#colonel ackerson

[thelvadams]

Halo • Season 2 Episode 3 ‘Visegrad’

[thecountofs]

Colonel Ackerson and Agent Jane (conversations from the Universe)

Halo: My Time With ONI

[bellygunnr]

Crosstalk

Halo is just rvb deep lore or some shit. good luck

---

The obsession starts small, of course. A bit after the shock of grief, a bit after one last foray into his tour has him come to face to face with an artificial intelligence. Augustine, a digital refugee of yet another felled Human destroyer, cycling endlessly in the implants of a dead man. It's with him that Leonard learns two things-- "smart" AI are the burned copies of dead human brains and the degree of separation is almost none. He is reminded, once again, of an empty coffin and a uniform at his doorstep.

It's too late for that. For her. The UNSC had abandoned salvaging the dead within two years of the Great War, so paltry obligations were all they had to offer. So she may be gone, but he isn't.

So what he does is this:

He finishes his tour. He goes back home, to the little girl tucked away inside its fragile walls, minded by distant family on her mother's side. She goes to school-- her eyes are bright and sparkly, and she is excited, oblivious to his application for higher education. A degree on top of his degree, now with sharper focus. All pictures of her mother are whisked gradually away from the walls and disappeared into his study. He holds Augustine close to the chest. AI theory, neurology, and military strategy become his new normal.

Dr. Halsey is a treasure trove of knowledge. The leading scientist in all things AI. World-shaker, world-builder. She speaks of living tissue and flash clones and skeins of code, bleeding in and out of each other until they're one and the same. Unfortunately, several boards of ethics reject this, and he learns to duck red tape and ONI obfuscation. His doctorate is by the skin of his teeth.

And while he is straining, biting at the outer edges of his limits, his daughter is growing older. Graduating. He holds her at arms length, if only to hide the fact that his late nights are spent inside UNSC archives, his days away from home spent analyzing scorched brain tissue. AI matrices that implode in infancy.

It's not all for naught. He develops ideas, a strategy. Employing it is a different matter entirely, but the War is worsening, desperation peaking.

But he doesn't get his "in" until someone else fumbles in front of him. A lone data signature, easily traceable. Easily identifiable.

He has a letter drafted and sent within the hour.

It could destroy his career. But he has a feeling it won't.

Colonel Ackerson may just be that, a colonel, but he's vocal, known, and controversial. A hair-trigger reflex for wanton destruction that'd get him court-martialed if the enemy was, in so many words, human. He'd been subject to his tactics and they were... inefficient.

But he was either smarter than he looked or playing a dangerous game, digging where he was digging. Beyond AI forged from flash clones, there were the theoretical augmentations on monkeys, the full-bodied transformation of human into superhuman. Leonard knew what he was doing here-- but what was Ackerson after?

And how did he get here?

At any rate, the letter works. Evidence is compiled in advance.

"I'll make sure the UNSC sees this within the hour, if you don't want to work with me."

Dr. Leonard Church, ultimately, had less to lose than the Colonel ever did. This is what he tells himself, despite his wife's words playing quietly, constantly, in his left ear.

"I know how to get your plan approved, you just have to back mine. We'll call it an experiment. Different ways to achieve the same end."

"Don't you understand that humanity hinges on my project?" Ackerson demands.

He's a short man with a mean mug. Leonard cocks his head.

"Then think of my project as a long term investment on yours," Leonard says evenly. "Simple enough."

All he needs is to obtain the funding. Once he has that, he's home free. The UNSC and ONI, hell, the UEG, are all too busy to deal with the particulars of what he does, after all.

Ackerson holds out his hand. Leonard accepts it, trying to hide how his muscles shake with relief.

Finally.

[coolman229]

@Colonel Ackerson

[tellthattothecovenant-blog]

Halo: First Strike

by Eric Nylund.

Colonel Ackerson: Then they're dead, Halsey's freaks have finally lost their luster of invincibility. 

Admiral Hood: Those 'freaks' have more confirmed kills than any three divisions of ODSTs and have garnered every major citation the UNSC awards. Those 'freaks' have personally saved my life twice, as well as the lives of most of the senior staff here at HighCom. Keep your bigotry in check Colonel. 

[tellthattothecovenant-blog]

We are not wasting a single UNSC ship to confirm what we have already seen a dozen times before: Reach is gone. Everything on it is blasted to bits, burned, glassed over, and vaporized. Everyone on Reach is Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Halo: First Strike by Eric Nylund - (Colonel Ackerson)