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(Part 9 ending)
Scott remained silent; he had never before betrayed his own lust for combat, for its euphoric distraction from the truth, from his disgust with his life. How was he this way, two minds in one, a raw instinctual killer, a perfect soldier and warrior born to march before all of Earth's enemies? How had he let them do this to him, why did he trade off so much for this life he led? Why did he live it still though, completely aware of his failing. He had no reason for this life, and yet he was compelled on, he never denied his orders, never denied his superiors. Yu was dragging this out of him; he knew all of these things before hand.
"Your birthright is your humanity, Scott." Yu sat down next to Scott, bending his rigid military stance to a more comfortable balance, half on the bed, half standing. "I know where she plucked you from, where she took you away from, what life you would have led, had it not been for Halsey, for Project MJOLNIR."
"I don't see what any of that has to do with me now, sir." Scott wished he could move, run, and flee this interrogation.
"You're right, what's done is done, and you are now, what you are. You are a soldier, a SPARTAN II modified human, the very peak of our technological innovation. You're smarter and faster than any agent I've ever seen trained, your tests, you can't remember them, a product of the direct stimuli interface, prove you're much more than just a soldier Scott. And that is why you will always be a thorn in Halsey's side.
"You're the deviation of Halsey's program; the variable she had hoped would have been weeded out during the operations." Yu folded his hand together, and then looked back to the blue holo projection. "Tell me about nights where you can't sleep."
"How does this have anything to do with my service to the UNSC?" Scott tried to find the words to escape Yu's line of questioning.
"Has there ever been a night where you couldn't sleep?" Yu patiently replied.
Scott was silent, but couldn't deny his superior his response, "no sir, not since that first night."
"Were you always exhausted at the end of the day?" Yu further inquired.
"No..."
"Then how did you sleep, with the knowledge of how you were being trained and molded into somebody's tool? Their assassin, their killer, their soldier, whatever you want to call it." Yu fell silent, and waited.
Scott didn't respond for a while, letting the minutes drag by as the forced self introspection wound his way through his addled mind. "I slept because I was ordered to. I made myself sleep, so I would be ready, always ready."
"They trained you to that as well Scott," Yu sighed, "Halsey wanted you this way, unquestioning to the things you did for her, that you would have to do for her. Do you remember how old you were when you first killed a man? I do, I was twenty four, I was with a boarding team on a pirate freighter, and I shot four men dead.
"I killed hundreds in the line of duty Scott, for the UNSC, and for Earth. But I never became anything other than a killer. I was just their tool, following orders like you, and at night I slept, because I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought I was fighting for Earth's government, to prevent civil war. The war you were supposed to have prevented, before the Covenant."
Scott let the words from Yu's diatribe sink in, his mind didn't hurt anymore, he was admitting his failing, his addiction, and this man that understood him. And it was a disturbing premonition to consider the truth of the situation, and finally he asked. "And what changed that for you?"
"I found my humanity Scott, I found my wife, and she bore me three beautiful daughters. You've seen one, the picture on my desk, the girl in white, I know you saw it. You see everything when you walk into a room; it's one of your special characteristics, to pay attention to every detail." Yu looked back to Scott, "she's my eldest, Kyoko, the first of my girls and the only one to stay by my side still to this day. Her mother and sisters are back on Earth, safe away from all this, but she refused to go with them. I would do anything to protect them, my children and my wife. That is why I am here, because I will never waver in the face of that duty." Yu stood and walked around the bed to the wall of equipment and monitoring stations, pausing to examine some of the readouts on their displays.
Scott watched the vice admiral and felt the pain surge in his lower back but recede abruptly feeling sensation and control of his lower torso's muscles return. Yu looked back at him "You're rebuilding yourself fast." Scott continued to watch the man, considering his position, his influence, and his power and yet the odd deviance from the traditional military structure he was displaying here. "That's good, because there's something much more at stake here, and soon you will be given the mission Project MJOLNIR was designed for. And at that time, you will have a decision to make Scott, about who you fight for, what you fight for. And most importantly," Yu paused, "to what extremes you would go to for that cause."
Yu walked back to the door, "In the course of your mission Scott you will the opportunity to truly end all of this, but it will be an exercise of free will. Halsey will want you to capture the Aliens who began this slaughter, she'll expect you to somehow bring them to us, and make them reason, negotiate. But it will be a waste Scott, they will never negotiate, they will never have pity or forgiveness for us. Halsey will still expect you to follow her orders; to obey her as she had you all trained to do so since your childhood." Yu shot one last look at him, "but you will have a choice, you're more than a soldier."
Yu left the room, and Scott sat up, facing his dilemma, his body was responding again. He looked at his hands, and thought again about his position. Halsey had a plan, Yu had only spoken vague reference, but it made sense, the SPARTAN IIs were obviously the only soldiers in the UNSC capable of such a brazen act. Scott knew now why he was here, he remembered that grey skinned robe clad alien he had cut down. He knew who the real foe behind all of this was. He had a choice, he looked at the blue projection of his cranium and sighed, at ninety four percent, he was drawn to his family, and the girl in white.
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