The two girls ate the lunch(really the Dinner) they'd ordered. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't the best, either, whatever was in the wrap. Ariane watched the doctor finish up the last bit of work, all while Elster had already begun reading the manuals from the tablet and eating. Ariane chuckled at the sight, looking at the focused young Replika as she gently thumbed the tablet's touch-screen, having gotten used to it surprisingly quickly.

Meanwhile, she was still trying to properly operate the damn thing in her hands as she ate. Halsey sighed deeply, wiping the sweat off her brow, set her tools aside, then turned to Ariane and said, "I believe it's time for those examinations, miss Yeong. If you two would follow me..." motioning to the door of another room. Both Elster and Ariane stood to their feet at that, finishing their food. Elster, however, kept on reading, only looking up when they walked so she didn't bump into something.

Entering the medical room, a sterile, heavily-reinforced place with white tiles that were polished enough to partially reflect the light of the recessed and very powerful LEDs above. There was a holographic display to the left, a couple more specialized screens on the right, an operating table in the middle and several sets of tools on multiple tables. Although Elster tensed when she looked up and noticed them, she'd soon calmed down.

They weren't invasive instruments. Seemed like various scanning devices and tools meant to help Halsey understand what Ariane's bioresonance was. She hummed and stepped inside, then took a seat off to the side, continuing to read and peeking over the edge of the tablet every once in a while, all while Doctor Halsey strapped the several electrodes and sensors to Ariane's head.

Doctor Halsey began explaining, "This is a brainwave scanner. A device that combines a few different methods of examining the brain's activity in order to provide us an accurate picture of how Bioresonance works. We will be performing various stress tests to see what kind of modifications your cortex has during usage. To help with that, I have also prepared template screenings of normal human brains."

"In short, it'll read my brainwaves to see what makes bioresonance tick," Ariane clarified more for herself than anyone else. Doctor Halsey gave a simple nod, before moving to turn on the devices. Elster peeked over the tablet every so often to watch the experiments, while Halsey took her own tablet and prepared a series of tools. She hummed, lifted a foam ball and handed it to Ariane.

The girl stood there, confused for a second, all while the device behind her whirred and beeped semi-audibly in the background, the screens playing both three-dimensional representations of Ariane's brain with all its various shapes, lobes and sub-organs and two-dimensional readings of the brainwaves in the form of lines determining spikes of brain activity that specifically related to Ariane's thinking.

Doctor Halsey explained, "I saw you lift a carafe full of water, miss Yeong. Without touching it. I want you to do the same with this ball," then positioned herself to see both the girl's movements and the screens, keeping her tablet close to write notes. The Bioresonant hummed, smiled, then nodded. She focused on the ball, opening her hand by spreading her fingers out and away from it.

Before long, the girl's face grew impassive and her eyes seemed to glow for the shortest amount of time in the same shade of red as her irises. The ball was slowly lifted up and off of her hand, which she slowly pulled back to her side, simply focusing on her objective. The device behind her read various scarlet dots, pointing to exact activity on the three-dimensional representation of the girl's brain. The occipital cortex and the amygdalae lit up like a a triangle of Christmas trees. As for the two-dimensional, line-based readings, there was a massive activity spike that now formed a plateau well above the average functionality of a normal human brain.

Halsey was immediately jotting down notes as she saw the prefrontal cortex light up as well, the brightest mark of them all. Halsey was stunned by the sheer reverberations Ariane's brain activity had. The eagerness with which the doctor wrote everything down told both Eusan citizens that their newfound co-worker was actively excited by the prospect of forther studies.

Halsey stopped writing, then said, "Feel free to let it go, miss Yeong..." as she noticed the girl getting slightly strained, a vein bulging on the side of her head. Ariane moved her hand below the ball and let it drop, before setting the ball aside and looking to her physician. The woman hummed, nodded and said, "Up next, something I've presumed but I don't think I could get a better confirmation of outside of a laboratory like this... Miss Yeong, I need you to focus on me."

"Aaaaand..." Ariane blinked, sure where this was going and not really sure she liked it.

