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The Seige of Zion Base; Part Three: Revelation - Chapter 11
Posted By: Scimitarex<scimitarex@omegacell.net>
Date: 2 March 2004, 11:21 PM
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Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step
of Purity Sinai Star System,
planet Genesis
Ebyo had tracked the human into battle and had watched him single-handedly kill two Hunters, and destroy the exit to the bridge their forces had been trying to cross. A Hunter had slammed the human into the side of a building, and still he had the strength to finish the fight and kill it. The Brutes had been nearly been unable to keep themselves from rushing into battle right then, but they had kept their bloodlust in check as not to give themselves away. Ebyo knew that the only way they were going to kill this human would to be to simply follow him and attack when he was least expecting it, otherwise they had no chance at all.
Ebyo had been watching the battle from an elevated position on the second floor of a skyscraper to the west of the Marine's forces looking north towards the bridge entrance. He had seen the human from behind when he had taken out the bridge pylons, effectively stopping their advance. If he had brought a sniper rifle he would have taken the human out then, but his shortsightedness had cost him dearly.
He climbed down the building and exited the main entrance back into the street. He climbed aboard the Shadow that had been hidden behind the skyscraper's corner and sat into the passenger seat toward the front of the craft. 'Labadee engaged the camouflage generator and the craft disappeared once more.
"The human left the battle, though I do not know why. He is moving towards the main base to the far east of the city," said Ebyo. "We must follow him, perhaps we can ambush him in the base itself, they may not be prepared against stealth."
'Labadee turned the craft about and moved south, avoiding the main body of Marine troops. They made their way east, carefully, as not to draw the attention of the Marines. After the battle the human forces had split up into splinter groups to take down the landing drop ships that were securing streets for the main invasion corridor. The stealth craft could easily avoid detection at long and medium range, but if they passed too close to a human patrol they could be detected.
The invisible vehicle neared one of the city's market squares. It was circular in shape, their southern-heading road emptying into the north of the square. Roads lead to the east, west, and south from the square, and in the middle there were trees and a park-like area surrounded by the streets around it. Unfortunately, the humans had set up a small command post in the park area in the middle of the square. There were about twenty armed humans, and two vehicles with mounted guns. The camp looked like a medical base of sorts, though if it were, then other forces would be in close proximity.
"Is there any way around without detection?" asked Damacus from his station at the Shadow's turret.
'Labadee looked ahead at the encampment. "Perhaps. If we move slowly and skirt the eastern road to the path leading to the base."
Ebyo peered ahead, then readied his weapon. "Do it, but go as slow as you need to, we can't afford to be discovered now."
'Labadee nodded and moved the craft into the square. The square, with the skyscrapers blocking the orange light of the setting sun was getting dark, so they had at least a better chance of going unseen. They turned to their left, avoiding debris in the streets, and carefully moved forward. The main thing they had to worry about was that someone in the camp would hear their craft's engine and sound the alarm, but they were far enough away that they still had a good chance that they could get by.
As 'Labadee maneuvered the vehicle, Damacus aimed his plasma turret at the camp. If they were discovered, he wouldn't hesitate to open fire, but Ebyo hoped he would at least wait until they were absolutely sure they had been discovered. Ebyo aimed his own weapon, though the range was limited, he could and least jump out quickly and close in for the kill. Varadel hung onto the side of the craft aiming his weapon as well. If the humans were alerted, they would have a good chance at escape, but their element of surprise would be blown.
'Labadee moved to the right, then the left, heading toward the road that lead east. He had to avoid abandoned vehicles, and fallen pieces of the damaged skyscrapers around the square. The humans still went about their business in the camp and made no move towards them.
Suddenly one of the humans on the edge of the camp quickly stopped what he had been doing, looking up straight at them. "Stop, quickly," Ebyo whispered loudly to 'Labadee.
The craft stopped and the human continued looking up at them. The human moved closer to them into the street, the other humans around him looking up as well. The human stopped but three meters away from them, looking not as much at them, but through them. The other humans moved closer into the street as well, many drawing their weapons. Ebyo looked at Damacus at the turret, he was barely able to keep himself from firing. Ebyo turned back to the humans in the street.
The first human, who was also the closest, muttered something in his language and turned back to the camp. The other humans turned as well and resumed what they had been doing before.
