Chapter 16: Tethered
June 14, 2682; 1750 Hours
Ivan leaned back, relaxing into the back seat of the Schnee-provided limousine which was on its way back to Beacon. Team RWBY had greatly enjoyed the day-long rest at the Schnee Estate in Vale, Ivan spending most of his time on the beach. Despite the rocky start to the vacation, everyone greatly enjoyed it. Ruby and Yang were currently speculating about what their visit to Earth would be like.
"Hey Ivan, does the UNSC have flying cars?" Ruby asked.
Ivan chuckled. "No, sadly. We've still got wheeled cars."
"What about cool laser guns and chrome cities?" Yang asked, hopefully.
"I mean… we have a giant laser cannon, but our cities are just normal cities." Ivan said, smiling.
"I'm rather excited to visit Earth." Winter mused. "I always thought that manned spaceflight was a pipe dream. We never developed any rockets or engines powerful enough to break Remnant's orbit, so we just… gave up."
Ivan grinned. "I guess that's just one of the many differences between our governments. I can't wrap my head around the idea of looking up at that sky, seeing all of the stars and the possibilities that the universe could hold, and not pushing whatever boundaries it took just to get a glimpse of it. When I looked up there as a kid, I saw… us."
"Us?" Weiss asked.
"I saw what we were meant to become." Ivan said. "I always dreamed of leaving my homeworld, seeing all of the wonders that the universe had in store for us. For me, I only had to dream about it until I was sixteen, then I did it. The UEG has spent five hundred years shaping a place for Humanity among the stars, working for decades to carve out our own little slice of the infinite… we looked out on Earth's night sky on November 1st, 2291; and we decided that Earth was just our cradle… the stars were our home."
"You really feel passionately about this." Blake commented, amusedly.
"I've always been amazed by space travel." Ivan said, a smile constantly present on his face. "Sorry for nerding out at you guys, but it's all just so amazing to me. Most people get desensitized to the idea of traveling between planets… thank God I haven't."
"I can't wait to see it." Weiss commented.
"Anything we should know about space travel?" Winter asked cocking an eyebrow.
"Well, just that it's not exactly instantaneous." Ivan shrugged. "It's come a long way, but a trip out to Earth will still take a few days at the very least."
"How fast are your ships?" Ruby asked. Ivan suppressed a chuckle at Ruby's interest in something speed-related.
"Depends on the speed of the ship in real-space." Ivan answered. "Smaller ships like a Prowler can move faster than something like an Orion-Class or a Valiant-Class."
"What's it like?" Blake asked. "Space, I mean."
"Massive." Ivan answered. "Massive, empty, and gorgeous. I've never seen anything more awe-inspiring in my life. And you'll get to see it soon." He added, gesturing to the distant silhouette of the Vale Tether, which was mere hours from completion.
XXXXX
June 19, 2682; 0330 Hours
Remnant, Beacon (Team RWBY Dorm)
Ivan slowly sat up in his bed, his neck creaking after a rather restless night's sleep. He glanced at his retinal implant's clock, which he merely read as "oh-dark-thirty A.M.". He slowly stood from his bed, surprised to find that Weiss and Ruby were awake as well. Both of them were already dressed, had their belongings for the two week trip packed, and seemed incredibly excited.
Yang and Blake were curled up together on Yang's bed, the Blonde not planning on waking up anytime soon. Blake, much to Ivan's amusement, was letting out a light rumbling noise from the back of her throat. He knew that it wasn't uncommon for Faunus to unconsciously show a few more… animalistic tendencies. Blake would occasionally cock her head to one side when she was questioning someone, she didn't like dogs too much, and she even purred when she was curled up next to her human space heater. Yang occasionally teased her about the purring, Blake usually firing back with her own teasing, her girlfriend slowly starting to rub off on her.
Ivan stood upright, popping his back to relieve the tension in his bones. Ruby looked over in his direction, then looked to her slumbering sister. Ivan gave her a "You can deal with that one" look, then gathered his formal dress uniform and headed into the bathroom. As he began changing into his dress uniform, he could hear Ruby and Weiss quietly discussion just how they were going to go about waking Yang.
As he stepped out of the bathroom, his uniform perfectly pressed and aligned, he saw Weiss shrug and walk towards the bed. "Xiao Long… what in the world happened to your hair?" She asked, projecting her voice a bit more than usual. Yang instantly bolted awake, startling the sleeping Faunus next to her. Blake fell completely out of the rather small bed while Yang jumped from her resting place, checking her long blonde mane for any damage.
