One Year Later
UNSC Capital New Harmony
James Cutter
"What are the reports from the expeditions within Wall Maria?" Cutter coughed as he leaned back against his chair, his wrinkled hands wiping against his eyes from exhaustion.
"Well, it's all coming up empty I'm afraid. Red Team has also been deployed to FOB Bravo to help cull the titans to expand the base," Serina reported as she stood next to Cutter. Her face was shining blue with only the briefest tilt as she examined his face. "You should rest, the bags under your eyes are atrocious."
Cutter shook his head and crossed his arms. "Not now Serina, there's too much to do." The AI didn't seem convinced but bowed her head in acquittal nonetheless. "What of the men we have stationed within Wall Rose?"
"The 'let's-all-get-along' squad?" Serina smiled thinly at the name, and Cutter remembered how she was the one to pitch the idea. "They're doing fine, of course. I did recommend they be stationed within Wall territory. It's only natural, they're the only UNSC force that has any extended period of contact with them and have first hand experience in how they operate. It meets the requirements of the Rose Pact while we don't lose any significant manpower."
Cutter already knew this but he let Serina have her moment as he swung his chair around. With a sigh he asked, "What of the ODSTs?"
"They're on their seventh rotation." Recently Cutter had begun sending ODST squads to move around the capital at a radius of a kilometre. After a week they would send another squad to advance an extra kilometer to run in conjunction with the previous squad. It was an effort on the UNSC's part as they were trying to find some signs of civilization other than the Wallers.
So far they had none. "What about FOB Specter?" Serina shook her head as she looked thoughtfully at the sky.
"The marines there are at tip-top shape and they've been acting as an intermediary for transporting goods between the Wallers and us."
The goods that Serina was mentioning were foodstuffs, supplies and creature comforts. The Wallers had kept their promise and New Harmony was beginning their first stages of commerce and integration into an actual state, with an economy and unified currency system. It was slow but it was happening. In exchange the UNSC provided the Wallers with medicine and other such pleasantries, however a lot of their appliances couldn't be used by them as they hadn't discovered electricity yet.
Cutter had also allowed the exchange of weapons design, though nothing at the level that they could harm the UNSC. If Cutter was not mistaken the Wallers had started production of the M1 Garand. Not a weapon that could put a dent in the toughest armor that the UNSC had in their disposal. Though Cutter doubted the Wallers had the infrastructure capable of supporting complete mass integration of the old WW rifle, it didn't matter to him. He had fulfilled his own civil and moral obligations.
"Anymore news," Cutter gripped his chest as another set of dreadful coughing filled the room. He wheezed out a breath, his hands braced against his desk as he visibly shuddered in relief.
"You're getting old Cutter," Serina said. Cutter shifted his eyes away, rubbing his fingers against his desk as he refused to meet Serina's gaze. "How long do you think you can keep kicking?"
"As long as I need to," Cutter said resolutely. He brought his hands together, rubbing his knuckles as sweat had formed over them. "I owe it to them, to the UNSC."
"You old war horses are all the same," Serina muttered sadly, "You're duty is done and you can't deny nature."
Cutter set his jaw and straightened his back. Looking out of his window to see New Harmony, Cutter felt something in him give. "I can sure as hell try." Serina shook her head and disappeared from her pedestal.
Quietly Cutter rose from his seat and traveled out of his office. His feet dragged slightly against the metal flooring but he was capable of maintaining some form of military respect as he exited his office. His aid, a young lieutenant named Orlando, glanced up from where he was working to salute Cutter.
The older man returned it and said, "Tag all my calls today Lieutenant, I'll be going on a walk." Orlando nodded his head, twisting back down onto his chair as he smartly flipped a switch next to his desk.
Cutter still didn't see a point to a switch just for him leaving his office but Serina insisted. 'It's more productive this way,' she said. He felt it was more lazy than anything.
"Good day, Sir," Orlando said as he began typing away at his computer. Cutter nodded his head and traveled down a flight of stairs. New Harmony's 'parliament' (if it could be called such) was stationed in a five story building at the center of the capital. It was formally known as a place where all the military heads and soon-to-be civilian heads would decide upon the ongoings of the UNSC as a whole. Cutter's office was on the third floor, easy access for anyone up above or below to try and reach him as he stayed at his desk pouring over requests and paperwork.
The parliament couldn't really be called small, while it wasn't the tallest building, it was wide. Big enough to fit into half the radius of New Harmony's center. The corridors were likewise large, allowing five people in the least to walk side by side as they rushed from one department to another. Most of the men and women stopped to salute Cutter, which only served to lengthen his time between the inside and the outside.
