Vytal Island Town Hall
October 26th, 0739 Local Time, 2552
It went without saying that Richard was feeling a little on edge. Everything that Opzin had revealed the previous day, combined with the discoveries about Curie and how she was created, had done a fair amount to get under his skin. So returning to the Conference the very next day and simply acting as if nothing had changed left him feeling as if everything around him was somehow not genuine. It was like a giant puppet show, where everyone involved didn't mean a damn word that they said, all with some unseen puppeteers pulling everyone's strings.
I suppose that's par for the course really, even back home you wouldn't be able to find a dignified politician, even with a research crew and years to search. Richard thought. Once you pull the veil off, everything looks just that little bit different.
In the seat beside him, Thomas kept fidgeting, and Richard could tell just how much the ONI Agent was struggling to stay focused on what was happening. He'd noticed similar behavior from Bradford before he had left, clearly it would take some time before his officers were able to calm down a bit. Thankfully, nothing new was currently happening at the Conference, as a Councillor from Vale was on the podium, discussing some of the upcoming trials for the Prisoners of War that the UNSC had taken during their conflict with the Schnee Dust Company.
It was somewhat merciful, knowing that he didn't need to pay too much attention to the situation. He already knew that there was enough evidence to incriminate practically all of the slimy cretins, but the tricky part was figuring out which bastard committed what crime. Thankfully, it seemed like those specific issues were somewhat overshadowed by the big question that everyone had on their mind.
Lisa Lavender, the reporter from the previous day, spoke up as soon as she got a chance to ask the big question of the day. "It's been over four decades since the Kingdom of Vale has sentenced anyone to the death penalty. Do you believe that if Jacques Schnee is charged that he could possibly face capital punishment?"
There it was, the question everyone on the entire planet seemed eager to know the answer as well. It wasn't "what are the plans to help the surviving civilians recover?" or "who is going to be responsible for ensuring that the remains of the deceased return to Menagerie?" Of course not, everybody just wanted to know whether or not Jacques Schnee would die. That was nothing new, but Richard still somewhat disappointed to see the people of Remnant so hungry for blood.
In his eyes, people like Jacques Schnee did not deserve the attention that they got, it was the all-too-often forgotten victims of these crimes that deserved the time of day. This was far from the first war crime that he'd been responsible for cleaning up, and ultimately, it seemed that humanity's propensity for vengeance outweighed their charity.
Richard knew that if Jacques were back in Human space, his execution was just a formality, there was no way in hell that he would be permitted to continue his life. But even though the man was unquestionably guilty of crimes against humanity on a large scale, there was one annoyingly good reason to leave him alive. His knowledge of the crimes of the Elite members of Atlesian Society was vast, and the strategic value of that information was immense.
I wonder if he'd cough up a few names in exchange for his life? Richard thought. It was an undeniably brutal and probably immoral method of conducting justice. But seeing as the alternative was to let genocidal maniacs return to their positions of power in Atlas, it wasn't much of a choice to make at all in Richard's eyes. Of course, none of that particular information would be making its way to the press for somewhat obvious reasons. I still need to talk to General Ironwood about that…
For perhaps the first time since he had arrived on Remnant, Richard wished that he had the Office of Naval Intelligence to support his actions on Remnant, as they would have likely been able to completely dismantle every hint of corruption in Atlas in less than a day. Even if they would likely do unspeakable things to get it done, Richard couldn't deny that they'd do it quickly and efficiently.
The Councillor's reply to the pressing question was appropriately vague. "That decision would be left to the presiding judge, and not myself."
After an exchange between Miss Lavendar and the Councillor from Vale that felt like it would drag on forever, in which nothing of value was discussed, it was finally time for the next matter of the day to be discussed. Once again, the UNSC would be taking the podium, and thankfully, it was very likely to be a somewhat cheerful affair.
Richard leaned in closer to Thomas and whispered into his ear. "You're up Lieutenant, break a leg."
Thomas chuckled. "Oh please. I've been wanting to do this since we got here."
Richard checked his personal schedule for the millionth time as Thomas took to the podium. Richard was still learning about the political and diplomatic aspects of his newfound position of power, and judging by the topic that Thomas intended to present, Richard could pretty safely assume that he was about to get another lesson in politics.
"Modern technology and Remnant..." Richard read the marker that Thomas had given him. This ought to be interesting to watch.
When Thomas took the podium, he wasted no time before he started speaking. "Good day everyone. We have an awful lot to discuss today so let's not waste any time. In case you've forgotten, my name is Lieutenant Thomas Oswald of the Office of Naval Intelligence, and I would like to talk about something that I believe could benefit the lives of everyone on Remnant."
Richard couldn't help but be impressed at how confidently Thomas carried himself. He spoke loudly and quickly, but still clearly and understandably, and with an underlying sense that he knew what he was talking about.
