The UNSC Needs You! Chapter 1 - Humanity

(AN: Hey guys back from my break, it was pretty good I had a lot of fun writing this which is basically what I did. Anyway I’m gonna work on Star Wars. Back to work)

Earth has long since dreamt of the stars. Since Galileo first looked through his telescope to when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon. Humanity was destined to go to the stars, and it was the UNSC that took them there. After the discovery of faster-than-light travel it was a certainty that the humans would leave their little stellar nursery and venture out into the unknown.

The colonisation of space was a arduous effort that took hundreds of years, but eventually the Earth government colonised hundreds of words across dozens of star systems; spreading out across their galaxy like they were always meant to. Never had humanity become such a united and dominant force before; concepts like race, gender, sexual orientation had become things of the past, humanity was humanity, that was their greatest gift.

And greatest curse.

What is the one truth etched into humanity since its very beginning, the single trait that no matter how many millennia pass, never fades?

War.

Violence.

Humanities infinite potential for malice.

As new and valuable resources were discovered across the galaxy, people were needed in higher and higher numbers to extract those resources. This led to a large surge in population as new legislation and benefits were brought into law encouraging civilians to have children. This population boom would last over a century, making the human population billions upon billions strong. The once plentiful luxury resources that were found on the outer colonies were now becoming in shorter and shorter supply, mostly because of the fact many people preferred to live in the core systems than the outer colonies.

In an effort to combat this the Earth Government slowly started to artificially inflate the cost of living in the core system. This led to a mass exodus from the core systems by those who couldn't afford to live there any longer; sent across space for their new lives in the outer worlds where a job mining Xeron Ore was waiting for them. What followed this was perhaps the Earth Governments most controversial practice.

The Citizen Initiative.

Rights that had been fundamental in having a society based in freedom and democracy were now taken away from people. To gain those rights back a civilian had to serve five years mandatory service in the UNSC or ten years on one of the many resource planets across the galaxy. Citizens could vote, Citizens could live in the Core worlds at a discounted rate, Citizens could run for public office, Citizens could afford the luxury resources used by the upper class. This was the boiling point, where people truly started to question why they worked hard every day just for the resources to be sent back to the core worlds. All so a government thousands of light years away could dictate what rights they may or may not have.

This was the birth of the insurrection.

It started peacefully at first, with protests outside the Governors office on their respective planets. For years they remained dedicated to the cause—to bringing back true freedom and democracy to humanity. However, after years of simply being laughed at some within the ranks became disenfranchised, some believed it was time for more drastic actions.

It began with Far Isle. They overthrew the Governor of their planet and announced their independence from the Earth Government. The leader of Far Isle wished to negotiate with the Earth government. He knew they'd never outlast the UNSC in a war, so he hoped that a peaceful resolution could be reached. In the end no one expected the drastic actions the UNSC would take to quickly and quietly end this insurrection.

Far Isle was razed to the ground, every civilian and every city was wiped from the face of the planet; There were no survivors, every man woman and child had died. The UNSC had brought their nuclear arms to bear and had squashed this little rebellion like a bug. Yet this did not quell the insurrection as the Earth Government hoped, no, it only stoked the fires of rebellion in the hearts of the outer colonies that had felt very much the same as Far Isle. What started as a fledgling resistance, turned into a full on insurrection—all at the hands of the Earth Government. Now that the insurrection was in full swing and with hundreds of worlds joining the cause, humanity found themselves on the brink of Civil war.

Back on Earth the greatest minds in the world all worked to improve the UNSC's War Machine. Each one believing their weapon or their idea would be what would end the war. But what interested the UNSC the most was the numerous Super soldier programs that had been brought before them, all wanting the UNSC to fund their various projects.

War was won not with weapons, but with soldiers, and the UNSC wanted to have the best of the best.

_____________________________________

(HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6, Sydney, Australia)

The UNSC High Command facility was where the most senior members of the UNSC resided. The men and women who walked these halls made choices everyday that had repercussions across the entirety of Terran space. It was in these halls that Vice Admiral Hieronymus Michael Stanforth stood today as he followed through on a request given to him by Fleet Admiral Hood a few months ago.

