Project TEMERITY

This article, Project TEMERITY, is currently under active construction.

WARNING: This document, Project TEMERITY, is property of the UNSC and is Classified [NOVEMBER BLACK], protected under Office of Naval Intelligence Security Protocol 1A. Disclosure of its contents to, or access or alteration by, personnel with a clearance level lower than GAMMA THREE is an offense punishable by court(s) martial and imprisonment or execution for treasonous acts. Failure to disclose confirmed or suspected breaches of security will be treated as complicity, and is punishable by dishonourable discharge and/or imprisonment. Lieutenant Commander Michael Pomare, Office of Naval Intelligence, UNSCDF Navy

The technological gap has always been a more of a gaping chasm, and a number of projects were set up by the UNSC to remedy this. Of these, TEMERITY is the longest and most expansive, recovering salvagable field assets, studying and reverse engineering this technology, and working to expand the UNSC's knowledge of their enemy. Set up in 2490, TEMERITY would produce weapons, equipment, and other technology to close the gap, ranging from innovations in directed energy weapons and energy shield technology to incorporation of Covenant-derived technology into off-the-shelf technology.

History

For a program that would produce such spectacular results, TEMERITY began with humble beginnings in 2490. Initially, members of the scientific community had attracted the attention of ONI regarding potential evidence of extraterrestrial inhabitation of a number of UNSC colonies. The military, however, hoped that advanced technologies could be discovered and reverse engineered for the benefit of the UNSC, especially as the Insurrection began to flare up in dozens of star systems, threatening the stability that humanity had enjoyed for centuries.

Although potentially artificial geological and geographical features had been discovered on a half dozen human-occupied worlds, it was the ruins on Onyx in 2511 that would jump-start Project TEMERITY in earnest. The discovery of such spectacular non-human artefacts of significant complexity and sophistication would send shockwaves of joy throughout the scientific community, what little of it had access to the classified material, but the shockwaves that circulated through the military were decidedly less positive; here, finally, was proof that the galaxy was home to other intelligent and advanced lifeforms, that may be encountered in the future - and as hundreds of science fiction writers had already pointed out throughout the past six hundred years, first contact might not always be a peaceful one. Alarmed at the thought of facing a non-human threat while simultaneously fighting the Insurrection, the UNSC would expand TEMERITY's scope significantly in the hope of studying this prospective enemy further, gaining any possible insights into their culture, language, writing systems, and other valuable information. The fact that the ruins were apparently ancient was pointed out by the scientists, and ignored by the paranoid military - in fact, no concrete date could be set for the ruins for a number of factors, including conflicting spectrographic analysis and the surprisingly well-preserved nature of the ruins. Other teams would make similar, but smaller, discoveries on other human colonies - Bliss in 2513 and on Cote d'Azure in 2519, both assigned small predominantly-civilian research teams - but until 2531, this aspect of Project TEMERITY would largely focus on the Onyx ruins, reclassified as Zone 67.

The loss of Harvest would be a huge blow to the UNSC, if not materially then psychologically - its initial attempts to calm the public only served to panick a confused populace further, and Insurrectionists would trumpet it as a UNSC strike against an uprising population, another Far Isle. When it went public with the Covenant threat, they needed to be able to say something other than that they were fighting an enemy they had no idea about, no idea how to predict their actions, no idea how to fight them - and as part of this, they repurposed Project TEMERITY. From a scientific standpoint, TEMERITY was woefully unprepared for the task - they had spent thirty five years studying interesting but mysterious xenoarchaeological ruins and producing little in the way of concrete results. From a propaganda standpoint, however, the UNSC had the perfect tool - a scientific group that had spent decades studying aliens and alien technology, allowing them to gain insights into the enemy. From this point on, the xenoarchaeological ruins would forever become a minor part of TEMERITY, especially when the Onyx dig site was scaled back to a bare minimum in 2531 - from 2525 onward, TEMERITY would predominantly focus on Covenant technology.

The first change made to TEMERITY was the replacement of previous project head, civilian scientific advisor Reagan Cadogan, codenamed "FUTHARK," with a military scientific analyse, Lieutenant Commander Vincent Stanislav, codenamed "SVAROG." Under SVAROG, the military's involvement in TEMERITY would increase massively, primarily based on Algolis with a half dozen research laboratories studying Covenant technology and equipment. More inportantly, from a strategic stand point, TEMERITY would investigate the Covenant's social structure and conventions, allowing the UNSC to make a few lucky guesses and educated speculations on Covenant battle doctrine, tactical and strategic conventions, and internal rivalries that might be exploited in the future, especially the apparent rivalry between "Brutes" and "Elites". Recovery teams would be active on Harvest and another dozen colonies, collecting any usable Covenant weaponry and equipment, including securing the crash site of the CPV-Class Destroyer Unmitigated Repentance, gaining an early look at Covenant systems - energy shields, directed energy weapons, and artificial gravity and electromagnetic manipulation. Though many of these technologies would elude understanding for decades, some until the end of the war, others would be gradually reverse-engineered and put into service by TEMERITY. Very early energy shield prototypes, using solid light, would se service on limited runs of MJOLNIR Mark IV, seeing first combat deployment in 2531 by Red Team on Arcadia - their subsequent disappearance would see the loss of the prototypes, but ONI had already deemed the shield system too expensive and difficult to maintain, and the solid light barriers would be regarded only as a curiosity as the emphasis was shifted to Covenant-style electromagnetic shields. Even then, progress would be slow, even while cooperating closely with Doctor Catherine Halsey's MJOLNIR Project, and energy shields would only begin entering service in 2551 on a limited scale, either integrated into MJOLNIR Mark V Powered Assault Armour or as portable equipment - the latter, in fact, would use the solid light barriers pioneered by the VAJRA-II/A prototype, but on a smaller scale and with improved performance.

