UNSC Dominion, War Room
October 8th, 1402 Menagerie Time, 2552
The War Room had unofficially become the room where Richard would speak to his senior staff privately. He was comfortable with sharing almost all of what he did with the crew on the Bridge, but there were some things that he would rather be confirmed privately before he shared them. The data package that Dot had died to preserve was a critical and sensitive topic, and, with the assistance of Jorge and Curie, he was beginning to understand exactly why it was so important to them, and why the tiny segment of the A.I had willingly sacrificed herself to preserve it.
"Ok, so explain it again, slowly, please." Richard instructed, as softly as he could. He could tell even Curie's immense patience was beginning to run dry, with Jorge looking just as confused as he was. "Start with Dot, where did she get all of this information?"
Curie took a deep digital breath. "Dot was able to remain operational after Jorge fired the Slipspace drive. He, as well as debris from the Covenant Corvette and the Pelican they used to board the vessel were absorbed by the ensuing Slispace rift. Jorge was rendered unconscious by the extreme gravitational and relativistic forces, but his armor's radiation shielding kept him alive, as Dot wasn't as vulnerable to those forces as a human, she was able to continue functioning."
"Which explains why my memory has been giving me hell." Jorge added.
"So, Jorge fired the drive, what happened then?" Richard asked, noting that her response did not include an answer.
Curie clearly thought about how to word it for a moment. "In the simplest terms I can manage, they inadvertently discovered another extra-dimensional realm, much in the same manner of Slipspace. Dot was able to observe much of the location around her simply by using the Camera systems on Jorge's suit."
Richard nodded, that much made more sense to him than Curie's previous explanations. Slipspace drives worked by using particle acceleration to generate microscopic black holes outside of the ship, which were almost immediately destroyed by Hawking Radiation. But in their nanosecond long lifespan, the black holes would tear a short-lived hole in reality, which the vessel would use to enter Slipspace. Some human scientists had speculated there were other "locations" in the same manner as Slipspace, but until now, they had no tangible evidence of it.
"And that's where we are right now?" Richard asked.
"Almost certainly, Dot's observations clearly show that they re-entered three-dimensional space, but did not emerge above Reach, or even in our own realm." Curie answered. "She left a few speculative theories as to how they, and also we, managed to do this. The one that coincides with my own data is what she named 'Volatile Slipspace Theory'."
"So we know how we got here?" Richard said, feeling a hint of optimism. "Does that mean we can go back?"
"Yes and no, respectively." Curie answered. "Her Volatile Slipspace theory states that by manipulating relativistic forces in normal-space and Slipspace at the same time, with the same rift, one can create a rift to what I have dubbed 'Newspace'."
"The name could use some work." Jorge commented, a bit dismissively.
"It is temporary, stay focused on your own assignments, and I will do mine!" Curie bit back, her hologram flaring red momentarily as her tone harshened considerably.
Richard and Jorge were both startled by her response, with Jorge immediately showing regret. "I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't-"
"It's fine, I... I shouldn't have reacted so harshly." Curie replied, seemingly equally surprised by her outburst.
Richard paused, considering his next words carefully amid a flurry of concerned and panicked thoughts. "Are you fit to continue your duties, Curie?"
"As of now, yes." Curie answered, not easing Richard's concerns. "I have been divided into too many subfragments for too long, I will need to reassemble myself at some point in the future to avoid straining my Riemann-Matrix."
"We'll get that done then, I'll have Lieutenant Clark send your fragment in the Relay Station back up with the next supply run, and we'll get the rest of you pieced back together." Richard said, his mind still filled with concern. "But right now, we need to focus on finding out where we are, and if we can find a way back home."
We never learned how rampancy would affect Curie, if it even would at all. I really wish that Kurt told us where she came from now, it might help a bit with this. Richard thought.
"I understand, thank you." Curie said, her hologram returning to its normal shade of blue. "Like I was saying, a rift in Slipspace and normal-space, augmented by a means that I can only speculate on, creates a metaphorical 'tunnel' to Newspace."
"What do you mean augmented?" Richard asked, picking out the only part of her statement that he didn't understand.