With the Insurrection growing larger everyday new ways were needed to combat them; like most rebellions the insurrectionists resorted to guerrilla tactics and had done so with great proficiency. What the UNSC needed now were soldiers, Super Soliders. Ones that could be dropped behind enemy lines and destroy their targets before exfiltrating. That was the reason Admiral Stanforth was here today, because four such researchers had assured him that they could give him just that.

They all sat together in a cold, sterile room, a place where meetings of this 'secretive' nature were commonly held. Sitting in front of Admiral Stanforth—who sat at the head of the table—were three men and one woman; all of them Genius' the likes of which 

are hardly ever seen.

"Thank you for joining me here today," Admiral Stanforth commented, as he looked at each one, the stern expression on his face never faltering. "You're all here because you believe you have the answer to bringing forward the next generation of soldier. You seem to have convinced Admiral Hood that your ideas are worth pursuing and so here we are."

Each of the young doctors before him kept a straight expression, each one wanted funding yet they all had the pride not to beg for it—as was common with most Geniuses.

"Doctor Halsey your Orion Project is an interesting one to be sure," Admiral Stanforth commented, as he looked through the file on his desk. It had been given to him by the doctor herself, outlining what you plan to do to create these 'super soldiers'. These augmentations to the Orion super-soldiers include muscular enhancement injections, pulmonary respiratory enhancements, retina-inversion injections, and cochlea enhancement tuning In addition to the physical enhancements, mental augmentations were performed to enhance brain functions, including enhanced learning capabilities to allow a subject to learn at a faster and higher rate and enhanced motor skills to improve body movements. Interesting in theory, but to make so many adjustments to a Marine seemed to be unrealistic. However he wasn't the doctor so he'd leave his personal judgments out of it.

"The Admiral thinks your project shows the most promise, he wants to go ahead and provide full funding," he stated causing a small smile to make its way onto Dr. Halsey's face. "Contact administration, and let them know of any facilities or resources you might need, the UNSC is only happy to provide."

This decision caused some slight tension in the room, the rest of the Doctors were no doubt annoyed by his decision; their pride was wounded, each one thinking the other was inferior to them.

"Admiral Stanforth I must object I've read Dr. Halseys proposal and I find that you will lose a great many men in the process," one of the doctors said in annoyance as he stood up, his hands gripping the desk until they were white.

"I agree with my peer, Dr Halsey is no doubt a brilliant doctor, but when it comes to making soldiers, this is not the way. Perhaps if you want five or six super soldiers, but if you want an army or you're going to have a corpses," another suggested parroting the first doctor.

"Calm down gentlemen," Admiral stand for said while raising his hands and urging them to sit back in their seats. "While I said we would be moving forward with project Orion, I did not suggest that would be the only project we would be funding."

This caused surprise to appear on the faces of all the doctors there, even Halsey. Each one thought they were in first competition with each other, yet, it seemed to all of them would be getting the funding they desired. This seemed to relax them slightly as they lean back in their chairs and waited for Admiral Stanforth to clarify what he meant.

The admiral looked at them all before clearing his throat. "All of you are here because you convinced Admiral Hood that your ideas are worth pursuing.  There were dozens of doctors just like yourself that had ideas for the next generation of soldier, it is you four that we have chosen to bring that into reality."

"I see," the first doctor said a little awkwardly. "I apologise for my outburst, I can be rather passionate when it comes to my work."

"I'm not the one you need to apologise to," Admiral Stanforth said with a hard gaze.

The man nodded and turned to his right where Dr Halsey sat. " I apologise for the meaning your work Dr Halsey, it was not my intention," he said, inclining his head apologetically.

"I took no offence Dr Larraman, I can understand being passionate for one's work," she replied.

"Now that is over with we can begin discussing the rest of your projects," the Admiral said before picking up another file. "Dr Leonard Church, I have had a look at your project, and while project freelancer seems promising, I worry that you'll produce nothing but slightly better ODST's."

Dr Church shifted in his seat and adjusted his glasses. "A fair assumption Admiral Stanforth, while it may appear that way on the surface the training and technology that I have devised will prove that these men and women will be far greater than that."

The Admiral nodded slowly as he read the rest of the file. "It also says here that you wish to have full use of one of the UNSC's smart AI. That with it you could improve the functioning of your agents by at least 60%. That's quite a high number, though I find myself confused as to how one AI can be used for multiple agents."

