Spartan One 004

Within the armory, Orion was in a deserted corner, cleaning green-yellow goo off his gear with a rag, whilst Halsey was giving him an earful. 

“You didn't tell me you were a psychic.” Halsey pressed in an accusatory tone. 

Orion mindlessly ran a towel over a section of his chestplate, and grimaced as he barely got any of that bug blood off. 

“Winters!” Halsey barked. 

“Oh, I'm sorry, no ‘good to see you?” Orion sarcastically muttered back. 

“You're a cutting edge super soldier who's gone on a dozen prior missions. I'd be embarrassed if you didn't survive.” Halsey said with a self-satisfied smirk, and flicked her hair with the back of her hand. “Besides, I can see you're in one piece.” She murmured, her eyes roaming towards his exposed, muscular midsection. 

Orion rolled his eyes at the blatant manipulation. Halsey was a bit of a psychotic bitch, but she was no idiot. In the past, she had been quite, erm, enthusiastic about her tests. If anyone knew how strong a Spartan I was, or how good his stamina was, she would be the first to tell you. Her research was very scientific. In short, the Orion of the past had been a bit of a meatheaded trooper swayed by a pretty face, and a nice ass. 

Now, however, while the thought of dominating this sanctimonious broad was tempting, Orion had bigger things on his plate. Namely, the survival of Humanity. He couldn't go around acting like some horny Japanese isekai when the fate of the galaxy was at stake. 

“All you had to do was ask.” Orion muttered in a petty tone, and then coughed into his hand. “As for when I became a psychic, it happened today. I also happened to see a few things about the future.” He said, all playfulness dropping from his voice. 

Halsey leaned in close to the camera and frowned. “Look, Orion, if this is your idea of a joke, or flirting, it's not going to work.” 

Orion crossed his arms, and stared at her without budging an inch. 

“What year is it?” Orion idly asked. 

“2520.” Halsey replied a beat later, as if he were an idiot.

“Exactly. Five years from now, a new alien threat will be invading the planet of Harvest. The Arachnids will push our species to the brink, but this new group-a collective of highly advanced aliens known as the Covenant-will bring Humanity to the edge of extinction.” Orion said in a solemn tone. 

Although he had difficulty trusting this woman, she was the most brilliant mind that their species had on hand. Inventing genius level AI, Spartans, and Mjolnir Armor were but a few standout examples of her accomplishments. To win the war, he needed to work with her. 

“Well, you certainly have an imagination…” Halsey remarked, raising her eyebrow in disbelief. 

“That AI you're working on. It wouldn't happen to be a clone of your brain, would it? Her name, you plan on naming her Cortana, don't you?” Orion confidently declared, as if he were a parent catching a child out on a blatant lie. 

“How did you…this proves nothing. Maybe you're reading my mind right now.” Halsey said in disbelief, yet something in her voice told him she was close to believing. 

Time for the coup de grace. 

“On Reach, in the Babd Catha ice shelf, you will find a dormant alien spaceship belonging to an extinct alien race known as the Forerunners. The advanced technology can uplift our species by centuries. I have more to tell you, but until you excavate the ship, and find proof of my words, I won't say anymore.” Orion slowly, and clearly spoke, attempting to communicate the gravity of his words. 

“...I'll look into it.” Halsey said, biting her lip. “However, it's difficult to get anything done these days in secret. Those synths from Weyland-Yutani have become more and more frequent in the R&D department.” 

“Get me some new weapons or gear to work with, and I'll climb the ranks to support your work. I might just become popular enough to get elected as the next Sky Marshal.” Orion said with pride. 

“You? With a reckless personality like yours, I wouldn't be surprised if the Corpos took a hit out on you.” She sniffed. 

“Chaos is a ladder, I think neither of us is adverse to risk.” Orion replied, and glanced down at a few scars on his body that were due more to experimentation than wounds accrued on the battlefield. 

Looking down, she eventually raised her head, and stared him in the eyes. “Don't die out there.”

“Well, well, well, she does ca-”

“I still need to examine you. Your data will be useful for my what did you call them-yes-for my Spartan II project.” Halsey sternly spoke like a researcher obsessed with their field of study, and then without prompting, ended the call. 

Orion looked up towards the ceiling, and sighed to himself. 

Heh.

