Argus
October 15th, 1941 Local Time, 2552
The streets of Argus were littered with debris, ranging from the tiny bullet casings left behind by the Battle Rifles of Marines, all the way up to entire chunks of buildings that had been broken off by explosions or by Grimm. Richard stood upon cracked asphalt and watched as both of the Dominion's M313 Heavy Recovery Vehicles, or 'Elephants,' used their large cranes to clear the heavier debris from Main Street. Marines and Atlesian Soldiers patrolled up and down the street past him, with the odd Huntsmen or civilian volunteer helping with the cleanup and rescue effort.
They were still finding people who had been trapped or hiding, even nearly four hours after the shooting had drawn to a close. Occasionally one or two Grimm would emerge from hiding, but they were rapidly cut down by Marines or Huntsmen. In spite of the ferocious odds that had stood against them, and the unexpectedly strong capabilities of the Grimm, the human defenders of Argus had held their ground, the city was secure, and its people were safe.
But we paid a heavy price doing it. Richard thought as a pair of Navy Corpsmen carried the remains of someone whom he really hoped wasn't a Marine past him on a stretcher.
"Commander." A familiar, if weary, voice called out from behind him. Richard turned to see General Ironwood approaching him, a look of exhaustion on his face. "We've finished our sweep of the Fox's wreckage… we couldn't find any survivors."
I'd be amazed if they even found an intact body. Richard miserably thought. "I'm sorry, General."
"You did what you could." Ironwood said. There was sympathy in his voice, but something else as well, an emotion very familiar to Richard, regret.
"They'll be remembered." Richard offered what words of comfort he could. It seemed that Remnant did a good job of remembering their fallen heroes, and that was something he could greatly respect.
Ironwood nodded softly, before regaining his familiar, stony expression. "Reinforcements from Atlas are half-an-hour out, they're bringing Paladins and Battleships. If the Grimm attack again, we'll be ready for them."
Richard looked towards the wall, his gaze fixating on the steady streams of smoke that still rose from the woods outside of Argus. The Grimm had spared no quarter to humanity, and the Dominion and her Airwing had returned the favor. Practically nothing had survived their bombardment. Any Grimm that would have otherwise retreated had been pounded into the dirt or out of the sky. For the moment, it seemed that Argus was safe from counterattacks, but they still weren't taking any chances.
"Commander, are you-" Ironwood began, but quickly stopped himself, probably recognizing how ridiculous that question would be.
"No General, I'm not alright." Richard replied, answering it anyway. "I just... I thought that battles like this were behind us."
Ironwood paused for a moment and seemed to digest Richard's words before he softly responded. "You mean against the Covenant?"
"General, if we were fighting the Covenant, this would be a victory beyond my wildest hopes and dreams." Richard explained. "You don't win against them, you run, and you try to get as many people out as you can in the process…"
A Warthog rode past them, loaded to the brim with wounded or otherwise rescued civilians. They had thousand-yard stares like they were still processing what had happened to their city. He spotted a young pair of women, one of which carried a toddler, who seemed mercifully entertained by the UNSC's vehicles.
"...and sometimes we fail." He softly added, so quiet that nobody could hear him.
Most of Argus's civilian population had survived without a scratch thanks to the UNSC's timely intervention and the Atlesian Garrison's rapid response to the attack. While there was no official casualty count yet, the media was already praising the battle as a miracle. Apparently, when villages and outlying towns were attacked with mobs of Grimm, like what happened to Argus, there typically weren't survivors to tell the tale.
"For what it's worth Commander, this is a victory." Ironwood gently said, apparently he had been watching the civilians as well. "It might not feel like it, but we won today."
"I know." Richard replied, doing his best to hide the sorrow in his voice. "But if this happens again, somewhere else-"
"That's next time Commander, let's not worry about that yet." Ironwood interrupted him, and for once, Richard was grateful that he did. "Right now, let's focus on wrapping up what happened this time, fixing what mistakes we made."
An M850 Grizzly Tank with a dozer blade rumbled by, momentarily silencing their discussion. It seemed that the UNSC's heavy armored vehicles were thankfully useful for more than just killing on Remnant, as they moved tons of debris out of alleyways and roads with impressive efficiency. A team of journalists tried in vain to run after the vehicles, weighed down by their heavy cameras, It seemed that the UNSC's various vehicles were quite popular with the Media.
Ironwood chuckled faintly at the sight of the press correspondents. "If nothing else Commander, you seem to have done a great deal towards shedding your reputation."
Richard blinked a few times and decided to respond how he honestly felt to that statement. "I would rather be viewed as the evilest being in the world, than fight a battle like this on a regular basis to be viewed as a saint."
Ironwood didn't seem to know how to respond, so Richard decided to elaborate. "I would still fight that battle any day General, it's my duty, and the duty of my crew, but I would not enjoy doing it. Anyone who truly enjoys war like this…"
"I understand." Ironwood said with a reassuring nod. "I don't know how much my opinion means to you Commander, but after today, I'm confident in saying that you're a good officer. Your crew is lucky to have you at the helm, and so is Argus."
Ironwood extended his hand, and Richard took it. Ironwood's cybernetic limb was a bit rough to grip onto, but Richard found a stable grasp as he shook the General's hand.
I doubt he would still think that if I told him everything, especially if he knew about the real extent of ONI. Richard thought.
Richard did his best to ignore his thoughts as he spoke. "I appreciate it General, more than you realize. I know that our first encounters were… tense, but I'm glad we've moved past that."
