By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.
OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
Earth, Sol 3
Sol System
Old Mombasa, Kenya
2552
I was walking down a busy street; cars were driving past with the hubbub of hundreds of people trying to get to work. The Orbital Space Elevator was indeed a beautiful sight as I stopped to stare at it. It disappeared through the clouds leading to heaven itself, I’d always dreamed of a new world...
I was at the entrance of the Space Elevator, ready to join the Office of Naval Intelligence. The doors swung open and I emerged into a small formal office area, there was a front desk, currently unattended, and people were waiting in comfortable looking chairs. I walked up to the desk and pressed a bell, the call was immediately answered by a woman who walked through the back door and smiled.
“Name?” She set a clipboard on her lap and typed something in on a computer.
“Jonathon Tanner.” I said.
“Mr Tanner...Mr Tanner...” She flicked through a list of names.
“Ah yes, ONI head James Leister is on the sixteenth floor. He’ll be waiting for you.”
“Thank you.” I nodded to her and walked over to an elevator.
As I ascended to the sixteenth floor, I was able to look out on the massive city of Old Mombasa. There were hundreds of sky-scrapers, including the Traxus Facility and Army centres.
The Black Lake too divided this side from another which was currently being built to be a more “industrial” site than anything else.
I reached floor sixteen as the elevator stopped and the doors opened once again, floor sixteen was simply a massive office for the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, James Leister.
The doors and windows were a delicate glass with sofas and a small television broadcasting the news, I sat down and listened intently to the newsreader.
“Constant reports of Reach are coming in every day, the Covenant and Humanity fought for control of one of our final colonies left...The outcome was unfortunate for us as the planet was Glassed, further reports are on hold as ONI records are being examined. It is also said that the UNSC ship called Pillar of Autumn vanished in a massive hole created by seismic bombs and a Covenant slipspace drive, on board was Captain Jacob Keyes with the UNSC’s most advanced Artificial Intelligence, Cortana...Further reports are classified, good day to all of you.”
I sighed, more and more soldiers were dying every day. This was like no war ever waged before, with a mere 200 million of us left, hope was running out.
“Mr Tanner?” A voice came. I turned and saw the person who I presumed was James’ Assistant. I walked through the door and was asked to sit down; there was a large table in front of me, another door behind James’ chair and two people on either side of James.
“Welcome, Jonathon Tanner...” James said plainly. He had a strong British accent, dark black hair and wore a formal suit with a tie.
“This is Helen and Marty, my personal assistants.” He said. They both smiled at me. “...And I am James Leister, the owner of this sector of ONI.”
I nodded.
“I’ve read your profile, quite impressive...” James said. He pulled out a piece of laminated paper which he handed to me.
“Now twenty three years old, passed most tests with flying colours...Could be described as a nihilistic person with a good sense of humour and a well-rounded person.” James scratched his chin.
“We’ve got just the job for you,” James smiled at me; he then directed his attention to Marty. “Call Mr Galvin please.”
Marty nodded and left the room; he took out a mobile phone and called my new boss...Mr Galvin.
It was only a few minutes later a black limo pulled up outside and a man in a grey coat that went down to his feet, black leather gloves and a top hat that gave him a mysterious appearance.
He walked in proudly and looked around the room.
“Hi James,” He said in his American accent. “So where’s this new recruit your assistant told me about?” Galvin asked.
James held a hand out at me, “Jonathon, this is Rupert E Galvin. Head of our ONI division we call the Septagon.”
Galvin took his hat off and revealed brown, blonde hair, he looked like he was in his late forties to early fifties.
I shook Galvin’s hand and several minutes later we were in the limo, driving around Old Mombasa.
Ten minutes later...
“We are a special group of people who deal with both alien and Human threats. Terrorists, aliens, freaks...We just grade ‘em and smite ‘em.” Galvin stated plainly.
“Smite them?” I asked inquisitively.
“Oh yes sir, with extreme prejudice. We always get the job done.”
The car parked up next to my house, “You know where I live?” I asked. Both astounded and amused.
“Yeah, we’ll catch up later. You and me, boy’s night out, eh...” I opened my mouth to speak but Galvin cut across me.
“Good, I’ll see you at eight. Good day, Mr Tanner.” Galvin said. I shook his hand and entered my house.
I sat down on the sofa, thinking of what the future held for me. Galvin seemed a little familiar, someone I’d seen before but just couldn’t remember...I hated when this happened, losing a memory was one step closer to losing a life, my life.
I’d had a long day; the clock read 5pm so I decided to get some rest.
Beware, Jonathan...Beware something nasty pretending to be something nice...
[Edited on 02.01.2009 3:16 AM PST]