- BehemothDread101
- |
- Exalted Legendary Member
Chapter 2
Dr. Rawlins brushed the sweat from his eyes as he ran through the ship Resilient Peace. Why does my room have to be on the other side of the ship? he thought, pausing to catch his breath. He looked around at the marines walking past him. He nodded politely, and the marines returned the gesture. Once he had controlled his breathing, he began his sprint back to his office. Once inside, he locked the door and turned to the mirror. Looking at himself, he frowned, seeing his appearance.
He couldn't remember the last time he had shaven, let alone had a bath. Rawlin's once short, brown hair was starting to fall into his eyes and was liberally streaked with gray. He had always thought of himself ruggedly handsome, but now he simply looked rough, worn by the many years he had seen. I guess even I can't halt old age's advancement. His new project had kept him so busy, Rawlins could barley tell what time it was or the last time he had had a night's sleep. Frowning, he turned his sink on and splashed himself in an attempt to stay awake. Whatever reason that Captain Xavier had called for, he was sure that it was important. He wasn't one that simply called someone up just to have a chat.
Rawlins turned to face the holographic projector resting on his desk and switched it on. An iridescent hologram of the Captain appeared. Xavier was in his late fifties, but you would never have know by looking at him. He was a man that believed in keeping his body in peek performance, even if he wasn't actually in any real combat. Dr. Rawlins put on his biggest smile and said, "Good day, Captain. How are you doing today?"
"Stow the pleasantries, doctor. We have a situation." the captain seemed more agitated than Rawlins had ever seen. His grin evaporating, he asked, "What seems to be the problem, captain?" "I need information, and you're the only one who has all the answers I need." The doctor stiffened. There was only one thing that Xavier could be talking about, and he knew that it couldn't be could.
Back in his early twenties, Dr. Rawlins had been selected to head a top secret project that only half a dozen people knew about. He knew that once the project was over and done with, ONI would have taken every caution imaginable to keep it quiet. And yet, over two decades later, here was the captain asking him about his greatest achievement.
The captain said, in a quiet voice, "I need you to tell me about your old assignment. I need to know about Spartan 214." The doctor slid into a nearby chair. He hadn't thought about 214 in ages. For some reason, Rawlins had a very bad feeling about this. Why would the captain be asking about that particular Spartan?
"Now, Captain. Why do you think I had anything to do with a Spartan?"
"Don't be coy with me, Daniel." snarled Xavier. "I suggest you answer my questions, immediately." Wow, he must be really tense to be calling me by name like that, thought Rawlins. He began to speak, when he was hit with a realization. "How do you even know about my involvement, Captain? The way I understand, ONI would have wiped any mention of it from their records."
"I had someone do a little digging." answered the Captain, as a glowing blue figure appeared by his side. She was an young oriental girl dressed in a kimono, with lines of code streaming across her body.
"I can be very persuasive, doctor." she said, with a smirk. "ONI tried to wipe everything out, but they missed just a little bit, specifically the mention of a Doctor Rawlins's involvement in a test subject 214."
"Ah, I should have know you would send Mai Ling to snoop. I'm simply impressed she found anything at all." With a smile and a bow, Mai disappeared, leaving the doctor alone with the captain.
Xavier starred at Rawlins and asked, "Well, you just going to sit there or are you going to give me some answers?" Rawlins started to tell him no, but he began to think of the past few years he had spent aboard the ship. Xavier had always treated him kindly and with respect, and sometimes even like a friend. They had been through many battles and through more close calls, and the very least he owed the captain was answers to his questions.
"You know that everything I''m about to tell you is strictly confidential. And you can't unlearn the things I tell you. You can never tell anyone else as long as you live, understand?" The Captain nodded, eager to hear his story.
"Normally I wouldn't even answer you, but something major must be going on to have you so hot and bothered." with glee, he saw the Captain scowl. He couldn't help messing with the captain. Rawlins thought back, remembering a young boy standing in front of him. He had had raven-black hair and piercing green eyes, and he had been one of the most promising subjects Dr. Halsey had picked. "I'm not sure how well you're informed, but the Spartans were chosen at a young age. We tested countless DNA samples, and picked the ones that had the best compatibilities. While Dr. Halsey went and checked out the children, I was sent to investigate one, and only one, child."
