UNSC Thunderchild, Bridge
November 3rd, 1524 Local Time, 2552
When Jorge learned more about the Thunderchild, specifically how large it was, he began to have doubts about just how useful it would be. It's design was ancient even by Remnant's technological standards, it demanded a large crew to remain operational, and worst of all, it was dreadfully slow. When conducting counter-insurgency operations, speed was everything, and he had little reason to doubt that further battles with the White Fang would be any different.
Even so, he was glad to see that the Marines and Engineers from the Dominion had been hard at work, and had managed to mitigate three of the Thunderchild's largest weaknesses. The first of the problems was the easiest to solve, the Thunderchild didn't have any minesweeping gear or a method to detect IEDs, and the UNSC already had purpose-made equipment to suit both of those roles. With only a minor amount of effort, a small crane-like appendage had been fitted to the bow of the ship which would extend to scan the waters ahead for any explosive threats.
The second vulnerability was the minimum range of the Thunderchild's weaponry, particularly any enemy that was attacking from directly off of the flanks. To solve the problem, the Marines had installed M460 Machine Grenade Launchers and AIE-468H Machine Guns all across the superstructure, with sandbag emplacements to protect the operators. A few of the ship's casemates had previously had their cannons removed at some point, and so they had proved to be ideal spots to stash a few more machine guns.
The third main issue, and the one that had Jorge worried the most, was the ship's vulnerability to airborne attack. He'd seen firsthand at Argus how flying Grimm could pose a serious threat in numbers, and historically, the old naval battleships of Earth's old nations had been rendered obsolete by the dominant power of aircraft. The existing flak armament of the Thunderchild was certainly useful, but it lacked the firepower needed to deal with larger swarms. The solution they had devised was perhaps a bit crude, but also undeniably functional.
"Spartan, are you sure this is a good idea?" Jorge turned to see Captain Clark standing beside him, looking out of one of the bridge viewports to see Corporal Sato on the main deck with an M41 SPNKR in hand. Standing all around her were some of the Faunus sailors that made up the crew of the Thunderchild, listening as she instructed them on how to operate the weapon. "I'm sure that Margaret's crew is trustworthy, but they've only had a few days training with our weapons. If there's an accident, a lot of people could be hurt."
Jorge definitely understood his trepidation, but he gave a confident nod regardless. "I'd rather that they have a small amount of training than none at all. If we find ourselves up against a swarm of Lancers like we fought at Argus, we'll need every man in the fight. If Mags trusts them with this kind of heavy artillery, they've clearly got the restraint that they need."
He and Clark watched as Yu handed the weapon to one of the sailors, whom she immediately reprimanded for bad posture.
"That may be true, but all of the training that they have received is… informal to say the least." Clark argued. "Sure they've seen action, but that was against Grimm. How are they going to fare up against the White Fang?"
Jorge paused for a moment, although not for a lack of an answer. Clark's concerns were more than justified, as he knew for a fact that the crew of the Thunderchild weren't ready to fight the White Fang. The Grimm were savage and dangerous, but their lack of any kind of technology made them predictable, whereas the White Fang had proven themselves to be uncomfortably bold and hard to predict.
"Poorly." Jorge finally answered. "Once they get a little bit of experience under their belt, that'll change, but we'll have to keep an eye on them until then."
"They might not get that chance. One good ambush would be more than enough to turn this ship and its crew into a fireball." Clark pointed out. "It would be an unpopular move, but maybe we should tell these people to stay home and defend the city. At least then they'd be in their element. I could radio the Commander and call for some extra crewmen to make up the lost numbers on the ground."
Jorge immediately shook his head. "The Commander needs those men, Menagerie isn't the only place on Remnant that needs defending. As for the ship and crew, they've got the spirit to fight, and this is their country. They have a right to stand up for themselves, trying to take that away from them probably wouldn't go well."
Clark grumbled in reluctant agreement. "You make a good point. Still, I'm not convinced that we aren't dragging these people into a meat grinder. I've seen a lot of Partisans go up against the Covenant… a fighting spirit doesn't mean they'll come home."
