Soldiers of a Different Kind (Revised)

by SCM7

In the closing days of the Requiem Occupational Campaign, a SPARTAN-IV fireteam goes AWOL, heading after a supposed Forerunner technology cache. Deemed KIA by the UNSC Infinity's command crew in the aftermath of the Shield World's destruction, the UNSC moved on, unknowing of the partial success of the Fireteam's mission...

4. 4: Beachhead, Phase 1

CHAPTER FOUR: BEACHHEAD, PART ONE

UNKNOWN ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS
ACCESS HALL TO FORMER BRIDGE OF DIRECTOR OF VENGEANCE

SPARTAN-IV-311's HUD abruptly refocused. A series of Forerunner glyphs flashed across the screen, followed by the addition of eight new status icons to the left of the display. A heartbeat later, seven of their number had been whisked away, and the remaining icon was shoved down to the bottom right of his motion tracker. An objective marker flashed into existence, leading past the highlighted silhouette of Apex Four and outside of the structure proper.

"Aah, it's good to be able to talk again," Aeona's voice – if somewhat higher-pitched – wafted through the fireteam-specific comm channel. "124998-43976-3182, SPARTAN-Four-Three-Two-Two, I understand the need for precautions, but shooting your fireteam's commander will not help our chances to survive here. We must move quickly, for the quicker we can bring the command module online, we can connect with the other modules set up throughout this city, and find out what we are up against in detail."
For a brief set of heartbeats, SIV-322 gave nothing but silence in return, finally breaking the silence with, "Clarke, you green?"

"Not with that shoulder-killing anti-materiel monstrosity aimed in my direction, sergeant," the team leader responded. "Mind pointing it somewhere else?"

"Good enough," Spartan Martinez grunted, before shifting the rifle into a tactical carry stance. "Now what?"

"Now," Aeona interrupted, "we have to set up energy generation stations and reactivate this structure. I sowed the region with design seeds on our way down, but none of them seem to have taken root in this chasm. I've used whatever little energy remains in the command module's power reserves to fabricate another."
Another objective marker appeared on Clarke's HUD, a pulsing arrow on its left side urging the UNSC soldier to turn his head in the corresponding direction. The faint aura in the compartment from which he had retrieved the Forerunner gauntlet had gone out, but SIV-311 could still pick up the outline of an eight-inch crystalline object within with the assistance of his VISR. He reached into the compartment and withdrew the technological seed.

"Be careful, you wouldn't want to activate it in here. Especially while you're holding it," Aeona cautioned, as the recently-added icon on his HUD flickered and changed its appearance. "Now onto sowing it. Proceed to the marked location."

Clarke drew the seed close to his armor, stepping past Martinez and out into the canyon once more. He rapidly closed with the location marked on his display, his teammate following close behind. "What now," the Spartan inquired upon reaching the designated deployment area, "Do I just stick it into the ground?"

"Bringing up instructions on your HUD now." A diagram of the Forerunner design seed appeared on the left side of his visor, with half of it blinking yellow. A silhouette of a human hand twisted the blinking section forward, before the diagram zoomed out, now displaying the outline of a person driving the seed into the ground and sprinting a subsequently marked distance of sixty feet away. The animation repeated twice more before disappearing. By the third time around, Clarke followed the animation almost in sync. Immediately upon twisting the seed, however, SIV-311's HUD flared red and a countdown appeared, ticking down from twenty-five seconds. Apex Lead stabbed the crystal into the ground, and winced as the device barely sunk a quarter of its length in. Twenty-two seconds left.

Clarke planted both his hands on the top of the crystal and pushed down with all of his weight. The design seed subsequently plunged deeper into the ground, quickly approaching the previously-shown three-quarter mark. At the eleven second mark, he pivoted away and began to run.
SIV-322 was already outside of the designated danger zone, and within a sparse few seconds, so was SIV-311. The second he left the perimeter, his HUD flashed back to its original blue color, though the countdown continued to pulse crimson. Five… four… three… two… one…

The still-above-ground portion of the crystal exploded with brilliant white light. Lines of energy sliced through the ground across the inner twenty feet of the marked zone, the rock and soil in the area soon collapsing into a glowing pit. More and more material collapsed into the hole. Radiation levels began to spike, with both Spartans stepping further back from the zone in response to another twenty feet of the zone collapsing into the growing mass of energy.

"Martinez, run inside and inform the Marines as to what's going on. If I give a warning signal, make sure everybody that can get out on their own gets out and sprints in the opposite direction."
A green flash on TEAMCOM was the only response, other than the sound of SIV-322's footsteps in the direction of the command module's access passage.
"Aeona, what's going on?"