Ironwood gave a genuine smile of appreciation. "Likewise, Commander."
Richard's earpiece buzzed and chirped, he held up a finger to Ironwood to communicate that he needed a moment of quiet. "This is Richard, go ahead."
"Commander." His earpiece barked with Bradford's voice. "You're needed aboard the Dominion as soon as possible."
"For what purpose Lieutenant?" Richard asked.
"Sir, Curie's completed her report on the Grimm's movements." Bradford explained. "But there's something else, something more important, about Curie herself."
Richard must've had some sort of visible reaction because Ironwood gave him a silent nod of support. Richard made an effort to straighten up his expression to hide his worries, he had only spoken once or twice with Curie since the battle, and she hadn't yet explained exactly what had happened to her. She had said her capabilities were compromised, and that she was damaged, which was disturbingly vague.
Richard's own knowledge of was limited; but if Curie had become irreparably damaged in some way, he knew that not just the UNSC, but human civilization on Remnant as a whole would be crippled. Remnant was only just barely starting to develop early models of Dumb A.I for logistical and administrative roles, the creation of something as advanced as a Smart A.I was unlikely to happen in Richard's lifetime, let alone a military-grade third-generation A.I fragment.
Goddamnit, why did this have to happen now of all times? Richard thought. Thankfully, Curie had not shown any recent behavioral quirks, which were the only negative habit that Curie had ever had in the past, and they were hardly a strategic crisis. Still, if Curie was potentially compromised, it demanded the immediate attention of his officers and himself.
"I'll take the next Darter up, get Thomas, yourself, and Ben assembled in the War Room." Richard instructed.
"Ben, Sir?" Bradford asked.
"Yes Lieutenant, especially him." Richard thought. He would've elaborated as to exactly why, but given the large amount of bystanders and people who could potentially listen in, he wasn't about to start openly discussing sensitive information. "Am I clear?"
"Aye Sir, see you in a few minutes." Bradford replied. "Bradford out."
Ironwood gave him a look of sympathy. "I certainly hope that wasn't more bad news."
Richard turned to him with a tired stare. "Me too, General."
UNSC Dominion, Starboard Hangar
October 15th, 1950 Local Time, 2552
As soon as Ben walked out of the back of Fireball's Pelican and onto the flight deck of the Dominion, he found Richard was already waiting for him. He snapped to attention immediately, but Richard waved him to come aboard before Ben could even ask.
"Welcome back Sergeant, how did your assignments go?" Richard asked.
"All accomplished Sir," Ben reported. "The rest of Onyx Team is helping with the cleanup, but I was told you have another assignment for me."
To his surprise, Richard visibly winced at his words. It was so subtle that none of the pilots or crewmen around them seemed to notice, but Ben knew Richard well enough to recognize his subtle reactions.
"Not an assignment, but I do need your help. Follow me." Richard said. His voice was monotone, devoid of emotion in a way that made Ben slightly nervous. It was the tone that Richard had used during Ben's time in Boot Camp, specifically, whenever he had done something wrong. Whatever had happened, it had Richard on edge, and that made Ben wary.
Maybe it's just the battle getting to him? Ben thought, but somehow he doubted it. Richard had fought hard battles before, what was different about this one?
The two of them walked out of the incredibly busy Hangar and into one of the many corridors of the Dominion. The crewmen that Ben walked passed seemed anxious, tense, and wary of danger. Some of them perked up when they saw him and the Commander, but Ben could still sense the exhaustion from them. But none of them were as tense as Richard, who remained dead silent and fixated solely on walking towards the War Room.
"Commander?" Ben prompted, unable to stand the tension any longer. "What's wrong?"
Richard took a deep and uneven breath, it sounded quite rough, perhaps even a bit labored, before he gently exhaled it. "...Curie… was damaged, during the battle."
Ben froze in place as the impact of what Richard had just said hit him with the force of a MAC from point-blank range. In the blink of an eye, his train of thought was completely derailed, pushed aside and replaced with one, overwhelming emotion, concern. Every ounce of his honed discipline melted away as if it were thrust into the core of a star.
"What?" Ben said. "Is… is she okay?! What happened?!"
Richard turned to face him with an expression of overwhelming sympathy. Now Ben understood exactly what had him so on edge, he must've been trying to find a way to break the news.
"We think so." He replied, offering some relief to the storm of worry and fear that had overwhelmed Ben so suddenly. "Come on, she's going to explain exactly what's going on."
Ben fought back the urge to sprint ahead of Richard but followed behind him closely. He tried to open a private comms channel to Curie, but disturbingly, he received no response. Even though there were a thousand different reasons that she could have not to answer, it still only fuelled his fears.
How could Curie even be damaged in the first place? She was aboard the Dominion for the whole battle! Ben thought. He had seen the Dominion take some hits from various Grimm projectiles, like acid and Nevermore feathers. But they wouldn't have caused enough damage to the ship to break through the armor, let alone damage Curie in any meaningful way.
Even when he had been sitting in the office of Lieutenant Commander Ambrose as a child, worrying about whether or not his performance would be enough to keep him in the Spartan III program, he hadn't felt as wracked with nerves as he did right now. It caught him off guard, normally he could keep his emotions in check, but how could he not feel worry and fear for the safety of his closest friend? Curie had always seemed untouchable, but apparently she wasn't as invulnerable as he had thought.