"I want you to read my thoughts, of course..." Halsey replied, which caused both Elster and Ariane to double-over. Halsey, meanwhile, spoke calmly, "Please, take it at face value, I know the full risks of what may be ahead of us, but I also need to understand if what you said is true. The last test after this one will be what you call 'klimaforming'. I'll bring a small pot of sand over for it."

Ariane and Elster exchanged looks, both of them clearly worried. Despite that, though, Elster seemed to give an approving nod to the girl, before humming as she looked over the tablet. She ran a hand down the side of the item, stopping at the bottom and tugging at the corner. She blinked as she saw a cable with a connection port pop out and hummed, before looking at herself.

Meanwhile, Ariane approved the Doctor's request with a wordless forward tilt of the head. Halsey took a moment to concentrate, before giving a nod back and starting to write and read the new data. Ariane focused heavily on the good doctor and began reading her thoughts. The girl covered her mouth and started to giggle, to which Halsey looked, slightly confused, while maintaining the same thought pattern. Ariane snorted and said, "Sorry, doc. Thinking of Puppies is adorable, but I can tell it's a little strained."

Halsey blinked, nodded and showed her to stop. Ariane complied nigh-instantly, shuddering and murmuring to herself about how she'd 'never do that again' as she watched the Doc tap away at her tablet, before walking back to another desk and picking up the pot of sand. The good doctor added, "The pot also contains a small plant seed I had put in just before your arrival."

Ariane hummed at that, then nodded, "Alright. Let's get to it, I guess..." and looked down at the pot. Focusing her mind yet again, the girl grit her teeth. Before long, Halsey was both terrified and awed at the sight of sand becoming fertile dirt, the plant gently rising out of the soil. Elster hummed and smirked at the sight of the awed UNSC scientist, while Doctor Halsey stared on, shocked.

Ariane sighed, settling down, then rubbed her head, "Ow... Too many tasks at once..." She then murmured. Halsey, meanwhile, had gotten enough data from all three experiments to confirm her theory. And by jove, was she not sure what to make of this entire goddamn mess. She hummed, blinked and rubbed her eyes beneath the glasses, before sighing.

"There are sleeping quarters down the hall just outside of this room and to the left..." She stated, "If you wish to go to sleep while miss Elster finishes today's lectures-"

"Already done," Elster stated, extending the tablet to Halsey. Her eyes shot wide open at that. Elster hummed, noting the confusion, then stating, "I discovered my architecture is not so different from the tablet's. I also found this," she pulled at the corner, revealing the wire and the port again, then tapped the back of her head and said, "And just slotted it in. Downloading the manuals was easy enough."

"... Uh-huh... You downloaded approximately two thousand three hundred and seventeen pages of manuals into your mind without so much as flinching..." Halsey hummed, then pointed toward a table and stated, "Go to that table and retrieve the item on it, please."

The Replika complied, calmly strutting up to the table. Ariane grinned at Doctor Halsey, then watched Elster retrieve the item. The girls were both surprised to see the chrome-finished frame of a heavy-weight firearm with a strange trigger guard. Elster hummed and looked at the weapon, then looked to Doctor Halsey, who nodded and showed her to go on and say what it is. Elster said, "An M6G Magnum with a smartscope and laser aiming module... Why do you have this?"

"ONI brought it over to test out your capabilities, miss Elster. Now that you have the data pertaining to repairing the overall M6 personal defense weapon systems of the UNSC Military and Police, I'd very much like to see if you can figure out what ails this certain pistol," Halsey explained calmly, leaning against the table in the medical room. Elster nodded and, without a hint of hesitation, she began taking the weapon apart, bolt by bolt, while aligning the weapon's main components to her right. She had first made sure it was safe by dropping the empty magazine out of it and pulling the slide back into a locked position. Pulling off the slide by unlocking it, the Smartscope and the trigger group being removed after, the girl hummed as she removed the bolt carrier group and...

She lifted it and pointed at the filed-down pin. She had accomplished a full disassembly of the firearm within under a minute, a rather surprising thing for someone who was only familiar with firearms through the manuals they had read, or, better said, slotted into their brains, then immediately discovered the issue. Elster then replaced the pin and fit the weapon back together in about the same time frame, with the efficiency one would expect out of a supposed Engineer unit Replika.