"Everything in the construction zone is being torn apart at the subatomic level and reconstituted into Forerunner material – adamantine, to be exact," the UNSC synthetic intelligence replied, her tone of voice carrying more than a hint of excitement. "At this moment, the design seed is constructing a reinforced vacuum energy spire, as well as connecting the spire to the command module. Estimated time of completion is eighteen minutes."
"No risk of danger?"
"As long as you don't dive into the construction zone, none."
"Compile that information into a data package and send it to Lieutenant Sherman. I'm sure the others will be relieved to know."

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UNKNOWN ISLAND CITY LANDMASS
UNKNOWN LOCATION – POSITIONING SYSTEM DAMAGED
BASIC COUNTERMEASURE COMMAND UNIT 7399 SITUATION REPORT

PRIORALRT: UNIT CAPTURED BY LOCAL FAUNA
PRIORALRT: UNIT ENCASED IN BIOLOGICAL MATTER
PRIORALRT: WEAPON SYSTEM DISABLED
PRIORALRT: GRAVITY-NULLIFICATION MANEUVERING SYSTEM AT 9% EFFECTIVENESS
PRIORALRT: PORTSIDE MANIPULATOR DISABLED

-BIOLOGICAL MATTER MATCHES SCAN OF WEBBING PRODUCED FROM LOCAL SUPERPREDATOR FAUNA
-WEBBING CONTAINS MULTIPLE ENZYMES; 5% ACIDIC, 37% SEDATORY, 58% UNKNOWN
-73% OF UNKNOWN ENZYMES ARE MUTAGENIC IN NATURE
-PROTECTIVE ENERGY FIELD STILL ACTIVE
-ENERGY FIELD WILL PROTECT AGAINST ENZYMES

-DETECTING MULTIPLE ACTIVE BIOMECHANICAL SIGNATURES AROUND ENVELOPING COCOON
-ATTEMPTING TO ACQUIRE VISUAL CONTACT
-STARBOARD MANIPULATOR MODERATELY EFFECTIVE AT CUTTING WEBBING OF LOCAL SUPERPREDATOR FAUNA
-VISUAL CONTACT ACQUIRED
-MULTIPLE SPECIES OF LOCAL FAUNA ENCASED IN COCCONS
-39% HAVE CEASED ALL SIGNS OF LIFE
-43% HAVE BEEN RECENTLY CAPTURED
-18% ARE IN PROCESS OF ADVANCED BIOLOGICAL AND MECHANICAL DETERIORATION/MUTATION
PRIORALRT: COCOONS ARE CAPABLE OF EFFECTORIZING BIOLOGICAL MUTATIONS ON FRIENDLY PERSONNEL
-PRIORITY OBJECTIVE: FINDINGS MUST BE DISSEMINATED TO FRIENDLY ASSETS
-ATTEMPTING TO CONNECT TO NEAREST MODULE…
-CONNECTING…
-FAILURE TO CONNECT TO MODULE
-REROUTING AVAILABLE ENERGY FROM PURIFICATION ENERGY WEAPON TO GRAVITY-NULLIFICATION SYSTEM
-ATTEMPTING TO EXTRICATE UNIT FROM COCOON

ALRT: UNIT IS SUSPENDED FROM HIGH ALTITUDE
-UNIT WILL NOT SURVIVE FALL FROM ALTITUDE IF GRAVITY-NULLIFICATION SYSTEM REMAINS AT CURRENT LEVEL OF EFFECTIVENESS

-COMPILING ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION INTO DATA PACKAGE
-…COMPILATION COMPLETE
-ROUTING ALL AVAILABLE POWER TO IMPULSE DRIVE
-OCULAR SYSTEMS REMAIN ACTIVE
-TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS REMAIN ACTIVE

-EXTRICATION IN PROCESS

ALRT: UNIT IS IN FREEFALL
ALRT: UNIT CANNOT MAINTAIN ALTITUDE
ALRT: UNIT IS IN FREEFALL
ALRT: UNIT CANNOT MAINTAIN ALTITUDE
ALRT: VISUAL CONTACT ON FORERUNNER MODULE
-UNIT ATTEMPTING ORIENTATION IN DIRECTION OF MODULE
-ACTIVATING IMPULSE DRIVE

