Jorge's hands clenched. He could almost see Reach's likeness in this husk of a planet- hell, it even looked to have been glassed. Battered and bruised, an abused ball of rock that had once played host to the hopes of millions, if not billions, who now lay dead. Of this last fact, Jorge had no doubt: he could see the scars from orbit, his helmet's optics zooming in here or there to give him a fantastic look at deep craters or black-edged harbors where he was sure that cities had once been.
"Information gathered from remaining data network indicates a population in the billions. Native Serans seem to be analogous to humanity, but there is no apparent link to the UNSC or mention of any civilization beyond the confines of their planet."
Surprise flickered across his face at that. "Analogous?"
"Indeed, Noble five. Records not corrupted beyond repair indicate that natives where indistinguishable from humans in every respect."
Jorge hummed in thought. A lost colony, or perhaps one that had broken ties with the UNSC? No, he would have heard about it, and there would be some mention of such an event. It seemed too unlikely for humans to have somehow simultaneously developed on two different planets, especially considering the time frame meant that they should be farther along than they were… and they were merely tier four, not a tier three like Earth and her colonies.
"Recovered records indicate that there are a number of surviving cities that remained mostly intact during the aftermath of something that is referred to as the 'Locust War'. Details on the event itself are locked behind multiple military-grade firewalls that I am unable to breach without a hard connection. Apologies, Noble five."
Jorge waved a hand dismissively. "Think nothing of it, DOT. You were not built for offensive cyber warfare." He considered for a moment. "Is there any way to get a hardline connection?"
"Affirmative. There are intact military facilities that are still powered by long-term reactor complexes, and access to the computer systems of any one of them would allow me to gain keys to all them. Recommend taking Phantom dropship down to surface and selecting a military base. Once there, access to systems and resources will allow for a stock of armaments, ammunition and supplies to be built, and would form a defensible staging point for expeditions into nearby cities for further supplies if need be."
He nodded. Sound enough, he supposed- he couldn't find any particular problems with it. And really, he was a Spartan- anything threatening in those ruins, he could put down with ease.
"From what I have been capable of gathering, there are a few choices- however, the base in particular with the highest chance of having avoided damage is one in a place called Halvo Bay, known as Onyx Point. It was abandoned early on in the battle for the city, and it appears that all forces were drawn away from the installation in the wake of a short battle that occurred there. Once you are in a Phantom, I am capable of guiding you down to the surface and to the base itself- from there, you will be on your own."
No surprises there. Noble had practically been on their own, save for a few bits of support from random marines or some equipment drops, since they had first found the Covenant on Reach. Jorge turned his back to the view of the planet, checking over his equipment as he made his way towards the boarding area for the compliment of Phantoms that the Corvette carried. One was dispatched from where they were held in the bowels of the ship, unlocking and hovering to the center of the hangar, lining up with one of the catwalks that were on either side of the hangar itself. Jorge made a quick detour to grab his beloved Etilka then climbed in through the turret entrance and up to the cockpit, the engineer following him in and securing itself in the back of the vessel. He glanced over at it, deliberating, then decided that it would come in handy on the surface. Settling into the chair there and examining the unfamiliar controls for a moment before DOT uploaded a primer for them into his suit's systems. After a quick reading, he grasped the controls, the dropship pulling away from the cockpit and moving towards the field on the opposite side from the pelican.
"DOT, keep tabs on the ODST in medical. I don't want to lose him to anything."
"Affirmative, Noble five. Good hunting."
"Dyakuyu."
With that, the Spartan eased the ship through the forcefield and out into the vacuum of space, the thing sealing itself as it did. Not that he had needed it to, exactly, as his suit was perfectly capable of functioning in the extreme environment of hard space, but he understood that some of the ship's systems functioned better with an internal atmosphere, and there wasn't exactly a high risk of explosive decompression by way of weapon's fire.
Through a connection to his suit's comms systems, DOT guided him down to the blackened surface of the ruined world. As he approached the planet, sliding into its atmosphere, he noted that some of the burns really did resemble those inflicted upon a world by the plasma weaponry of the Covenant. Straight lines that glittered where the very soil and surface itself had melted into glass by the high heat of weapons strikes were drawn across great swaths of the continents, huge impact craters where focused fire had created a gigantic bowl of melted silicates. This is what Reach would look like if they failed.