A chill ran down Jorge's spine as he thought about all of the Human irregulars that he had seen die in battle with the Covenant. The UNSC had already been getting mauled by the Covenant, but the barely-trained partisans and militias of the Colonies had fared even worse, in spite of their iron will in the face of the direst odds. "I agree that this isn't ideal, but warfare rarely is. These people aren't the best fighters on the planet, but they're still our allies, and I say we're lucky to have them."
Clark stood in silent thought, before suddenly acquiring a small smile. "Tell me, what kind of exercises are you running the crew through right now?"
"Weapon drills mostly, but I was hoping to bring them up to speed with radio code before we leave." Jorge answered. "Why?"
"Well, you said yourself that these people would be better off with a small amount of training, rather than none." Clark said. "I think that maybe we could organize a few wargames, run Mags and her crew through a few scenarios that we might run into. What do you think?"
"It certainly couldn't hurt, but you won't be able to pull everybody off of duty." Jorge replied. "We need the Engineers working on the ship, otherwise we'll be here for weeks. Every day that we give the White Fang to breathe is another chance for them to strike back."
"We wouldn't need to, the odds are good that they won't be taking part in the fighting anyway." Clark pointed out. "Still, I'll need to clear it with the Commander and Lieutenant Jackson, but I don't think they'll have any issues. Thank you for your time, Lieutenant."
"My pleasure, Captain." Jorge replied.
A few wargames… Jorge thought, briefly thinking back to his own training. I should give Ben a call. He probably remembers Mendez's methods a bit better than I do. Hard to believe that old bastard is still going...
UNSC Dominion, Brig
November 3rd, 1145 Local Time, 2552
Even though Set now knew that his prejudices against the Humans were unjustified and founded upon lies, he still felt faintly humiliated at the current circumstances. Here he was, a battle-hardened Ultra who had once worked alongside some of the finest warriors the Covenant had ever seen, receiving lessons on how to perform magic from an adolescent Human female.
The Gods must have a peculiar sense of humor. Set thought. He wasn't too upset however, as he knew that these lessons were key to understanding the strange gift that the Gods had bestowed upon him.
Of course, to call Penny and Curie "Human" was only tangentially correct. As he had learned, they were actually advanced robots built to look like Humans, with the word "android" being the title used to describe them. He had never seen such technology before, not from any of the other races of the Covenant, and certainly not from the Humans. It made him wonder just how many of the Humans that he had seen over the years were actually flesh and blood, and which had been forged, rather than born.
Their existence also raised more than a few questions in his mind. Why would the Humans need to build constructs with such lifelike bodies? Were they trying to make their own Huragok, but lacking the vision of the Gods, simply based them off of themselves? Or was this some attempt to give themselves longer lives by transferring their essence into digital form? How come we didn't notice them during the War?
It was ultimately a fruitless line of questioning, as neither Curie or Penny was willing to disclose much information on the matter. He was perfectly content to remain ignorant, as every moment that they spent telling him about themselves was a moment that he wasn't learning about Remnant, the planet whose surface was apparently far closer than he had thought. Apparently, the Humans had exited and entered the atmosphere several times, and from the inside of a prison cell, it was impossible to say when any of that had happened.
Penny and Curie had both pitched in to give him a brief overview of what was apparently a visually beautiful, but deceptively hellish world. The unholy creatures of Grimm stalked behind every blade of grass, ready to strike at anyone for any reason. To match them, superpowered Humans used what could only be described as magic to protect themselves from harm and perform exceptional feats in battle. He wouldn't have believed a word of it, were it not for the videos that they had shown him.
There was something faintly terrifying about watching a Human command the flow of water as if they were a General commanding their troops. One other thing that he had noticed about that particular human was her tail, but apparently, that was normal for some Humans on Remnant, or "Faunus" as they were called. It didn't come as much surprise to Set, as he had been witness to all kinds of different races, all connected to the same species, but with radically different appearances. He had previously assumed Humans to be comparatively similar to one another, but apparently he had been wrong.
It certainly wouldn't be the first time… Set thought, the guilt of a thousand grievous sins weighed him down. He wasn't sure why the Gods had decided to give him a chance to atone for them, but he wasn't about to waste it.