Richard remained eerily silent, and Ben knew better than to try to talk with him. He was clearly in deep and troubled thought, and he was probably going through a similar hurricane of worries to the one that Ben was. But while Ben was only worrying about Curie, Richard had to worry about all of Argus and the UNSC, not to mention the rest of Remnant. And if Richard had any answers for what was going on with Curie, Ben was confident that he would have shared them.
The walk to the War Room felt like it would last forever as if the corridors of the Dominion lengthened themselves in an effort to keep Ben and Richard as far as possible from their destination and from Curie. Ben could not remember a time in which he had ever felt so powerless, helpless against something that could not be fought. Mercifully, they finally reached the bulkhead to the War Room, and Ben wasted no time in opening the door.
His eyes scanned the room even before the door had swung out of the way, and he spotted Curie's hologram displayed out of her datachip, which had been placed onto the holotable in the center of the room, as she discussed something with Bradford and Thomas.
"Curie!" Ben exclaimed with relief. He was at the side of the table in the blink of an eye and moved so quickly that he apparently took Thomas and Bradford by surprise. "What happened? Who hurt you, and how?!"
Curie turned to face him with an expression of relief. "Ben, thank goodness, I promise it's not that bad…"
"Not that bad?!" Thomas demanded. Ben noticed an emotion distinctly imprinted into his expression that he hadn't seen from Thomas before, fear. "You're going rampant! How is that 'not that bad?'"
Time seemed to slow down to an absolute crawl as Ben's mind wracked itself over what Thomas had just said. He felt as if all of the air in his lungs was gone, his skin felt rough, dry, and pinpoints of cold fear ran throughout his body.
Rampant. Ben repeated in his mind, over and over, but never still quite digesting it. He understood the word, and it's meaning, but yet, he couldn't grasp the connection between it and Curie.
Curie couldn't become rampant, she just couldn't! She'd said so herself, and Curie had never lied to him. Even Lieutenant Commander Ambrose had said the same thing many years ago, and yet, here Thomas was, claiming that Curie was becoming rampant. The fear on his face was all the evidence that Ben needed to confirm that Thomas genuinely believed the claim, and yet, it simply couldn't be true.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to notice something extraordinarily strange. The officers around him moved in slow motion, and Curie herself was speaking noticeably slower as she called out Thomas on his brashness. It was almost as if he was experiencing Spartan Time until he realized that was exactly what had happened. For the moment, he ignored the oddity, it was easily the least important thing going on right now.
Curie finished her statement towards Thomas, her posture fixed in a very defensive stance. Ben hadn't actually heard what she said, but whatever it was, it was apparently enough to deeply insult Thomas, judging by his expression.
"Curie." Ben said. It took every ounce of his discipline to speak as slowly and with as much care as he normally did, but barely, he managed to keep his emotions under control. "What happened?"
"I just-!" Thomas exclaimed, but he was interrupted as Richard held up a single finger, a silent gesture for him to shut his mouth and let Curie answer. He noticed Richard's subtle command and silently obeyed.
Curie turned back towards Ben, now with a nervous expression on her face. She shuffled her feet awkwardly as she looked up at him. "Ben I… I overloaded my processing limits during the battle. Some of my neural linkages were killed by the stress."
"I don't understand." Ben replied. "You can create new ones."
Curie closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep, digital breath. "...I… I can't, not anymore."
"Why not?" Richard interjected, speaking for the first time since he had entered the room. Ben recognized he had simply been watching for the last few seconds, and caught a glimpse of the immense exhaustion in his eyes. "What's changed?"
Curie turned to face Richard with a similar expression of fear on her face. "I honestly do not know. I try to repair the damage but I can not, it is as if those links are not even a part of me anymore, I have no control over them."
"How much of you is damaged, Curie?" Ben asked. He noticed that Bradford and Thomas looked at him with expressions of surprise. Apparently, he wasn't as good at keeping his emotions out of his voice as he thought.
Keep it together, don't panic. Ben told himself, mentally willing himself to think slowly and carefully. Losing control of his emotions was something he had been taught to avoid, and his training proved exceptionally useful.
"Only a small portion, but the damage is slowly spreading." Curie said, with an unmistakable hint of fear in her voice.
"How do we fix you?" Ben asked, making a concentrated effort to sound more professional this time.
"...I do not know." Curie said. Her expression hurt Ben beyond any physical attack. She looked completely terrified.
It took Ben a moment to process what she had just said, Thomas interjected once more.
"Commander, I've worked with Rampant A.I before, we need to quarantine Curie before any of our systems become damaged." Thomas said, his voice carrying a grim seriousness to it. "There is a standardized protocol for this exact situation, and it is critical that we follow it."
"I have already done so." Curie reassured him, but Thomas didn't seem to acknowledge her.
"Commander-" Thomas repeated.
"I heard you the first time, Lieutenant." Richard reassured him. "We can trust Curie's judgement, especially if her Rampancy hasn't advanced that far yet."
Thomas took a deep breath in frustration. "You're right, at least for the moment, we can trust her..."
What's got him so paranoid? Ben thought with no small hint of irritation. Lieutenant Oswald had never had any issues trusting Curie before, why did he suddenly have issues with her?
"Lieutenant, I assure you, I am still functional." Curie said, without a shred of animosity in her voice.
"That is not my concern Curie." Thomas stated. "Use a triple-layered security proxy and search the Dominion's logs for the Final Dispensation of UNSC A.I "Augustus" AUG-34377, you'll understand why I'm worried."