Elster then slid a fresh magazine in and surprised both Doc Halsey and Ariane, turning to them and asking, "Is there a shooting range nearby?"

She wanted to test her newly-repaired tool. Halsey hummed and said, "There is one on this level, but I'm afraid it's restricted to security personnel. However, I'd trust the work, miss Elster. Well done..." before murmuring something along the lines if, "If only Cortana could so easily plug the necessary data into her Matrix just like that without having to learn too much..."

"I still need to work. Manuals are fine, but hands-on work with these items will be the best determinant of my utility for the UNSC's efforts..." The girl sighed, then set the weapon down on the table and started, "Speaking of, doctor... I've been meaning to ask this and I'm sure Ariane has, too. What is your war? The only things we've been told by the captain when we were retrieved and by the ONI agents when we asked were that the war was far away from Reach and it isn't something we should worry about... Is it true?"

Halsey's shoulders sagged and a frown formed on her face. She sighed deeply, then murmured, "And yet again, we lie, thinking we know what is best for mankind..." as she slowly removed the sensors from Ariane's head. She set the items aside, looked to Elster and Ariane and told both, "I'm afraid my countrymen thought themselves saints for lying to you two. Kalmiya?"

"I and Cortana have already engaged a Dead Room protocol, doctor. All wire taps within are disabled and the cameras are playing looping footage, but I'd be fast about it," Kalmiya replied.

"Sorry it took us a hot sec. Had to study, y'know?" Another voice, eerily the same tone and the likes as Doctor Halsey's, if only a bit more peppy, "Hey, ladies. Nice to meet you."

"Hi...?" Both Ariane and Elster said, dumbfound, then gazed upon Halsey. The doctor sighed deeply and sat herself down somewhere, before considering how to begin the saga of the damnation of humanity to a slow, painful death by the hands of an alien invader. One would normally think going with the beginning is the best option and, to be honest, that was Halsey's train of thought, too.

So, she started with the beginning...

By the time Halsey had gone through the Harvest campaign and the subsequent glassings and battles, Ariane had pretty much been ready to empty her stomach and Elster had to take a few moments to process the sheer destruction seen in the images Halsey had shown them. And apparently, according to the doctor, she was giving the brief rundown of the 27 years of genocide.

Halsey hummed as she saw Ariane crying into Elster's shoulder, while the Replika was still stuck. The machine asked, "How many dead... At least so far...?" as she wrapped her arms around Ariane to comfort her. Halsey sighed and opened a document on her tablet. The Replika's eyes shot wide open and she covered her mouth at the sheer size of the number.

Thirty-three billion total deaths estimated... So far...

Elster had trouble wrapping her head around that number, because it felt so statistically and militarily impossible. She kept Ariane from seeing it, waving Halsey off and swallowing her own spit, before stating, "I... We... We're so sorry, doctor, we didn't..." to which Halsey shook her head and gave a reassuring squeeze of both their shoulders, something she was seemingly not used to doing. Elster then asked, "What about the Covenant's armada...? How close are they...?"

"Their latest engagement puts them at, or near Sigma Octanus... I hate to sound incredibly depressing or scarring, but that is tantamount to a stone's throw away from Epsilon Eridani. From us," She replied softly. Elster let out a sigh that denoted her exact feelings on the matter. If Doctor Halsey were to probably attempt a translation from either her or miss Ariane, she'd need to censor quite a few words. So, she simply nodded, "But we think we have a way of ending the war... It is why I've been... Looking into understanding how both of you operate. Why I'm still awake and helping our two AI, as well."

"Do you want us to be part of whatever plan it is the UNSC has to end this?" Elster asked, stunned that Halsey would be so brash to even admit it. The woman paused for a moment, hesitating, and that was enough for Elster to reply, "... I won't risk Ariane's life for anything. And I won't let her risk it, either... You can't ask us to fight your war, Doctor..."

