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Birth of New Heroes: Chapter 1
Posted By: Arinoth Koby<stklego@hotmail.com>
Date: 23 April 2004, 8:19 PM
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«« Writer's note: Sorry for the delay in the first chapter, I have been busy. Plus I usually have each rough draft proof read by my four editors »»
The Birth of New Heroes: Chapter 1 "ONI"
The modified longsword makes its rocky decent into the atmosphere of Alloran, all the systems inside it are turned off to limit the electrical damage done to it by the electromagnetic field. As the decent starts, Ares looks outside at one of the unique satellite stations orbiting their home. The satellite uses a rather interesting means of communication with the surface of the planet, instead of sending electromagnetic information, such as radio waves, the satellite and its counterpart receivers on the surface send light data. This data is set up in such a way that the only way for communications to occur between satellite station and the receiver station is having two AIs constructed for the sole purpose of encoding and decoding the messages, graphics, etc., sent by the other. Real-time communication is possible between the stations, although there is normally a few second delay as the AIs must compensate and double check the message sent to verify it is indeed correct. This new technology is currently pending further study on Alloran and other ONI planets to see if it could possibly replace the current modes of transporting radio-transmissions through the galaxy and as a new level of encryption against the Covenant.
Once the longsword has made its short trip through the atmosphere, a small pelican tows the ship onto a landing bay since most, if not all of the systems about the longsword are still out. The longsword touches the ground and the boarding ramp descends, revealing the Shadow Spartans to the small ONI crowd gathering at a point not too far off from the ramp. One by one, the four of the Shadow Spartans walk down the ramp and onto the landing bay's rough concrete floor. Arinoth blinks his eyes once to adjust to the increase in light, due to the fact it is daytime currently and the ships lights are not as bright as those of Alloran's sun.
"Welcome back men, I hope you mission was successful in every aspect?" asks the curious Chief Engineer Dr. Lauren Byrons.
"Of course ma'am," answers Ares for the team, in which they all nod in agreement.
"Well that means your training is complete, you all are now UNSC soldiers, though only respond to ONI," replies the doctor.
"Does that mean new weapons and others that we may modify to our wills?" Asks Blood Wolf, anxious to exam the new prototype battle rifle and modify it every which way to meet his needs.
"Yes it does, it also means you will now be using the modified MJONIR VI instead of your MJLONIR V. The new armour has enhanced plating and other interesting gizmos you'll eventually get yourselves acquainted with. Good luck, the ONI Officer Patton would like to see all of you to give you an update on the current situation," she tells Shadow Spartans.
The four salute her then jog uniformly to the debriefing room inside the fortified base; the room itself would fit perhaps about 20 to 30 UNSC personnel though it only contains the Shadow Spartans and the ONI officer. The door closes and the four group members sit down in chairs that have been designed to hold their larger heavier bodies.
Sitting in front of them is ONI Officer Patton. Patton is in his late forties; though still has all his original hair which is brown. The man has a strong build and is wearing a standard military uniform so that he does not call attention to himself.
"Welcome gentlemen, I hear you're deemed a success by your creator?" asks the ONI Officer.
"Yes sir, we have passed all of the training and excelled far beyond that given to the regular Spartans IIs," replies a calm and cool Arinoth.
"Good, now that the UNSC acknowledges your existence in the same respect it does not. You four, plus your AI, are under the command of ONI and have an unlimited security clearance meaning that you have command, if you see fit when in combat to out rank any UNSC officer. With this, you are only allowed to divulge information to your superiors, or us, ONI. Do I have myself clear?"
"I speak on behalf of all of us when I say, yes sir," acknowledges an intrigued Blood Wolf.
"Good, now then, to get down to business, as you may or may not have heard our military installation Reach has fallen to a Covenant assault and as we speak it has been glassed. Our intelligence has told us that only one known Spartan II has escaped Reach, -Spartan-117 - Master Chief, on the Pillar of Autumn."
"Sir was this not thought to be impossible?" says a dazed Ares.
"We thought that, but somehow the Covenant was able to take out the Super MACs from on the planet by taking out the power supplies. Now that Reach is gone, Alloran is now ONI's centre command centre due to its natural defenses," the four nod, listening, "yes; we can't risk having it anywhere else. Now that this is cleared up, we have some experimental weapons we will be giving all of you, along with your modified MJOLNIR VI. As soon as you leave this room, you will be outfitted with the latest technology to help you defeat the Covenant. Report back here at 06:00. You are dismissed," Patton finishes up.
The four stand up, salute him, and then walk out of the room heading, down a corridor to the testing facility. The testing facility consists of two floors below the complex they are currently in harbored by top security. Once they reach the entrance to the facility, they have to flash their security clearance before they are allowed access into the facility, although who would stop 4 Shadow Spartans in their Mark V armour is a pointless question.
Inside the testing facility they see a massive amount of ONI personnel and scientists conducting experiments practically in all corners of the highly secure "building." They head into a smaller room. On the table they see all sorts of new object; a couple of battle rifles, six SMGs, the four MJOLNIR VI, what appears to be a sonic electromagnetic scrambler, and other things none of the four could quite figure out what the hell the things are. The four quickly remove their old suits, taking about ten minutes to do so, and put on their new Mark VI armour.
"These new suits appear to be the same..." states Blood Wolf, Mournhold nodding his head in agreement.
"Looks as it they are modified to aid Stirfry with his helmet jumps," Ares states.
Blood Wolf goes over to the table and picks up a battle rifle, "Sweet, now let's see if this thing can be modified to fire rapid sniper rounds."
"Good luck with that Blood Wolf, if you need either me or Ares to help you, just holler," Arinoth tells Blood Wolf.
