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Part 15: You want them dead? Sick me on them.
Location: Oni Division Three Research and Encryption Station Kappa, seventy three hours after the destruction of UNSC Navy Facilities on Planet Reach.
Rear Admiral Joseph Drake sat back in his luxurious padded chair, in front of him sat the massive polished cherry wood desk stacked with data slates and with the holographic projection of Demetria in her light blue haze of a female form. She was dressed as she saw fit, like a Victorian woman, perfect in every mannerism, and covered from neck to toe in the hazy blue gown. Her listless holographic eyes drifted over the room and back again, taking in the dark office with its frame seemingly composed of oak shelves.
The light in the room was indirect, coming from three sparse spot lights, allowing for a heft of shadows from the night sky eternally at his back. Drake liked it that way, it prevent his eyes from becoming too strained from reading his countless list of reports and analyses. The wounded civilians were on his mind, as was the daughter of the now assumed deceased Adrian Yu, and of course the Spartan that had brought them all here. Drake was familiar with what Yu had done to manipulate the Spartan to their aims, in the hopes of achieving a real goal for humanity in Project MJOLNIR in the face of Halsey's depraved experiment. Drake hated her.
Across the room in the thick padded leather chairs, between which was a short polished cherry wood end table holding a rather large ash tray with a retractable silver lid, sat the stout figure of Colonel Beatrice Kolowicz, smoking a thin black cigarette and tapping it in the tray. She was an elderly woman, approximately his age her garnered, what had been beauty in her youth had retracted in age to make strong lines on her face and a dowdy body. Still in her black dress uniform she was an imposing figure, and any who thought her lethargic from her weight were clearly ill informed, Drake knew. "The old crone," as he sometimes called her in jest, was an effective officer and an energetic manager of their encryption and decryption facilities on Station Kappa, more than that, in his past she had been his lover, and now she was friend.
"He must know who you are by now," she said putting out the cigarette in a single twist, "Tell me what the report says."
"Exactly as you suggest," Drake replied to her shortly looking up from the intelligence report on the A36, "they used a damn botany AI to plot this course, and he most certainly gained our coordinates from Yu's little ruse. It seems Adrian gave him more information than we thought." Drake sighed as old memories began to stir.
"A terrible thing to waste..." she muttered to him coolly.
"Don't go on Beatrice, this is not the time." Drake's hand stroked the rough stubble on his chin. He had shaved yesterday, hoping he wouldn't look like the image he was sure the Spartan had seen. Somehow hoping a minor change of his wizened visage would make everything about him appear all that much more changed. So those eyes wouldn't look upon him, wouldn't read the name upon his breast. But the boy had seen him on the docks, looking down on the storm of medics and technicians helping unfreeze the civilians and move them to the enlarged medical wing.
"According the reports," she sighed, "He's AWOL, abandoned his post in the heat of battle. He disobeyed direct orders to get that little girl off that planet, quite a feat even for a Spartan."
"I'm well aware of the consequences he will face Beatrice." Drake rubbed his temples as his mind expanded and analyzed every possible out come, even though his conscience was no assailed by his past.
"Go to him Joseph, if you have nothing else to give him, give him his life." She sighed, her voice was softer now, a voice that was reserved for this inner sanctum, long hidden like their private affairs. Long hidden away from the rest of his world, Beatrice had loved him thirty years ago, given him his only solace amidst the pain that consumed him. She knew the truth of this, and of the son he had given away. She knew the pain that had consumed him after his clone son died so suddenly, and his wife confronted him. He had lied to her, and she had known it. They had grown cold and distant, and she raised their other sons on her own on Earth. But they had never lost their rings, he always wore that gold band, she mused, as a reminder of his guilt rather than out of devotion.
"Hard to find the words to say to the boy you gave away." Joseph sighed. For the first time in many years his work refused to consume, give him relief from the terror of his conscience, from the loss of his family. He was in the highest echelons of ONI division Three for his ability, and his tenacity, but he was unlike many of their other top officers. He suffered in his dreams, and drowned them in scotch as the night came by.