"It is not a war, miss Elster," Halsey sighed, "It is the slow extinction of our own race. And no. I was not going to ask or demand that you fight in our damned little attempt at survival, or fight in this doomed operation to end the war. I intended just to learn if your skills could potentially be learned and used by us, but I cannot even begin to comprehend Bioresonance without any detailed books written by your own people or without further delving into researching it myself. As for your repair training, miss Elster..."

"... You wanted to see if it could be replicated if you ever got to make others of my kind as backups for the dwindling numbers of UNSC Engineers...?" Elster presumed as she patted Ariane's head. "But considering the shrinking time window you have..." and she looked at herself for a moment. Halsey seemed to get what she was going for, simply sighing and leaning against the desk.

Elster looked at her lover with worry, noting the girl clung onto her for dear life, terrified. It was all on both of them. They had asked to learn of humanity's war with the Covenant, just how bad it got and just how much mankind lost. Compared to it, their own conflicts and issues on Eusan seemed minuscule, almost incomparably so. Truthfully, anything would seem minuscule when compared to the galactic scale of this war...

The Replika didn't care about it. She looked at Ariane, concerned. What would become of her if this war reached them? What could they do? Run? She was sure the Covenant would find the human world they were hiding on and destroy it. The UNSC offered them a chance at survival, as minimal as it was. Survival against a threat the likes of which nobody in the Eusan Nation or the Empire ever thought they'd face.

"You can leave, if you wish, find safe harbor somewhere-" Halsey started, well aware ONI would have her head if she so much as let them get out without finishing her testing. Elster, however, turned toward her and cut her off with a motion of the hand. Halsey stared at the Replika with a hint of surprise, but chose to let her speak her mind on the matter.

"... If it means keeping Ariane safe... And only if you can guarantee to me that she will be safe... I'll do what must be done. Any vehicle that needs repairs, any weapon damaged or in need of servicing, I'll take care of it for any unit your commanders assign me to. If it means keeping her alive and well, I'll even fight..." Elster spoke with a determination one would usually find in a human behind every word. Ariane looked at her, stunned, before preparing herself to protest. Elster put her index finger on the girl's lips and shook her head. "I don't want to hear it, Ariane..."

Halsey hummed, allowing herself a small smile as she looked at the two. She spoke to Elster, "She will be safe. I will make sure she doesn't leave my side. And I do not much leave CASTLE Base, or OMEGA Level. It is one of the most well-defended and up-armored underground facilities on the planet. It'd take a nuclear weapon whose yield is in the gigatons to destroy this place."

Elster nodded, "Thank you, Doctor..."

"Those who are willing to put their lives on the line in defense of Mankind should at least have the lives of their loved ones be preserved. It's the least our people could and should do for you and anyone else who volunteers to fight," Halsey replied calmly, fiddling with her tablet. She noticed the terrified look in Ariane's eyes and reassured her, "As for you, miss Ariane, calm down... I'm certain miss Elster is both a proficient fighter and knows how to keep herself alive. The poise with which she walks tells of at least a military background to her matrix."

"Hm," Elster nodded. She looked down at Ariane and pecked her on the forehead, garnering a blush.

Halsey chuckled, then said, "There are dormitories down the right side. If you two wish to rest, go ahead. I have much work to do, still, including examining your neural patterns, miss Ariane..." to which Elster immediately lifted the girl in a bridal carry. Both AIs within the lab audibly chuckled at the sight, while Ariane blushed like she was a schoolgirl being asked to prom. Elster walked to the dorm, a proud grin on her face.

"They're a heartwarming pair," Cortana commented as she appeared next to doctor Halsey. The AI, young as she may have been, gleamed in a purple-ish hue, her short hair straightened out and her arms crossed to her chest. She added, "I kind of hope the Covenant never find Reach, because that means those two get to live relatively decent lives under ONI's employ, but uh... I know better."

"Indeed... Did you make your choice?" Halsey inquired, turning to the AI. Cortana hummed and nodded, before smirking. Halsey quipped, "I know I've asked you to make that choice days ago, but I want you to be certain of it... If you are, we can proceed with the next phase. John and his team should already be here. It's time to start the preparations..."

"Aye, doctor." Cortana saluted, then her avatar de-materialized off the holographic display.

It was about high-time humanity went on the offensive for a change.