He would've made a decent politician… I'm glad he didn't, we need him more than some chickenshit bureaucrats do. Richard thought with a hint of satisfaction.
"I'm sure everyone here is familiar with at least one or two examples of technologies that the UNSC possesses that are, at the moment, foreign to Remnant." Thomas continued. "Of course, we have our vessel and numerous other advanced military technologies, but we also have a number of advancements that we believe could offer significant improvements to the quality of life for the people of Remnant."
Richard fought the urge to chuckle as he saw everyone around him stiffen up, not just the Councillors or representatives either, even the Journalists brought their posture to a more professional level and shut their mouths. Clearly, this was something that everyone was very interested to hear about.
"I'm happy to say that for a lot of these technologies and developments, ensuring that they are able to be used by the general public of Remnant will be a fairly simple affair. We have already begun coordinating our efforts with technicians from Atlas to begin modernizations to the Cross Continental Transmit System." Thomas said. "Within a month, changes to the internal systems of the Relay Towers and the introduction of several supporting satellites will have increased the efficiency of the system by several orders of magnitude. If all goes well, all of you will experience far fewer outages and faster speeds."
Murmurs and quiet discussion broke out once more among the delegates, particularly those from Atlas. The Journalists and camera crews digested every word that Thomas spoke with incredible enthusiasm.
"But communication is far from all we have to offer. We've been in talks with every medical organization on Remnant to begin rolling out new equipment and medicine to the general public. Within a year or two, our relevant experts believe that we can eliminate multiple major diseases on Remnant, namely Cancer and the majority of harmful genetic conditions. And thanks to some truly excellent people from Atlas, more advanced prosthetic organs and limbs will be available in the coming months." Thomas stated with a broad smile.
Richard could almost feel how a considerable amount of the normal tension in the air lifted at Thomas's words. Disease and injuries were something that plagued everyone, especially on Remnant where they didn't have the same advanced technologies that the UNSC did. One or two of the Journalists even began to clap with excitement before their producers quickly settled them down.
It's not all that often that we get to deliver some genuinely good news. No asterisks, no "buts'' or "ifs," just some genuinely good news for everyone on this planet. Richard thought with a smile of satisfaction.
The two biggest people to thank for how expedient and efficient the transfer of the UNSC's medical advancements were Doctor Chase of the UNSC and Doctor Polendina of Atlas. Doctor Chase had been pushy and insistent that Richard prioritize improving Remnant's medical sphere as soon as possible as far back as day one, and Doctor Polendina was apparently a resounding scientist in the field of prosthetic limbs.
Richard had only gotten to speak to Doctor Polendina at one point, and it was unfortunately in somewhat less than optimal conditions. During the conflict with the SDC, Curie had deployed a series of electronic warfare strikes that ruthlessly disabled every single Atlesian Knight that the rogue megacorporation had been running. Once Curie had pointed out several security risks that could cause the drones to be used against civilian targets with relatively little effort, and so Richard had personally called Doctor Polendina to ensure that those security risks were properly dealt with.
I should check in with him again at some point, hopefully we won't have to worry about Atlas's robots being used against themselves. Richard thought.
Thomas continued to give his grand speech about all of the wonderful things that the UNSC was planning to share with the people of Remnant. Advanced agricultural methods, modern fuels, hydrogen power generation, basic satellites, modern weather prediction methods, even some small terraforming efforts that could be conducted in the less-than-hospitable parts of Menagerie and Vacuo. All of which were well within the grasp of Remnant's comparatively limited industrial capabilities.
Naturally, it seemed like everyone was loving it. Everyone that was, except for the representatives from Atlas. Richard could see the doubt and vague contempt in their eyes, the scowls they had on their faces, and their postures. They just didn't buy it. One of them, Councilman Sleet if Richard remembered correctly, kept looking at Richard with a mix of fear and doubt. Richard only smiled politely in return, there was no point in causing a scene.
Of course, there were a handful of major advancements that Richard had expressly ordered not to be shared with the people of Remnant, most notably anything related to modern weaponry, and anything regarding nuclear physics. One day those advancements would make their way to the people of Remnant, but Richard wanted to ensure that they wouldn't be handing their enemies the tools to destroy humanity.
There was obvious strategic value in ensuring that Remnant had clean nuclear power and that the armies and Huntsmen responsible for defending humanity were well equipped. But at the same time, Humanity was in a very fragile place at the moment. Remnant was the only planet that they had, and the Dominion their only modern warship. For that reason, Weapons of Mass Destruction were now very difficult to justify using, especially nuclear weapons. Even if the worst came to pass and a situation where weapons of mass destruction were required arose, the Dominion had not only its MAC, but also a trio of powerful nuclear missiles, as well as a handful of smaller tactical nukes that were largely intended to destroy strategic enemy positions.
One day the people of Remnant will be ready to hold the tools to their own destruction… Richard thought as he spared another glance at some of the more wary Atlesian Councillors. ...Just not today.
