[Log] The Doctor
Characters: OU! Master Chief / John, OU! Dr. Catherine Halsey.
Where: Café.
When: December 10. Backdated like hell.
Summary: John and Halsey talk, to know about what happened in John's universe after she escaped for her "secret mission."
Warnings: None.
John spent most of the hour describing to Halsey what happened after she escaped aboard Governor Jiles' ship. He detailed as much as he could to the Doctor, trying to cover as much as he could from the moment he stopped seeing her: The annihilation of the rebels by the hands of the Covenant, Operation First Strike, the return to Earth, Regret's failed invasion and subsequent death, the second Halo ring, the discovery of the Gravemind and the Flood, High Charity, the Covenant Civil war, the Keyship, the Second Battle of Earth, the arrival of the Flood, the sudden alliance with the Elites, the Ark, and finally the defeat of the Covenant and the destruction of the Ark and the Flood.
Halsey remained quiet, but listening with great attention to details on what happened. She had already known some of the information John had told her thanks to the probe Cortana sent to Lord Hood, but she wanted to know every and each thing that happened in John's world.
When John finished his story, Halsey remained quiet for a few seconds. Everything she heard would have been as hard to believe as everything she had heard so far in Econtra for the normal soldier, but her emotions remained hidden and buried.
Finally, she spoke.
“That is one story.” Halsey whispered, then rose her voice to a normal tone, “I realized that our war was a war over alien artifacts after the Covenant did everything they could to gain control of the crystal... And especially now after knowing they didn't outright glass Earth when they found the Portal.” She took a sip from her coffee, “It's almost a shame we never got to capture Regret after he arrived into Earth.”
“I had no choice.”
“I understand.” The Doctor nodded, “It would've been impossible to take the Prophet captive with such high security, and if he had gotten a chance to fire the ring...” She trailed off, not wanting to dwell into the thought for obvious reasons, then continued, “Ironically, you killing Regret was probably one of the best things that got to happen to the UNSC in the war.”
She continued to drink from her mug of coffee. It had been so long since the last time she had obtained any form of caffine. She didn't care if the coffee would have been average at best for her tastes in a better situation. It was the best coffee she had ever drunk in her life.
Halsey remained silent for a moment, then finally gained the courage to ask.
“John, I was told Kurt used to be here.” She muttered, “How? If Kurt...”
The Doctor trailed off for reasons of her own. The Spartan remained silent for a moment.
“It's true.” John began, something hard to talk to him about, “This place pulls people from anytime, and anywhere. Even after death.”
“And when they leave?”
John remained silent for a moment.
“Depends,” he muttered, “to combat... or back.”
Halsey remained in silence. Kurt used to be here, and then sent back to the grave he did not deserve. John might have some knowledge concerning what happened at Onyx, but other than that... The thought of having a son of hers die three times was hard to bear, but apart from closing her eyes for introspection, she kept her neutral expression.
“And the alternates?”
“There's a bug in the Indigeo.” John thanked the change of subject.“It can pull people from different timelines. My alternate was younger - Sixteen... And had Sam in his Squadron.”
Sam lived. Of all timelines, it was the thing she would've wanted the most. For each and every one of her Spartans to remain alive, after fighting for a war no one asked to be in. Something like that was bitterly hard to imagine: Despite the horrors of their universe, it would've been bearable with Samuel to have survived the Battle of Chi-Ceti.
She focused on the task at hand.
“You told him about your universe?”
“Yes, ma'am.” John answered, “Everything I told you, Kelly and him know. If he returned to his world... then we won.”
John sounded oddly neutral as he mentioned the last part. She couldn't imagine the oddity of ever getting an Alternate of hers arrive into Econtra, and moreso if she had the same damned train of thought she had two decades ago.
Nevertheless, while Halsey knew John wanted his alternate to return to his world for the better, she knew it would have pained him and Kelly to lose one of their men, regardless of the way they lost him.
She decided to ask one last thing, before she turned to Kelly for more information.
“Who's the Warden?”
“The Warden used to be the CO of Econtra. He had cuffs enabled so we couldn't kill eachother. For months, he was the one that kept order, under the command of the Keepers.” He answered, “Before he left, he used to give all residents a speech.”
Halsey looked at John, curious.
“Can I hear it?”
John nodded, then began to play a voice file from his helmet.
