Several UNSC gunships crested the horizon, the men and SPARTANs aboard preparing their armament to meet what Spearhead had talked about in their report. The old Republic FOB that sat square near one of the old border crossings into the Empire's territories. Aboard the leading gunship was Red Team, each of them armed with a shotgun and an assault rifle, while, aboard the ship, the Blood Tray was split in two.
On one side, Hellbringers, the UNSC's dangerous flamethrower-operating Marines, sat. Clad in jet-black uniforms with gold visor EVA helmets and various fire retardant systems attached, including foam poppers on their tanks and on their bodies, just below the armor plating, the heavy-duty troopers could be found operating other types of equipment as well, but the reports hinted at something the Spirit's troops knew a little too well from personal experience being present on-site.
On the other side, sitting opposite the flame troopers, was SUNRAY 1-1. One of the many ODST squads present aboard the Spirit of Fire. Led by Major Vaughan, a veteran. The man was sat down in his seat, checking his pistol and his Jackhammer rocket launcher for the upcoming operation. His team would bring up the rearguard for the advancing Hellbringers and Spartans.
In front of Vaughan, stood on her feet, was the dark-skinned, short-haired leader of the Hellbringers currently on board the Pelicans heading in. Helmet slung under her arm, the woman known as Morgan Kinsano, a Lieutenant-Colonel that was formerly of the Insurrection, spoke, "Not fond of seeing those things again, honestly..." before sliding her helmet on her head and checking the pressure on her tanks, both oxygen and the flamethrower fuel mixture.
Jerome responded with a hum, racking the shotgun's pump and feeding an 8 gauge shell into the chamber, before looking the weapon over. He made sure the safety was on, then pointed it at the floor and turned to face the troops in the Blood Tray, watching as Vaughan and his team checked their kit thoroughly. Including the Drone Operator and the one carrying the Stanchion, there were five soldiers under Vaughan's command.
Douglas and Alice both readied their guns, with Alice loading what the UNSC colloquially referred to as 'Dragon's Breath' rounds. Fire shells, designed by the Hellbringers under Kinsano and built by the factories aboard the UNSC vessels, they'd make for one helluva Flood barbecue deep inside. Admittedly, it was probably not a smart tactic to bring Flamethrowers down into tunnels, but it was a better idea than to go at it with nothing beside underarmored Marines.
The Marines and ODSTs would stay to guard the outside. The flame troops and SPARTANS would kick the door to the place in. They braced themselves, feeling the aircraft begin to decelerate and descend. Before they even touched the ground with their landing gears, the first of the Hellbringers jumped down onto the deck, their boots crunching concrete flakes still on the floor.
Forming a perimeter and igniting their flames, they spread out into a perimeter as the SPARTANs also descended. Meanwhile, Marines began setting up in various other buildings, with Kinsano stating, "Alright, Hellbringers! Make it hot and make it fast! We got puss bags to burn in this shithole!" as she scanned the place. Drawing her own flamethrower off her back and switching on the tanks, she stepped forward to lead the formation.
The SPARTANs and ODSTs descended last, before Jerome raised a balled fist, opened it up and chopped his hand toward the hangar. The Marines and ODSTs marched in, their Hellbringers leading the way with Kinsano at the front. Entering the hangar itself, the troopers saw that the main bulkhead door separating the underground from the surface had been blocked with a crate full of rusted metals.
Several walls bore the bullet holes from Spearhead's presumed escape, while the door itself looked damaged by claw marks. Jerome knew what to expect. He had had to deal with an Infection on the ship itself, although that was thankfully easily repulsed. He motioned to his team and the Hellbringers to set up, while the ODSTs formed the perimeter outside the building's entrance.
Once the group had set up, he kicked aside the box full of rust, the item landing with a loud crash. He then set himself up in front of the door and pulled it open. The Flamer teams switched on their helmet lights and moved in first while the SPARTANs provided cover, descending down the narrow, broken stairwells. If the stairs could barely hold two normal humans, even with their equipment, a SPARTAN was a damn near tight fit. That meant that Jerome, Alice and Douglas would have to go in, single-file.
They scanned the walls, they scanned the floors, the ceilings, everything just so that the Flood didn't catch them off-guard as they descended the narrow stairwell, their weapons and lights trained forward. The flicker of flames merged with the white of the flashlights each UNSC soldier bore with them as they descended, with the SPARTANs tenser than ever before.
Each barrel was continuously swept around and over the Hellbringers, as to not let off a stray shot from which they would chain-detonate their flamethrower packs. This was a Kill Squad, out hunting the most dangerous fucking parasite on the planet, Kinsano thought to herself. They had SPARTANs, a battalion of Marines and some of the best ODSTs the goddamn Spirit of Fire could deploy.
Fuck those puss-filled sentient fucking mushrooms. They'd kill'em all.
Kill'em all for taking their comrades in arms. Kill'em all for nearly destroying their ship and crew.
