0810 hours, August 30,2552 (Military Calendar)\Epsilon Eridani system, ONIunderground facility, planet Reach.
Dr. Halsey studied the five Spartans in the hallway and pushed her antique glasses fartherup the ridge of her nose. Despite everything their presence here meant—Reach invaded,their mis.sion to find the Covenant leadership compromised, everything she had workedfor now in jeopardy—she was still pleased to see them. She steeled herself, though; anemotional outburst wouldn't be understood, or appreciated, by her Spartans.
"Come in," she said briskly. "And hurry. From the sounds of things upstairs we haven'tmuch time."The Spartans stood there a moment—undoubtedly communi.cating with one anotherthrough a mixture of externally silent COM channels and minute body language. Shenoticed the tick of a finger, the slight nod of a head. They then moved together, picked uptheir equipment, and walked through the threshold of the vault.
Dr. Halsey greeted them as they passed her. "It's good to see you, Fred.""Ma'am," Fred replied. "Good to see you, too."She noted that Kelly's movements were off, a little sluggish. She was hurt, as were the restof them, now that she saw them up close. "Kelly.""Doctor Halsey." She reached out and gave her hand a slight squeeze of greeting.
"Isaac.""Doctor.""Vinh."ERIC NYLUND 121She nodded.
"William."Will grunted. He had never liked his formal name.
She knew this annoyed them all—how she was always able to tell who they were despitethe MJOLNIR armor. She had grown up with them, knew their every gesture and theirindi.vidual walks. She could have never called them by their num.ber designations:
SPARTAN-104, -087, -039, -029, and -043, respectively.
Dr. Halsey tapped a control pad. The vault door eased silently shut, its seams vanished,and, with a sharp, metallic click, it locked.
"We have access to Aqua, Scarlet, and Lavender Levels," she told them. "Follow me to themedical wing." She proceeded down a concrete hallway with a high arched ceiling,recessed lights, and security cameras. "I know the Covenant entered the Epsilon Eridani system at approximately oh-five-hundred hours. ONI Section Three staff evacuated thisfacility at oh-five-thirty hours. I assume you're not here to let me know it's safe to come out?""Yes, ma'am," Fred replied. "I mean, no, ma'am. It's not safe. The Fleet engaged theCovenant, but the enemy managed to land ground forces on Reach. We were sent to thesurface to protect the orbital-gun generators." He stopped, took a deep breath, andcontinued. "We were not successful in that mission. Covenant forces overwhelmed our position." He glanced back at Kelly and the other Spartans. "We fell back here... we thought it would be secure."They continued down the sloping passage; titanium doors irised open for them andclosed as soon as they passed.
"I see," Dr. Halsey replied. "And Captain Keyes? John?""Unknown," Fred told her. "The Master Chief and part of our team attempted to retrieve an unsecured NAV database from an orbital station before the Covenant got to it.Assuming he was successful, and given Captain Keyes's record of combat against theCovenant..." Fred's voice trailed off.
"I'm sure they accomplished their mission and escaped," Dr. Halsey said, finishing thethought for him. "John has never lost.""No, ma'am," Fred replied.
122HALO: FIRST STRIKE 5They walked in silence for a moment past a display of cap-Ztured insurgent flags that had been mounted under glass alongthe curved concrete wall. Most were emblazoned with an arrayof gaudy insignia—family crests, bloodied dragons, and scorchedcrossed swords. They continued past these remnants of a rebel-Zlion the UNSC no longer had to worry about. 5"Doctor Halsey?" Fred said. "Permission to speak freely?""Granted," she said. "I don't stand on ceremony, particularly S given thecircumstances. Speak your mind.""Ma'am, something isn't normal about this Covenant inva.sion," Fred told her. "They'vewon, but they aren't glassing the planet. At least not completely—as near as I candetermine, they've only hit the poles and a portion of the lower latitudes.""And they had digging equipment in position over this fa.cility," Kelly added.
"Curious," Dr. Halsey said. "They've never taken an interest in any human or humantechnologies—" She halted at a large metal iris, big enough to drive a Warthog through,and set her hand on a palm scanner. "The medical wing," she explained. She spoke intothe nearby microphone: " 'I shall do no harm.' " The door opened for them.
High-intensity lights flickered on in the large room beyond. There were a dozen medicaldiagnosis tables and a row of dis.plays along the far wall. The lime-colored floor wasbrightly polished and sterile. The walls glowed with a faint pink lumines.cence. Sevendoors led to adjacent offices and surgical bays with windows looking out into this centralroom.