Other radical advances made by TEMERITY would be made in the fields of artificial gravity, which would become standard issue on all UNSC starships in 2531, and in electromagnetic manipulation, allowing the construction of improved fusion and plasma reactors and dramatically boosting the output and rate of fire of Naval railguns, coilguns and Mass Drivers, all of which would gradually enter service spurriously. In particular, research on metamaterials began to show significant promise in a variety of ways, either for their sensor diffractive/refractive properties, or for heat and force resistance, promising to revolutionise both stealth and armour plating.

Under SVAROG, the militarisation of TEMERITY was almost total, with all assets developed going towards the war effort - prototypes were field tested by special warfare teams to great effect, and the introduction of improvements and advances was made gradually. In 2546, however, the Covenant finally discovered the location of Algolis, deploying a strike force to eliminate the valuable research site. SVAROG would be one of hundreds of personnel killed during the invasion, and only the intervention of a UNSC Marine from the Corps of Engineers, using an advanced prototype equipped with some TEMERITY-derived technology, would allow the surviving TEMERITY personnel to be evacuated to Reach. The loss of their primary research facilities, as well as more than half of the project's staff, threatened to see them reassigned to rival programs and the project itself fall apart - instead, the project was given a new facility on Reach, BALLISTA Research Facility, their budget and roster was expanded significantly, and a new Project Head was selected.

The success of TEMERITY had already attracted the attention of numerous groups within the human sphere of influence - rival ONI projects considered the project to be too expensive, a massive drain on the coffers of the military and sponge for valuable resources that could otherwise be used to build warships and field soldiers and Marines. Others believed that the project threatened their own agendas - Colonel James Ackerson was as much a vehement opponent of TEMERITY as he was of the SPARTAN-II Program, despite setting up rival projects to both. Insurrectionists in particular were greatly interested in TEMERITY, believing that using the UNSC's most advanced technology against them would finally earn them their independence, and possible allow them to survive the Covenant onslaught - laughable claims, considering the poor quality of Insurrectionist research and defence. Infiltration of TEMERITY had already proven to be problematic, with advanced materials being used for projects that had not been approved, either for the technology or at all, and in 2546 the project was given NOVEMBER BLACK status, although its offshoots and derivatives would only recieve DECEMBER BLACK status, a measure intended to protect it from unscrupulous infiltrators and rivals. The flagrant disregard for this protection would lead to investigations by Codename: SHOGUN into breaches of NOVEMBER BLACK status in general. It was this interest in TEMERITY that also saw the reclassification of the identities of TEMERITY project heads under codenames - the new project head for TEMERITY would be codenamed VOLUND, all references to a civilian or military identity erased by ONI security measures. Under VOLUND, TEMERITY would restore its investigation of non-Covenant xenoarchaeological studies, especially on Reach, supplying a small number of research staff to the Sword Base ruins studied by Doctor Catherine Halsey's own teams. The investigation of these, and other, ruins would finally perfect the Solid Light Barrier technology that had eluded TEMERITY for decades, as well as allowing them to crack much of the Covenant's transmission codes, allowing further insights into their communications, motivation, infrastructure and hierarchy, and other points which could be exploited by the UNSC.

The conclusion of the Human-Covenant War, and the outbreak of first the Great Schism and then the War of Vengeance, brought further opportunities for TEMERITY to appropriate and examine Covenant technology, reverse engineering it and introducing the upgrades and improvements derived from it among EXCALIBUR products. Electromagnetic energy shields would see vast improvements in efficiency and effectiveness on individual personnel, and solid light barriers would be adopted for a wide array of ground and orbital defences, especially on UNSC warships. Directed energy weapons would be introduced in many newer warship designs, though missile and kinetic energy weapons would still remain the UNSC's dominant arsenal. The largest innovations would actually be in off-the-shelf technology, adapted and appropriated to exploit weaknesses in Covenant technology, such as the Anubis warhead, an EMP missile designed specifically to lower enemy shields; the Black Widow military virus, semi-sentient and capable of infiltrating Covenant electronics with ease; and various heavy weaponry, focussed on countering Covenant equivalents. During the War of Vengeance, TEMERITY would begin what it came to refer to as the Ilium Initiative - covert insertion of special warfare operators, including Army troopers, ODST's and even SPARTAN-II or III teams behind enemy lines to acquire vital enemy technology or infrastructure for UNSC analysis or, if unable to secure this materiel, its destruction to deny it to the Blood Covenant. Operation: SABERSAW, involving three SPARTAN-II and three SPARTAN-III personnel, four Marine platoons, and Codename: VECTOR, would see the successful capture of a new and advanced Covenant-designed fighter from the Blood Covenant, itself captured during a Blood Covenant engagement with the New Covenant, and would be used as a massively successful propaganda coup for the UNSC.

