Chapter 7: What Now?
"And then you came," York said, an arm wrapped around a tired-looking Carolina.
"How are you holding up?" Caboose asked turning his attention to Carolina, having noticed she seemed to be a bit out of it.
"Well other than wondering how the hell this idiot knows a Spartan," she said sitting up with a wince, York steadying her while ignoring the glare sent at him. "Why the hell are you helping us?"
"Didn't York fill you in?" Caboose asked, the one-eyed freelancer looking away as Carolina sent him a look.
"Well after he used a pickup line to say hello," her eyes narrowed as York looked at her with no small amount of pride, "I knocked him on his ass and he spilled your little plan to give the Director what's coming to him," she smiled cockily "How could I refuse?"
Caboose went to speak only to be cut off as Pandora's form popped up.
"With the Huragok's help we've got Epsilon's storage unit hooked up and ready for me to work my magic," the red A.I said with a smile.
"You trust that thing?" Wash asked in one of the many spare UNSC uniforms left on the ship, his arm in a sling. Ash gave him a brief glare before patting the dejected-looking alien on the head, its body glowing as it let out a trill.
"Don't worry about Wash, you did great buddy," she said, ignoring the smirks on the other freelancer's faces, at her uncharacteristic behavior. "Take a picture, it'll last longer assholes," she said, hiding her face behind the alien as she pulled it into a hug.
"Huragok, referred to as Engineers have shown during the war to be one of the few members of the Covenant willing to switch their allegiances," Panora said bringing up a file marked classified, projecting its contents above the holo table, "One such was Virgil, a Huragok who formed a bond with a platoon of ODST during the Covenant occupation of New Mombasa,"
"Isn't this highly classified information?" Wash asked in disbelief, "like the kind that gets you either shot or thrown in a secret prison for the rest of your life kind?" he asked, his voice squeaking at the end.
"Don't get your panties in a twist Wash," South said with a smirk, now out of her burnt armor and dressed in a UNSC uniform, bandages along her body as she leaned against a wall. "Or did you forget we just broke in and out of a highly classified facility?"
"H-hey! I was shot! I didn't do anything, but get kidnapped!" Wash exclaimed, wincing as he agitated his wound, letting out a sigh.
"Sorry to break up your flirting," Pandora said, getting a 'fuck you' from South and a choking sound from Wash. "But, I'd like to try and help Epsilon before you all die of old age," she turned her attention to Church and Tex, who had silently been watching the conversation. "You know you don't have to help," she said, speaking more to Church than to Tex.
"Hey normally I'd agree," Church said, looking to Tex, "but if you think I'm gonna let her go again, you've got another thing coming,"
"Don't trust me to watch her?" Pandora asked with a smirk as Tex let out a huff.
"More like I don't trust her not to leave without so much as a goodbye," he said, Tex wincing slightly at the mention of goodbyes.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Caboose asked, looking at Epsilon's storage unit that was connected to a separate terminal.
"Is that worry I hear in your tone?" Pandora asked with a grin, getting an eye roll as a response.
"Don't worry, I've separated that terminal from the ship's other systems, now I just gotta compress these two," she gestured to Tex and Church, "so we can all fit on my chip, then just insert it into the terminal, I'll be done before you know it. I've got Delta, Gamma, and Theta monitoring all systems in case of emergency, " she said before snapping her fingers, Tex and Church's forms disappearing before her own, Caboose removed her chip and inserted it into the terminal.
Silence filled the room as the freelancers looked at each other.
"...how did you get Gamma to work with you guys anyway? Wasn't he with Wyoming?" Wash asked, breaking the silence.
"Apparently, offering him the opportunity to meet Alpha and take down the Director was all the motivation he needed," South said with a smirk, North rolling his eyes.
"She forgets to mention that she also said he could torment Sigma a bit….he still holds a grudge from when Maine attacked Wyoming in the locker room," North informed them, dodging a swipe from his sister.
"So what's the plan after we take down the Director?" York asked. "I mean if we're airing his dirty laundry, then that means our mission reports are included right?"
"But, we were just following orders," Wash said, getting a wry chuckle from South.
"We were UNSC before we were freelancers Wash," she said looking at the others, "We knew what the fuck we were doing, and we didn't fucking care because of the leaderboard," she sent a small glare to Carolina before sighing sliding down the wall till she was seated on the floor. "We did some fucked up shit, there is no way they're just gonna let us go."
"Wow, you guess get pretty depressing when left alone don't you?" Pandora said, appearing over the terminal.
"How's Epsilon?" Wash asked.
"Well the good news is I've managed to get him somewhat stable," she said, "but, he's just memories without a base personality...more fragmented than any of the other A.I were…..Church and Tex are trying to get him to achieve self-actualization without him deteriorating anymore due to the traumatic memories of his time as the Alpha," she looked to the Huragok, "apparently someone's been caring for the memory unit, modifying it so he could hear what was happening outside it," she said with a smirk directed at the Huragok.
The alien moved away from Ash, giving the red A.I a mournful trill.
"So you wanted to apologize for your part in the Director's plan?" Pandora asked, the engineer nodding its head before nuzzling against Ash.
"Wait, you can understand that thing?" South asked.
"I was designed and created from the mind of one of humanity's best scientists….translating languages is quite simple," she said with a smirk.
"Don't have to be a cocky bitch," South said, the A.I rolling her eyes in response.
