Post by rickrtickr on Dec 21, 2014 9:16:13 GMT -6
Welcome to my Fan-fiction. I have worked very hard to keep this as cannon as possible, but as it is a fan-fiction there will be things that differ from direct canon. Feel free to post comments, criticisms, and thoughts; I enjoy any reactions, and thoughts for improvements.
HALO
BLACK OPS
By: Richard L. Amsler
Prologue
// from the personal log of Dr. Catherine Halsey //
09/15/2517 – My team had an interesting encounter today, on our way to visit a new candidate for the program one of my guards bumped into a boy no more than eight. However the reason this was in any way strange was, when we reached the house of the recruit; one of the guards had lost his data card and his watch. Thankfully Mendez and I had seen fit to place specialized tracking equipment in all of the items that leave the base.
09/18/2517 – After a small search with our tech team we were able to pin-point the locations of our equipment. After brief questioning and triangulation of a search pattern we have the thief’s location, no shock to find that it was the boy we bumped into earlier. I have decided to recruit the boy; perhaps tomorrow we will pick him up.
//end log//
Chapter 1
8/14/2552 high orbit above reach,
The explosion was huge; the sight of a covenant super carrier being blown sky high was quite spectacular; it seemed that noble team had completed their mission. I knew that the transmission to noble team was classified and that ONI would like to believe that their coms were secure, but then nothing was secure against me and my A.I.
I could only watch for a few seconds before I had to focus on the task at hand, I was transporting a newly outfitted gauss warthog and a bay full of civilians to the UNSC Intrepid.
I reached for the control to open a com channel and said, “UNSC Intrepid this is pelican transport B-85; I am on route, ETA is 15 minutes have the slip space drive spun up and ready to jump I would like to be able to make another trip back here to pick up another group of civilians.”
A military voice came back over the com, “Confirmed Transport B-85 we are spinning up the drive now.”
I turned to the pilot, “you have the ship.”
The pilot confirmed and I walked to the bay. The civilians looked extremely frightened, I pulled off my helmet; it seemed to help pacify them. For some reason the armor and helmet of a Spartan seemed to cause anxiety in the average person. I steadied myself to address the civilians, “In roughly 15 minutes we will dock with the UNSC Intrepid; once there you will quickly follow the attendee that will be waiting for you there. He will take you to the secure area for slip-space jump, please pay attention to what he tells you and don’t wander off.”
I really hated working with civilians; it was like they just had to ignore everything the average officer had to say, but when a Spartan came into the room they obeyed out of a sense of mild fear.
“It could be worse.” Striker explained, (Striker was the Smart A.I. I had made around seven years ago. While most Smart A.I.’s tend to degrade after six years, Striker has escaped that fate. This is mostly due to the fact that he was created by me; when he first began to display the signs of rampancy I inserted his chip into the reader in the back of my helmet this allowed me to save all of his vital memory and dump any non-important data into a separate memory unit for safe keeping; this act allowed for the continued expansion of his systems)
“Now that the super carrier has been destroyed, Reach should be safe from the covenant, well at least long enough to evacuate the planet.”
I put my helmet back on as I turned to walk back to the cockpit, “Not funny; it is also just as likely that the carrier did get a signal off.”
“Well you want to bet on it?” Striker asked.
I ran through the probabilities of each outcome calculating each in turn. “You’re on; if I win you have to play two games of chess instead of just one.”
“Very well, but what if I win, what do I get?” Striker asked.
“Well if you win…” I started, before I was cut off by the pilot. “Sir we have multiple contacts entering orbit!” He exclaimed.
“Hostile?” I asked.
“Yes sir. Thirty plus covenant cruisers inbound!”
I had to think, dang it just stop and think. Then it hit me, “Does this pelican have an electromagnetic field at the back of the bay?”
“Yes sir. Why?” The man asked.
“Open a channel to the Intrepid.” I ordered.
“Channel open.”
“Intrepid this is transport B-85, ETA is 3 minutes. We are coming in hot I am going to provide an exit trajectory for you. Be ready to leave when the transport arrives.”
