Painful Truths

The four just stared at the Spartan with judging demeanors as he was confused about what had just happened.

A loud voice hallard from behind them as the Deckhand waved his hand high, "All Set To Go Missy!" Shana started to wall towards the deck hand and made a wave for them to follow, "Where You Want Us To Park Her?"

Shana smiled as she said calmly, "On the nest would be great for take off!"

Passing the Deckhand who followed next to her who physically pruned himself as they went, "Understood! Ya goin with the usual?"

"Of course!" She said as she didn't pay attention to him, "Thanks for taking care of her!"

Deckhands changed his tone to a calmer lower pleasing tone as he tried to charm her as they walked, "Any~thing for you~ just say the word and I'll even take care of your~ stuff pe~rsonally~!"

Almost fully under Blackie, Shana was still not paying attention to the poor man.

"I'll keep that in mind! Thank you!" With that she disappeared into thin air.

Spartan 053 paused in confusion but followed suit when the other four didn't stop walking straight… except one who patted the now saddened Deckhand.

"Maybe next time?" He said, trying to cheer him up, "She's a hard one to get!"

Sniffling the man wiped his eyes and with new determination and energy he announced, "It's The Ones Who Play Hard To Get Are The Ones Worth Chasing!" He then darted off to a console and started the procedures for the crane to take Blackie.

"Come On New Bee!!" The last one hallard as he darted under the heavy armored pelican and disappeared.

Without hesitation he followed suit. Interference suddenly blinded his visor and would not auto readjust. Standing still he tried hitting his helmet to fix the issue… it didn't fix the visor but it did fix the audio even though it crackled a lot.

"Ha… Sta… hat… Appe… Off… Down!"

The Spartan took a knee for he heard the word down. Heavy Clicks soon reverberated in his helmet as the bio-seal was broken and fresh air filled his lungs and low light shone through the small gap as small hands attempted to pull his helmet off.

Moving slowly so he wouldn't hurt who was trying to help him, he grasped the sides of his helmet and lifted with ease to see shining emerald eyes close to his face as her breath caught and face flushed red she averted her eyes, cleared her throat, then walked in a specific direction.

"Follow closely! … You're the last one!"

Noticing that none of the others were in his location he then realized his location as he followed her amazed with helmet in hand.

Shelving units that made even him feel small, all filled with different colored boxes all marked with the same icon, a Cross, as far as the eye could see. As they walked the icons soon changed to, Fangs around in a circle, confused on the icon he kept his mouth shut as he followed her.

Soon they came to a circular clearing that had many shelving units all around it and a large circular platform in the middle where four beings stood chatting and pointing as if giving each other directions.

"She found him!" One of the boys hallard.

"This room in itself is a trap!" Another boy replied.

The girl giggled, "It's the best maze layout possible!!"

"Only you would like those puzzles!"

"You should change your name to Puzzler!"

"Or Ridler!"

"Ow!" One hallards as she had him in a headlock with his own arms.

"Cut it out!"

They all paused before doing a butler style short half bow as the last two got on the platform. They stood up as the platform began to move and they all stared at the spartans human face in awe.

One of the boys whispered, "I thought they were robots!"

Paler than fresh snow like skin smooth like silk, extremely short but not quite a buzz cut of black hair, pale dark pink lips, and sharp ruby red eyes like a predator looked back at them with curiosity and confusion.

Shana tried to keep from looking at his face as hers kept turning red as she mumbled quietly, "Nope! Nope! Can't! He doesn't! There's no way he does! Nope! Just breathe!" She took a deep quiet breath and sighed.

"DAMN! LOOK AT THAT!!" One of the boys exclaimed in excitement as he pointed below them as they went higher to the ceiling.

Many low whistles were blown as they saw rows upon rows of the giant shelving units span outwards and twist like a spinning maze before they went into the ceiling and a new large tempered glass room filled with water came into view.

"Woo~oow! Did You Suck Up An Entire Planet's Oceans?"

"I was tempted to… But they didn't have the fish I liked!" She said with a dismissal wave of her hand as a giant salmon swam against the glass as it watched them move up into the next ceiling.

The girl asked in amazed shock, "What! Was! That?"

"Hmmn? Ah! That was Roxy! She's the Mother Salmon I raised!" Shana replied with pride, "She lets me have the kids she doesn't want! They are so~ delicious! I'll have to check to see if she gave me any in the other tank for y'all to try… Unless y'all don't eat meat??" Their silence was deafening as the Spartan began to wonder what she meant by she eats that giant beast, "Oh… I keep forgetting cultural differences and all that! If y'all don't wanna try it that's fine!" She sounded sad to the Spartan who then felt guilty then confused why he felt like that, "There are other things for you to eat as well!"

Reaching a cargo bay they were familiar with they followed Shana to a door that had many small icons on it.

She pushed a hexagonal icon as the doors opened up to a large barracks with double bed and drawers blocked off by walls and ceilings so it was like small but large cubicles that dotted the entire floor.

After everyone was in a male mechanical voice sounded with an odd accent and odd way of speaking, "Madam! The changes to the suits are done and awaiting your approval!"

Shana pulled up a floating tablet that the Spartan could not see, and approved it and moved it to the lounge tables in front of them that they soon approached.

The Beehive group became ecstatic as they grabbed specially made for them suits,

"The Stats!"

"Damn! This Is Stronger Than A Battleship!"

"It's Soo~ Flexible!"

"This Is The Helmet?!" As they picked up what looked like a silver cowboys hat.

As they were checking the stat and the designs that had different more elegant intertwined patterns of black and yellow, Shana looked over to the Spartan who only looked at the extra large version of the matching type suit without touching it and in her boss tone,

"Strip!"