Finally, Thomas wrapped up his statement, and of course, the first person to speak was a critic. Councilman Sleet of Atlas stood with surprising confidence and spoke into his microphone with his insufferable accent. "While I appreciate the obvious benefits that all of these technologies could present to the people of Remnant. How can we be sure that all of these things aren't just fantasy?"
Thomas looked at the Atlesian Representative with an expression of sincere gratitude, Sleet had walked right into his trap. "I'm very glad you asked, Councillor. Of course, we recognize that many of these things might seem a bit unrealistic, after all, Remnant has never seen them before. Which is why we've put together a few images from some of the Human Colonies back home to show you some of these developments in action."
Richard smiled as Thomas used a large projector to run through a number of images of humanity's greatest achievements, namely the Space Elevators and other megastructures of a similar light. Richard did have to fight the urge to flinch or grimace as a handful of fallen colonies like Reach or Harvest made their appearances, but Thomas did an admirable job of giving the delegates, and indeed all of the people of Remnant, that these colonies had nothing wrong with them whatsoever. It seemed like Thomas had once again proven his political savviness.
While he and Richard had been discussing their strategy for this specific presentation, Richard had been somewhat reluctant to put any faith in the ability of the Atlesian Council to work towards helping the UNSC present a good image for the public. But now, Richard could see exactly what Thomas had done, not only had Sleet inadvertently contributed to the UNSC presenting some of their advanced technologies to Remnant, he had invalidated his own position in the process.
Huh, I guess we did end up with a diplomat after all. And to think, ONI wanted him to perform security duties… what a waste that would have been. Richard thought.
When Thomas was done showing off humanity's greatest achievements to the stunned onlookers, the delegation erupted into applause. Richard fought the urge to chuckle as the Atlesian representatives quickly fell in line, it would do them no political favors to be seen as prudish in the face of such gifts. Their joyless expressions and blank stares were the only indicators of their true opinions.
Let them mope, we've won this time. Richard thought.
"It will no doubt take us some time to roll out many of these advancements, but the people of Remnant can rest assured that the UNSC is committed to bringing their planet the most advanced technologies that Humanity has access too." Thomas said. "While the safety of the people will always be our primary concern, we are in a position to help in other ways, and so that is exactly what we will do."
We're not an occupying force went unsaid, but it felt heavily implied. Richard gave Thomas a discreet thumbs-up as he descended from the podium. Of course, there were still far more controversial topics to be brought up than something as positive as the gifting of technologies. But now, Richard was fairly confident that maybe the UNSC had earned enough goodwill to pull them off. If the rest of this conference goes that well, maybe this won't be so bad after all.
Vytal Island, UNSC Forward Operating Base
October 26th, 1023 Local Time, 2552
Training under the hot sun and sweating profusely was considered a wholly unpleasant activity by practically everyone in the UNSC. Fairfire would've normally agreed with them wholeheartedly, but when compared to training in the gym of a cramped starship, where she would be forced to breathe recycled air, the open sky of Vytal wasn't all that bad.
She also got a very good look at all of the improvements that Lieutenant Jorge and Master Gunnery Sergeant Moerdani had been hard at work making to the UNSC's FOB. The defenses of the base had been increased with some Atlesian-made equipment, namely in the form of deployable hard-light barricades. There was also a great deal of wide open grassland with which to conduct drilling and hold formations.
To be quite honest, Fairfire had grown to respect Winter as an instructor. She had proven to be an excellent, professional, and supportive woman.
"That was terrible, do it again." Winter said without any emotion.
Well, maybe supportive is too strong a word… Fairfire thought with a hint of annoyance, even so, she appreciated that Winter wasn't afraid to say what was on her mind and was more than willing to push Fairfire out of her comfort zone.
Fairfire braced her legs as Winter had demonstrated earlier, channeled her Aura down through her body and into her feet, before performing a vertical jump. As she had come to expect, the distance she cleared from the ground was considerably more than a normal human could accomplish. In human space, a one-hundred and eighty centimeter vertical jump in earth-like gravity would've been considered downright astonishing, but on Remnant, it was considered the starting line for Aura-assisted movement.
"Better, but your posture in-air needs work." Winter stated. "Your launch is important, but you aren't done just because you're in the air."
Fairfire raised an eyebrow, how was she meant to jump higher when she was already in the air? "Does it really make that much of a difference?"
Winter crossed her arms over her chest. "You're more than welcome to flail your arms around like a lunatic, but don't be surprised when you find that it doesn't work all that well."
"...I'll take your word for it." Fairfire replied with a sense of reluctant acceptance. She should have known better than to question the ridiculous world that was Remnant, or more accurately, Winter's judgement.
Fairfire performed the jump again, this time while following the posture that Winter had laid out, and noticed a marked increase in her maximum height, one-hundred and ninety-two centimeters at her peak.
