This is a short story that takes place before the events of Halo 5 Guardians. No, this is not announcing a Halo 5 story for myself, but it is something I wanted to write in the worst way.
Forerunner Shield World, CODENAME: Rapture
Military Calender: August 28th, 2558 18:00 Hours.
Phoenix Station
Pheonix station had always been known as a hot-spot for UNSC Scientists and their colleagues. Located on the Forerunner Shield World; Rapture, it contained a treasure trove of Forerunner history, weapon systems, and advanced knowledge that Humanity had once thought impossible. If you were a UNSC Scientist, Phoenix Station was the place for your pilgrimage.
Of course, with such a bounty of knowledge and potential, ONI had the station strictly closed. To even fathom entering the place required and impressive resume, credits that would crash the economy, and about as much luck as Spartan-117 bottled up inside himself. Even then, thirty-seven percent of all applicants were denied.
Edgar T. Jones was the one exception, he, along with Dr. Glassman, had researched into the technology stored on Requiem months prior. For Edgar, that trip to Requiem had been a complete fluke on his part, he had been there shadowing for Dr. Glassman. Edgar wasn't 'qualified' to actually have been allowed on Requiem, had the Infinity not been swallowed by the shield world's gravity well.
Due to his increasing knowledge on Forerunner culture and technology, he had been green-lighted for this expedition on Phoenix Station. Where many of his colleagues despised him, green with envy, others had continually spammed his inbox on Waypoint asking him for pictures and any data pieces he could muster.
Of course, each and every one of those requests were denied. Edgar had certainly had luck on his side this time, and he knew ONI was always watching his actions on his computer. His inner need for knowledge was too great, he wasn't about to pass up this chance.
The thing about Edgar was, his hunger for knowledge always put him in the hungrier maw of something else. Whether it was the incidents on Requiem, the Flood infestation on Earth, or this particular moment.
Coughing, Edgar's nose flared at the putrid breath of the four mandible'd giant, holding him by the throat. The beast's hinged jaws clicked together in disgust, before the scaly hand wrapped around his throat clenched harder.
"Give me the information I seek, and you may live another day."
Edgar's face heated in a flash, there was no way he was giving information as valuable as this to a Covenant thug like this. Grunting, the hand squeezed harder, and he could feel the blood in his face begin to surface, slowly changing the color of his skin. Choking and sputtering, Edgar could feel his eyes slowly roll into the back of his head.
'Where did it go wrong?' Edgar asked himself, as his vision slowly began to fade.
///////////////////////////////////////
Hours before.
"C'mon Edgy the Egg-Head!" his friend, Geoff Church scoffed. "Breakfast at the Mess Hall, let's gooo!"
"Is that all you can think about as a soldier?" Edgar chuckled to his friend. "Killing and eating?"
"Hey now, you see enough mangled Grunt corpses, you get kinda shaky." Geoff shrugged, as Edgar stood to join him.
Geoff was a good man, as far as Edgar could tell. Over the past few months that Edgar had been on the base, Geoff was the only one Edgar truly could connect to as a fellow man. Other Scientists were too busy studying, and flaunting their degrees. While the Soldiers were too busy cat calling the women on base, or firing their weapons into the small amounts of ballistic gel that was available.
Walking through the halls, Edgar still found himself staring out the glass at the world around them. It was hard for him, even with his logical mind, to even consider that the very planet they were standing on... was all artificial. Glancing up at the sky above him, it reminded him of a perpetual sunset. No matter what time of the day, by Military Clock, the sky always looked like the perfect clash of Dawn and Dusk.
"Y'know." Geoff paused, stopping their strides. "Us Soldiers don't get much time to admire our surroundings. We're too busy focusing all of our senses on survival, and killing our enemies, that we rarely get a chance to take everything in."
"I know the feeling." Edgar sighed. "Except, I put all of my senses on discovery and observation. I spend so much time staring at the compounds of the environment, I don't take the time to note the color of the grass, or the sky."
"I served on Reach, back in the day." Geoff scoffed, shaking his head. "It may sound harsh, but hell. The Covenant sure did have a way of making utter destruction look so... majestic."
"Yeah, but have you ever walked on a glassed planet? Winds of over a hundred miles per hour pick up, throwing a mixture of glass and rocks at you. If you get caught in that... not even our top forensic scientists could identify you." Edgar spat, angrily.