ALRT: UNIT CANNOT MAINTAIN ALTITUDE
ALRT: UNIT UNABLE TO CONNECT TO MODULE
ALRT: UNIT CANNOT MAINTAIN ALTITUDE
ALRT: UNIT UNABLE TO CONNECT TO MODULE
ALRT: UNIT HALFWAY TO GROUND LEVEL
ALRT: UNIT CANNOT MAINTAIN ALTITUDE
ALRT: UNIT CANNOT CONNECT TO MODULE
ALRT: UNIT CANNOT MAINTAIN ALTITUDE

ALRT: UNKNOWN CONTACT APPROACHING
ALRT: UNKNOWN CONTACT IS BIOMECHANICAL IN NATURE
ALRT: UNKNOWN CONTACT DOES NOT MATCH KNOWN LOCAL FAUNA
ALRT: UNKNOWN CONTACT ON COLLISION COURSE
-ATTEMPTING EVASION
ALRT: GRAVITY-NULLIFICATION MANEUVERING SYSTEMS OFFLINE
ALRT: IMPULSE DRIVE UNABLE TO EFFECT MANEUVERS
ALRT: COLLISION AT SPEED LIKELY TO DESTROY UNIT
-DATA PACKAGE MUST SURVIVE
-DIVERTING ENERGY FROM IMPULSE DRIVE, EFFECTORIZING REDUCTION OF SPEED

ALRT: UNIT CAPTURED BY UNKNOWN CONTACT
ALRT: UNIT PLOTTING CURRENT COURSE
-COURSE PLOTTED
-NO CHANGES ASSUMED CURRENT COURSE BRINGS UNIT CLOSE TO MODULE
-ALL POWER DIVERTED TO TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS
-DATA PACKAGE MUST BE DELIVERED

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UNKNOWN ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS – UNDER OCEAN SURFACE
MODULE DELTA/FOUR

-UNDER ATTACK
-LARGE LOCAL AQUATIC CREATURE ATTEMPTING TO CONSUME MODULE
-MODULE HAS BECOME LODGED IN MAW
ALRT: CHOKING HAZARD

ALRT: LOCAL AQUATIC SUPERPREDATOR SPECIES DESIGNATED HOSTILE
ALRT: UNABLE TO CONTACT COMMAND MODULE
ALRT: CANNOT CONTACT MODULES TWO, THREE, FIVE, SIX, AND SEVEN
ALRT: STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

-COUNTERMEASURES UNABLE TO DEPLOY

ALRT: DISTANCE INCREASING FROM SPLASHDOWN POINT
ALRT: DEPTH INCREASING
-AQUATIC SUPERPREDATOR SPECIES TENTATIVELY DESIGNATED TYPE-A LEVIATHAN
-ATTEMPTING TO DISLODGE BLOCKAGE FROM MAW OF TYPE-A LEVIATHAN

ALRT: ATTEMPT FAILED
ALRT: BIOSIGNS OF TYPE-A LEVIATHAN FLUCTUATING

-BASIC COUNTERMEASURES UNABLE TO OPERATE AT CURRENT DEPTH WITHOUT MODIFICATIONS
-DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS OFFLINE
-COMMAND ACCESS REQUIRED TO OPERATE DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS
-NO COURSE OF ACTION AVAILABLE
-SHUTTING DOWN ALL NON-CRITICAL SYSTEMS TO SAVE POWER
-ROUTING AVAILABLE POWER TO STRUCTURAL REPAIR SYSTEMS
-PRIORITY: SENSORS ARE TO REMAIN ACTIVE TO GATHER INFORMATION ABOUT SURROUNDINGS AND ATTEMPT TO MAINTAIN POSITIONAL AWARENESS

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UNKNOWN ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS – DESERT REFUGIA
MODULE BRAVO/TWO

-COMPILING STATUS REPORT AND INFORMATION PACKAGE FOR ALL ACTIVE MODULES
-ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR COMBAT CAPABILITIES
-OBSERVATIONS AND FINAL REPORT FROM MODULE GOLF/SEVEN
-OBSERVATIONS AND CURRENT REPORT FROM MODULE BRAVO/TWO
-EXPECTED OUTCOME OF ENGAGEMENT AROUND MODULE BRAVO/TWO
-REPORT ON LOCAL FAUNA AND FLORA IN DESERT REFUGIA IN VICINITY AROUND MODULE BRAVO/TWO
-REPORT ON LOCAL FAUNA AND FLORA IN URBAN REFUGIA IN VICINITY AROUND MODULE GOLF/SEVEN