Upon realizing that nothing was out of place, she turned to glare at Weiss. "Not cool… don't scare me like that!"
"Don't sleep like a rock and I wouldn't have to." Weiss fired back, grinning. "And it was Ruby's idea, anyways."
"I feel betrayed!" Yang said, clutching her chest in mock hurt.
"I regret nothing!" Ruby said, smiling.
"I… There are no words." Blake said, standing upright and straightening her nightie out.
"Just go get ready." Weiss said. "We need to be at the Tether by five."
"What time is it?" Blake asked, gathering up her clothes.
"Three forty-five." Ivan answered. "We've gotta get out of here at four thirty."
"Why did they have to schedule the opening at the crack of dawn?" Yang asked, yawning.
"It's symbolic." Ivan explained. "It's meant to symbolize the start of a new era for Remnant."
"Eras can start past dawn, too." Yang complained, stepping into the bathroom with Blake following behind.
Ivan glanced down to his datapad, which beeped at him. He opened up the message, reading through it.
SPARTAN Chesnokov,
Your transport has been dispatched from Firebase India. It'll take you directly to the Tether's ground-side anchor whenever you're ready.
-Merlin
Ivan closed out the message, finding that Blake and Yang had already changed and were gathering their things. "I'm impressed, Yang." Ivan joked. "You got ready in under two hours."
"What can I say? I've been looking forward to this." Yang said. "I'd rather not start the day off by being late, I'd like to start it off with a bang."
"Or with a Yang?" Weiss asked, causing all four of the others in the room to stare at her. "What?"
"Just… No…" Yang said, letting out an exasperated, and very exaggerated sigh.
"Says the Pun Queen." Ivan joked.
"Hey, puns are an art, not a science." Yang said, smiling as she grabbed her small collection of belongings. "Weiss is too stiff for puns."
"Might explain why you barely passed Grimm Anatomy..." Weiss muttered to herself, gathering her own belongings.
"We all ready?" Ivan asked, looking to his teammates. Everyone gave a quick nod, earning another from the SPARTAN. "Alrighty then, let's go!" Ivan said, leading the way out of the dorm room.
Ivan made his way through the ground of Beacon, the four huntresses following behind. He could easily tell that they were excited about the prospect of going to Earth, given their inability to talk about anything else for the past few days. After clearing the main courtyard, the landing pads came into view. On one of the larger landing pads, in place of a Bullhead VTOL, there was an OD green Pelican dropship resting with its landing gear down. Ivan gave the pilot a quick, informal salute, which he returned.
Ivan climbed into the Pelican first, turning to help everyone else on board once he was fully aboard. "Is this everyone, Colonel?" The pilot asked, opening the door from the cockpit.
"Yeah, we're good to go." Ivan said, nodding towards the pilot.
"Alright, everyone strap in." The pilot said, walking back into the cockpit and preparing to take off.
Ivan took his seat, lazily crossing his legs as he waited for the Pelican to depart. "What do you think the trip will be like?" Yang asked, looking around.
"It'll be quick getting there, that's for sure." Ivan said.
"How long are we going to be on the ship?" Weiss asked.
"Two days, tops." Ivan said. "The UEG decided, since a vast majority of the people going to Earth today are political dignitaries, to send a Geneva-Class Envoy Ship, which are famous for having some of the most advanced Slipspace drives in UEG Space. To give you an idea, my Prowler covered the distance between Earth and Remnant in just under two weeks."
"Wait… it can cover like, hundreds of light years in a day?" Ruby asked, amazed.
"Yeah." Ivan replied. "The Prowler is a bit of an older model, doesn't have the power output for newer Slipspace drives."
"Why don't they just put those types of engines on all UNSC ships?" Weiss asked.
"Mostly because they're stupidly expensive." Ivan replied. "Geneva-Class ships with these drives generally run the UEG anywhere between twenty to thirty billion credits. The only other ship we have that's that expensive would be the Infinity-Class."
The Pelican took off, leaving the surface of Remnant with a slight jolt before it began gaining speed. "Do you know where we're going to be on Earth?" Weiss asked.
"They haven't given me a straight answer, but there's really only one place they'd take dignitaries to: Sydney."
"Why's that?" Blake asked.
"Well… Sydney's the Capital of the UEG." Ivan explained. "It's the largest city on the planet."
"Well, I'm excited." Weiss said.