She hefted her flamer and took the lead of the formation, trigger finger twitching, but off the fire-spewing button on her weapon. She scanned the place with her flashlight as they finally entered the massive hall the kids had mentioned in their report, then took middle in the formation of Hellbringers as they fanned out. The Spartans, though still tense from being underground, were thankful they weren't going to be stuck single-file and could now safely fire over their comrades' heads, or just past them.
"Seems like someone turned off the lights," Murmured the Flame Platoon leader, "On your orders, Spartan."
"Move. Dispersal of two meters between each flamer unit," Jerome stated, then moved in with his team as the group slowly crept forth, toward the center of the massive underground hall. The eerie hall's only sounds were the Marines' and Spartans' boots against the broken concrete and the distant hum of a machine in the distance, far ahead of the group.
Each door they could see was scanned as they passed it, each corner pied to make sure no creature was waiting in ambush and each single Marine remained tense as all hell while they moved through. The Spartans, however, were getting used to the underground facility's silence and the overall feeling of the place. It was the same creepy atmosphere they first got when stepping onto the yellowish surface of the Forerunner Shield World, though, in this place, it was condensed down to just the rooms they were in and could(and definitely could not) see.
Pushing forth, the group started hearing audible skittering around them. Each flame thrower trooper set up their own arc of fire and made sure to be ready to engage at a moment's notice as the noises were slowly getting closer. They were also getting closer to the rear, where the alien device hummed, its eerie blue light visible through the destroyed bulkhead door.
Entering the place, Jerome took the lead and ordered the Flame troopers to form a perimeter right in front of the door. They'd have their backs covered in the containment lab itself. Kinsano gave a nod and took a knee, her and her platoon forming a firing line that was just about ready to flash-fry anything that came their way with a ton of Napalm. Sweeping the laboratory's various overturned consoles and other items, Jerome and his team approached the definitely-Forerunner device in the middle of the room.
Flashing his light over it, the man hummed. He spoke over Para-RAID, "ALCON, this is RED Actual, target device acquired..." and he looked up. Lifting his weapon and flashing the light onto the ceiling, he found a massive bulkhead door sitting pretty above, as well, surprisingly enough. He then spoke, "And we have a way of extracting the device itself... Track my coordinates and begin extraction procedures."
He stopped as the skittering got close, before turning to the device. He gave a single signal to his team and the two SPARTANs went on high alert, their shotguns scanning each and every wall. Jerome, however, stared straight at the machine before them. He spoke, "Be ready to engage. Captain Nouzen mentioned in his report that the Flood swung by when he touched this thing. Let's clean this place out..."
"On your marks, Spartan," Kinsano grinned, "Give us something to burn."
The Spartan nodded, then turned back to his teammates. Both of them gave approving nods, to which Jerome immediately placed his hand on the device. It flashed orange for a moment, a surge of energy filtering into his shields and suddenly causing them to flare. He removed his hand as a short EM pulse filtered throughout the rooms, followed by the screams of the familiar damned in this base.
The Spartans formed up and covered both each-other and the Marines as Kinsano, noticing targets converging on their position, ordered, "Alright, Hellbringers! MAKE IT HOT!" as she squeezed the trigger. A tongue of flame extended forward as if out of a fire-hose, followed by several more, a wall of heat and fire forming ahead of the group. The first creatures to make it into the fire and flames let out pained screams as they were pretty much atomized by the wide stream of hellfire raining into the room ahead.
The SPARTANs, meanwhile, looked over their own Motion Trackers, watching as what seemed to be thousands of Flood streamed into the room ahead. By all accounts, the UNSC's Hellbringers had enough flamer fuel to somehow last them the hour. He hoped the Flood's numbers would thin out by then. If not... Well, they'd call for backup and extra ammo.
RED Team joined in, firing their shotguns through the fire blanketing most of the surface area ahead with impunity and reloading as they found the need to. The Hellbringers now began firing in bursts, rather than all at once and continuously, only burning down the closest approaching Flood forms. The beast forms screamed out aloud toward the Spartans and their soldiers, continuing to charge headlong like stupid, feral beasts.
Still. Limited ammo and flamer fuel. And Jerome didn't want to have to risk the people outside just to have them rescued. He wondered what they could feasibly do. The SPARTANs could attempt a breach-through by charging forward while the Hellbringers followed them out, but that would be risky as all hell and he wasn't sure they had any way to cover the device.
They needed to clean the base out, retrieve the device and get the hell out of dodge, too...
He paused as he heard a loud crack behind him, followed by the sound of metallic feet crunching against the concrete. He turned around, raising his shotgun, only to be met by a somewhat surprising sight. Tall, armored up and glimmering blue, a machine made of a combination of hardlight and Forerunner armor plating stood before him, two cold, yet bright blue eyes staring at him. It almost looked like it had a carapace of some kind on its back.