He paused for a moment, thinking back to what seemed a lifetime ago. "ONI had told me to go check out this child, and to not raise any suspicion. The problem they had, was that this child was a prodigy, a celebrity on his planet. His IQ was astronomical for a kid his age. He was a technological wizard. His genes had seen fit to bless him with every quality we were looking for, so when we began to bring the children in, I was told to keep it a secret. I mean, even more so than the others."
"For the longest time, the boy trained with the other children, them unaware of his intellect. He acted awkward around the other children, though. The poor boy wasn't always accepted by the other kids, but they all got along well. He went through all the same training and tutoring as everyone else, but we saw that his potential was far, far greater than the others. He was given special tutoring on the side, and by the time he was ready for the Spartan Augmentation Processes, he had learned so much that he was assigned his own AI that taught him some highly advanced stuff. Things only an AI could teach a child, like propulsion technology, quantum mechanics, and some stuff I don't even know how to pronounce. Things that would take normal humans several lifetimes to learn. He just soaked it up."
"And when he came out of the augmentations, he-" Rawlins paused, reliving the moment from his past. "His body seemed made for all of the enhancements. He wasn't the tallest one out of the whole group, but close. Could bench press more than most other Spartans. He could nearly keep up with Kelly. But the one thing that really separated him from the others was his intelligence."
Rawlins leaned forward and starred the captain in the eyes. "Knowledge is power, Captain. And Spartan 214 was the most intelligent person I have ever met. 214 was the one who built nearly everything in the Mark IV Mjolnir armor. He would collect items from the covenant after he killed and would disassemble them, trying to figure out how it all worked. Once we had acquired enough tech, he actually designed the shield system for the Spartans' armor. Not only that, but he would enhance his own armor, adding all kinds of tech to make him stronger, faster, and deadlier. I once saw him get in a foot race, against a Warthog. He chased it down. Once he caught up to it a mile later, he picked it up and threw it back to us. Simply put, Captain, Spartan 214 is the greatest soldier, and the best Spartan, that we have ever produced."
While Rawlins had recounted his story, the captain had been awestruck. He was impressed at the abilities of 214, but now that he knew his capabilities, it made what he knew so much worse. Xavier shook his head. "Of all them, it had to be him, didn't it?"
Xavier looked into Rawlins face and told him, "Yesterday at 0400 hours, we received a transmission from a planet at the very edge of the Sol system." The Captain disappeared, and the doctor turned to face his monitor. A video popped up, showing several men in masks, standing beside a hulking figure clad in black armor. The first figure lifted his mask and said, "Greeting, UNSC. I am Lieutenant Harold, of the United Rebel Front. I am sending you this message to inform you that one of your super soldiers has joined our cause."
Rawlins jumped up out of his chair and rushed to the monitor. When the Spartan turned to the left, he saw an emblem of a wolf howling on his right shoulder. the very same logo he himself had painted onto 214. There is no way this could be real, he told himself, and yet there it was, right in front of him.
The man that called himself Lieutenant began to yell, "That's right, you murdering bastards! One of your very own Spartans has joined the United Rebel Front. We shall turn your own weapon against you." Harold grinned wickedly. "You have become the makers of your own destruction." The video cut out, leaving Rawlins starring at a blank screen.
Rawlins shook his head as he heard Captain Xavier gravely say, "We have orders to head to planet Gastoon to investigate this alleged report." He saw the look of confusion on the doctors face and asked, "Is there something wrong, Daniel?"
"Yes, Captain. Why of all times is the URF reappearing? It can't be a coincidence that as soon as the fighting with the Covenant is over, they just appear like this. Especially with a Spartan on their side." He had a thought and looked at the captain with hope. "Unless the signal we received had been sent years ago, before the war began."
Xavier shook his head. "I'm sorry son, but this was sent little more that a year ago, right before the peace treaty was signed. I'm afraid to say that the URF has indeed returned."