"As if that wasn't quite clear." Blake commented, smiling.
After a few more minutes of rather peaceful, albeit question-laden flight towards the Tether, the Pelican finally set down, the rear door opening and allowing the occupants to leave. Ivan hopped out first, getting a good look at the Vale Tether. It reminded him of the larger Cargo Tethers that Reach was outfitted with, but it also appeared to have a specialized compartment for carrying passengers. It was slightly larger than the average space tether, being about two hundred meters in diameter. As the huntresses climbed out of the Pelican, Ivan could practically hear their jaws hit the floor as they looked up at the massive spire, its end not even visible from the surface. The massive elevator seemed to stretch on forever.
"Well then…" Weiss said, staring at the massive marvel of engineering in bewilderment.
"What's going on there?" Blake asked, pointing to a small squadron of F-41 Broadsword fighters that were flying overhead.
"A few Nevermores have been getting rather curious with the Tether, so the Air Force sent the 103rd Fighter Wing to protect the Tether from the air." As if to accent Ivan's point, the distinctive sound of a Broadsword's 20mm cannon could be heard from a fair distance away, followed by the screeching of a dying Nevermore. "Beautiful…"
Ivan turned his head, hearing footsteps coming up from behind. He saw the familiar form of Admiral Bishop walking over, prompting him to give a formal salute. "Admiral!" Ivan said, his body at rigid attention. Bishop waved the gesture off, allowing Ivan to relax.
"Welcome to the Vale Tether's planetside anchor." Admiral Bishop said, strolling over towards the newcomers.
"That's amazing!" Yang said, looking at the tether. "How does it work?"
"Magnetic induction, wireless energy transfer, and centrifugal force." Bishop responded. "It's a pleasure to see you all again."
"How long will it take to climb that?" Blake asked, eyeing the climber platform.
"About six minutes." Bishop responded.
After Bishop spent a few minutes answering questions about the Tether's function, a few Bullhead VTOLs landed in the general area of the Pelican. Various leaders of Remnant's four kingdoms piled out, including General Ironwood and Winter. Everyone began congregating near the tether's anchor.
Bishop garnered everyone's attention by clearing his throat, causing everyone to turn and face the aging Admiral. Bishop began speaking. "I'm proud to stand here, about to send the first people from Remnant to visit our, and your, homeworld. Your planet has been disconnected from the rest of humanity for far too long, and it's time we fixed that. This Tether will be the first of many bridges that the UEG will be building over the years. I have no doubt that the people of Remnant have a few questions about the UEG's intentions here, and I believe that this Tether is the best answer we could ever give. The UEG is here to repair the shattered planet that you call home."
"For hundreds of years, the people of Remnant have been forced to hide behind the walls of their cities. These cities were the only light in the darkness where life could truly thrive. After seeing the people of Remnant standing shoulder-to-shoulder with UNSC military forces to defend these safe havens, I am proud to say that the UNSC truly does have this planet's best interests at heart. This planet no longer needs to hide in the shadows of giants…"
"It's time for Remnant to finally reach out for the stars, just as we did all those centuries ago. Godspeed, and here's wishing you a happy voyage home." Bishop said, a smile etched on his face.
Almost on cue, the heavy blast door that led into the tether's passenger compartment opened up, allowing the passengers to board the platform. Everyone began funneling in, most people choosing to stand near the edge of the tether so they could watch their ascension. Ruby was practically glued to the transparent walls of the climber.
Winter walked towards Ivan, stopping just next to him. She couldn't explain the feeling in her chest when Ironwood had decided to stand near Ivan and the rest of Team RWBY… was it relief? Excitement?
After a few moments of waiting around, the climber began its ascension. Most of the passengers made their way to the edge of the climber, hoping to watch the planet leave them. The beginning of the climb was rather slow, but it quickly began to build up speed. At the close of the first minute, the climber was well beyond the tallest building in Vale, allowing the passengers to clearly see the entire city. Everything was visible, from Mountain Glenn to the Emerald Forest, even Forever Fall Forest.
As the climb continued, the climber eventually broke Remnant's atmosphere. The blue sky almost instantly became pitch black, occasionally speckled by tiny dots of light in the distance. The entire passenger section of the climber let out a collective gasp, seeing their planet rotating lazily in the empty void of space. Ivan let out a small smile as he saw Winter stand there, a look of pure amazement on her face. "I… I never thought that something like this would ever be possible."