After the conclusion of the War of Vengeance and the signing of the Unmoving Virtue non-aggression pact between the New Covenant, Sangheili Armed Forces and the United Nations Space Command, TEMERITY would encounter increasing resistance from the new Labour Party government under Secretary General Jeremy Smithson. The massive budget cuts implemented to military expenditure would be wildly popular among the civilian populace, especially its reallocation towards recolonisation efforts, such as the terraforming and resettling of Covenant conquered former UNSC worlds, it would be watched with a growing sense of unease by the military. Warnings were sent numerous times by ONI through every available channel that such a course of action could prove disasterous. The captured fighter, designated "Ophan", was pointed to as an example that the New Covenant was innovating, and that the UNSC needed to keep up if they wanted to remain competitive. The only response Smithson made was to try to reassign TEMERITY to the civilian portion of the government under the Ministry of Research. Every effort was made to resist such a move, including the resignation of more than three quarters of the ONI-assigned staff including project head VOLUND. When Smithson's government was ousted in 2565, Secretary General Pierre Plantard made the return of TEMERITY to the Military Intelligence Division his second official act, his first being to declare a state of war against the Governors of Contrition. Throughout the Second Great War, TEMERITY would continue to make great strides in technology, cooperating with EXCALIBUR to produce more prototypes and innovations for the now-under staffed and under-equipped UNSC in its struggle to withstand the onslaught of the Governors.

With the conclusion of the war, TEMERITY would finally make the transition to full-time study of Forerunner artefacts, uncovering and examining such structures to derive technology and equipment far superior to that of the original Covenant. Such technology would prove critical to the UNSC's attempts at survival in the face of the Third Great War, in the face of the Sovereings' xenocidal onslaught.

Research Notes (Sample - Declassified VORAUSSICHT)

TEMERITY 1

PLNB TRANSMISSION SO306H-DC ENCRYPTION CODE: ROMEO-ALPHA-YANKEE PUBLIC KEY: FILE / ABLE-EIGHT-OLYNDICUS-HUSKARL FROM: CODENAME FUTHARK     TO: CODENAME OZYMANDIAS SENT: 24/08/2491 {ZONE SIXTY-ONE, ONYX FTL-COM LAUNCHER} RECIEVED: 30/09/2491 {CASTLE BASE, REACH, EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, FTL-COMSAT 6365/HOTEL} SUBJECT: Temerity Update CLASSIFICATION: SECRET – (BGX Directive) SECURITY OVERRIDE: GAMMA LEVEL-III   // START FILE //   I won’t lie. I do resent being reassigned to such a dead-end job. I know that the work I’m going to do here has some importance, but I’m a soldier, even if I’ve never set foot on a battlefield or fired a rifle at somebody. I keep feeling that I’ve been put here to spend the rest of my career out of ONI’s way. I also won’t deny that this project is a complete mess. Whoever I’m taking over from was a complete incompetent – find him and fire him, because he’s been squandering the resources he’s been getting. Military security teams at remote dig sites? Huge numbers of dropships? A personal yacht for travel between here and Reach? Somebody must have had an overinflated ego. I could cut the budget in half and still do better. Naturally, the people here have been very accommodating. I think they suspect why I’ve been transferred here, but if they do they’re not letting on. Striking a superior normally gets a court martial – even if the brass would have cheered me on. I hope Ackerson rots in hell. At least he’s not here – far away from him, I can sort myself out and put myself back together. Damn cuckold. I wish you could see the ruins here. They’re huge, vast, and mysterious. They remind me of an MC Escher painting, though I’m not quite sure which one – the reflection in the glass ball, or the labyrinthine maze. I forget the names. But most of all, they remind me of those ancient temples on Earth. Did you ever go to Egypt or Mexico? If you did, they’re more like the South American step pyramids than the ones the Pharaohs built, but far more complex. Some of my new team speculate they were for the same purpose – ritual mummification and storage of the dead. Sloppy. We’re dealing with a potentially alien species here – there’s no reason to suppose that pyramidal designs and mummification have any correlation outside of Earth. It would be like saying that a car tyre must be used to grind grain, because windmills used wheel-like mills. These ruins could be anything. It’s true that they remind me a lot of temples – incredibly ornate with little apparent practical purpose – but if we hold to our anthropocentric view then we’ll get nowhere. We’ve still had no luck deciphering any of the glyphs that are inscribed on the outside of the ruins. Even the AI we brought in eventually concluded that it was an entirely contextual language, where each individual symbol might have a dozen, or a hundred, meanings based on orientation, relative position with other glyphs, and even placement on the structure. There’s nothing that can be done until we can get a larger sampling – either through excavating more of the “temple”, or through other sources. I’m told there are rumours, on worlds like Coral and Cote d’Azure. I’d dearly love to send field teams, to at least check them out – with a larger sampling, we might crack the code and unravel the entire mystery. Give my best wishes to the kids. I know I hurt their mother when I left, but they’re still my kids, and I still love them. Tell Martha that I’ll sign the divorce papers once they come through – I don’t care about the settlement, I’ve never been much of a big spender. But with Henry Ackerson of all people? I know things weren’t going well for us, but I thought she had better taste than that slime-ball. Tell James I’ll see him at his graduation - even if he doesn’t appreciate the visit, he’s still my son, no matter how many times she changes their names.   // END FILE //