Curie silently brought up the report in question, and her expression shifted to one of concern. "I have the list here Lieutenant, there were twenty-two casualties, all were fatalities."
"And they died when their rampant A.I flushed them into the vacuum of space. Augustus had no control over his actions, and twenty-two sailors paid the ultimate price for it." Thomas elaborated, causing both Bradford and Richard to grimace. "That is why we have our Rampancy protocols, Curie. I'm not worried about what you're going to do now, I'm worried about what you're going to do when you lose control of your actions."
Curie looked to him with an absolutely defeated expression, and Ben could stay silent no longer.
"Lieutenant, we should be finding a way to fix Curie, not speculating about hypotheticals." Ben interjected. "If we can stop Curie's Rampancy from spreading-"
"She said herself she doesn't have a solution, Sergeant." Thomas pointed out. "A Rampant A.I cannot control themselves, and that means we need to take appropriate precautions to keep everyone safe."
Ben cocked his head in confusion. "We're not outside of the atmosphere, how could Curie feasibly hurt anyone, even if she was rampant?"
"She still has access to the CCTS, Sergeant. Imagine what a Rampant A.I would do to a network that big, especially one without any functional electronic defenses!" Thomas countered. "She could shut down the whole planet if we're not careful!"
Ben noticed how dejected Curie looked at the whole situation, and it wasn't hard to understand why. He couldn't remember a time where she had looked more miserable. She had even seemed to shift her coloration to a darker shade of blue. Even still, it was obvious that her mind was still sharp, and she spoke up to voice a suggestion. "Lieutenant, what if we could develop a cure for Rampancy, or at least a sort of countermeasure?"
Thomas shook his head. "There is no way that you could do something like that by yourself, especially once your condition worsens. Not to mention the state of Remnant's electronic sector, you'd have better luck pulling apologies out of an Elite than anything useful out of them."
"Nothing is impossible Lieutenant… just very unlikely." Richard quietly pointed out.
Thomas seemed to be caught off guard by his interjection. "Sir, no matter what our long-term strategy is here, we cannot afford to leave Curie in our systems. Think about the big picture, if we lose the Dominion to some kind of technical failure, we put Humanity as a whole at risk."
Even though Ben disagreed with how Thomas presented his argument, he couldn't help but admit that from a dispassionate strategic point of view, the ONI agent had an excellent point. Curie was the most powerful cyberwarfare weapon on Remnant, and not even the Dominion would be safe from her if she went Rampant inside of its systems.
But we'll find a way to fix her, we have to. Ben stubbornly thought. He was not willing to entertain the possibility of Curie dying, not just because she was so important to the UNSC, but because he didn't know if he could handle losing such a close friend.
"Then let me take her." Ben suggested. "Mjolnir is immune to any kind of cyberwarfare attack, even internally."
"Monsieur Ben is correct, Mjolnir is specially hardened to resist any kind of electronic intrusion." Curie said, backing up his claim with enthusiasm.
"Can we afford to take that risk?" Bradford muttered. "We just got our asses kicked, do we really want to risk weakening a Spartan, maybe even losing one?"
"Sir, Curie would never-" Ben began to reply, but Thomas cut him off.
"Curie won't be able to control her own actions in the near future, and all rampant A.I have shared the same animosity towards humanity." Thomas stated. "Regardless of whether she would want to or not, there is a chance that she could find a way to hurt you."
"Ben… maybe he's right." Curie said, an expression of immense concern on her face. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't." Ben reassured her without a moment's hesitation or doubt.
"Sergeant, did you not just hear-" Thomas loudly protested, but this time, it was Ben that interrupted him.
"As I explained Sir, any hostile intelligence stored within Mjolnir could not harm my operational effectiveness." Ben stated. "Your concerns are appreciated, but not warranted."
By now, Ben could sense the tension in the room, everyone could. What had originally started as a meeting to discuss Curie's circumstances had begun to devolve into a confrontation.
Thomas looked at Ben with a faint hint of suspicion. "Standing protocols state that Curie should be isolated into a non-essential system and quarantined. I would argue that regardless of any kind of electronic hardening, your armor still qualifies as an essential system."
"Hold on a moment Lieutenant, what protocols are you referencing?" Richard suddenly asked.
Thomas seemed to digest what he was saying for a moment before replying. "UNSC Regulation 12-145-72, Article Fifty. It details the exact procedures under which to properly quarantine a Rampant Smart A.I."
"I'm familiar with it." Richard said. "That protocol does not apply to this situation."
"I'm… not sure I understand, Commander." Thomas said. "Curie is a Smart A.I, and regardless of how it began, she is undergoing End-Stage Rampancy. Why wouldn't that protocol apply to this situation?"
Ben fought back the urge to interject and point out the Lieutenant's error in logic, instead he waited for Richard to explain the situation, it seemed like he was doing a much better job at keeping a level head.
"Because Curie is not a Smart A.I, she is a fragment of a Smart A.I." Richard explained. "Before today, she was not bound by the exponential growth of her cognitive processors, right Ben?"
"That is correct, Sir. In fact, I referred to that about five minutes ago." Ben said, feeling a slight hint of irritation at the officers around him, weren't they paying attention?
"Wait… that's what you meant?" Thomas asked, his eyes widening with recognition as he looked at the both of them. "Hold on a moment, are you saying that before today, Curie had a functionally unlimited lifespan?"