Joseph Drake stood without saying a word, the only thing to do was to go to that medical bay and see the boy now. To see the man that had grown from Scott Alexander Drake. To see the soldier that had been created by that mad bitch Halsey. He would see the look in his eyes when the boy saw his own father, the man who had chosen that life for him.
Scott 079 sat on the operating table recovering from his surgery less than a day ago, he had eaten for the first time in three days and rested there amongst the wounded that filled the hospital. The medical wing was a temporary shelter for the civilians and marines, letting them have the beds, the couches, the seats, whatever could be handy for a place to rest. Public showers had been brought in to help fix the smell, and medical technicians had spent nearly a day working on his wounds. A sentry by the name of Justin, how he introduced himself, usually kept him company, calling Scott a hero for what he did.
Today Justin wasn't there, Scott sat alone will a dull ache in his muscles, counting new scars on his naked chest. He at least had properly fitting clothing now, fatigues given to him from the Marine's own supply depot on the station. They lacked the softness of the dress whites he usually wore when out of his armor, and the strength his armor gave him when out of his whites. Kyoko was in her own private room here, received by the Rear Admiral personally and taken to the ONI division three living quarters. He didn't think about her much, more about Simmons the green Corporal and his men that were still alive. They were in their own military section of the medical wing, and he was isolated.
He had been rubbing the shoulder wound for what seemed like hours when the doors parted and the old man in black came in. The piercing blue eyes that he had watched in the dock looked at him now. "Hello Scott," Joseph Drake addressed him, "do you know who I am?"
Scott 079 looked at Rear Admiral Joseph Drake with his cold blue eyes and stood at attention with a salute: "Sir yes sir...." His voice was a still rasp from his throat and his mind ceased to function as the words came out. "You are Rear Admiral Joseph Drake sir... commanding officer of this station. Sir."
"I'm your father Scott, at ease." Drake felt his own words falling on the tried and true military protocols drilled into him so many years ago as he sat down on that school and looked at the towering man that was his son. "My god... what did Halsey do to you?" His eyes traced his son's body, the patchwork of scars on his chest and arms, but his face so pristine and pale white, out of place from his mother's tan lustrous skin and dark black hair. They sat in silence eyeing one another; Scott's mind analyzed the man as best he could recall the details from the files he read.
"I gave you up," Joseph finally broke the silence, "you know that now. You could have had a normal life, been a doctor like your brothers maybe. Your mother never forgave me."
"It doesn't matter," Scott said pulling a tank top over his broad chest and finding the shirt left for him hanging on a hook, "this is the life I lead now. I've made my choice."
"You mean going AWOL?" Drake replied as his son covered his body, slowly fastening the buttons with his large hands.
"I meant fighting for the UNSC." Scott looked at his father again, his mind was racing over everything he had done in those suits of armor, pondering the exhilaration of battle he felt and the second sight he seemed to feel as his body reacted without his thinking. Everything he had ever done in war, how he was made for a battle that had never occurred, all seemed to rush into his mind. Drake sighed and looked at the x-rays projected on the monitors; his son's shoulder must have been mending well.
"You're going to be a solder then." Drake stood and met the eyes of his son, "not a puppet?"
"I follow orders, and Adrian Yu ordered me to save his daughter." Scott felt a sense of serenity in his words, as the left his mouth he felt more complete and directed. He would fight, he would be the Spartan on the battlefield, and there were no more questions, no more options to distract him.
"You were ordered to protect the fusion plants with the other Spartans." Joseph countered his son, "you betrayed them, even if you did save these 150 you could have saved a whole planet."
"I was ordered to kill the covenant hierarchs, to destroy myself and all of my brothers and sisters in the process." Scott felt a hardness in his voice, "I betrayed no one. I followed Yu's orders; I'm not a machine Admiral.... I'm a Soldier."