Ivan smiled, nudging Winter with his arm. "Look at that, out there." He said, pointing to a small star off in the distance. "You see that star?"
"Yeah… what about it?" Winter asked, her attention directed towards that small speck of light.
"That's home… the way it was almost 2,000 years ago." Ivan said. "That small little star out there has, quite possibly, the most important planet in the galaxy orbiting it. When you look up at the stars from a planet, you're seeing them as they were thousands of years ago. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of the stars that we can see from right here aren't there anymore."
"What do you mean, 'not there anymore?'" Winter asked.
"Most of those stars have probably gone supernova by this point." Ivan explained. "Looking up at space, you're almost looking back in time, since it's so huge."
"I never took you for the kind of person to be interested in that sort of thing…" Winter commented with a small smile.
"Space has always fascinated me…" Ivan said, looking towards a large group of Gyges Construction Drones as they worked on building the superstructure of an orbital defense platform. "Anything can happen out there… even finding your own people on another planet halfway across the Orion Arm."
After a few more moments, the Vale Tether's Station came into view. It had a large collection of warships guarding it, most of them smaller frigates with a few Capital Cruisers milling about the area. The station itself was huge, measuring in at four kilometers in diameter. It was strangely circular in design, and had a fair few ships docked with it. Among those docked ships was a Geneva-Class Envoy Cruiser. It was a strange looking craft when compared to the rest of the UNSC fleet. It was very sleek in its design, not really having too many defined or blocky features. It measured in at 1.7 kilometers, giving it a very interesting appearance when compared to the rest of the UNSC's small frigates that dotted the black canvas of space.
The passengers of the climber, including Team RWBY, all found their way to the glass, looking out on the station. Ruby and Weiss were marveling at the large, rotating structure that was under guard from the UNSC fleet. Blake and Yang were simply taking in the sight of Remnant. "You can see Patch from here…" Ruby said, a sense of awe permeating her voice.
The climber eventually made its way inside the station, docking with the internal section of the massive station. The passengers of the climber turned to look as the blast door opened again, giving them a view of the inside of the station. The station itself was a clean, almost sterile white. There were a massive number of viewports out into the void of space, and a few Marines or Naval Officers moving around the station.
Just in front of the blast door was a man in a UNSC Captain's uniform, flanked by six SPARTAN IVs in pure white armor. The Captain had a wide smile on his face. "Welcome to Remnant-I, everyone. I am Captain Joshua Westmoreland, commanding officer of the Geneva-Class Envoy Ship, Guardian." He clasped his hands behind his back. "Now, if you'd all follow me, I'll show you the way to the ship."
XXXXX
June 19, 2682; 0530 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 7
Ivan walked up to his small room that was granted to him for the duration of the trip to Earth. He flashed his ID at the small scanner on the wall, earning a soft beep and an open door. The room was more akin to a hotel room than an officer's quarters. It had beige carpeting, a cleanly pressed queen-sized bed, a flat screen on the wall, and a very impressive view from a window on the opposite wall.
His room would have been rather disinteresting and boring… had a very pale woman with shoulder-length black hair, bright blue eyes, and a flowing white dress not been sitting in one of the room's three chairs. After a moment, he recognized the familiar form before him. "Soleia?" Ivan asked, surprised.
"Hello, SPARTAN." Soleia responded, cheerfully.
"What're you doing? How did you do this?" He asked, gesturing to her life-sized body.
"Oh, this ship apparently has hard light projectors all over." Soleia explained. "It's rather nice to have a body again, even if just for a few short days."
"Wait… what do you mean 'again?'" Ivan asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Much like the Monitors of the Halo Installations, I was once a flesh and blood human." Soleia explained. "I believe that one of your SPARTANs has encountered one of these monitors before, yes?"
"Wait… 343 Guilty Spark was a human at one point?" Ivan asked. "You were a human at one point? I thought that humans went insane when they were composed."
"The Didact's barbaric weapon is not responsible for this." Soleia explained, almost spitting out pure venom at the mention of the Didact. "I received a mortal wound, and I was allowed to receive an Ancillary consciousness thanks to a Forerunner Admiral. And yes, 343 Guilty Spark, myself, and all other monitors were, at one point, humans."
"How's that possible?" Ivan asked.
"Has that history been lost?" Soleia asked, looking to the SPARTAN, who simply regarded her with confusion. "Apparently so…" She muttered to herself. "Well, Humanity once had an empire that rivaled that of the Forerunners. There was a period of tentative peace between the two species, but a war eventually broke out."
