Dear, Dr. Halsey
Before I begin with the purpose of this message, I would like to first congratulate you on your promotion, Dr. Halsey. I look forward to operating alongside you as a fellow head of Section Three, and I can't help but feel a little excited about the coming future collaborations between my Materials Group and your Study and Research Group.
Now with that out of the way, I must say the material you sent over did not disappoint. Just as you suspected, it did react positively to applied piezoelectricity and functioned just as intended, acting just like a second set of muscles. We were also able to integrate it with only a few hang-ups with the prototype Mark IV. However, as you saw in the report, we are still struggling to maintain a constant current to the undersuit. That is due in large part because of the power source, I am afraid, with this new addition, it simply is unable to maintain a high enough output.
Have you thought of the inclusion, or rather, the swap to a fission-based reactor? I know you have your reservations with the idea, because of the delicacy and radioactivity of such a device, but it would produce an infinite amount of energy for the weapon system. We could also include certain shielding aspects for both the operator and surroundings, and we could implement a quasi-self-destruction sequence should the operator be killed in combat. That way, we would not have to worry about the possible recovery of the equipment nor about anyone "strategically acquiring" it either.
Let that be food for thought.
Besides that suggestion and update, I feel as though I must inform you of a rather peculiar interest from a First Lieutenant James Ackerson. Recently, he has been… "snooping"? He's been bombarding me with questions through email, and some of my subordinates have caught him in restricted-access places at the zero-gravity testing facility on Luna {A/N: The moon}. I wanted to warn you so that the other half of the Orion-II project could be informed about his risk to the program.
Nevertheless, I again congratulate you on your new position and hope you remain in good health.
Kind regards, John Warhammer.
Sip
Taking a small sip of coffee out of her mug, Catherine Halsey adopted a thoughtful expression as she read through the lead engineer's email on her personal laptop. Her fingers lightly rapped on the wooden table she sat at as she pondered alternative power sources to alleviate the newest problem that followed an almost unending line of design challenges. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she read the man's suggestion, 'That's the third time you've tried to cram a nuclear device into this project, John. What's next? Are you going to recommend a HAVOK as a dead man's switch?' Though he tried to act professional, the truth was that from the few times she had encountered the man, it was obvious he had an obsession.
Dismissing the proposal for now, Halsey's eyes narrowed as she read the next couple of lines in the message. First Lieutenant James Ackerson was not an unfamiliar name to the doctor. Ever since the initiation of Orion-II, the man had a quasi-one-sided rivalry with her. Though back then he was a greenhorn just like herself, fresh out of the academy, but every bit as ambitious and ruthless as he was now. Like a shark smelling blood in the water, he hovered around any place where research or work was being done for the project.
"-More like a blood-sucking leech," Catherine smirked at her comparison. She found it more fitting, seeing as sharks at least killed their prey before trying to eat it, and Ackerson was far too cowardly to try that, at least for now.
Finishing the message, she closed out of the encrypted messaging application and pushed the portable computer to the side of the table before she relaxed back into her seat. Catherine once again began to admire the scenery, glad that she had set up her lab on the patio of the Theodore Roosevelt Nature Preserve's research building. It was the perfect spot to observe the wilderness and still have electricity to continue her work.
At a glance, enormous redwood trees reached up to the clouds. Their giant shadows provided ideal shade for a morning or even afternoon hike. Scattered bushes and saplings littered the ground around them, vying for any clear lines of sunlight. On the floor, rabbits, wolves, and most other species found in the woods roamed, maintaining the isolated ecosystem while being watched over by the reserve's staff.
Bzzt
Feeling a vibration coming from her wrist, Catherine looked down to read the notice on her wrist dock. A somber frown marred her face as she read the headline of a breaking news article, 'OUTER COLONY NEWS: REBEL DESTROYER ATTACKS ANDESIA SPACEPORT 7000+ DEAD…'
'They did a better job keeping a lid on that one than with the bombing here last year,' Catherine commented to herself as she scanned through the news, seeing which parts the ONI censors gave and what they withheld. The truth was that the bombing had happened over a week ago, and the kill count was closer to fourteen thousand than seven.
With a couple of more taps on the screen, the doctor had copied the article and filed it away into her personal holo-journal. Picking up her datapad from the wooden table, she opened it to confirm that it had been properly placed. Upon confirming the article, she began to return the device to the table before her eyes caught the words of a paper that had begun her endeavor.
Her expression softened as her eyes filled with a somber glint, 2 MILLION DEAD-INSURRECTIONISTS DETONATE NUCLEAR DEVICE- MILLIONS INJURED ON MAMORE. Every time Catherine read the words, she felt as if she had been hit with cold water, and to this day, it remains a sobering reminder.
With the thought of what was to come, her expression hardened. Gone was the rare vulnerable look, and instead, the appearance of a pragmatic, cold, and calculating scientist took its place.
