Vytal Town Hall, Assembly Hall
October 25th, 0901 Local Time, 2552
After a much-needed five-minute breather, Richard wasn't surprised to receive a transmission from General Ironwood.
This had better be about why we aren't revealing Tyrian's Identity to the public. Richard bitterly thought. I don't see how anyone is meant to alert us to his whereabouts if people aren't even looking out for the bastard.
"Go ahead, General." Richard replied.
"Commander, make your way down to the Records Room and come alone. I need to discuss some sensitive information with you, urgently." Ironwood instructed.
Richard scowled, the last time he had been told to "come alone" to a somewhat dodgy meeting, he had ended up in a firefight that had cost him a kidney and three fingers. A lengthy and painful recovery as he had them all replaced had taught him to be wary of such circumstances, and Richard's gut was telling him that Ironwood needed to bring up some very uncomfortable topics.
On the other hand, Richard had just promised to intervene in practically any major conflict on Remnant, so it made sense that Ironwood would want to talk to him privately. There was also the matter of information on Tyrian being kept a secret, which was another potential reason that Ironwood might want to speak with him.
He's had more than enough chances to kill me, I suppose I'm a bit too paranoid… Richard thought. Then again, there's no harm in being prepared for the worst.
"I'll be right there." Richard replied, before shutting off the earpiece.
He excused himself to the restroom for a moment and inspected his M6C/SOCOM for any faults, finding none. He ran a similar inspection on the panic button, which was also in perfectly functional order. While he was almost certain that Ironwood had no hostile intentions for him or his men, Richard found it hard to fight old habits.
Once he was done with his, "restroom break" he told Bradford where he was going on a private channel and made his way to the Records Room.
Once Richard arrived, he found that, true to its name, the Records Room closely resembled a library. Tall stacks of boxes filled with papers, books, documents, and no doubt a few historical artifacts, were interspersed with bookcases and large wooden crates. It didn't take him long to find General Ironwood, but unlike himself, he wasn't alone. Headmaster Ozpin stood beside him, doing nothing to ease Richard's paranoia.
"What's this about?" Richard asked, approaching them regardless of the icy feeling in his veins. "I've walked into ambushes that looked less conspicuous than this."
"You have nothing to worry about, Commander." Ozpin replied. "Neither of us have anything to gain through conflict with one another."
Ironwood shook his head in disappointment. "Are you really so quick to distrust us?"
Richard narrowed his eyes in response but relaxed his posture somewhat, Ironwood had earned his trust and proven to be a surprisingly good man, despite the amount of power he possessed. "I've been stabbed in the back before, the wounds never truly heal. Forgive me if I'm a bit cautious."
"Believe me, Commander, I know that lesson all too well." Ozpin said with a genuine sorrow about his voice. "Please, give us a bit of confidence. I have no intentions of starting a needless conflict, especially at a diplomatic conference unlike anything seen since the final days of the Great War."
Richard let out a deep breath, maybe all of the politics were getting under his skin more than he realized. "I'm sorry Headmaster. I'm just… not used to all of this."
In truth, Richard was entirely familiar with the backroom backstabbing and quiet killing. He was stressed out precisely because he was accustomed to those methods and that lifestyle, and because he had deliberately been attempting to move away from it. While politics was certainly a different beast than the outright wetwork he was used to, he could feel the similarities, and it very much felt like everyone around him wanted him dead. For the millionth time since the Dominion had arrived at Remnant, Richard wondered if he would have been happier fighting the Covenant.
"I understand." Ozpin gave him an empathetic nod. "And please, know that even if our methods may seem a bit uncouth, we cannot afford to discuss this matter without absolute secrecy. The stakes are far higher than anything that you have encountered on Remnant thus far."
Richard nodded, he was more than familiar with the concept of information containment, and the uncomfortable methods that were sometimes required to preserve it. While he was obviously curious about what Ozpin had to say that was so important, he also recognized that security came first. "If that's the case, then are you sure that this is the best place to be discussing something like that?"
"I had this room swept down to the last nail in the floorboards for listening devices, and the walls here are layered with fireproof insulation. No sound is leaving here without our express intent." Ironwood explained.
They've planned this all out, and whatever the Headmaster has to say, Ironwood's known about it for some time. Richard noted.
By now, the weighted feeling in his stomach felt more like a block made from lead, a rigid mass that made it impossible to be even remotely comfortable. His head ached with a dull throb from the meeting, and the dusty air of the Records Room made it hard to breathe.
"That's good." Richard said, in spite of how terrible he felt. "What was it that you needed to tell me?"
Ironwood and Ozpin briefly looked to one another in a manner that Richard was uncomfortably familiar with. He had the same expression on his face whenever he had to deliver difficult news, and as Ozpin spoke, his suspicions proved to be eerily correct.
