Halo: Number 236

Chapter One- Awakening

The recovery of UNSC was steady-going and slow. With the constant threat of meteorites and the rise of the enemy Covenant, the members of the military base were constantly in panic. The only sane ones aboard the UNSC craft, Starfleet, was the Captain, scientists, chief of command of the training and what remained of the Spartans.

Captain Marshal, the captain of the ship, sat back in his seat with a frustrated sigh. "Liam," he mumbled, "Scan the system again. Look for any signs of movement." "Of course." a green holographic-colored man appeared for a split second, saluting the big man before him before disappearing into the small projector platform underneath him.

A few moments passed before Liam reappeared. "There is no sign of movement, sir. The system is clear for miles." "Bull! The system has never been this clear in years!" Captain Marshal yelled, glaring intently at Liams' distorted face. "Yes, I know, Captain; but since we've been traveling about for so long and so far, maybe we've come into a-" "Don't give me that! The last time we thought that, we got too comfortable and the Covenant tore us to shreds!"

A soft knocking on the door interrupted what might have led to a bad ouput between the captain and the AI. "Come in." Marshal called as he cleared his throat. The knob turned and the door opened, revealing a slightly older woman, around her thirties or so. She had long blonde hair that ran down to her waist, her hair parted in such a manner that it covered the left side of her face. She wore a tight sky-blue blouse and a loose black skirt that fluttered about her ankles as she walked. On her feet were a pair of black dress high-heeled shoes.

"Dr. Carmine." Marshal acknowledged her with the nod of his head. "Marshal. I'd like you to see something that we're working on in the lab. I'd like to know your thoughts on the project." Dr. Carmine said in a serious tone of voice. "Project?" he had a confused look on his face.

"Just follow me, please, Captain." Dr. Carmine said sternly as she turned on her heels and waited by the door. With a heavy sigh, Captain Marshal pushed himself up from the seat and stood by the door. He glanced over at the woman he's known for years and back to the door. "Liam. Keep an eye on the system. I do not care if it's calm. It never stays like that for too long." "Sir." Liams' voice echoed in the empty room.

Captain Marshal followed his colleague out of the room and through the long and empty hallway. Not a minute passed by before Marshal spoke up. His voice failing to hide the concern. "Where is everybody? Did somebody die?" Dr. Carmine chuckled. "No, Captain. The staff are simply watching the lab."

Marshal stopped dead in his tracks.

"You mean nobody is manning their stations?" Marshal glared at the blonde-haired woman. She sighed and shook her head. "Yes, Captain. I know how paranoid you are, so I had several of our AI keep an eye on everything. Don't worry so much. You'll drive yourself insane." The Captain scoffed and mumbled something unintelligible.

They walked along the brightly lit hallways. A soft blue sensor-strip ran along the wall, recording their every movement. After the last war that was caused by the betrayal of one of the civillians, Marshal ordered that every hall, every bunker and locker room was to be lined with the blue camera strip.

The walls were a light cream color, complementing to the white tiles lining the floor. The ceiling overhead had bright fluorescent lights along the ceiling. Several air-locked doors lined the hallways. A few of them, the passageway was covered by a black holographic transceiver that made the entrance pitch black. If one was to try and enter these darkened rooms, they would get zapped.

Captain Marshal counted the doors out of habit as they went by. They came to a four-way hallway and stopped. "Marshal.." Dr. Carmine spoke quietly, staring down the hall in front of them. The Captain looked at her curiously. Concerned as to why she had such a serious tone of voice all of a sudden. "Marshal, anything that you see in the lab. Could you please keep it a secret?" Carmine asked.

A confused look marked the captains' face. "Keep it a secret? From who? Surely you don't mean UNSC's Admiral?" "I do, actually. If the Admiral finds out what we're doing before we're finished; I'm afraid we'll never win this war." After a long moment of silence, Captain Marshal sighed in defeat. "If anything goes wrong, Sarah. Anything at all, I'll shut the operation down myself."

Carmine nodded and continued leading the captain down the halls. Not long after the four-way stop, a low murmer could be heard echoing down the halls from the right. They followed the noise and came to a large air-locked door with a sign labeled LABORATORY hanging above the door. To the right of the door was a yellow sign with thick, block letters on it that read as follows:

CAUTION
Biochemical testing beyond this door.
Please use extreme Caution.
Wear safety equipment at all times.
Authorized personnel ONLY!


To the left of the door was a scanner and a keypad underneath the scanner. Dr. Carmine went up to the scanner and blinked. Bright red lights fluttered from the lens of the scanner and looked over her eye. The small bulb next to the scanner turned green and a light buzz of approval sounded. The keypad suddenly began to glow an eerie white. Carmine closed her eyes for a split second before opening them and type on the pad.

With every touch of the numbers, the key glowed a vibrant red. She finished typing on the code and the bulb glowed green followed by the buzz. The air-lock doors opened as Carmine stepped back. She stepped inside the entrance and grabbed two pairs of goggles. She handed one pair to Marshal and put hers on, fixing the strap to fit her more easily.