TEMERITY 2

PLNB TRANSMISSION SO306M-DV ENCRYPTION CODE: ECHO-GOLF-OSCAR PUBLIC KEY: FILE / ABLE-SEVEN-OZYMANDIAS-ARCHANGEL FROM: CODENAME FUTHARK TO: CODENAME OZYMANDIAS SENT: 19/03/2525 (UNSC HUNTERS ARROW – EN ROUTE TO EPSILON INDI SYSTEM) RECIEVED: 23/05/2525      SUBJECT: Temerity Update CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET – EYES ONLY (BGX Directive) SECURITY OVERRIDE: GAMMA LEVEL-III                        // START FILE //   I can’t say I like the conditions of my sudden deployment, but it’s gratifying to see that the brass still knows I exist. My briefing was short and uninformative, simply a statement of our movements than our purpose for being there. I’ve tried to wheedle it out of some of the crew, but if they know they aren’t talking. I’ve managed to piece some of it together, using simple logic. Evidently, something has happened at Harvest – the deployment of one of your precious Prowlers tells me that we are to be observers. Harvest never had much of an offensive or defensive capacity, so the need for stealth indicates an outside threat. I would conjecture an Insurrectionist uprising. I can’t say I ever expected one on Harvest, but they’ve certainly been able to drop under our radar before. Your insistence on including me on this mission also tells me that whatever happened there, we’ve discovered alien technology, like the dig sites on Onyx, Coral or Cote d’Azure, and that I was barred from bringing a team along means I am to be an observer and advisor, not an active field participant. I’m disappointed, but at this age you start to be grateful for not having to trudge through muddy fields, blistering deserts or blinding snow. I leave that to younger men now. ADDENDUM: I don’t know what they hell you thought I could do. The alien ship started firing at us before we’d cleared our entry point – we lost the cover of surprise before we could engage our active camouflage, and we barely made it back into Shaw-Fujikawa Space. We ditched a second attempt, and all we could do was drop seven surveillance probes, of which the ship destroyed six. We’re still examining the footage now, but at least we have some first-hand observations of their weapons firing – advanced DEW’s, though not lasers. Next time, send a god damned soldier or sailor, not a civilian!   // END FILE //