He heard it in the Para-RAID... It spoke to them, "RECLAIMERS DETECTED. CURRENTLY ENGAGED WITH INFESTATION. CONTAINMENT BREACH IMMINENT"
Its voice was monotone, robotic...
And then, several more of it appeared, with it stating, "NEW DIRECTIVE:ASSIST RECLAIMERS IN CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES"
... And before Jerome could ask it anything, the damn things pushed forward, one of them disappearing in a flash of light and reappearing in front of the Hellbringers, bringing to bear its hardlight weaponry. Kinsano stopped, watching as the machines tore through the monsters, disintegrating them with shots from what looked like hardlight shotguns and other various high-yield energy weapons. She looked to Jerome as he stepped up, then said, "Looks like we got Forerunner defenses..."
"I've never seen this type of unit before," Jerome murmured, "Doesn't matter... They'll help us sweep the place clean. All units, push with the Mechs!"
"Aye, sir!" Chorused the Marines and Spartans...
Giad, Western Front, Valley Crossing
A brigade of Vánagandrs rolled forward, the newly-completed upgrades for the MBT-type Feldreß picking up a multitude of targets. Eugene was one of the men driving the newly-upgraded metal beasts into battle, a smile on his face. Beside him, his gunner, another fellow former cadet from the Officer School. The orange-haired boy kept his eyes down the thermal sight of the coilgun, noting, "I got'em!"
"Shoot to kill, then!" Eugene ordered
"One, away!" Replied Marcel, squeezing the trigger. Even though their ears were covered with mufflers and the helmets' com systems, their bell was rung as much as that of the Legion tank's they were targeting. The magnetic 120mm gun mounted on the tank whirred for but a second, before letting out a spine-chilling wail as the fin-stabilized round left the barrel, leaving a trail of white before striking the Löwe center-mass.
The over-pressure detonated the ammunition in the turret's carousel autoloader, flinging the bent and twisted hulk of the weapon-carrying portion of the tank high into the sky. It embedded itself into the dirt next to another of the Vánagandrs that advanced with their platoon. Marcel pumped his fist up into the sky and said, "Fuck yeah! Target down!"
"Good shooting," Replied Eugene as he pushed up with the rest of the team, keeping an ear on the Para-RAID device. Beside them, two UNSC Warthogs bearing gauss cannons rolled forward. The highly-mobile vehicles met the enemy's Ameise with snap-shots from the low-yield vehicle-mounted cannons, while the staccato echo of 7,62 machine guns returning fire filled the com.
The Legion were quick to send their own counter-units of Ameise to meet the UNSC's charge. Following the Vánagandrs in were also squadrons of Scorpion MBTs and even a platoon of Grizzly tanks. Above the advancing allied force, plasma-based Rhino shells arched into the Legion's offensive lines. Gremlins also followed in, their cannons set on gimbals to allow them to fire high.
Electromagnetic beams drilled holes into the Eintagsfliege swarm up above, electrical current arching between the bug-sized drones as they fell in swathes, like glittering crystalline snow, revealing the blue sky up above. UNSC gunships also flew in low, their autocannons rattling, missiles flying off their racks and into the ranks of the Legion's forces. Multiple Ameise took 30mm rounds to the sides, some of them exploding in colorful flashes.
The return fire was almost instant as Ameise armed with newer, more powerful fourteen-point-seven millimeter MMGs instead of the old 7,62s in their twin mounts opened up, peppering a Pelican's armor with rounds and forcing the bird to veer off course as to not get shot down. Missiles streaked in, followed by the muffled snap-pop of explosions and the contrails of AP Sniper rounds as a Troop 'Hog entered the battle with a squadron of Marines carrying Jackhammer rocket launchers and their own SRS-99 snipers with 50cal GPMGs mounted.
The Marines dismounted, proceeding to cover behind a Federacy tank.
"This is one hell of a test of our mettle," Commented Eugene's platoon commander over the Para-RAID, "They've been getting more and more aggressive these past few weeks..."
Eugene remembered Shin mentioning that he thought the Legion may try some form of large scale offensive against the whole grouping of allied nations. The valley walls were short, allowing the multitude of vehicles to push through them with little regard. Two Scorpions clambered atop one of the walls and opened fire, their 90mm Cannons roaring, rounds blunting the advance of a Grauwolf, a dragoon type with ATGMs.
Another shell struck its sibling, detonating the ammunition in the missile tubes and spattering the enemy lines with shrapnel. An Ameise got hit in the right-hand-side legs, tumbling over, before a Marine that was on foot clambered onto it, squeezed the barrel of his MA5 between the cracks and let loose right into the thing's processor. As it died, however, a spray of 14,7mm rounds hit the man in the gut, blood washing the mud below the feet of the advancing allied units.
One Vánagandr caught a 120mm APFSDS shell in the side, the round piercing into the ammunition in the massive rear turret and igniting. The hexapedal walker exploded, shards of steel and composite armor raining onto both sides. Eugene swore to himself, then looked to their left, gasping as their tank moved past a corner. A line of Löwe awaited in ambush...