"I think what she means is that we have to improperly mount the Slipspace Drive before it fires, like we did with the Supercarrier over Reach." Jorge suggested.
"You may be correct, monsieur Jorge." Curie replied. "But that would not explain why the Dominion suffered the same fate, and notably, we only suffered some minor gravitational forces during the transition."
Jorge thought for a moment. "Where did you make the jump, maybe it had to do with the location?"
"We jumped above Onyx, and indeed, we were picking up some unusual background radiation..." Curie said, her voice trailing off. "I will need to do some additional research. Regardless of what I find, we will likely be unable to return home in the near future."
Richard felt a wave of disappointment, but wasn't entirely convinced quite yet. "What's our biggest obstacle?"
"We have no Slipspace Drive." Curie pointed out. "And with the anomalous physics of Newspace, I believe that I would need a considerable amount of time to calculate a jump, if I could do it at all. The drive would almost certainly be destroyed in the process.
Jorge interjected once she was done. "Sir, this could mean the end of the war if we get this information back home, we would finally be able to outmaneuver the Covenant. We can't give up on this."
"And we certainly won't." Richard reassured him. "But right now, Remnant doesn't have the means to create a Slipspace Drive, not to mention most of the planet doesn't like us that much anyway."
Jorge looked frustrated, and Richard empathized with him. It would even worse for a Spartan, to learn that their mission simply couldn't be accomplished, his own experience attested to their competitive nature.
"Regardless, we now know where we are, and we know that people from normal-space can get to us under the right circumstances. Keep our receivers open for any distress calls, if anyone else gets pulled into this nightmare with us, I want to know about it."
"Aye Sir, but I will warn you now, that is very unlikely." Curie replied.
"And Curie, you've done a damn good job, don't overstretch yourself." Richard added.
"Thank you, Richard." Curie said, a familiar hint of happiness in her voice again. "I will return to my current duties, and once they are done, I will reassemble myself."
"See to it, but make sure you're in one piece within the next twenty-four hours. We're planning a major strike, and I need you at your best to do it." Richard ordered.
"Aye Sir." Curie said as her hologram vanished.
"Shall I leave then, Sir?" Jorge asked, looking at him with a lack of understanding.
"Not quite." Richard said, turning to face him directly. "I didn't actually call you up here for your take on Dot's report, I already know you weren't awake for it."
"I do remember falling, vaguely." Jorge commented, somewhat jokingly.
"Well yes, but I already knew about that." Richard replied, with a similar hint of humor. "But like I was saying, I needed to speak to you privately for a moment, about your future position aboard the Dominion."
"I'm all ears, Sir." Jorge said.
Good, I hope he doesn't think I'm out of line with what I'm about to suggest. Richard thought. "We currently have a single Special Forces unit aboard the Dominion, consisting of eleven operatives, including Curie. Originally, they were intended to work with ONI Section 2 under the command of the UNSC Marine Corps as a means of acquiring propaganda footage in the field, preferably where we didn't end up losing. Unfortunately, they never even made it to the briefing, because we ended up here."
"I take it that's the unit that Sergeant Benjamin is with?" Jorge guessed.
"You'd be correct." Richard confirmed. "Now, their unit was never officially activated, and we don't exactly have a lot of uses for propaganda footage out here. What we need is a small strike team that can move fast and hit hard, knock out sensitive targets, and not take losses in the process."
"Like the Mines." Jorge commented, with a nod of understanding.
Richard was glad that Jorge understood his mindset. Hopefully, that would make his next statement less shocking. "Given these two factors, myself, Lieutenant Commander Bradford, and Lieutenant Thomas have all agreed with my suggestion-"
Richard reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, before handing it to Jorge. Jorge took the small container in his hands, before opening it, revealing the pins of a second Lieutenant in the UNSC Marine Corps.
"-That you were the best choice to lead that force. Congratulations, Lieutenant." Richard said as Jorge stared at the pins with a surprised expression.
"I'm... honored, but I'm afraid I don't understand." Jorge said, shock apparent in his voice.