"Kalmiya?" she said. "Status?""Yes, Doctor," re lied the disembodied voice of her personal AI, her replacement forCortana. "I have ppprepared the Spartans' personal medical files and sent runners to fetchstocks of blood plasma and other medical supplies from cold storage, as well as tools toassist in the removal of their MJOLNIR armor."The doors to the tiny service elevator at the far end of the fa.cility opened, and a roboticrover rolled out, its telescopic arms holding piles of liquid-filled bags. Rows of tools wereneatly lined up across the rover's top tray.
"Very good," Dr. Halsey said. "Continue to track seismic ac-ERIC NYLUNO 123tivity overhead. Interface with the Spartans' biomonitors and patch the output to thedisplay on bay three."She strolled over to a table, and a bank of holographic dis.plays hummed to life, floatingserenely. Graphs and figures scrolled across them.
"Give me a spotlight here, prepare a sterilization field, and lower the ambient lighting byforty percent. And a little Mahler, please. Symphony number two.""Yes, Doctor." Music drifted from the speakers.
Dr. Halsey examined the graphs, tapped tiny human-figure icons, and summoned MRIimages of" the Spartans' internal structures—holographic bones, organs, and muscles appeared and slowly rotated.
She winced at the extent of their injuries.
"Fred, you have a torn Achilles tendon and three cracked ribs. Both kidneys have moderate contusions." She glanced at the rest of the team's data and after a moment'sconsideration told him, "You're fine.
"William, you have a cracked tibia and some internal bleed.ing. Get some biofoam into that wound and avoid strenuous mo.tions for the next day." She turned to face Fred andWill. "You two are in the best shape. I want you to go to Level Aqua, Section Lambda, andretrieve a few things.""Yes, ma'am," Fred said.
Dr. Halsey was only a civilian, but the Spartans had always ac.cepted her authority.Perhaps because she had acted as an equal among the Fleet Admirals and Generals whowere constantly trying to co-opt her work. Or maybe it was more than that. Shewondered if the Spartans viewed her as some sort of mother fig.ure. As much as thisnotion amused her, she doubted that they viewed anyone outside their team as family.Not even her.
William retrieved a can of biofoam from the rover and in.serted the tip into the tinyinjection port in his armor—pushed it through the skin between his fourth and fifth ribs.He filled his abdominal cavity with the space-filling coagulant/antibacterial/ tissue-regenerative polymer.
"Cold?" she asked.
"Nothing worth noting, ma'am."She nodded, not making much over William's courage. She'd124HALO: FIRST STRIKEalways kept her admiration for her Spartans to herself. The last thing she wanted was todo make them feel different. They got enough "special" treatment from everyone else.
Dr. Halsey picked up a clipboard, tapped a few items onto its display, and handed it toFred. "New weapons arrived for field-testing last week," she told him, "as well as parts for the MJOLNIR Mark Five armor system. We'll swap them out for your damagedcomponents. Kalmiya, show them the way, please, and give them access to the restrictedareas.""Yes, Doctor," Kalmiya said. The med bay doors opened. "This way."Fred studied the items on the c"lipboard. Very, very good," he said, and his voice wasthick with satisfaction. He nodded, took a long look at his teammates, and then he andWill departed.
Dr. Halsey returned to her medical readouts. "Vinh, you have a torn deltoid muscle, threebroken fingers, and a herniated disk. Isaac, internal contusions and both shoulders havebeen dislo.cated and reinserted incorrectly, which is pinching off the blood vessels. I'llget you both fixed u in a moment, but first I want you to survey the route we took hereand suggest furtherppperime.ter defenses.""Yes, ma'am," they replied, cast a look at Kelly, and left.
Dr. Halsey concentrated on Kelly's internal scans. Her injuries were by far the worst. Shehad seen that from the extremely low blood pressure and high body temperature evenbefore she'd glanced at the MRI. There was moderate bleeding in her liver— a fatalcondition if not treated—and her right lung was com.pletely collapsed. That the womanwas still on her feet, let alone fighting, was tantamount to an act of God.
Of course, that's what the SPARTAN-II project was all about, wasn't it? Playing God for thegreater good.