"Oh, fuck!" Swore Marcel, bracing as his Exoskeleton had a moment where it glitched, as if it was afraid of the seven plus enemy tanks about to rain hell on them.
"Ambush!" The Tank Officer leading them yelled, "Redirect to engage, now-!"
Surprise crossed the three men's face as they saw a rain of guided rockets fall upon the machines, followed by the thunderclap of two mag-rail cannon shots from a familiar source. After that, a Legion Ameise exploded inside out as the patter of four-legged machines echoed. First to come out of the woodwork, painted the matte white with red stripes of the Test Squadron and wearing that familiar insignia of a headless skeleton knight with a shovel, Undertaker pushed through.
Beside him, the rest of his section of the squadron rolled in, their 50cal MGs, mounted near the maw of the vehicle, rattled off, spent casings dropping onto the blood-soaked floor. One of them carried an autocannon on his back, flanked by what looked to be blades, as well as two 50cals in the mouth. That was Wehrwolf, going by the emblem, with the rest of his section of the Squadron behind.
Another loud snap echoed, followed by the miliseconds-late APFS round from one of the Reginleifs lancing forward. It struck the ground in front of a squadron of Löwe, but distracted the machines just enough to give them time to engage. Undertaker pushed forward, utilizing his momentum to cancel out the recoil of his own main cannon. His round pierced the belly of a Löwe and exited out the other side, leaving the machine a dead husk that barely stood on its feet, its central processor destroyed.
Eugene smirked, leaning back into his seat, then said, "Just in the nick of time..."
Marcel hummed, remembering the slight mishap with the training exercise and the backflip Shin pulled to save both the tanks and the crews. Scoffing, he said, "Let's keep pushing. Division's moving up..." Before scoping in the next target. Eugene nodded, then pushed the acceleration of the mech to the limit, advancing in a wedge formation with the Grizzlies and other Vánagandrs.
One of the Grizzlies let loose a double-barrel volley from its main gun and the crewmen of the Vánagandr gasped, watching as two Löwe toppled over one-another, their insides blown out by the shells. Fifty caliber MG fire raked the Ameise that tried to advance and provide accurate targeting to the remaining tanks in the rear, while Marine infantry proceeded with the line, opening fire against any attempted assault by Self-Propelled Mines.
The sky cleared and the roar of jet engines echoed above, causing the crews of the tanks and transports to look up. Shin's voice spoke through the Para-RAID, "TALON, this is UNDERTAKER, requesting EM bombs approximately five hundred meters north of my position, DANGER CLOSE," as the group saw the man make some incredible moves in his machine. He utilized the hooks and ziplines to bring himself closer to one of the enemy tanks, jumping out of the way as it fired its main cannon at him and bringing out his high-frequency blades.
Sparks and metal strips flew as high-freq-imbued titanium cut through metal alloy, severing the connections of the armored walkers at a molecular level. The legs and half the body of the machine were cut off. Shin followed up with a blast from his cannon that took out a pair of Ameise before Raiden and his group moved in, their autocannons blasting away at enemy units.
Kurena(AKA Gunslinger) was in the back, the audible thunder of her cannon firing every four seconds reaching all the way to the troops at the front. Each shot was like a well-aimed artillery shell, piercing through targets' bodies to outright destroy them, or making them mission ineffective or immobile. Still, some of the enemy units got kills, so Eugene saw as another Vánagandr was blown apart. He murmured to himself, "Rest easy, friends..." as he pushed past the twisted hulk of the spider-tank.
Legion artillery began to rain, but was soon muffled by the roar of fusion engines. Two Longswords swept in, high and fast, before dropping their payloads. Two XGBU EMP bombs flew out of the bays, landing farther in the back with a snap-pop-crackle of electricity. The shockwave rippled throughout the battlefield, stunning several Legion units that were farther away while outright frying those close enough to be hurt.
"Good effect, TALON. Appreciate the Air Support. UNDERTAKER, out."
Shin, aboard his Reginleif, wondered to himself just how far their enemy had decided to take this fight. There were two companies of Ameise accompanying one of Löwe and a platoon of Skorpion artillery. He could hear the screams of the men and women and he was sure the RAID's data was heard by the rest of the people in the battle. He couldn't feel Hades, however. That thing had gone into hiding after Dullahan had been shut down.
He weaved to the left as an artillery shell landed, shrapnel pinging off the up-armored body of the new fast-moving walker. He admitted, Grethe's modifications to the XM2 had proven to be most useful. The fact that the thing moved as fast as the old Juggernaut did, but with the added improvements that included better armor... it was a godsend. Meant Shin was less worried about his comrades dying out there.
Less reason for him to have to be their 'Reaper'... He bit his lower lip and squelched that bitter thought.
Did he want to have to kill them? Did it make him feel needed...?
