Hey everyone. A short chapter here really just to establish the director's relationships with the Counselor and Carolina as well as give some backstory to some of the agents. I decided I'm gonna write this story in limited third person and jump between characters, but its main characters will be York, Carolina, and later Wash when I introduce him.

Leonard Church had acquired too many damn titles. Professor, father, doctor, husband, captain of the UNSC Mother of Invention, and head of ONI section three Special Project Freelancer to name a few. It was so much easier just to have everyone call him Director. It would have to wait though, because he had eight new agents in addition to the ten he already had, and an aid coming in.

It would be a day of reunions for Church. Aiden Price, his new "counselor", had been in interrogation training with him during his rise through ONI. They had formed somewhat of a bond when going going through the hell that was ONI interrogation training, becoming the closest thing he had to a friend. They had even kept up after he had gone into section two, no doubt because of his skill with manipulating and understanding people. Freelancer had previously been just the Recovery program, but now, thanks to his new partnership with Malcolm Hargrove, the project would be something else and he needed someone to help run the damn thing

Leonard Church had envisioned something much larger than the UNSC's black ops cleanup crew. Freelancer was to be a scientific study just as much as a military operation. His goal was to test out experimental new augmentations and abilities before their use in the field. There was also an underlying psychological experiment however, and that was the use of competitiveness as a way to increase a soldier's performance. That's why he needed a people person like Aiden.

His other reunion would be with his daughter Carolina. They had grown apart after her mother died when she was just a child. He had seen her twice since she joined the military five years ago. The first time was during a military ceremony three years ago, while the second was only a video call he had made a month ago to tell her she would finally be joining the project and telling her to keep an eye out for anyone who might be useful. He had kept tabs on her throughout her rise, pulling a couple strings and throwing his name around to make sure she got noticed, but he was no longer one for affection. He wasn't even sure if he could love anymore, not since Allison died.

The Director shook thoughts of his late wife and looked down at his tablet, rereading the scant profiles of the newest batch of agents.

Agent Carolina

Age:23

Name: Carolina Church

Sex: F

Planet of Origin: Earth

Hair Color: Red

Eye Color: Green

Specialization: CQC

Branch: Army

Rank: Major

He knew what the notes would say, he had doctored them himself. He turned his attention to the man she had recommended for recruitment.

Agent New York

Name: James Youngster

Age: 27

Sex: M

Planet of Origin: Minister

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Hazel

Specialization: Infiltration

Branch: ONI, Marines

Rank: Captain

Additional Notes: James Youngster has proven himself invaluable during undercover missions. He is quite proficient at both close-quarters and ranged combat. He also has been trained in stealth, lock picking, interrogation, and intelligence gathering.

Church looked over his records and was quite impressed with what he saw. Countless operations against both insurrectionists and Covenant remnants alike. He had also received good words from both his superiors in ONI section one and his former COs in the Marines, though both had warned him about his tendency to violate the less important rules. Both also remarked that his disobedient tendencies had stemmed from his seeming ability to acquire alcohol no matter where he was stationed.

He had been wary about the potential agent at first, but after talking to a couple people and learning more, and his daughter's insistence, he decided to allow him in. After all, he was breaking more than a couple rule himself and had been reminded of Allison's stories of pranking her sargent. Again pushing those thoughts to the back of his head, he turned back to his datapad.

Agent Connecticut

Name: Mary Hargrove

Sex: F

Planet of Origin: Nephis

Age: 24

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Specialization: Intelligence

Branch: Army

Rank: Warrant Officer

Church didn't need to read the footnotes because Malcolm told him all about his daughter. He had only very slightly veiled that his daughter should be included in the program should he wish to acquire the funding he wanted to enlarge his project, and so Leonard had obliged. Worst that would happen is she gets killed and once he had the funds to get his project off the ground he would be able to secure funding from ONI. He moved on

Agent Wyoming

Name: Reginald Hardings

Age: 35

Sex: M

Planet of Origin: Groombridge-1830

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Blue

Specialization: Ranged Combat

Branch: ONI Contractor

Rank: N/A

Additional Notes: Hardings has proved quite useful to ONI section one as a hitman and spy. Let it be noted that he was offered these jobs as a pardon for his parts in the corporate shadow wars when vying for control over Concord's Point. He has since proven himself invaluable.

A contract killer was exactly what he needed. The Recovery operation had need of hard and unethical men since they often happened upon grizzly sights or had to do certain unethical things in order to retrieve equipment. Reginald would fit into the project quite well.

Before he could finished looking at the other four agents, Illinois, Maryland, and the Dakota twins, the door opened and in strode a black man of average height and build.

"Counselor Price." Church stood and shook the man's hand.

"Director." He replied in a voice like poisoned honey. "It is good to see you again, Leonard."

That was odd. They had hardly ever called each other by their first names, let alone bothered with pleasantries and greetings. "Spare me your false repartee, Counselor. I trust you read the files?"

"Captain Church, the new agents have arrived and are in the training room."

"Thank you F.I.L.S.S. Introduce yourself and show them to the training room." Turning back to Price, he continued. "I trust you've met the shipboard A.I?"

"Yes. I have also already been acquainted with Agents Maine, Georgia, Alabama, New Jersey, Michigan, and Florida. F.I.L.S.S. has also already shown me around the ship."

"Good. Let's go meet these new agents."

"Yes, Director."