TEMERITY 3

PLNB TRANSMISSION SO306M-DV ENCRYPTION CODE: ROMEO-ALPHA-YANKEE PUBLIC KEY: FILE / ABLE-NINER-OZYMANDIAS-OSIRIS FROM: CODENAME SVAROG TO: CODENAME OZYMANDIAS SENT: 13/06/2530 {ALGOLIS RESEARCH AND TESTING FACILITY} RECIEVED: 29/07/2530 {HARVEST FTL-COMSAT 8874/FOXTROT} SUBJECT: Temerity Update CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET – EYES ONLY (BGX Directive) C SECURITY OVERRIDE: GAMMA LEVEL-III   // START FILE //   Thanks for the confidence boost. I’ll be honest, I’d rather have a dozen new staffers and a larger warehouse – we’re running on double shifts here just to catalogue all the stuff you’ve been sending me from Harvest. We still have no idea what half of it is yet, but we’re making good progress. I feel a little sorry for FUTHARK, but he just couldn’t handle the work load. Give him my best when you see him next, won’t you? I’ll tell you one thing, though – I can see why he finally cracked. After nearly thirty five years doing this job, anyone would start to despair. I’m only on my fifth and I swear I’ve found a dozen grey hairs. Not that our (his) work wasn’t important – on the contrary. But the pressures on a man in his position, and at his time of life, were bound to get to him, and they finally did. At least it had nothing to do with Ackerson – I don’t think he really ever recovered from working with his ex-wife’s son. I’ve never met the man myself, and I don’t relish our meeting this afternoon to “brief” me – I take it to mean “here’s a list of favours I need, and ways in which I could have you killed. Hypothetically.” He and Major Standish would be bosom buddies. I examined the camera footage from the Heracles you sent me, and cross-referenced it with Battlegroup X-Ray’s encounter – as you suspected, and as I’ve seen first-hand, the two ships were of a different design. The first was smaller, but still at least as large as a UNSC cruiser, perhaps a little larger. We have no idea what happened to it, or why it would leave the colony, but when Vice Admiral Cole led his ships into the system they found a far more powerful ship waiting for them. Due to size approximations, we’ve termed the first ship a “cruiser” and the second a “battleship” – we had too little time to engage the enemy ship to actually see what their real roles were, and the phrases may be complete misnomers, but they seem reasonable estimates given the little we know. I also examined the transmission they were sent. Personally, I find it odd that an enemy that we have never so much as suspected would have such a good grasp of the English language. There are two possibilities for that – either they have been observing human colonies for some time, covertly, or they have been intercepting our transmissions to study. Either possibility is disastrous for the UNSC – I’ve recommended HIGHCOM re-scramble all encryption codes, and I understand Admiral Cole would very much like to have Prowlers intercepting transmissions from centuries ago still making their way outward from Earth to prevent triangulation. We know that Harvest is not the only colony to have fallen silent – Green Fields and Second Base colonies went quiet a few days ago. A battlegroup is en route, but I daresay the colony is already destroyed. The contents of the transmission itself are virtually meaningless at this point. It merely consists of a promise of destruction, which they have already followed up on, accompanied by the insistence that this is a divine commandment from whatever gods our enemies worship. It might be useful in a sophontological context, better understanding their mindset and culture, but in military terms it is meaningless. Likewise, the initial captives we’ve taken alive have provided few clues – the “Elite” Cole recovered shouted itself hoarse with promises of reducing our worlds to burnt cinders, especially Earth, before succumbing to its wounds. The “Grunt” on Harvest interrogated by Sergeant John Forge was equally uncooperative, though more out of fear than any real zeal. All we’ve really learnt is that they call themselves “Covenant.” Oxford English Dictionary defines a Covenant as a verb, describing a sacred and binding promise between parties. Why they would choose to apply the word to themselves as their collective name remains an unknown – perhaps it’s a description? Or an offer? Or a promise? What did they promise each other? Given the xenocidal fury we’re up against, we may well find that we are the cause for their unity, the reason why they set aside what differences exist between themselves to slaughter us so wholeheartedly. At the other end of the spectrum, our studies of their technology have raised some interesting points. Their mastery of electromagnetic and gravitational fields is superb – I understand the Navy were already fitting gravity plating in sections of their ships already, but the equipment the Covenant use is at least a century ahead of our own, maybe more. Their ability to manipulate magnetic fields is much further ahead of our own understanding. These two elements seem to comprise the bulk of the Covenant’s advantage – electromagnetic manipulation is used in virtually all aspects of Covenant weaponry, ranging from the shaped and guided superheated ionised plasma they use in their firearms and energy supplies, to the protective shields they use on their Jackal and Elite units, and in starship defence. Their ships seem to be propelled by anti-gravity devices, and even their planetary vehicles use a limited form of the system – incredibly wasteful in terms of energy usage, but I doubt the Covenant have to worry about that. The only wheeled vehicles we’ve seen are those used by “Brutes”, which seem both primitive and hasty compared to other Covenant equipment, and even by UNSC standards. I wish we could study more enemy ships like the Harvest crash site – so far, all the debris the other teams have brought in have been too fragmented or charred to really use besides a spectroscopic analysis. It’s their shielding systems, though, that have really been raising eyebrows among higher circles. Their uses in starship defence have already been apparent – the brass don’t want this to get out, but Cole lost a third of his ships before they could even make a dent in the battleship’s shields. I’ve been getting requests from EXCALIBUR for any material we have on them, and I can only presume they hope to reverse-engineer it. Good luck to them. The shield emitters, or whatever they are, are the most damaged parts of any crash site. I’ve also been getting interest from other projects – MJOLNIR and HAYABUSA have both inquired about the personal shields we’ve recovered from Jackal bodies, and ARONDIGHT has been asking to see the battle armour recovered from Cole’s dead Elite. I can only imagine that they’re just as hopeful that they can produce a wearable protective shield system as I am. I find it more likely that smaller-scale shields will be easier to develop – the “Bubble Shield” systems being developed by SHERLOCK are already seeing test deployment, and although they’re expensive and can only be used once, they’re effective. I still say it’s a damn stupid name, but at least it’s not my department. It’ll probably catch on, though – its short, it’s catchy, and it inaccurately describes its function without giving away any information on its functionality. Typical ONI engineering. At the time of writing, I have three researchers en route to you to examine the new dig site. A lot of us are excited about the prospects it holds – we’ve always insisted there was something to find at the Onyx, Coral and Cote d’Azure sites, and the fact that the Covenant are after something of a similar nature is vindicating. Even if they only hold a religious importance to the Covenant, it is still one step closer to understanding just why these creatures want us dead so badly. Be kind to [VOLUND]. It’s his first time in a live combat zone.   // END FILE //