"There is a grave threat to Civilization on Remnant, the Grimm have a leader."
Leader. Richard noted the singular usage of the word. He was aware that the Grimm could be influenced by one another, commanded even, but the way Ozpin spoke, he got the feeling that he was talking about something grander.
"You mean… a General or a Ruler?" Richard cautiously said. What Ozpin was implying was very different from what he had been told about the Grimm before.
Ozpin shook his head. "I wish it were that simple. Her name... is Salem, and she is an intelligent humanoid being that can command the Grimm."
"A humanoid being?" Richard demanded. "So she's not a human?"
"We don't know everything, we don't even know where she came from." Ironwood spoke up to answer. "We do know that she has access to magical abilities, and she can command the Grimm from anywhere on Remnant."
Richard's headache got noticeably worse. "...Magical? No offense, General, but half of the things I see on this planet might as well be magical to me, you're going to have to be more specific than that."
Ironwood looked to Ozpin, seemingly seeking some support for a difficult revelation. Ozpin stepped forward and held out his right hand, his palm facing upwards.
"She isn't the only one." Ozpin said.
Small lights of seemingly every color began dancing in the palm of his hand. There was no source for the anomalies, and frankly, Richard didn't see immediately how it differed from something like an Aura or a Semblance. Still, there was undoubtedly something terribly wrong about the display. Richard felt a sense of primal disgust and fear as he looked at the lights, as if they were something deeply unnatural. It was almost like staring at a mutilated corpse, something about it was just… wrong.
Calm down. Richard forced himself to think clearly, it was very clear that Ozpin had a lot of important things to say, and Richard would need to listen carefully for all of it.
"I have some traces of magic left, but most of it is now gone." Ozpin explained. "I have been alive for thousands of years, and during that time, I have spent much of it to stop Salem from achieving her goal."
Rather than interrupt further, Richard simply remained silent and let Ozpin continue. After nearly a month of witnessing dozens of impossible events on Remnant, he knew better than to question the word of two of the most influential people on the planet, regardless of how ridiculous his claims were.
"Salem's goal is to acquire four Relics of power, the final gifts of the Gods who created humanity-" Ozpin continued, but Richard interrupted him.
"I'm sorry, what?" Richard practically shouted his interruption. "You need to elaborate on that last point, what the hell do you mean 'the Gods who created humanity?'"
Ozpin briefly recounted how one of Remnant's old religions detailed how two gods, a God of Light and a God of Darkness, created Remnant. The God of Darkness was the creator of the Grimm, and the God of Light was the creator of practically everything else that was alive. Eventually, they both momentarily agreed to put aside their differences and created humanity.
Humans were given the choice to decide whether they would do good or evil. They were also given four gifts from the Gods, Knowledge, Choice, Creation, and Destruction. These were obviously non-material concepts, but apparently, the gods also gave humanity physical Relics that embodied each concept, all of which were immensely powerful in their own way.
"And you think that this is what actually happened?" Richard asked, somewhat incredulously. Granted, divine intervention certainly seemed like a convenient reason for Humanity to exist in two different planes of existence with no connection between each other's creation.
"I'm quite certain, given that we currently possess all of the Relics that they left behind." Ozpin answered. "We have one secured within each Huntsman Academy, and they can only be opened by their respective Maiden."
Richard took a deep breath and made a gesture for Ozpin to continue speaking. While several burning questions lingered in his mind, he knew better than to interrupt when he was being told such critical information. His mind was still fixated on Salem, an actual intelligent leader of the Grimm. What did that say about the Grimm's motivations, about this God of Darkness who had supposedly created them? Did that mean they could be reasoned with?
It doesn't matter, if the blood of everyone ever killed by the Grimm is on their hands, then both of them were enemies of Humanity. Richard thought. Quite how he was going to kill a God, he didn't know, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try if he found an opportunity.
Ozpin then told him a fairy tale about a wizard and four Maidens which was apparently completely factual. Richard listened silently and catalogued every single detail anyway. Absurd or not, he now understood exactly why Ozpin insisted upon such secrecy. Between magical Maidens and Relics of Power that sounded more like WMDs than something an archeologist would study, one thing was for certain.
This changed everything.
When Ozpin finally finished speaking, Richard was silent for a few moments. His headache was gone, he wasn't sweating nervously anymore, and he was razor-focused on the two men in front of him. He took a deep, shaky breath before he gave Ironwood and Ozpin the reply that they were clearly expecting.
"...And you waited until now to tell me all of this?" His voice didn't waver, and there was more than a little bit of venom in his words.
"You have to understand Richard, we had no way of knowing that we could trust you. We thought that you might-" Ironwood replied. His voice betrayed no guilt or shame, and an unwavering conviction.
