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Force 81 Part VI: Plasma and Chevrons
Posted By: NobleWard
Date: 20 January 2003, 6:08 pm
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(Note to readers: I threw some Halo conspiracy theory into this one to keep it a little entertaining. Hope you enjoy.
~Noble)
THE BARRACKS was completely enclosed; no windows and no natural light sources. The only light came from the long fixture on the ceiling, which stretched down the entire length of the 12 bunk barracks. At the moment, the main light was off, wake up call still some 2 hours away. The light Jim had this early was the comp console, which some marine must have left on from the evening before. Jim got up out of his bunk and stretched his arms and legs, rubbing the battle scar on his neck. The nightmares had been getting worse lately. Jim had for so long wanted to forget the things of the past, but every sleeping hour was spent in fitful night terrors, tormenting him endlessly. Maybe that's why he had become such an insomniac. That and long hours sitting in the dark alone with nothing but his rifle to keep him company when he was on duty probably helped in that. Looking out into the dimly lit barracks, hearing the snores of his fellow officers (who must have hit the sack much later than he since no one was inside yet when he went to bed), Jim flexed his sleepy arms out one more time before he started grabbing his stuff to take a shower. With a start, he realized that someone was using the comp. He took notice of the light erratically flickering on the wall, wondering who in their right mind would be using a console this early in the morning. Not many people woke up before he did, especially after an all night equipment stocking detail. Looking towards the console, Jim could barely make out the form of Lt. Adams typing away at the comp, very involved into whatever he was doing. Veer walked up to Adams and managed, even in such a drowsy early morning state, to walk practically in on top of the fellow officer without the other man noticing. Jim peered over the lieutenant's shoulder to see Covenant weapon diagrams opened up all over the screen. Measurements, firing and overheating rates, special capabilities, all were listed in great detail and number on the flat screen, Adams apparently lost in analysis of the strange weaponry.
"What are you up to there Drake?" asked Jim, rubbing his eyes from the harsh light. The lieutenant nearly jumped out his skin as he turned to face the waking sniper. He breathed a deep sigh of relief on seeing that it was just Veer who had crept up so easily on him and not a Covenant assassin of some sort.
"Holy crap Jim! Don't scare me like that man. I'm jumpy enough as is." Drake ran his hands through his dirty blonde hair and rubbed his crystal blue eyes, which were considerably droopy considering the time of morning. A cup of coffee sat at the comp's desk top area, long ago gone cold. Data disks laid spread out all over the work area with labels such as "Plasma Field Testing", "Plasma Chamber Analysis", "Needler Diagrams". Drake was obviously very up to date on the currently declassified Covenant weapon analysis from ONI. Jim was kind of surprised that stuff like that was even in Drake's possession.
"How in the world did you get a hold of all that stuff Adams?" In that brief moment, Jim thought it may have been possible that he was still dreaming as he held onto his shower toiletries under one arm and his fresh fatigues under the other in a separate bundle. It had been awhile since he was able to really clean himself up before running off onto the next assignment somewhere, which usually involved Veer's sitting in some cold, forlorn, and dirty sniper roost from anyone to hours to days. To say the least, he was quite the mess as Cnl. Howard had been so keen to tactfully point out when he mentioned something about Jim's hair the day before. But Jim's hair was probably the least rugged of his features, his grainy stubble greying his whole face, practically a beard now. Drake stood in full uniform, cleaned and ready for the day's duties already, looking onto the rather grimy Veer in receding fear. An observer would have deemed the early morning scene quite humorous.
"Friends in high places Jim." Drake cracked a weak grin as he turned once again to the console and pulled out the current data disk and slotted in another one labeled "Recorder Field Footage" as he sipped at his coffee, puckering up as he suddenly realized how long it had been sitting there, forgotten and neglected.
"I like to keep up on anything ONI releases to us common soldiers as soon as it comes out."
Battle footage played out on the screen, Marines charging a beach head as bunkered Covenant returned fire with a hail of plasma. The silent footage was stopped at one point as Drake zoomed in on a firing plasma rifle at a side view, showing particles around the firing zone lighting up and fizzling down as energy bolts formed between the two contact points of the rifle.
"I find the enemies weapons much more intriguing than our own. They're more powerful, energy based, and very different in structure than anything our engineers would have designed."
"Do you think this is enlightening to me Drake? You're stating facts I already know from experience." Jim stared blankly at the console's screen, wondering how in the world anyone could have such an interest in something like plasma burn damage and firing rate on the enemy's weapons.
"Think about it Jim. Why did we develop armor piercing weaponry over energy shield burning munition in our times?"
Jim looked at the lieutenant like he was a radiation mutated grunt/elite hybrid as he replied with a rather sarcastic tone. "I guess because we never developed energy shielding, we just made better alloy armor, so it would have been foolish to design energy weapons that couldn'Äòt pierce heavy armor."