TEMERITY 4

PLNB TRANSMISSION SO306M-DV ENCRYPTION CODE: ROMEO-ALPHA-YANKEE PUBLIC KEY: FILE / ABLE-SEVEN-OZYMANDIAS-TIAMAT FROM: CODENAME VOLUND TO: CODENAME ULYSSES SENT: 12/02/2546 {BALLISTA FACILITY, REACH, EPSILON ERIDANI SYTEM, PLNB-COMSAT 66452} RECIEVED: 22/04/2546 {CASTLE BASE, REACH, EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, FTL-COMSAT 6365/HOTEL} SUBJECT: Temerity Update CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET – NOVEMBER BLACK (BGX Directive) SECURITY OVERRIDE: NOVEMBER BLACK GHOST SEVER FILE-TRANSFER PROTOCOL (EXACTION): TRUE AI-TOUCH PROTOCOL (VERACITY): FALSE   // START //   I suppose I should thank SVAROG for the opportunity. Putting forward a junior officer to head a major research project isn’t normal practice, but then, what is “normal” these days? The Algolis site is gone. There’s no question about it. The ground invasion was massive, with at least seven legions of infantry, supported by heavy armour and aircraft support. The Covenant came in force, and they came prepared – enemy Special Forces even intercepted The Heart of Midlothian while it was trying to make a pickup. Half of my staff were killed in the attack, either in the bombing run or when the Covenant overran the compound. I hope SVAROG’s death was quick – he detonated the weapons research facility, wiping out a whole Covenant legion, opening up a gap for the UNSC to break through. He deserves a damn medal, and I know he isn’t going to get one because people will wonder why – and that would lead them to the destruction of the UNSC’s top research base. Thank god for “Ghost” and his HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit – whoever told him to simply destroy it is an idiot. Find him and fire him – we can’t afford idiots in this war. The man would have made a damn good Spartan. Such a shame. After the final evacuation, a few telemetry satellites picked up radiological spikes – either the Covenant glassing the planet, or the countermeasures for the “secret” projects went off. Either way, Algolis isn’t going to be of use to anyone, human or Covenant, for a long time. It was never very hospitable in the first place, the reason why it was used as a test site – no civilians. But the attack has set us back, and badly. We’ll be scrambling to bring ourselves back up to operational level. Sometimes I envy you your faith, but it’s a comfort I’ve never felt. We received NOVEMBER BLACK classification today. Technically we’re ineligible – the material we deal with, if disclosed, would certainly not damage the UNSC’s credibility among the populace. Quite the opposite, in fact. But Ackerson’s pestering finally had an effect, though not the one he intended – they’re burying us so deep that he’ll need a shovel to dig through the levels of protection they’re wrapping us in. I feel like I’m using a coffin metaphor, and it’s appropriate. The Security Committee believes us to be threatened with infiltration, and the results of this would be damaging to all involved factors. I don’t know why, since everything we’re producing is all going straight to EXCALIBUR anyway to be refined and introduced into service. The security programs they’re using for us both are collectively codenamed “WIDOW MAKER” – I’m told they’re operational prototypes for the next generation Navy Sentinels, which I have it on good authority will be called “BLACK WIDOW”. You can tell Halsey cooked it up, can’t you? I know nothing of their operation or how soon they’ll be introduced, which is likely why ONI doesn’t try to censor my communiqués. They know me too well. I’m also implementing a few changes of my own. All through its existence, TEMERITY has treated the Covenant technology alongside the other stuff, prioritising the most important ahead of the least – that was a mistake. If we’re going to be researching both types at once, then it needs to be done separately – I’m forming a sub-group, codenamed “Asimov”, to deal with the dig site ruins and artefacts we find or recover. Everything else is going to be codenamed “Wells”. Not very imaginative, I know, but its proven effective in other development cycles. “Asimov” will be far smaller, approximately 1/3 the size, but it will be dedicated to the recovered artefacts – with some direction and time, we might be able to make heads or tails of these ruins at last. It’ll be small, but it will be well staffed, well supplied, and kept in the bloody loop. I’m starting to think FUTHARK had it right from the start. The Covenant’s technology has been repurposed so many times that even its makers’ have no idea what it was originally supposed to do. We need to go back to the basics, and for that we need their source material. Unfortunately, they seem to have destroyed or looted the more intact sites and artefacts we might use – for religious zealots, they’re surprisingly wanton about dealing with the “gifts” their “gods” left behind. I’m also implementing other measures. FUTHARK was far too accommodating with his ONI liaisons. They ran circles around him, carrying out their own sub-agendas and internal wars against each other, to the detriment of the project. I don’t take orders from Sections One or Two, and most of Section Three can get stuffed as well. We report directly to HIGHCOM – it’s time we reminded them of that. ONI sent a new liaison today – a woman. Small. Petite. Polite to the point of flirtatious. I’m looking forward to finding ways to confound her – it’s all too obvious an act. She’s sitting across from me at the moment, smiling demurely. I nod back. My secretary has already informed me that she has discovered no less than seven electronic bugs in the waiting room alone, some placed quite ingeniously. I’ll have to keep an eye on this one. The cooperative effort with EXCALIBUR is going well. We have no less than fourteen concurrent projects, working to adapt a number of the innovations we’ve made for field use. Keep a close eye on MJOLNIR. Halsey isn’t the only one who’s left her mark. A lot of the rest is top secret, even above your pay grade, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that there is some outstanding stuff. If we can just hold off the Covenant for long enough, we might just have a shot at survival. OZYMANDIAS asked me to look over your NOVA project. I’m sorry to say that I found a number of flaws, both in the design philosophy and in its implementation – I’ve included notes to you, detailing my objections. It’s nothing personal, but getting a nuclear bomb anywhere near a Covenant world is going to be next to impossible, short of smuggling it aboard their ships. I’m told Section Zero caught an attempt to smuggle the plans out by an Insurrectionist sympathiser. At this point in the war, I can certainly see how they would be so desperate, but at this stage it’s far too late for them to pose a threat. If the UNSC collapses, they do too, and they know it – all they can do nowadays is organise protests against the military government, the rationing, and other inconveniences that the war necessitates. Sometimes I catch myself agreeing with them – and then I remember that we are facing an enemy that has no qualms butchering women and children, glassing worlds, and intend to wipe every trace of human existence from the face of this galaxy. I caught some ignorant bastard preaching to a group of civvies yesterday, trying to convince them that the Covenant would let them live, that they were only after the UNSC. After the Draco III incident, I wasn’t surprised when an angry mob attacked him. The Insurrection is an era that most of us have grown past. Those who can’t keep up get left behind. Next time you see FUTHARK, try to be nice. I know it’s hard for you, but the man has served in this job for longer than I’ve been alive and I almost want to quit now. Try and bring Janine in for a visit – Robert’s funeral was hard for both of them, and a reunion might kick-start the healing process.   ADDENDUM:                                    Little Miss Perfect was here again. I think the flirting is genuine – the act is an obvious cover, but maybe she genuinely thinks she has a chance. I never wear the ring, but I can feel it – tell Samantha that she has nothing to worry about. I sent her away, and discovered four bugs, one planted among my Japanese Peace Lily. I wonder how long she’ll keep this up. I wonder how long I’ll let her. The real reason I’m adding this postscript is because SHOGUN has just come into my office, carrying a piece of paper, looking very excited. He tells me it’s from a member of Naval Special Warfare, and that we figure into it. I’m looking over it now. My god. This is the kind of thinking that won us Harvest and Viperidae – Admiral Cole would have been proud of it. I think you’re going to get a chance to read it – you factor into it as well.   // END FILE // // SCRAMBLE-DESTRUCTION PROCESS ENABLED //