Jorge shook off these thoughts as the craft passed through the upper atmosphere and made its way down towards a ruined city lying in the shadows of a mountain range, or, more specifically, to an island offshore of the fields of buildings, like tombstones of the world forgotten and lost. The engineer chirruped in the back as they pulled into a clear landing area meant for some sort of craft, accessing the Phantom's systems and using its sensor arrays to scan the base itself at a higher resolution than the Ardent Prayer could manage from orbit.
The Spartan shut down the engines, extracting himself from the pilot's seat and unsealing the vessel, readying his HMG from where it had lain, secured for the flight, then jumped down to the soil. The engineer followed behind, chittering nervously to itself before activating some sort of shielding. To Jorge's minor surprise, the shielding applied itself to him as well, acting as a second layer of shield over his MJOLNIR's already present one.
"Ship's sensors read no hostiles in immediate area, Phantom's sensor suite confirms. Detecting life signs and movement within the city itself, however: recommend investigating after completion of current task."
"Affirmative. Will do."
Hefting his chain gun, Jorge made his way to the doors that led from the landing pad and deeper into the base itself. After a moment of looking over the door, he found and pulled a manual override, which made the doors spring open. Flicking on his headlamps after a glance at the darkened interior of the hallway that greeted him, sparing a glance to make sure that the engineer was still with him, Jorge made his way inside machine gun barrel first.
Dust drifted and swirled in his wake, his clanging steps echoing in the oppressive silence of the abandoned base. Lights blinked dimly in the darkness, but it wasn't enough to illuminate even this confined space, and the Spartan's night vision was working overtime to make his surroundings visible. However, even despite that, it was difficult to miss the detritus of a battle that had occurred here- shell casings littered the floor, weapons lay discarded here and there covered in a mound of dust so thick that it was almost impossible to tell what they were, the occasional body moldered to nothing more than bones and armour. Shifting Etilka to a one-handed grip, the Spartan crouched and brushed the dust off of one of the weapons, an assault rifle with a large box magazine and what looked to be a chainsaw for a bayonet. Jorge blinked at the oddness of the weapon's design, then picked it up, clipping it to the magnetic holders on the back of his armour. He'd have a closer look at the odd thing later, most likely when the engineer was working on the computer: for now, he hefted Etilka back into a two-handed grip and made his way down the hall.
"Noble five, sensor scans have managed to build a basic map of the facility and have detected a mass of energy usage that may be a mainframe of some manner."
The Spartan paused at a T juncture in the hallway, where a number of arrow signs pointed down the two directions. One of them read MAINFRAME ACCESS, pointing to the right. He grunted in satisfaction- convenient, that.
"I've got it, DOT. Signs, in UNSC common no less."
"Indeed, Noble five. This is consistent with records. Very odd."
DOT couldn't sound disquieted, but Jorge most definitely could, and did. The strange things were piling up and up. First humans on some unknown world in the middle of galactic nowhere, then a UNSC language being the main language of this particular country? Disturbing, at the very least. The engineer seemed not to care in the least, however, making its way through the corridor behind him and tracing the wiring and piping in the walls, making noises to itself in the way that a human might mutter. Jorge found it almost strangely comforting, to see such a human quirk, even in such an alien body.
Activating the manual override on another set of doors led him into what appeared to be a mess. The infrared lamps of his helmet's night vision systems flickered and flashed across motes floating in the air as he turned his head in a slow circle, taking in the barricades formed from tables and various pieces of kitchen equipment and saturated with bullet holes, the sets of armour filled with bones, and the black stains, splotches and pools that covered the floor, the walls, the barricade… everything. The engineer made its way into the room, aimlessly pawing its way through armour and weapons, fixing the occasional object in a way that could almost be called nervous. Jorge stared at the pile of detritus for a moment longer before shaking himself and locating the next sign, exiting out a set of double doors and into another hallway.
Eventually, the silence and dead air gave way to a security checkpoint with a single functioning fluorescent light, flickering gently on its own in a small concrete booth next to a security door. Unfortunately, this door seemed to have been sealed tight, and there appeared to be no manual override- at least, not that Jorge could see. He hissed out a breath, considering either backtracking and trying to find a way around or finding some explosives and blowing the door, but stopped when the engineer made its way to the door. It tapped the doors themselves with a tentacle, then floated over to a panel just to the side of it, popping it off of the wall and setting to work on the wires within. Jorge watched in slight surprise for a moment before deciding that it had been a good idea to bring the creature along, before turning to watch down the hallway in case DOT hadn't been correct about the island being abandoned.
