Helmer began to explain the whole situation to the now much larger group.
"as you well know, most of the planets in the federation were annihilated in the flux wave emitted by Abel's Ark. However, since then, the remainder of humanity has regrouped together as we sought after lost ships, regained contact, and focused our efforts on helping rebuild the shattered galaxy we know as our home. The problem was, the information leaked out that the Elsa was pioneering its way towards Earth, and would pave the way for humanity to reclaim it's homeland. Many different governments have sent ships behind us with newer versions of the gate drive we've created, and most disagree with each other" Helmer told everyone.
"so all those ships, they're not federation? They're mixture fleets? This is gonna cause a huge problem…" Jr. said as he put his hand to his chin.
"that's correct. For the most part no hostilities have arisen in the trip, however, it is only a matter of time before someone pulls the trigger, and an all out war happens. Each faction wishes to be the first to land on Earth, to reclaim our homeworld for humanity. If any of the others try to, they'll open fire. This has caused quite a bit of strife and tension among the people who are caught in the middle, mainly, Juli Momo and Ziggy here. Miyuki and Doctus have been trying to control the situation, but it doesn't look good" Helmer said before rubbing his eyes.
"wait, why is Momo and Ziggy stuck in this? What's been happening?" Shion asked.
"Momo and Ziggy are icons of the new exploration, they helped design the new drive system, along with Miyuki of course. Each faction wants their backing in their move towards Earth, to finalize they are in the right. However, now that the Elsa has been found again, it would be even more influential if they gained the crew, and, also, Shion Uzuki and her android, KOS-MOS" Helmer explained.
"but KOS-MOS isn't an android anymore, and, I won't let them use me or her for any of their gains" Shion told him sternly.
"try as you might, you won't be able to stay out of the lime light this time. There has come about a make shift council among the factions to discuss things, and they would like to have a meeting with you and KOS-MOS and the rest of your crew. Each one wants at least one name on their side, if not all. Add in the fact one of them I would consider not mentally sound, and well-" Helmer tried to tell Shion.
"What do you mean mentally sound? Why would they place an insane person on the council leading an exile fleet of people towards Earth?" Shion asked.
"well, he isn't mentally unstable with anyone or anything per se, except, of course, KOS-MOS" Helmer told her.
"what? Why?" Shion asked, looking towards her friend.
"the man's name is Albert Vanburen, and from what I've been able to find out, he's been keeping tabs on the KOS-MOS project since it's initial creation. He placed the first request to gain her as a test bed for his planetary defense when he was a presidential consulate on Milido Prime. He's… obsessed with her… when it comes to KOS-MOS, the man is a lunatic, and some say, he's in love with her" Helmer told them. Shion gasped as KOS-MOS sat there, looking slightly worried.
"but, she's not some god damn love doll! She's a real human being with feelings now! He can't touch her! I won't let him!" Shion yelled out and stood up, not realizing she was among friends.
"Shion, calm down, he won't get his hands on her, and while I don't understand what you're saying about her being human, I don't really wanna know. She's directly attached to you in this discussion, meaning whatever you say, she can accept as well. However, this makes it difficult to destroy all connections to the orders and requests certain men have placed for the KOS-MOS project, or, should I say, the T-elos project" Helmer said.
"T-elos is dead. There's nothing to destroy anymore" Mirie said, then looked away from everyone as she realized she had spoken.
"regardless, the mass production of her was supposed to be happening, but since no one can find the blue prints anymore, they have settled for the old KOS-MOS project instead. They want her, and they'll do anything they can to take her, except for Albert. He wants her, and solely her, and doesn't want to make more of KOS-MOS in any way. He wants her to be unique" Helmer told them.
"that bastard isn't gonna touch my friend…" Shion growled as she hugged KOS-MOS instinctively.
"they want to have a meeting, within one week, to discuss matters of landing on Earth, as well as any information you've found along the way. A summit complex has been cleared in the downtown areas of the ship, that is where the meeting will happen. Security is being done by what's left of the Kukai Foundation, so they are on our side. Will you accept?" Helmer asked.
"what? Your insane! No I won't accept! I'm not even going to talk to these people! Earth is for everyone to share, our hopes, our dreams, are going to be allowed to be reborn on that planet, to start new lives, and fix what we may lose in the future. We're here to look forwards for something new, not fight over my friend like some love struck boys! And we shouldn't even be fighting each other with the gnosis still down below!" Shion yelled out.
"gnosis? There are still gnosis here?" Helmer asked.
"ya, a whole slew of them, they're all over the place, we can't land without an army popping up" Jr. said.
"hmmm, this does present a problem…" Helmer sighed.
"so no, we won't go! They'll just have to fight over who says what till they're all dead! I won't stand for it! I-" Shion continued ranting.
"Shion" KOS-MOS asked.
"what is it KOS-MOS?" Shion stopped mid sentence and looked towards her.
"we need to go. We need to stop the fighting, or everything we have fought to protect will be in vane. Mirie did not let me have control for nothing, she knew I would strive to stop what we were going to do. Humanity cannot continue on it's current path or you will simply destroy each other. We must move on, forwards, and to do that we must at least try and unify what little of the human race we have left" KOS-MOS said softly.