The Shadow's occupants breathed a collective sigh of relief that their stealth was preserved, and they continued on. After another ten minutes of slowly avoiding large roadblocks and debris pieces, they finally made it into the eastern street heading toward the base. Once safely out of sight of the human camp, 'Labadee was able to speed up to make up for the lost time they had spent in the square.
Ebyo activated his tracermap and calculated the distance to the base. If they didn't have any more run-ins with human forces, they would be at the out skirts of the base in forty-five minutes. That would put them thirty minutes behind the human, who not only had a head start, but also had not had to slowly creep through the city for fifteen minutes.
Ebyo powered down his weapon and tracermap. He looked up at the passing urban buildings around them, wondering how the battle in space was going. He knew that by now the commander would have probably called in reinforcements for his forces, as they had jumped in system with a minimal force to begin with. The forces would take about a hour or so to get there, but it would be better than nothing at all. He looked down ahead of the craft as they continued on.
# # #
1650 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis
John was still wondering what Cortana have found that would have made her recall him from battle. In this situation, a Spartan would be most valuable on the battlefield fighting, for that was what the Spartans had been created to do. If this was more important than the fight, then he had no idea what it could possible mean.
He was still pondering this all the way back to the base, putting together possible scenarios and ideas. He pulled the LTT Warthog up to the main parking space in front of the base's main entrance. He exited the vehicle and walked inside the front lobby area of the central, main building of the Zion facility.
The main lobby was a large, oval-shaped room. There was a large circular infokiosk in the center of the room with various people on stand-by to help people get where they wanted to go if they were new or had gotten lost. The room's ceiling was very high, probably three or four stories high, with the other floors having balconies showing from the walls. He had entered the lobby from the main entrance facing east toward the city. There were corridors leading to the north, south, and straight-ahead west. The lobby itself was painted white, and gray primarily, but the different corridors were painted in slightly darker shades of gray, with colored highlights.
The north corridor was painted with blue colors, and signified that that particular part of the building housed the Weapons Division. The red colored corridor leading to the south contained the research departments of Medical Technology, Equipment Technology, and Holography. The corridor in front of him, behind the kiosk was painted with yellow colors and lead to the main research departments of Chemical Warfare Division, Communications, and the special "ATR" room. "ATR" stood for Acquired Technology Research, where UNSC scientists were researching Covenant technology that had be retrieved by the Marine forces during or after engagements. The ATR room received most of the UNSC's acquired Covenant technology, now that Reach had fallen.
John looked around and saw a digital holo-map being projected from a small holotank near the right wall to the left of the infokiosk in the center of the room, and on the left side of the entrance to the southern corridor. He walked over to the map and told the holo-map to show him the nearest entrance to the emergency bunkers, and it brought up the schematics of the base. There were three entrances in this main building, to the north, to the south, and in the center. He was closest to the center bunker entrance, which was only three hundred meters away, and starter lightly running toward it. He figured he could waste no more time by walking, and that Cortana was probably still waiting for him.
Just then, as if on cue, Cortana's voice piped through his COM system into his ears. "Chief? Where are you? I need to talk to you right away."
John sighed and spoke back, "I'm coming, I'm only about three hundred meters away from the bunker entrance in the middle of the main Zion building. Which bunker are you in right now?"
"Number four, and hurry up already," said Cortana with a hint of impatience. She had always been a impulsive, but she was really at it today for some reason.
"I'm hurrying, I'll be there in a few minutes," replied John. The COM signal shut down and he sprinted toward the bunker entrance at a brisk jog. It took him about two a minute or two to reach the entrance. It was a large door marked with a "2" painted in yellow, signifying that it was the second entrance in the building. He approached the door, and it slid open to admit him. The security system hadn't locked down yet obviously, in case the bunker needed to be accessed quickly no doubt. Most of the scientists and base personnel had already entered the bunkers, but there could always be more at any time.
The corridor was well lit, with lights leading to three large elevators at the bottom of a small staircase. The small staircase led to a flat concrete floor in a large room with the three elevators built into the wall to his right. These elevators were used to convey large numbers of people, about ten to fifteen John guessed, at a time down into the bunker system. The elevator farthest away from him was marked with a yellow "4", the other two being marked "5" and "6". He walked past the two other elevators to the elevator marked as "4" and pressed the elevator's recall button. After a few seconds the metal door slid aside and he entered the elevator vehicle. The door slid closed again, and the vehicle began it's descent downward. After a minute of super high-speed descent, the elevator slowed and then stopped at the bottom of the shaft, nearly a thousand meters under ground. The elevators used gravity-altering technology, probably taken from some Covenant technology no doubt, and "cushioned" the passengers from the extreme speeds it used to make it's way down. That way it could make the long distance in very little time to get the people into the bunkers as quickly as possible.
