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The Siege of Zion Base; Prologue: Zion
Posted By: Scimitarex<scimitarex@omegacell.net>
Date: 11 February 2004, 12:52 AM
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0600 Hours, December 6, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion
John couldn't sleep. Then again, he hadn't been able to sleep well since the incident on that ring world known only as Halo. Ever since the escape from that place he had been having dreams. No. Not dreams...
Nightmares.
The kind of nightmares that woke you up in the middle of the night, sweating. The Flood had almost killed him. His injury where that small Flood infection form had stuck him still throbbed whenever he had these dreams.
But he was trained to deal with them. Not only had the Spartan program given him extraordinary speed, strength, sight, and hearing, but it had also given him a superior mind. He could control his pain.
Spartan-117 awoke to this pain. He immediately shoved the pain to the back of his mind. He knew the pain was only really in his mind anyway, the wound had healed completely months ago. The pain that was real was the pain of seeing so many of his brothers in arms slaughtered on Halo. But he was a soldier, and so were they. They knew the risks just as he did. He would not give into pain when he knew they would ask for nothing less than simply knowing they had done their duty.
John got out of his bed and strode to the showers. He had to be ready for today's evaluations. He was going to undergo testing for some minor adjustments to his neural implants. Shortly before the events of Reach and Halo, he had undergone some changes to his implants so that Cortana, the AI who had helped him through many challenges, could be linked directly into his MJOLNIR battle suit, and, in a way, his own brain. After several months of getting used to having this new advantage he was beginning to rely heavily on Cortana for tactical information and many other uses. Today was going to be another evaluation to test out some newfound advances in neural implant technology. They were relatively minor changes but they were helpful none the less. If there was one thing John knew, it was that he could, and would, use every advantage over the Covenant that he could get.
The evaluations were a series of tests of coordination, sight, and thinking that would be the grounds of which these improvements would be. The changes would make the neural implant, and himself, less dependent on Cortana. If for some reason she had to be somewhere other than in his battle suit, her subroutines could be duplicated and left in the suit to help him just as if she was really there. This had been a minor problem on Halo when he had to leave Cortana in Halo's Control Center and go off by himself to find Captain Keyes. She had not been with him and unable to help aid his reflexes and give him tactical information. Cortana had developed this procedure herself. A few months ago she had duplicated her infiltration subroutines into the Chief's suit so that her duplicate self could infiltrate the Covenant battle station Unyielding Hierophant. She had designed the whole procedure herself and asked John if he would be willing to try out the modifications.
He had agreed to the changes only after reading her hypothesis that if they were ever separated and separates a backup AI module of her tactical and infiltration subroutines would kick in automatically and help the Chief until they could be reunited. Of course, the duplicate Cortana would be less effective than the full Cortana but she projected and increase of at least 76% in combat effectiveness with the duplicate rather than the normal effectiveness without her full self. After seeing her projections he had agreed to go along with her experiment if ONI approved it. With Dr. Halsey MIA and unable to help she had had a difficult time getting the brass to accept her experiment. After a few days of petitioning they had finally agreed, though John suspected that she had done a little "dirty work" to get them to accept.
He knew that she would, without regret, modify files and snoop into databases that she wasn't supposed to if it meant getting what she wanted. If it meant making "her" Chief more capable of combat effectiveness and keeping him safer she would do whatever it took. He liked the fact that she looked out for him with the same determination as a mother or big sister would.
The fact was he admired her.
The PERSCOM system sounded in the barrack. It was Cortana, obviously calling him to make sure he was awake.
"Chief, today's the big day. Just making sure you have enough time to eat get dressed and down here within an hour."
"I'll be there in 45 minutes," John replied.
"Showoff. Just don't be late," Cortana said and then signed off.
Cortana was certainly taking this seriously. And I should too, he thought.
# # #
0655 Hours, December 6, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion
John, fully dressed and in uniform, walked down to the laboratory straight from the mess hall. He had finished his shower soon after Cortana had called and had gotten dressed. After his morning meal in the mess he had made his way to the lab by quickly jogging around the outside of the compound. He hadn't had time to workout this morning so he had jogged to get his body more fully awake and ready for this morning's tests.
Cortana had decided that the UNSC Test Facility code named Zion would be the best place to perform the tests and procedures. Since Reach had fallen, Zion was the best-equipped facility to handle these kind of tests and experiments. It was out of the way enough and highly fortified, at least compared to the those colonies that were left, that a surprise Covenant invasion would not set back their plans and give them a fighting chance to escape if need be.
For the few days he had been here he had seen many new vehicle and weapon prototypes that the UNSC were developing. He had seen technicians working on a new form of gravity plating that was being reverse-engineered from the Covenant's own technology taken from salvaged wrecks. The UNSC had already distributed this technology to all of the UNSC's main battle ships and stations. It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely better than working in zero-g or having huge spinning rings inside every starship. If the rings were to fail in combat it almost certainly meant destruction as everything would go haywire in seconds.
Another promising piece of technology he had seen were some new infantry weapons, though he had only seen them briefly. He didn't get to see them test fired so he didn't know what exactly they did or what calibre round they used. He was confident that when they were perfected the UNSC would distribute them to the troops for use in combat. To John, the idea of new weapons excited him.
He got to the lab in exactly 45 minutes of when he had told Cortana he'd be there. He congratulated himself silently in superb timing. He had expected to be one minute late but evidently he was a little faster than anticipated.
"You are a showoff you know that?" said Cortana as he entered the lab. John smiled and stood to attention.
"Master Chief Petty Officer 177 reporting for evaluation."
A lab technician entered the lab from an adjacent workroom. She was about 35 years of age from what John estimated and had close cropped brown hair. She bid him to sit down on the medical table near the wall to his right.