Rolling his eyes, he hoped what he said produced tangible results. If they could reverse engineer Forerunner technology, then they'd have a fighting chance against the damned aliens. The Human-Covenant War lasted about 28 to 35 years depending on which nerd you asked, and it was due to kick off in five years. Conveniently, the First Bug War took about five years to resolve in the movie-verse. 

First, he had to survive this Arachnid shit, and then enter the grinder against the Covenant. 

Joy. 

Fortunately, he had a few allies to work with, and wasn't entirely alone in this. 

‘...wait a Goddamn minute, did she just say Weyland-Yutani?!’ 

As he had the thought, Orion silently swore up a storm, and polished his breastplate with a renewed fury as he contemplated the implications. That meant there were likely Xenomorphs and Predators lurking out there. Hell, maybe their creator, the Engineers are the same as the Forerunners? Or perhaps they were rivals? 

Thinking about it, were there any other megacorps from sci-fi infesting this reality? Pulling out a small tablet from his utility belt, he searched for the top ten companies listed by value, they were: 

1. Arasaka Industries 

2. Weyland-Yutani Conglomerate 

3. Umbrella Pharmaceuticals 

4. Hyperion Machineries 

5. Aperture Communications

6. AlterCorp Colony Development 

7. SkyNet Defense  

8. Hannibal Weapon Systems

9. Liang-Dortmand Mining 

10. OmniCorp Robotics 

Recognizing half these companies, Orion realized that Humanity truly was hellbent on destroying itself! Cyborgs, androids, mechsuits, biological pathogens, murderous AI, and the list went on. It was a miracle that they had made it to the stars with greedy amoral corporations like these shaping the colonies. Perhaps the only thing keeping the species alive was the vastness of space! 

With such heavy thoughts on his mind, he finished up cleaning his equipment, and conveniently ‘stole’ some ammo into his inventory along the way. Then, heading off to the showers, and writing a late night report whilst eating some military grade slop, he passed out inside his tiny, closet sized officer's room. Thank God he didn't have to share a bunk with others, because then he'd be ‘in public’ and would get shit from ONI if he didn't wear that helmet. 

The next day, he was woken up by his tablet vibrating like a mouse on crack. Groggily snapping his eyes open, Orion read the message. 

[Report to the bridge.]

“Fuckin spook.” He grumbled to himself. 

Equipping his armor straight from his inventory, he stepped outside his room, and was surprised to see Johnson and another Spartan standing guard outside his door. 

“What the hel-” 

“Sweet lady liberty, Lieutenant, you've got quite a few admirers.” Johnson laughed, stuffing an armful of love-letters at him. 

Orion stumbled forward as the paper clattered to the floor. The other Spartan snickered, and Johnson guffawed. “Ah hell, volunteering for guard duty was worth it.” 

“...I don't have a guard detail…are you saying you two got up early for this?” Orion said in a dangerous tone. He hadn't slept for more than an hour, some asshole spook was bringing him in front of the other officers to show off, and he had to deal with this?! “Sounds to me like you troopers like guard duty.” 

Both Johnson and the other Spartan shut up real quick, and shared a look with one another. Their slowly mounting dread drew a malicious smile upon Orion's face. The walk to the bridge was blessedly silent. Not a word came from the usually talkative Johnson, the only sound was the steady hum of the engines, and their boots colliding with the metal deck. Joining a pair of MP's, they stood guard at the door to the bridge morosely, whilst Orion entered through the pneumatic door. 

Once inside, he approached a wide, circular table where Harper, and a middle aged naval officer-presumably the Captain of the ship-were standing. On the table, about a dozen holograms were present, many of whom were people wearing a uniform of some sort, but a decent amount of them were people wearing civilian clothes, or even had their faces blurred. Glancing down at the call list, most of them were unknown, and it appeared that there were more people listening in, but they didn't have a hologram, or a seat at the table so to speak. The most notable person present was a heavyset black woman with short hair, and a severe look on her face. It was the new Sky Marshal, Tehat Meru. 

‘The replacement of the former Sky Marshal sure was fast!’ Orion thought to himself in surprise. 

The failed invasion of Klendauthu was such a monumental failure, any leader who carelessly lost 300,000+ lives like that would surely face scrutiny at the very least. 

“Gentleman, I present to you the Hero of Klendauthu, Lieutenant Orion Winters.” Harper smoothly introduced like some tech CEO giving a presentation. 

Orion stepped forward, and saluted, choosing to remain silent. 

