Aristocles — Roleplayer Guild

Ben-E218

There was no such thing as Epsilon company. Never had been. Never would be. The old SPARTAN-III program only had Alpha through Gamma, and abortive plans for Delta. Any other letters in the Greek alphabet were just fantasy. At least, that's what the databases all said. Since the great war ended, his unit had been retroactively put into being, even as it had no official existence. Such was the life of a Spartan whose generation proved to be something of a disappointment, superseded by the questionably effective SPARTAN-IVs, overshadowed by the SPARTAN-IIs. It was the latter who ended up saving humanity and the galaxy as a whole, while the mantle had been passed to the former. Still, Ben's generation still had its uses. The IIs were few in number and were too important for certain tasks, leaving a number of niches for the remaining IIIs to fill.

Someone had to shoot the cowards and traitors, after all. 

His trip to the HIGHCOM facility in Sydney had been uneventful. Ben's last trip to Earth had been over a year ago, and while he wasn't born on Earth itself, he much preferred it to any human colony. Sydney wasn't nearly the largest city around, but he did admire how well the old Opera House fit in with the architecture of the modern city, even after all those centuries. Security clearances had all been pre-arranged for him; even the suspicious guards gave him little trouble, although it was clear they were more nervous than usual.

"Are you here to watch over the hunter?" Ben just looked at the guard, doing his best to look intimidating but not stare. That behavior was something of a negative stereotype for the Spartans, in any event.

"You must be new. Otherwise, you'd know that I could neither confirm nor deny that. Which way is the atrium?" The guard pointed in the direction of the group. Ben quickly proceeded down the hall, turning around a corner and easily spotting the gathering from a distance. If nothing else, the tall frames of the Elites and the massive figure of the Mgalekgolo was a dead giveaway as to where he was supposed to go. 

Vael ‘Virisusai and the rest of the Aegis team were assembling, and Ben's position on Aegis had been kept secret to all but Vael himself. Officially, this was a "last-minute" assignment, and the exact details of Ben's mission, including his orders to kill cowards, traitors, and rampants, were known only to him, although part of his instructions were to assist the team in its objectives and ensure secrecy. Exactly what "ensure secrecy" meant was left unclear. "Apply your discretion" was what Ben had been told. Of course, in-person meetings for Epsilon-only missions never happened anymore. Not since the human-covenant war had ended. Part of his ongoing goal was to make sure that war stayed ended. Incidents of friendly fire, grossly undiplomatic behavior, or anything which could restart the war had to be covered up, lest the other half of humanity join the first half which had perished. They said it was "half." The "majority" of the human race had died at least. If a few traitors, cowards, and malcontents had to die in place of billions, Ben had no problem carrying out those orders.

"Lieutenant Ben-E218 reporting for duty, sir." It was strange for a Spartan III to greet a Sangheili in such a manner. His generation was recruited entirely from war orphans who had died fighting the Elites, along with the rest of the covenant. It was the elites and prophets which had held the entire system together; once the Sangheili left, it all fell apart like a house of cards. He looked around the team. It was a mixed assortment, as his briefing had indicated; some Spartans, an Unggoy, a Mgalekgolo, and two Sangheili. He had worked with Sangheili before without incident, even though it took him a degree of self-control not to shoot them with his sniper rifle when he had one in his sights. Old habits died hard; his reassignment as the rank of "Spartan" was something he resented, as if all the work it took for him to gain his commissioned rank had been swept away. At least he could still use the rank as a sort of grandfathered-in designation. In any event, the last thing he wanted would be to cause an interspecies incident himself, an act which would earn him a visit from another Epsilon Spartan very quickly. 

He looked over the assembled team, saying nothing more yet, but getting a good look at the other members. Without having to say a word, the AI in his suit completed its assessment. 

Phong's reply could only be heard by Ben himself, although he had access to the rest of the network the team would be using. "Examination complete. No kill warrants. No incidents logged in any of their profiles, however, I have two advisory notes in my logs. First, Mgalekgolo without their bonded twin have a tendency to be unstable, often with lethal consequences. Second, you are cautioned that Rex is from Gamma Company and may be susceptible to incidents without regular injections. I have no information on file as to the date of his last injection." He was a "dumb" AI, represented by little more than a yellow circle which pulsed in tandem with his speech. Ben knew that Rex could pose a risk, however unlikely it was, just from the G-designation after his name. Phong's reminder was there just in case it had slipped Ben's mind. It wouldn't, given that Ben had to put down a member of Gamma company once before when said Gamma had gone too long without injections and had an "incident" which claimed the lives of multiple officers and crew onboard a Valiant-class cruiser. 

Ben addressed the assembled crowd. "I've been informed about our mission on the same need-to-know basis as the rest of you. You can call me Ben. Of Epsilon company. Don't bother looking it up. I've been assigned as a sniper and recon detail for this mission."
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