Only Blood

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first part of a fanfic I'm working on. I've been trying to decide the best way to begin this thing (I've kinda been working backwards), and I decided this would be the best way to start it off.

1307 Hours, November 15, 2533 (Military Calendar)
Priority Transmission: Origin Unknown;
Termination: Personal Computer of Admiral Weyland Hackett, UNSC Transcendent Sword

Priority Transmission XX765X-XX0
Encryption Code: GAMMA
Public Key: N/A
From: CODENAME: VARDOGER
To: Hackett, Weyland S, Commanding Officer UNSC Transcendent Sword/ (UNSC SERVICE NUMBER: 01989-71886-WH)
Subject: PRIORITY MESSAGE- READ IMMEDIATELY
Classification: EYES ONLY TOP SECRET (SECTION 0 [REDACTED] DIRECTIVE)

Please excuse the informal format of this report.

You have been requested to lead a top secret project. Your distinguished service in the UNSC has gotten you noticed by many people, good and bad. My associates and I have concluded that your experience in military command should be put to better use. To bolster our offensive and defensive capabilities in the war against the Covenant, we have commissioned a new project, [REDACTED], a new subset on the UNSC SuperSoldier program.

[REDACTED] will take sufficiently less time. We will be building upon project parameters set by Charlie Hotel (CIN: 10141-026-SRB4695) and reusing Charlie Hotel's original assets that are no longer needed for her current projects. However, usable assets on Reach for [REDACTED] are limited to only five subjects. If [REDACTED] succeeds, five will be more than enough. For more details, please see the attached file.

Technology for this undertaking will be provided by RKD (For details, refer to UNSCTTP://EPWW:RKD/TECH/HAYABUSA/PRST) and our mutual friend, Theodore Nito ([REDACTED]). I am aware that you have plenty of other friends in Mr. Nito's field. I request that you contact them at your earliest convenience; their funding would be appreciated.

I realize that I have put you in an unfortunate position. If you are uncomfortable with this situation and wish to refuse affiliation with [REDACTED], please inform me as quick as possible so I may arrange a firing squad for you. If you agree to this situation, I shall send you all of the information you will need to begin.

Regards.

(FILE: RE:09872H-98.MRED)

Press Enter to Open.

I liked the part where the reader was given a choice to join.

I believe its coming along very well i like as FullyAutoMC said the part where he has the choice. It looks like it can be very good and i would like to read the whole thing when its finished (however long that may be).

1645 Hours, November 18, 2533 (Military Calendar)
Priority Transmission: Origin: Personal Computer of Admiral Weyland Hackett, UNSC Transcendent Sword;
Termination Unknown

Priority Transmission XX991X-XX0
Encryption Code: GAMMA
Public Key: N/A
From: Hackett, Weyland S, Commanding Officer UNSC Transcendent Sword/ (UNSC SERVICE NUMBER: 01989-71886-WH)
To: CODENAME: VARDOGER
Subject: STATUS REPORT (27/12/2533)
Classification: EYES ONLY TOP SECRET (SECTION 0 [REDACTED] DIRECTIVE)

Beginning at 0000 hours, the following procedures were performed:

1.Chemical 8942-LQ99 was reapplied to subjects to repair skeletal damage from previous augmentation procedures.
2.Chemical ILB-7453 was applied to subjects to assist in muscle regrowth. Muscle regeneration procedure also increased tissue density.
3.Chemical 87556-UD61 was applied to repair neural degeneration from previous augmentation.
4.To prevent reactions to the above chemicals, anti-inflammatories, anti-coagulants, and shock reducers were added.

Spartan-071 reacted negatively to compound ILB-7453. Attempts to resuscitate were ineffective. Spartan-071 was declared dead at 1529 hours.

Remaining subjects showed signs of improvement as early as 1600 hours. Respiratory aids were removed and the subjects showed no problems with breathing. Your advisers tell me that the process of rehabilitating them will take several weeks, if not months. I am concerned about your choice of subjects. These Spartans suffer from several medical complications. While I am amazed that they are still standing, I wouldn't choose any of them over a squad of marines.

Please pardon the ignorance. This is the first time I've had the pleasure of working with ONI this close.

W. S. Hackett, UNSC Transcendent Sword

Definitely an interesting piece of literature. I'll have to pop my books back out and sync up your date with the timeline in the books to know where this is taking place (though I'm assuming it's roughly around the time of the Augmentation of the S-II's due to the use of Chemical compounds and the mentioning of "her assets" suggests it's not the S-III's under Kurt's command. Definitely be interesting to see where this goes from here.

One thing. Transcendent Sword. Sounds like the name of a covenant vessel. Sword seems to be accurate, but transcendence is a religious concept and the covenant follow a more religious and righteous naming system for their ships. Ascendant Justice, Truth & Reconciliation, etc... But it's your story. I'm not gonna tell you where to go with it. I'm just gonna kick back and enjoy it

The ship's name originates from its design structure. I was actually going to remark that it sounded more righteous than other human vessels (which usually follow a poetic or generic route).

Nonetheless, in order to combat this, the Covenant vessel will have a definitely Covenant name.

Don't worry too much about the significance of the years, either. I picked them because they're fairly uneventful in the current Halo canon

Ok. I'll trust you on the naming... for now

Even so, for the dates I could just find the latest date before and the earliest date following the one you chose. It's a rough guess, but it still gives some form of coherence to the plot for me (I'm the one that's been obsessing over making the Arkham Asylum games fit in with the timeline for the modern Batman movies. So far it's not going well and it's killing me. I hate branching timelines in the same universe >_<)

Oh yeah, I'm following Halo canon as close as possible... for now. I even had to redo a lot because I mentioned Cole Protocol.