Halo Deeper We Go Prologue

Halo: Deeper We Go Author: Matthias Karlsson

Prologue 0124 HOURS, FEBRUARY 9, 2535 (MILITARY CALENDAR)/EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, ONI CASTLE BASE, PLANET REACH Commander Achilles Ponton stopped a yawn. It was late in the evening, and CASTLE BASE was now even darker than it was usually was, despite the fact that it was hidden deep underground. Most workers had left the facility to go home. Only a few were remaining, nearly dozing in front of their computers, trying to finish reports or writing letters to others. Ponton had been in his office from eight AM, so he had worked non-stop (except for lunch and dinner) all day, so now he was exhausted. But he had one thing to deal with before he took a pause. Ponton sat a little straighter, and typed some letters on his keyboard. His screen flashed for a moment, then a file with attached documents listed in alphabetical order appeared (Ponton was a perfectionist, wanting everything in good order and organized). He clicked on a link saying “SPARTAN-003”. On the screen the CSV of SPARTAN-003 “Michael” appeared. Ponton skimmed through the material, adding important information to his mind to remember later. According to the CSV, the Spartan had had nearly no major action up until this point. Same accounted for the rest of White Team; SPARTAN-109 “Alexis”, SPARTAN-035 “Thomas”, SPARTAN-024 “Joshua”, SPARTAN-095 “Eve” and SPARTAN-057 “David”. Their CSVs were almost blank, with only a few counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations in the outer colonies. Ponton cursed quietly to himself. He had had to choose these rookies for his new operation. If anything, he had wanted Blue Team, the de facto best SPARTAN-II team. But Blue Team was tied up in battles against the Covenant and couldn’t be called back. Same applied to Green and Red Team, while Grey Team was currently fighting behind Covenant lines from an ONI prowler, which made it impossible to make contact with them. So White Team was the only team available. Ponton calmed after convincing himself that White Team was Spartans, and thus would be the best of the men that would go on this operation. Except for Ponton’s right hand, Randal, and Section 1’s representative in the operation, Lavernius, of course.

Suddenly Ponton’s COM pad buzzed and shook. He picked it up from underneath a pile of papers and coffee mugs. Out of the pad the voice of one of Ponton’s right hand men, Agent Stockholm was heard.

“Sir,” he said with his heavy southern accent “the ‘people’ are here. Should I let them pass?” “Please do.” Ponton massaged his eyes for a second, and then added “And you’ll escort them here through the more secretive passages. We don’t want the whole place knowing about the top brass that just showed up.” “Roger sir.” The COM Pad went dark again, and Ponton put it down on his desk. He straightened up in his chair, retrieved a file with documents from his cupboard and separated the papers on six places in front of an equal amount of chairs that he had prepared. He shut down his computer and pulled the light switch, lighting up the room for the first time in five hours. Finally, he sat down and waited.

He had barely waited a minute before footsteps were heard in the corridor, sounds that were getting closer. Then the silhouettes of three people appeared through the doorway; one that looked extremely old, far beyond the mandatory retirement age regulations. She were Vice Admiral Margaret Parangosky, head of ONI Section 3, in other words, Pontons’ top boss. She was followed by two other officers; Rear Admiral Rich, Covert Operations Commander in Section 3, with hair that was already growing grey. Along with him was Captain Gibson, head of Section 3’s Black Ops, the dirtier counterpart to Covert Operations. After the three had entered, they were followed by three others. The first after the heads of Section 3 to enter was Captain Antonio Silva, who still wore his black ODST Body Suit, indicating that he had very recently been on a training exercise with the rest of his ODST Company. ODSTs (abbreviation for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) had a complex command organization. They followed the Marine Corps’ chain of command, but were under the real command of Naval Special Warfare. They could do anything from counterinsurgency, rescue/recovery, and assassination and sabotage missions to regular military operations to serve as morale amplifiers. So, technically, they were the 26th century’s version of Delta Force. There was one major thing that separated ODSTs from Delta Force though; ODSTs had much more dangerous ways of insertion, using the Human Entry Vehicles, which, while stealthy, was very dangerous for most normal humans. Thus, ODSTs were the toughest of the toughest of the UNSC military, needing to have had at least three years of experience in other Special Warfare units. Even after that, they had to go through an extreme training regime, which would kick out most candidates. ODSTs were the best, except for Spartans of course. This often led to rivalry between the ODSTs and the Spartans. But that wasn’t the sole reason for the rivalry and the ODSTs’ hatred for the Spartans. It was also because the Spartans’ Squad Leader, John-117, had at some point been ordered to face a group of ODSTs in the boxing ring of the ship he was stationed at. The Spartan defeated the ODSTs easily; it even resulted in death for some of the poor soldiers. As the fate of irony, those soldiers were from Silva’s unit, which made him one of the prime enemies of the Spartans.