The door slid open and John stepped through into the bunker. Dr. Mathis immediately approached him, from where she had been sitting, waiting for him. The bunker was also well lit, it was not dark at all, and the main room he was in now had pathways leading to the sleeping quarters, medical bay, and communication-command room.
"Cortana is waiting in the communication room," said Mathis. "She's been busy trying to find a possible collaborator that may have given the Covenant information on this system's defenses. What she's found is very interesting, but I'll let her tell you about it." With that, see pointed to the command room to his left.
He walked into the room, while prying off his helmet. He took his helmet and carried it into the room, setting it down on the chair near the console to his right. The room was sparse, just three consoles to the center and sides with a small entrance off the main room and that was it.
Cortana appeared instantly in holographic form, being projected from the mounted holo-projector on the center console's desk. Her translucent form was not it's usual purple tint, but rather a greenish red color. She was definitely disturbed about something. She turned and looked at him, a large frown on her face.
"Well, now that you're finally here, we can get down to business," she said.
John needed answers, so he asked, "What am I doing here? Why couldn't you have simple told me this over the COM? I'm needed with the troops."
Cortana looked down, then back up at his towering form. "I couldn't, there was a risk we could have been overheard, and that wouldn't have been acceptable." Cortana turned to the console, "Commodore Pierce, the commander of the fleet in orbit, sent me a message that alluded to the possibility of a UNSC traitor. Her calculations are flawless; there's no question anymore. There is someone in this system that led the Covenant here."
John was almost surprised that he wasn't surprised, but it fit. He had entertained his own thoughts about the attack, but he hoped that he was just being paranoid. Obviously he hadn't.
Cortana continued, "As far as I can tell, the source was a transmission that had been piggy-backed on one of our own transmissions a few weeks ago. The cruiser Belfast had sent a transmission to one of our listening posts for transmission to the UNSC base in the Kappa Lidonus system a few parsecs away for eventual re-transmission to Earth HQ. I believe the rogue signal was buried in the stronger signal and was intercepted by a Covenant ship along the line of transmission where it was decoded and then relayed to whatever intelligence branch they might have. However, the only reason I found the source of the signal was because whoever sent it left traces of activity in the transmission logs." Cortana stopped, then turned around to face John. She looked up at him once again and frowned.
"That person left those logs there on purpose, they were definitely not overlooked. Whoever sent that signal wanted someone to find out about it. The only think I can't think of is why."
John mulled this over. If someone had turned traitor, then why would they purposefully leave activity logs with traces of the transmission? John thought of a few reasons, but they all seemed far-fetched under the circumstances. He finally decided to at least give his opinions to Cortana, "Could he have felt guilty and wanted to give the people here a chance to defend themselves?" he said.
"Maybe, but unlikely. Though whoever sent that transmission did it with a lot of precision, the only trace of evidence was buried deep enough that someone would find it, but only if they were looking for it. Odds are he may have created a lead for us to follow. Perhaps like a breadcrumb trail. But that still leaves the question of why."
John had a thought, "If he wanted us to find it, then we better be careful, this may be a trap of some kind."
"Agreed, we definitely want to be careful now that we've found this. I'll call Colonel McLeod immediately informing him of what I've found."
"That won't be necessary," said a familiar voice behind John. He turned around to see Arthur McLeod standing just outside the elevator shaft with Dr. Mathis beside him. "I'm afraid I've already been made aware of the situation. Dr. Mathis called me an hour ago, and I've been trying to get down here ever since. Command duties kept getting in the way."
John saluted and McLeod returned it. McLeod stepped toward the command room. "I am aware we have a security leak Cortana, but I've known about it for quite awhile."
Cortana looked a little confused, "Did Pierce tell you? I thought she said she hadn't told anyone."
McLeod stood up a little straighter, and hung his head, as if in penance. "No... not quite. You see, I had that transmission sent."
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