"Onyx is currently led by Staff Sergeant Fairfire, whose own unit was practically annihilated before they even came aboard. She's served for nearly a decade, but you've been fighting for over double that. Your record proves that, without a shadow of a doubt, that you're the best man for the job." Richard explained. "We've also taken the liberty of transferring you over to the Marine Corps, for the sake of unit organization and cohesion rather than anything else."
Jorge took a moment to compose himself before he closed the small jewelry box and placed it in his pocket. "You know, I'm not sure you have the authority to do that, HIGHCOM might have a problem with it."
"HIGHCOM already has plenty to court-martial me over, once going home starts looking less impossible, I'll start worrying about my own ass." Richard said, well aware that he had made some calls that would likely earn him a lengthy prison sentence back home.
I've done what I thought was the right move at the time. It's not like I had official protocol to fall back on. Richard thought, soothing his own growing worries about his decisions.
Jorge nodded. "Thank you, Sir. I'll get this done, depend on it."
"I know you will Lieutenant, I've worked with Spartans before, and you've never disappointed me." Richard said.
UNSC Dominion, Sick Bay
October 8th, 1608 Menagerie Time, 2552
"So uh, this isn't going to hurt, right?" Nathan nervously joked to the small crowd around his hospital bed. Among them was Doctor Chase, Fairfire, Meadows, Yu, and the representative from Atlas, Specialist Winter. The latter was a far more dignified woman than he had expected, more akin to a high-ranking military officer than a lowly Specialist.
"You broke your femur, and you're worried about getting your aura activated?" She asked, notably unimpressed with his question.
"Hey, give me some credit, we don't do this stuff where I come from!" Nathan said defensively.
"Hey, Nathan, don't worry. She already did this for the Lieutenant, and he said he felt a hell of a lot better." Fairfire interjected reassuringly.
That surprised Nathan. "Wait, Lieutenant Oswald, the ONI guy?"
"Yes, him." Fairfire answered. "He actually volunteered for this, and he didn't drop dead, so you'll be fine."
"Now, are you ready?" Winter asked, giving Nathan only a moment's pause after Fairfire was done.
"Uh..." Nathan unintelligently responded.
"Nathan, for the love of god, I will give you twenty credits to shut your damn mouth and think silently." Yu snapped, although she seemed faintly sympathetic despite her tone.
"...Right, sorry." Nathan said, before turning back to the Specialist. "What should I expect?"
"Well, your body will start glowing, and then hopefully your leg will hurt less." Winter answered, although he could tell her patience was running thin.
Nathan took a deep breath, his mind swirling with hesitation and doubt.
"Nathan, you fall out of space in a metal coffin for a living, just take the lady's offer." Fairfire said, her frustration oddly reassuring.
"...Ok, let's do this." Nathan said with a nod. "What do I do?"
"Sit still. The rest of you, give me some room." Winter instructed. Everyone else cleared the bedside as Winter stood beside him and placed one hand on his head and another on his heart.
"For it is in battle that we achieve virtue, through this, we become a paragon of empathy and gallantry to rise above our failures. Infinite in our beliefs and bound by our duty, I release your soul, and liberate thee." she said, in an odd, chant-like manner.
Almost immediately, a soft blue light began to radiate off of her. There was certainly no illusion from Nathan's perspective that the radiant display came from Winter, with no hint of trickery or illusion. What was far more alarming to him however was that his own body was glowing, emitting a faintly green light in the same way that Winter's body radiated. The rest of his squad watched with a mix of curiosity and surprise. He was surprised enough that he kept his mouth shut, figuring that bothering her while she poked around his soul was a bad idea.
That makes me wonder if you can kill someone's soul... maybe I shouldn't think about that. Nathan thought, as Winter pulled away, suddenly breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" Nathan asked, surprised at how tired she looked.
"I'm fine." Winter stated, taking a moment to catch her breath as everyone else returned to his bedside.
"Nathan, you were glowing!" Meadows stated, seemingly more surprised than the others.
"Yes Sergeant, that's what was supposed to happen." Yu said, placing the back of her hand against the skin of his healthy leg tentatively, as if expecting it to be hot. "Interesting that he was green, and the things the Specialist said were different too."
Winter had recovered enough of her breath to speak. "Everyone's soul is unique, Corporal. You will find that you likely have your own color."