-SENDING REPORT TO ALL ACTIVE MODULES
-REPORT WILL RPT UNTIL INACTIVE COMMAND MODULE AND MODULE ECHO/FIVE RECIEVES

ALRT: SECONDARY DEFENSIVE CORDON FAILING
ALRT: ENEMY FORCES HAVE BEEN REDUCED BY TWENTY-ONE PERCENT OF ORIGINAL STRENGTH

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UNKNOWN ISLAND CITY LANDMASS – CANAL REFUGIA
MODULE CHARLE/THREE

-SECONDARY DEFENSIVE CORDON IN PLACE
-WAITING ON REQUIRED COMMAND CODES TO SET UP EXTENSIVE DEFENSES
-RECEIVING INFORMATION PACKAGE FROM MODULE BRAVO/TWO

ALRT: ENERGY GENERATION NODES IN NORTHWEST SECTOR OF CANAL REFUGIA HAVE FINISHED CONSTRUCTION
-ACTIVATING INNER CORE POWER NODES
-EFFECTING REPAIRS TO BASIC COUNTERMEASURE PRODUCTION CAPABILITIES

ALRT: EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3190 OBSERVING LOCAL CONSTRUCTS
ALRT: LOCAL CONSTRUCTS ARE ARMED WITH HIGHLY-DESTRUCTIVE ENERGY WEAPONS
ALRT: LOCAL CONSTRUCTS ARE REDUCING LOCAL FAUNA POPULATION
-ANALYSIS: POSSIBLE CONTAINMENT MEASURE?
-ANALYSIS: DENIAL OF FOOD SOURCE TO ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR?
-EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3190 TAGGED WITH CONTINUED OBSERVATION OF LOCAL CONSTRUCTS

ALRT: EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3018 OBSERVING MASS ACTIVITY OF ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR
ALRT: ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATORS APPEAR TO BE ASSEMBLING A STRONGPOINT
-COMBAT ANALYSIS: CURRENT BASIC COUNTERMEASURE FORCE IN TOTAL POTENTIALLY CAPABLE OF OVERWHELMING ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR POPULATION IN DESIGNATED ZONE OF ACTIVITY
-COMBAT ANALYSIS: HOWEVER WITHOUT DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES OWN HOLDINGS WOULD BE VULNERABLE TO HOSTILE COUNTERASSAULT
-EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3018 TAGGED WITH CONTINUED HIGH-ALTITUDE OBSERVATION OF ACTIVITY ZONE DESIGNATE HOSTILE SPIRE 3-1

-COMPILING OBSERVATION REPORT ON LOCAL COMBAT CONSTRUCTS
-COMPILING OBSERVATION AND STATUS REPORT ON LOCAL FAUNA AND FLORA IN CANAL REFUGIA
-COMPILING OBSERVATION REPORT ON INDUSTRIAL CAPABILITIES OF ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR

ALRT: OBSERVATION AND LIMITED EXPLORATION OF APPARENT DERELICT EDUCATION CENTER BY EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3009
ALRT: SIGMA-3009 TAGGED WITH REMAINING ON OVERWATCH OF DERELICT EDUCATION CENTER
PRIORALRT: VECTORING EXPLORATORY PATROLS SIGMA-3020 THROUGH SIGMA-3049 TO EDUCATION CENTER
PRIORALRT: VECTORING COMBAT PATROL SIGMA-CHARLIE-3019 THROUGH SIGMA-CHARLIE-3029 TO SET UP FORWARD DEFENSIVE CORDON AROUND DERELICT EDUCATION CENTER

-COMPILED REPORTS WILL RPT UNTIL INACTIVE COMMAND MODULE AND MODULE ECHO/FIVE RECEIVES

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UNKNOWN ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS
CANYON SURROUNDING FORMER BRIDGE OF DIRECTOR OF VENGEANCE

For almost precisely seventeen minutes, Clarke stood and watched the vacuum energy spire assemble itself, streaming the feed to both Spartan Martinez and Lieutenant Sherman's tacpad. The spire itself barely breached the surface, with the majority of the structure built under the ground. Aeona had clarified that this was a defensive measure, to protect the energy extraction equipment from hostile attack. The small dome peeking above ground level was non-essential to continued operations, yet still preferable to keep around.

The light from the design seed's construction processes slowly faded as more Forerunner material crept over the excavation zone, sealing the small generator off under meters of protective armor. Once the zone had been completely sealed, Aeona piped up. "Generator at ninety-five percent completion. One minute remains until construction is finished."