"I'm afraid that is precisely the case, Lieutenant." Richard answered. "She is an A.I fragment, not a traditional Smart A.I."
Thomas paused and appeared to mull over the revelations in his head. "But, that's impossible! If there was a way to avoid the limited lifespan of Smart , I definitely would have heard about it. The whole damn Fleet would have them!"
Bradford scratched his chin beside him. "What exactly is an A.I fragment?"
Ben opened his mouth to answer, but quickly realized that he didn't actually know. What exactly was an A.I fragment? He knew Curie, and about the differences between herself and a normal Smart A.I, but he didn't actually know where she came from. Maybe it's in reference to her limited processing capabilities?
Richard looked at Thomas with an expression of faint disappointment. "You're from ONI, Section III right? You of all people should understand the importance of containing strategically valuable information, especially if it has some uncomfortable baggage to it."
Thomas and Bradford both widened their eyes with recognition, although Ben still couldn't understand exactly what it was that Richard was insinuating. Was ONI hiding something about A.I fragments, and if so, what was it?
"I… well, I don't entirely understand, but I don't suppose that's what's important now." Thomas said, the unresolved question clearly bothering him somewhat. "What's our plan?"
"Well if Curie doesn't work like a normal Smart A.I, then there isn't really a precedent for this situation, is there? We're flying in the dark." Bradford noted. "Whatever our plan is, we shouldn't take any unnecessary risks, we could potentially risk losing Curie if we do something wrong."
"Losing Curie isn't an option." Ben reaffirmed his position. He shot Curie a confident look, and he could tell that even through his golden visor she could understand him perfectly, as she gave the faintest of smiles.
Richard looked at Ben and Curie for a brief moment, with an expression that Ben couldn't entirely discern, before turning back towards the other two officers. "Okay, here's what we'll do for now. Curie will remain inside of her chip and attempt to slow the spread of her Rampancy. Keep in mind, this is the first time that an A.I fragment has ever gone Rampant, she might be able find a way to stop it."
To our knowledge. Ben mentally added. For all they knew, the same thing could've happened a hundred times over at home, but seeing as that information was completely inaccessible to the crew of the Dominion, Ben saw no reason to bring it up.
"I cannot confirm that possibility, but I will give it my best effort." Curie said, her voice rich with determination.
"What about the rest of us? We can't rely on Curie alone to fix this." Bradford pointed out.
"I'm afraid we don't have much choice at the moment, but I do have some ideas of where we can look for help." Richard said. "Thomas, see if you can negotiate with Ironwood to secure his Military's knowledge of Dumb A.I. I understand that it's not likely to be helpful, but we should take anything we can get. Their technology developed differently than ours, so maybe they learned a trick or two even we never found out."
The ONI officer nodded with a dead seriousness. "I'll secure whatever I can, and I'll see if I can avoid leaking too many dangerous secrets in the process."
"If I may, Commander." Curie asked for permission to interject, Richard nodded for her to continue. "I believe that the Dominion's archive contains a number of files related to the nature of A.I fragments, they may be able to assist us."
Richard raised an eyebrow. "Well, what's in them?"
"I couldn't say, I was only informed of them because tampering with them was strictly prohibited. All of them are heavily encrypted and secured, and will only open with a direct biometric scan from Colonel James Ackerson." Curie explained.
Richard and Ben gave each other a nervous look. Ackerson was the mastermind of the Spartan III program, and had a reputation for working with some very shady methods and people who were even worse. Although neither of them could guess what was in those files, it was likely that what lay within would be more than unsavory.
"Well, what use is that?" Thomas doubtfully asked. "He's not stuck out here with us, what use are those going to be?"
"More than you may think. Curie, would your infiltration software be able to crack the security on those files?" Richard asked.
"I believe so, given enough time." Curie answered.
Thomas rubbed his hands through his hair in a stress-filled manner. "Commander, please tell me that you aren't going to authorize the decryption of classified ONI files."
"I believe that is exactly what I am going to do." Richard stated firmly. "Those files could contain strategically crucial information, and if ONI doesn't like us cracking them, they're more than welcome to come join us and unlock them for us. Otherwise, Curie's infiltration software will have to do."
Curie nodded. "Infiltration is my strong suit."
"On the note of slowing Curie's Rampancy, I just wanted to ask…" Bradford interjected. "... what happens if it spreads throughout all of Curie?"
The mood in the room became considerably more solemn, before Curie herself answered. "I could not honestly speculate, monsieur Bradford. But a normal Smart A.I will eventually self-terminate, as their neural linkages become too few to keep them operational."
There was a moment of silence as they all digested the meaning of what Curie had said, before she broke the silence to elaborate further. "But as I said, it is entirely possible that something else will happen, although what exactly, I could not say."
"Either way, let's not take any chances. Curie, use any means at your disposal to avoid that possibility." Richard said. "In the meantime, we'll try to figure out how to reverse the damage."
"That's… a hell of a task Sir." Thomas said. "I wasn't exaggerating earlier, we couldn't figure out how to fix Rampancy back home, how the hell are we gonna do it all the way out here?"
"I don't know Lieutenant, but we have some time to find an answer." Richard replied. "In the meantime, we'll need to keep Curie quarantined from the rest of the Dominion's systems. Even if she won't become violent, it's not a risk we should be taking."
"I will recall any subroutines to my Riemann Matrix." Curie said, her hologram flickered slightly for a moment, before returning to normal. "It is done, from now on, I'll perform any assignment through wireless proxy."