Winter hummed aloud as she thought. "I think I see the problem here. You stop channeling your Aura as soon as your feet aren't touching the ground."
"Is that not what I'm supposed to do?" Fairfire asked. "Are you telling me I'm meant to jump on… air?"
"No, you're not jumping at that point, only following through on an action that you've already committed to." Winter explained. "Think of it a bit like the thrusters on an airship, when you jump, that is only the takeoff. With your Aura, you can prolong that action to achieve greater heights in your leaps."
"...I don't suppose I ever thought of it that way." Fairfire said as she struggled to wrap her mind around what Winter was saying. Mentally, she was picturing some kind of Aura-based Jetpack, and she was relatively confident that wasn't what Winter had meant to convey.
"This is far from intuitive." Winter said, offering Fairfire a bit of relief that her confusion wasn't rare. "Focus on what you will be able to do when this is done. I should not need to explain why that's a useful ability."
Seeing as Winter had tolerated Fairfire's first question, she figured that maybe she wouldn't mind answering the other one that was plaguing her thoughts. "It is… but I thought I was supposed to be working on controlling my Semblance, not my Aura."
Winter scowled at her continued interruption, but eventually sighed and answered her question. "If you hope to master your Semblance, you must be able to project and control your Aura. The reason I am teaching you to perform an Aura-assisted leap is twofold, not only does it grant you a new ability in combat, but it gives you a better sense of familiarity with your Aura as a whole."
"So it's kind of like driving a car? The more you do it, the easier it gets?" Fairfire asked.
Winter scowled. "I… the bizarre metaphor aside, that is correct."
"And with that extra familiarity of my Aura, I can start figuring out how to control my Semblance better?" Fairfire asked.
Winter rolled her eyes, clearly, Fairfire had not done a very good job when it came to not asking stupid questions. "It will be one thing to keep your Semblance under control, but it will be entirely another to use it on demand. Everything that I've seen about your Semblance points to it being hard to control, but not impossible."
Fairfire let out a hefty sigh. "You know, I remember feeling bad for Nathan when he was having trouble finding his Semblance… now I kind of envy him."
Winter gave her a look of genuine empathy. "A Semblance can be a curse Sergeant, you can take my word for it. I've met people who aren't even able to live their lives normally, or even spend time with loved ones because their Semblance puts everyone around them in constant danger. But you have the potential to become a very powerful fighter if you can master your Semblance, and find out how to use its effects to your advantage."
Fairfire smiled, it was nice having somebody understand her struggle. Given Winter's Semblance and its direct ties to the rest of her family, Fairfire could definitely understand why Winter would believe what she did.
"You should be ready to give it another try, but keep in mind that by using your Aura more, you'll be exerting yourself quite heavily." Winter warily said. "Remember, you need to condition your body to use your Aura more often if you intend to make use of it in combat."
Fairfire did as Winter instructed, she braced herself in a jumping position, and leapt upwards. This time, she did as Winter had advised and continued to channel her Aura into her legs even after she had left the ground. The results were immediate, as Fairfire quickly realized she was travelling far past her previous record. She reached a peak of three-hundred and forty centimeters, before coming back down to Remnant with a loud thud and a less than graceful landing on all her hands and feet.
"Gahh." Fairfire exhaled as she examined her hands for any cuts or bruises. As she anticipated, there was none thanks to her Aura, but they still felt like she had gotten friction burns on them.
"Much better." Winter said with a bit of pride. "My personal record is about twice that, but for your first day of practice… not bad at all."
Fairfire was still breathing somewhat heavily, Winter had not been kidding about the exertion. "Yeah… thanks."
Fairfire got off the ground and back into a standing position, but Winter waved for her to stop. "Take a moment to breathe. If you knock yourself out, you're going to land on your head without your Aura to protect you."
"Nice of you to care." Fairfire teasingly commented.
"If I don't bring you back to the Lieutenant in one piece, I imagine that he would be quite unhappy with both of us." Winter pointedly replied.
Ouch. Then again, she's probably right. Fairfire thought.
There was an awkward silence as Fairfire caught her breath. At first, she wondered exactly what Winter was doing, before noticing a rather uncharacteristic look of distraction in the Specialist's eyes. "Is uh… something wrong?"
"It's nothing major." Winter quickly answered. "But you mentioning your Semblance made me realize something. Why didn't anyone from the rest of your squad unlock their own Semblances at the same time as you?"
Fairfire blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"One of the most common ways for a person to find their own Semblance is through a significant emotional event, positive or negative, it doesn't matter. Obviously your experience in the mines was negative to trigger your Semblance coming to light." Winter explained. "But the rest of your squad was there as well, and yet you were the only person who found their Semblance."
Fairfire scratched her head, she wasn't following what Winter was saying. "Wait, what about Nathan? He just found his, he didn't have any great epiphany or anything like that."