“He doesn't look like much.” An old balding white man in a wheelchair said in a raspy voice. 

“Jealousy does not become you, Spencer.” A young attractive Asian woman in her 30's ‘sweetly’ smiled. 

“Mr. Spencer, Ms. Yutani, please maintain decorum. This is hardly the place or time for Umbrella or Weyland-Yutani to trade barbs. Humanity has suffered a nosebleed. If we are to kill the bug, we must know more about the bug.” The heavyset woman, Tehat Meru said in a stern, no-nonsense tone. 

“As the Sky Marshal commands.” Spencer said with a wide smile. 

“Yes, my lady.” Yutani inclined her head. 

Watching the byplay between two of the richest people in the galaxy, Orion realized just how deeply the military industrial complex was rooted into the system. For them to take place in this high level meeting-a meeting presumably to discuss Arachnid tactics & countermeasures-was…frightening. Military matters should be handled by the military. He wasn't some brainiac, or god of war, but even he knew that when too many cooks entered the kitchen, the soup tasted like shit. 

“Good. Lieutenant, we've all seen the footage, and read the report, but we're eager to hear about your insights. What can you tell us about the bugs that a report, or a shaky camera can't?” Meru pointedly asked. 

Taking a deep breath, Orion centered his thoughts. He had already revealed the weak points of the Warrior Bugs in his report, and also the need for combined arms warfare-such as airsupport, artillery, and armored vehicles-but what he had left out were details that only a transmigrator could know. Like the Brain Bug, or even Queen Bug types amongst other variants. Speculating about that kind of information over a file was the path to being labeled as crazy…but the shit that these megacorps get up to behind closed doors, they'd probably believe him. 

Considering in one potential future, a Brain Bug controlled the Sky Marshal of that era through telepathy, and fucked over Mars, Orion figured it was worth revealing a few secrets. He had been blaming everything on being psychic, so he might as well go all in. He wasn't some coward who could afford to act all low-key when he knew millions of lives were at stake…besides, if he could be seen as an asset by these people-as vile a thought as that was-that could only be a good thing for his career. 

“Sky Marshal, ma'am, I have something to report that couldn't be mentioned in the document…I just don't know if I should say it.” Orion saluted, and then deliberately spoke in a pensive tone. 

“Whatever it is, you can share it with us. Everyone present has the best of Humanity in mind.” Meru said reassuringly. 

“About the Bugs, I sensed a psychic among them deep underground. It is my conjecture that they have an intelligent lifeform giving them orders. That the Arachnids do not act purely on instinct.” Orion slowly said. 

“Balderdash.” Spencer snorted. 

Everyone present went quiet. Most of them silently nodded along with the CEO from Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. The idea of intelligent alien life-especially-intelligence from those bugs seemed inconceivable. Not even the Yutani girl-someone who had a vested, monetary interest-in the Spartan program spoke up. 

“Rest assured, ONI will investigate these claims.” Harper stepped forward, and said in a serious tone, trying to salvage the situation in his favor. 

Orion raised an eyebrow in surprise at Harper's defense. 

“...your concerns are noted, Lieutenant. Thank you for your input. We look forward to your efforts on Troy.” Meru said, then cut the channel. 

As the call ended, Harper nodded at the Captain of the ship, then took Orion by the shoulder, and turned to leave. When they walked just up to the door, the ONI Captain pressed a button, preventing it from opening. He then leaned in close, and lowered his voice to a whisper. 

“I felt that presence too. I believe you. What you said confirmed several theories of mine, and of my colleagues. Do not bother with the corporate scum, or politics of the Sky Marshal. ONI will support you, even if they won't. If you need any resources, Winters, anything at all for this upcoming deployment, let me know.” Harper said, staring at him expectantly, and then pushed him out the door. 

Orion briefly stared down at his boots, completely uncomfortable that his apparent ‘ally’ was the chief antagonist from another sci-fi franchise. ONI were like the CIA, capable of executing impossible missions…and killing countless innocents. 

“All that high society crap got you down, right, Lieutenant?” Johnson barked his question. 

Orion could only morosely nod in reply. 

“That's no reply for a Spartan! To the weight room, let's sweat this out.” Johnson practically shouted, and then began to aggressively lead the way towards the onboard gym. 

A small smile spread across Orion's face as he followed behind. Corporations, politics, species ending annihilation, forget that nonsense. Bros like Johnson, that's what was worth fighting for!