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All Roads Lead To Sol...But Unfortunately Not Away: Chapter 25
Posted By: S7N<n.j.r.jones@brighton.ac.uk>
Date: 9 September 2004, 10:14 PM
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Chapter 25
1100 Hours, August 12th, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex,
Planet Reach, Camp Hathcock
"Will that be all?" the stone-cold voice grated around the room. There were a few murmurs before there came a reply.
"Captain Keyes, we're done with what we have to say. Your help is much appreciated." And with that the Captain turned and walked from the interrogation room. Manny could clearly see the irritation on the man's face as he marched towards the double doors. Well that had been interesting He thought to himself.
Three days previously, he and Bradley had come to Reach for an intensive course. It would be another month before he finished his training; training that his brother had so rigorously put him through, where he'd learnt things he never knew possible. When he had finished boot camp in the corps he thought he couldn't get any fitter. But now his body was pure muscle, he could jog seven miles and barely break sweat and he could go for a week with only a few hours sleep.
He had learned dozens of close combat styles, learnt how to accurately fire every single weapon that the UNSC had, as well as a few unofficial ones. He could fly an ONI Prowler at a third-rate level, as well as knowing how to strip and clean its minor parts. He had mastered the arts of intelligence gathering, assassination, stealth, and so many more techniques that would aid him in being a spook. That's what he was now, a spook. A figment of people's imagination. He didn't exist unless he wanted to. Here on Reach he would go through more intelligence-gathering training, as well as extensive fire-arms practice and a few more hours in the Prowlers. Then it was off to Mars, to the extreme-conditions facility on Chiron. There he'd be put through the environmental training; learning to run, fight and survive in all kinds of conditions, from freezing cold to boiling hot, zero-g to gravity twice the norm.
Over the passed month or so, Manny had thought little of what he had left behind, but for some reason an image of Sarah popped into his head as he gazed at the far wall of the room. Her long brown hair, he button nose, her pouting lips. He felt his heart flutter at the image, but also felt a stab of pain at the length of time it had been since he last held her in his arms.
His mind snapped back to reality. He now sat at the back of a large room, complete with a curved desk nearby, a domed ceiling overhead with cameras and recording equipment built in to make it look like a night sky. A spotlight had been on moments before, highlighting the Captain during his debriefing about what had happened on Sigma Octanus. Now there was just a dull light playing over the room, making it easier to see in the dark, but only marginally.
The men and women sat round the table were some of the top brass. He looked at one of the men sitting nearby; Colonel Ackerson was his name. He was a smallish man, with a strong sense of arrogance and from the looks of things, he clearly didn't like Keyes one bit. Manny was surprised the Colonel hadn't flipped out completely at the way Keyes replied to their questioning. It was almost as if he was toying with them, playing a game at which they tried to play him. Manny knew one thing; he'd hate to have been the one in the middle of that room just then.
He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and turned to Bradley.
"You alright?" his brother asked, his voice sincere.
"Yeah, why?"
"You look a little shaken up." Manny was about to protest but Brad cut him short. "I know, I know. These interrogations can be tough to watch, but all agents have to sit through at least one ONI debrief. It just so happens this is one of the more important debriefs, so it's going to be a little tense and uncomfortable."
Manny turned back to the men and women sat at the table, not saying a word. Bradley was right, he had to get used to it. After all, after a mission it would be him who would be in front of these people.
The double-doors opened again and a new person walked into the room. As before, the spotlight snapped on and illuminated the figure as they walked towards the centre. Manny felt his heart race and his temperature rise as he recognised the man standing before him. It was Corporal Harland.
So he was alive.
He came to a stop several metres away from where Manny sat, casting his gaze over the people arrayed in front of him. Eerily, his eyes seemed to settle for a moment on Manny.
"Don't worry," Bradley whispered "he can't see you."
That's not what had Manny shook up. The fact that one of his dearest friends was standing only a few metres away, thinking he was dead, and not being able to talk to him. That was why he was shaken. He knew what was to come from the men and women behind the huge oak desk. And all he could do was sit back and watch.
"Corporal Harland," a female voice came. "you understand that withholding any information from us or being untruthful is a federal offence, and could lead to a court-martial, or worse you could be arrested on charges of treason?"
The Corporal nodded, his face a pale white. "Yes, ma'am, I understand."
"Good." Came a reply. There was a long pause then a shuffle of papers before someone spoke.
"Tell us about what happened to you and your team," a deeper, male voice said "on July Eighteenth at approximately oh-six-hundred hours."
"Well sir," Harland's voice was shaky, and Manny could easily see that his mind was bringing back the memories of the horror he had experienced. "We'd gotten orders from Lieutenant McCasky to set up sensors at grid thirteen by twenty-four. Alpha, Bravo and Echo squads left Fire-base Bravo at oh-four-hundred hours, and it took us two hours to get to the target area."
Manny noticed sweat building up on Harland's neatly-shaven head, as well as patches appearing under his armpits. Either that light was hot, or Harland really had been shaken up.
"When we got to the area, we were attacked by a unknown enemy..."
"Unknown?" a voice interrupted.
"Yes, sir," Harland replied quickly "It was something I've never seen before. Bigger than a Jackal, much bigger. It had a huge shield, as well as..."
"Thank you, Corporal," another voice said "we know what it looks like. We do have the footage from your helmet-cam, remember?"
There was a pause. Harland took in three breaths, and swallowed hard. "Luckily, Sergeant Raynes had moved Alpha squad back from the grotto where we..."
"This grotto..." the first voice interjected again. "Did you notice anything strange at all?"