“Spartan I cannot just abandon Reach!” the captain of the Intrepid answered.
“Captain Reach has already fallen.” I replied.
“I don’t care! We can still help, if only to evacuate civilians!” The captain shouted.
“Sir I am sorry but the Intrepid is not a warship, you would only doom everyone you would try to save. You can only save so many.” I answered calmly.
“Very well Spartan we’ll jump as soon as you’re down. Intrepid out.” The captain replied.
I turned to the pilot, “Activate the field then unlock the airlock hatch I will com you when I am clear. AND DON’T SLOW DOWN!”
“Sir?” the pilot questioned.
“I need to barrow the hog, and I am afraid I am going to need a rain check on that escape plan.” I said as I walked to the back of the pelican. “Buckle up; things are going to get a little bumpy!” I shouted to the passengers; as I walked to the back hatch. As I walked to the airlock I checked to confirm that the passengers had secured their straps and saw that a young boy was having trouble getting his buckle fastened. I walked over to the nervous child and gently fixed the straps.
“Don’t worry you will be just fine, just do what the others tell you.” I said. The calmness of my voice steadied the boy, so I stood and walked back to the airlock.
“Bay is locked down; open the doors.”
The hatch door slowly opened till it was a small opening in the roof. I climbed the ladder and sealed the hatch behind me. The outer hatch hissed and opened after the atmosphere had been removed. I crawled across the surface of the pelican until I had reached the warthog the pelican was transporting.
“Release the clamps” I ordered through my helmet mic. The clamps holding the warthog in place retracted leaving the hog floating behind the ship.
“Pilot you make sure that ship jumps the second they have the chance. I am going to have to find my own ride.” I ordered.
The clamps holding the hog released and left the vehicle floating behind the ship. I leapt from the hull of the ship towards the warthog, and landed next to the gauss cannon. As I made my way to the gunner’s position I made a fast plan. I knew that Covenant ships had no shields immediately after a pin-point slip-space jump, so I needed to be fast. I quickly rotated the turret and aimed directly at ont of the many plasma turrets, hoping for a series of secondary explosions. A split second before I pulled the trigger I realized that I should have set the weapon on a timer. But the thought came too late and as I felt the trigger depress beneath my insulated fingers the world started to spin and I began to lose consciousness. Just before I did however, I thought to myself ‘well looks like I get to be bait again; I hate bait.’
09/15/2517 - Thirty five years ago
I hate bait, especially when it is the perfect bait. A data card, that’s just hanging there practically begging me to take it. The lady’s escort is military; that chip definitely has to be bait. But the watch on the hand of that Sargent might be useable. Let’s see; a double clip latch, this will be easy.
I guess I can take the bait and sell it, might make some money, and make it someone else’s problem.
09/24/2517
Dr. Halsey, that’s what she said her name was, Dr. Catherine Halsey. She said that her office wanted to recruit me (whatever the heck that means) I asked if she meant that they wanted to hire me for my services. She said no, and then I asked “well what do you want me for?” to which she asked how I felt about the military, I said “I respect them, but I hate the military for killing my parents.” She asked what my name was I replied “Rick” she asked for my last name but I wouldn’t tell her. (That is simply because if I had she would find out about my parents, who were ranking officers within the UNSC and she would not understand why I am not in a military school). Dr. Halsey asked if she could see me tomorrow, I told her that it might be possible.
09/25/2517 – the next morning. . .
It seems that Halsey is true to her word, because I woke up in the troop bay of a UNSC pelican with a group of soldiers in training gear each sitting next to a kid (around my same age), and of course Halsey. When she saw that I was awake she smiled at me and nodded. [Seeming to simply acknowledge that I was awake.]
Dr. Halsey felt that trainee R-259 was just a little to calm at waking up in the hold of a pelican. There is only one reason that Halsey can think of; is the fact that Rick lived on the street, and must have been picked up and placed in homeless shelters in the night before. But what really surprised Halsey was how he sat up (picture perfect military posture) she couldn’t fathom where he learned how to sit like that, she began to wonder if his parents had some sort of military background.