All heads whipped towards her.

"I Order You All To Strip And Change Right Now!"

The four slowly started to change while keeping their eyes on her with fear.

Fan had marbled like skin and red hair and kept an eye on them.

Tank had few scars on his tanned body as he admired his new armor.

Hornet was dark skinned like a burnt brownie, he checked to see if they had pockets before dressing.

Sparrow was whiter than Fan as he never removed his armor before now.

"Ma-am? With all due respect… I don't believe you understand the means for me to remove this armor to do so! So therefore I can not reply to that order! Ma-am!"

With her head cocked to the side a sly smile creeped upon her face as the soldier just kept a straight face and stared down at her as her demeanor changed.

The odd voice echoed overhead, "Madam! Destination has been reached! Permission to depart?"

"Granted!"

"Acknowledged! Cruising speed has been engaged! Is there anything else you want from me, Madam?"

"Oran! Disarm the being before me!"

"Is that all?" Oran seemed disappointed, "As you wish, Madam!"

A beam of light engulfed the Spartan as a separate beam of light flashed next to him as his armor was floating in the air and the light engulfing him faded to show him in a slick black skin tight under armor that showed off his muscles and built frame.

Knowing the weight he was so used to was suddenly missing he whipped his head in the direction of the light as he saw his armor, undamaged or taken apart, floating in the air next to him. Baffled, he remembered her warning that he would see classified things. He gulped as he felt vulnerable as he looked at Shana he noticed she wasn't looking at him as her face seemed to be a brighter shade of red and steam could barely be seen rising from her face.

She quickly grabbed his outfit and tossed it in his direction with such ease that he caught it in one hand and decided to put it on, Shana then briskly turned and disappeared, leaving the five in the barracks alone to finish changing.

The girl whispered in a low voice which to the Spartan was like she was speaking in a normal tone, "Damn! His body is Ho~t!"

"We should ask for a pheromone detector from her! I think she might be in heat… Is that the correct term for class?"

"It's a good thing she already gave us three antidotes just in case… but is he immune to her?.?"

The four looked at him with suspicion as he was already putting on the silver cowboy hat which completed his outfit with different patterns than the others but still in black and yellow. His patterns were that of ancient celtic design placed strategically on his pants and loose fitting shirt that was tucked in, his hat had the same design wrapped around the top in gold with a metal like black rim.

The Spartan said in his deep smooth voice, "I'm Spartan 053 of the Spartan 1 Program. I am now solely her designated bodyguard over all else! Pleasure to work with you!"

The four looked at each other before responding in turn,

"I'm Tank! Leader of the Beehive! Pleasure!"

"I'm Sparrow! Scout of the Beehive!"

"I'm Hornet! Sniper of the Beehive!"

The girl spoke up with a small bow, "I'm Fan! Or like these guys are debating on Puzzler or Ridler! I make the distractions!"

With a curt nod Spartan 053 then asked, "What do you mean when you said she's 'In Heat'?"

Fan replied, "She's a Forerunner! One of the Ancients that humanity is trying to uncover their secrets… that your augmentations are based on the soldiers of her race…" She hesitated for a second, "Every mammal needs a mate! There are always at least two of a kind! We~ll… she's the only one left… there is no second person within her species for her to mate with… So around different times her body… unconsciously will yearn for the missing second person and put her in Heat… That deckhand who started to try and flirt with her is a result of her pheromones looking for a mate to …well mate with." Fans' faces blushed as she tried to explain,

"She'll be fine~" The Spartan could hear the strain in her voice indicating she was lying, "We usually know what the mission is so as she recovers, we do the heavy lifting! That being said… you might wanna stay away from her for a few days for her body to calm down… I've seen her when she wasn't contained and she was more animalistic… or hungry for the opposite sex than a normal animal would be!"

Tank chimed in, "Just don't take her actions to heart… She doesn't know what she will do during this time!"

Sparrow spoke up as he donned his hat, "Just ask Oran and he will teleport you anywhere on the ship! Hanger Bay!" Sparrow disappeared like he was never there.

"Good luck!"

Three more 'Hangar Bay's sounded as they disappeared as well.

Left alone in clothes that seemed to light yet comfortable he gave a heavy sigh. What was supposed to be an easy babysitting mission turned out to be a complicated way of being thrown away and hope he dies. He knew that OSI was behind many disappearances of his fellow Spartans, but he could never find proof… Yet if he did find proof there's no one he can turn them into because OSI was the Shadow Government within the Federation of humanity.

OSI, or Office of Special Intelligence, undertook the dark path to get things done. Mostly what was in their best interest not for humanity itself.

"Oran!" He called out, "Is there a way you can check the records for the Spartan 1 Program?"

"Do you wish to know their status or the overall hidden secrets of the program?" Oran questioned back.

Briefly confused by the question he shortly made up his mind, "Statuses Please!"

"1 thousand 5 hundred confirmed dead via bodily explosions during the augmentation period! 38 painfully disfigured mutated and kept like animals in a bunker in a mountain on this planet! 12 confirmed successes! 11 confirmed KIA but marked as MIA! 1 confirmed MIA with a note of being 'Given as tribute Do Not Retrieve'!"

Heaviness filled him as the reality struck, "Name of the last one?"

"Human child named Soran. Taken at the age of 3 from an orphanage on the planet Kilaris, now a dark planet, for training and passed augmentation. Code name Spartan 053 is given as tribute to the Ancient in hopes to displease the Ancient and disappear, that can not be tied back to the OSI involvement in the dibanning of Spartans for inhumane experimentation. The Spartan Program is already culling new children of different ages from different sectors to replace the lost Spartans!"