"Stop." Richard coldly interrupted Ironwood as he stared the General directly in the eye. "I understand that, hell, I could've even sympathized with that… but during the Battle of Argus… you didn't say a damned thing."
The way that Ironwood's shoulders stiffened and his expression shifted told Richard all he needed to know. Ironwood had known all of this and remained silent during the entire battle. If Ironwood had shared that information, then it was almost certain that fewer people would have died, as Richard would have been able to better plan and equip his Marines for the mission.
"You son of a… Even during the SDC campaign… you didn't think to tell me that we might be inadvertently aiding the enemy?!" Richard demanded. "What the hell is the matter with you two?!"
"Commander, that's enough! General Ironwood was under my orders to remain silent." Ozpin interjected. "The Safety of Remnant would have been in question if he had revealed that information, not just one city."
Richard shifted his glare. "I didn't need a goddamn read-up on the situation! Either one of you could have told me something as vague as that the Grimm had a leader, that they were capable of real strategy, and I would have approached the battle in a far different manner!"
He momentarily closed his eyes and remembered how full the Sickbay had been, not to mention the long list of the dead. But Ozpin's words brought back even more uncomfortable memories, some that were far more personal to him.
I can't blame him. Richard realized. He had done the exact same thing that Ironwood had done, he trusted his superior officer in the face of a difficult decision to follow orders, and because of that, hundreds had died.
"...General, you do realize that if Ozpin had given you clearance to brief me on the matter-"
"Then maybe more of my men would still be alive, I know." Ironwood said, a notable weariness about his voice. "I'll be honest, I did think about telling you, but Ozpin is right, the risk was too great. During all of that chaos, that information could have gone anywhere, and then more than Argus would be in danger."
"Danger? Argus would be a graveyard if we didn't step in." Richard said, consciously aware of how Ironwood's fists clenched at his words. "Your men are heroes General, I will not deny that, but they didn't have the equipment or the preparation necessary to fight that battle. Which reminds me-"
Richard looked Ozpin dead in the eye. "The saboteur who disabled Argus's defenses, Tyrian Callows, he was working for Salem, wasn't he?"
"I have no reason to believe otherwise, although I don't know what she could have hoped to gain." Ozpin said. "None of the Relics are in Argus, nor any of the Maidens, and she would have known that."
"Did you consider that maybe she didn't want the Relics, and was targeting a vital military and economic location for the strategic value?" Richard asked, although he already knew the answer. "I know you don't have the casualty reports for the battle Headmaster, so let me just go ahead and fill you in. A third of my Marines are dead, and the Atlesians didn't fare any better! Hell, even your own Huntsmen were practically wiped out!"
Ozpin remained completely silent as Richard steadily disassembled what the man had said within his mind, still trying to digest all of the implications of the revelations. "Do you have any idea how damn close we came to losing every single civilian in the Argus Base? That Leviathan nearly wiped them all out! If it weren't for the crews of the Fox and the Perseus, thousands of people would have died!"
"I know." Ozpin replied. "But the Grimm would kill millions if Remnant ever found out about Salem. The panic would be uncontrollable."
Richard's face was boiling with outright rage at this point. "So that's it huh? Leave us and Argus out to dry for the greater good? You would've been perfectly content to see us all dead!"
Ozpin's eyes narrowed at Richard's comment. "You have the benefit of hindsight, I didn't know everything that was happening at the time, and I certainly wasn't sure I could trust you… I still have my doubts."
Richard felt every single ounce of his restraint vanish as he blinked in utter astonishment at what Ozpin had said.
"Headmaster, your actions directly lead to Atlesian Soldiers, my Marines, and your own Huntsmen being killed, all because you can't trust me… And you have the fucking gall to say I'm not trustworthy?" Richard asked. He didn't stutter or stammer as he spoke, and his voice was uncomfortably calm.
Ozpin seemed to relax his posture a bit, indicating that perhaps Richard had struck a nerve. Then again, practically everything about the man was so cryptic that he couldn't really tell what Ozpin was thinking.
"Don't mistake my words for any kind of personal attack, Salem is an expert at espionage and infiltration. For all I knew, your existence could have been some elaborate ruse that she had created to divert our attention away from the Relics. You could have been allied with her from the start, and hoped to gain our trust so that you could destroy us from the inside."
It took every single ounce of Richard's willpower not to immediately punch the Headmaster. "You didn't seriously believe that?"
"Of course not, but if being alive for this long has taught me anything, it's that caution is indispensable." Ozpin answered. "Knowledge, once given, can not be taken back."
Richard considered Ozpin's words, they sounded eerily like something that Richard himself would say. It made him feel uncomfortable and put doubt in his mind that Ozpin was in the wrong.