Halsey heard confused mutters from residents she hadn't got to know, but otherwise, she heard little that would be worth noting for a few seconds.
Suddenly, there was a soft hiss, then an instinctive click of a rifle.
“Please, sit down.” There was a voice. There was no sign he was being intimidated in any way by the Spartan or his weapon... If, by his tone of voice, there was any possibility of him being intimidated.
There was no sound. No matter the situation, Spartans preferred to stand over sitting after years of military indoctrination. She only heard the rifle having it's safety lock being put back
“I am the Warden.” The voice began, eerily calm, “You're probably wondering why you've been brought here. The answer to that is simple: We need your help. The reasons why you in particular, however, are more complex. Would you like something to drink? This is going to take a while.”
There was a brief silence. Halsey knew Spartans did not drink, no matter the situation. That voice, nonetheless, was more of an Intelligence Officer rather than a normal human being. No noticeable accent, use of a perfect english, complete neutrality in his expression. Were it not for the Keeper's influence, she could have sworn that man belonged to ONI.
“I realize when you look around, things are going to seem a little different than you're used to. This is to be expected, since the rules of your world, and the rules of this one are likely not identical. You see, we are in quite a bit of trouble. I won't go into details right now, as they'll be provided at your first briefing. Suffice it to say that an imminent threat is upon us, and in a rare moment of human humility, we realized that we were not equal to the task. Hence, you. You and many, many others.”
Halsey felt a chill in her spine. This was becoming too familiar for her. An alien threat, humanity in danger, an unwinnable war, and the ones that would save them all drafted to fight for it.
“You can assume that since you are here, we found some quality of yours that separated you from the status quo. It may or may not be an extraordinary distinction, but we felt that overall it would be beneficial to recruit. Now, I'm sure you'll have questions; they will be addressed in due time. I suggest you go and find yourself some housing... the others will surely fill you in on the rest.”
The Spartan continued in perpetual silence, and began to walk off, until he was interrupted.
“Oh, and one more thing,” The voice referred to the Spartan one last time. “Welcome to the real world. You've just been drafted.”
The Doctor bit her lip after she heard the Warden's last words. The suffering she had inflicted upon hundreds of children, John, Kelly, and Kurt, would be felt a second time.
Most of all, now she knew how the children felt once she told them they had been drafted by the UNSC, and gave them no say in the matter. A war in which few knew it existed, but that they were the only ones they could fight and win
She had been drafted. Of all ironies that she had felt in life, this was the biggest she had ever faced.
Halsey remained in contemplative silence for a moment. This was too much to take.
“Where is the Warden?”
“Missing.” John replied, “When the Keepers got here, they took him. There's plans to bring him back, but until then... We'll deal with the crazies.”
The Doctor remained in silence for a moment, then sighed, and stood up.
“I'm going to get Kelly. I'll ask her to fill me in with what's happening with Econtra. For the moment, continue your duties with the Alliance, and inform me of any updates in the situation.”
John stood up, saluted, then walked away. Halsey was left alone with her thoughts.
Her mind shifted back to the day she met John. She remembered vividly the words she once spoke to Lieutenant Keyes regarding him. She whispered the words to herself, with an odd sense of calm in the middle of the feelings that haunted her in that moment.
“That child was more useful to the UNSC than a fleet of destroyers, a thousand Junior Grade Lieutenants - Or even me. In the end, that child was the only thing that made a difference.”
She had been right.
John not only saved his universe, but saved the universe of his alternate, and would do the same with Kelly's universe once she came back, thanks to the information John gave to them to change the tides of their wars.
He was the only thing that made a damn difference.
One child out of the hundreds that was necessary to win the war. Now humanity in her universe was saved. Earth was the last planet that survived, but now with the Covenant leadership crippled, the Elites returning to Earth to hunt down whatever Loyalist forces remained, the Halos unable to fire, and the Gravemind destroyed, her universe would finally know peace. -- And the Alternate John and the Younger Kelly's universes would be saved with billions of lives spared from this brutal war.
But at what cost?
Because of her, hundreds of children's lives were ruined, and thrown away in a war no one found any sense in. And now John, Kelly, and Kurt were drafted in a second war that no one could be sure if they would get to win. -- And she meant it. The sole reason John managed to win the war in their world was because of luck.
Worst of all, she had a feeling John's luck had already ran out.