"After we get power back on, what then?" Lieutenant Sherman asked over TEAMCOM. "We're stuck in a canyon, without either wings or rifles."

"Once the command module has restored power, I will task the construction alcove to produce another design seed, one programmed to set up a small Sentinel construction facility, along with a more conventional power generation node. From there –"

Another voice butted in, the IDENT tag marking its identity as PFC G. Delve. "How are more Sentinels help us get up the side of a two hundred meter cliff?"

"Easy, you just climb on it, and… whoosh! Sentinel surfin', man!" SPC W. Chez boisterously chimed, the accompanying grin outright tangible.

"Two hundred meters straight up?" SPC J. Snyder groaned, "Naaaah, I'm not willing to accept suicide just yet."

"While the idea of… Sentinel surfing… does conjure up unique images, that is not the intended outcome of establishing Sentinel production in the vicinity of the command module," Aeona stated. "With a healthy supply of Constructor Sentinels, I should be capable of establishing a series of tunnels in the side of the cliff, which will then be used as a means to reach the top. Aggressor Sentinels will bolster both our defense and our ability to take and hold territory, as well as providing us with comparatively cheap and quick reconnaissance capabilities."

Delve spoke up again. "Yeah? And what are we supposed to do while you're building these tunnels?"

"I hope to be able to construct a simulation deck and connect it to the command module. With the information undoubtedly obtained by the other modules scattered throughout the island, it should be easy to program hardlight templates of the local fauna to run training operations against," The UNSC intelligence replied. "By the time the tunnel has been finished, Zebra Squad should be prepared to go into battle against whatever native creatures may be inhabiting this landmass… or retreat when incapable of effectively fighting against certain species. Some of the fauna detected after arrival were… extremely dangerous."

The timer on Clarke's HUD clicked on 00:00:00. A few seconds later, Aeona spoke up again. "Construction complete. Spartan Mattias Clarke, please extend your left arm in the direction of the dome."

Clarke blinked, before inquiring, "Why?"

"Because I need the interface gauntlet's codes to trigger the extractor's activation sequence."

SIV-311 sighed, before extending his arm. The gauntlet instantly flared to life, extending a disc-shaped energy field stretching from halfway up his upper arm to the tip of his hand, its surface rippling with a plethora of icons. "Woah!"

"Amazing, isn't it? I can only assume that this might have been the progenitor of the shield gauntlets that the Kig-Yar carry around, given the Covenant's overall preference to imitate technology, rather than invent their own designs. Perhaps the earlier Covenant models still possessed similar capabilities, before they became simple mass-produced defensive measures? More information is required on this, of cour-" Aeona cut herself off, then sighed. "Of course, xenoarcheology takes a rear seat right now. Sending activation codes…"

As the vacuum energy extractor was sealed off behind tens of meters of Forerunner adamantine, SPARTAN-IV-311 couldn't observe the activation sequence directly. He did, however, feel it, penetrating to the deepest part of his body, mind, and soul; a sudden absence of motion, of mobility, of essence, of vitality – and then everything was back to normal.

"What the hell was that," Lieutenant Sherman half-gasped over TEAMCOM. "Everybody… you all felt that?"
A chorus of a combination of gasps, moans, and partial affirmations echoed over the communication channel in response.

"That… was deeply unsettling. But it will be unnecessary to repeat that experience. The other modules will likely have already set their power systems up, and… oh, power's back on in the command module! Wait. No. Quick, follow the navpoint!"
"Martinez, Sherman, talk to me! What's going on?!" Clarke barked, even as he took off for the entrance hall.
"Lights turned on, and two columns rose out of the floor. No other changes," Martinez answered in his usual laconic tone.

"Keep the Troopers away from them! I'm almost-" Clarke paused as the hole he had crawled through to get into the hall slid closed, then abruptly opened again, this time not stopping until the entire barrier had split in two and retracted into the surrounding wall. "…There," he finished, before striding into the former command deck. "Aeona?"

Aeona's avatar coalesced next to Clarke, immediately waving her hand over the pillars in the center of the room. Both columns retracted, to be immediately replaced with a holotable reminiscent of those found on UNSC capital ships. Aeona marched towards it, placing both of her hands above the table and pulling them upwards.
The map of the island-city established itself, slowly turning on its horizontal axis. Sweeping her arms out, the UNSC intelligence enlarged the image to the point where it took up the entire center section of the room.