No, Shin told himself, pushing those thoughts deep into the recesses of his mind. He wanted to get that thought out of the way. Enough so that he hadn't noticed, nor heard the single Löwe to his right until it was almost too late. Gasping, the man pulled hard on the sticks, veering to a hardass stop in front of the machine just as it fired. He heard the snappy rapport of the APFSDS shell flying past his canopy and replied in kind, pressing the trigger for his cannon to spit out a burning-white projectile.
Yet, he struck the leg joints, causing the machine to topple over to the right as its stability was hampered.
Following that, Theo, in Laughing Fox, stepped up and put the mech down with a blast clean through the top of the turret that exploded in the dirt below the machine. Theo inquired, "You good, boss? That was... Uncharacteristic of ya," before bringing his mech parallel to Shin. The young man scanned the virtual canopy of his machine, watching as the rest of the Legion's forces fell to the combined assault.
He sighed, then said, "I'm fine," as he gazed upon the Machine Theo had killed off. The barrel buried itself into the mud as fire and smoke billowed out of the broken hull. Looking at the clearing sky as UNSC Aircraft, namely Hornets, swept in to harass any Legion unit that sought to retreat, he brought up diagnostics for his machine on the massive HUD canopy. He murmured something to himself, then turned and said, "This is Captain Nouzen, callsign UNDERTAKER, to all allied elements. Legion forces are destroyed or dispersing."
"Roger, UNDERTAKER. BALLAD Actual to all BALLAD Elements, RTB for refuel, rearm. SHIELD is going to be taking over for us in the coming hours," The division commander replied as the sounds of gunfire-and those of the Legion-faded from Shin's ears. The trip back to the base was as it had been from it to the battlefield. Silent. Eerily so. Especially considering that the Corpsmen carried both the dead and wounded aboard their Pelicans as they returned.
The vehicles entered the confines of the military encampment that was the Patrol Base they'd departed from. Patrol Bases were UNSC-built modular structures akin to their Firebase and Fortress-configuration underground facilities, though they lacked the heavy-duty defenses of normal UNSC bases and could more easily be repositioned or abandoned, taking into account that there weren't any resources here but the most basic, such as fuel, assorted ammo and packs of MREs.
As Shin sat himself down in the locker room of the Reginleif pilots, he sighed, rubbing his eyes. Why would he even think something as stupid as that. Of course, he did not want his comrades to die in front of him, nor did he want to have to put them out of their misery if they get severely wounded. To hell with that, Shin was there to provide that kind of aid when there was no longer any other option.
Now that the UNSC was around, there were plenty of other options.
"Hey, Shin," He heard Raiden call out. Turning to face his team's Executive Officer, the boy was greeted by the scarred face of his friend. He put a hand on Shin's shoulder and said, "Theo told me he saw you have a moment during the battle. Let a Legion tank get past your powers and all. Nearly got killed..." and he sat himself down, looking the boy in the eye.
"I'm fine, Raiden..." Shin sighed, "Theo's exaggerating."
"Is he, though?" Raiden raised a brow, "That could've been it for you."
"I know," Shin sighed. He really didn't need Raiden to remind him of his mistake, nor did he need Theo for it. He said, "C'mon. Let's go get our MREs and be ready to deploy again."
"Actually," Raiden started, causing Shin to stop. Oh, boy, Shin thought as he turned to hear Raiden out. The man grinned, then said, "The Lieutenant-Colonel we were testing the Reginleifs for wants us back at FOB 03 for a transport up to the UNSC's fleet. Her and Admiral Nakano's request, as it seemed. Also, word is they took to listening to us and raided the border FOB."
"Good news, all around, huh...?" Murmured Shin.
Above, the muffled roar of jet engines echoed. Shin commented, "Sounds like Grach squadron's flying in this time," and he stood to his feet. Raiden nodded, then followed the boy. The pair went to the small mess hall of the base, seeing the personnel eating together. Eugene waved to them, while Marcel seemed a little less than pleased with Shin's presence.
Shin waved back, then looked to the rest of the squadron being in line at the buffet. Kurena, Lecca and Haruto joked, while Anju and Daiya seemed to stay close to one-another, as usual. Myna, Theo and the others simply regarded the exchanges with smirks. They turned and greeted Shin with waves of the hand to which the man replied in kind. He turned toward Eugene and approached him, deciding to talk while waiting for his team.
Marcel looked up at him, then immediately said with some hostility, "We didn't need the help back there..."
Shin replied nonchalantly, "I know," which garnered a frown out of him and a laugh out of Eugene. He sat himself down, then asked, "How are the UNSC's upgrades to the MBTs treating you both?"
"Survivability increase has been decent. Legion's learned to find and shoot the weak spots rather quickly, though," Eugene said, then slid him a tablet, "I already sent the report about the damages we saw some of our boys take and keep fighting, versus Legion kill shots..." and he hummed, then took a spoonful of the food on his tray. Marcel scoffed, to which Eugene noted, "We just have to keep telling the UNSC what to upgrade and we'll be fine."