Marshal did the same and followed her inside. The murmurs grew louder and louder as they got closer to the lab. They passed through another doorway and came to a semi-large crowd mixed with the staff and Spartans of Starfleet.

Marshal was curious to know why so many had come. What exactly was going on in his ship. These thoughts and many others flooded his mind, almost giving him a headache. "Captain on deck!" Someone shouted from the crowd and immediately the entire group snapped to attention.

"At ease." Marshal called out, holding his hand out in front of him. "Dr. Carmine! We're ready!" A man dressed ina  white lab coat, blue jeans, and a pair of white sneakers approached them. A broad smile on his face. "Excellent!" Carmine smiled at the man. "If you would excuse me, Captain. We will begin." Marshal nodded and watched as Carmine and one of the other scientists walked into a room below them surrounded by glass.

The captain made his way up to the front of the crowed where he nearly fell to the ground in shock. He laid his eyes upon a large tube in the center of the sealed in case where scientists were looking over different charts and medical equipment.

Dr. Carmine stood close by the tube, writing on a clipboard and giving orders. Carmine finished up what she was writing on and handed it to the man who had approached them near the entrance. She looked at the tube beside her and took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "Attention ladies and gentlemen," she began, looking at each and every person on the balcony, "I'm very glad that you all showed up today to witness the extraordinary project that my colleagues and I have been working on for quite some time now.

"Some of you may be wondering what it is exactly that we are doing and some of you may already know. What we are hoping to do is resurrect someone from the past. Before the time when the Covenant began the first war. A time that we have nearly forgotten. We will be bringing back a young girl. According to our data, she was 18 when she had died in the year of 2011. We are going to be using the girl to help us understand her way of life, and that of ours."

Everyone in the room was quiet. There was a few murmurs of question but they were shushed by those near them. Carmine glanced at a woman in the same lab coat and khaki's. she gestured to her with a nod and the woman nodded back. The woman pressed a small red button and the locks on the tube came loose and drifted away and folded themselves against the base.

The cover around the tube lowered and revealed a semi-thin girl with short blonde hair that ran down to the middle of her back. Dr. Carmine reached into the drawer beside her and pulled out a soft red towel.

She set the towel on the desk next to her taking another deep breath. "Levi. Open the tube. We're ready." A gentle and quite voice overhead echoed throughout the room. "Opening. Draining water and switching off liquidized oxygen tanks."

The yellow, clear-like liquid began to drain from the tube, draining down into a few dozen holes. The girls frail body lowered as the liquid vanished. Blue and white lights flashed at the top of the tube. As the water drained, the scientists scurried about the room, ready medical equpiment near a stretcher by the entrance of the tube.

The water finished draining and the girl now lay at the bottom wrapped in a cat-like ball. Dr. Carmine punched in a stream of numbers into the keypad on a stand next to her. A couple seconds later, the doors opening and the remaining drops of liquid fell to the floor along with several wires that attached themselves to the girls' skin.

Carmine snapped on a pair of latex gloves and reached into the tube with the help of her colleagues. The men and women up on the balcony watched in curiosity and awe.

Several of the working scientists hooked the nameless girl up to the machines that monitored her heart rate and blood pressure, as several others wiped her down with dry cloths. All the machines were flat, the heart rate machine making a long, high-pitched tone. Carmine walked over to the girl with a needle filled with a red-colored liquid.

"This liquid," Carmine spoke aloud to the room. "Is filled with a medicine that we've hoped to perfected after years of research and testing. The ingredients mixed into this liquid is so strong that it will shock her body into functioning." Dr. Carmind stuck the needle into the young blonde-girls' arm after wiping the spot down. She pressed on the top of the needle, forcing the liquid through the small puncture wound and into the girls' veins.

"In her time, we figured, the only way to revive a person was to use metal pads, that if you rubbed them together, electricity  would flow through them and give the heart a jump-start. This method didn't always work, though. More than half of the deaths, the people, weren't revived." Dr. Carmine paused a moment to sterilize the needle.

A blood curdling scream followed by the crashing of medical equipment pierced the air. The Spartans and Marines up on the balcony grew tense. Captain Marshal along with the rest of the crew stared dumbfounded at the miracle before them.

The blonde-haired girl looked around the room in a fixed and frightened stare. Her mouth quivered as she struggled to speak. "Relax. We're not going to harm you." Dr. Carmine spoke in a soft and gentle voice. She took a cautious step forward, one hand out in front of her while her left hand rested against her chest in a gentle fist.

Breathing heavily, the girl looked around in sheer panic. Her heart rate was off the charts as she tried to back away from the people in white.

"Please.. Remain calm.." Dr. Carmine spoke gently, taking another step forward. "I promise you that nobody here is going to hurt you." The blonde-haired girl stared at Carmine before she backed into the tube that had once contained her body.

Tears flooded the girl's vision as she grasped her head. Her face marked with pain. Carmine stared at the girl with concern. Blinking consistently, the young frail girl groaned in pain before she collapsed to the floor unconscious.