[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] KillgSpree56 I always thought coalminer was the codename of Akherson or one of Akkherson's left hand men once he was the main imput of the King Under the Mountain file. It would make sense: He was the one who found Forerunner structure in the coal mines under the center on Reach.[/quote] I think SURGEON is Ackerson. I made a post about Chapter 30 of TFOR and Chapter 7 of GoO in The Wacthers. Becuase I'm too lazy to rewrite it, I'll just quote it here. [quote] Here is chapter 7 of Ghosts of Onyx: [quote] 0000 HOURS JANUARY 19, 2532 (MILITARY CALENDAR)/ NARROW-BAND POINT-TO-POINT TRANSMISSION: ORIGIN UNKNOWN; TERMINATION; SECTION THREE, OMEGA SECURE ANTENNA ARRAY, UNSC HQ EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, REACH MILITARY COMPLEX ///AUTOMATED REROUTE UNSC SHIP REG 96667 ABY/// File Access Granted///Worm-Protocol Firewall Enabled/File Erased/// PLNB Transmission XX087R-XX Encryption Code: Gamma Public Key: N/A From: CODE NAME COALMINER To: CODE NAME SURGEON Subject: PROGRESS REPORT/OPERATION HYPODERMIC CLASSIFICATION: EYES ONLY, CODE-WORD [THIS IS BLACKED OUT IN THE BOOK ] TOP SECRET (SECTION THREE X-RAY DIRECTIVE) /file extraction-reconstitution complete/ /start file/ Institutional records altered as per instructions. Initial contact with base AI made. Helpful, but I don't trust it. Packages delivered. Selection process started. Operation underway and on schedule. Candidates exhibit marked aggression well out of bounds of the Smith-Kensington index. As much work training them as it is keeping them from murdering each other. They're real hellcats Lieutenant claims all under control. He has a plan for everything. Unsure where he's getting this confidence, but I do believe he knows what he's doing. Are you surprised? /end file/ /scramble destruction process enable/ Pres ENTER to continue. [/quote] Here is Chapter 30 of The Fall of Reach [quote] 0000 Hours, August 29, 2552 (Military Calendar) / narrow-band point-to-point transmission: origin UNKNOWN; termination: Section Three, Omega secure antenna array, UNSC HQ Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex PLNB priority Transmission XX087R-XX Encryption code: GAMMA Public Key: N/A From: CODENAME: COALMINER To: CODENAME: SURGEON Subject: PROGRESS REPORT/OPERATION HYPODERMIC Classification EYES ONLY TOP SECRET (SECTION III X-RAY DIRECTIVE) /file extraction-reconstitution complete/ /start file/ Secured space-dock repair bay. Corvette Circumference undergoing final stealth upgrades. Shipyard records suc- cessfully altered. Queries detected from transient AI. Operation deemed AT RISK of being uncovered. As per contingency plan TANGO: ship registration num- bers scrambled; hard isolated from dockside computer network; Counterintrusion software implemented; Alpha se- curity protocols enacted onboard. Just as you called it, sir. Don’t worry—as far as the sta- ion computers are concerned, Circumference never even existed. /end file/ /scramble-destructuion process enabled/ Press ENTER to continue. [/quote] Both messages were sent from unknown location to a Section III antenna array on Reach at UNSC HighCom. In the two messages both the sender and the receiver are the same, and both messages are progress reports on operation Hypodermic. I believe that the first message was sent from Onyx: [quote] Initial contact with base AI made. Helpful, but I don't trust it. [/quote] The base at Onyx has one AI. [quote] Packages delivered. Selection process started. Operation underway and on schedule. [/quote] In the previous chapter, 500 kids were delivered to Onyx to become Spartan IIIs. However, there are only 300 training slots available, so the instructors have to select 300 of the kids. The operation that COALMINER mentions could be the Spartan-III program. [quote] Candidates exhibit marked aggression well out of bounds of the Smith-Kensington index. As much work training them as it is keeping them from murdering each other. They're real hellcats. [/quote] I think that this gives us a clue as to who "COALMINER" may be. In the previous chapter two of the kids get into a fight, and an unnamed Sergeant tries to intervene and gets punched in the eye. He tells Mendez that "These two were going to kill each other." Operation HYPODERMIC is the Spartan-III program, and COALMINER is one of the instructors on Onyx. From this, it's not clear who he is reporting too. We know that it is someone is ONI, and I think that it could be Ackerson. If it is Ackerson, I find it interesting that he is having someone other than Kurt or Mendez report to him. The second transmission was sent from Gamma station: [quote] Secured space-dock repair bay. Corvette Circumference undergoing final stealth upgrades. Shipyard records suc- cessfully altered. [/quote] Later in The Fall of Reach we find out that the Circumference is on Gamma station, and it had an unsecured navigation database. John and Linda board the station and make there way to the repair bay to find 4 Marines, one of which is Sergeant Johnson. I think that Sergeant Johnson is "COALMINER." Anyone of the 4 marines could be "COALMINER" but I think that Johnson is the most probable choice. Sergeant Johnson was part of the Spartan-I program, and all of his files have been sealed by ONI. We also know from the HGN that Ackerson has been interested Johnson, and was trying to get into Johnson's files and he suspects that Johnson is a Spartan-I. I think that Ackerson was interested in Johnson because Johnson was one of the Instructors of the Spartan-IIIs and he was Ackerson(SURGEONS) eyes on Onyx. What does "Coalminers" operation on Gamma station and the Circumference have to do with the Spartan-III program? [/quote]