When he finally exited the main building, his first act was to take in a wave of fresh hair. His lungs strained and another coughing fit made its way through. He steadied himself and quietly sat at a bench right next to the building. FORT HQ, the formal name of the building he worked in, was flanked by criss-crossing paths of grass patches. It formed a wide, oval-like, diamond with its ends extending out enough to give the 'City AI logo' feel, since FORT HQ was the city's metaphorical AI.
To the right of it was a carpark, where stripped down Warthogs acted in place of civilian vehicles. A troop of marines were stationed nearby, their MA5Bs glinting under the sunlight.
Cutter took a shuddering breath and watched his latest life's work play out in front of him. Rows upon rows of metal barracks, topped with an extra two stories to allow more living room, were lining a road from FORT's entrance. In between each of the metal barracks were wooden houses, painted white and smooth oak. The woods did nothing to displace the metal by its side and they blended to give a type of homy utilitarian feel.
Small patches of greenery remained inside New Harmony, with large numbers of trees sectioned off to preserve natural stability with the new generation so they weren't completely cut off from nature. On the streets several people walked merrily around.
Cutter would have liked to have seen them as housewives finding foodstuffs to cook dinner or men bubbling around as they went on their first date with their high school sweethearts. But he was no fool. While some of the women left their homes in casual dress, and likewise the men tripped on their own two feet, they were far from normal civilians. They were old veterans who decided they didn't want war anymore or youngsters raised by their military parents. They walked exuding military discipline and conduct.
He would have sighed, in what way even he didn't know, but he heard a baby's cry just off the distance. His hearing, while weathered with old age, was still sharp enough as to hear the soundless approach of a plasma torpedo in space if it needed to. He turned his head, spotting a young mother dressed in normal marine garb cooing to a redheaded baby in her hands. Cutter clicked his command chip, and saw that her name was Private . He sat there, watching the unlikely mother lightly holding her baby in her armored gauntlets. Then another man stepped forward, this one had a goatee, with small oval lenses on his face. He tipped his head at Allison, who smiled at him as she pressed herself against the man. Unlike her he wasn't dressed in marine garb, rather the soft black dress of a navy man or a scientist. He didn't seem all that perturbed over the contact, even with the bulky armor, and wrapped his arms around both his girls without trouble.
Cutter watched them, then grimaced when he realised he was intruding a private moment. He shielded his eyes and pressed himself further into the bench.
It wasn't the most perfect example of human civilization but it was good enough for Cutter. Though he rather preferred that the lines between military and civilian weren't so skewered.
"Just ten more minutes," Cutter sighed as he closed his eyes.
Wall Rose
"So you got this now?" North glanced down at the, for him, antique weapon in his grasp. The M1 Garand, an allied weapon during the events of the World War. North didn't know much of the weapon but it seems relatively simple, the wooden frame was a jarring feeling for his fingertips though.
"Yup," Mina cheered, "Though I can't handle the recoil all that well." North looked to Mina who seemed embarrassed at that fact, though she did a good job of hiding it. North smirked and flipped the weapon around to pull the slide back, allowing him to pull one of the bullets out of the firing chamber. He looked down at it, matching it slightly to his assault rifles rounds and slid it back into the weapon.
"Yea it is a step up from your muskets." North handed the weapon back to her and without thinking he wrapped the readiness harness over her neck, securing it with a gentle tug.
"I-I'm not a child!" Mina quickly grabbed the rifle and twisted out of North's grasp. He blinked, looking at the empty space in his hands that was just now around a girl. "You need to stop doing that." She crossed her arms and glared at North.
He was about to retort when something smacked against his shoulder plates. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Benito standing there with a disapproving frown on his face. He sighed before bringing his fingers up to speak.
Stop teasing her, he signed. North scratched his head, looking at his friend questioningly. Benito just shook his head and hefted his rifle higher on his shoulder. We should get back to crowd control. Benito showed his back to North and began heading to where a group of people gathered.
North watched him go, shrugged, and turned back to Mina. She still had her arms crossed and looking unpleasantly at North. "Are you gonna keep moping?" North sighed as he rocked on his heels. She huffed, unhooked her arms and strode past North.
After the subsequent failure that was the training mission, the 'Let's-all-get-along' squad were stationed in Waller territory. Officially they were now members of the UNSC Marine Corp Garrison Battalion, unofficially they were still recruits training with the next generation of Wallers to better develop a repertoire between the two factions. While not everyone had warmed up to them, well most of them hadn't, some like Mina had started calling them friend. Though whether that extended to the UNSC as a whole was left to be seen.