"That I'm afraid is a complicated conversation, but be rest assured that I have found a way and you'll get the super soldiers you want," Dr Church said in a slightly ominous tone.

The Admiral paused for a moment as he looked at the slender man with glasses. "Very well doctor, that's all I needed to hear, as for Halsey, you'll get your funding."

Admiral Stanforth then turned to the next man. "Dr Sasuga, your operation is the simplest and quickest but it carries the highest fatality rate. You suggested yourself that only 30% of people would survive this... Mosaic Organ Operation."

The doctor nodded. "Yes Admiral I did, however I believe I improve those numbers once I've had a chance to actually perform the operation."

Admiral Stanforth nodded. "While the risk is high, the theoretical results seem worth it. Though I will warn you now if you can't increase the survival rate in three years then talks will be had on whether the UNSC will continue to fund your program." he said with a stern gaze. "Are we clear?"

"Yes Admiral," the doctor replied.

The admiral then turned to the last person in the room. Doctor Francis Larraman. Someone the admiral believed to be certifiably insane, but with the kind of insanity the UNSC could use in a time of war. He looked down to the file that had been given to him about his project.

'Project Astartes'

It seemed this project would introduce 19 new organs into the human body, or Gene-seeds as was written by the doctor. These new organs would enhance the soldier in various ways, and it seemed like it would produce the strongest super soldiers, even more so than the Orion project. However, one thing that bothered Admiral Stanforth was the need for children. The subjects had to be preteens if they would survive the various surgeries. One benefit however, was I seem to have a low fatality rate with 80% of patients surviving the procedure. "You have one of the most promising proposals here Dr Larraman, but I worry if you have not overestimated yourself and your ability."

The doctor shook his head vigorously. "No admiral my calculations are perfect, and we should have thousands of soldiers ready for you in just over a decade."

"Good," the Admiral said as he stood up, causing the others to stand up with him. "You are all promising young Doctors, you have a chance to change the world with your research and the UNSC will be the platform that you step on to do this. You will all have as much funding as you need, what we expect in return are soldiers capable of fighting, ones are capable of feats that humans can only dream of. This is your task," he said while looking at all of them.

"Yes sir," they all said at the same time.

"Then this meeting is Adjourned."

_____________________________________

(Many years later)

Many years and many deaths after the insurrection first started it had finally come to an end. The insurrectionist leaders had put down their arms and surrendered, celebrations were had across every planet in known space. Marines went home heroes and greeted their families, kiss their wives and hugged those their children that were a lot bigger than they remembered.

But most importantly, the Earth government supremacy was all but confirmed.

While this was a time for celebration it was also a time for introspection. More specifically it was time for Dr Larraman to be put on Military trial before the Fleet Admiral and the rest of the senior command. In the long years that each super soldier program had been running, each one had managed to pump out superior soldiers to their varying degree. Project Orion was a minor success though what came after turned out to be what changed the tide of the war.

The Spartan II Program.

Never had there been more advanced soldiers than in this project. They were stronger they were faster. They were more adaptable. They were more durable. And with help from project freelancer, they had access to the best weapons and armour. They were capable of clearing the battlefield by themselves, and were a different breed of warrior. However, the negative side was that there was a high fatality rate as well as the fact they needed to use children. Thousand children were taking from their homes a clone left behind in its place.

The cost of war.

Luckily, the subsequent Spartan III program saw more success and so a lot more of them were able to be deployed to the field.

Project freelancer also produced superb soldiers though just like with the Spartans II's there weren't

many of them. Where they excelled was Black ops missions.

The Mosaic Program produced the most effective soldiers, the doctors managed to increase the survivability rate and so more soldiers were able to undergo the operation. Unfortunately Dr Sasuga was assassinated one night by a religious activist group, who believed his work to be against God and an abomination. Without the genius mind behind the operation, and with most of the research being destroyed upon his death, the UNSC had no choice but to shut down the program.

That left one program... The Project Astartes.

The entire time they had received funding from the UNSC, Project Astartes had not produced a single super soldier capable of entering the field. What they had produced was 15,000 corpses, and multiple cases of kidnap children and murdered families. That was why Dr. Larraman was here today, not to answer for his crimes but to be punished for them.