Richard gave her a grateful nod. "Good. Bradford, take Curie's datachip down to-"
In spite of how grossly out of line it was, Ben interrupted him. "Commander, let me take Curie's chip, even if she does go Rampant, she won't be able to cause any harm."
"Are you sure?" Bradford asked. "Have you ever carried a Rampant A.I?"
Richard raised an eyebrow in concern as he mentally weighed over Ben's proposal. "Ben, doesn't your Mjolnir interface directly with your Neural Interface?"
"It does." Ben admitted. "But if there was a security threat in the first place, it wouldn't be part of the suit."
"I can confirm this Commander, any A.I could not control Ben's suit of Mjolnir in any circumstance." Curie said.
Richard clearly gave it a full consideration, but when he spoke, he did so with a stern and unwavering conviction. "Denied. There's no reason that Curie can't continue to operate in an isolated terminal, and I need you at your best. If Curie goes Rampant while she's in your armor, I don't need you making any rash decisions."
It wasn't too hard for Ben to read into the subtext behind Richard's answer. He didn't trust Ben to keep a level head. At first, he thought about responding, vocalizing just how insulted he was, until he realized that perhaps Richard had a point. There was already a small part of Ben's mind that told him not to trust Richard, to take Curie and keep her safe inside of his armor, but that was exactly why Richard was reluctant to give Curie to him.
It also didn't help that one of the side-effects of his augmentations was distrust and suspicion in times of stress, so perhaps he wasn't thinking with as level a head as he thought. Even so, he couldn't deny how wrong it felt to leave Curie on her own, at what was easily the worst point in her life.
"Sir… you can trust me." Ben said. He already knew that Richard wasn't going to back down on this, but at the very least, he didn't want his friendship with Richard to be shaken.
"I know, son." Richard replied with an honest, but firm tone. "But my orders stand, Curie will stay aboard the Dominion until we can stabilize her Rampancy."
"He's right Ben." Curie interjected, taking him off-guard. "If there is a risk of you getting hurt… I should stay here."
With no small amount of reluctance, Ben nodded. He didn't like the decision they had made, but his approval was not required. "Yes Sir."
Orders were orders, there were no exceptions.
UNSC Dominion, Starboard Armory
October 15th, 2022 Local Time, 2552
It didn't even take a minute for a Doctor to clear Fairfire of any injuries. Once she had gone for her mandatory medical examination, she had found herself ordered back to the post she had found herself at earlier, organizing the Starboard Armory. Unlike earlier however, she was no longer preparing equipment to be brought down to the ground, now she was storing equipment that had been recovered from the battlefield.
Commander Miller had ordered that all UNSC weaponry and technology be recovered along with the fallen Marines that carried it, and she certainly understood why. Losing all of that equipment simply because nobody bothered to pick it all up was unacceptable, especially when some of it couldn't actually be replaced. Still, actually being tasked with putting all of it away was not what Fairfire considered to be an enviable task.
When she heard the bulkhead open, she assumed it was just another Marine of Navy Crewman bringing her more equipment to store, and so she didn't even turn away from the ammunition shelf that she was loading. "Stow everything on that table, I'll get to it when I have a chance."
"I believe you are mistaking me for somebody else, Corporal." Winter's distinct voice stated.
Fairfire turned around and sagged her shoulders with relief. "Hey there Specialist, what're you doing here?"
Winter raised an eyebrow as she approached the shelf that Fairfire stood beside. "Didn't I say that we would discuss your Semblance in greater detail later?"
Fairfire didn't pause her work as she replied. "You did, I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon."
Winter paused for a moment as she stood beside Fairfire. "Expecting, or hoping?"
Fairfire sighed deeply. "Expecting. Believe it or not, I don't actively avoid talking to you."
Winter gave a faint huff of amusement. "I'm aware, but aren't you worried about your Semblance? What it might mean for your career?"
Fairfire's hand trembled as she placed one last container of ammo back into its shelving unit, before she closed it and sealed the security locks. "Of course I'm worried! I'm just… tired, I guess."
"That's certainly understandable, most people would try to get some bed rest after they overexert themselves as drastically as you did." Winter said, with what Fairfire could only hope was a sympathetic tone to her voice. "I'm honestly surprised you woke up so quickly, half of my graduating class would probably have been out for half-an-hour at best."
Fairfire gave a grim chuckle. "Yeah well, I guess if you take enough blows to the head, eventually they stop hurting as bad."
Winter hummed with undisguised disapproval. "I still don't understand your humor, it's so… miserable. But nevermind that, we still need to discuss what we've learned about your Semblance."
"What's there to say?" Fairfire asked, not bothering to hide the misery from her voice. "I can't control it, I'd be a liability-"
"What are you talking about?" Winter retorted. "You've barely even learned how your Semblance functions. Did you really think that learning how to use it would be so easy?"
Fairfire was very surprised by Winter's outburst, and she continued without pause.
"Some people, like Private Nathan, have simple Semblances that are easy to use." Winter said. "Your Semblance, like mine, is far more complex. You will need to work much harder to master it."
Fairfire sighed, she knew that Winter was right, and that she was far more knowledgeable on the subject that Fairfire could ever hope to be. "And what if I can't control it?"
"You can." Winter insisted. "You've survived combat against the Schnee Dust Company and its mercenaries, the Grimm, not to mention the Covenant. Learning to command your Semblance should be easy in comparison!"