"Well..." Harland thought for a moment. He was clearly shaken with all the interruptions. "We had literally crawled through thick mud to get to there, and it was not what I expected. There were symbols, tiny geometric carvings on the stepping stones that played across a water-pool."
A generator hummed to life above and a 3D picture exploded into view in between the desk and Harland. It showed a still picture of the grotto Harland had just described. A square pointer zeroed in on one of the stepping stones.
"Corporal Harland, do you have an idea as to what these markings mean or what they could possibly represent?"
He shook his head. "No sir, I have no idea."
"Do you think any of your team members may know?"
There was a long pause.
"Corporal, would you please answer the question," a third voice said.
"Well, seeing as only four out of the thirty members of the platoon made it out alive, sir, I'd say no."
"That's bordering on subordination, Corporal." The woman said. "Now, do you think that out of the four surviving members of your platoon that any of them could know what those symbols mean?"
"No, ma'am, we haven't discussed it. And I don't think they would know either."
"Thank you, Corporal. Now, regarding the Spartans you encountered. Did they discuss or speak to you about anything they encountered when they returned from the city with the civilians?"
"No sir," he replied "in fact they barely said anything to us, other than that they were here to save the people of Sigma Octanus. When I questioned the Master Chief about how he got the civilians out of there, he simply said it was his mission."
Manny heard a satisfying murmur from those around him. Had they gotten all they wanted from him, or was this going to carry on a little longer?
"So in conclusion, Corporal," Colonel Ackerson piped up "you know nothing of this creature that attacked you, other than it had the ability to decimate a whole platoon of UNSC Marines, the symbols on the rocks mean nothing to you, and the Spartans aren't very talkative, is that right?"
Harland seemed taken aback by this man's question.
"Careful, Colonel." Manny heard someone whisper.
"Yes, sir." Harland said, his voice trembling slightly.
"There is one more thing, Corporal. On your report of the events that happened on Sigma Octanus, you listed Private Jon Manors as Missing In Action, that is correct?"
Manny sat up straight at the mention of his name. Harland had put him as MIA? Why? Had he not been told?
"Because when the casualty reports had been finalised, the body of Jon Manors had not been found. And I have not been informed otherwise, sir." There was a brief glimmer of hope in the man's eyes, the hope that they were going to tell him what had happened to Manny, what he had been doing these passed months.
"Well if you're hoping for him to suddenly reappear out of nowhere, Corporal, you are sadly mistaken. Jon Manors is dead as dead can be. You're chasing ghosts."
There was a pause and Manny watched as the news hit Harland. What little colour was left in his face drained completely, and his body seemed to go limp. It was like he had suddenly died inside, and all there was left was an empty shell of his former commander.
"That will be all, Corporal." Ackerson finished. "Oh, and congratulations on your promotion to Sergeant."
Harland managed a weak smile, saluted and then turned and walked out through the double doors. Manny exhaled, not realising he had been holding his breath.
"That was tough," Bradley said behind him. "Don't worry, he's harder than he looks."
Manny didn't say anything, he just sat staring at his feet.
"You can be a real nasty piece of work sometimes, Ackerson." An older man chastised the Colonel. But he didn't seem to care, he was too busy talking with someone else. A few minutes passed and again the doors opened. But this time instead of another marine, or a Naval Captain, Manny found himself staring at what could only be a Spartan. And not just any Spartan, but the Spartan. The Master Chief. All remorse that Manny had felt about what had happened vanished, and he found himself hanging on every word that was said.
Harland found himself walking in a daze back to his quarters. Fincher, Cochran, Walker and Sarah had all come with him to Reach, both as moral support as well as to get some rest and recuperation. Cochran had needed extensive therapy, and Sarah was also in need of Reach's high-tech medical facilities as her old injury had been aggravated.
They had been put up in the military hotel that was a short flight away from Camp Hathcock. It was used exclusively by UNSC Marines for R and R, as well as shore-leave. He swiped his key over the lock and pushed his way into the 20th Floor flat. Over in the far corner of the living room sat Cochran and Sarah. Cochran had a slight smile on his face, but Sarah's eyes were puffy and red. They sat close to each other, and Cochran had his arm around her shoulders.
"You guys okay?" Sarah looked up at him and nodded. Cochran nodded to him as well, a reassuring look on his face.
"Hey, Sarge," a voice came from behind. He turned to see Fincher wrapped in a towel coming out of the bathroom. "How was the debriefing?"
"It was tough." He said, nodding his head slightly. "I got some news as well. Where's Walker?"
"He's down the gym." Cochran replied. "What is it? You don't look so hot."
Harland cleared his throat. "Well, there's no point in holding back," he started. "Manny's dead."
There was silence for a while. Harland looked at Sarah, who sat staring straight ahead. Her face paled a little, but she did not cry. Cochran looked down at his feet, then up at the ceiling, then stood up and began to pace.
Harland turned around to look over at Fincher, but he wasn't there. He'd gone into his room.
"Well, we sort of knew it was that way, didn't we?" Sarah murmured. "We knew he was dead, because if he was alive, he'd be here now, with us." She spoke in a very matter-of-fact way, not angry or bitter, showing no emotion. Just like how the others felt, no emotion. That's what war did to you, it drained all emotion out of you until you had none left and you became nothing more than a machine.
But Harland did feel an emotion. He felt anger. In fact, it was more than anger, it was seething rage, for what he knew that they didn't, and what he would not tell, was that Manny was very much alive, and that he had seen him sitting in the corner when he was debriefed. They probably thought he hadn't seen him, but Harland had stared straight at him, and they proceeded to lie to his face.
It was typical ONI bullshit and he hated it.
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