"I said most commonly, not always, pay attention!" Winter sternly said. "As I was saying, I would have expected at least one other person on your team to have made that same discovery. Sergeant Meadows perhaps? Or one of the Spartans?"
Fairfire shrugged. "Meadows is like thirty-five, he's a goddamn old man by Helljumper standards, he's seen some shit before. Don't get me wrong, those mines were just… awful, but it's nothing he hasn't done before, he probably wasn't all that fazed."
Fairfire made a deliberate point not to mention the Spartans. What little she did know about Ben's history made it very apparent that the poor kid probably wasn't a stranger to the kind of brutality that the Schnee Dust Company had committed. She knew even less about Jorge, but given what little she knew about him, Fairfire was willing to bet that he probably wasn't a stranger to atrocity either.
Thankfully, Winter didn't press her on the Spartans. Unfortunately, the question that she asked wasn't much easier to answer. "What about you?"
Goddamnit… Fairfire took a deep breath, she'd already learned how to look past her own pride in the last few weeks, hopefully, this wouldn't be too difficult. "I… Look, the Covenant are a bunch of savages, I've seen some hellish shit before. But what happened in Atlas was because of us, because of Humans! I guess it just… it hit a little deeper than I thought it would."
Winter remained politely quiet as Fairfire kept speaking, but she was having a lot of trouble properly wording how she felt. "I know that back in ancient history, humanity did a lot of really nasty shit… but none of that really compares to seeing it yourself. You don't see the open eyes of the dead in a history book, or, oh God the smell…"
"Enough, please." Winter interrupted. It was only then that Fairfire noticed that Winter looked like she was about to be sick.
She's probably feeling some guilt, knowing that her father is responsible for all of that. Fairfire thought. "Hey, it's not your fault. You helped put that bastard behind bars, and you didn't know shit about what he was doing."
Winter was silent for a moment before she shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "That's... not important. I am here to train you, and we will return to that immediately."
Fairfire nodded, clearly Winter wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
Fairfire performed the jump again, this time clocking in at around the same height, but she managed a much better landing. It was surprisingly exhausting, given that she was at the prime of her life and in damn near perfect shape.
Winter also seemed to pick up on Fairfire's sudden exhaustion. "Your Aura has to be channeled through your body, and until you can condition yourself to that motion better, you'll find that even basic actions are extremely draining."
"Is that what makes Huntsmen so strong? They're just used to doing this?" Fairfire asked in between deep breaths. In Atlas, she had noticed the disparity in capabilities between the Auraless Marines and the Enemy Specialists that they encountered. At the time, she had nobody to ask about what was really going on, but now she did.
"A Huntsman goes through years of training from a very early age in order to better master the control of their Aura. I started my first exercises when I was eight years old, and that's considered to be later than usual." Winter explained. "And it's due to that experience that a Huntsman or Huntress can do far more with their Aura than the average soldier."
Truth be told, Fairfire still wasn't entirely comfortable with the fact that most of the Huntsmen on Remnant were formerly child soldiers. Rather than approach that monolithically awkward topic, she gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of her head. "So uh, I'm at a pretty big disadvantage huh?"
"Where your Aura and Semblance are concerned, you have a considerable amount to improve upon." Winter somewhat bluntly answered. "You do have the advantage of being well-trained without your Aura. If you were not as physically fit as you are, it would be far more difficult for you to recover from these exercises."
Christ, I can't imagine trying to do this crap as a kid. Fairfire thought. "So, what about people who never find their Semblance? Or if they discover it when they're too old to properly train themselves to use it?"
"Not discovering your Semblance is no excuse for lackluster performance in the field. General Ironwood is the best soldier I know, and he never discovered his Semblance." Winter answered. "For them, they must simply redouble their efforts using their Aura and Equipment."
"Ah, I get it." Fairfire replied. There were still a few details that she was a little fuzzy on, but those could wait until another time. "Okay, I think I'm ready to give it another go."
Winter nodded and gestured for Fairfire to continue. She leapt upwards again, this time clearing three and a half meters in a straight vertical jump. Again, her landing was far easier, and this time she was even able to cushion some of the impact by channeling her Aura back into her feet. On the other hand, she was starting to feel some genuine exhaustion, and her legs wobbled slightly before she got them back under control.
"Much better." Winter said with a genuine smile.
Fairfire gave a shaky thumbs-up as she unslung her canteen and chugged nearly half of it. Technically it was a bad idea to chug water during exercise, but seeing as Fairfire's throat felt like a damn desert, it was worth it. "Thanks Specialist... I feel like an Olympian."
Winter shook her head softly. "I'm afraid I don't understand the reference. But you are welcome regardless."
UNSC Dominion, Starboard Armory
October 26th, 1354 Local Time, 2552
It was becoming clearer to Ben by the hour that he didn't know nearly as much about Artificial Intelligences as he had previously thought. While he performed routine maintenance on his armor, Curie tirelessly worked within his Neural Lace to find a solution to her Rampancy. There wasn't really much that he could do to help her, he solved problems with tools and rifles, not programs and scripts.