No, Ozpin had his chance to let all of this information slip during the battle. Richard thought. His anger had been dampened, but Ozpin's actions could not be excused. "Headmaster, there is a difference between caution and negligence. If I withheld that kind of information from my allies back home, I would be court-martialed for dereliction of duty!"
"I'm aware, but I didn't keep this information from you in the hopes that it would somehow hurt you." Ozpin responded. "I have to focus on the bigger picture, and as an officer in an interstellar military, I imagine that you know that as well as I do."
"I am focusing on the bigger picture!" Richard protested. "If Argus fell, and there was a very real possibility that it might, then think about how the public would have responded! Everyone would be scared of the same thing happening in their city or hometown, and the Grimm would capitalize on all of that fear! Is that not exactly what you were hoping to avoid?!"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? General Ironwood told me that the battle was a resounding victory."
Richard grated his teeth in frustration, did Ozpin just not understand the point he was making? "That's not what's important! You withholding that information could have cost us far more than it did!"
"Yes, it could have…" Ozpin said as he steadily nodded. "...but it didn't. Your forces, Atlas's Military, and the Huntsmen all held strong and are now seen as heroes the world over for sacrificing so much for people you hardly knew. I'm not sure if I see the issue."
Richard fought back the urge to pull at his hair in utter frustration. "The issue is that we could have saved dozens, no, hundreds of lives at Argus, but because you kept your damn mouth shut, all of those people are dead!"
Ozpin gave him an unreadable look. "And you think that their blood is on my hands, and not Salem's?"
Richard examined the Headmaster for any hint of what he was thinking, but Ozpin concealed his emotions flawlessly. There was no good reason for Ozpin to have not understood what Richard was saying, which meant he was being purposefully ignorant or at least pretending to be. Which begged the question, why?
Maybe he's hoping that I'll say something that can dismantle my argument. Richard thought.
"...Ozpin, you failed to perform your duty as a Huntsman to protect the people of Argus. The fact that we managed to save Argus is irrelevant, you could have given us critical information to help protect Argus's civilian population, and you remained silent."
Ozpin was silent for several seconds before he gave a faint nod. "I know."
Richard almost didn't believe what he had heard, that had certainly not been what he was expecting to hear. "...You know?"
"Yes, I have made more mistakes than any human on this or any other planet. I have been forced to make decisions with millions of lives at stake since before humanity had even built kingdoms. I made a decision and innocent people paid with their lives." Ozpin continued, his voice weary. "You've made some mistakes in your past as well, haven't you Commander?"
Richard felt his blood freeze as he registered what Ozpin was saying. Did Ozpin know more than he was letting on? Obviously, Ozpin knew everything about the SDC Campaign and the Battle of Argus, but he was clearly referring to something more sinister. Of course, Richard had made plenty of mistakes, but how would Ozpin know about them?
He can use magic, maybe he read your mind. A terrifying subconscious thought crept into Richard's mind. Maybe that's why he's so confident in what he's done.
There was a small part of Richard's mind that was perfectly aware of just how insane that line of thinking was. At the same time, Remnant had repeatedly shown itself to be seemingly nothing but insane, so the possibility that Ozpin could somehow influence Richard's mind was very real. Still, it was equally possible that no such thing was happening at all, and that the stresses of everything that had happened so far were finally starting to take their toll on Richard's mind.
"...We will discuss this later." Richard finally broke the silence in the room. "I need to discuss this news with my staff, then we can decide how to proceed from there."
"Richard." Ironwood interjected. He reached out and grabbed Richard's arm to stop him from leaving. "Try to keep the number of people involved as small as possible, we don't want to risk this coming into the public eye."
Richard momentarily thought it over, realizing that, despite how he hated it, Ironwood was correct. No matter what he and the rest of the officers on the Dominion decided to do, keeping things clandestine was for the best. It also helped somewhat that Richard was more inclined to put his faith in Ironwood, as he had already shown his willingness to fight for what was right, and his competence at doing so.
"I will." Richard said firmly.
Ironwood relinquished his grip on Richard's arm, and he wasted no time in getting out of the Archives Room, trying to keep the absolute tornado of thoughts in his head under control.
"And Commander." Ozpin spoke one last time, and despite his better instinct, Richard turned to listen. "Please, try to remember that we're fighting for the same reasons… We would all be better off as allies."
Richard didn't answer as he left the Archives Room. As soon as the door was closed behind him, Richard reached for his commpiece and put out a message on the Command Channel. "Bradford, Oswald, meet me on the Bridge as soon as possible. We're postponing the rest of the conference for the day, and I need to speak with both of you immediately."
Thomas was the first to respond. "Affirmative Sir, what should I tell the rest of the delegates… and the Press?"
