ICWS}
Charlie Oscar: Nice
shot. There’s no more on your floor, but it looks like Indigo Two and his teams
have engaged Tangoes on four.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What about Indigo Three?
Charlie Oscar:
Sitting tight. She just flashed me a thumbs-up.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Keep watch for more rapellers. I’m getting the agents
to the roof. Keep in contact.
{Door
opens, shots fired }
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Hold your fire! Friendlies coming in!
Col.
V. Forrester: What
the hell is going on out there? It sounds like a damn shooting gallery!
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Intruders. Nine teams, unknown strength, unknown
hostiles. We’re evacuating the building.
Col.
V. Forrester: Just
point me at ‘em, son. I may not be a damned Spartan, but I can take down a Tango
just fine.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Negative. Orders are to evacuate the building.
Where’s SHOGUN?
Col.
V. Forrester: I
don’t know. I thought he was with you – he just left the room a minute ago.
Charlie Oscar:
Incoming! I can’t tell if its hostile, but it’s hurt!
{Sound
of shots fired }
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Damn it!
{Door
opens, sound of body impacting on floor.}
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sir!
Col.
V. Forrester:
SHOGUN!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m okay. Bastard got me in the shoulder. I got him
in the head. There’s two more Tangos out there, Andrew, taking cover behind the
desks.
{Door
opens, bullets deflected of energy shields.
Shots
fired; MA5C ICWS, BR55HB-SR, M6G PDWS
Door
closes.}
Col.
V. Forrester: We’re
probably not getting out that way, then.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sirs, stand back.
{Explosion – INDIGO ONE has just smashed through the wall, flanking the enemy
Shots
fired; MA5C ICWS}
Col.
V. Forrester:
Jesus! You’re gonna have a hell of a repair bill!
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Stay behind me, weapons out!
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: One, I’m on the roof. Tangos have a Pelican hovering
above us.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Any heavy firepower?
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Just me, sir. The Marines didn’t make it.
Col.
V. Forrester:
Jesus...
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: They’ve got me pinned down right now. I can’t return
fire.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Hold on, Two. Backup is on the way. Charlie, Delta,
move out!
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You guys need help? I can see the dropship – I could
practically reach out and touch the gunner.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Do it.
{scream, sound of gunfire stops.
Explosion, sound of impact nearby.}
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Well, the neighbours aren’t going to be happy about
that.
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Thanks for the assist, ORPHEUS.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Happy to help. Now where’s the rest of the bastards?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Level two is clear.
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Rooftop is clear.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And I managed to clear out three and four.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: ORPHEUS, move up. Jeremy, move down. Clearout
everyone you find, and when you meet up meet me in the basement.
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes sir.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sure thing.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Charlie Oscar, you still there?
Charlie Oscar:
Yeah, but the bastards are jamming me. Last I saw, three teams were heading down
to the basement, and one headed my way.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Don’t worry. You’ve got machineguns and flamethrowers
and mines to protect you.
Charlie Oscar: I
could do without the sarcasm, thank you!
{Shots
fires; MA5C ICWS, BR55HB-SR, M7 Caseless Submachine Gun, various}
Charlie One<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We’ve been engaged!
Delta
One<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Pick your targets, Marines!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Are they human?
Delta
One<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: As far as I can tell, yeah. Jeez!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Well, at least that’s something.
Charlie One<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Can you guys hurry up, please? We’re taking a
pounding over here!
{Explosion – third floor ceiling/fourth floor. Screams.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Shots fired; MA5C ICWS.}
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’ve heard that one before.
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Show off.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Knock it off, ORPHEUS. We’ve got a job to do.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t care. You point me at the enemy, I’ll shoot.
After that, I don’t take orders from you.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Get to the basement. They’re going after Charlie
Oscar – if they get to him, we lose out coordination.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Got it. Oh, and Andrew?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Good luck.
INDIGO
ONE: …right.
INDIGO
THREE {via text
burst transmission}: EYES ON HOSTILE TANGOS. PERMISSION TO ENGAGE?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Weapons free, Laura. Bring the bastards down.
{Shots
fired; SRS99D-S2AM Sniper Rifle}
INDIGO
THREE {via text
burst transmission}: TANGOS NEUTRALISED.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sit tight, Laura. ORPHEUS is on his way.
INDIGO
THREE {via text
burst transmission}: OH. FANTASTIC.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Haha. Very funny.
Col.
V. Forrester: What
are they after? They’re not doing a standard kill job, so they must be looking
for something.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: My guess is the creature. Or what’s left of it.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Hold your fire! Friendlies coming into the open!
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: How many are you?
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: About a dozen. Some field agents, mostly analysts.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Get to the roof. Evac is on its way.
RAINFALL<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Yes sir.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: JUNO, you have the intel?
JUNO:
Yes sir. Whatever happens, I still have a backup copy.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Good. Get to the chopper, dropship, whatever we have
up there. Colonel, could you join them?