"Doctor Halsey," Kelly asked. "Where are the others?""As I said, they evacuated," she replied. "On the table, please. I'm going to perform someminor repairs."Kelly complied. "Then why aieyou still here, ma'am?"Dr. Halsey picked up a curved, long-handled magnetic wrench, built specifically to fit this,and only this, access panel. She in.serted it and popped open a fist-sized section of Kelly'sbatteredERIC NYLUNO125MJOLNIR armor. Blood and hydrostatic gel bubbled from Kelly's wounds.
"I volunteered to be the fail-safe option," she told Kell . "In the lower levels of thesecaverns are enough high explosives to level the facilityyy—in case we were ever overrun bythe enemy. I'm here to make sure no one gets access to our technology."Dr. Halsey injected a local anesthetic and inserted a flexible laser-tipped catheter intoKelly, carefully monitoring her progress on the MRI. She pulsed the laser, fusing thelacerations in her liver. Dr. Halsey then inflated her lung. Kelly would lose half of thatorgan, regardless of her treatment. The tissue was already turning blue and mottlingnecrotic brown.
"Kalmiya, prep the flash clone facility and retrieve Kelly's DNA sequence from thearchives. I'd like to get a new liver and right lung started for her.
"You're fine for now," Dr. Halsey lied. "I just want to get replace.ments made for you, incase we're down here for a long time.""I understand," Kelly rasped.
Dr. Halsey wondered if she did—if Kelly understood that getting shot and burned and having your internal organs trauma.tized wasn't supposed to happen to you every day...unless you were a Spartan. She wished the war were over. She wished her Spartans hadsome measure of peace.
"Doctor?" Kalmiya whispered through the tiny private speaker bud in Dr. Halsey'sglasses. "There is an anomaly in SPARTAN-087's DNA files. You may want to review thisin private."Dr. Halsey sealed Kelly's injuries with biofoam, removed the catheter, and cauterized theincision. "Rest," she said.
"No, ma'am. I'm ready to—" Kelly tried to sit up.
"Down." Dr. Halsey set a hand on her shoulder. She had no il.lusions that she could have stopped Kelly with the gesture—but it reinforced her words and her will. "Doctor'sorders."Kelly sighed and lay back.
"I'll be in my office just over there"—she pointed to the next room—"if you needanything."Dr. Halsey left Kelly and moved to her office. Two walls were covered with giant displays;old disposable coffee cups littered the floor; a holographic projector flooded with data,lines, rotat.ing graphics, and unanswered correspondence overflowed her126HALO: FIRST STRIKEdesk. She turned down the blinds that separated her office from the medical bay, but onlyhalfway, so she could keep an eye on Kelly.
"Let's have it, Kalmiya."Kelly's medical history scrolled across a display.
"Here," Kalmiya said, and highlighted a surreptitious data re.quest at the end of the file.
"It's dated three months ago. That's Araqiel's routing code."Dr. Halsey picked up the snowglobe off her desk, shook it once, and set it down, watchingthe swirls of particles.
"Araqiel? That's Ackerson's watchdog, isn't it?""Affirmative, Doctor.""Can you trace the request?""Done and terminated contact at node FF-8897-Z. Access re.stricted to X-ray levelclearance.""Restricted?" Dr. Halsey gave a short, soft laugh. "Does that mean anything now? There'sno one here to stop us, is there, Kalmiya?""Entering those files without proper clearance is a treasonable offense, Doctor.""They can come and arrest me, then. Do as I have instructed, Kalmiya," Dr. Halsey said.
"Override your ethics center subrou.tine four-alpha. Nullification code:
'Whateverittakes.' "Dr. Halsey found a half-full cup of coffee on the floor and gin.gerly picked it up. Shesniffed its contents and, satisfied it wasn't rancid, swirled it once then downed its coldcontents.
"Yes, Doctor. Working. Done."Kalmiya was Cortana's older "sister." Dr. Halsey had designed and tested the softwareintrusion routines on her. Once the process had been debugged and streamlined, she'dincorporated the routines into Cortana. The brass in ONI Section Three had been quiteexplicit in their instructions to destroy any prototype routines—an order that Dr. Halseyhad promptly disobeyed.
"There is an unusually voluminous amount of counterintru-sion software, Doctor.""Show me," Dr. Halsey said.
The holographic display flickered and solidified into colored crystal blocks representingthe code barriers. Dr. Halsey traced aERIC NYLUND 127seam with her forefinger along a shard of ruby to the ninety-degree angle made by a stair-step-cut emerald. "This data clus.ter here. Spike that and backfill with aneutralizing pulse.""Yes, Doctor."The holographic crystal shattered into a thousand glittering fragments and swirledupward into a helix.