...

Sitting at the head table, raised on the upper dias sat the legendary Fleet Admiral Hood. Honest left was Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, and on his right was Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth. Surrounding them various bureaucrats as well as several dozen guards all of them here to pass their final judgement on this man.

In the middle of the room was the doctor himself. He had no lawyer to represent him as he was already guilty. He had no clothes but the prison uniform and if you looked in his eyes, it looked like he had no hope either.

"Dr Larraman, you stand here convicted of numerous crimes against the Earth Government and her people," Admiral Hood stated loudly in a gruff voice, he looked down at the doctor with a mixture of anger and disgust. "You misappropriated UNSC funds, without prior authorisation, you conducted several operations with the goal of kidnapping more subjects than were allocated to you, you are responsible for the death of 15,000 people. You with full knowledge exterminated the Newton family a prestigious well known family that live on Earth and who also have citizenship so our exempt from any experiments." With every accusation that headed his way people looked at him with more and more disgust.

"The Newton family survived by their last son, who very luckily survived your experiments, though from the looks of it you would've killed him if you had continued with them," Admiral Hood stated while looking down at his file. "From what i'm reading here it seems you manage to implant five of the gene seeds before we captured you."

"You are disgrace to the human race, now before sentencing is carried out do you have anything to say for yourself?" He asked.

Everyone look down at the doctor wondering what his last words would be, whether he would just spout off some madness or promise revenge. "Admiral Hood you forget that we were at war and it's very easy to call me a monster now that it's ended but if I had succeeded with my work, you would've had a soldier beyond perfect." There was no anger in his words. It was almost like he sounded disappointed.

"I can admit that I made mistakes, I overestimated the human body, we are simply just not evolved enough to handle the strain that my gene seeds caused," he stated as he looked up at the leaders of the UNSC. "But Alexander Newton was going to be my Magnum opus, you see he is not like us, he is perfect."

Admiral Hood frowned as he listened to what sounded like the ramblings of a mad man. "What do you mean he is perfect?" He asked.

A slightly manic smile spread across the Doctors's face. "The Newton family, have been practising selective breeding for nearly 700 years, and from that Alexander Newton was created. He was the most perfect specimen I have ever laid my eyes on, a super soldier in his own right before any enhancements were ever made. I had to have him. I had to show everyone what the peak of humanity look like. You can kill me now but Alexander Newton is my successor. It is him who will show you the mistake you have made here today, when you see his beauty and his pure power... you will regret your actions."

Admiral Hood tried to stop himself from growling at the man. The reason being they couldn't find Alexander Newton, apart from knowing he was alive they had no idea where he was and they had no description due to how secretive the Newton family was. "The court will show you leniency doctor if you tell us where you hid Alexander Newton." Admiral Hood said sternly.

Dr Larraman just chucked lightly and shook his head. "I am not a fool Admiral, I know how things work by now and I know there is nothing that is going to save me, whether you kill me here or imprison me for life and have a cellmate stab me in the back, I accepted my death the moment you captured me."

Admiral hood was none too pleased to hear this, and for a moment he considered sending the man down to Intel & interrogation. "Very well doctor if those are your final words then let's get this over with." he noted towards several of the guards who led the man to a table where he was strapped in.

"Dr Francis Larraman you have been sentenced to die by the high command of the UNSC for crimes against humanity. A lethal substance will now pass through your body and stop your heart. May God have mercy on your soul," Admiral Hood said as the other doctor in the room turned on the machine. Liquid soon poured down the tubes that were now connected to his arm and soon entered his body. The entire court watched as Dr. Larraman thrashed about on the bed, but it wasn't too long until he went still.

The last thought in his mind was about his perfect human.

'Alex...'

(AN: Now that this little introduction chapter is done with I can move onto the actual story. This story is something I'm writing for fun, I've always wanted to do a Halo story. Idk what it is about writing but when I get an idea of a crossover that just fits together I just get too excited and won't be able to think about anything else until I do it. Anyway this is a Crossover between Halo x Helldivers and a few soft crossovers like RvB, Terraformers and Warhammer. The MC is based off of Joseph Newton from Terraformers. I think he's a pretty cool character. Anyway see ya)