"Modules Four, Five, and Seven are either offline or never made contact in the first place. Module Four landed in the ocean and sank, Module Five landed incorrectly and tipped onto its side, and Module Seven… was lost to enemy action." The holographic images of Modules Five and Seven shifted colors appropriately; Five turning black to signify its disabled status, while Seven pulsed an ominous shade of red. Of Four, there was no sign other than a simple marker signifying where it had hit the water.
"Modules Two and Three have completed primary setup sequences, and their baseline defensive perimeters have also been set up. Module Two's perimeter patrols have already been engaged by a massed force of those bugs we spotted before touchdown… interesting, the other Modules have designated them as an arachnid species? In any case, I am transmitting the necessary codes to them now, codes to allow for the construction of focus turrets and advanced Sentinel uni- oh, you bastard!"
Aeona whirled to face the two Spartans. "That Knight, Lochagos… it sealed off the dreadnought's technological database! We have Constructors, basic Aggressors, autoturrets, focus turrets… and that's it! No Enforcers, no Protectors, just baseline countermeasures!"

Clarke cleared his throat, before responding, "That's disturbing. Can we still produce our own weaponry and vehicles, at least?"

"I'll have to code the design seeds personally, but it shouldn't be a problem overall. Module Two, for example, has a stockpile of various blueprints… wait!" The UNSC intelligence clenched her fists, tensing up for a second before relaxing. "It's a test! The technological database is locked away in segments! To unlock the segments, we have to go to each module and re-align them to this command post… each module aligned will grant access to more tech…"

"Knight's treating this as a game," Martinez growled. "Can you bypass this?"

"I am currently functioning as a xenoarchaology intelligence, and do not have the same capabilities as a dedicated infiltrator or cyberwar specialist would. If I were to attempt to dismantle these blocks, we could lose valuable information, or the products of construction might be flawed in certain aspects. Given the complexity of Forerunner technology, this is not advisable."

"Of course," Clarke sighed. "Spin up the seed for the Sentinel factory, Aeona. Hell, spin up two, then send me the nav-points for where to plant them. After that, spin up some sort of armory for the Marines, give them something that can effectively work against the local wildlife."

"I already have taken the liberty of, as you say, 'spinning up' a seed for the Sentinel construction facility, and I am in the process of formulating the blueprints for the armory. The weapons, of course, will be constructed separately."

"Lieutenant Sherman, I need you to organize Zebra Squad into three fireteams," Clarke stated to the Marine officer. "Alpha is to remain here, in and around the command module. Bravo will be expeditionary. Charlie's assignment is to occupy Module Three once we get air transport up and running. Until then, they'll be running with Bravo."
"Sir." The Marine nodded, then began to gather the other unaugmented personnel together to plan out the new organization of the soldiers within Zebra Squad.

"Apex Four, with me." Clarke started walking towards the entrance hall. "I might need to blow some holes in the ground."

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UNKNOWN ISLAND CITY LANDMASS – CANAL REFUGIA
MODULE CHARLE/THREE

PRIORALRT: COMMAND MODULE ONLINE
-ALIGNING WITH COMMAND MODULE
-ALIGNMENT AT FIFTY PERCENT
-ON-SITE ACCESS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE ALIGNMENT

PRIORALRT: DERELICT EDUCATION CENTER NOW DESIGNATED ROSETTA CENTER; ON-SITE STRUCTURES MARKED AS C3-RC-1 THROUGH C3-RC-5
ALRT: COMBAT PATROL SIGMA-CHARLIE-3025 ENGAGED LOCAL ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR PATROL
-COMBAT PATROL LOSSES INCLUDE FOUR UNITS
-ENEMY PATROL NEUTRALIZED IN TOTALITY

ALRT: BASIC COUNTERMEASURE PRODUCTION FACILITIES CHARLIE-THREE THROUGH CHARLIE-FIVE NOW ONLINE

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE FROM COMMAND CENTER: ESTABLISH TERRITORIAL CONTROL OPPOSING ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR; LIMIT TERRITORIAL CONTROL TO CANAL REFUGIA
SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: SECURE ROSETTA CENTER

ALRT: LOCAL CONSTRUCTS UNDER OBSERVATION BY EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3190 ENGAGING ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR FORCE
ALRT: TWO CONSTRUCTS LOST, ARACHNID APEX SUPERPREDATOR PATROL NEUTRALIZED IN TOTALITY
ALRT: LOCAL CONSTRUCTS HAVE MODERATE SELF-REPAIR PROTOCOLS; ONE UNIT RECONSTRUCTED
-LOCAL CONSTRUCTS RE-COMMENCING MOVEMENT
-EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3190 TO BE SPLIT
-EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3109-ALPHA TO CONTINUE OBSERVATION OF LOCAL CONSTRUCT GROUP
-EXPLORATORY PATROL SIGMA-3019-BRAVO TO COLLECT COMPONENTS OF FALLEN CONSTRUCT AND RETURN TO STRUCTURE DESIGNATE C3-S0109
-ROUTING CONSTRUCTOR FORCE TO STRUCTURE DESIGNATE C3-S0109; STRUCTURE MUST BE REMODELED AS PER FARADAY SPECIFICATIONS