Today, he was only being lectured by Penny, as Curie had taken Functions Inconsistently somewhere else on the Human ship for the day, promising to return him shortly. He had told her that she was welcome to keep the Huragok for as long as she liked, as it took up a considerable amount of space in his cell, making it feel even more cramped than it already was.
Once she was gone, Penny had started to go into detail about the magic on Remnant called "Aura" and "Semblance." She was prone to tangents about seemingly unrelated information in her lessons, but he listened intently regardless, deciding that it would be best to trust her judgement.
"-And here's some pictures from when I was at Beacon! It's one of the four main Huntsmen Academies, and there's a lot of really nice people there." She explained, showing off some photographs on one of the hardlight datapads that the Humans of Remnant used.
"That is a school?" Set doubtfully remarked. "It cannot be. I have seen the Human's bases before, they are not so… artful. This looks much more like a San'Shyuum bathhouse, or the Keep of some gaudy Kaidon."
"I uh… don't really know what that means." Penny somewhat sheepishly admitted.
I suppose that she's never seen either of those things before, much to her benefit. Set thought. "This Beacon is a grand structure, a work of art to be certain, but it is certainly no fortress! Where are the battlements, or the mortar emplacements? How would the defenders repel an attacking foe?"
"Well, the Grimm don't really tend to get that far." Penny explained. "Sometimes one or two can slip through the walls around Vale, but the Huntsmen are always there to fight them."
Huntsmen. The foreign word stayed with Set through all of his lectures. They were the magical warriors of Remnant, and oddly enough, they seemed to fill the same role in society as Sangheili Warriors. Humans from normal space usually had a seperate military specifically for enforcing their laws, but on Remnant, it seemed that they had learned to follow in many of the customs of the Sangheili. I suppose it makes sense, Remnant and Sanghelios are both dangerous worlds, it stands to reason that any society forming upon such planets would need strong warriors.
"I think that's more than enough history for now. Would you like to try and work with your Semblance some more?" Penny asked.
Recognizing that his attention had wavered, Set dedicated his mind towards her teachings once more. The Gods had finally seen fit to grant him instruction, and he was eager to listen. "Of course. Speak your will, and I will see that it is done."
"Great!" Penny happily said. "Now, from what we've seen, your Semblance seems to have some kind of relation with the practice of summoning. I'm not sure exactly what it is yet, but let's see if we can figure that out. Do you remember how you summoned, uh… what was his name again?"
"His name is Functions Inconsistently, a strange title I agree, but not unusual for their kind. As for summoning him, I remember the moment distinctly, although it was not intentional." Set answered. "I was… frustrated. I did not understand what was happening to me, and so I wished for some kind of help from the Gods. I didn't expect anything to actually happen, at least, not so quickly."
Penny hummed aloud in thought. "Did you feel anything when it was happening?"
"I am not ashamed to admit that I was startled when the portal opened." He replied.
"Not like that, I mean physically feel anything." Penny clarified. "You should have been able to feel your Aura working to power your Semblance."
"In that case, I can recall nothing of the kind." Set said. "Would that be… normal?"
None of this is normal. He silently reprimanded himself.
"Well, yes, but you aren't normal." Penny noted, almost echoing his thoughts. "I wouldn't worry about it, since you don't really need it. Although…"
"Yes? What is it?" He asked.
"If you don't feel your Aura in the same way, maybe you have a different way of using it." Penny proposed. "A lot of animals like Dogs and Cats can use Aura, but they obviously aren't intelligent, so they just work off instinct."
Set grumbled. "Do I look like one of your canines, Human? Next, you'll teach me to fetch your slippers…"
Penny's expression shifted to one of faint horror. "Oh no, that's not what I meant at all! I'm sure that you and all of your other… alien… people, are very intelligent! I didn't-"
She was interrupted as Set howled with uncontrollable laughter. It wasn't her awkward stammering or obvious lack of knowledge about his people that he found funny, but rather the fact that she had felt the need to justify her obviously innocent comment to him. He had expected her to throw an insult at him, as Humans were so fond of doing.