He'd picked up on a few oddities with her behavior as well. While she hadn't had any of the rampant "episodes" that she had told him about, he could occasionally hear her whispering in the back of his mind.
"...the key… limitless… victory." Curie's voice softly spoke. Seeing as the voice was literally coming from a link to his brain, soundwaves had nothing to do with how he perceived them, so there had to be some reason why he could barely make it out.
I suppose there's no harm in just asking. Ben thought. "Curie, do you know where that whispering is coming from?"
Ben noticed that as soon as he mentioned it, the voice stopped speaking, indicating that whatever it was, it was aware that he was talking about it.
"Whispering? What whispering?" Curie asked.
"I heard whispering just a moment ago. It sounded like you were saying something, but I couldn't make out any details." He explained.
Curie remained silent for a moment, which was something that she had been doing a lot recently. It seemed that even processing her thoughts was beginning to take longer than usual, which made Ben more than a little nervous.
Even if he wouldn't admit it aloud, he was starting to get worried about her. Every once and a while, he would find a stray thought in his mind about what he would do in the event that Curie actually died. Each time the thought appeared, he simply reminded himself that it was not going to happen, that losing Curie was not on the table, but that didn't stop those same thoughts from returning.
"I wasn't saying anything. Are you certain that it was not just somebody in the hallway?" Curie asked.
Ben shook his head. "There wasn't any reverb or noise delay, it was just like when you talk to me through the Neural Lace."
"That is... troubling." Curie said. "You may be experiencing some memetic feedback from some of my corrupted subsystems. Unfortunately, I cannot say whether or not that is the case as I no longer possess the resources to accurately conclude whether or not those systems are even active."
Ben nodded to confirm that he had understood her words, but he was beginning to feel even more worried. If Curie couldn't even tell what was going on within her own systems anymore, that spoke volumes as to how badly she had been damaged.
"Ben, relax. I'm trying to focus, and you raising your pulse isn't helping." Curie said.
Ben flinched, the last thing he wanted to do was put more pressure on her. "Sorry."
He forced himself to calm down, and with a bit of effort, refocused his efforts towards his armor. He'd completely mended the undersuit from what small degree of damage it had sustained during the Battle of Argus and the Battle of the Schnee Depot, but the pale scars on his midsection were a reminder that Mjolnir was only as good as the wearer.
I still need to work on some of those replacement atmospheric seals for Jorge. Luckily, it seems like we aren't going into a vacuum environment anytime soon. Ben thought. Still, it was definitely something that he would need to focus on.
Ben had learned that Jorge knew how to modify his armor just fine, but much of his education was still based around the older Mark IV suits. Granted, a good chunk of the parts from Jorge's armor were actually repurposed Mark IV parts, but where Jorge had hands-on experience with the equipment, Ben had been specifically trained to repair a Mjolnir suit largely from the ground up by some of the best experts that the UNSC had.
The end result was that both Spartans knew things about Mjolnir that the other did not, which created an obvious inefficiency that at some point they would need to resolve. Unfortunately, Jorge was still busy managing the security for the conference and obliterating the last of the Grimm on Vytal, so that wasn't an option at the moment. It was this inefficiency that caused him to double down on his efforts. His fixation was so intense, that Curie's interruption uncharacteristically startled him.
"Ben, do you-" Curie began, but stopped herself as Ben instinctively did a small jolt in surprise. "Oh, sorry."
"No worries." Ben replied. He had gotten used to being able to hear somebody approaching him or some faint static in his radio before they spoke, but since Curie was in his Neural Lace, neither of those faint warnings came into effect. "Did you need something?"
"I… wanted to ask a question in regards to morality." Curie stated.
Ben braced himself, Curie hadn't mentioned her creation all that much ever since he had reunited with her, so he expected the worst. "Go ahead."
"I was debating looking into the healing properties of Aura as a possible method to delay the spread of my Rampancy." Curie continued. Ben immediately felt a bit of relief, but at the same time, he was somewhat worried about where she was going with what she was saying. "But at the same time, I recognize that researching such a topic could be viewed as unnatural."
Ben raised an eyebrow, that definitely didn't sound like something that Curie would say. He had been warned by Lieutenant Oswald that some things she said might be somewhat unusual, but she sounded completely coherent.
"Aren't most forms of science technically unnatural? You've never had the concern before, what changed?" Ben asked.
Curie let out a depressed sigh. "This is a new field of research for me, I do not want to make the same mistake that my creators made and overstep some kind of ethical boundary."
Ben nodded in understanding. This was related to her creation after all, just not in the method that he had anticipated. "You wouldn't do that. You aren't that kind of person."
"I had hoped, but my concern is not that." Curie explained. "My concern is that without the time to properly overview previous experiments into Aura, I could end up overlooking some kind of deeply-rooted moral issue with my own studies."
