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Absolution Chapter III
Posted By: Havok<detoxpunk@hotmail.com>
Date: 24 July 2004, 3:24 AM
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ABSOLUTION
CHAPTER III
Colonel Heines looked as his Executive Officer with skepticism. "Nanotechnology?"
"Yes, sir." The officer peered at his noted, organizing thoughts. "The planet is apparently a large Forerunner nanotech construction facility. The two storage tanks that we found in the mountains are holding tanks of charged ionized water based solutions. We surmise that, through the barrier which our sensors cannot penetrate, there is a nanotech factory that the Forerunner used to make war materials."
The Executive Officer, paused, and then felt it necessary to continue, as it was apparent that the Colonel had no idea what this meant. "Nanotechnology allows the constructor a way to make a material atom by atom. Since you obviously cannot sew or weld atoms together, a unique approach is needed. An object, such as glass, is dipped first in one solution, and then the other, then back again. What this does is allow the positively and negatively charged solutions to bond by sharing electrons. Simply put, the electron bond is virtually unbreakable. The Forerunner must have been able to make ships and armor that was impenetrable."
Heines leaned forward, his curiosity piqued. "So, we are sitting on top of a war factory capable of producing weapons eons ahead of our current technological understanding."
"It means," the officer stated with no little amount of anxiety, "That we have in our control a means to produce weapons eons ahead of the Covenant.
"Unbelievable." The Colonel breathed, absently touching the scars on his head. "You informed HQ?"
The executive officer nodded in the affirmative. "They have already dispatched an entire battle group for additional security, and the Office of Naval Intelligence has, of course come to assume control of the operation."
The Corporal scowled. He had no great love for the ONI, who seemed to care little for individuals, or even the success of military campaigns. They lived for knowledge and advancement of technology, not for protecting humanity. It was common knowledge by now the attempt to show the Covenant the way to earth by leaving an intact navigational database on an ONI ship in an orbital dock around Reach.
"So I am relieved of command." Heines said with finality. A short operation after all.
"Actually...no, sir. You're not. It seems that a certain..." he consulted his notes. "...Doctor Halsey has respectfully requested that you be kept in the loop."
________________________________________________________
The sky around the white planet, now dubbed 'Nano-Planet' by those who were assigned there, grew dark with the arrival of hundreds of ships. A Defense Battle Group consisting of twenty eight warships patrolled the system nonstop. ONI ships flitted about, ferrying scientists and operatives to and from the planet.
Dr. Halsey inspected the group of young scientists arrayed before her. "Welcome to the nano-planet. You've all read up on the events concerning your respective fields, so all I have left to say is, good luck, and Godspeed."
Colonel Heines stepped up to the front of the group. "For those of you descending into the planet, you will have a compliment of two marine guards wherever you go. We cannot risk losing any one of you to accidents. A waste of a mind is a terrible thing. Especially now. We need all the brainpower we can get, so lets not try to lose anyone here." He surveyed the group with his eyes, and slid back to his place along the wall.
On the way out of the room, Marines tagged along with their assigned 'protectees,' having been assigned them in advance. Satisfied that everything was going smoothly, Heines beckoned for Dr. Halsey to follow him, and together they left the room.
On the way to his office, Heines turned to face his new boss. "I was curious, Dr., why you decided to let me stay on."
"I am not an ONI-supremacist, Colonel. I believe that each service should leave the other to do their job. You and your men will provide protection, and my team and I will pry out whatever secrets this place has to offer."
Seemingly satisfied with this answer, Heines looked away, studying the patterns in the wall. "I thank you for your just decision, Dr. Apparently I was wrong about everyone at ONI being the slime balls that I made them out to be." His eyes caught a man trying to slip past them unobtrusively. "Ah, Corporal Whol. A good thing I ran into you. I'm sorry, but I have to assign you to other duties."
"And what assignment would that be, sir?" the young marine asked expectantly.
"You are hereby detailed to protect and assist Dr. Halsey in any way that you can, for the duration of this deployment."
"Thank you for the offer, Colonel, but that won't be necessary."