After he was finished sitting down she introduced herself.
"I am Dr. June Mathis, I will be performing the changes today with the help of Cortana."
Cortana immediately appeared in holographic form from the small holotank mounted on the wall near the medical table's end. Her purple body flowing with mathematical symbols and equations looked human in form. "I've handpicked Dr. Mathis for this procedure. She has extensive experience in neural technology. Let's get started shall we?"
John was told to lie on his stomach on the table and was administered a strong dose of something that made him sleepy. He remembered vaguely someone saying that he needed to be fully asleep since it was a rather lengthy procedure. He was unconscious within seconds and all he remembered was Cortana's pleasant voice telling him he would wake up in a few hours a new man.
# # #
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step
of Truth Covenant Battle
Cruiser Swift Retribution
Ebyo 'Icsumee was apprehensive. The Prophet of Retribution had summoned him from his command on the cruiser Revealing Light to come to his personal ship, Swift Retribution. The Prophet of Retribution was punisher of those soldiers who confused their loyalties or got too ambitious for their own good. He was the punisher of the disloyal, and executioner of those that defied the will of the High Prophet of Truth.
Ebyo knew he was not disloyal so he had no idea why he was here. Hopefully all would be explained before he went mad with anxiety.
Everything had been so swift. He had been going about his normal duties on his former ship when all of a sudden the Guardians of Truth, a revered and feared sect of Elites had come aboard. They had not been scheduled to arrive so he was somewhat displeased when they immediately ordered him to report to their small craft in the docking bay. No sooner had he gotten there when they had taken him into custody and ushered him onto their ship where they departed for the fringes of Covenant controlled space.
He had been confined to a small cabin that was furnished only with his necessities. He was given a generous amount of food for what he thought was solitary confinement. Obviously he was not a prisoner, but was rather being reassigned. When he had found out that the ship he had been taken to was the Swift Retribution his purple blood had gone completely cold.
Now, as he sat waiting for admittance, he could not only think about his fate, but why fate had led him here. Into the inner sanctum of the perhaps the most feared Prophet of them all.
After countless agonizing hours of waiting in his chambers aboard the ship, he was lead into the Chamber of Decision, the massive hall where you were told that you were disloyal and not worthy to serve the Truth anymore. From this chamber, none returned who were guilty.
As he passed the enormous purple-hued doors that made the entrance to the Chamber, he looked up to the ceiling. It was so high he could not determine how high it was. The walls were adorned with metallic tapestries that were only made for those Prophets who had earned them with their piety. They were beautiful, yet hideous. The swirling lines and concentric circles of purple, blue, yellow, red and dozens of other colors made patters that at first appeared beautiful. But upon closer scrutiny one could tell that the lines and swirls were not random but told the tales of those who had been found guilty by the Prophet. Depictions of the most gruesome and terrible deaths imaginable were on every wall. The most horrid of all was at the end of the hall above a large circular platform.
Ebyo immediately knew what the tapestries were for. They were there to wear down the mind of those who knew they had committed the crime of which they were about to be accused. They were designed to make the guilty so apprehensive that they could be immediately recognized as guilty.
No sooner had he come to this conclusion than the High Prophet of Retribution appeared out of thin air. He was a little unsettled that he had not seen the Prophet enter to the room. But he knew it was futile to dwell on it now. He was about to find out why he was here when he had done nothing wrong.
The Prophet was bathed in light the came from the high ceiling above. He sat upon a large hovering pedestal. His head was covered in an immense headdress that stood towering above the Prophets body. He was clothed in robes of pure yellow with swirling patterns of red, blue and purple. He wasn't sure, but he thought that the same kind of swirls that were present on the tapestries were depicted on the Prophet's robe. His next thought was to try to discern whether the robes told tales of horrible death also, but his thoughts were interrupted by the immense voice of the Prophet as he spoke.
"Do you know why you are here?" boomed the voice of the Prophet of Retribution.
"No. Great one," replied a suddenly weak Ebyo.
"It is as it should be, then," said the Prophet. "I have summoned you here to propose to you a most... worthy... assignment."
"What would make me worthy of an assignment by one such as you?" said Ebyo, barely able to contain his fear.
The Prophet's voice became suddenly louder, obviously enhanced by his telepathic mind. "The fact... that you have met the Immortal One in combat and survived."
The Immortal One. The mention of that very name gave him fear that chilled him his very soul. Four cycles ago he had been present on the Ascendant Justice when it had been lost to the humans. He had been fortunate enough to have been near the docking bay when they had boarded the ship. He had fought with the Immortal One, the one with armor greater than the Elite's own. He, being of the Special Elite of his caste had been wearing the hardened black armor of his sect. This alone had helped him to survive, as his armor was more advanced that the lower of his caste. After a few minutes of fighting the Immortal One, he had been knocked unconscious in a corridor leading away from the docking bay. The humans had locked them in the corridor from the bridge, but he discovered this only after he awoke.
After this the humans took the ship back to the system of the great battle at the human planet called "Reach". When the ship attempted to rescue survivors he had been able to slip back into the docking bay and exited the ship in a small atmospheric fighter. After the humans had escaped he had reported to the nearest base he had been able to find and was debriefed and reassigned to Revealing Light. Now, he almost wished he had not encountered the Immortal One.
"Well?" said the High Prophet.
Startled from his own thoughts, Ebyo looked up at the prophet floating above the raised platform. "I am... honored that you think me worthy of such a mission. What would you have me do?"
The Prophet smiled ever so slightly, "I would have you accept."
"Then I accept," replied Ebyo instantly.
The Prophet's small smile turned into a very blatant smirk.
"Very Good."
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