An unexpected shiver ran up Fairfire's spine. She hadn't thought much about the Covenant since she had gotten stranded on Remnant, and she was starting to realize just how much of a relief it was not having to worry about them. The Grimm were no cakewalk, but in all honesty, Fairfire found it hard to complain.
"Well, how do I control it?" Fairfire asked. "If it can trigger against anything I view as an enemy, then I could end up attacking someone I'm not supposed to!"
Winter took a moment to think it over before speaking. "I'm still not sure if that's how your Semblance actually functions. In fact, I would speculate that it's more influenced by your emotions than how you view the world around you."
"What do you mean?" Fairfire asked as she roughly scratched her hair.
"Well, your Semblance has only activated on its own twice. In both situations, you were overwhelmed by something." Winter elaborated. "Maybe your Semblance acts as a sort of defense mechanism against that?"
Fairfire thought back to the battle in Argus, she had been low on ammo, and more Grimm than she could fight had been closing in. In Atlas however, she had been so appalled by what she had seen, that she had completely lost her calm. There was little doubt in her mind that if her Semblance hadn't taken the reins, she would have had a nervous breakdown.
"That… that makes sense I guess." Fairfire said. "I remember back in Atlas… I hadn't actually seen anything like that before, at least, not anything done by humans."
Winter nodded solemnly. "You couldn't keep a clear head, and so your Semblance took over."
"But if that's the case, why would it trigger in Argus?" Fairfire asked.
"I couldn't say for certain, but we were certainly in a dangerous position." Winter said.
Fairfire shook her head. "But I've been through worse!"
"Maybe you have, but you didn't know how to activate your Semblance then, now you do," Winter said. "I suppose the best thing I can suggest you do is try to keep a clear state of mind in battle."
"But how can I do that if I'm not cleared for action?" Fairfire asked.
"That's not a problem, actually." An unexpected, third voice interjected on their conversation.
Standing in the open bulkhead to the armory was Lieutenant Jorge, in full Mjolnir, but with his helmet removed. A quick glance at Winter confirmed that she hadn't noticed his presence either.
How does a guy wearing half a ton of armor move so damn quietly? Fairfire wondered.
"Lieutenant, have you been eavesdropping on us?" Winter asked, voiced laden with disgust. "This is a private matter!"
Jorge looked at the both of them apologetically. "Actually, I just wanted to stop by and ask why the bulkhead wasn't closed. In the future, try to close these after you pass through them, it's part of our standard safety protocols."
"...Oh." Winter said, her tone rapidly shifting to one of faint embarrassment. "My mistake Lieutenant. What did you say about Corporal Fairfire?"
"Oh, right." Jorge said with an unreadable tone as he stepped into the room, closing the bulkhead as he did. "You won't need to worry about getting cleared for action, I made sure of that personally."
Fairfire was so surprised by what he had said that she almost didn't believe it. "What?"
"You've been reassigned to Onyx Team again, and you're cleared for active duty." Jorge clarified. "That being said, the Commander still wants you to continue your training with Specialist Schnee and to visit the Sickbay if you notice any oddities."
The news brought on a sense of relief so strong that Fairfire was nearly brought to tears, but thankfully, she managed to keep a straight face. "I… thank you, Sir."
"Don't mention it, Sergeant." Jorge replied. When she looked at him with a perplexed look on her face, his eyes flickered with recognition. "Ah, sorry, that one's my bad. One moment."
There was a brief moment of silence as Jorge put on his helmet, before using his Neural Lace to adjust Fairfire's rank to that of a Sergeant, before taking it off once again. "I'm afraid you'll have to earn the rest of your bars back the hard way."
Fairfire used her own Neural Interface to look at the change for herself. Sure enough, she was now registered as a Sergeant, and although it wasn't the same rank that she had previously held, it was a deeply reassuring sign of trust in her capabilities.
I just can't mess up again, or it will be meaningless. Fairfire thought, but now her dread was gone, replaced with a determination that she hadn't felt in a while.
"And for what it's worth Sergeant, I'm sorry for doubting you." Jorge said, with what seemed to be a genuinely apologetic look on his face. "I didn't know about your Semblance."
She gave him a nod of forgiveness. "Don't be, Semblance or not, I still shot an innocent man. And none of us knew how it worked, your response was more than justified."
Jorge only nodded in response. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few more things I need to get done tonight."
Once Jorge had left and resealed the bulkhead, Winter looked at Fairfire with a self-assured expression on her face. "You see? You'll get a chance to work on it."
"...I suppose I will." Fairfire said with a smile of her own. "Thanks, Winter."
"Think nothing of it, Sergeant." Winter said. "It'll be up to you to improve your self control."
With that last comment, Winter left as well, and Fairfire returned to her work.
UNSC Dominion, Sickbay
October 15th, 2044 Local Time, 2552
Nobody paused to look at Richard as he walked through Sickbay, it was far too busy for them to spare him any mind. Marines and Atlesian Soldiers were holed up in practically every cot, with dozens of wounded civilians fitting pretty much anywhere that they could. It was unnerving to see just how many of the brave men and women under his command had been wounded, and even more unnerving at how quickly Sickbay had gone from practically empty to outright overflowing.
There's not a single hospital on Remnant that has all of the equipment we have here, some of these people would be dead if they ended up anywhere else. Richard realized.