"Oh, right. I'm sorry." Goeff bowed his head. "I meant nothing by it, really."
Reach had been Edgar's home in his younger years. When the Covenant had appeared, his family had evacuated as quickly as he could, but not without the cost of his father and elder sister's lives. Fast forward three years, and Edgar heads the research team, trying to discover a way to terraform a glassed planet.
"It's alright, honest mistake." Edgar sighed, wiping a single bead of tear from his cheek at the thought of his family.
As the two walked, they slowed as they passed a trio of ODSTs, chuckling and mumbling to themselves. Just as they were passing by, however, Edgar's stomach dropped as he heard one of the soldiers whistle to him.
Stopping in place, Edgar and Geoff continued to face forward.
"Hey doc, I need to ask you something." one of the soldier said, seemingly genuine.
Turning on the heels of his shoes, Edgar recoiled backwards as the soldier's fist smashed into the bridge of his nose, breaking it.
"How many rations of food do you think that nose was worth, eh?!" the soldier growled angrily. "The boys and I were having some harmless fun with that ballistic gel, an' your goody goody ass had to tell teacher. Grow the fuck up, mate. The UEG's spewing bullshit about a peace agreement between the hinge heads and Humanity. But not every treaty goes without breaking, kid. Us soldiers need to actually do important things besides play mad scientist."
"You may think everything is butterflies, molecules, and fucking protons. But it's a very black and white world out there. You either kill or you die. Plain and simple. Now get the hell outta my face before I rearrange yours."
Groaning, Edgar began to stand, as one of the other ODSTs placed their boot on his chest, pushing him back to the floor. Chuckling, Geoff sighed as he helped Edgar to his feet.
"Oh how cute, the leatherneck wants to help the egg-head." the lead ODST sneered. "Know your loyalties soldier."
"I serve for Humanity, not myself." Geoff stuck his tongue out. "Just because you couldn't get daddy's love as a kid doesn't mean you need to take it out on people that make the armor and weapons we fight with. Deal with your own insecurities, don't push them on others, you slimy sack of-"
"That's enough of that." a woman's voice replied harshly behind them.
The ODSTs snapped immediately to attention, as Geoff helped Edgar up, following the ODSTs in suit.
"Admiral, ma'am!" the ODSTs barked.
"Shut the fuck up, you slobs." she growled, jerking her head to the left. "I saw the hole thing, get back to your quarters before I have you charged with assault on a lead scientist."
"Damn spook," the ODST growled, brushing past Edgar, his two buddies fast behind him.
Standing before Edgar, a few inches above him, was a high ranking officer within the Office of Naval Intelligence; and Admiral, no less. From what Edgar had gathered, she was headed the research on the station.
"Jesus," she shook her head, as she observed Edgar's nose. "Jerks broke your nose, you okay, all things considered?"
Edgar was confused, this spook was much more pleasant than other ONI agents he had the displeasure of working with. Something about her presence made him feel warm, almost safe. Like a kid to a mother. Shaking his head from the thought, Edgar winced as he touched the nose.
"I asked if you were alright, not to verify if you're broken nose was indeed broken." she sighed, reaching for his face. "This'll hurt, but you'll thank me later."
Before Edgar to respond, there was a sharp, piercing pain between his eyes as the cartilage of his nose was reunited with the other piece. His eyes began to water, but with a matter of moments, he was at a more reasonable level of pain.
"Thank you, ma'am." Edgar nodded respectfully, as the Admiral smiled warmly.
Standing, the woman placed a gloved hand on her hip, as Edgar cracked his neck. She stared at him with intense hazel eyes, with brunette bangs gently drifting in front of them. A quick look over, and Edgar's eyes widened. He hadn't realized, but the Admiral before him was wearing Mjolnir grade armor, something specially made for only one type of soldier; Spartans.
Standing a little straighter, Edgar's right arm snapped above his eye in a crisp salute.
"I am feeling much better now ma'am!" Edgar nearly shouted.
"Jeez, you are such a flake." the woman chuckled with a smirk. "Go on to Mess, I'll page the kitchen staff and have them take care of you. Then go directly to HR, we'll have those three shipped off base in no time."
"Understood ma'am." Geoff replied, practically dragging Edgar behind him.