"I know, I know," Marcel replied, "... Nouzen."
"Hm?" Shin raised a brow.
"Shouldn't you be going to grab a tray of food or something?" He inquired, clearly bothered by the man's presence. Shin sighed, then stood up and nodded to them before departing. No point to bother either of them, he thought. He needed to focus on the matter at hand, seeing as he made a promise to someone. A promise he and his squadron still intended to keep.
He worried, however. For the first time in his life, Shin felt the slightest worry, taking into account the Legion's predisposition to begin their Large Scale Offensive.
What they faced today was a mere probing attack, after all...
San Magnolia. RnD Department, Palace Blancneige
Henrietta von Penrose continued her work into the matter at hand, humming quietly a song that was taught to her by ODSTs that had come by the lab on their way over to a recruitment station. The Research and Development department had received several new upgrades, including a series of better computers and a holo-table upgrade that allowed them to visualize everything from code to blueprints for up-and-coming upgrades for their equipment.
She sighed, leaning back into her seat and rubbing her eyes. The UNSC wanted an upgrade to the IFF system on their Feldreßes. The UNSC itself started actively designing their own combat mechanoids to match the fighting forces of the planet they were aiding better. Admittedly, some of the stuff they were considering was some degree of bonkers. Some of the Fleet Officers and military personnel, however, thought about continuing to keep their Feldreß designs separate, meaning Vánagandrs for heavy combat and Reginleifs for scouting and rapid breakthrough.
Annette had spent more of her life learning about military strategy in order to help design this stuff than she'd spent writing any form of false doctorate thesis that she needed to continue her father's work. Well, it wasn't really a 'false doctorate'. She had been taught by her father, God rest his soul, how to do everything she knew. She may as well have been taught by the very best.
She gazed a a picture she'd brought from home. Dad, holding her up in his arms as she hugged him, with Shinei's dad doing the same. Both men were clad in their labcoats, with Shourei to the left of Shin's dad and the mothers by the sides of their husbands. Her add looked so happy back then, as did she and Shin. Her lips became razor-thin as she looked away.
Days long gone, she thought, deep in thought, wondering about what-ifs.
So deep in thought, in fact, she hadn't noticed the man on her right until he gently placed a cup of fresh coffee in front of her. She jumped, taken out of her fugue by the man greeting her, "Hey, Annette," and causing her to turn to look at him. The first thing she spotted was the change in uniform. Steel-grey with black, reinforced and bearing the patch of the Office of Naval Intelligence Section Oh-One on the right shoulder, as well as the true rank he had, that of an ONI Captain, pinned on his collars and epaulettes and with his family name, his real family name, written on the right.
'Kowalczyk'. She looked up, only to finally gaze upon his true features. Short, jet-black hair and deep, green eyes greeted her instead of the Alba silver. Her heart began to race as she locked eyes with her old friend, Matthew Kowalczyk, originally Mathieu Moulin to her. Of course, Matthew was an Anglicization of his supposedly 'Romanian' name, Matei, though he preferred it to the original. He was smiling, stating, "Sorry it took so long. ONI ain't really that good at getting hair dye out. That and there was a line to get good coffee beans from the requisitions office."
"N-Noted," She replied, forcibly suppressing the blush that had appeared on her cheeks. She looked at the coffee, which he had poured into her favorite mug, then said, "Thanks."
He nodded, "No problem. Whatcha working on now?" and he leaned in toward the screen, slightly surprising Annette. The hell was going on with her? She was used to the man's presence, she had seen him plenty of times before. Was it something as stupid as the silver hair and eyes changing that made her heartrate erratic? No, no, it couldn't be that. She may've caught a cold.
She replied, "The UNSC wants me to improve upon the IFF tagging for the crash Feldreß design program you folks went into," then took a long sip of her coffee, letting the bitter taste wake her up to the world around her. Pulling the mug away from her lips, she stated, "It's only a matter of upping the capability of the IFF to fully discern between friendly and hostile mechs. Seems like Legion IFF algorithms like to shift, so I wanna make a self-updating program that matches those shifts."
He whistled, then looked to her and said, "Could ask Charon to help you with that. They're a Smart AI."
"I'd rather not bother one of the sensor operators of your fleet," She replied in a murmur, averting her gaze. She knew of Charon, though she had never really interacted with an AI of its type before. Especially since word was that the Legion was based on Artificial Intelligence that was smart enough to devise military tactics that put some of their best generals to shame.
"Charon's fine with helping. Multiple subroutines, after all..." He replied, sitting himself down at his own station and pulling up his laptop. She hummed, then turned back to her desk as well, typing out the code necessary for the IFF upgrade. She sighed, rubbing her forehead as she hit a dead-end. It wasn't easy, really. Maybe, just maybe, she would take Matt's advice.
