• Reach: The Gemini Chronicles

    Dying swans, twisted wings, beauty not needed here
    Lost my love, lost my life, in this garden of fear
    I have seen many things, in a lifetime alone,
    Mother love, is no more, bring this savage back home...
    -Brave New World by Iron Maiden


    It has been a hundred years since the Spartan known as Master Chief destroyed the Forerunner installation called Halo. A hundred years since the other Spartans gave their lives for Reach. We all know the story of the tragic death of Noble Team and of Master Chief’s dead breathern. However, there were many Spartans on Reach. This is Team Gemini story.





    Elliot-237’s shields went down. “Son of a-” She muttered. James-492 covered her with a spray from the Assault Rifle. It was just a small group of Jackals and Grunts, but a single plasma shot could kill Elliot. She needed to use her Armor Lock. She activated it as the Covenant opened fire. Elliot could feel each one of the plasma bolts nail her armor, but Halsey’s toy didn’t fail her. Elliot only had a few seconds before it deactivated, but hopefully her shields would recharge. James dropped the Assault Rifle on empty and switched to his knife. He used his Active Camo and ran behind them, slicing their throats.
    “All clear,” he yelled. Elliot unlocked her armor. Elliot pulled the gold helmet off and held it by her side. They were both using the Scout variant armor. Elliot had a gold and blue color scheme; James, steel and red. Elliot shook her brown, bobbed hair. Her green eyes looked up at James-492. He stood 4 inches above Elliot at 6”7’. He took off his helmet and held it in the crook of his arm. His hair was short and square. It was blond and his brown eyes looked back at Elliot. She hugged him and James held her. They put their helmets back on and resumed their posts. It was their third week on Reach. They were assigned guard duty to a lab, where Halsey’s top scientists were working on some secret MJOLNIR variant. Team Gemini had never actually seen the said scientists, but Elliot and James had assumed that they had all the supplies they needed.

    Team Gemini was a unique team. While most have an average of 6-8 Spartans, Gemini only had James and Elliot. Halsey had taken these two while they had been playing in the park together. Elliot cried, not just for the fact that some strange men were taking her, for her separation from James. Being seven, it was amazing that James’s first reaction was hate and anger. He thought not of himself, but fought to save Elliot. He bit his captor and elbowed his groin. The man fell to the ground, clutching himself. James jumped on the back Elliot’s captor and attempted to choke him. The other man shot James with a stun gun and he collapsed. Elliot cried more and was also shot. She slumped in proximity to James. They were both thrown into the back of the unmarked van. When Elliot and James awoke, they were strapped to tables with respirators. They were both put under once more as the augmentation process began. Many of the Spartan-II Project candidates died during the augmentation, and those that lived became Spartans. In a group, only a few would survive. The fact that two candidates were augmented and survived was quite the phenomena. Through rehabilitation, Dr. Halsey was impressed with James guardianship about Elliot. Rather then separate the two or add more Spartans to form a group, Halsey decided to make them the subject of her new experiment: project GEMINI.