TEMERITY 5

PLNB TRANSMISSION SO306M-DV ENCRYPTION CODE: ROMEO-ALPHA-YANKEE PUBLIC KEY: N/A    FROM: CODENAME SHOGUN TO: CODENAME OLYNDICUS SENT: 12/05/2551 {MINORCA, PROCYON SYSTEM, DEPLOYABLE COMSAT 87584-INDIA} RECIEVED: 23/06/2551 {CASTLE BASE, REACH, EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, FTL-COMSAT 6365/HOTEL} SUBJECT: Temerity Update CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET – EYES ONLY (BGX Directive) C SECURITY OVERRIDE: NOVEMBER BLACK GHOST SEVER FILE-TRANSFER PROTOCOL (EXACTION): TRUE AI-TOUCH PROTOCOL (VERACITY): FALSE   // FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE // // START FILE //   You wanted me to run through the initial prep work for HOT GATES, and I have to say that I’m impressed. I haven’t seen this kind of work put into a single operation or campaign since Harvest. The level of cooperation on all levels for it has been nothing less than astonishing – that we’ve managed to keep something like this a secret is nothing short of miraculous. I’ll be my cynical self and put it down to luck, but I also suspect that all factions realise that this is something that the UNSC needs, and are unwilling to deny us it just to further their own agenda. I’ve had inquiries all day about the requisitioning of EXCALIBUR prototypes and the assignment of TEMERITY personnel to Minorca. I see no reason to suspect breaches of NOVEMBER BLACK status. The initiator of the project has the clearance, and knowledge of it, and the involved parties, are being kept compartmentalised at even the highest levels. Frankly, I suspect that only PALADIN and Lord Hood know the entire picture, and they aren’t telling anyone. I am, however, concerned by some references to aberrant SpecWarCom teams, both Army and Navy – “Indigo,” “Azure”, “Kukri,” “Baselard,” among others. And I’ve been digging up references to unfamiliar projects – “VOLSUNG,” “TROJAN,” “CHISEL” and “GENOME” in particular, as well as another dozen that I’ve only heard rumours and whispers about, but also “INDIGO” and “INDIGO-II” which seem to involve Spartan personnel. The fact that these projects have NOVEMBER BLACK status but even I cannot access them leads me to believe that at least some of these have not been authorised by the UNSC Security Committee. They bear further investigation. I’ve also lost contact with a number of operatives recently – TAIKUN has dropped off the grid, and WOTAN seems to have up-and-left in the middle of his last operation – I suspect he turned tail and run to his other “employers” when he heard word I suspected him of selling information. And when JUNO tried to stop him… well, let’s just say that she won’t be up and about anytime soon. Some kind of biological agent that stops our neural recalibration procedures. I didn’t have any idea, but at least now I have a few less untrustworthy agents. Foisting them on me was a mistake, I’ve always said so – I work best with people I pick. I’m submitting a proposal to the Security Committee to investigate breaches of NOVEMBER BLACK status – with the war going as it is, I think they’ll eagerly approve. Do you have a name in mind? I’m trying to shake off the Japanese stigma – a German word perhaps? I don’t speak a word myself, but isn’t that what translators are for?   // END FILE // // SCRAMBLE-DESTRUCTION PROCESS ENABLED //