Once his laughter was under control, he figured that it was only reasonable to explain himself. "My apologies, Penny, I was… not expecting you to apologize."
If anything, his words only confused her more. "Why not?"
He scanned her features for any sign of disingenuousness, but found none. In retrospect, her polite nature should have been the first sign that she lacked any kind of prejudice against the Sangheili, likely because he was the first that she had ever seen. She would not have seen the planets whose glassings he had diligently observed, or the cadavers of the Humans that he had butchered.
While he was eager to return to his lessons, he also felt that he owed the Android girl an explanation for his behavior. "I have had very few experiences with Humans in my life, and none of them were particularly pleasant. The crew of this vessel loathe me and my kind, as they should, for we have unleashed countless atrocities upon them during the war."
To his surprise, Penny nodded. "Curie told me a little bit about that, but she didn't like talking about it. She said your people were tricked into attacking them."
"An apt summary, although it does not do justice to the scale of the betrayal that we experienced." Set said.
He briefly explained the basic concept of the Great Journey to her, and how it was the duty of the Prophets and Sangheili to assemble a Holy Covenant to ensure that the will of the Gods was fulfilled. He then recounted to her his vision of the Oracle, and how it had revealed the terrible truth, the Humans were never heretics, they too were worthy children of the Gods.
"The worst part is that, since I am stuck here, I cannot tell any of this to my Brothers. Mercifully, the Oracle I spoke with indicated that the War was drawing to a close, but it is of small comfort to the dead." Set concluded. "Mark my words, Penny. If I am ever recalled to my own plane to serve alongside my Brothers once again, I shall personally hang the Prophets by their wretched entrails for all of their crimes. They are criminals unlike any that the Universe has ever seen."
Her expression was very hard for him to read, but judging by her widened eyes and complete silence, it was apparent that she was clearly shocked. How could she not be? Even I still find myself doubting that it's all true…
"That's… really sad." Penny finally said, the genuine sorrow in her voice taking him off guard somewhat. "How could they just lie to all of those people like that, and hurt so many more?"
"Because they are cruel, greedy… and we were foolish and ignorant." Set answered. "Even so, they will be no match for the righteous warriors that will inevitably face them. The Oracle showed me the light, and so too will it be shown to my Brothers. Then this unholy crusade may end, and the Covenant will finally be allowed to heal."
She gave a soft smile. "You seem really confident."
"Of course I'm confident, I have the Gods by my side." Set stated the obvious. "Now, I believe we have been distracted for long enough. Do you still intend to instruct me?"
Penny nodded. "Absolutely. Now stand up, and let's start with some basic exercises..."
Meanwhile
UNSC Dominion, Foundry
I certainly hope that Penny is having better luck than I am. Curie thought, unable to feel anything but frustration as Functions Inconsistently once again fell prey to what was very clearly his greatest weakness, his attention span.
Her plan had been to take the Engineer, or "Huragok" as Set called it, down to the Foundry to test its capabilities. Specifically, she knew that Ben had held onto a few damaged components from Jorge's Mjolnir, and while she was relatively certain that the Engineer wasn't going to be able to repair them, there was the chance that he could recover something useful.
Of course, that had been her intention, which proved to be entirely incompatible with reality. The Engineer had demonstrated a truly stunningly short attention span, as he was distracted by practically every piece of technology that he came across. Even things as simple as door controls, intercoms, and lighting fixtures were apparently interesting enough to get him to stop and study the technology. There was at least a silver lining to the situation, as it at least gave her a better insight as to how the creature behaved.
It was readily apparent just by how the creature examined unknown objects and technologies that it had the mindset of a scientist, albeit one who apparently had little to no knowledge of any kind of Human construction. Although it wouldn't answer her questions while it worked, it would always say the same thing to justify its actions.
"I apologize, I am under standing orders to study any unfamiliar technologies." It would say, speaking in monotone through the datapad that it continued to carry with it.
After a number of frustrating delays, they finally made it to the Foundry, only for the bulkhead to suffer from a minor mechanical failure which prevented it from closing completely, providing another untimely distraction.