“Crap”, that was the only thing that came to mind, (how the heck are you going to get out of this one Rick) well there are still a few secrets and tricks up my sleeve that I might be able to use, but I need to get them to lower their guard. So the first thing I had to do was get them to think I was in 100% compliance with their “recruitment” of me, so I became a solider. It was what my dad taught me “to follow orders” so that is what I was going to do - follow orders, or at least till I see a chance to escape. Thanks to the training my father gave me that chance came quickly, for as soon as the pelican landed I knew the group was about to move, so I stood at attention. This came as a total surprise to the man sitting next to me, (he had a patch on his chest that read Barns) with my sudden movement he grabbed my arm but realizing that I wasn’t going anywhere released it. The tension he was radiating seamed to bleed away as he visibly relaxed, from across the hold I heard Halsey whisper “perfect” I looked in her direction and she was still smiling at me. I hate those kinds of smiles; they’re the kind that says “guess what I have the perfect place for you.” I have seen that smile to many times at the orphanage when someone was adopted, but at the orphanage the smile really meant that you were no longer the problem of the caretakers.
Before I could finish the thought the door opened to reveal a small landing field a short distance from a base I decided I could try to get away here. I heard the man say “right face cadet” so obligingly I turned to my right facing the door, “forward march” I began to walk just fast enough so as not to attract scrutiny from anyone especially Barns. As I walked he came up beside me and I could see that there was a small baton hanging from a belt clip on his waist (A simple matter to unclip). As I continued to look around I saw four or five more pelicans each with a group of children and each had a man or woman escorting them. Of course the children wanted to go home so they all tried fruitlessly to pull back to the pelicans, at which point the man or woman pulled the baton from their waist and touched it to the side of the child. When the baton made contact with the child’s side they let out a small yep and stopped struggling I realized that this was my chance, I very carefully pulled the baton from Burn’s belt and asked, “Does this hurt?” He looked down at me and began to say something but before he could finish I thrust the baton into his side. (I had raised the shock level to a charge more suitable to an adult) Completely surprised he didn’t even cry out he simply fell to the ground unconscious. I took off on a dead run for the tree line. I heard a woman shouting for someone to stop me, but I managed to make it to the tree line before anyone could do anything about it.
I kept running for about five minutes after making the trees, unfortunately I was now completely lost, except for knowing where the base was. But going back there was not an option right now; I had to figure out where I was. I decided to climb a nearby tree to see if I could find a recognizable land mark. However it was not to be, the whole area is heavily forested and the base is located in the middle of nowhere (I bet I am on a different planet, I thought to myself)
Well nothing to do now except wait for a search party and take all their gear.
The search party didn’t arrive for another 20 minutes, which allowed for a great deal of trap setting. Now, I didn’t want to set anything that could harm them but I did want traps that would either incapacitate or immobilize them. The only thing I had that could accomplish this task was the baton I stole from Barns, which meant I had to improvise. I hurried about collecting supplies for a camp site after I accomplished this I started a fire, I now had the perfect trap. I set my camp site under a large branch that easily hides me from sight. When they finally arrived they seemed to simply stumble upon the camp site, obviously trying to trip any sort of traps that I might have set up.
But that is not the kind of traps I set, my trap involves only one thing (me) so I decided to wait up in the tree after all anything can happen.
// from the personal log of Dr. Catherine Halsey //
09/25/2517 – R-259 (Rick) continues to impress me, it has only been two days since he was recruited and he is the first trainee that has ever managed to incapacitate a trainer and hide away in the forest.
//End log//
// -PERSONAL LOG- Sergeant James Barns //
09/25/2517
Chief Petty Officer Mendez seems to think I am incompetent because that crazy kid got the jump on me. Apparently I no longer have the privilege of being a trainer; I am now the chief mess officer. I had hoped one day to get off this rock and get a ship of my own, but it doesn’t look like I am going to get that chance now (I hate my job).