"Y'know, I'm pretty hungry myself." she shrugged. "I'll walk with you."
For a time, everything was silent from then on. Edgar was now slightly afraid of the woman beside him, for all he knew, the warm exterior was only a mask. Perhaps the woman beneath the veil was actually darker and more horrific then the natural face of Medusa. It also didn't help that she was ONI brass, implying that the wrong phrase and his entire life could be erased within a snap of her fingers.
"Don't tell me that punch knocked some of your impressive brain cells out too?" the Admiral chuckled.
"N-no ma'am. Just been thinking, is all." Edgar wanted to be careful, the wrong word could mean life of death for him.
"Oh really, any new discoveries?" she asked, as they entered the mess hall.
"Not necessarily," Edgar stammered. "It's just rare to see a Spartan out of their mask, ma'am."
"Ah, I'm sorry if I'm coming off as intimidating." she nodded. "My husband would have a fit if I was outside of it. I'm not like a Spartan III or Spartan II, my identity isn't quite as secretive. That's all I can say."
"My question is more of why a Spartan would be needed for a research op, ma'am?"
"I'm ONI." she shrugged. "The Spartan augments yields me better protection, but I'm all about data collection. The rest is on a need to know basis, but I'm afraid you don't need to know."
"Ma'am, permission to speak freely?" Geoff requested, as the Admiral nodded. "I think he's referring to the number of UNSC vessels coming to and from the shield world. The number of soldiers on base has also risen much more dramatically. Without declassifying too much, is the base under attack?"
"I don't see any alarms going off, Sergeant." the Admiral looked around. "ONI likes their security, and you can rest easy knowing that our sensors haven't picked up any Loyalist movement in the system.
------------------------------------------------
Hours later
Edgar's eyes snapped open, as he groggily stood. Grabbing his forehead, the only thing he had remembered after his breakfast with the Admiral and Geoff had been his visit to HR. On his way back to his office, there had been a loud bang, and glass exploding all around him.
Cracking his neck, he slowly began to stand, wincing as the shards of glass on the floor sliced his hand in the motion. Nursing his right hand, the cut was small, but manageable. Taking a few steps forward, he heard the glass beneath his feet crunch aggressively, widening his eyes as the sounds of chittering in front of him stopped abruptly.
Siezing up like a deer in the headlights, Edgar watched as a group of short, shambly creatures rounded the corner. On their backs were a series of cylinders, which connected to tubes running up to their mouths. Grasping their bulky blue weapons, they aimed them at the Human before them, each and every one of them glowing green.
"Plasma pistols." Edgar whispered to himself. "I'm gonna die to Plasma pistols."
Before he could mumble his final prayers to a God he didn't believe in, Edgar watched as a small pinecone shaped thing landed between the small aliens. In a loud bang, bright light, and flash of fire, the majority of the group were scattered on the walls, their blue blood adding a new color to the otherwise bland white metal walls.
There was a few pulses of a burst fired rifle, and the last few Grunts fell to the floor in a mangled heap. Stepping out from the shadows of the hallway, Geoff smirked cockily, waving. Walking over to the corpses, Geoff gently kicked one of the methane tanks with a grin.
"Mmm tasty." Geoff checked the magazine on his rifle. "See what I mean? Kinda makes me want hybrid pie..."
"What the-"
"Don't ask, I sure as hell won't tell." Geoff shook his head from the thought. "C'mon, I'll explain as we move."
Moving briskly through the hallway, Edgar was completely at Geoff's mercy. Whenever the Sergeant asked him to duck away into a room, he did so, only exiting when Geoff knocked on the door in a special code.
"So what exactly happened?"
"Well, after your affair with the Admiral and Human Resources, the Covenant decided to actually make me useful on this shit base, bastards anyway." Geoff growled. "Right now, our main priority is to get you to the others. I have no idea where the Admiral is, so once I've delivered you to the panic room, I'm going out to find her."
As they rounded a corner, Edgar groaned as he smashed his already tender nose on the hard metal of a chestplate. Looking up, however, it was not a Spartan's chestplate he had crashed into. On the contrary, the reptilian beast glaring down at him clicked it's mandibles a few times, before swinging it's fist down on him.
Opening his eyes wide, Edgar dove to the right, as Geoff plugged numerous salvos of rounds into the Elite's chest, it's energy shields absorbing the damage. Annoyed by the soldier, the Elite began to stomp towards Geoff, who prepared another Frag Grenade.