TEMERITY 6

PLNB TRANSMISSION SO306M-DV ENCRYPTION CODE: ROMEO-ALPHA-YANKEE PUBLIC KEY: FILE / ABLE-TWO-OLYNDICUS-TIAMAT FROM: CODENAME VOLUND    TO: CODENAME ULYSSES SENT: 22/12/2552 RECIEVED: 22/12/2552 SUBJECT: Temerity Update CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET – EYES ONLY (BGX Directive) C SECURITY OVERRIDE: NOVEMBER BLACK GHOST SEVER FILE-TRANSFER PROTOCOL (EXACTION): TRUE AI-TOUCH PROTOCOL (VERACITY): FALSE   // FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE // // START FILE //   I’m glad you survived. I would have been hard pressed to find another sparring partner. Are you up for round two? I can’t say I find my new “colleagues” very accommodating. Mostly they just stand around, looking alert, every muscle bulging except for the most important one. How they even learnt to work the machinery they used is beyond me. A couple of them have given us rough overviews on weapon and vehicle operation, the general basics of their hologram technology, and an extremely crude explanation of their shield and active camouflage. The boys in VAJRA-II would have been disappointed – this was stuff we’ve had figured out for nearly ten years or so. We appreciate the gesture, of course, but there isn’t much that can be gained from their demonstrations beyond intelligence on other former Covenant species, which is not my department. The main reason they even agreed, I think, is that they hope to have some access to the improvements we’ve made to the shield and DEW systems. If it were up to me, I’d tell them to get stuffed – most of the senior brass seems to share the sentiment. But the last thing we need right now is to alienate (hurr irony durr) the only external ally we have in any numbers or strength. The Elites don’t seem to be able to build their own ships, and are having trouble even maintaining them – they don’t seem too interested in using ours, thank goodness. I don’t think even Fleet Admiral Hood would have agreed to that. The most important advances, though, have been in deciphering and understanding the Forerunner artefacts. It’s nice to finally know their name. I feel like we’ve been formally introduced. The glyph system is so complex that I can’t get my head around it – smarter men and women than me still have trouble with it. But we’ve cracked a good deal. Enough for our purposes. Even the Covenant never had a full translated lexicon – I suspect the Prophets just made up most of their religion to hide their true ignorance. I said as much to one of the Elites, expecting them to agree – he glared (I think it was a glare – so hard to tell with them) and stalked away. They aren’t too friendly, are they? The one concession we’ve been able to wrangle out of them is their active camouflage technology. They’ve provided seven commando combat harnesses for us to examine – their stealth systems were always a feature I’ve longed to finally understand, and now I have that chance. I’m heading the analysis team myself – after the events of the last three months, we’re operating at 30%. I don’t think there’s anyone left to replace the people we’re missing – we lost a lot of people when Reach fell, and even more during the invasion of Earth. I’ve heard rumours that we might be spun off into a separate civilian department – if we do, I would have to resign to keep my position. I’m incredibly tempted; these are people I’ve led for five years, and the work we’re doing will put us decades ahead of even the Elites. On the other hand, the military has been my life, and I’m hesitant to abandon it so easily. As I said, it’s just a rumour, but it’s a persistent one. I’ll wait to see what happens. Have they got you rushed off your feet where you are? If they haven’t, then they’re wasting a valuable resource. Reconstruction aside, it’s going to take every ounce of effort to get us back to a defensible condition. The Brutes are tearing themselves apart, and the Elites never stopped their war of vengeance, but the Prophets have gone dark. That’s all I can tell you because that’s all anyone knows – even the few Bravo Kilo prisoners we’ve taken have no idea what’s happened to them. We have operatives in the field, trying to track down any sign of them – Army Troopers, Marines, ODST’s, Spartans, Prowlers, you name it, they’re out there. No luck so far. Maybe the bastards really are dead this time. Good riddance to bad rubbish. They were the real technological force behind the Covenant, though – if they can buy themselves enough time, they might return with some serious firepower. We’re making advances, but the Prophets could prove a force to be reckoned with. I for one will sleep a little safer if they have you cooking up more weapons like NOVA.   // END FILE // // SCRAMBLE-DESTRUCTION PROCESS ENABLED //

Project Heads

• Codename: FUTHARK - (2490-2525)
• Codename: SVAROG - (2525-2546)
• Codename: VOLUND - (2546-onward)

Remarks

• "Until VOLUND, the Forerunner material was really just a side project. Actually, I'd call it more of a hobby. When he set upthe Asimov group, there were a lot of confused looks exchanged among the brass. But they can't say it hasn't produced results!"
• "Most of the stuff ended of in EXCALIBUR, but not all of it. The Solid Light Barriers were actually pioneered by VAJRA-II, even if it didn't really work very well."
• "Leaks get everywhere, even TEMERITY. I hear DRACULA was very interested in some of the Asimov stuff. After MARIGOLD took a bunch of stuff with her, wiping a couple of the servers, VOLUND went through a purge that made Stalin look reasonable."
• "Even after the Elites left the Covenant, they refused to let us get much of a look at their tech. They claimed it was proprietary technology - a "gift" from their gods to them. I think they just don't want us to know that they have no real idea how any of it works, nevermind have to try to explain it to us. Newsflash - they're too late."