Fairfire still eyed her somewhat cautiously. "You don't look so good, you alright?"
"Like I said, I am perfectly fine." Winter said, stiffening up her posture. "Activating the aura of someone who has put no training into it is quite the effort, and doing it twice in one day isn't normally advised."
"...Yet you did it anyway?" Fairfire pressed, more out of curiosity than suspicion.
Winter turned to face her directly. "I have direct orders from my superiors to assist you however possible in your operations. If that means educating you on the intricacies of aura, that is what I will do. Besides, this man has a broken leg, it's the least I can do to help him heal."
Fairfire nodded silently, satisfied with Winter's answer.
"Uh... Winter." Nathan prompted, getting her attention. "How do I actually use it?"
"With focus and rigorous training, at least, for most of an aura's functions." Winter stated. "Some abilities don't require any input from you, and will work automatically, such as your newly increased natural healing abilities. You should also find yourself substantially more resilient to disease, although you aren't any more immune to that than physical trauma, so don't go trying anything stupid."
"So, why doesn't everyone have their aura activated?" Yu asked.
"Because of the Grimm, and their ability to sense negative emotions." Winter stated. "A negative emotion from someone with an activated aura is substantially easier for them to detect, compared to someone without an activated aura."
"So... Nathan's a Grimm magnet now?" Fairfire asked, somewhat accusingly.
"He always has been, and he always will be." Winter stoically replied, returning her glare. "At least this way, he will be able to defend himself. I have no idea how you've managed to fight so much without aura."
"Well, bluntly speaking, your weapons suck." Nathan interjected, before quickly backing down under Winter's glare. "Maybe not yours specifically, but-"
"-Our technology, I understand your point, even if your vocabulary could use some work." Winter finished, her glare unwavering.
"Plus, we mainly use guns, heavier artillery, rockets, not... swords." Fairfire added, gesturing towards Winter's sheathed weapon.
Winter looked like she wanted to respond more harshly, but didn't. "...Without aura, I can see how you would gravitate towards ranged weapons. Distance can offer a great deal of protection, and in the absence of an aura's defensive abilities..."
"We learned that shooting the enemy works a whole lot better than stabbing them." Fairfire finished. "We still use bayonets, and the Covenant even have some particularly... concerning, melee weapons."
That brings back a few more negative memories regarding Brute Chieftains than I would like to think about. Nathan thought, forcing the offending thoughts out of his mind. Although, with all that contraband aboard, we might have a hammer or two.
"I hope to never see either in use." Winter replied blankly, before turning to the Doctor. "I believe we're done here, activating another aura today would not be good for my health."
"I will defer to your expertise on the matter, if you have anything else you need to do, I see no reason to delay it." Doctor Chase said. "Still, if you wouldn't mind returning tomorrow... I have a few burn victims I could use some help with. We've kept them under for now, but-"
"I would be happy to help, Doctor." Winter answered, although her facial expression remained strictly professional, before she turned to Meadows. "Where to next, Sergeant?"
"The Bridge, at our earliest convenience." Meadows answered.
"Well I see no point in wasting time, let's go." Winter said, before walking towards the exit, accompanied by Meadows and Yu.
The Doctor stared after them for a bit, before turning her attention to Nathan. "I should also move along, use the call button if anything changes, alright Private? We still don't know everything about aura, so if you feel anything out of the ordinary, call me."
"I understand, Sir." Nathan replied as she left.
He turned his attention to Fairfire. "You sticking around?"
"I've sure as hell got nothing better to do." She replied with a somewhat annoyed expression. "Besides, it would be rude to leave you by your lonesome."
Nathan chuckled. "I appreciate the concern."
"That, and we still haven't gotten cleared for shore leave yet, so unless I wanna go clean my damn gun for the fourth time today, I'll stay right here." Fairfire said, before a grin overtook her face. "On the topic of shore leave, the first chance you and I get, we're going down to Menagerie and I'm gonna teach you all how to surf."
"Surf?" Nathan asked, somewhat concerned. "Like, wave riding?"