North jogged up to catch up to them and quietly policed a family of three, a woman and her two daughters, out of the way as members of the Survey Corp strode in. Off the top of his head he could recognise some of the more famous members, and despite himself he couldn't really meet their gazes. They were so different than the ones that you would see on ODSTs as they screwed their helmets on. When ODSTs went out to fight, they were assured and prepared for death, but the Survey Corp seemed accepting of it. As if death was more than just a specter walking behind, it was a parasite in their guts quietly blowing at the candles of their lives. Where ODSTs seek to cheat death, they wish only to prolong the time between it.
North wasn't sure if he found it admirable or not.
The civilians watching the Survey Corp slowly trickle out of the gates quieted down after Corporal Levi, the Wallers 'Strongest Soldier', disappear in the mass of scouts. They began to disperse, with only the worried families of the brave men and women venturing out into the world beyond Wall Rose remained.
"Hey isn't that the UNSC people?" He heard a whisper in the background. His ears twitched and North busied himself with tapping his updated armor piece. The boots were bulkier around the joints but didn't sacrifice maneuverability whole his shoulder pauldrons now extended over and onto his shoulder blades. His helmet was still the same but the inner padding was a lot more comfortable.
"Looking at them sitting pretty with their flying machines and advanced muskets. If only we were living the easy life like them." A harsh whisper cut through the sudden silence. It was soft but to North it might as well have been ringing in his ears. They pounded against his head as blood flowed into his vision.
"I bet they don't even know what sacrifice means. How much we had to give for just one plot of land and how many had to die to lose it."
North felt his fist tighten. They were right, he didn't know what it was like to lose world after world to the Covenant. He didn't what it was like buried neck deep in the ground and pulling the trigger so hard your teeth shattered from the vibrations. He didn't know what it was like to see memories burning under plasma fire, the ozone being super heated to boiling points as it casted a dazzling light show. A prelude to an agonizing death. He didn't know these feelings, but they sure as hell didn't too.
Even today his father's stories did nothing but haunt him. He liked talking about his old war tales, how he and North's mother had fought the battles and bested the times. How his mother, a Marine Force Recon, and his father, an ODST, had met each other under the hell of the flood. Indeed, he had never experienced such pains but to question the UNSC was to question the hardships of every soldier that had ever survived the war. The guilt in their hearts as they tried to rebuild. In Nolan's mind they should just learn to shut up.
"Easy North," He sighed, breathing deeply in his nostrils, "No good beating up the hosts." He fixed the strap of his rifle over his head and began moving to where the rest of his mixed squad was gathered around.
Gawain was off to the side conversing with Benito while Mina was standing alongside Nac and Aleit. A six man squad, three from the UNSC and three from the Wallers.
He greeted them when he reached them and both Mina and Benito said their hellos. North watched the assembled group, Gawain had his arms crossed and face blank as he stared at Benito, who was now a Lance Corporal, while Nac and Aliet remained by Mina's side. North had to mentally sigh when he could still very clearly see the border between these two groups, even if Mina was trying her best to mend it.
New orders, we are to check the cannons installed on the Walls for any defects. Benito signed.
"Why us?" North asked as Gawain relayed the translation over to the others like a good subordinate.
Why else? Benito shot right back. North shrugged his shoulders in acquittal and tipped his head at Mina.
"You up for maintenance work?" Mina raised a challenging eyebrow in response and Aleit giggled behind her. Nac elbowed the girl and whispered something in her ear but for whatever reason, after Aleit winked at him and took a step back, he gave Norths a thumbs up.
"I'm always up for anything. Even something like maintenance work," Mina declared. North barely held back his chuckle as he stared down at the much smaller girl, though to her credit she did not budge.
"Well that's great to hear, would be a shame to hear you whining from working so hard under the sun," North wasn't sure when this cheesy back and forth started between him and Mina but he quite enjoyed them. It was like his one and only connection between her and him, something that a UNSC boy had achieved with a Waller girl. That alone was a feat.
"Get a room," Gawain said with a groan.
And a queen sized bed, Benito signed. North grimaced at Benito, the cheeky italian was giving him a wide toothy smile and even Gawain was suppressing the urge to grin in bemusement. Mina looked confused at North's sudden uncomfortable expression as she looked between them.
"What did Benito say?" She said suspiciously. North shook his head and Gawain raised his hand in faux innocent as he turned his back to the group. Benito just stared at Mina with a raised eyebrow, hands crossed against his chest as he tapped his helmet. "One of these days I'll learn how to sign."