ALRT: EXTENSIVE TUNNEL NETWORK BENEATH REFUGIA; TUNNEL NETWORK DAMAGED IN CERTAIN AREAS, SURROUNDING UNIDENTIFIED SUBSTANCE LEAKING IN
-ROUTING COMBINED COMBAT-EXPLORATORY PATROLS WITH INTEGRATED CONSTRUCTOR UNITS TO MAJOR BREACH POINTS

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UNKNOWN ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS – DESERT REFUGIA
COMMAND MODULE ALPHA/ONE

Aeona floated through Director of Vengeance's mainframe, organized into a form in which she was more comfortable with; a massive immaculately sorted library. Enormous iron walls, wrapped with impossibly thick chains and clamped shut with padlocks, represented the sealed sections of the database.
Directly in front of the intelligence lay her planning board; every blueprint that would be uploaded into a design seed would be born in this space. For Aeona, it took the form of a primitive blackboard, complete with chalk and other such ancient tools. All of it was just a facsimile, of course; she was capable of operating at higher speeds that might otherwise be conveyed by such a display.

Even as she began to piece together the blueprint for the command module's armory, of which she intended to build as a subterranean addition to the module, one that would be accessed from a staircase – yes, a staircase, not an anti-gravity lift – in the floor of the command deck; her consciousness was also split between the two Spartans outside, and inside Lieutenant J. Sherman's datapad. The other modules merely possessed traces of her intelligence, absolute baseline copies that would keep them running independently in case any or all of them lost connection to the command module.
Given how that predicted situation had indeed transpired, her caution had been rewarded. The loss of Modules Four, Five, and Seven were unfortunate, and the fourth-generation UNSC synthetic intelligence suspected that Lochagos might have had something to do with Module Four going off course.
Module Five failed to land correctly, though that might have been as a result of Module Six's proximity, or the last-minute changes made to Module Five's approach vector. Five's landing zone had become unstable shortly after touchdown, and the currently-unconnected and unpowered module was now lying on its side approximately one hundred and sixty meters beneath ground level. The tunnels beneath had simply collapsed under its weight.

Aeona repeatedly had cursed her decision to plant the two so close to each other. A recurring issue was a line of thought that she ought to have gone with her original dispersal plan. While one of the refugia below was completely unsuitable towards landing operations – the nest of tunnel accesses to the immediate south of the desert refugia – the crystalline refugia to the northwest of the urbanized sector was more than capable of hosting Module Six.
She had abandoned the plan and hastily re-plotted Module Six's course after one final observation while on approach. If Module Six were to be even an inch off-course upon module dispersion, it would have smashed through a slew of crystalline structures on its way down. The collisions would only further knock it off course.

Module Seven's loss was disturbing. The urban refugia was completely infested with the local apex superpredators. She had set the module to begin producing Aggressor Sentinels on the way down, and had even relocated all of the dreadnought's existing stockpile of Sentinels on-site, including Command Aggressors and even Enforcers into the mix. Another line of thought that haunted her, despite her repeated stifling of such, was that she ought to have released Lochagos to hold down the proverbial fort, and thus left the dreadnought's Sentinels in their own modules instead of routing them to a failed defense at Module Seven. Lochagos might have been a significant source of trouble for them later on, but the Knight would have put up a solid defense against the apex superpredator species.
It was a foolish idea that would only end in misery, but a persistent thought nonetheless. As it was, Lochagos' durance remained in isolation on Module Seven, sealed and contained deep within the structure, with no ability to access the world around it. The proverbial djinn in a bottle.

"ALERT: SECONDARY DEFENSIVE CORDON REINFORCEMENT GROUP LOST. LARGE HOSTILE FORCE NOW DOWN TO FIFTY-EIGHT PERCENT OF ORIGINAL STRENGTH AS RECORDED UPON INITIAL CONTACT." a disembodied voice intoned over inter-module quantum communications. "REQUEST TO ABANDON SECONDARY DEFENSIVE CORDON POSITIONS ALONG SOUTHERN APPROACH VECTORS IN TOTALITY. HYPOTHESIS: GIVING GROUND TO HOSTILE FORCE WILL TRIGGER PREDATORY INSTINCTS AND CAUSE LOSS OF RESTRAINT. CONSOLIDATION OF BASIC COUNTERMEASURE DEFENSIVE UNITS IS ALSO BENEFICIAL."