"That's right, and then, we're gonna go get some steamed clams, get wasted on whatever we can find, and maybe go visit the Lieutenant's stupid little sand castle." Fairfire said, with a bemused expression.
"Ya know, that doesn't sound so bad." Nathan replied.
UNSC Dominion, War Room
October 8th, 1620 Menagerie Time, 2552
When Winter and her Marine escort arrived, she found Commander Richard and Lieutenant Oswald waiting for her in the aptly named "War Room".
Having an entire room dedicated to strategic conferences seems a bit inefficient, but I imagine it serves other purposes as well. Winter thought, making yet another note of the UNSC's design philosophy. It's as if their whole society is based around efficiency, from the way they build their warships to the way they sleep.
"-It was like a night and day difference." Thomas said, wrapping up what he was saying to Richard, before he noticed that Winter had entered the room. "Speaking of which, Specialist Schnee, it's good to see you. I take it that you were able to help the Doctor with what she needed?"
"I was able to activate another one of your soldier's auras, Private First Class Nathan Winters." She responded, taking a position of her own on the edge of the table. "I hope the Doctor wasn't expecting a miracle, a broken leg is a lot more taxing on an aura than food poisoning."
"She's pragmatic, she'll certainly understand if things aren't ideal." Richard stated with a degree of confidence. "But we should proceed, there are far more important matters to discuss."
Here we go. Winter thought, mentally preparing herself to do her duty, even if she still questioned it. Richard brought up a holographic representation of an Atlesian Knight, an older model 130, on the holotable.
"I'm sure you're at least relatively familiar with these, the automated drones utilized by your Kingdom's military." Richard stated.
"An Atlesian Knight, an older version, but still a threat if properly maintained and employed." Winter confirmed, making a note to emphasize that it was still capable despite its age.
"We've located a large number of these particular drones in service to the SDC, supplemented by several other, larger models. Our shipboard A.I has come to the conclusion that this model, and its contemporaries, are vulnerable to cyberwarfare attacks." Richard stated.
Winter's mind ignited with a litany of thoughts, stemming from concern to outright fear. If the UNSC could hack older models of Knight, the newer models that were in development could be vulnerable, not to mention the models they had in active service. If the UNSC could access them, there was no telling what kind of damage they could do.
They wouldn't even need to fire a shot, they could just turn off our defenses and let the Grimm do the rest. Winter morbidly thought.
"Controlling them remotely is out of the question, as the build-in software appears to have some sort of failsafe, frying the hardware to prevent capture. But we can use this as a means to disable them, and even completely destroy some of them remotely" Richard continued.
"And you can do this all the way from the Dominion?" Winter asked, not betraying her emotions on the matter.
"That's correct, our decryption software can be used anywhere we can get a stable connection." Richard answered, only solidifying her fears. "We've formulated a plan to exploit this vulnerability to facilitate a major strike, which we have dubbed Operation Bismarck. We'll strike at seven different mines at the same time, giving us an opportunity to evacuate the majority of the slaves in one move."
"That's certainly an ambitious plan." Winter commented, well aware of the limitations to their forces, but disabling all automated defenses in use by the Security Forces would create a valuable opportunity.
"I'd more say desperate, we're running against a clock here, and we don't even know how fast it's ticking." Thomas bluntly added.
Well, he's notably unenthusiastic. Winter thought, eyeing the man curiously.
"What the Lieutenant here is trying to say is that we don't have the luxury of waiting around for a long campaign." Richard stated, eyeing him disapprovingly. "As much as I would like to wait for Atlesian reinforcements, or get all of our Marines outfitted with an aura, we're losing an unknown number of slaves every day just to the conditions they're being kept in alone. The Doctor guessed we lose maybe a dozen people every day we wait, so time is of the essence."
Winter nodded, although she personally preferred not participating in wild guesswork, especially in regards to casualties. "So, what do you need me to do?"
"I need you to go over our reconnaissance for the targets we've selected and identify any and all weaknesses you can find." Richard answered. "I'll have the relevant data sent over to you as soon as possible."
"I'll see what I can do." Winter said, well aware that the defenses of demoralized mercenaries would be easy to pick apart, regardless of how well they were funded.