"Hey, no!" She called out as she saw Functions Inconsistently steadily drift away from her. "The mechanics can fix that later, I need your help over here!"
"Do not worry, this will only take a moment." The Engineer responded as it removed an access panel and set to work.
"That is… hmph..." Curie grumbled aloud in frustration, doing her best to ignore all of the engineers and technicians behind her that were trying not to laugh. "Look, this is much more important, I promise! We have our own technicians, they can fix that, but they can't fix this!"
As expected, Functions Inconsistently merrily ignored her and continued working. To her surprise, however, it was done with itss repairs within thirty seconds. Odd, how did it work so fast?
"The task is complete." The Huragok happily reported. "Please continue."
She led the alien down to one of the storage lockers, continuing to ignore all of the extremely confused technicians who stared at them, apparently having not received any warning about their new visitor. By some miracle, she was able to get to the locker in question without anything else catching the attention of the alien.
"Here. These are the components that I told you about." Curie said, retrieving a torn piece of what looked like fabric or rubber, but what was actually a destroyed component of Jorge's undersuit. "Do you think you could fix this?"
She held up the component, expecting the Engineer to eagerly take it and examine it. To her surprise, however, it merely looked at her blankly and spoke a single, monotone word. "No."
Admittedly a little annoyed, Curie stamped her foot indignantly and crumpled the component in her fist. "What do you mean no?! Just a minute ago you fixed a bulkhead that would've taken a team of mechanics an hour to repair in less than a minute! Yet you cannot even look at this and tell me what it is?!"
"I can tell you what that is." Functions Inconsistently said. "That is a part belonging to a Combat Skin, it is damaged beyond repair."
Surprised by his answer, she looked back at the component in her hand in confusion. "Combat Skin?"
"I apologize, you may not recognize the terminology." It replied. "Is the word "armor" familiar to you?"
"I- well yes, it is. I… I suppose I am just confused." Curie admitted. "You didn't recognize how the lamps in the corridors worked, but you can understand one of the most advanced technologies ever developed by Human hands at a glance?"
"I recognize the function of the part, even if its exact composition and construction are non-standard." The Huragok responded. "Your lamps use a method of operation that I do not understand. That is why I wanted to study them."
Well, at least it is talking to me now… Curie thought, relieved to have made some progress at the very least. "What about reusing this part? These materials are very expensive, do you think that you could use them to build something else?"
"Certainly. That could be used to repair the electrical anomaly in your clavicle." Functions Inconsistently answered.
"It- what?" Curie asked, caught off guard once again.
However, once the Engineer pointed out the issue, she realized that she felt something on her shoulder. The sensation was… very unusual, like somebody was rubbing something soft yet unpleasant against her skin. She did not enjoy the experience.
Itching. The realization came to her from seemingly nowhere. She scratched the offending shoulder with one of her hands, and the feeling went away. "Is it fixed?"
"I believe so, although I could not say for certain without examining your body, which I am not authorized or equipped to do." The Engineer said. "You will have to perform any further repairs yourself."
Well, I suppose that's reassuring… Curie thought. "That is perfectly acceptable. If I may ask, who imposed that restriction upon you?"
To her surprise, Functions Inconsistently actually remained silent for a moment, as if pondering her question. "I do not know. I apologize."
And that… is not so reassuring. She thought. "Do you at least remember where you came from?"
"Yes. I was in stasis, awaiting further instruction." The Huragok replied. "Before that I was-"
Mid-sentence, it stopped talking, and made a soft cooing sound, almost as if it was nervous.
"-I apologize, I do not believe I remember that either."
It was impossible to say for certain whether or not the alien was telling the truth, largely because its body language was so alien that it was unreadable. None of the reports that she had read had even indicated whether or not an Engineer could even lie at all.
"I suppose there will be more time to figure that out in the future." Curie said. "Would you care to help me with the rest of these parts?"
"I will assist however I am able." Functions Inconsistently dutifully replied.
As if on cue, somebody else in the Foundry must have dropped something, as the sound of glass shattering could be heard. Answering the call to action, Functions Inconsistently immediately turned around and floated off, no doubt to try to help.