"You mean going AWOL?" Drake replied as his son covered his body, slowly fastening the buttons with his large hands.
"I meant fighting for the UNSC." Scott looked at his father again, his mind was racing over everything he had done in those suits of armor, pondering the exhilaration of battle he felt and the second sight he seemed to feel as his body reacted without his thinking. Everything he had ever done in war, how he was made for a battle that had never occurred, all seemed to rush into his mind. Drake sighed and looked at the x-rays projected on the monitors; his son's shoulder must have been mending well.
"You're going to be a solder then." Drake stood and met the eyes of his son, "not a puppet?"
"I follow orders, and Adrian Yu ordered me to save his daughter." Scott felt a sense of serenity in his words, as the left his mouth he felt more complete and directed. He would fight, he would be the Spartan on the battlefield, and there were no more questions, no more options to distract him.
"You were ordered to protect the fusion plants with the other Spartans." Joseph countered his son, "you betrayed them, even if you did save these 150 you could have saved a whole planet."
"I was ordered to kill the covenant hierarchs, to destroy myself and all of my brothers and sisters in the process." Scott felt a hardness in his voice, "I betrayed no one. I followed Yu's orders; I'm not a machine Admiral.... I'm a Soldier."
"So you're going to keep fighting, keep going in this war?" Drake looked at his son, the last son he had, the only family he was allowed to have anymore."
"If the navy will still have me," Scott knew the consequences of his actions full and well. But how would they deal with an AWOL Spartan, a conscript of no choice who had been mutated by their hands into the perfect killing machine, the greatest human warrior ever conceived or trained. "But I'm through with questions Father...." The words stung his mouth, and hurt more than anything as he gave up who he was.
"I understand," Drake looked at his son one last time and remembered the day his wife had left him with his sons. The day those two boys had looked at him in disgust and hatred. How had she known what fate had become of their son? How could she have known the guilt that lay on his conscience from taking so many children away from their families and damning them to a pained death of botched surgery or burning away on worlds never seen? How could she know the cost that his position asked, the pains and prices of being in division three that he had endured? The moment when his five year old son disappeared into that blackness of the cold tube, how the rush of air from the transport craft taking off, and the cover up operation that would fail utterly in the eyes of his family. That was the day that changed both of their lives, as Joseph Drake gave up his family, and his humanity.
"I'll be sending my report to Earth; your actions will be lauded. You saved Yu's daughter for the AI she had with her, a botanical assistant with detailed data on plant life that mapped the entire human colonies including Earth. Congratulations Scott, you're a hero." Drake walked to the exit, "this will be the only time we'll meet I'm sure. And for what it's worth I am sorry that this was done to you Scott." The doors opened with a swish of pneumatic pressure coming from their locks.
"Don't be," Scott stood tall and looked at his father silhouetted by the white light from the hallway, "we are what we are, I would have been this even without you."
"I'm glad I met you son, maybe one day this war will end because of men like you." Rear Admiral Joseph Drake walked away silently from the medical bay having looked his son in the eyes and seen the truth about him. The only son he had left was a soldier like he was, and had sacrificed everything to fight for the UNSC.
Scott knew his decision was made, more than likely he would never see Earth, or Kyoko Yu again. He longed for the feel of his MJOLNIR armor on his body, but simply sat down, and a smile crossed his lips as he thought of the battles that would come. In the silence of his mind's eye he saw the covenant, and remembered the look of terror on the decrepit hierarch he had slain so many years ago. The power he felt and the incredible rush of combat and survival, he knew he needed to find the other Spartans and take the fight to the covenant. Adrian Yu floated in his memory and he recalled the man's kindly smile and the deceptive nature of his movements, how he had played on Scott's hostility to Halsey. How Scott had justified his own actions by the confusing logic of Yu and saved that girl. For what good he had done, it was time he accepted what he was. No more running.
He now knew who he needed to end this war.
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