"Wait… Humans and the Forerunners went to war?" Ivan asked.
"Indeed. Humanity and their San'Shyuum allies." Soleia explained.
Ivan nearly choked on his own breath. "Hold on… the San'Shyuum… the fucking Prophets, were our allies at one point?!"
"Indeed… they proved to be rather effective warriors." Soleia explained.
"Jesus…" Ivan said, taking in a deep breath. In any other situation, he would have laughed at the 'effective warriors' part.
"Following the defeat of Humanity at the hands of the Forerunner Empire, Humans were devolved to a Tier 6 society. We were brought to the various Halo Installations, Erde Tyrene, and the Greater Ark."
"Erde Tyrene?" Ivan asked.
"Humanity's birthplace." Soleia responded. "Our current destination."
"Okay… I thought you were gonna say that Humans were natives to Sangheilios or something."
"Humans were split into about thirty various subspecies by the Forerunners, as they hoped our division would prevent us from gaining the same level of power that we did." Soleia explained, choosing to ignore Ivan's snarky comment. "Two of these subspecies continue existing to this day."
Ivan's eyes went wide. "Being…?"
"Homo Sapiens and Homo Fauna." Soleia explained. "Wise Humans and Faunus."
For the second time in a very short while, Ivan nearly choked on his own breath. "Hold the phone for just a goddamn second here… The Forerunners created the Faunus?"
"By including a randomized hox gene." Soleia explained. "Essentially, this gene changes a very small part of the human body plan at random. It creates a single animal-like trait on any human that happens to bear that gene."
"Well then…" Ivan said, taking a deep breath. "Can't say that I was expecting to learn that."
"Well, I figured that it was only right to share this with you." Soleia explained. "It was the least I could do after you answered all of my questions all of those eons ago."
"What?" Ivan asked.
"The Forerunner Admiral who I have to thank for allowing me to live…" Soleia began. "His name was Echo of Wandering Stars."
XXXXX
June 19, 2682; 0532 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 7
Ruby and Weiss made their way into their room that was granted to them for the trip. Much to Ruby's surprise, Weiss didn't complain too much when she learned that she would have to share a room with Ruby, since the ship was short on space at the moment. Much to Weiss' current dismay, Ruby haphazardly dropped her suitcase near the foot of the bed and rushed over to the window, getting a good view of Remnant. Half of Remnant was currently shrouded in darkness, with the dusk just falling over Eastern Atlas. "Weiss!" Ruby said, bouncing happily. "It's so pretty!"
Weiss couldn't help but smile as her effervescent partner excitedly beckoned her over, pointing to the surface of Remnant. "It certainly is beautiful."
The two of them felt the ship shift slight, noticing that it had begun moving. Remnant began slowly moving away. The two of them could faintly make out a crackling of purple and black energy as the ship moved. In almost an instant, the ship's surroundings shifted to black, with the occasional flicker of blue energy in the distance. "So this is Slipspace?" Weiss asked, looking at the empty void.
"Well… there goes the view." Ruby said, somewhat saddened. She perked up almost immediately, remembering how Ivan had described this ship. It was more like a luxury liner than a military vessel. "What do you want to do now?"
"I'm open to suggestions." Weiss said, shrugging.
Ruby glanced down at the datapad on one of the tables, switching it over to a list of ship facilities. One in particular stood out to her, causing a smile to break out across her face. "I have an idea!"
XXXXX
June 19, 2682; 0600 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 10
"A combat simulator?" Weiss asked, pulling a neural interface suit over herself. She was standing in a small changing room and struggling to get the strange suit on.
"Remember how Ivan was talking about it?" Ruby asked, excitement quite evident in her voice. "You can actually fight in like, any battle from history!"
Weiss couldn't argue that it did indeed sound interesting. She emerged from the small divided area, finding Ruby to be stowing her belongings in a locker. Weiss did the same, eventually following behind her bubbly partner as they made their way towards a metallic door. The door automatically opened up, allowing them to step inside.
After stepping through a small hallway, they came into the main simulator room. It was a large room, at least two hundred square meters. It had a gray set of tiles all along the ceiling, walls, and floor, along with what looked like… projectors all over.
Ruby made her way over to a small pedestal near the door, swiping across the holographic interface a few times. "Hey Weiss…" She said after a moment. "Give me a number between 1900 and 2200."
"Why?" Weiss asked.
"It's asking for a year." Ruby responded.
"Umm… 1942."