"There's something else." Richard stated. "I need you to tell General Ironwood to start swapping the systems of the Atlesian Military over to closed-networks. Curie would be more than happy to donate some of her encryption algorithms to bolster your defenses, and Ensign Gillespie on the Bridge is currently preparing a data-packet containing some firewall software to protect your most important information. It's not going to be infallible, but it's the best we can do with what we have."
Winter was incredibly surprised by his instructions. Not only did they expect her to report their discovery to the General, which she had anticipated, but they actually wanted her to. "...Commander?"
"The Atlesian Military is our ally, Specialist Schnee, we have no reason to leave you behind on the cyberwarfare front." Richard said, without changing tone. Winter could sense the invisible shift in his mood, as the man practically radiated frustration. "I wouldn't be telling you this if I had any intention of using this vulnerability against you."
Winter collected her thoughts and raised her suspicions. "How do we know your defenses don't have vulnerabilities of their own, designed to infiltrate us?"
Richard looked at her as if she were insane, but it was Thomas who interjected to answer her question. "Actually, we already can infiltrate you, and if you'll remember correctly, that's actually how we introduced ourselves to your General."
Winter paused to think for a moment, her own thoughts disturbed as Richard continued. "Can I be frank for a moment, Specialist, maybe help clear the air a bit?"
"Go ahead." Winter said after a moment of hesitation, not understanding why he felt the need to ask.
"The second that General Ironwood offered to cooperate with us on our mission, I took the opportunity. When he threatened us with a war that he couldn't win in order to get you aboard, I took his 'offer', do you know why I did that?" Richard asked.
Winter remained silent, but made it clear that she was listening by gesturing for him to continue.
"Because nobody on this ship wants to be fighting other humans." Richard stated, his tone suggesting that he was trying to hammer home a point that he figured would be obvious. "Nobody here wants to destroy Atlas, and in the event that we did, you'd be dead before you even knew we'd made our decision. But we aren't like that, we aren't murderers, we're soldiers, not a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs."
Winter listened silently as Richard ranted with a bizarre sense of calmness. "All that we want is to do our damn job, protect the lives and safety of our fellow man, that's all we've ever wanted. Today, I learned just how infeasible a trip home is for us, and I'll admit that it's shifted my perspective somewhat. We aren't going to accomplish anything with all of this cloak and dagger nonsense, all we're going to do is pick ourselves apart and weaken ourselves as a species, we'd be doing the Grimm's job for them."
One part of his statement stood out to her, giving her an opportunity to ask a valuable question of her own. "So, you're staying on Remnant, permanently?"
"Yes, we are. As far as we know, this is the only planet humanity has right now, and to put it bluntly, our population is puny." Richard answered, his tone lightening somewhat, even if the content of his words didn't. "Humanity is weaker now than it's been in hundreds of years, and all it would take is one major disaster to send us to the brink of annihilation. We need to shore up what strength we can and bring Remnant into the twenty-sixth century, and we aren't going to do it by undercutting each other."
Winter was mildly disturbed by his words, there was little doubt in her mind that he was being honest, or at least, that he believed he was. "I believe I understand, Commander."
His expression didn't even shift. "Good, please try to remember that we aren't your enemy, we're here to help."
"No matter how much bureaucracy I have to wade through..." Lieutenant Oswald muttered, dramatically unprofessionally, much to Winter's annoyance.
Despite his comment, Richard ignored him. "Now, please, contact General Ironwood and do your best to convince him that we have no interest in hurting your military. Once you've done that, please see if you can identify any strategic weaknesses in the enemies defenses that we might have missed, bear in mind that certain elements of their forces may have been misread by our own scouts."
Winter was still relatively stunned, having not expected the outburst from him, although he hadn't once raised his voice. Not once had she lost her own professional demeanor, and she didn't intend to lose it now. "Was that all, Commander?"
"That was all Specialist, thank you. If you have any troubles with your datapad, you're more than welcome to use the terminal in your quarters, dismissed." Richard said, letting out a heavy sigh as she left.
