- MaxRealflugel
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- Elder Mythic Member
Part 18
March 30th, The Office of Strategic Command, Frankfurt, Germany
John stood patiently in the dimly lit room, waiting for the line of officers to digest the information.
Cortana had been more than thorough in their collective debrief on the new alien threat, and Hood had been extremely supportive throughout the process, reiterating that he would have done the same, if the situation had presented itself to him instead of the Chief and Cortana.
Surprisingly though, the board of officers that now sat in front of him were unimpressed with the news of yet another threat.
But what worried John most was the fact that they reacted with, not shock and fear, but almost a level of overconfidence, bordering on cocky.
They had obviously forgotten that the only reason why Humanity had survived in the end was because of the split within the Covenant. Not because the UNSC had delivered a killer blow, which is what these blind fools seemed to think.
John shifted his weight from one side to the other; he was steadily becoming frustrated by the lack of urgency, something which one of the silver haired officers noticed.
“Master Chief,” He started.
John braced back into a more attentive posture. “Yes sir.”
“Though we applaud your outstanding record in the war with the Covenant, and the sacrifices that have been made by the SPARTAN II program, we all feel that the situation with this new ‘Enemy’ could have been handled better.”
Cortana jumped into the conversation, “Sir if I may remind you, the Forerunner technology was operating independently, with no interference from either myself of the Chief.”
The officer leant back slightly in his chair, as though recoiling from the rapid verbal barrage.
“I understand that…Cortana,” the officer was reluctant to acknowledge an AI by their name. “But the Chief fired first, not the aliens. There should have been some attempt to communicate.”
“If we had attempted to communicate…sir!” blasted Cortana “Then we would not be stood here. The alien vessel fired on the facility after the planet based weaponry activated and fired autonomously. After crash-landing, the aliens then made their way into the structure using their weapons to neutralise anything in their path, and that would have included us.”
Sensing that the main subject and purpose of the debrief was being lost, John stepped in to refocus the conversation. “Sir, if I may, I think that we need to concentrate on this new threat.”
The officer relaxed. “Of course Master Chief, please continue.”
“This new threat is obviously focussed on anything related to the Forerunners, or their technology. And as Earth is now host to a large Forerunner artifact as are many other present and former colonies, I think it’s fair to say that we haven’t seen the last of these aliens.”
The officer shuffled some papers on his desk, thumbing through some of the images of the aliens in question before looking up at John. “Go on.”
“The Arbiter agrees, as do Cortana and Lord Hood that we need to act quickly if we are to survive any attack from them.”
“What makes you think they’ll come here Master Chief?” voiced another officer with red hair.
John turned to face the officer directly, “Because sir, we are linked in many ways to the Forerunners. We are supposedly their descendants.”
The red haired officer immediately interjected, “There is no concrete proof of that Master Chief.”
“Perhaps not, but I don’t think these aliens care. They’ll still come, regardless of the facts. And when they do, we need to be ready for them.”
Another officer sat in the centre of the board, rapped his fingers on the desk before speaking. “What do you propose we do Master Chief?” he said calmly.
“We need to coordinate with the Elites a suitable plan of defence. I suggest that every ship in the fleet has its MAC gun modified to operate at a higher rate of fire, and that all ground troops use high velocity armour piercing rounds, and where possible, Gauss weapons and ammunition.”
The officer in the centre of the table quickly turned to look at the far right hand corner of the room, where a dark shadow was cast. John had noticed that someone was stood there when he first came in, so it came as no surprise when the officer started speaking to a collection of shadows.
“General Moore, do we have anything in R&D that would help the Master Chief in any way?”
John’s interest was immediately peaked with the mention of R&D. He knew what it stood for - Research & Development. Most of his weaponry, including the more recent Spartan laser, had come from this enigma filled arm of the UNSC.
The general in the corner took a single step forward. “The Master Chief needn’t worry about what firepower he’ll have. It’s all in good hands.” He said quietly.
The senior officer in the middle nodded in concurrence, and the general quietly disappeared into the shadows.
“I understand your point of view Master Chief, and I agree,”
Cortana immediately smiled.
The officer continued, “I believe I speak for us all and the rest of humanity, when I say that we fully support you. This new threat will no doubt present itself in the very near future, so I believe it is important for us to prepare for the worst, by selecting our best.”
John tried not to read into the comment too much, but it was the last part of the officer’s sentence that had caught his attention – ‘by selecting our best’. Did he mean by selecting John, or were there more Spartans to choose from?
He tried to resist the urge to ask, but his attempts for once, were futile. “Sir, am I the last? Am I the last Spartan?”
A huge cat-like grin creeped across the face of the officer, “I think there is only one person that can answer that question Master Chief.”
John was puzzled. What did he mean?
The officer pressed a small COM switch on the desk in front of him and spoke, “Lieutenant Wellens, please show the good doctor in.”
“Yes sir.” came the reply.
The double doors behind John quietly opened, and a slender female figure with dark hair walked into the room wearing a white lab coat.
In her left hand was a pair of glasses, which she was thumbing back and forth. In her right, a steaming cup of coffee.
John gazed in amazement at the person in front of him. She had a huge beaming smile, and was eye-locked to the point of paralysis. It had been so long since he’d seen a familiar face. A face that had helped make him the soldier that he was today.
“I’d know that rock solid stance anywhere.” She said.
“Hello Doctor Halsey.” John said nervously.
“I’ve told you before John, just call me Catherine.” She grinned.
John offered her a hand to shake, but instead Catherine dropped the steaming coffee cup on the floor and tried to embrace him like a small child. The bulky armour made it difficult, but not impossible.
“It’s so good to see you again John.” whispered Catherine, before noticing Cortana standing patiently on the nearby holo-plinth.
“Good afternoon doctor.” waved Cortana.
Catherine barely pried herself away from John’s arms, “I hope you’ve been keeping him out of trouble Cortana.”
“Actually doctor, he’s been keeping me out of trouble.” replied Cortana.
“Ahem!” coughed the officer at the desk. “Master Chief. Doctor Halsey arrived only four days before you did, and she brought some help.”
John pulled himself away slightly to look directly at Doctor Halsey. “Kelly?” He enquired.
John had been worried about Kelly, after doctor Halsey had disappeared with her on a ship over a year ago.
“Better than that John. I brought a family of Spartans with me.” she said excitedly. “Some you’ll know, others you won’t.”
The doors to the room opened again and in walked a collection of Spartans.
Three of them were wearing armour very similar to John’s. Three more, smaller figures walked softly into the room behind the more familiar Spartans, but these were wearing an armour configuration that he was not familiar with.
Doctor Halsey pointed to each of the Spartans in turn. “These as I’m sure you know are Kelly, Linda and Fred. The other Spartans are from the SPARTAN III program, which was initiated by Colonel Ackerson. Ash, Olivia and Mark I’d like to introduce you to John.”
The younger, smaller Spartans although in their armour could still be heard gasping with awe.
But Fred, Kelly and Linda were, for once in their lives, far less restrained as they each grabbed John in a bone crushing bear hug that would have killed an ordinary man.
The officer coughed a second time, “Excuse me doctor, Master Chief. I know it’s been a while, but we have a lot to discuss.”
All of the Spartans, young and old, immediately braced in unison. “Yes sir!” they bellowed.
Kelly activated a secure COM channel to John, “Welcome back to Blue Team.” She whispered.
To be continued…
[Edited on 01.08.2009 12:45 PM PST]