"Module Two, plan approved. Commence at your discretion," Aeona replied. Through her connection to SPARTAN-IV-311's armor, she felt the first Sentinel facility design seed activate and begin to fulfill its intended role. Less than a minute later, the second seed followed suit. Timers flashed into existence to the right of her, displaying the remaining construction time. Just as with the vacuum energy generator, she was already instructing Fireteam Apex's leader on how to activate the soon-to-be completed facility with the interface gauntlet.

"Aeona, can you spin up another interface device for Martinez here? Setting up these factories and any other structures would go a lot faster if there were two of us…"

Her avatar sighed. She herself had no cause to, but she found from repeated occasions that mimicking human behaviour often put organics at ease, or at least, more so than maintaining outward mechanical appearances and mannerisms did. "Spartan Clarke, I am currently coordinating combat efforts in three different sectors, as well as overseeing the construction process of not only the pair of Sentinel factories in front of you, but also the production process of the design seeds for our armory, the fabricators for inside the armory, a hydroponics facility to prepare food and drinkable water, and a barracks structure for the Marines and Troopers of Zebra Squad. I am also designing an aquatic version of Aggressor Sentinel for use in the canal sector to the east of our current location. The seed alcove is currently functioning at maximum capacity. Your request has been added to our current objective list in PN11."

"Sorry for the overload. It was just a thought," spoke SIV-311.

"The more ideas that are shared, the better we can be prepared."

"…I think I'll be taking that phrase to heart," Apex Lead chuckled. "Fair warning, though, Jeremy's ideas might be a bit… inspired."

"And what about plan Golf-Tango-Foxtrot-Foxtrot?" SPARTAN-IV-322 inquired.

"Gee-Tee-Eff-Eff?"

"Grand theft Forerunner fleet," Apex Four commented.

"Well… hell, were we really going to leave those ships to burn? Or let the Covenant take some? Red Light of Dying Stars might not have been going anywhere without the Librarian's assistance, but the dreadnought we rode here on was functional enough to jump into slipspace on its own, even after it was sabotaged. And after… well, you know, that… well, no kidding, we weren't about to turn our backs on this opportunity. Hell… we'd probably be dead about now, anyways. You saw that reallocation order. A transfer to some sort of black-ink taskforce. ONI wasn't about to let us continue to walk free, not after what we saw."

SIV-322's response came in the form of a non-committal grunt, followed by a comment by the gunsmith. "We could take the spooks. Fort up near Sarai's quarters, fill the passageways with traps, put up pre-arranged sightlines everywhere, turn the whole damn habitation block into a meat-grinder if we had to." He paused, then uncharacteristically continued. "But if they were to go after your family in retaliation, or Samuels', or Michaelson's…"

"It doesn't bear worth talking about. We're here now." Apex Lead chuckled. "Here's a more pertinent plan. When Samuels and Michaelson find us, we'll submerge this city in Sentinels and purge the bugs, put all the dangerous critters into cryo and-slash-or relocate them somewhere else... then turn this place into our own out-of-the-way colony. Assuming the original population never returns, of course."

"And if they do?" Aeona inquired.

"Well… we side with them, of course. Get rid of the bugs, run reconstruction operations, turn the majority of the city over to them again, then negotiate for land ownership of this region. End-result? Co-developed colony, with this command module becoming our embassy. At least, that's the ideal result."

"And if they are hostile, and do not take kindly to interlopers?" Aeona probed, already formulating an action plan for the Sentinels in the city in regards to potential contact with local sentients.

"Then we take the city through force of arms and relocate them elsewhere. Or we deconstruct our territorial modules, strap together as many design seeds as we can to produce a Stalwart, and fly off for better pastures. While, of course, putting a few spanners into local industry, just so that they can't follow us all that quickly… hey, wait, can't you-"

"Design seeds are capped at a certain size. While stacking design seeds together would allow for the size limit to be bypassed, it also carries certain risks that the device or vessel in question might be assembled or generated improperly. Until four modules have been realigned, I would not take the risk unless absolutely necessary," Aeona explained, once again 'sighing' at the end of her statement.

"...Damn."