Ares picks up the sonic electromagnetic scrambler, "This appears to be a new Sonic Electromagnetic Scrambler. I'm guessing this will let us fry Covenant circuits or shield from a certain distance."
Mournhold goes over to the table, picking up what appears to be a very small laser pointer into his hand, examining it. Places it on the side of the SMG that is in his other hand and a red laser pointer appears coming from the gun's barrel on his HUD, invisible regular sight. "It's a laser pointer for any of the weapons, though the laser only appears on the HUD screen, I think it's to be used as a laser guider on our weapons," Mournhold tells the rest of the group.
Throughout the rest of the day and into the evening, the Shadow Spartans examine and test out all their new weapons and armour. Blood Wolf with the aid of Ares is able to modify the battle rifle to hold the sniper rounds and fire about six to eight before the "clip" will need to be changed and loaded in new rounds. Mournhold has become very skilled in the use of SMG/MA5B assault rifle combo. Arinoth has been able to determine the new features of their new armour and has been playing around with them so that he will be able to give the rest of them a quick crash course of it so that not all four of them are wasting time on the same thing.
At about 04:00 all four of them are already up, from about two to three hours of sleep getting ready for the long day ahead. Ares is in his bathroom shaving, Arinoth is quickly typing out some information on yesterday onto his laptop, Blood Wolf is using a unique eye technique to make sure his eyes will function when he needs them for long distance sniper, and Mournhold is doing some sit ups and push ups to get his body warmed up.
At about tens minutes to 06:00, all four of the Shadow Spartans are already in the meeting with their MJOLNIR VI on, though all four of their helmets lay on the desk. Stirfry's original matrix cube is sitting in the room's holo-projector. The AI is just sitting on an imaginary box looking around the room. The four have already talked to each other about all the new enhancements to their armour and how Stirfry will circulate throughout all four of their suits.
Precisely at 06:00, ONI officer Patton enters the briefing room, the four soldiers stand up and solute their officer before he, then they sit down. "I'm glad to see that you all are enjoying your new weapons and accessories," announces Patton.
"Yes sir," Arinoth acknowledges the officer's comment/
"Good, I wont beat around the bush, I had you four come here this morning to tell you about the mission you have been assigned. ONI intelligence reports have detected increased activity around a fallen outer planet called Jhelein. We believe the Covenant is setting up a base camp on the planet for jumps from Covenant space to ours before they jump to Earth. This is where you come in, ONI needs you to infiltrate the planet, find out why the Covenant are staying there, and if possible capture as much Covenant technology as possible before coming back, but while your there, do as much damage as possible gentlemen. After all, we are trying to win this war," the ONI officer finishes up.
"Sir, form of transportation?" asks a curious Ares.
"Well to get there you shall be traveling there in your modified longsword, though in your cargo bay you will be taking a previously captured Covenant dropship once you enter the outskirts of the system."
The ONI officer stands, saluting the new supposed heroes of the UNSC and leaves the room. After he leaves, the four get up and put their helmets on respectively. Arinoth walks over to the holo-projector, removes Stirfry from the console and places his original matrix into a slot on his helmet. The other three put in blank matrix's to allow Stirfry to move from one to another and store some information on that blank matrix.
"Stirfry, upload all the known data on that system and on known structures on Jhelein, we'll need as much as an advantage as we can get. For all we know we could be taking an entire Covenant armada or two on there," Arinoth comments.
"Well, lets move out I take it," states Ares as the four leave the briefing room and head to the modified longsword codenamed Firebat. On their way they stop to get supplies such as food, their weapons, ammunition, and anything else they may need during the trip or on planet side.
Inside the longsword, Ares and Mournhold are putting all their weapons and ammunition into lockers and crates as Blood Wolf is inspecting the Covenant dropship sitting in their cargo bay. While the three are busy doing that, Arinoth is loading the preset coordinates for the system they are heading to and inserts Stirfry into the computer's holo-projector.
"We launch in five," Stirfry announces cooly over the longsword's COM-line.
The four gather in the cockpit of the ship, "Arinoth, I think you should pilot the Covenant drop ship," says Mournhold, "That way it leaves Ares available to give us any needed cover fire with his Jackhammer, plus Blood Wolf can snipe any units patrolling our drop zone."
"Alright, I'll try testing it out while on flight to Jhelein," acknowledges Arinoth, "Ares, could you help me so I don't damage the cargo bay. That leaves Blood Wolf and Mournhold."
"I'll pilot Firebat," plainly says Blood Wolf, "Mournhold, could you then help me with the cloaking signatures and make sure the Covenant doesn't spot at all?"
Mournhold nods, Ares and Arinoth heading out to the cargo bay to modify the drop ship to have room for Jackhammer and Sniper fire, plus regular assault rifle ammo firing out of it. Ares slides into the pilot seat as Mournhold sits down beside him at the radar station.
"Longsword Firebat, magnetic field at its weakest at the following co ordinations," notifies the launch pad to the longsword, "Data transfer complete, all green across the board, engage engines and launch."
"Roger that, Firebat commencing lift off," replies Blood Wolf as he turns on the engines as the longsword comes to life. As the engines whine on the ship begins to take off towards the atmosphere. At the precise timing, all the systems are disabled onboard the longsword and drop ship as it glides through the electromagnetic field. The longsword shakes and rumbles as it takes the heat of the atmosphere with all its occupants holding on tightly inside it. Once out of the electromagnetic field Blood Wolf slowly turns on all the systems with Mournhold double checking them. Stirfry triple checks everything before giving Ares and Arinoth the go ahead to being testing and modifications of Covenant drop ship.
"Setting course to Jhelein, ETA 72 hours," Stirfry announces to the Shadow Spartans, "There will be one in flight movie, The Layout of Jhelein, don't miss it."
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