//End log//
Chapter 2
8/14/2552 high orbit above reach, (Temp date – find covenant battle calendar date)
Shipmaster Orto ‘Qintomee stared at the display that showed the planet that he and his brothers were preparing to destroy. As the good Commander he was ‘Quintomee turned to his tactical officer Vien ‘Nicaaee, “Shield status?” ‘Nicaaee replied’ “Capacitors charging shields will be up in a moment.” ‘Quintomee turned back to the display and saw a small transport ship, he chuckled; the small transport ship was no match for the plasma cannons on his cruiser. He leaned in as the ship released an even smaller object. “Scan that object!” ‘Quintomee ordered; “Sir it is a small land vehicle,” announced the Sensor officer, “they must be loosing it in order to gain speed.”
This seemed to be an obvious attempt for the vermin to try and escape, so without hesitation ‘Quintomee ordered, “Cleanse this space of their filth.” As he watched the display however ‘Quintomee saw a flash and then a streak of light from the object. Then the command deck shuddered with an explosion, “Commander Plasma turrets 4 and 5 are down and we are unable to raise shields!” exclaimed ‘Nicaaee. ‘Quintomee was enraged, the Humans had dared to fire on his ship; “Sir I am detecting another object!” the sensor officer proclaimed, “It is on the display.” The view expanded to show a rapidly spinning object, “What is it?” ‘Quintomee asked, as the object began to slow its rotation. Then the object became clear, it was one of the human demons! “Send out a retrieval team, I want its head.”
8/14/2552 high orbit above reach,
When I finally came to I saw that the cruiser had drawn within just a few hundred meters of me.
“Striker; Status?”
“You have been unconscious for two minutes, The Intrepid made a successful getaway, and there is a covenant ship approaching to kill or capture us.” Striker responded.
“Transfer yourself to the control chip and stand by; we seem to have quite the fight on our hands.”
“Of course sir”
The cruiser had drawn even closer by this time and had dispatched a phantom that was heading in my direction.
“Transfer complete sir; any orders?” striker asked.
“yes; begin operation possum.” I ordered.
Operation possum involved the shutdown of every suit function except life support (in the regular program every system is shut down but in my case I need life support.), which in theory should prevent a disabled Spartan from being removed from the battlefield by the covenant for the purpose of information gathering. I had developed the program about five years prior but ONI refused to have the program implemented in the suit software. Needless to say I put the package in my suit anyway. Which should mean that I should appear to be a lifeless body flying through space, sure the covenant are still probably going to pick me up but they won’t expect anything living.
After they picked me up I shut down life support so that they wouldn’t detect the power usage. Five minutes later the phantom docked with the cruiser in order to transport me to what I expected to be an examination bay that turned out to be more like a prison block with an examination table in the center. The elites that were carrying me dropped me on the table and left the room, but not before I heard the door seal shut.
“Striker bring systems back online and locate security cams.”
“Cameras located sir.” Striker said, “They are located at 1, 4, 6, and 9 o’clock.”
“Confirmed, bring the jammer online first.” I said. The jammer was another upgrade I placed in my armor without the approval of ONI. As one of the first pieces of tech that I immediately recognized as important to both my survival and the survival of my team, I knew that the ability to jam both incoming and outgoing enemy signals was too big of an advantage to not be able to employ. This is why every member of RAVEN team has one.
As the rest of my suit systems came back up I assessed the situation, “A.I. Check, Weapons, concealed knife under shoulder and stealth loud pack Check, enemies, none.”
“Striker did you get a detailed analysis of our route here?” I asked, “And was it enough to find the layout of the ship?”
“Yes sir.” Striker replied “but as to the layout of the ship that is your territory.”
“Display route” I ordered, which caused a three dimensional image to be displayed. After analyzing the route I was able to make the connection.
“Striker display scans from infiltration mission 38 beta; and show the schematic next to our route here.” This command brought up the information I gathered on a recon mission of a covenant cruiser seven months ago.
“Enable manipulation.” I said. Slowly I moved the route I had traveled to this room until it matched the schematic of the ship.
