Halo: The Dunes of 2560

Chapter 12: Part 2: Reanimated (The 2021 Halo Thanksgiving Special)

October 31st, 2545, David is strapped to a metal operating table, Chief Architect Phil Lancer is sitting in a chair across the room from David as he sleeps. The door is open, and Khyvo walks into the room, he closes the door, Phil looks over at his hand, seeing his five fingers on the door knob sends chills down his spine. He darts back to looking at David as Khyvo turns to him, he removes his helmet, "How is he doing Phil?" He shook his head, "He got an infection and we couldn't skin graft his back, he almost went into cardiac arrest twice now... On the upside, his neural network accepted the three transplants, his brain didn't have a Hemorrhaging Stroke thankfully. He will wake up once his blood pressure stabilizes, and his dopamine normalizes." Khyvo turns to look at David, he sees his bald head has many scar marks, "He's lucky he's not a Sangheili, and his scars will be hidden by his hair." Khyvo was envious of David. Phil Lancer looks to the one-way mirror on the other side of the room and make's a confusion gesture, Khyvo looks at him, "What?" Phil turns to him, "I want one of them to come in here to tell me whether he's ready or not. They hooked him up in here so they could monitor him in a separate room. I hate being in there, there's seven people in a small room, it gets cramped." 

After fifteen minutes, the door knob twists and Khyvo moves out of the way, a human female doctor walks in, and tells them, "He's ready to regain consciousness. The Tech Department here hooked up the wireless neural network interface on this device, here." She hands Phil Lancer a small transparent tablet with many buttons to activate. She points to the Conscious button. He presses it and stands up.

They watch David open his eyes slowly, the veins in his neck pop as he is visibly in pain, Phil looks at the doctor, "What drugs are you pumping into him?" She looks at the drips that are hanging above the operating table, "He's getting pure acetaminophen, 1800 MG every 6 hours, and Prednisone at around 65mg a day. We should put him on Morphine?" Phil Lancer sees that he isn't regaining consciousness, he puts him back under by pressing the button, "Put him on Fentacrynalin, 6.1mg." She recoils, "That's lethal, you can't-" Khyvo interrupts her, "If I could handle 9.5mg of Cryn, he can handle a lethal dose too." 

The next few days, David would spend his time in a hospital bed being heavily doped on the most powerful Painkiller that exists. Fentacrynalin is a transmuted and purified version of Fentanyl, it's enhanced with a high-concentrate Toluene Compound. The drug is banned in all UNSC jurisdiction because as little of a dose as .3mg can kill a Man, and 1.9mg can kill a Sangheili. 

Chief Architect Phil Lancer is driving to his office in New Alexandria on Reach, he steps out of the car to see his father, Commander Max Lancer, he gulps, "Hi, what are you doing here?" Max had his white hat in his hands, in front of him, he smiles to him, "Want to go get dinner, son?" Inside the car, Khyvo is in the driver seat staring at Max, his visor hides his face. Phil walks to the passenger side of the car, asking him if he'll drive them. Khyvo nods, he motions to his father to get in the car.

They sat down in the backseats of the car. Max still has his hat in his hands, "Your 29th birthday is coming up, is there anything you want?" Phil looks out of the window, "No, you don't have to get anything for me. I'll be extremely busy all week, you know this." Max sighs, "You know I'm not getting any younger, my 61st birthday is next month. Well, it's okay. We'll figure out something to do. Who's your friend?" Phil jerks his head up, and shakes his head, "He's just one of my personal bodyguards and drivers. Don't worry about it."

They made their way into the inner city of New Alexandra, on the particular street they drove down was full of high-end Restaurants and Fashion stores. They made their way to a 5-Star Gastronomy Restaurant, and they parked and went in to get a table.

"Dad, I need you to know that what we do is too confidential. I wish I could tell you, but I just... Can't." Max looks up in mild frustration, "It doesn't really matter, does it?" They get their food and begin eating, Max speaks low after he finishes his meal, "I know that wasn't a human, Phillip." Phil stops dead, he looks up at him very slowly, "What?" They stare at each other intensely, Max looks depressed, "A man named Frederick contacted me two years ago, we became good friends because of our shared interests in Sangheili Citizenship Studies." Phil drops his silverware onto his plate loudly, "We're done here-" Max grabs his hand firmly, "That man who got into an accident last week. You took him, didn't you?" He jerks his hand away from his father's, and coils his fist, "Don't fucking touch me!" Everyone around them stops eating and stares at them, Max has disappointment written all over his face, "You Reanimated them. Was that man killed by the Scorpions on purpose? Did you really have one of your guys set him up for all of this?" His face was red with rage as he heard the extremely accurate accusations from his father, "This Frederick you speak of, consider him gone."

In a small town outside of Quezon, a young teenage Osa 'Drazam was finishing his school work, it was nighttime on a weekend. He closed his notebook and the workbook, and grabbed his schedule book. He would be visited by his Education Agent, Frederick Heismeir tomorrow morning, and have work in the afternoon. His phone started to ring, he jumped, "Who's calling me??" He looked at the clock and saw it was ten o'clock at night, he picked up the phone, "Hello, 'Drazam residents." He said it without stuttering, but it was slow, his proficiency in the English language was getting better. "Osa! I need you to get a car or a ride to me immediately!" Osa had been learning to drive the past few months, but didn't have a car yet. "How?? I don't have a vehicle sir!" Frederick yelled at him, "Go find someone, find a car, get over to me now!" Sounds of popping rang out from the receiver, it was loud enough to make him drop the phone. He looked down at the phone in shock, "What the heck is happening?" 

The next day, he sat at his front porch with his school work, and waited. And waited. And waited. Frederick never arrived that day, and he missed work, which caused him to get fired. It was that very night that Osa 'Drazam, a the age of 15, decided he'd dedicate his life to fight for the UNSC. 

2557

"Next..." David Chornovil was disappointed in the many recruit interviews he'd been doing for weeks now. He was looking for 5 individuals to recruit into his Platoon which would be stationed on The Dunes. Osa 'Drazam, fully dawned in his UNSC designed Armor, walked in, "Hi, my name is Osa 'Drazam sir." David said "Sir?" under his breath, looking up at the Sangheili in confusion, "Just call me David." He held out his hand to shake his, Osa took off his helmet to look him in the eyes, "It's a pleasure to meet you David." They shook hands.

(Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you guys enjoyed this backstory, and Lore building. I hope you guys would love to read more about the dark backstories of your favorite Platoon! See you all real soon! <3)