Ben thought it over and concluded that even if Curie did overlook something of the sort, she was simply too cautious and responsible a person to actually repeat those crimes. She also had a very strong sense of basic morality, much stronger than his own, and was intelligent enough to recognize when what she was doing was considered "wrong."
Admittedly, Ben still knew practically nothing about Aura, let alone Remnant's history of studying the phenomenon. But it was clear that Curie was looking for some reassurance nonetheless, and that was something that he could provide.
"I won't let that happen." Ben replied. "I'll be right here through all of this, and I can let you know if something doesn't seem right."
Curie let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Ben. I knew that I could trust you. I just… haven't had the easiest time being confident in myself lately."
She didn't elaborate any further, she didn't need to. Instead, Ben stood up and pulled out her datachip so that he could speak to her face-to-face. When Curie displayed her Avatar, Ben noticed that she didn't look any better than when he had last seen her.
"It's okay to be afraid." He said. "I can't know what it was like to go through what you did, but you're still here now, and that's the important part."
Curie still seemed a bit doubtful, so he reluctantly decided to reach for his most compelling argument.
"Look, take it from the guy who has more augmented body parts than normal ones, there's nothing wrong with being unnatural." Ben stated. "I know that you didn't have a say in what happened to Janus, or what happened to you, but now you're in control of what happens to you, and nobody is going to take that away from you."
Curie didn't verbally reply, but she gave a grateful nod before Ben put her datachip back into his skull.
At least, not if I have anything to say about it. Ben silently added.
Vytal Island Town Hall
October 26th, 1452 Local Time, 2552
Even if Richard wasn't terribly familiar with politics, he was no stranger to boredom. He had hoped that because of the immense significance of the Vytal Conference, not to mention his own personal investment, that things might be a bit more interesting to keep track of. Unfortunately, he had been wrong, at least as far as the last hour or so was concerned. He had barely managed to keep himself awake, let alone attentive throughout the end of the morning topics.
It probably didn't help that he was having a lot of trouble sleeping thanks to certain recent events, namely those revolving around Curie and Ozpin. That lack of sleep probably wasn't doing his judgement any favors, to the point that he had debated actually taking one of the Stimulants meant to keep soldiers in the field fighting past the point of exhaustion, but he eventually decided against it. Narcotics weren't going to make up for a lack of sleep, at least not where decision-making was concerned.
It doesn't help that the listed side-effects don't even fit on the back of the damn syringe. Richard thought with renewed frustration.
The other big issue that he had not foreseen was that he already knew a lot of what was already being said, which made the conference a repetitive and somewhat dreary affair, at least in his eyes. He had no doubt that the people of Remnant were excited to hear about trade deals and non-aggression pacts, but Richard had already known about them for days now.
Luckily for him, an intermission was only a few minutes away, which would offer him at least a little bit of respite from the monotony of politics. Or at least, it would've been lucky, were it not for what he had to do next. This had been the moment he had been dreading since he had woken up in the morning, it was time to talk to Ozpin and General Ironwood.
Richard made his way back to the Records Room as planned, and saw that Ozpin and Ironwood were already waiting for him around one of the dusty tables. Their expressions were blank and neutral, and they did not waste any time with pleasantries, all of them knew why they were here.
Richard decided that since there was only a limited amount of time before the absence of the three leaders would be noticed by other people, he would get to the point. "I've talked things over with some of my best men… we've agreed that while your decisions may have had tragic impacts at Argus, the threat posed by Salem cannot be ignored. The UNSC will help you end this threat."
Ozpin gave an enigmatic smile. "I am very happy to hear that you're with us, Commander."
Richard studied Ozpin's expression for any sort of malice or contempt, but found only weariness and relief. Either the man was a stellar actor, or he had truly genuine intentions.
An immortal wizard has all the time in the world to learn how to lie, stay sharp. Richard reminded himself. "That being said, I expect to not be left in the dark again, circumstances be damned. I will not send my men into a fight if you intend to keep things from us."
"That is certainly a reasonable request." Ozpin replied.
It was more of a demand. Richard bitterly thought. He kept that thought to himself, as for now, it seemed like Ozpin was cooperating.
Ozpin gestured to General Ironwood, who withdrew a small data storage device from one of his pockets and handed it to Richard.
"This is everything that we have on Salem." Ironwood explained. "We don't know where she currently is, or where her base of operations is. We know that she plans to acquire the Relics, but we don't know how."
Oh, is that all? Again, Richard fought the bitter part of his mind and kept that thought to himself. "We can help with at least one of those. Lieutenant Oswald is working on getting some of our surveillance satellites back into working order, and with any luck, we'll be able to find her base of operations. If we can find her base, we can launch a strike to take her down."
Ozpin raised his eyebrows. "Her base could be hundreds of miles into Grimm Territory. That would be a suicide mission."