"Alright… Location!" Ruby said. "The options are: North Africa, East Asia, South Pacific, Eastern Europe, and the North Atlantic. All of them are on Earth, apparently."
"Umm… North Africa sounds interesting, let's go with that."
"Alright… how about affiliation? Who do you want to fight as?" Ruby asked. "The options are Germany, The United Kingdom, and The United States."
"Wait… isn't Germany the country that founded Atlas as a Colony?" Weiss asked.
"I think so." Ruby responded. "At least that's what I remember Ivan saying."
"Let's go with that."
"Alrighty… how hard do you want this to be? We can fight an Arcade Battle, Realistic Battle, or Simulator Battle."
"Let's start off on Realistic." Weiss replied.
"Alright. Done and done." Ruby said, pressing a few more buttons on the pedestal.
After a few moments, the two girls jumped as they saw that the room had begun changing, drastically. The ground had actually become sandy, reminiscent of a desert. The walls had become projections of distant mountains, the blue sky dotted with clouds. The room began to heat up a bit, making it feel like a desert environment. To say that this looked photorealistic would be a massive understatement.
Weiss was truly surprised to find that Ruby's Neural Interface Suit had changed as well. It had changed into a brown cloth uniform with numerous patches on the shoulder. Weiss looked down, finding that her suit had changed into something almost identical. She felt a fairly heavy weight weigh down on her chest, finding a strange metallic weapon to be dangling from a sling. It was rounded around the receiver, sported a skeletal stock, and had a stick magazine near the front of the gun.
Ruby found herself carrying a strange wooden rifle with a straight bolt, small magazine on the bottom of the rifle. It had squared sights and weighed a fair bit. Both girls found themselves carrying numerous spare magazines and stripper clips.
Weiss looked around, finding there to be a small desert village near the center of the area. As she looked, she noticed that a few people were starting to fade into view. They had uniforms almost identical to her own, but were all male and carried a variety of weapons. Behind the sixty spawned soldiers, a group of four armored vehicles came into view. One of them was massive, looking like a box with treads. It had a long barreled cannon, a machine gun on top of its turret, and had "088" painted on the side of the turret. "That's awesome!" Ruby said, looking around.
Two smaller tanks came into view next to the heavier one, looking like smaller versions of the larger one at first. Their guns were slightly smaller, but they had side-skirts for the treads, concealing them almost completely. The fourth vehicle was a strange mix between a truck and a tank, having a pair of wheels up front and a set of tracks in the back. After all of the vehicles and soldiers had spawned in, a man in a black uniform climbed on top of the largest of the tanks, dropping into a hatch on the top of the turret. The dozens of other soldiers piled into their respective vehicles as well. Ruby and Weiss had decided to step into the back of the halftrack, along with eight other soldiers.
The black-clad commander shouted from the top of his tank, Weiss able to translate the very thick Atlesian… no, German, words. "Vorwarts!"
XXXXX
June 19, 2682; 0710 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 7
Ivan stepped out of his room wearing his suit's gel layer. He needed something to clear his head, and the combat simulator certainly had a good track record for that. Soleia had decided to head off in another direction, hoping to explore the ship a bit. Ivan couldn't stop thinking about the dozens of revelations that he had been subject to over the past hour. His basic understanding of history had been shaken to its core, learning that this was merely the second incarnation of human civilization.
He was so lost in thought that he nearly bumped into Winter as she rounded a corner. "Whoa… sorry." Ivan said, steadying himself.
"Don't worry about it." Winter said with a laugh. "Where are you off to?"
"Combat simulator." Ivan responded, shrugging. "You're free to join me if you'd like."
"I'd like that, I was just looking for you, actually."
"Any particular reason?" Ivan asked.
Winter silently cursed her pale complexion, making her blushes even more visible than normal. "W-Well, Ironwood gave me leave for the duration of the trip, so I've really got nothing else to do."
"Ah…" Ivan said. Winter couldn't tell what was behind Ivan's response… was that regret? Sadness?
Ivan led the way into the combat simulator, motioning to a rack of black suits with white lines running across various parts of the suit. "Put one of those on, they let the simulator actually register you as a part of it."
"What is it?" Winter asked, looking at the strange bodysuit.
"Neural Interface Suit." Ivan responded. "Basically, it's usually used to let people either interface with simulations, or in my case it lets me interface with my armor. We just call it a Tech Suit."