She paused, turned toward him and watched him working for a moment. Despite the lack of silver hair and eyes and the replacement of the blue uniform with a standard-issue UNSC one, Annette still knew that was her co-worker and friend. He didn't seem that much more different than she remembered him. His demeanor had definitely not changed. She caught herself smiling at him, then hummed, her gaze drifting toward the picture of the Nouzen and von Penrose families...
... No. She knew Shin and Lena had talked and had definitely grown fond of each-other. Plus, there was no guarantee Shin would remember her...
Even if he did, he might well hate her for...
She sighed deeply, then turned to continue her work. She didn't know if she could even allow herself to do anything or chase someone else. She stiffened. Why'd she even think that? Matt and her were just friends. It wasn't like she was going to go for him. He was a good friend, he backed her up and played the part during the Festival dance and that was it. She didn't even deserve that kind of thing.
She sighed, then leaned forward, her face burning red again, her lips trembling. She sighed, bit back on any tears and turned back to work, letting her complexion return to normal by itself. She nursed her coffee as she tried to figure things out, then groaned and leaned against her table as she looked things over. This was getting annoyingly complicated to fix.
"Hey, Annette?" His voice caused her to jump again, her heart skipping a beat.
She turned around, face red, then asked, "W-What's up?"
"... You okay?" He paused, "You're a little red."
"I'm alright," She nodded, then calmed down, "Just got really into work and you spooked me."
"Ah, gotcha. Sorry," He smirked. Yet again, her heart skipped a beat at the sight, before he continued, "You free later tonight?"
"Why?" She raised a brow. Where was this going?
Matt figured it best to shoot his shot. He asked, "There's a movie being played at the local cinema. Heard it's a Sci-Fi from the nineteen-seventies..." and he lifted up two tickets. He played it cool, however, stating, "I figured I and sis could have a nice break, but it turns out she's helping Dustin do something..." and suddenly feeling a pit in his stomach as he realized how stupid that must've sounded. His sister had bought him the tickets to take Annette out to the movies, for some reason.
You need to make a move on that girl already, man. One suitor's gonna be to her liking and then you'll be left in the pouring rain with a bouquet of flowers.
He scoffed. His sister was always weird when it came to this kind of stuff. Watched too many K-Dramas and shit... Then he winced as he realized that scoff was loud.
Thankfully, Annette didn't noticed, "Oh? And...?"
"And I figured we could go," He offered, "Y'know. Together."
Okay.
Annette certainly didn't expect that. Mostly because it was as sudden as ripping of a band-aid while going for a medical checkup. It caused her to pause for a moment, while yet again trying to stop her face from glowing any redder. She coughed, then said, "Any particular reason you chose me?" and watched the boy blush for but a moment as well, though he was much better at concealing it, considering the spook training.
He shrugged, "You're the person I'm pretty much closest to in this place, save for family. Don't see why not."
That he admitted that so openly actually caused Annette to stammer. He raised a brow, somewhat concerned over her, but she quickly cleaned herself up and replied, "Yes, sure, I don't mind tagging along..." before turning back to her work console. In truth, she just turned away for him not to see how red she'd gotten. What had even gotten into the man to so suddenly suggest this?
Sure, they've been working together for a few months and apparently it took a bit of time for ye olde dye to be removed, but... She sighed, then slapped herself gently on the cheeks and turned back to work. She then asked, "When is the movie, anyhow?" and turned to see him reply with seven raised fingers. She nodded and said, "Got it... It's about half an hour after we get off of work, so we could... Potentially walk around and see the rest of the capital."
She shifted uneasily in her seat, wondering what he'd reply. Simply put? "Yeah. Sounds like fun."
She let herself smile... Maybe...
She gazed at the picture of her family and the Nouzens together.
Sighing, she knew she didn't really deserve any kind of hope. Especially after what she'd done to Shin.
Meanwhile... Lena had just returned with Ella from their trip out to see the aircraft test. Sadly, as luck would have it, rain started falling, so that meant the aircraft, which was still being tested, would be invisible to anything but high-quality thermal imaging in the pouring, chilly rain of the Northern Continent. As the two girls were sat, flying back toward Palace Blancneige, Ella was writing out a report on her own UNSC tablet.
Lena, meanwhile, was reading reports on the disposition of Legion forces as taken by UNSC thermal imaging scans. It seemed the UNSC was slowly developing ways to combat the Legion's EWAR capabilities, which may just have been the boon they needed. The girls felt the aircraft touch down, then stood up. The colonel yelled, "Thank you, Star Hawk."
"No problem, ma'am. Feel free to fly with us any time," The pilot replied from the cockpit, offering the girl a thumbs up. He and his co-pilot/WSO turned to do a thorough checkup of the aircraft's systems as Lena and Ella descended, with the 'Sirin' being the first out and onto the Palace Blancneige's helipad. UNSC Marines and San Magnolian Army troopers stood guard on the platforms, some of them saluting the pair as they walked by. Others were busily scanning the skyline of the city. The Republic soldiers had been raised to professional status. Lena could tell as much from the demeanor of both the youthful and the more elderly of the group.