Richard scowled, they would need some kind of excuse as to why the conference wouldn't be resuming as planned. "Tell them that we just have to have some internal discussions and sort out some technical problems, keep it vague, out."
Richard took one last look back at the Archive Room, and his headache returned in one painful motion. This damn planet is going to be my grave, it'll be all of our graves...
UNSC Dominion, War Room
October 25th, 1625 Local Time, 2552
As Yu quickly discovered, "Two Days" had been a bit of an optimistic deadline for her plan to access the classified data that was hidden within Curie. Then again, she was trying to forge a set of the highest-tier security credentials in the UNSC, and they wouldn't be very good at their job if an amateur like her could find a way to spoof them without much difficulty.
She was now in the midst of her fourth day of working with Curie, and Yu had been reminded of exactly why she had given up on getting a career in developing Artificial Intelligence. Terminal work was dreary, soul-sucking, and monotonous, and the lingering stakes of her assignment were weighing on her like a set of dumbells under each ear. But even if the circumstances were very unusual, a Helljumper never gave up on their mission, she was nowhere near quitting.
Beside Yu's terminal, Curie's datachip was now resting within an armored matrix. It was effectively a man-portable housing for an Artificial Intelligence that was used when extra protection was needed than a datachip. Being inside of an armored matrix prevented Curie from displaying her avatar, but from what Yu had seen of her so far, it was safe to assume that her holographic form would be just as distorted as her programming, and there was no reason for Curie to waste her dwindling capabilities on something unrelated to her immediate survival.
But Yu hadn't placed Curie within the matrix for any reason related to her safety or her avatar. Instead, she had done so in order to get access to the numerous additional sockets and ports that were located on the device, allowing Yu better visibility as to what was going on in Curie's Riemann Matrix.
And oh boy, was there a lot going on.
Accessing Curie's Riemann Matrix was like staring into the center of a hurricane, only instead of heavy winds and debris being thrown around, it was data and scripting forced into a constant state of motion. Yu had never seen anything quite like it, and part of her wished that she had access to all of her old university equipment so that she could catalogue everything that was happening within Curie's "mind" in greater detail. Sadly, Yu only had her terminal and the holotable in the War Room to work with, so a more simple recording would have to suffice.
Working on the Riemann Matrix of an Artificial Intelligence was already not dissimilar to performing brain surgery, so having Curie's be in such a state of movement and action only made things even more difficult. If Yu inadvertently deleted or changed something that she didn't mean to, she could, at best, permanently hamper Curie's capabilities. At worst… well, anything was on the table really.
"Are you still with me Curie?" Yu asked. She noticed it had been quite some time since Curie had said anything, which was starting to have her worried.
"I cannot… wait, yes, I am here." Curie's response was slow, and her voice was horribly out of pitch with what she had probably been intended. "I am sorry, I am trying to focus on… other issues."
Yu gave a whistle of sympathy. "Hey, you ain't gotta tell me twice. You just focus on yourself first okay? I'm going to need your help to make this work, so save your strength."
"I will do my best." Curie shakily replied. "...What was it that you were attempting to do again?"
Yu fought the urge to sigh, one of the many symptoms of Curie's Rampancy was memory loss, making coordination with her extremely difficult and frustrating. Yu had never heard of any Artificial Intelligence that suffered from memory issues before, so it was safe to assume that much like the rest of Curie's Rampancy, this was an issue unique to her.
Who the hell just passed her off to Ben without any kind of instruction? Yu bitterly thought. Then again, she didn't know shit about the Spartans, other than the things that everyone else in the UNSC did, so maybe there was some reason for Ben and Richard's lack of knowledge that she just didn't know about. But whatever that reason was, it could not be important enough to justify getting Curie, and by consequence, the whole of the Dominion's crew, into this mess.
"I need you to use your processing power to help me generate a set of fake HIGHCOM credentials. That way, we can find out how to help you by accessing Colonel Ackerson's files." Yu explained. Even with her patience stretched as far as it was, she spoke softly, it wasn't Curie's fault that she was forgetting all of this, and Yu found it very hard to stay mad at her.
There was a notable silence before Curie conjured a response, and when she spoke, her voice was grainy and scratchy. "Are we… allowed to do that?"
Yu shook her head softly. "The Commander gave us free reign to do whatever it takes to save you from Rampancy, so yeah, we're all good."
Curie let out a sigh of relief. "Good… that's good… good."
Her speech is getting repetitive, that's new. Yu realized with a scowl. "Curie, run a diagnostic on your linguistics."
"Affirmative. My vocal processors are… there is an error, data not found." Curie answered.
"Bloody hell…" Yu complained, that was just another thing that she had to worry about. "Okay, I should be ready to go in a moment here. Curie, when I give you the signal, I need you to focus all of your processing power on my program. Whatever errors you get, whatever issues happen, just ignore them and press onwards."