Winter nodded, stepping into one of the small divided areas to change out of her normal attire. As she stepped out, Ivan had a strange tightening sensation in his chest as she emerged, wearing a skin-tight suit. He couldn't help his eyes slowly drifting down. "What…" Ivan thought to himself. "What the hell? It's not like I've never seen someone in one of these suits before… why am I reacting this way?" Ivan pushed the feeling down, attributing it to his rather vulnerable mental state at the moment. "U-Uh… just put your stuff in one of the lockers over there." Ivan said.
Winter saw the small bit of hesitation in Ivan's speech, smiling to herself as she turned to open up a locker. She was rather surprised to find Weiss's normal dress, along with Myrtenaster. "Wait… what's Weiss' dress doing here?" She asked.
"I guess she's in there right now." Ivan said, shrugging. "I'm kinda interested to see what she decided to do for the simulator." Ivan motioned for Winter to follow him, which she did. As he stepped through the first of two doors, the simulator's systems began integrating him and Winter into the simulated battle happening just through the second door.
Ivan soon found himself to be wearing a uniform that would belong to a member of the German Afrika Korps. He gave a small smile as a massive weight fell on his shoulder. He reached up, barely catching the stock of an MG42 in time. "Excellent choice!" Ivan said, looking at his equipment.
Winter was carrying an MP-40, a few stick grenades, and had a Walther at her hip. "You know this battle? "
"Yep." Ivan responded. "North Africa, 1942 at least. We're infantrymen for the German Afrika Korps tasked with securing a small village in Algeria from either the British Army or the American Army."
"You can tell all of this purely by equipment?" Winter asked.
"It's actually not that hard." Ivan said with a smile. "My MG didn't enter production until 1942, so that gives me a few clues. The uniforms kinda give it away too." Ivan noticed that the second door had opened, revealing a massive desert landscape. "Alright, let's move!" Ivan said, his demeanor changing almost instantly.
He and Winter rushed into the heat-blasted desert of Algeria, spotting a few Afrika Korps troops ducked down behind a building, one of them tossing a grenade around the corner before ducking back into cover. Ivan rushed over to a chest-high wall, placing his MG's bipod on the wall and priming his weapon. He noticed a pair of Sherman tanks off in the distance, cluing him into his enemy. He let out a burst of MG fire as he saw a pair of infantrymen round the corner, neither of them standing a chance against the massive fire rate of an MG-42.
Ivan heard Winter slide into cover next to him, a small smile crossing his face as he saw a Sherman tank catch a 75mm round from a Panzer IV H, subsequently bursting into flames. Winter fired a short burst from her MP-40, felling a single rifleman with a Browning Automatic Rifle. She ducked back into cover, seeing the MG on the top of a Sherman turn in their direction. As she did, she saw a head of white hair ducked behind a building across the village, occasionally popping up to fire with its own MP-40. "I think I see Weiss!" Winter shouted as .30 caliber rounds peppered the area around them.
Ivan looked over, spotting the heiress behind the building. "I see her." He said. "Here, move from cover to cover whenever I put down suppressing fire." Winter nodded in response. She waited for a few moments, eventually breaking out from cover and sprinting the short distance to take cover behind a nearby building. Ivan's burst of machine gun fire gave her just enough time to duck behind the building, only a slight distance from Weiss now. She broke from cover again, just after a pair of German soldiers provided her with the fire she needed to move.
She slid into cover behind the same building as Weiss, startling the heiress a fair bit. "Winter!" Weiss exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I came with Ivan!" Winter responded, replacing the nearly-spent magazine in her weapon.
"Where's he?" Weiss asked.
"Back there!" Winter said, gesturing towards the direction she came from. "He stayed behind to provide cover."
"Ruby!" Weiss demanded, drawing the redhead's attention to her. Ruby ducked down behind the wall again, fumbling with the stripper clip as she tried to slot it into her Karabiner 98. "Get over here, that tank thing's coming!"
Ruby moved back behind the village, just as Ivan slid behind it as well. "Hey, everyone!" Ivan said. "Where's the party?"
"Ivan, do you have anything to deal with that tank?" Weiss asked, gesturing to the Sherman across the way that was currently lighting up a team of riflemen with its .30.
Ivan looked around, spotting something rather awesome. "I don't… but he does!" Ivan said, gesturing to the massive Tiger H1 tank as it rolled through a collection of fences, firing its KWK-36 88mm gun, practically splitting the front armor of the Sherman wide open.