“Ok Striker, what do you say we get a little payback.” I asked.
“I think I will like that sir.” He replied.
09/25/2517-7:00PM- Thirty Five years ago
It is about time. I’ve been waiting here all day for either the sun to set or for the stupid guards to leave; sunset came first. I finally have the chance to surprise them. After a quick check of my tools I decided to take a number count. Four, I had to figure out how to take down four guards. But I might be able to distract them, earlier I had gathered a small bundle of rocks; I might be able to cast the rocks into the trees and make them wonder. I picked up one of the rocks and threw it so that it would land just past the light of the fire; when it landed, the rock made a satisfying crunching noise as it crashed over the leaves. The guards all looked in the direction of the noise; one of them stood and started to walk in that direction. Another guard grabbed his arm and said, “What do you think you’re doing?”
He replied, “I am going to see what made that noise, and if I am lucky it is that kid. I want to head back to base.”
“Are you crazy, anything could have made that noise?”
“I don’t care, I want to head back.”
The second guard kept on trying to convince the first by involving the others, “come on guys help me out here.” But as the guard turned, he noticed that the other two guards were sleeping. Hitting the other he pointed at the two sleeping guards.
“What’s up with them?” He asked as he turned back to the other, but instead of the man he was expecting what he found was, me. He managed to get off a startled “what. . .” before I hit him with the baton, knocking him out cold.
I couldn’t believe it was that easy, or was it that the guards were just that dumb? Oh well, they have at least managed to provide me with some supplies that will last for a while. I guess I will just have to make these people suffer a little before I go back. (I hate myself but there is no other choice, there is nowhere else to go.)
// from the personal log of Dr. Catherine Halsey //
R-259 is still hiding; even though he is hiding from and attacking our search parties he is proving to be very resourceful. I am very glad I recruited him.
//End log//
09/31/2517-six days later
Well I think they have been punished for long enough. Time to fight my way back in, or I guess you could say time to fake my way back in. The hard part is going to force myself to take a small beating (probably from those stun batons) but still appear like I am fighting my hardest against them. The really hard part however is making them believe I don’t want to go back, when that is in fact my goal. I spent the day gathering supplies to give the searchers a landmark.
I made a small shelter (up till now I hadn’t needed one because it had not rained) a stash of all the gear and supplies I had taken off of the different search parties over the last 6 days, and a small camp fire. Now all I had to do was wait for the search party to get here. I was actually surprised when they finally came, because there were at least 15 guards and they all had their batons in hand, and eyes searching everywhere. They didn’t have to search for long because after they searched through most of my gathered supplies I walked into view holding a small rope and said, “Haven’t you people learned your lesson yet?” Apparently not, because they immediately formed up and started walking towards me. Why are these people so stupid? “Will you people never learn? You cannot face a stronger opponent face on.”
While I was saying this I pulled up on the rope I was holding and it caused a chain reaction that pulled tight another rope that when taught it was held aloft at fourteen inches, this caused a second reaction of every guard falling flat on their face. As soon as the first guard began to fall I was moving, sprinting towards the line of men. I pulled out the stun baton and proceeded to stun as many of the guards as possible before they recover. I got to about six before they started to get back up and got four more before they provided resistance as I was coming up on number ten he thrust out with his baton hitting me in the side unfortunately for him I have been building up a sort of resistance to the stun of the batons, and I hit him in the face with mine which knocked him out. This brought my count to 11 of the 15 which meant I needed to try to lose against four guards. The other remaining guards had simply fallen back into a small group. Then they simply charged me, I managed to hit one before they jumped on top of me. I received two more stuns before I blacked out, losing consciousness.
// from the personal log of Dr. Catherine Halsey //
Day 6 R-259 has finally been retrieved; it took three stuns to finally take him down. He managed to take down 12 of the 15 men who were sent to capture him. He also said something to the men that makes me curious “You cannot face a stronger opponent face on.” It reminded me of what we are trying to accomplish here. I am beginning to wonder why he doesn’t have a juvenile record.
//End log//