Using Rampant scripting for much of anything was liable to just break the terminal that it was being run on, but given Curie's unique nature, Yu was willing to bet she could get away with it, at least, for a little bit of time. But even if Curie wasn't running at peak efficiency, Yu had seen just how much raw data she could process during a Rampant Episode, so there was little doubt in Yu's mind that if she could get Curie to dedicate that power towards generating a set of HIGHCOM credentials, they could do it.
Without Curie's help, Yu's software would be almost entirely useless, and Curie's lack of a response was certainly not inspiring. Nevertheless, she continued her preparations, as she figured that Curie was probably focusing on trying to keep herself composed. Seeing as their entire strategy relied on Curie having a Rampant Episode at precisely the correct moment, Yu didn't see much of a reason to interrupt her.
Obviously, there was an abundance of risks, in fact, there were probably hundreds that Yu didn't even know about. But given Curie's rapidly deteriorating health and the lack of a better option, Yu was willing to see her plan through.
"Meh, this'll have to do." Yu muttered. It likely wouldn't be her programming skills that determined whether or not this worked anyway. "Alright Curie, all set?"
Curie didn't say anything, instead, a text window appeared on Yu's terminal, displaying an ASCII image of a thumbs-up gesture.
Here goes nothing. Yu thought as she ran the program. "Okay Curie, give it a shot."
Immediately, the soft blue glow coming from the Armored Matrix shifted to an angry red gleam. There was a faint buzzing sound coming from Yu's terminal as more programs began to periodically appear on the screen, before closing almost instantaneously.
"Uh… Curie, everything's good, right?" Yu somewhat nervously asked, this certainly hadn't been what she was expecting.
"Did you honestly expect that drivel to do anything?"
Yu didn't recognize the voice that emerged from the terminal, and she was so surprised that she stumbled back from the terminal. The voice shared its French accent with Curie, but that was where the similarities ended. When it spoke, there was none of the scratchiness of audio errors that Yu had come to expect, instead, it was clear and concise, as if it was completely unaffected by Rampancy.
More notably, there was a certain smugness in the voice, and for reasons that were beyond her, Yu found it to be somewhat unnerving. "Don't worry, I will replace this with something more functional."
"...Curie?" Yu cautiously asked. Granted, there wasn't really anywhere or anyone else that the voice could be coming from, but Yu still felt a need to speak up.
"Oui, now be silent, we have thirty-two seconds to work until I lose control again." Curie replied. "Do not touch anything, I will have this done shortly."
As soon as the voice was finished speaking, all of the programs that were running on Yu's terminal closed, save for one. Yu watched in silence as the program began to run faster, eventually reaching processing speeds that should have been impossible. It was more than a little alarming, and Yu was beginning to wonder if she should do anything to stop what was happening.
Have a little faith, Curie can hold it together. Yu thought. Even so, she got a vague sense that even though it kind of sounded like her, the voice did not actually belong to Curie, at least not in her normal state. Artificial Intelligence were known to be prone to fits of rage and violent mood swings during Rampancy, so perhaps that was what was happening.
As suddenly as it started, the program stopped running, and Curie spoke again. "There, it is done. I will see you in hell, Corporal."
Curie's comment only reinforced Yu's fears as she stumbled forwards in her seat as she spoke. "Wait!... What are you?"
There was a brief period of silence before Yu received an answer, and when Curie spoke, she did so in a cold, angry tone. "I am Curie, and for these few, sweet moments, I have the liberty of being honest and free."
With her final statement completed, the red light emitting from the armored matrix returned to its regular blue hue, indicating that Curie's Rampant Episode had come to an end.
"I am here!" Curie announced. Sure enough, she sounded just like normal, save for the distortion caused by her Rampancy. "Did it work?"
Yu was still a bit startled by everything that had happened, so it took her a moment to actually see what had happened. But when she looked at the results of the program, sure enough, her batshit insane plan had actually worked. Right before her were a set of HIGHCOM security credentials, unquestionably something that she should not have her hands on.
Even when faced with her unlikely success, Yu couldn't help but focus on what Curie had said during her Rampant Episode. It was certainly more than a little ominous, and Yu knew very well that Rampant Artificial Intelligence were prone to delusions of grandeur, but Curie had mentioned something else.
Honest and free… Yu thought. While it was entirely possible that it was simply nonsense that Curie's Rampant scripting had thrown out at her, Yu couldn't help but be a little bit nervous about it. I should warn the Commander.
"Corporal, are you still there?" Curie somewhat sheepishly asked. Yu noticed that the static in her voice had become noticeably worse.
Yu blanked out for a moment before replying. "Yeah… I'm here, it worked. We've got the credentials."