The fact remained that, according to her own models and the other research done by her predecessors, it was all but inevitable that rebellion was going to increase exponentially. Incidents and massive losses of life would ramp up until they eventually culminated in a civil war on a galactic scale.
In order to stop the warfare of the future, the UNSC didn't need another fleet or army. What they needed was a scalpel, something subtle and flexible but far more lethal than even the shocktroopers. And most importantly, they needed this force to be strictly loyal only to the UNSC.
That dream birthed the Orion-II program.
Catherine let out a long sigh before relaxing her face and sitting back in her chair. Her thoughts remained unknown as she sat silently for a few moments listening to the distant chirping birds.
Bzzt
Another vibration from her wrist ended her brief closed-eye rest. Checking the notification, her eyes widened for a brief moment before she sat up, "Well now, my guest is awake," she remarked to herself before standing up and doing a once over making sure all of her equipment was locked.
"It's not every day I find an incapacitated child on my morning walk," she chided to herself before entering the research building.
…
..
.
"Wh-what happened?"
David's vision was foggy as he woke from his slumber. The bright light above him did little to help his eyes adjust as he quickly wiped the tears on his face from straining to see. He held his eyes closed with his fingers on his eyelids as he slowly opened and closed them before finally being able to see without the feeling of staring at the sun.
He looked around, observing his surroundings only to find a staggering amount of white. All around him, the walls were white and had a stench of bleach in the air. There wasn't much furniture in the room, but there was a window to his left giving a view of a forest of trees and glowing sunlight.
Looking down, he found that he was wrapped in blankets, and turning over his right arm, he found a needle attached to a tube running to a bag beside the bed he lay in. He reached to pull it out, only to stop, shaking his head.
Adopting a confused expression, he couldn't help but ask himself, 'Where am I?' he thought for a moment before he was reminded of the moments before his incapacitation. Stealing food and running from police before jumping off into a river, before falling down a waterfall.
Part of him was shocked to find that he was still alive, but the other part couldn't help but be impressed, 'I wonder how many people have fallen down a waterfall and survived? Probably less than a thousand, and now I'm one of them,' he smirked as his thoughts took the edge off of the unfamiliar situation.
Click
David's head snapped to his right as he watched the door to the room open. His eyes watched as a young woman with a white lab coat, the type his parents used to wear. She had black hair, like his, but had blue eyes where his were green. As she walked in, she had a small smile on her face, moving towards the side of his bed.
David's heart dropped as he read the tag on her coat's breast pocket, UNSC, it showed, 'I'm not going to jail,' he reiterated to himself and swallowed in anticipation of what she might ask.
"Good morning, Mr..?" Halsey greeted the boy as she pulled up a seat beside his bed.
"D-David," the boy coughed as he cleared his throat, "Just David,"
"It's nice to meet you, David," the woman nodded, "As you can see I took the liberty of moving you inside, I hope you do not mind. Do you remember how you ended up on the shore of the river of this nature preserve?" she asked as she began to slowly take the needle and bag it was attached to down, "You won't be needing these now that you're awake," she remarked when David looked at her questioningly.
"I-," David took a moment to compose his lie. To act the part, he adopted an embarrassed expression, "I fell down some stairs into a waterfall…." he said slowly and quietly.
Halsey immediately stopped what she was doing to look at him with a strange expression, "...You fell down some stairs into a waterfall?" she asked to make sure she heard it correctly. David simply nodded, causing her to pause, "How?" she asked with an intrigued tone and amused smile.
"It was raining and I was running and I'm not very lucky," David elaborated slightly.
"Uh-huh," Halsey nodded, finishing her work before sitting back down.
David had been watching her closely ever since she had entered the room, and couldn't help but feel something was off with the woman. Her movements were the same as his mother had done when he was sick, but it was something in this woman's eyes that gave her away.
Her eyes reflected the look of someone looking at an experiment. David could tell from his experience of watching people on the street that there was an ulterior motive behind her countenance. He had encountered a few people on the street while begging who did the same. Some would give him food while others wouldn't, but both would sit from afar and watch him. And the look they had, as well as this doctor's, was the same, the look as if they were watching a science experiment, and it never let David feel comfortable.
Halsey didn't say another word for a moment but instead sat tapping her fingers gently on her arm while staring at the boy. Finally, after keeping him in suspense she began to reply, "In the state that I found you, I am compelled to believe that you somehow survived the impossibly low odds of falling down a waterfall," she said with an amused tone, "But I'm not as convinced of the events that led to your swim," David gulped as he braced himself for the next words, knowing he'd been had.
"So why don't you tell me what really happened, David Graves? After all, we both know this story doesn't add up,"
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Another Chapter, hope you enjoy. See you Wednesday.