    The GEMINI project, on paper, went something like this: “Project Gemini will be a long-term experiment, testing how far humanistic characteristics will go before reducing to the animalistic condition, in which one places the survival of oneself as the utmost importance. It will involve a Spartan group comprised of only two members, Elliot-237 and James-492. It has been noted that James-492 has a tendency to protect Elliot-237. It will be interesting to analyze the results of a two-man squad vs. six or seven members. ” It was accepted because of the elegant words. Dr. Catherine Halsey didn’t care whether it was accepted or not; she was going through with it, no matter what. She was more than willing to sacrifice a few kids for billions of people. A few years passed and Halsey kept a close eye on this
    project. James and Elliot were now fifteen years old. She kept them away from the other
    future Spartans. But sometimes a person cannot stop inevitable fates. James was playing cards with Elliot in their room, when something knocked on the door. Elliot hid under her blankets while James opened the door and looked down to see a human skull. He cursed at its sight. A boy, smaller than James, with long hair black hair and walked over to the skull.
    “That’s where you are...” The boy picked up the skull and looked up at James. “Wanna play?”
    James looked horrified.
    “Play? Play? What are you-” The boy looked at the skull.
    “Oh... you’re those kids. The ones they keep locked up.” James looked at Elliot. He looked at boy.
    “What’s your name?”
    “John.” He parted his hair and James saw the face of a warrior, at only 14 years old.
    “What are you doing with that...that skull?” Elliot shrieked when she realized that’s what John was holding.
    “The skull is our ball. Its a game called Oddball. To be honest, I like King of the Hill more.”
    “The skull...is your...”
    “Ball, yes.” John casually threw the ball into the air. “So you wanna play?”
    “I don’t think we can. They don’t let us out until dinner.”
    “Oh, when do you eat, maybe we can eat together?”
    “2200 hours.” John whistled.
    “Damn, they really do keep you from us. What makes you so different from us, I wonder.” John continued to eye James and pointed to Elliot.
    “So, is she your conjugal visit?” James grew angry and took a swing at John. John dropped before the fist could connect. John punched James in the guts, and did it hurt. James
    bellowed and tried to knee John in his chest. John extended his hands on James thighs and shot his feet straight up, nailing James’s lower jaw. He cried out and stumbled back. John bent his knees and planted his feet on James’s chest and launched himself off. James now clutched his chest. As John rocketed away, he picked up the skull and threw it towards James’s head. James looked up as the skull connected with his face. His nose broke and he screamed and fell. His head hit the floor, and became unconscious. Elliot cried for Dr. Halsey. John whistled and picked up the skull and walked away.
    James was placed in the Medical Bay for a two week recovery. Fortunately, his jaw didn’t break, but his nose and a couple of ribs were. Elliot was traumatized and often sat in the fetal position on her bad. Her dinner had to be brought to her. When James came back, she threw her arms around them and they hugged while Elliot sobbed. After appealing to Dr. Halsey, Elliot and James began the SPARTAN training program. They were schooled in twenty different martial arts. They went through beginning, intermediate, expert, and advanced weapon training in two months. James now stood at 6 feet 3 inches, Elliot, an even six feet. They were sixteen. James was amongst the first Spartan-II candidates to receive the
    prototype armor and its training. Only 3 others got the armor, including John. The armors were all EVA type, one of the first armors. The only problem the directors had was the
    potential of of growth stunt. But Dr. Halsey assured them that EVA was used for space ops. and was much lighter than the armor underway, the same armor that Master Chief would use. James and the others became the Hand of EVA, because of their numbers, the thumb being the AI they shared, Wesley. Wesley was uploaded with the armor schematics and was linked up to each member of the Hand of EVA. Elliot continued her training, alone with her personal AI, Isis. She grew lonely and began to miss James. James, meanwhile, had no time to think of Elliot, as his days mostly comprised of him and his partner, Cindy-952, running from John and Kathy-675. They grew in sync, not just with each other, but also with their
    armor. James and Kathy were not on the same page, and their armor was acting funny. They couldn’t even pick anything up, while John and Kathy could fire on them with dummy bullets from battle rifles. Wesley was doing calculations on how long each individual Spartan would survive. James and Cindy wouldn’t last a week. Elliot, meanwhile, was accelerating at an alarming rate. She mastered her virtual testing. In the VR system, Elliot was supposed to take down a Phantom. She finished the program under 15 minutes. She completed all the VR training, 1047 situations, within a week. Isis was hesitant, but she decided to advance Ellliot’s training. She talked to Halsey and requested an EVA suit. Halsey told Isis she’d have to think about. Halsey smiled to herself.
    “Well, well. It seems that Elliot is surpassing her guardian.” Third week of Armor training, and James finally got used to the armor. However, Cindy still hadn’t gotten used to it. He had to protect her. But protecting someone while fighting two people who are equal in prowess to you is very difficult. James would fire at Kathy, John would flank him and open fire. James would turn to fire at John, and Kathy would shoot his back up. After that war game, John removed his helmet and walked over to Wesley’s podium.
    “Wesley.”
    “Yes, John?”
    “I need to talk to you about James and Cindy.”
    “Are you requesting new opponents?”
    “No, I’m not. I just wanted to comment on their performance and maybe give a suggestion.”
    “Proceed.”
    “Thank you. James seemed to sync with his suit during yesterday’s simulation when his head almost got smashed by that rock. However, James still needed to baby sit Cindy today. So this is what I suggest. No one’s shields have dropped, so we can’t call this a simulation. I say that we start using live ammunition.”
    “What!” Wesley’s usual blue persona flared purple. “You could kill them!”
    “With all due respect, this is where we separate the weak from the strong. Like our namesakes, we Spartans will only grow if our lives on the line. Dr. Halsey will approve, I’m sure.” Wesley calmed down.
    “Per-perhaps. I will submit this...interesting theory to Dr. Halsey.” Wesley vanished. John put his helmet on to hide his smile. Goodbye, James.