"Hey now," North said, as South looked ready to leap up to attack the A.I. He put a hand on her shoulder, getting a glare, though she didn't make the effort to remove it.
"We're all just a little stressed," he said to the A.I, who smirked.
"Did you think I'd leave you all out high and dry?" Pandora said, her smile widening, "After all, why would the UNSC go after heroes who learned of their commands obvious abuse of power, and after a failed attempt a few years ago managed to regroup with help from the inside to reveal all of his secrets for the UNSC to see?"
"How?" York said in surprise.
"Well we figured with you guys making yourselves the perfect distraction, we snuck in and hacked into freelancer commands systems….for a project that works with A.I, they had some of the poorest security, I've ever gotten through" she smirked as South stood up.
"You assholes were there the whole time?!" She shouted, North quickly pulling her back as she made a step towards Caboose, not wanting his sister to bite off more than she could chew.
"Would you rather be some of the most wanted traitors to the UNSC?" Caboose asked, leaning against a wall, getting only silence from the fuming former agent.
"...it can't be that easy...right?" North asked.
"Normally? No," Pandora said, "but you have the most advanced A.I developed by the UNSC….with my….connections and some manipulation of the Director's logs it should be quite simple to paint whatever picture we want,"
"And if they want to fact check anything?" Carolina asked.
"They won't," Pandora said, getting a look of disbelief from the redhead, "Project Freelancer while sanctioned by the UNSC and ONI, went well beyond its intended and allowed operational limits…..the Director's….blatant disrespect of UNSC guidelines and the fact that ONI was somewhat aware of his actions will no doubt leave a blackeye.
"How did ONI know?" York asked, surprised at that tidbit of information.
"Did you expect ONI to allow the creation of a smart A.I and not keep tabs on its use? Especially during a time of war." The A.I said, ignoring the small look Caboose gave her.
"We're getting off topic….what happens to us?" North asked, looking at his sister with worry.
"More than likely you'll be debriefed by both members of the UNSC navy and ONI before being formally discharged from the UNSC and provided a sum for your work during Project Freelancer and as a means to dissuade from making it's less than idea ethics more public than it already is..." Pandora said.
"So we're just supposed to believe that they'll just let us go?" Carolina said in disbelief.
"I would not find it strange if ONI were to track your movements for the foreseeable future," Pandora said, "after all, you were part of an experimental program that dealt in classified information and received training in advanced UNSC tactics….it, would not be strange that some of you might turn your anger towards the UNSC or ONI for their negligence."
"So don't cause any trouble and we should be fine?" North asked, looking at South when he said trouble, getting a middle finger from his sister.
"What about the Director?" Carolina asked, voice a whisper.
"With the publication of his….less than savory acts, ONI has already sent some of their best to apprehend and arrest him, as well as his collaborators, and Hargrove," she said the last with a wide grin getting curious looks from the others, "I may have sped up Hargrove's….fall from grace….trying to access files with the highest level of security tends to make ONI very curious of someone's every move," the Freelancers all seemed to relax, Ash raising a hand.
"What about me?" She asked, Pandora's eyes widening slightly before she flicked a bit. "What was that?" Ash asked.
"Nothing," the A.I said a bit too quickly.
"You forgot about me didn't you?" Ash said, eyes narrowing. The A.I stayed silent before her form flickered away, the pilot sinking into her chair as the Huragok tried to cheer her up.
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"There, all done," Pandora said, a few minutes after being reinserted into Caboose's armor, leaving Espilon to Tex and Church after reconnecting the terminal to the reat of the ship.
"And?" Ash asked.
"Good news is you're not in any trouble." The A.I said cheeringly.
"And the bad?"
"You're out of the job….probably not gonna get that pension either." The A.I said, the pilot leaning more into her alien friend at the information. "Though if you're willing….we do happen to require a pilot" the A.I said with a cheeky grin.
"What's the pay like?" Ash asked.
"We have some funds available to us...though hiring someone and upkeep of the ship will eat through them quite fast," the A.I projected herself in front of Caboose facing the pilot with a smirk.
"Luckily, I got this guy to agree to go to a location possibly swimming in Forerunner technology," she said with a grin, "while I don't like the idea of selling functioning Forerunner tech….I'm sure we'll run across some scraps that a collector would love to get their hands on,"
"You want us to become tomb raiders?" Caboose asked in a dubious tone.
"Is it raiding if the Forerunners left it for us?" Pandora asked, the Freelancers looking to each other as Caboose and Pandora talked.
"I think it counts as that if you are planning to sell what we find," he said, crossing his arms.
"I said we would sell anything 'irreparable'," the A.I said, defending her idea. "Anything functioning or too dangerous we'd keep."
"...so your good idea involves taking any artifacts that works or seem too dangerous, and gather them in one place….on this ship," Caboose said, staring the stubborn A.I down.
"When you say it like that it sounds stupid," the A.I said with a huff, "would you rather ONI get its hand on something dangerous? You know their track record with the unethical, personally, don't you?" The A.I asked, the room became silent as Caboose walked out of the room, pulling out Pandora's chip and inserting it in the holo table as he left.
The former Freelancers and pilot stared at each other as the A.I popped up, a guilty and sheepish look on her face.
"I may have said the wrong thing," she said, Church's form popping up.
"No shit," he said before Tex's form appeared slapping him on the back of his head.
"Goddammit Church."