"I'd rather you focus on english, have you finished the book I lent you?" North said as he redirected her attention to him. Benito made a smiley face with his fingers over Mina's head and disappeared dragging Aleit and Nac towards the walls to get a headstart on their maintenance work.
"You mean 'The Rainforest Wars'? No, it's not that easy to get into." North shrugged, he expected as much. It was a historical war book they taught on the Spirit of Fire Command Academy after all. It wasn't something you read in your spare time unless you were a really nutty person.
"Well how far did you get into?" He was curious to know just how hard she was trying to learn english, it was obviously difficult for her since she never had to learn a different language before. Their own native tongue as well was vastly different from english.
"Chapter 23, Marines on Mars." She said the title of the chapter in english and despite its heavy accent, North had to commend her.
"Hey now that wasn't that bad!" North praised, "Certainly a lot better when I started reading. Then again I was six when I started reading books and those were children books." Mina punched his gut, right in between his chest plates as she huffed.
"You don't need to tease me!" She crossed her arms again, she did a lot around him, and puffed out her cheeks. North found the action endearing, really who wouldn't. With all the confidence that Mina exuded, she was still able to act like this without a shred of shame. Even to go as far as grabbing his arm and dragging him off to a secluded area the first time they met.
"Where's the fun in that then?" His grin never faltered as she sighed in annoyance at his words. She looked at him at the corner of her eyes and the tip of her mouth quirked up.
"Seriously are all you UNSC guys like this?" Truth be told if North tried anything like this with the girls in their platoon he'd find his teeth socked in. Every little princess in the UNSC was likewise a mini-king-kong with triple self-defense skills, so polite behaviour was usually hammered into a boys skull before he even dared go outside his house.
"Well...it's best you don't ask that," Mina raised an eyebrow before shaking her head with a smile. "Come on, Benito is going to be angry with us if we just stand here 'flirting' with each other and not work," He made air quotations at the word 'flirting' and said it with an exaggerated voice. Mina giggled into her hand at North's display and the two friends set off towards the walls.
Well they would have if an explosion didn't riddle the ground they were standing. North rocked his feet against the ground, his hand lashing out and grabbing his rifle as he dropped all the tension in his right leg and allowed gravity to drop him into a crouch. He snapped his rifle up the length of the wall, hearing Mina doing the same a heartbeat later next to him. He clicked the safety off, his heart rattling as he looked over the wall and his heart went numb.
"It's..." Mina gasped next to him. A skinless face, as large as a vulture, peeked itself over Wall Rose. It's wide frowning mouth opened up for a roar as steam rose from its body, knocking whoever on the wall off the surface. North could see the familiar khaki and white uniforms of the Wallers being thrown over the edge and he was about to launch his grappling hook (no matter how useless the action) to try and help them before they activated their 3DMGs and slid to a stop on the side of the wall.
"The Colossal Titan!" North hissed. Blood was racing through his veins, the titan roared into the air and North could see several nearby women who were out shopping turn tails and ran, screaming all the while. He clicked his tongue and quickly ejected his rifle's magazine. "Regular jackets? Shit I didn't put in any HE rounds." North cursed himself as he grabbed Mina and dragged her down the road.
"North! Wh-what are you doing." North didn't grace her with a response as he slapped his feet onto the pavement road. If reports held up the Colossal Titan was only there for one thing and he and Mina were still on the main road that connected Trost with the gate outside to Wall Maria. He took five steps, eight if you're trying to be technical and counted three bounces as steps, before he felt the ground shudder.
A loud boom filled the air behind him and North could feel the tidal wave of air that rushed forward from the impact. The sound of something solid crumbling resonated all throughout the silence, only disturbed by both his and Mina's boots dull echoes as everyone else had stopped what they were doing to stare.
It was five heartbeats later that they all began screaming. Seven heartbeats if you counted the babies that began crying. Then all hell broke loose as they began running off towards their homes or towards home in general.
Nolan just kept running towards the HQ. He glanced down at his marine armor, patting the utility compartments curiously before grimacing. "Benito has it," He grimaced, "Somebody else should inform it."
His thoughts abruptly cut off as the ground began shuddering and North glanced over his shoulder to see a sight he would not soon forget.
Titans, and a lot of them
I'm dead. My soul has been ripped out of me. I am dead. The pain of school, the pain of quizzes. Ghhhh.
On another note, I was watching a MV of RvB and Fate/Stay night and decided to write this out. It's going into canon, YAY! Oh no, I'm dreading this ride. Canon had always raised red flags with fanfiction writers, just cuz we don't know what is canon anymore. XD