Menagerie
October 8th, 1943 Menagerie Time, 2552
The soft clicking of a geiger counter overpowered any other quiet noise that emanated from Jorge's landing site. The sound of HAZOP suit boots walking across the sand would occasionally interrupt the steady sound, but for the most part, it was the only thing Ben could hear.
There's nothing salvageable here, this was a waste of time. He thought. He watched as the representative from Menagerie, the Huntress Mags, awkwardly waddled in her own environment suit. At the very least we know that it's contaminated now, we should be able to clean up something this small.
"How bad is it?" Ben asked, kicking over some of the contaminated sand with his armored boot.
"The radiation is not immediately lethal, but it would present a very serious health hazard if exposed." Curie stated. "It would appear that it emanates from the damaged thruster assembly of the Pelican's wreckage, perhaps a breach to one of the reactors."
Ben looked around at the pieces of the Pelican that Jorge had used, parts were scattered all around him and the small team of engineers accompanying them, but most of the wreckage was centered around the fuselage. "I suppose that means nothing here is usable?"
"Well, there's nothing here that we should bother with, if that's what you're asking." she answered. "Although I imagine some of this Covenant-made battleplating would be a valuable recovery for Remnant's institutions of learning."
"The plating?" Ben asked, before walking over to where Mags was standing. "Hey Mags, would your nation have any interest in this alien armor?"
She seemed somewhat confused by the question. "Well, I might not know what to do with it, but I know the gents down at the drydock would kill for a chance to look at some of this." She answered, as she picked up a broken-off piece of alien pipework. "It's so light... and they have entire giant starships made of this stuff?"
"Don't let the low weight fool you, it's very strong." Ben said, prompting her to try to bend it, which she only managed to do slightly.
"Damn, I even put my aura into it a bit there, you weren't kidding." Mags said. "Are you sure that you all don't want this stuff?"
"I can't make the call to give it to you, but with what knowledge I have, I fail to see what we would do with any of this. We have samples of Covenant alloy already, and we've done plenty of research on it ourselves, it'd be better off in your hands." Ben said. "But like I said, I can't make the call to give it to you, we'll check in with command once we've gathered up what we can save."
"Well, it's certainly appreciated." Mags replied. "What about your dropship there?"
"Past the point of saving it, the only thing of value we picked out of it was the flight recorder, and even that was broken." Ben answered. "I wouldn't recommend trying to salvage any of that, however, we can only decontaminate so much with what we've brought here, and it's simply not worth the effort for a bit of scrap-worthy titanium."
Mags looked at the wreckage sadly. "Shame, those things certainly are impressive. Hopefully we can help you build more at some point."
"That's one of our goals ma'am, but it's not my field of expertise." Ben replied.
"Oh yeah, then what do you big metal dudes do?" Mags asked.
"Spartans are Special Forces, kinda like a Huntsman or Huntress, but baked into the military structure itself." Ben explained.
"Ah, like those Specialists up in Atlas then." Mags commented, somewhat disapprovingly. "The whole gist of the organization is that we aren't supposed to be bound by borders or nationality, but they didn't seem to get the message as well."
"We've met." Ben commented, remembering the Specialist he'd fought in Atlas. "I shot one of the bad ones with a grenade launcher."
"Heh, I knew I liked you guys for a reason." Mags replied, before something changed in her expression that Ben couldn't make out.
"What's wrong?" Ben asked, instinctively scanning the horizon for threats, but found nothing.
"...Where's all the Grimm?" she asked, with a hint of suspicion. "We're neck-deep in their territory, we should have definitely seen a few by now."
"Perhaps they are avoiding the radiation?" Curie suggested. "Although that is only a theory, their strange nature may offer some protection against it."
"Or it could be that Jorge cleared this place out on his way back to civilization, and nobody's moved back in yet." Ben added.
"Ah, that's probably it. I haven't met the man, but if he cleared out the Grimm in an area this far out... that says a lot about his capabilities." Mags said. "So, shall we actually get some damn work done?"
"Yes, we should." Ben answered, somewhat annoyed that he had gotten caught up talking without noticing it.
Picking out bits of valuable salvage didn't take long, as most of it was beyond repair. They gathered whatever was salvageable, decontaminated whatever needed it, and left, all without firing a shot.