Col.
V. Forrester: I’m
not running away!
JUNO:
Er, sir? We’d er, be honoured if you’d escort us. There are a lot of
analysts.
Col.
V. Forrester: Well,
er…alright then. But I take point, got it? I expect you to keep up and hold
your own, even if you are in a wheelchair, and I don’t want you getting in my
way.
JUNO:
I wouldn’t dream of it, sir.
Col.
V. Forrester: What
about you, SHOGUN?
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m staying here.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Sir, I need you on the roof now. If we lose the
basement, then you’ll be their next target.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Like hell, Andrew. HEPHAESTUS is still down there.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: We’ll get to him, sir. Head up to the landing zone.
We’ll take care of the Tangos and extract HEPHAESTUS and Charlie Oscar, then
join you on the roof.
Col.
V. Forrester: Now
who doesn’t want to run?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Take my sidearm, sir.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Fine. But if anything happens to HEPHAESTUS-
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It won’t. Move.
{Stairwell/ramp access door opens and closes.}
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Charlie Oscar, do you copy?
Yeah,
Indigo One, I’m still here.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What’s your status?
Screwed.
They got past the machineguns. Don’t ask me how. They cut the cameras too, so I
have no idea what they’re doing to the flamethrowers.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m on my way.
Don’t.
I’ve got a rifle here, and enough ammo. I can use the processors for cover.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You’ll die.
I know.
Get to HEPHAESTUS.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Good luck.
You too,
Andrew. It feels good to be on a first name basis with a Spartan!
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: …what’s yours?
My what?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Your name.
Believe
it or not, it really is Charlie. Charles du Pont.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Andrew Three-Oh-Six.
They
don’t give you Spartans last names?
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It keeps things simple.
{Sound of
impacts against metal. Hissing sound }
They’re
starting to cut through. Locking and loading – always wanted to say that.
Charlie Oscar signing off!
{Explosion, door is blown inward.
Sound
of gunfire; MA5C ICWS, BR55HB-SR, M6C}
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Charlie Oscar? Do you copy?
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: He’s not going to be answering to anybody.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Who is this? Identify yourselves.
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I don’t think so.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What do you want?
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You know what we want. Open up security around it,
and I’ll let the old man live.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: HEPHAESTUS?
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Whatever he calls himself.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Don’t to it, Andrew!
{Sound
of a scuffle, muffled thump}
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: He’s bruised and bleeding, but nothing broken yet. If
you do it quickly, he might even stay that way.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Okay. I’m doing it. Just don’t hurt him.
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: And no tricks. I have the cameras – I can see
everything.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: No tricks.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {via text burst transmission}: LAURA? GET READY.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m removing the security protocols now. Have your
men ready to enter the decontamination area.
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Why?
INDIGO
THREE {via text
burst transmission}: IN POSITION.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: You want to contaminate what you’re after? Or have it
contaminate you?
{Muffled, orders to compatriots}
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: If you try anything, the old man dies. I don’t care
who he is, or what he does.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Whatever you say.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {via text burst transmission}: JEREMY ARE YOU READY?
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {via text burst transmission}: AFFIRMATIVE
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {via text burst transmission}: ORPHEUS?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New""> {via text burst transmission}: AS EVER.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Decontamination room open.
{Shots
fired; SRS99D-S2 AM
Explosion – Charlie Oscar Control Room}
{Unknown}<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Aaargh!
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Down on the ground! Do it now!
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Drop the weapon!
{Shots
fired; M6C/SOCOM}
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: TWO, ORPHEUS, status?!
INDIGO
TWO<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: It’s okay, ONE. HEPHAESTUS is secure.
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Two shots to the head. Couldn’t have happened to a
nicer guy.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: I’m alright, Andrew. Thank you.
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: How’s the specimen?
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Still secured, as far as I know.
INDIGO
THREE {via text
burst transmission}: IT’S GONE.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: What? What happened?
INDIGO
THREE {via text
burst transmission}: NOBODY GOT PAST ME. THERE’S A HOLE IN THE WALL.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: But it’s two floors underground!
INDIGO
THREE {via text
burst transmission}: NEVERTHELESS. IT WAS CAVED IN JUST NOW. THE SPECEMIN IS
GONE.
HEPHAESTUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Damn!
INDIGO
ONE<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: SHOGUN, this is Indigo. The asset’s been taken. I
repeat, the asset has been taken.
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Nevermind, Indigo. I expected DRACULA to do
something, even if not something so overt. He’s really forcing my hand.
JUNO:
Sir, the dropship’s here!
SHOGUN<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Get up here, Indigo, ORPHEUS. We’re getting the hell
out of here. He’s forced my hand – lets see if it beats his hand.
ORPHEUS, are you up for an op? No backup, probably hundreds of enemies, unknown
location?
ORPHEUS<span style="font-family:
"Courier New"">: Just point me at them, SHOGUN!
|