Several of the men and women smiled and saluted the Colonel. A couple, however, seemed to simply look at the girl and her Sirin companion, faces unbetraying of any emotions they may feel. They almost robotically saluted Lena, though they kept their eyes forward. Something felt off about those men, Lena thought, but chose not to pursue the thought process any further as she and Ella descended with the elevator.
"Shame the rain hit," Lena decided to break the uneasy silence, "Might've been nice to see what a thirty millimeter rotary cannon could do..."
"Mother Nature is fickle at times," Replied Ella, jotting down the last bits of the report. She noticed Lena had stopped and wanted to ask her what was wrong, but soon turned around to see it and address her. She paused, however, looking at a poster that was plastered across one of the columns. Familiar iconography seemed to be painted all over it. Written in bold was the motto of a familiar party to Lena. The Holy Magnolian Order of Purity.
STRENGTH AND WILL OF IRON
EYES AND HAIR OF SILVER
LET THE ALBA NATION BE PURE ONCE MORE
She scoffed. The Party had lost a chunk of its support in the parliament after a lot of the members had been found to be part of the creation of the law that had sent the Colorata into the camps and the Eighty-Sixth sector. Ella looked to Lena, only to see anger in the young woman's eyes for the first time in forever. She ripped the poster off the walls, curled it up in a ball and marched down the hall, intent on finding the moron who put this up.
"This isn't good... The Party was supposed to be outlawed," She murmured, "Them and their Paramilitary."
"They have a Paramilitary force?" Ella inquired, turning to Lena. The two continued their trek through the corridors, with Lena giving Ella some minute details she remembered of the Order of Purity. They were a racist, driven group of anti-Colorata government officials that had held power in over half the important government positions until the Coup drove them underground.
"... Sure, some played the part of being in other right and left-wing parties, but they all carried that same authoritarian bull and rhetoric that one could easily tell made them the same party..." Lena sighed deeply, "They were banned after the Coup, if I remember correctly. The President assured me of it, that they and their Valkyrie Corps, the paramilitary Bodyguards, they would all be thrown in jail and the key, hidden..."
The Republic would've... Should have put down the men and women behind the camps. No, no, Lena didn't want to think like that. It would have made her no better than the men and women she abhorred, the same ones that had caused so much suffering at the Colorata's expense. She sighed, then continued, "We need to find out who started putting their campaign posters back up."
Ella could tell this was bothering the Colonel. For good reason, too. If a party like that re-emerged and started gathering support just after the UNSC had successfully couped them, it could potentially lead to a very ugly civil war. In the middle of the current climate of the world, that would not be good for the Alliance or for anyone involved in said war, including the common soldier.
Ella sighed. Just how bad had the situation deteriorated for this to be happening? It was abnormal...
Lena and her stopped as they saw Matt and Annette walking together, surprisingly smiling. Both, however, stopped smiling when they saw Lena with a look of distress on her face. Annette asked, "What's the matter, Lena? You look like someone kicked your cat..." before being shown the poster by Lena. She froze and grew pale, murmuring, "Oh, boy... They're back...?"
"Looks like it..." Murmured Lena, her mind wandering to those men on the roof. She sighed, then stated, "I need to talk to the general and President. Let them know we may be seeing them return... Half of the leadership we didn't get to arrest went missing, after all..." before pausing and looking at the two again, slightly confused, "Where were you two going, anyhow?"
"The movies," Annette answered, "Our shift's over."
"Together," Lena noted. Both of them replied with nods, to which Lena hummed, then smiled. She saluted them, then said, "Alright. Take care and keep your eyes open. I'll go make a call about this to the officer cadre ASAP..." And she turned to leave. Ella watched the girl walk, determined, to the comm room of the base, before turning to the Tech Lieutenant and UNSC Captain of the Office of Naval Intelligence. The two waved goodbye to Ella as well, to which she simply nodded, then followed Lena toward the communication center.
Unbeknownst to either of the pairs, a group of men and women watched them depart. One of them spoke, "That was Milizé and her party. Four targets acquired... Remember the orders, observe and report, do not engage. The General thinks the LSO will begin within the coming months... All our brothers and sisters must be ready to do their jobs, no matter what they are."
The group of five others chorused affirmative replies, before being dismissed by a wave of the hand and scattering throughout the compound. The woman lifted up a radio and spoke over a secure line, "Regent, this is Phantom... HVTs have been acquired. Beginning intelligence gathering phase. All other units have been deployed to their stations, namely the Forts outside the Gran Mur... They suspect nothing, Your Holiness."
"Very good, Lieutenant... Remember, remain calm. San Magnolia lives..."
"... And the Republic shall endure..." She recited, smiling.