Halsey turned over one of the tables with a sudden violence.
Where: Café.
When: December 10. Backdated like hell.
Summary: John and Halsey talk, to know about what happened in John's universe after she escaped for her "secret mission."
Warnings: None.
John spent most of the hour describing to Halsey what happened after she escaped aboard Governor Jiles' ship. He detailed as much as he could to the Doctor, trying to cover as much as he could from the moment he stopped seeing her: The annihilation of the rebels by the hands of the Covenant, Operation First Strike, the return to Earth, Regret's failed invasion and subsequent death, the second Halo ring, the discovery of the Gravemind and the Flood, High Charity, the Covenant Civil war, the Keyship, the Second Battle of Earth, the arrival of the Flood, the sudden alliance with the Elites, the Ark, and finally the defeat of the Covenant and the destruction of the Ark and the Flood.
Halsey remained quiet, but listening with great attention to details on what happened. She had already known some of the information John had told her thanks to the probe Cortana sent to Lord Hood, but she wanted to know every and each thing that happened in John's world.
When John finished his story, Halsey remained quiet for a few seconds. Everything she heard would have been as hard to believe as everything she had heard so far in Econtra for the normal soldier, but her emotions remained hidden and buried.
Finally, she spoke.
“That is one story.” Halsey whispered, then rose her voice to a normal tone, “I realized that our war was a war over alien artifacts after the Covenant did everything they could to gain control of the crystal... And especially now after knowing they didn't outright glass Earth when they found the Portal.” She took a sip from her coffee, “It's almost a shame we never got to capture Regret after he arrived into Earth.”
“I had no choice.”
“I understand.” The Doctor nodded, “It would've been impossible to take the Prophet captive with such high security, and if he had gotten a chance to fire the ring...” She trailed off, not wanting to dwell into the thought for obvious reasons, then continued, “Ironically, you killing Regret was probably one of the best things that got to happen to the UNSC in the war.”
She continued to drink from her mug of coffee. It had been so long since the last time she had obtained any form of caffine. She didn't care if the coffee would have been average at best for her tastes in a better situation. It was the best coffee she had ever drunk in her life.
Halsey remained silent for a moment, then finally gained the courage to ask.
“John, I was told Kurt used to be here.” She muttered, “How? If Kurt...”
The Doctor trailed off for reasons of her own. The Spartan remained silent for a moment.
“It's true.” John began, something hard to talk to him about, “This place pulls people from anytime, and anywhere. Even after death.”
“And when they leave?”
John remained silent for a moment.
“Depends,” he muttered, “to combat... or back.”
Halsey remained in silence. Kurt used to be here, and then sent back to the grave he did not deserve. John might have some knowledge concerning what happened at Onyx, but other than that... The thought of having a son of hers die three times was hard to bear, but apart from closing her eyes for introspection, she kept her neutral expression.
“And the alternates?”
“There's a bug in the Indigeo.” John thanked the change of subject.“It can pull people from different timelines. My alternate was younger - Sixteen... And had Sam in his Squadron.”
Sam lived. Of all timelines, it was the thing she would've wanted the most. For each and every one of her Spartans to remain alive, after fighting for a war no one asked to be in. Something like that was bitterly hard to imagine: Despite the horrors of their universe, it would've been bearable with Samuel to have survived the Battle of Chi-Ceti.
She focused on the task at hand.
“You told him about your universe?”
“Yes, ma'am.” John answered, “Everything I told you, Kelly and him know. If he returned to his world... then we won.”
John sounded oddly neutral as he mentioned the last part. She couldn't imagine the oddity of ever getting an Alternate of hers arrive into Econtra, and moreso if she had the same damned train of thought she had two decades ago.
Nevertheless, while Halsey knew John wanted his alternate to return to his world for the better, she knew it would have pained him and Kelly to lose one of their men, regardless of the way they lost him.
She decided to ask one last thing, before she turned to Kelly for more information.
“Who's the Warden?”
“The Warden used to be the CO of Econtra. He had cuffs enabled so we couldn't kill eachother. For months, he was the one that kept order, under the command of the Keepers.” He answered, “Before he left, he used to give all residents a speech.”
Halsey looked at John, curious.
“Can I hear it?”
John nodded, then began to play a voice file from his helmet.
Halsey heard confused mutters from residents she hadn't got to know, but otherwise, she heard little that would be worth noting for a few seconds.