"Come at me you hinge-head bastard!" Geoff smirked cockily. "It ain't my first rodeo with you assholes! Edgar, down this hallway, sector three. You know the rest, GO!"
Running around the corner, Edgar stared as his escort's weapon ceased to fire. There was a yelp of pain, a few huffs of air.
"REMEMBER REACH!" Edgar could hear Geoff yell, followed by bloodcurtling screams, and a muffled explosion.
Edgar's eyes widened as red liquid sprayed the walls around the corner, mixed with a dark purple sludge. Sliding backwards around the ground, Edgar's flight or fight instinct kicked in, and he sprinted for the end of the hall. Moving as fast as his feet would let him, he yelped as he heard an Elite charging behind him.
What scared Edgar even further, however, was that the Elite was gaining on him. Dipping his head down as far as he could, Edgar followed Geoff's advice, allowing all of his senses go to his survival. Hearing a clomping noise around the corner, Edgar held his breath, closing his eyes, as he sunk to his knees, sliding across the ground.
Above his head, he heard a sickening crunch, followed by the gargling of his Elite pursuer. Turning back, he saw the Elite sprawled out on it's back, as the Admiral stood above it, only this time, she had her helmet on. Lifting her boot up, she stomped on it's face, crushing it like a penny on the railroad tracks.
Edgar stared in amazement as the Spartan lifted her boot, shaking the gore off like it was a usual thing, and then proceeded to march towards him.
"I don't know where you were or why, but you need to get to the panic room. ASAP!" the Admiral growled. "Where's Sergeant Church, I assumed he was with you?"
When Edgar didn't speak, she nodded in understanding. Geoff had been Edgar's only acquaintance on the base that he could actually stomach the company of. From the stories Edgar had heard, Geoff had survived the entirety of the Covenant-Human war, only to die on a base far in the reaches of space, fighting a faction that shouldn't even exist.
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At the panic room, which was a high-tech vault the scientists had discovered months ago, Edgar felt only slightly safer. The room was a scientific marvel, working as a rift between slipspace and normal space. So long as the door was closed, they would not be detected by any scan. To the Covenant on the other side of the door, they did not exist.
"You all, stay here. Do not open the door unless you hear the words 'Olly Olly Oxen Free', understood?" the Admiral barked, as the few remaining Marines and ODSTs saluted the Spartan.
As quickly as she had entered, the Spartan returned to the fray outside of the vault. Closing it shut behind her, Edgar stared around the room. Scientists that had never encountered the Covenant before were hurling into plastic bags, while their friends pulled their hair or tried to give them some comfort.
"This is bad." one Scientist replied, with an Australian accent. "Real bad."
"Not really, all things considered." One scientist shrugged. "Ninety-seven percent of the research team is still alive and well."
"Are you even listening to yourself?!" Edgar asked, approaching. "You act like those that died out there weren't humans too! Every person dead out there, is someone that could've been YOU! Every person that died out there, is a child waiting for their parent, a spouse fallen, someone that isn't returning."
"Survivor's guilt, at it's finest." the scientist retorted. "I could honestly care less. If they died to these primitives so easily, they were not worthy to be on this base."
"You listen here, egg-head." the ODST from earlier growled, grabbing him by the neck of his shirt. "I don't like Dr. Jones, but he serves a rather intriguing point. I'll take the damn court marshal, and throw you to the hungry Jackals on the other side."
"We can mourn for the dead later." Lexi Struthers, Edgar's assistant, smiled. "I just got a transmission from some UNSC ship in the area. Some pretty heavy duty reinforcements are inbound."
"Oh boy. Spartans." the ODST huffed. "One was too many."
"Not just any Spartans." Lexi shook her head. "Spartan Blue Team... and a special guest, by the looks."
"Pfft. Unless it's Lord Harlowe, I'm not impressed." the ODST retorted.
"That's exactly who it is." Lexi smiled. "Even the new head of the UNSC has come to save us."
"S-Spartan-115?" Edgar asked, as Lexi nodded.
"Bullshit. That old wannabee Scot is too busy playing desk jockey, pushing pencils."
"Admiral of Fleets, Spartan Blaine-115 prepared for duty." Lexi read the pad in front of her. "Good enough?"