"Whoa!" Ruby exclaimed, seeing the Sherman's ammo rack detonate and blast the turret off of the chassis. "Awesome!"
Ivan watched as the German soldiers moved against the now-retreating American forces of the 1st Infantry Division. After a few more minutes of small firefights, the simulation came to a grinding halt, with the soldiers frozen in place along with the tanks and passing planes. "What's going on?" Weiss asked, looking around to the frozen soldiers and vehicles.
"Simulation's over." Ivan explained. "We won."
"Whoo…" Ruby let out a breath, wiping some sweat from her forehead. "That was really fun!"
"Wanna go again?" Ivan asked.
"Of course!" Weiss said in an unusual moment of excitement.
XXXXX
June 19, 2682; 1141 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 10
Ivan, Winter, Weiss, and Ruby slowly walked out of the simulator, all of them looking completely exhausted. "Oh my god…" Weiss said. "I think we pushed it a bit with that last one…"
"What, you didn't like jumping out of a perfectly good dropship?" Ivan joked, wiping some sweat from his brow.
"I still can't believe that you'd ever get someone to sign up for that." Ruby said, sighing as she stepped into a small area to change back into her normal clothes. Ivan, since he didn't have a change of clothes, simply waited for everyone to finish changing out of their Neural Interface Suits.
Once everyone was fully changed, Ivan stood up and followed Ruby and Weiss back into the hallways of Guardian. "God… I'm starving." Ivan said. "You all want to go get something in the Mess?"
"I think I'm going to sleep for a week." Weiss said.
"Same…" Ruby said, following behind her partner as they made their way back towards their room.
"I'll join you." Winter said, smiling.
"Sounds good to me." Ivan said, making his way to the mess hall with Winter following behind.
The Mess Hall itself, since it was the middle of the day on UNSC Calendars, was bustling and busy. The two gathered their food, sitting down at a table near the back door of the room. Winter and Ivan sat in rather awkward silence for a few moments, Winter finally being the one to break the metaphorical ice. "I had a lot of fun, I'm really glad that I came with you."
"I'm glad you came too, you're a blast to have around." Ivan said, smiling slightly.
"Really?" Winter asked. "Most people think that I'm rather boring."
Ivan scoffed. "Seriously? Bullshit. You're probably one of the most fun people I've ever met."
Winter cursed herself again as she felt a blush creep up her neck. "T-Thanks."
"So…" Ivan began. "Why were you really looking for me?"
Winter felt her stomach drop in a bout of very intense nervousness. "W-What do you mean?"
"I work with ONI, Winter. I've learned to read people incredibly well." Ivan responded, a grin on his face.
Winter decided, in a split-second decision, to push her luck a bit. "Well… what was that little pause when you asked what my reason was? It almost sounded a bit sad."
Winter smiled inwardly as she saw Ivan blush a slight bit, but he was obviously more adept at hiding it. "Well… I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy the thought of you spending time with me because you wanted to."
"And what if I did?" Winter asked.
"Well, I wouldn't have any complaints." Ivan said.
"I'm glad to hear that." Winter said, smiling. "So… would you like to spend a bit more time together?"
"Hmm…" Ivan thought to himself for a moment. He felt his face heating up a bit. "A beautiful, strong, intelligent soldier from Atlas just asked if I wanted to 'spend more time with her'… how could I ever say no?"
"Well… that may have just been the most awkward way to ask someone out for a date…" Winter mused, earning a rather awkward laugh from Ivan.
"No kidding…" Ivan said, leaning back in his seat. "But… doesn't the Atlesian Military have fraternization regs?"
"Only between two members of Atlas' Military." Winter said, blushing rather heavily. "Does the UNSC?"
"Only for active-duty personnel." Ivan responded. "I'm not technically active-duty."
"Well… erm… that's… good." Winter said, earning a small grin from Ivan.
Ivan chuckled to himself. "Whoever would've thought that my first date would be with a sword-wielding Huntress from Atlas?"
"Wait… you've never gone on a date before?" Winter asked, amazed.
"Nope." Ivan responded. "Believe it or not, I was a bit of an awkward kid in high school."
"What about after you finished school?"
"I enlisted a year before I finished school, left for ODST Drop School a week after graduation from Marines Basic." Ivan explained. "I've never been in one place long enough to ever really… get attached to someone."
"Well, I'm honored to be your first." Winter said with a smile.
"I have a sinking feeling that Weiss is gonna kill me." Ivan said, earning a smile from Winter.