Suddenly, there was a soft hiss, then an instinctive click of a rifle.
“Please, sit down.” There was a voice. There was no sign he was being intimidated in any way by the Spartan or his weapon... If, by his tone of voice, there was any possibility of him being intimidated.
There was no sound. No matter the situation, Spartans preferred to stand over sitting after years of military indoctrination. She only heard the rifle having it's safety lock being put back
“I am the Warden.” The voice began, eerily calm, “You're probably wondering why you've been brought here. The answer to that is simple: We need your help. The reasons why you in particular, however, are more complex. Would you like something to drink? This is going to take a while.”
There was a brief silence. Halsey knew Spartans did not drink, no matter the situation. That voice, nonetheless, was more of an Intelligence Officer rather than a normal human being. No noticeable accent, use of a perfect english, complete neutrality in his expression. Were it not for the Keeper's influence, she could have sworn that man belonged to ONI.
“I realize when you look around, things are going to seem a little different than you're used to. This is to be expected, since the rules of your world, and the rules of this one are likely not identical. You see, we are in quite a bit of trouble. I won't go into details right now, as they'll be provided at your first briefing. Suffice it to say that an imminent threat is upon us, and in a rare moment of human humility, we realized that we were not equal to the task. Hence, you. You and many, many others.”
Halsey felt a chill in her spine. This was becoming too familiar for her. An alien threat, humanity in danger, an unwinnable war, and the ones that would save them all drafted to fight for it.
“You can assume that since you are here, we found some quality of yours that separated you from the status quo. It may or may not be an extraordinary distinction, but we felt that overall it would be beneficial to recruit. Now, I'm sure you'll have questions; they will be addressed in due time. I suggest you go and find yourself some housing... the others will surely fill you in on the rest.”
The Spartan continued in perpetual silence, and began to walk off, until he was interrupted.
“Oh, and one more thing,” The voice referred to the Spartan one last time. “Welcome to the real world. You've just been drafted.”
The Doctor bit her lip after she heard the Warden's last words. The suffering she had inflicted upon hundreds of children, John, Kelly, and Kurt, would be felt a second time.
Most of all, now she knew how the children felt once she told them they had been drafted by the UNSC, and gave them no say in the matter. A war in which few knew it existed, but that they were the only ones they could fight and win
She had been drafted. Of all ironies that she had felt in life, this was the biggest she had ever faced.
Halsey remained in contemplative silence for a moment. This was too much to take.
“Where is the Warden?”
“Missing.” John replied, “When the Keepers got here, they took him. There's plans to bring him back, but until then... We'll deal with the crazies.”
The Doctor remained in silence for a moment, then sighed, and stood up.
“I'm going to get Kelly. I'll ask her to fill me in with what's happening with Econtra. For the moment, continue your duties with the Alliance, and inform me of any updates in the situation.”
John stood up, saluted, then walked away. Halsey was left alone with her thoughts.
Her mind shifted back to the day she met John. She remembered vividly the words she once spoke to Lieutenant Keyes regarding him. She whispered the words to herself, with an odd sense of calm in the middle of the feelings that haunted her in that moment.
“That child was more useful to the UNSC than a fleet of destroyers, a thousand Junior Grade Lieutenants - Or even me. In the end, that child was the only thing that made a difference.”
She had been right.
John not only saved his universe, but saved the universe of his alternate, and would do the same with Kelly's universe once she came back, thanks to the information John gave to them to change the tides of their wars.
He was the only thing that made a damn difference.
One child out of the hundreds that was necessary to win the war. Now humanity in her universe was saved. Earth was the last planet that survived, but now with the Covenant leadership crippled, the Elites returning to Earth to hunt down whatever Loyalist forces remained, the Halos unable to fire, and the Gravemind destroyed, her universe would finally know peace. -- And the Alternate John and the Younger Kelly's universes would be saved with billions of lives spared from this brutal war.
But at what cost?
Because of her, hundreds of children's lives were ruined, and thrown away in a war no one found any sense in. And now John, Kelly, and Kurt were drafted in a second war that no one could be sure if they would get to win. -- And she meant it. The sole reason John managed to win the war in their world was because of luck.
Worst of all, she had a feeling John's luck had already ran out.
Halsey turned over one of the tables with a sudden violence.