"No, really, ma'am. I insist-"
He was cut off mid-sentence by the ghostly silent appearance of a towering form in iridescent green armor.
Dr. Halsey turned to the new arrival, a little smile on her face. "I have all the protection I need."
_______________________________________________________
Corporal Whol nervously fingered the trigger guard on his MA5B assault rifle. Of all the damn luck...He had never imagined he would ever see a real life Spartan, much less be assigned duty with one. Of course, he didn't let his misgivings show. One major reason why he had lasted so long in the marines. He always masked his emotion, letting nothing through the walls he set up. He stayed completely cool under fire, never letting the fear get the best of him. His friends often said he would have made a respectable Spartan.
Mastering his emotions was becoming supremely difficult now, as he thought of the task at hand. He was standing outside the outer door of the air lock, awaiting his turn to go through. A complex had been set up over the several vents on the mountain peaks, allowing the scientists and their escorts to change into their submersible equipment inside, away from the cold.
The airlock cycled and Whol stepped inside, greeted by soft white lights and a sterile looking changing room. The door at the end of the room pulsed red. The marine set down his weapons and shed his winter utility uniform, trading them in favor of his underwater combat equipment.
When he finished, the door pulsed blue and popped open.
He stepped through, greeted by the menacing sight of the Spartan, who stood silent and immobile. Dr. Halsey was fiddling with her glove adjustments. Dressed in a scientists white underwater suit, she stood in stark contrast to the Spartan's dark green armor and Whol's own black combat suit.
Kelly. Dr. Halsey stole her away on the obsolete ONI vessel, and no one had heard of her since. The doctor kept their adventures a tight lipped secret, and no one tried to pry into them. It certainly appeared that Kelly was permanently assigned to the scientist.
Dr. Halsey hit a control on the panel in front of her, and the cover welded over the vent spiraled open, revealing the black depths of the holding tank. The scientist stood aside as the Spartan dove into the water. She sank immediately, and Whol could see her combat light swivel around as the warrior surveyed the depths. Dr. Halsey followed, easing into the water, neither hesitant or in a hurry. A woman of calculated measures, the corporal thought.
Whol jumped in after them, and he felt the skin of his combat suit press against him, and then pull away again as the suit compensated for the pressure. His faceplate fogged momentarily, then cleared, and a rolling list of electronics runtimes and self-checks scrolled over the transparent material. Self diagnostics completed, a heads up display appeared, showing oxygen/nitrogen mix, pressure, and time to empty. Ammunition on all weapons showed full capacity. Status normal.
The Marine decided not to use lights. Instead he opted for the underwater night vision, which hummed to life and washed everything in an ethereal bluish haze. Effectively invisible in the black water, he drifted after his companions. His FOF system showed three other teams descending from alternate vents. All headed toward the bottom.
Half an hour of steady downward drifting brought them to the bottom of the caverns. The floor was etched with intricate geometrical patterns, similar to those found on the HALO rings. Dr. Halsey consulted her data readouts, and found they were only a few hundred meters astray from their destination; another set of airlocks. Kelly led the way, propelling herself forward with short, powerful strokes. Under the water, a Spartan could move as fast as a torpedo. The cybernetic soldiers were as much at home here in the depths as they were on land, even if they did have a limited amount of oxygen in their suits.
The airlock gradually came into view, albeit at first it was only a hazy outline in the black water. The marine again took up the rear; training is MA5V backward as his legs took him forward. The underwater assault rifle variant was even more deadly than the original MA5B. Compressed air charges discharged titanium rings with razor edges at unbelievable velocities through the water. Though without explosive tips, the rings did terrible damage to living tissue and could slice through most underwater combat skins.
The Spartan was the first through the airlock, which cycled slowly, due to the immense pressures at this depth. Next was Dr. Halsey, followed by Whol, who didn't trust the structural integrity of anything quite this deep. The possibility of a collapse was a little too close to home for him. But he swallowed his misgivings and slipped into the airlock.
What greeted them on the other side was nothing short of astonishing.
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