ODST RED ALERT part 6

Delta was able to convince a group of people to help him get a live Falling. It consisted of 7 UNSC soldiers, 2 ODSTs and Gustew, the door man. Before they were about to leave, Kiara called for Delta. When he went to see her, she was holding something covered by a long, dark cloth. "You gave this to me the day you went with Irish to become an ODST." She said a she removed the cloth. It revealed a sheathed Katana. "I think it was time I gave it back to you." Delta took the sword and grasped the familiar hilt with both hands.
"I remember this." Delta said. "My Grandfather gave it to me when I was 4 years old and asked me to look after it for him until he came back." Though he never did, he thought to himself. That's why they say this sword is cursed. Whenever someone gives it to someone close to them to "look after" while they go into battle, they never return.
"That's what you asked me to do remember?"
"Yea, I remember." I didn't think I would survive the war but I wanted to be remembered. "I just can't believe you still have this."
"I never leave it out of my sight." She said with a blush.
Delta turned to stare at her. "You never let it out of your sight. How many heads did you turn with this?" he said as he put his finger along the blade's edge.
"I never went out. Everything I needed was brought to me." Delta's finger, even though he was wearing gloves, caught on the blade and started to bleed. "I was too busy keeping it in its best condition. I knew you would come back to me, I just wasn't sure when so I wanted it to be ready for you when you did come home."
She really thought I would return alive? Well I guess the so called curse was a myth. "Thank you, this will come in handy sooner or later." He said as he strapped the massive sword to his back. He turned and left with the others.

"The Shadow Soldier program?" Assrak asked, looking a little confused with his helmet off. He joined the UNSC just before the war ended and was relatively new to the squad so didn't have that many facial injuries to account for. "Never heard of them."
"And so you shouldn't have. I only know about it because Delta told me himself." Irish said. "Most high ranking ONI officers don't even know about it. It was filed above TOP SECRET."
"How did it differ from the SPARTAN program then?" Pasagoa asked.
"They're practically the same." Irish explained. "The only difference is that SPARTANs were kidnapped as children but Shadow Soldiers were given a choice. They were chosen 1 out of every 10 recruited soldiers. They were asked if they wanted to join the program. If they declined, they went back to the normal military. If they agreed, they were taken to Darla and trained to be the best. The instructors for both the Shadow Soldiers and the SPARTAN program were the same and they used the same chemicals to improve their bodies."
"Well, it sounds like being a Shadow Soldier was better than being a Spartan." Thea said from the terminal. "So why did the Shadow Soldier program fail?"
"It's all about timing." Irish told them. "The Spartans were given these chemicals as children, their DNA allowed the chemicals to be accepted, however, the Shadow Soldiers were grown men and so their DNA became hostile towards the chemicals. They still worked but after a while, ever the chemicals are expelled from the body or the soldier has an in-volatile spasm, which will break their spine and result in death. The Spartans were safer Super Soldiers so the Shadow Soldier program was ended. The remaining soldiers rejoined the regular military and died in battle."
"Why's Delta still alive then?" Pasagoa asked.
"He had some form of mutation in his DNA and the chemicals were accepted. No-one knows about this apart from me, Delta and you lot."
"I take it he was part of a Delta squad then?" Thea asked.
"Actually," Irish waned, "more like the Delta batch."
"Got it!" Thea shorted as he hit a button on the terminal. Nothing happened.
"Got what?" Pasagoa asked.
"Oh..." Thea trailed off. "Looks like I can't get the power on in this sector. Fear not, I can still get the emergency clamps off the security door...we'll just have to pry it open."
"WHAT!?!" Assrak shouted. "I became an ODST to kill things, not to do manual labour!"
"It's this, or we give up and go back to Hunt..." Thea was cut off by the elevator door slamming shut.
"Guess we don't have a choice now." Irish said as he tried to open the door. It weighted a ton so he had to get everyone else to help him, and they were only able to get it open enough for one person to go through at a time. Irish was the first through. It was pitch black so he turned on his flash light. He was met with the sight of hundreds of bloodied corpses scattered around the passage way. "They're close." Irish said to himself. "Very close."