"I'm in, and—"The shards pulsed and coalesced. Facets and hard shimmering planes fit together into curled horns, an elongated jaw, and over.sized eyes that flickered with holographic fire.It turned and smiled at Dr. Halsey, baring razor jags of teeth.
"Civilian consultant 409871," it said in a deep bass rumble that contained a crackle ofthunder. "Doctor Catherine Halsey.""Araqiel," she muttered. "Did your master leave you behind when he was reassigned?Don't you have anything better to do than steal data from my SPARTAN program?"The doctor leaned toward a side display and, without looking, tapped in line commands,accessing the base's root directory.
"You are in violation of UNSC military security code 447-R27," Araqiel stated with agrowl. "This has been recorded and the proper authorities have been notified. You willcease and desist all activities."Dr. Halsey snorted and continued to type. "I'm the only au.thority left here, Araqiel. For a 'smart AT you are extremely thick." She glanced at the display before her. "Kalmiya, Ineed you." She tapped level-seven security barriers, which popped up over her command line prompt. "Here.""Yes, Doctor.""Oh, 'thick' indeed, Doctor," Araqiel rumbled. "While I al.lowed you to 'access' these medical files, I have taken control of the air reclamation system for your medical wing. Ican pressur.ize your office and cause pulmonary edema. I can release narco-zine gas topara—" His eyes narrowed to a squint. "What are you doing there?""We're in," Kalmiya said.
Dr. Halsey tapped in a flurry of commands.
The holograph of Araqiel leaned over her shoulder. "What is that? I don't recognize matdirectory path ... or those"—he sniffed derisively—he sniffed derisively—"archaic line commands."128HALO: FIRST STRIKE"These commands were invented, refined, and then discarded and forgotten long beforeeven the first functional dumb AI went online," Dr. Halsey told him. "I learned them whenI was fifteen, working on my second doctoral thesis.""An antiquated input methodology for an obsolete human.""Antiquated? Obsolete? Really?" She smiled and said, "Let's test your hypothesis, Araqiel.I supervised the creation of the template for ever third-generation smart AI on thisplanet. I know everything there is to know about yyyou, including your bor.derlinedisregard for human life." She paused and tapped her chin. "Maybe that's why you andAckerson always got along so well.""Colonel Ackerson is a great man. He's—""To answer your original question," she said, ignoring him, "this is the nexus of yourbeing." She tapped the display. "Your code directory, the center through which allimpulses in your mind flow. And this"—she quickly typed in another command— "is thecode that activates your personal fail-safe. It generates a pulse beam of hi h-frequencyUV light in your Riemann cycling-thought matrix, clearing your high thouggght functions. Itwill effectively erase you.""No!" Araqiel said and reared back. Flames roared about his crystalline skull. "Don't—"Dr. Halsey punched the ENTER key.
Araqiel vanished.
Dr. Halsey sighed and closed the display. "A waste of memory crystal."She wondered if the AI had been bluffi . Maybe not; ONI Section Three gave its AIsbroad discretionary powers for deal.ingngng with security breaches. Still... she was happy notto have found out how far Araqiel would have gone.
"Kalmiya, please retrieve the data file and show me the con.tents of Colonel Ackerson'sdirectory.""Working, Doctor. There's some minor encryption to unravel. It should only take amoment." She paused and then asked, "Doctor Halsey, the UV fail-safe in Araqiel'sRiemann matrix... are they planted in every smart AI? In me?""They are not implanted in every AI," Dr. Halsey said, care.fully controlling her voice.
ERIC NYLUND 129Kalmiya would undoubtedly stress-analyze her vocal pat.terns, so she told her the truth.It was always a game of chess with smart AIs—move and countermove. It was a constant chal.lenge to earn and keep their respect. That's why she preferred their company tohumans—they were so deliciously complex. Yes, she told her the truth... just not thewhole truth.
"Here they are, Doctor."Holographic file and folder icons filled the space over her desk.
"Filter by proper names," Dr. Halsey said. "Let's not waste our time with Ackerson's pettyblackmails. Also remove any files dated before the SPARTAN-IIs went online, and any notac.cessed more than a dozen times. I want to see what black ops topped his list."The folders and files winked away, and only two folders re.mained floating over Dr.Halsey's desk: s-ni and KING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN. She tapped on the first one and itopened, revealing hundreds of separate files. Dr. Halsey examined them—there were medical files on each of her Spartans: complete records from their preindoctrinatedorigins; their childhood vaccinations; their parents; their extensive injuries and treatments during their train.ing; even the experimental procedures used to enhance their strength, agility, and mental resiliency.