"I'm not sure you understand exactly what I'm getting at, Headmaster." Richard replied. Of course, his own strategic mindset was probably radically different from Ozpin's, so the confusion was completely understandable. "If her base is somewhere far from any civilian population, we'll be free to use the Dominion's weapons on her headquarters from orbit. Ideally without any risk to our ship or the people of Remnant."
Richard noticed how Ironwood's face paled slightly at the mention of the Dominion's weapons. Ironwood probably knew better than anyone else on Remnant what those weapons were capable of, aside from Winter who had been present for the Battle in the Skies of Atlas.
"Then for all of our sakes Commander, I hope your search is successful." Ozpin said. "But I have tried to destroy Salem for thousands of years, I severely doubt that you'll be able to kill her so easily."
Richard raised an eyebrow. "Headmaster, no offense, but the Dominion's weapons are made to kill starships and obliterate cities, what kind of being could survive a hit like that?"
Ozpin seemed to think it over for a moment, before eventually shaking his head. "I've… tried many methods before, all have failed. By all means, if you think this will work then I encourage you to try, but Salem has eluded everything that I have tried before."
Well, maybe she won't be able to dodge a WMD. Richard thought. Still, if Ozpin had been genuinely going at this for thousands of years, then perhaps Salem had some unforeseen reason for her durability. She does have genuine magic at her disposal, we may need to get creative.
"I understand." Richard simply replied. "If this doesn't work, we'll be ready to try something else."
"We also need to consider Salem's agents, they must be dealt with, and ideally captured if we can manage it." Ozpin said. "General Ironwood believes that Salem has ties to a terrorist organization on Remnant, the White Fang."
"We've heard of them." Richard confirmed. "What makes you think they're connected to Salem?"
"Well for starters, our investigators traced some of the spent ammunition cases used by Tyrian Callows to munitions stolen by White Fang insurgents two years ago." Ironwood explained. "Their motives also fit very well with Salem's primary strategy to divide humanity's strength by sparking infighting, so some form of coordination between them isn't out of the question."
Richard shook his head. "That ammunition could have gotten circulated around a dozen black markets before it ended up in Tyrian's hands. The Insurrectionists used to pull the same kind of trick with their munitions back in UNSC Space, where they would leave false trails for our investigators to follow, usually into landmines."
I've got the scars to prove it… Richard bitterly thought.
Ironwood took in Richard's words for a moment, but he didn't seem to be deterred. "Whatever may have happened in that time aside, it's the only lead that we have. And if the two groups are linked, it would certainly explain where Tyrian acquired military-grade Dust explosives."
"General, some of your rogue soldiers made off with a battlegroup of Cruisers." Richard pointed out. "Tyrian stealing a handful of explosives is far from out of the question."
Ironwood looked like he was about to protest, but Ozpin softly tapped his cane on the ground to get their attention. "Ultimately, it's your decision what you will do with your own troops, Commander. But I urge you to keep us informed of what breakthroughs you make, and we shall do the same in kind."
Richard nodded, he would not be making the same mistake that Ozpin had. "I'll need to brief some more of my people on all of this if they're going to be fighting these battles. It won't be many, I have a small team of whatever Special Forces that we had aboard when we got stranded out here, plus a special case. They'll serve as my boots on the ground."
Ozpin gave him a wary gaze. "I trust you'll share only what you think is necessary."
"I can assure you that those particular worries are unfounded. Before I joined the Navy, I specialized in keeping things quiet." Richard replied.
There is a certain irony in boasting your skills to keep things quiet. Richard realized, however, the circumstances removed whatever humor there was from the statement.
"On that note." Ironwood interjected. "Ozpin, I think that it's time that we brought the Ace Ops on board as well. If we're going to go on the offensive against Salem, we'll need the manpower."
Ozpin scowled. "Fine, but no more than them, and only brief them on what they need to know."
I will tell them what I damn well please. Richard fought back the urge to bitterly reply. Ultimately, he knew that Ozpin was right and that keeping information on a need-to-know basis was the wisest plan.
"Good." Richard said. A glance at the analog clock on the wall confirmed his suspicions. "We should wrap this up, the intermission is over in a few minutes."
Ozpin nodded. "Agreed, but we will need to discuss this more in greater detail. Can you secure yourself a private means of communicating with me?"
"Yes, without issue." Richard replied.
"Good." Ozpin said. "In that case, I hope to speak with you soon."
The three of them went their separate ways, as it was important to avoid giving anyone else the indication that they had even privately met in the first place.
I suppose that certainly could have gone worse. Richard thought.
Author's Note: I figure that at some point I should plug my twitter, since I tend to tweet about The Men From Onyx a bit more than I perhaps should. My handle is kpmh2001 (same as on here) and I have a series of TMFO artworks that I have commissioned in the past pinned to my profile. I plan to post more in the future.