    The next day, James talked to Cindy.
    “Cindy, you have got to use your armor.”
    “I’m trying but every time I try to use my hands, my armor locks up. I can’t explain it , my armor just shuts down.”
    “Well, you’re going have to figure out how to unlock it.”
    “What’s with the grave importence now?”
    “Well a) I can’t take care of us both and b) John’s acting funny.”
    “How so?”
    “Well, usually at lunch he tends to taunt me. Today, though, he just ignored me.”
    “Maybe he just decided to grow up.”
    “I’d like to hope so, but something tells me John is going to do something today.” Wesley popped up in their helmets.
    “Children, come along. Today’s battle simulation is starting soon, and red team is alredy inside.”
    “Roger. Blue team will head over right now.”
    “Wesley, out.” He vanished from their HUD, which was synced to their shields, in which their strength could be measured. If properly synced to a weapon, the HUD could also monitor an ammo counter. James began to walk down the dimly litted hall, Cindy walking at his side. They reached a steel door. James placed his hand on the scanner and the door’s magnetic lock disengaged and opened for him. The door revealed a setting in stark contrast to the rest of the military installation. It was a wilderness, with two bases at opposite ends, one dedicated to the red team, one to the blue. There was a river that snaked through the area. James thought the name Valhalla worked for this place. He stepped onto the grass. The door closed behind him and Cindy. He saw John at the red base practicing his acrobatics. He then told Kathy to start firing at him. She opened fire and John sucessfully dodged each burst. James grimaced. He was incredibly fast. That or extremely lucky. Blue team walked to their base. James couldn’t figure out why Cindy outside could walk, but the moment the simulation began, the EVA shut down. He had started to make a log of interactions with the simulation, behind Wesley’s back. He brought up the log and began to examine it. Wesley’s voice resonated in his helmet.
    “Today’s skirmish begans in three minutes, three minutes. Tonight is a night game.” The sun set and the moon rose. All the Hand of EVA flashed their headlights towards Wesley’s platform for acknowledgement. Radio silence was mandatory if each team wanted their plan to remain secret. They all turned their nightvision on. A green view of Valhalla came on. James noticed that a minute before each skirmish, there was a break in. James checked the counter. One minute and ten seconds. He activated his binoculars and zoomed in on red base. He saw John working on a computer. The log flashed as the break in began. 50 seconds. What is he doing?
    “Ready, Jimmy?”
    “Huh?”
    “You ready to take them down?”
    “Oh...oh yeah, sure.” James was too focused on John’s activity that he didn’t pay attention to Cindy who backed up and crouched, ready to sprint. The counter hit 0.
    “Simulation, begin.” Cindy took off like a racehorse. However, John hit enter and Cindy’s suit failed once more. She fell on the launch pad and was shot into the air. James barely realized what John was doing when Cindy fell. He looked up and saw her flying through the air. Her shields dropped the moment she crashed into the rock. She broke radio silence by screaming in pain. She tumbled and fell into the river. She cried for James to save her. James ran up the launch pad and rolled in he landed. He jumped down to Cindy. Her shields were sparking and she heard the alarm going off in her helmet. James came and picked her up.
    “James, James thank Go-” she was cut off by a burst of Kathy’s battle rifle. The burst was aimed for her head. Kathy didn’t realize that the dummy bullets in her rifle had been swaped out for the real article and now the real bullets just broke through Cindy’s helmet and were buried in her brain. Her blood splattered James’s armor and her arm fell limp. Kathy stood horrified and dropped her rifle. Cindy’s heart rate flatlined on Wesley’s monitor. He was stunned.
    “Oh my god.”