He'd underestimated just how primitive Remnant's medical technology was. While they had developed a great deal of capable medicine and sterilization protocols, they had yet to master complex surgeries, and vaccines were still seen as a 'new' technology. It was disheartening to hear just how many people on Remnant suffered from things that would've been cured or fixed within a single doctor's visit back home.
With a deep sigh, Richard turned away from the Intensive Care Unit and found his way down towards the ocular care station, where he found the man he was looking for.
Lieutenant Clark's bloody bandage had been swapped out for a proper eyepatch, and Richard could tell just by his posture that the Doctors probably had him on some kind of painkillers. Still, he noticed Richard approaching him, and straightened up his posture accordingly.
"Easy there Lieutenant, you've had a hell of day already, no need to go hurting yourself." Richard said.
"Feh." Clark muttered, which had probably meant to be some kind of acknowledgement, but had gotten lost somewhere along the way. "I told those bloody quack Doctors I'm fine, still laid me up here. There's a dozen people outside who need the bed more."
Richard couldn't help the morbid chuckle that Clark inspired. "You sound just like Ben."
"Ah, know him well then?" Clark asked, his voice slurring somewhat.
"You could say that." Richard said, deciding that going into greater detail was unnecessary. "You just lost an eye Lieutenant, that's not something you're going to walk off."
Clark shook his head, probably in an attempt to clear it of the dazing effect of the painkillers. "Yeah well, I ain't doing much more here than I'd be doing in my bunk, and then the Docs could be looking at someone else."
"They're the Doctors, not you." Richard pointed out. "They'll decide what's best for your situation."
It took Clark an extra moment to respond, but he gave a half-hearted nod. "Aye Sir. Any word on the casualty figures yet?"
"Not yet." Richard said. He'd grown very good at lying during his time at ONI, but he was still disturbed by just how easy it was. "But you should be worried about yourself first, you aren't gonna be leading anyone until you get cleared for duty."
"Yeah… about that." Clark said. "You know they don't make synthetic eyes on the frontline, right Commander?"
Richard shook his head. "We'll figure something out. I know Atlas has some decent prosthetics, we should be able to get some of those until we can get back home."
Clark stared blankly at him, whether it was an effect of the medication or just his exhaustion, Richard sensed he wasn't entirely there.
"You're still with me, right Lieutenant?" He asked.
"Commander… we're not going home, are we?" Clark muttered.
What the hell prompted that? Richard thought. He was taken completely off guard by the question. It could be the drugs affecting his thinking… or maybe not.
A pang of sympathy momentarily overtook him for a moment before he softly shook his head. "I don't know Clark, I honestly don't. I know we'll find a way back, but I don't know if we'll still be around by the time that happens."
"Ah." Clark said, seeming to understand what Richard was saying. "Thanks Commander… for the honesty."
"I should be the one thanking you." Richard replied. "Without you and your Company, there wouldn't be an Argus anymore."
Clark blinked at him with an unreadable expression. "Just doing our jobs, Sir."
Richard spared a glance at the Medical Staff around them, and realized they probably didn't appreciate him being in their way. "Well look, I can't stick around much longer, it's a busy day and all."
"Ha, aren't they always." Clark replied. Richard could sense the exhaustion in his deflated voice, and yet, there was still a familiar sense of stoicism in the man's voice.
"I'll get out of your way for the time being." Richard said, before he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small black box, which he placed on the side table next to Clark. "Fine work... Captain Clark."
Clark gave him an uneasy salute, which Richard returned in full before he left. Promoting him didn't functionally change anything, but a Company C.O typically carried the rank of a captain, and Clark had more than earned it.
Bradford was currently managing the cleanup, as the massive effort weighed heavily into his skillset. With Argus momentarily safe and the cleanup effort being handled by his Executive Officer, Richard had secured a few minutes of respite for himself.
He made his way to his private quarters and took a moment to breath deeply in the silence of his own room. Compared to the hours of shouting and explosions that had preceded it, the quiet seemed forced, unnatural, like at any moment another explosion was going to go off, and the battle would start all over again.
More than once, his gaze drifted to the bottle of barely-touched whiskey in his locker. Eventually he walked over and shut it with considerably more force than was necessary, the temptation was unwelcome. Wouldn't help me anyway…
In the private silence of his own room, he ran out of excuses to avoid looking at the thing he knew he couldn't avoid. With a lump in his throat and a heavy heart, Richard turned on his datapad and brought up the most recent file from Lieutenant Commander Bradford, a casualty report on the battle of Argus.
Richard didn't even blink as he ran his fingers across the long list of names, those confirmed killed, those thought to be dead or otherwise missing, or those who were still in critical condition. Some names he recognized, some he didn't, the latter hurt far more, as they had died under his command and he had not even known their names. It only got worse once he added on the casualties from the SDC campaign, but he wanted the full picture, he wanted to know just how many of them were now gone.
The results were just as bad as he expected. Of the two-hundred and fifty Marines that had originally comprised Zulu Company, only one-hundred and seventy-five were still alive. One in every three UNSC Marines that had ever placed their boots on planet Remnant were now dead. Ten more of his people had died on Remnant as well, comprising the three ODSTs of Onyx Team who had lost their lives, and the five pilots and two tankers who had fallen during the fight for Argus.
"I'm so sorry…" Richard muttered.
He didn't know who it was exactly he was speaking to, was it the men who had died today, or those in Atlas? Or was it all of the men and women who had died under his command during his time in ONI? More than likely, it was all of them.
For the first time in years, Richard allowed himself to cry.