Baby steps, it seems… Curie grumpily thought as she chased after him.
UNSC Dominion
November 3rd, 1351 Local Time, 2552
With all of the extremely bizarre things that were going on in Richard's life, getting a chance to do some planning and strategizing with his Officers was something that he found surprisingly refreshing. It was important as well, since if the UNSC was going to beat the White Fang, they needed a good plan to do it. The attack on the White Fang's Headquarters had necessitated a quick response, and so there wasn't time to draft up plans for an entire military campaign. With that obstacle out of the way, now there was time to plan for any future battles.
He still felt a pang of regret at the idea of having to throw his men into combat yet again, but his resolve was strong. The White Fang were a threat that would continue to strike at civilization on Remnant if left alone, and because of that, they needed to be eliminated.
Placing his private regrets aside, he began drafting up a strategy, incorporating lessons learned during the Hostage Crisis in Kuo Kuana, the Battle at the White Fang's Headquarters, the Battle of Argus, and all of the minor and major engagements that had made up the Schnee Dust Company Campaign.
When drafting any military operation, it was always important to never lose sight of the main objectives. In this case, they were deceptively simple: capture or kill the White Fang's Leadership and destroy or secure any of their military assets. Obviously, any goal was meaningless without a plan to achieve it, and that was where the bulk of strategic mistakes came from.
There was, however, another objective, one that needed to be kept quiet for rather self-evident reasons. With Salem out of action, her colleagues and sympathizers still posed a threat, one that the UNSC would need to snuff out before they could retaliate for the loss of their leader. While there wasn't yet any concrete evidence that indicated a connection between Salem and the White Fang, they certainly shared a common goal when it came to creating havoc for Humanity. When he had spoken to Headmaster Ozpin, he wasn't surprised that the wizard had similar concerns.
"Salem has used all kinds of proxies to carry out her missions in the past. The most obvious example would be the Great War, but I'm afraid that she's been manipulating men for far longer than that." Ozpin had said. "More often than not, the bulk of them don't even know about Salem, let alone how badly they're being manipulated. If Salem does have ties to the White Fang, it's entirely likely that they never even knew it."
That last comment hadn't surprised him as much as Ozpin had clearly expected it would have. ONI had used proxy organizations, corporations, and people to carry out their dirty work practically since their inception, hell, he'd even worked with a few of them in the past. They didn't just serve the purpose of deniability as many assumed either, but also as a sort of bulwark to prevent sensitive information from being leaked. If even your own agents didn't know something, that prevented them from becoming a vulnerability in the event that they were captured or the event that they defected.
While he would've liked to have every Marine on the ground looking out for any sign of Salem's agents, that just wasn't feasible. Instead, he would have to select a small number of people to brief on the existence of Salem's cult, whereupon they would serve as his own agents. There really wasn't much debate as to who it would be either, as the Dominion only had a single team of Special Forces to its name. I'll wait until Ben's back in action before I give them the briefing, this is probably something I should drop on them all at once.
The rest of the planning was largely something that he would delegate to his subordinates, or could call upon from allies. Bradford handled logistics and managed the modernization of the Thunderchild with Mags, which would serve as the UNSC's Mobile Command Center in Menagerie once complete. Captain Clark and Gunnery Sergeant Moerdani would run some wargames with the Thunderchild's crew to sharpen their skills with the help of Old Stan.
One particularly unsavory job was now in the collective care of Lieutenant Chen, Gage, and Ensign Gillespie. They would work with Auntie Dot, whose first task as the Dominion's new shipboard AI would be to gather any kind of actionable intelligence possible on the White Fang. It would be a tedious and undoubtedly draining job, but it would be crucial towards actually finding the White Fang's hideaways.
The final contribution was from Lieutenant Thomas, and while he lacked the specific skillset to contribute any meaningful strategic advice, his addition was the final piece needed to bring the plan together. Any good military operation needed a name, if only for archival purposes, and Operation Bayonet would be no different.
All we need to do now is win. Richard chuckled bitterly at the vast oversimplification of their task.
Nonetheless, it was a task that he was determined to see through.