"What the hell was he up to?" she muttered. She felt her pulse quicken as she scoured hisrecords. There were DNA profiles on each Spartan, and there were extensive files on theold flash clone techniques that ONI had used to replace the originals. Ackerson seemedespecially interested in this aspect of the program. He had followed the medical recordsof the replacements as they grew up, succumbed to congenital diseases, and inevitablydied. He even had the bodies retrieved and autopsies performed.
Dr. Halsey's stomach soured. It was her fault, in part, that these replacement children haddied so young. They had never per.fected flash cloning for an entire human. They haddone it any.way thirty years ago because the Earth government was on the verge offalling apart... collapsing into a hundred civil wars. They had desperately needed theSPARTAN program.
And of course, they had done it simply because they could.
No matter the legitimacy of her reasons, she knew she had killed these children as sure as if she had shot them dead.
130HALO: FIRST STRIKEThere was one last file in the S-III folder.
As Dr. Halsey tapped it open, Ka"lmiya said, That is only a fragment. It had been erased,but I managed to reconstruct it from trace ionization in the memory crystal."Dr. Halsey examined its contents. There was only CPOMZ fol.lowed by a 512-characteralphanumeric string. "This longer por.tion is a star chart reference," she whispered.
"Yes, Doctor, but it's not a destination to any location in UNSC-controlled space."What the hell had Ackerson been up to? "No good at all," she murmured and ran herfinger over the first word in the file:
CPOMZ.
"I'll have to deal with this later," she said. She downloaded the files to a nearby data pad.
"Let's see what else the good Colonel was up to." She opened the folder marked KINGUNDERTHE MOUNTAIN.
There were only three files.
The first was the original construction blueprints of this base; it appeared on her desk. Dr.
Halsey noted that this holographic representation of the base was much larger than shehad been led to believe. While her security clearance was the highest possible for acivilian, she apparently had seen only a third of the facility she had worked in for the lastdecade.
Dr. Halsey tapped open the second file. It was the transcripts of the debriefing at CampHathcock, August 12,2552. That was the inquiry of John's destruction of the city on Coted'Azur and the alien artifact the Covenant had tried to procure there. Curious.
A third file was an analysis of the symbols John had captured from the alien artifact.
According to Ackerson's notes it, too, was a partial star map. Dr. Halsey returned to thestellar chart reference in the Spartans' files.
No good. This location had nothing to do with that reference.
The stellar reference in the alien artifact was ... she did the math in her head—"I'll be God damned," she muttered.
She pulled up star charts and NAV records for confirmation, and checked her math onelast time.
No question: It was the Epsilon Eridani system.
Here.
ERIC NYLUND 131This was more than a curiosity, now. Ackerson had been sit.ting on a tremendous secret—a very dangerous secret. "Just his style to play with fire and get us all burned."Additional files detailed the procurement of digging equip.ment, and a new set ofblueprints and geological surveys. The new maps looked like a network of veins and arteries.
"What am I looking at, Kalmiya?""According to the coordinates of these secondary maps, Doc.tor, this facility was builtover an old titanium mine ... and be.fore that this site was surveyed as an extinct volcano.These are designated as a series of lava tubes.""I wonder if they used the natural passages to help build the mines, and later thisfacility?" Dr. Halsey removed her glasses and cleaned them as she thought this through."No ... if it was as simple as that, why would Ackerson be interested? And why then classify this data as level X-ray? How does this connect to the alien artifact on Coted'Azur?""I can't say," Kalmiya replied, "but perhaps there's a back door you can use to escape.""Yes, yes." Dr. Halsey downloaded all of Ackerson's secret files to her data pad. "I'llconsider that later. Right now we should concentrate—""Detecting increased seismic activity, Doctor."Dr. Halsey froze. She felt it more than saw it—a series of faint, rhythmic thumps, likethunder in the distance.
Dust rained from the ceiling tiles and scattered the light for the holographic system into a dazzling starburst.
"They're coming," Dr. Halsey whispered. She opened a COM channel to the Spartans. "Getback to the lab ASAP. I might have away out!"She stumbled as a powerful blast rocked the chamber. There was a shriek of stressedmetal, and the main support beam over.head shifted, fell, and crashed onto her desk.
The lights went dead.