After a few moments of soft chittering and whistling, the engineer rang out with a victorious cry as the panel flashed green and the door hissed open. Jorge nodded his thanks to the creature as he stepped past it and into the room beyond, the engineer following him in and pausing to seal the door again behind them.
Banks of computers met the Spartan's vision, flickering and flashing and humming in the low light, black matte surfaces absorbing the infrared of his headlamps as he made a quick scan of the room for hostiles. After a moment, he located a computer terminal and, with a few gestures, managed to attract the attention of the engineer and indicate the terminal, hoping that was enough to get across what he wanted. The creature tilted its head, black eyes shining, then nodded and floated over, tentacles splitting into smaller ones that flickered lightning fast across the keyboard. Jorge watched, astonished, as screens and windows flickered past faster than the eye could see as the creature challenged the security of the entire mainframe with ease. After only a minute or two, the engineer floated back with a preening churr, the terminal wide open for access. Jorge nodded his thanks, stepping up and looking down at the screen.
Again, he felt a spark of confusion and slight paranoia at the sight of even more UNSC common, scrolling down and across the screen. Strange didn't come close to describing this. After a moment, he shook off the feeling. He had a job to do. Accessing the search protocols, he located the interface for a satellite uplink array for the base, which registered as mostly intact due to the fact that the satellite dish appeared to be underground by what schematics he could find. Apparently, the thing was a backup, the main dish having long been shot to pieces or rusted into oblivion, and this backup dish was meant to stay sheltered, underground in its little bay and quite safe, until the heat on the base had cooled enough for communications to go back online. He hit the activation button for the array, watched as it processed… then made a grunt of frustration as it appeared to encounter a mechanical error, a soft alarm chirping away in the darkness. He navigated the menus again, locating the access program for the base's security cameras, then poked through listings of cameras until he found a functional one that was pointed more or less towards where the backup array.
To his frustration, the satellite was above the ground, but appeared to not be fully folded out. As he watched, the entire thing twitched and shook, then stopped again. Apparently, something had rusted, broken or had become not properly lubricated since the base had shut down, and now the thing refused to do its job. He sighed.
Well, Jorge thought, if a good kick doesn't fix it, I'm sure the engineer can do something about it.
With this thought in mind, he picked up Etilka again from where he had lain the HMG against the console, motioning for the engineer to follow as he stepped back through the security doors and into the maze of hallways that made up this facility. Thankfully, in the time that he had taken getting to the room and accessing the mainframe with the engineer's help, DOT had been using regular sensor sweeps to build a more and more comprehensive map of the facility, and he had no trouble what so ever finding his way to a rusted freight elevator. He mashed the up button, noting the engineer settling on the steel grating as the elevator began making its way upwards. Jorge supposed that it was most likely easier for the elevator to lift the engineer than have to constantly adjust its lift to keep up with the rising floor.
A while of grinding gears and shifting cables passed as doors came and went, before the car stopped, shuddering, at the final set of doors, which slid open to reveal the interior of what appeared to be a repair and maintenance shed, with a sliding door set in the opposite wall. Jorge crossed the inside of the shed, avoiding bundles of cable and piles of parts strewn about the inside, gripping the handle of the door and pulling it to the side.
Immediately he was met with the shrieking of metal against metal as the jammed satellite made another valiant effort to come up, only to fail and cease for fear of damaging itself. The engineer made to move up to the array, tentacles already extended in order to diagnose and fix the mechanical issue that had caused this, but Jorge waved the creature away. Stomping up to the thing, he reared back and kicked it hard with his armoured boot, causing a loud bang to reverberate among the stone and concrete scattered around the short peak. He waited a moment, then kicked it a second time, then a third. Just as he was rearing back for a fourth, the satellite unlocked and extended upwards fully, pointed at the sky.
"Signal received. Sorting access keys. Mainframe access established."
Jorge nodded in satisfaction, putting both hands back on his machine gun and making his way back towards the elevator, engineer in tow. One thing down, who knows how many to go.