After Silva, a hazel-eyed woman in standard Navy outfit entered. Ponton identified her instantly as Lieutenant Commander Al-Cygni. She was a veteran in ONI, having been in charge of many ops, including what turned into first contact with the Covenant on Harvest. Finally, after Al-Cygni, Dr. Catherine Halsey entered. She wore a lab coat, which Ponton knew that she always did. She looked Ponton into the eye for a moment, but then looked down and sat down like the others. For a moment there was silence. Parangosky was the first to break it. “Are you going to tell us what you brought us here for?” Ponton could easily tell that she was getting impatient quickly. He swallowed once, then began. “Of course, ma’am. If you would just go ahead and read the documents in front of you?” “Fine,” she said, bitter in her voice. All six reached for their papers and started to read. Halsey finished first. “Are you kidding?” she shouted out without warning. “You couldn’t honestly want to go through with this!” Ponton held back his rage, storing it in his mind. He looked at Halsey, appearing calm. “It’s far from impossible, doctor, and yes, I am going through with it, with Parangosky’s, Rich’s and Gibson’s approval, of course.” He turned towards those he had mentioned, who were done reading now as well. “Well,” Rich said, “there are risks, but we don’t have too much to lose, so I approve. If you should succeed, the Covenant will be slowed down for months, which is worth taking a few risks. How about you, Gibson?” Gibson gave an approving nod, and, after grimacing a bit, Parangosky did the same. For half a second, Ponton could see that Halsey looked shocked, but then she looked casual again. She had impressive control over herself. But nothing of that mattered, because he had what he needed now. “Now, let’s go through the personnel we need,” he said after a time’s silence. “I’ve counted for eight Spartans and-“ “Eight Spartans?” Halsey interrupted. “White Team only has six members, and even if you take Randal - which I’m very surprised over that he’s here since he’s been gone for three years – with you, there will only be seven.” “You are clever, Halsey” Ponton responded, smiling. “You recognized Randal, despite the fact that he was hidden inside a regular ODST Body Suit. Well, there will be time to discuss Randal later, so let’s continue.” He reached for a glass of water and drank a few sips. “The eighth Spartan is someone you thought were gone, but there will be time to discuss him later as well, so I’ll just continue with the personnel list; two 6-man Combat Teams from Silva’s company. Do you have your best men available, Captain?” “Yes, sir!” Silva responded, adding a salute. “Lieutenant Commander Al-Cygni, you and Staff Sergeants Avery Johnson, Nolan Byrne, Dean Jackson and Marvin Mobuto will tag along too, because of your experience with the

Covenant that will prove invaluable for the operation’s success.” Al-Cygni gave an approving nod, but Ponton could tell she wanted to say something. He decided to ignore it. “Then there’s me – who will command the operation – and my personal team consisting of Randal and Agent Stockholm. Finally, we have Lieutenant Jacob Keyes, who will command Team Alpha of NAVSPECWEP Seven. Any questions?” No one spoke. So Ponton relaxed and yawned as they left. After the doors closed, he instantly fell asleep.