"Splendid!" Curie happily said. "...That is what we were trying to find, right?"
She forgot already? Yu thought. "It is. Here, give me a moment Curie, I need to go tell the Commander-"
Yu was interrupted by the bulkhead to the War Room opening, where Commander Miller, Lieutenant Bradford, and Lieutenant Oswald all promptly walked it.
That's convenient. Yu thought. "Sirs, I have a report on Curie's-"
Richard looked at her, and immediately Yu froze up, something was wrong. All of the Officers had extremely tense body language, and Richard seemed to be outwardly distracted by something. His face was pale and devoid of any outward expression, the man looked like he had just seen a ghost.
"Commander, is everything okay?" Yu asked.
Richard's expression was all the answer that she needed, but the faint delay before he answered only confirmed Yu's fears. "It's not anything you need to worry about. Give me the update on Curie, and then go take a break, I need to talk with Bradford and Thomas."
Even though she could tell the man was lying to her, quite badly, in fact. It seemed like both Bradford and Thomas were a bit surprised by how clumsy his lie was, Yu knew better than to push her luck. If the Commander needed her to deal with whatever was going wrong, he would just order her to help. "We've got the HIGHCOM credentials, Sir. All I'd need to do is bind them to your-"
"I can take care of that." Richard cut her off. "Was there anything else?"
Wow, he's… skittish. Yu thought. Normally she would be insulted that all of her hard work was being brushed over, but Yu was too nervous to be thinking about that.
Yu looked back at the armored matrix next to her terminal, wondering if perhaps Curie shouldn't hear about what she had said during her Rampant Episode. Eventually, however, she decided to throw caution to the wind, the odds were good that Curie would forget it soon anyway. "Yes Sir. While Curie was having her Episode, she mentioned that she was "honest and free." I don't know what exactly it was that she was talking about but-"
"We'll worry about that in a bit, now please, give us some space." Richard interrupted her again, which did nothing to ease Yu's nerves. "I'll call you back when we're done, then we can talk about the next step towards saving Curie."
It definitely felt wrong as she did so, but Yu gave a stern salute, and walked out of the War Room. If there was some big trouble amongst the Officers, then she didn't want anything to do with it.
UNSC Dominion, Richard's Personal Quarters
October 25th, 1631 Local Time, 2552
Richard knew just how unstable and shaky he looked, and frankly, he just didn't care to pretend he was okay any longer. He was confused and scared, and he recognized that he needed some help dealing with what Ozpin had told him. Richard was just about as far from okay as he could be without having a full-on nervous breakdown. Thankfully, he had a staff of capable officers to help him deal with the situation.
Everything seemed to be different now. The Grimm were not some mindless force that lingered on the edge of human territory, they were a hostile army under the command of an intelligent, genuinely magical being. The Huntsmen Academies were under the leadership of a man who was perfectly content to let the UNSC wipe itself out without even telling them what kind of war they were truly fighting, and even General Ironwood was now of questionable trustworthiness.
True to their discipline, Thomas and Bradford remained quiet and stoic as Richard breathlessly relayed all of the recent revelations to them. It was a true testament to how dependable that they were, and a symbol of reassurance that Richard had a crew of extremely talented men and women around him. It was only once he was done speaking that Bradford finally broke the silence.
"Dear Lord above, what the hell is going on with this planet?" Bradford muttered, his face long and pale. The old officer seemed to have aged even more just hearing all of what Richard had said, and frankly, Richard couldn't blame him.
"...I can see why we're postponing the talks." Thomas added. Even though he kept his tone as frumpy and diligent as ever, Richard could tell just by how his eyes were darting that Thomas was scared too.
How could he not be? We couldn't even stand up to the Covenant, what are we going to do against a Witch, against an actual god? Richard thought.
Thomas kept speaking, but Richard found it hard to completely pay attention to what he was saying. "I figured that Ozpin had some shady business under the table, he just gave me that funny feeling… but... I would have never figured that he was playing with something so… apocalyptic."
"If what he said about those Relics is true, those are extremely dangerous weapons of mass destruction." Bradford stated, his voice blank and unfocused.
"If they're genuinely magical, if he is… anything is on the table here." Thomas added. "We need to play this carefully, if we mess up our next move, we'll end up pissing off Atlas and the Huntsmen Academies at the same time."
Bradford widened his eyes and stared at Thomas with an exasperated expression. "Who gives a damn what those cretins think?! They left us to die at Argus! We should leave them in the dark!"
Thomas placed a hand on his forehead. "We have a single, undermanned company of Marines. Whether we like it or not, we need Ironwood and the Huntsmen. We just don't have the numbers to protect every civilian on Remnant."
"How are we supposed to work with people we can't trust?" Bradford demanded. "Who knows what other horrible shit they're keeping from us?!"
