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ONI Black Ops Part Two
Posted By: Havok<Tactical_Havok@hotmail.com>
Date: 5 May 2003, 2:04 PM
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Vladimir woke from his cryo sleep and with a choke and gurgle, emptied the nutrient inhalant from his lungs. The fluid drained from his mouth and he stood up, coughing. He looked around. There was no one else in the room. He went to his locker and got out his uniform.
He made his way to the bridge. The ship was not very large, and the bridge was a cramped space. He stood in between the pilot's and copilot's chair, and surveyed the stars. They were quickly approaching a blue planet. That must be his destination. Vladimir looked on as the transport was hailed, and identity code accepted, was allowed to enter orbit. The planet looked defenseless, and Vladimir wondered how the ONI could possibly leave an installation of as much obvious value of this one go unprotected. However, as they entered orbit, he caught a glimpse of a sleek shadow moving past them. It was a stealth ship, but this one was far larger than any Vladimir had seen before. Unlike the other stealth ships, which had no weapons, this ship sported quad MAC cannons, two upper and two lower, as well as numerous 50 mm close defense weapons systems. The ship disappeared once more into the blackness, and Vladimir trained his eyes on the planet again.
A shuttle jumped out of the atmosphere to meet the transport. It docked, and Vladimir departed, mumbling thanks to the pilots and copilot. The shuttle disengaged from the transport and began reentry. Vladimir strapped into his seat as the shuttle began to shake and shudder. Retro rockets were fired, and their tremendous forward momentum slowed. A few minutes later they landed safely next to an immense complex. The building was situated on an island barely big enough to accommodate it. Vladimir surmised that the building extended to the core of the planet.
The shuttle pilot led Vladimir to the main entrance. A guard, blast shield secure over his face, opened the door for Vladimir. He stepped inside, through a second set of heavy doors, through an X-ray scanner, and into the main lobby. He was directed to an office two floors up. He took an elevator up to the second floor and found room 117. He knocked once and stepped inside.
"Welcome to Sigma Draconis, Vladimir." An elderly man greeted him. "And may I be the first to welcome you to the team." He held out his hand.
Vladimir shook his hand. "It's good to be aboard, sir."
"My name is Dietrich. I am heading up our little project."
"Shall we?" he gestured with his hand. He left the room, Vladimir at his side. They headed for the elevator. "After the fall of Reach, Section Three suddenly found itself without a head. A new Director was hired, and a new game plan was set into motion. Nearly all of ONI's vast budget was siphoned into reverse engineering Covenant technology, and defense spending With Dr. Halsey gone, the Spartan program has continued, with nearly three hundred Spartans on operational deployment. However, no more advances have been made into the MJOLNIR battle armor or the Spartans' genetic enhancements. Roughly half of Spartans in training are lost to defects in the engineering process. Project MJOLNIR has been reinitiated, Vladimir. You are now part of the research and development team."
Vladimir paused at the door to the elevator. This came as quite a shock. That he would even have been considered for such a position… this was big. Vladimir followed Dietrich onto the elevator.
"Our range of experiments is fairly broad." Dietrich held out his hand for the handprint scanner to admit access to the secure levels of the facility. "We have been working on everything from shielding technology to stealth technology to new weapons systems for the battle suit. With your extensive background in mechanical engineering and pyrotechnics, I have waited until you arrived to assign you to a particular job. Would you be more interested in improving the MJOLNIR armor itself, or working with the weapons?"
Vladimir thought about that. "Well, I have quite a few ideas about improvements on the weapons systems, but would it be possible for me to work both aspects, shift back and forth?"
"Absolutely. We need all the fresh ideas we can get. Any input at all, no matter how stupid it may seem, is greatly appreciated. We need to bring this project along as quickly as possible. The covenant advance may have been slowed, but the war is far from over." Dietrich looked at Vladimir. "We have quite a few secrets down here that, with a little tweaking, can do real damage to the covenant threat."
The elevator slowed, and then stopped in front of a large door. This opened into a scanning chamber. Vladimir and Dietrich stepped into the chamber, which hummed as optical and thermal lasers scanned them from every possibly angle, searching for any foreign objects. The scan finished up and a door opened on the far side of the room.
As they entered the research facility, Dietrich had a sudden epiphany, "Oh, and of course you will get to see the fruits of your labor. Combat evaluation is a big perk in this line of work. There is nothing quite like seeing your inventions at work, killing the enemy with merciless precision." He chuckled, the walked over to a wall monitor and pressed a button. "Allright everyone, listen up. Meeting in the conference room in five minutes. Our last scientist has arrived. Now the real work can begin."
Dietrich led Vladimir down a short hallway to a good sized conference room. Everyone was already there, waiting. "Okay, everybody, this is Vladimir, he will be working on the mechanics of the suit as well as helping with the weapons systems." Then with a sly grin, "some things he enjoys are candlelight dinners and walks on the beach." Dietrich laughed.
Vladimir looked around, smile on his face. He knew some of these people. He had read their reports, done a little work here and there with most of them. He was going to feel right at home here, doing what he loved most; building machines that destroy.
Two days later, he was buried up to his eyeballs in his work; drawing schematics, working equations, building weapons. The MJOLNIR suit, while easily the most versatile and powerful suit of armor ever developed, could be improved upon. One of Vladimir's first considerations for the suit was weapon holsters. On the thigh armor plates he crafted a molded M6D holster, one on each thigh. On the back, attached to the fusion power pack, was a diagonal clip that would hold an assault rifle or shotgun. In addition to the ammunition and utility belt on the waist, Vladimir created compartments in the thigh and forearm armor to hold additional clips. At first he was concerned about all these extra spaces in the armor weakening the integrity, but after he saw the material undergoing development in the lab down the hall, he put his compunctions to rest. Even with these new compartments, the armor would be almost three hundred percent stronger, with a reactive coating to deflect incoming plasma energy that was two times more efficient than originally intended. In short, MJOLNIR II would make the Spartans all but invincible.
The shield aspect of the suit, being augmented next door, was one of the most promising features of the new suit. The fusion pack, being tweaked to amp up the output considerably, would power the new shielding with ease, the old shielding was more than adequate for stopping medium to heavy plasma rounds, but under combined fire, the shield was quickly overwhelmed. This new model would take the energy of impacting plasma, convert it to something the suit could use, and boost the shield strength for a limited time.
The new munitions being created for the Spartans' weaponry was nothing short of amazing. Vladimir was giving only token advice, being occupied with the suit, but the number one goal of the munitions team was to adapt the sniper rounds for the assault rifle and pistol. The sniper rounds, though heavier in caliber, packed a very mean punch because they had anti matter tips. These tips are capable of phenomenal penetration and assault rifle and pistol versions would prove to be very rewarding.
And it seems as though Vladimir and his team will get the chance to prove their weapons in combat very, very soon. The Covenant have regained the momentum of their offensive, and the Spartans will need every tool available to hold them back.
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