"And why did we keep developing better armor plating Veer?" Drake was immersed in his thoughts as he stared into the screen with a strange intensity. Jim was still missing the point, maybe because of the hour of morning or maybe because of Adams erratic behavior. It was probably a mixture of the two.
"Because we kept developing better ammo I guess..." replied Jim, still lost as the conversation continued to develop..
"So why do you think the Covenant developed such weaponry?" Drake had zoomed in on a marine being pumped full of needler ammunition as he analyzed the slow motion purple explosions that ripped the man apart as the velocity and explosion interval rate numbers appeared on screen. Jim cringed at the sight of the grisly death, but Adams seemed only interested in the tatical data appearing on screen, not the brutal loss of life being played out in front of him. Jim thought of a logical reply as the early morning haze started to wash away from his mind.
"Maybe because they were developing energy shielding to counteract more primitive ballistics."
"Or was it because they were facing enemies who had already developed energy shieldings and had to find a way to circumvent the shields to cause real damage?" Drake closed the battle scene as he scribbled some notes down on a notebook laid out before him and quickly turned to face Jim eye to eye. "Do you know Jim that the most recent SPARTAN models, the ones based out of Reach, had been outfitted with a low end energy field fitted into their battle armor? We stole the tech for the shields off of recovered Covenant equip." Jim was almost seeing Drake's point, but was still having trouble grasping at the main idea. "Jim, I've been thinking that the Covenant did the same thing long ago when they ran into an enemy that they could not defeat. An enemy that had advanced energy shielding and plasma weaponry." Drake seemed to glaze over as his mind ran through numbers and tactical information stored away in his brain. "They stole the tech of their enemy to eventually overcome them and establish themselves over their foe. I feel that in order for us to win the war our only hope is plasma energy and Covenant tech." Adams turned once again to the console and flipped in another disk, a diagram of a plasma pistol instantly lighting up the screen. "The only possible way we can expect to beat the Covenant down and reestablish the human race is to dissect and analyze their equip and weapons to the max and learn how to utilize the information we gather in ways we have never dreamed. And in ways the Covenant had never imagined." Jim stood still with all his stuff for his shower still under his arms, his jaw nearly dropped at Drake's ramblings.
"Drake, how long have you been at that console?"
"Since 01:00, right after I got out of the shower."
Jim shook his head and stared at the lieutenant's back, bewildered at Adams' obsessive behavior. No wonder Drake was such a good hack at the Covenant battlenet. He must do this every time ONI released something new on Covenant tech research. Veer was once again very pleased that all he had a talent for was the rifle. Thoughts like Drake's would have drove him mad by now. Suddenly, Jim's mind lit up with a very interesting idea. What if he put Drake in a command position on Ghost Force? He could train up the company on current plasma weapon usage and techniques, allowing Ghost Force to not only utilize all of the current human tech but also all of the Covenant weaponry that were laying in the dusty researching housings at Beta Base and all over Shunt III.
"Hey Drake, I got something I want to talk to you about later. Right now, I want to hit the showers, but I'll catch up with you later, alright? It's kinda important, so keep a look out for me while on duty."
"No problem captain." Drake responded, half immerged into his world of numbers and blueprints and half in reality. Jim turned, looking at the clock as he passed by his bunk. 05:34. He had been talking to Drake that long already? Hmph.
"No problem captain." Drake's parting phrase echoed as Jim realized it's irony. No one even knew Jim had been promoted to colonel yet. What a hoot. As much as Jim hated rank, as soon as he got promoted he didn't even make a big deal about it with all the other soldiers. It was life as usual for Jim as he walked to the showers, traversing the low lit halls of Beta's barracks. His first real day as a colonel and all Veer could think of was cleaning him self up before jumping back into the fray. Jim still had a lot of things on his mind that wouldn't have entered his mind if the circumstances were "normal" though. He needed to hammer out so many details still, like how many squads, how many men in the commando squad, who to pick for the commando squad, what arms to pass out for field training, what to train in field training... Jim reached the showers and dumped his stuff in a corner of the room, pulling out every thing he would need to start the day. The shower Jim took would had to have been the longest in his military career, in part because there was no line of cranky marines to get in afterwards, in part because there was no pressing mission launch time to run off onto, but mostly because Jim had so much to think through before he even started to put together the most strategic team of marines the battle for Shunt necessitated.
Veer stepped out his shower at 06:10, just in time to avoid the usual shower rush during the morning wake up call. While the other marines came into the shower room in a rather gloomy demeanor, not knowing if this morning was to be their last, Veer stood over one of the washbasins in an almost absurd state of peace, his razor buzzing ever so casually over his stubbled face. Everything had been figured out. Now the trick was getting it all together...
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