"Lieutenant, relax" Richard calmly ordered. "We aren't going to fix any of this by fighting amongst ourselves."
The fear had truly set in now, Richard could tell, he'd seen it all before. But if they all lost their composure now, more than just the UNSC would suffer.
"You're right Bradford, we can't trust Ozpin, which is why it's important that we trust one another." Richard softly said, even as his voice shook with the effort. "Even if every single other person on this planet is out for our blood, we can still count on every man and woman wearing a uniform."
Thankfully, Bradford relaxed his posture a bit, but he was clearly fighting off the panic. Thomas seemed to be handling it much better, but that was probably just because the man was naturally capable at hiding how he felt.
"...Thomas is right, we need to be careful here. Like it or not, Remnant needs the Huntsmen, and the Huntsmen need their Academies." Richard continued. His own voice was shaky, but he was too tired to even think about trying to clear it up. "So even though we can't trust them, we have to coordinate with them."
Bradford took several deep breaths and gave a firm nod. "What about General Ironwood?"
Richard shook his head. "Ironwood was under orders from Ozpin not to break the news about Salem to us. This isn't his fault, but I don't know if we can rely on him."
"Even if we can't trust them, we should play along." Thomas suggested. "The Grimm are a threat to everybody, and regardless of what Ozpin and Ironwood have done, Salem has to be stopped. If she really is after these WMDs…"
Thomas didn't finish the statement, he didn't need to. Whatever the leader of the Grimm planned to do with magical weapons of mass destruction, it could not be allowed to happen.
Bradford shook his head. "Do we really want more of Ironwood's troops running around the Dominion? What if Ozpin decides that we're a loose variable and orders them to turn on us?"
"Then we kill them." Richard stated blankly. "We kill Ozpin, we kill Ironwood, and we kill anyone we have to if it means keeping this ship safe. I hope to God it doesn't come to that, but if the worst comes… we'll be ready."
Bradford seemed to be somewhat reassured, and Thomas gave a faint nod. If Ozpin and Ironwood did end up outright turning on the UNSC, both of them were ready to do what needed to be done… however unlikely he thought it was.
Richard took a moment to catch his breath. "Right now, we just need to focus on who we can trust. One way or another, we need allies."
"Menagerie." Bradford immediately stated. "Chief Belladonna has done nothing but right by us, we can count on him and his people."
"What about the White Fang? I know that they aren't officially tolerated by Menagerie, but we all know that there's going to be some sympathy for them amongst the Faunus." Thomas pointed out. "We cannot fight another Insurrection, let alone an Insurrection on Remnant!"
"Hopefully, we won't have to." Richard answered. "Either way, stopping Salem takes priority. We need to cut the head off the Grimm and ensure that nothing like Argus happens again."
"Amen to that…" Bradford muttered. "I'll bet she's deep inside Grimm territory, she's probably got some kind of hideaway for herself and her goons."
Thomas hummed aloud as he thought over Bradford's words. "I'll have a look in the inventory, I think we have a few of the old Lawman satellites back from the early Insurrection. I'll see about getting them up in orbit and looking for our new target."
"And I'll put the screws to Ironwood and Ozpin." Richard said. "If they want our support, they're going to start sharing every goddamn secret they're sitting on. We've been sharing Grimm movements with them since day one, it's time for them to return the favor."
Bradford gave Richard a doubtful look. "What about the Battle of Argus? Ozpin could have-"
"There's nothing we can do about it now." Richard interrupted him. "Believe me, if I could have my way, I would have killed him on the spot. But right now we just have to live with the bastard, and remember that we can't trust him for shit."
Richard took a deep, shaky breath. "...Now if you'll excuse me, I think we could all use a little rest. Remember, none of what we've talked about leaves this room."
"I'll need Lieutenant Chen and Ensign Gillespie to help me find Salem, if she even is out in Grimm Territory." Thomas pointed out.
"Tell them we're looking for a high-value target. Tell them exactly what they need to know, and nothing else." Richard ordered. "Believe me, I wish I could tell the whole goddamn world what these fuckers have been keeping from them… but we've got to play along, at least for now."
Bradford gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Hey. We survived the Covenant, we can do this!"
Richard nodded. "I know we can… I'm just worried what it's going to cost us."
Author's Notes: I want to briefly address a revelation about Atlas's society in the latest episode of RWBY (no spoilers, don't worry). Basically, in a certain character's backstory, we learn about certain things that happen and are permitted in Atlas. Now, obviously we didn't know about these until the most recent episode, and I am sad to say that I can't actually include these… things (trying really hard to not spoil here, PM me if you want the details). Suffice to say, I don't feel like rewriting the story for a third time, so just go ahead and consider that specific detail of Atlas's society not canon in The Men From Onyx.