"huh, good luck on that one kiddo, you'll find we're hard headed and always have some alternate agenda on our minds… damned rebels…" Archerson cursed behind them.
"that may be, but Captain, should we at least not try? The only thing we can do is fail right now, and try again. If war will come, then war will come, at least we have exhausted all options. Talk will hurt nothing" KOS-MOS turned and said to him.
"Spartans were around to squash that kind of shit…" Archerson tried to say under his breath.
"what? Spartans? What about them?" Shion asked, as most of them looked towards Garrett still leaning.
"I mean… uh… damn it…" Archerson swore.
"tell us" Shion sternly said.
"Don't order me around little girlie! I won't have it!" He growled.
"The Spartans weren't originally Anti Covenant soldiers like everyone thought they were" Magen suddenly said.
"what?" Shion asked.
"when we fought the alien collective known as the Covenant, the Spartans were not on the front lines. Originally they were rebel insurgent suppression devices. By leaking information that the UNSC had an army of super soldiers to destroy any offensive a rebel base could muster, the insurgents quickly doused and disappeared before even a shot was fired due to a sense of retaliation. They were meant as a scare tactic. An invincible soldier that couldn't be killed sent to destroy a hostile base blah blah blah, everyone would stop fighting and surrender, Spartans go home. It would stop this kind of mess you guys have here…" Archerson said as he rubbed his crew cut.
"so, Garrett, he's, he's a rebel stomper?" Jr. asked.
"Yes Jr., Garrett is trained in rebel infiltration and counter insurgency techniques yada yada yada. Problem is I doubt it would work here, what with we don't know what the state of flux your government is in, even with multiple factions, it would take weeks to figure a command line structure as we never had this latice work of planets you guys have on this starmap" Archerson said as he made a motion of the hand towards an old starmap Momo had pinned to the wall of the old federation.
"but they don't know we have him…" Magen said.
"what? What are you talking about?" Archerson asked.
"think about it, how many times have people gawked when they see him walk by? How many people mumble when he moves? What if we made it slip they have something really nasty pitted against them if they try anything funny?" Magen said.
"hmm… I just said it might not work… but oh well… couldn't hurt… Helmer, put us on the security force list, we'll work our thing on our side" Archerson asked.
"consider it done, of course, if Shion agrees to go" Helmer said as everyone looked at Shion.
"I don't… I can't stand these people… perverts… bastards… warmongers… every one of them…" Shion said mostly to herself. KOS-MOS put her arms around her shoulders and hugged her from behind.
"it will be alright Shion, everything will be fine. Do not worry" Shion accepted the hug and finally nodded.
"we'll do it" she said as Garrett suddenly stopped leaning.
"we have company" Garrett suddenly said as he suddenly sprinted to the door and slid to the side, waiting to pounce.
"housekeeping!" was heard on the other side.
"oh my, it's Melinda, the housekeeping maid… um… what should I do?" Momo asked.
"uh… let her… in?" Allen said.
"come in Melinda!" Momo yelled towards the door as a keycard slid and the young realian pushed her small hovercart through the door, her bronze eyes taking in the group sitting in the living room.
"oh my, I'm so sorry Momo, I didn't mean to intrude, I thought I would clean up today instead of tomorrow. You said you wanted some help, and well…" she tried to back up and found herself blocked by something. She looked up and stared at nothing as she noticed the offending blockade was gone.
"odd, I could have sworn… I-" Melinda tried to explain.
"Melinda, could you come back tomorrow? Sorry this is so sudden, I just need to talk to some old friends" Momo asked.
"I will at that, no worries then? I shall leave you to talk with your guests, sorry for intruding" Melinda bowed carefully.
"it's ok Melinda, you didn't do anything wrong, I just didn't expect you today. See you tomorrow. Have a good day alright?" Momo said smiling.
"thank you Momo, I will, you as well" Melinda bowed again and pulled her cart back through the door, this time the blockade was gone. As the door closed, Garrett decloaked.
"nice one Garrett" Magen smirked.
"she ran into me, I didn't block her" Garrett responded as he pointed down at the floor where he stood, which, still happened to be on the side of the door. He hadn't moved.
"anyways, we should catch up, I'll go make some coffee, we shouldn't think about any of this right now, that will be tomorrow, right now we should be catching up. I'll go make some coffee" Momo said as she got up from her chair.
"Momo, your so grown up! Just like Jr. heehee" Shion laughed out as Momo got up and looked over her shoulder, then blinked and looked at Jr. who blushed. Momo blushed as well and then walked to the kitchen. Jr. fidgeted.
"oh come on, go help her, I know the coffee grounds are in the top shelf of the cabinet" Miyuki winked and nudged Jr. as he moved away, still fidgeting.
"I'd, uh, get in the way, she can probably handle it herself" Jr. said.
"oh no she can't, trust me, she'll burn the grounds, go help her!" she said as she shoved him up and pushed him towards the kitchen.
"hey! Lay off! I… oh hey, I uh, Momo, I was wondering, ya, need any help?" Jr. said as he entered the kitchen.
"well, uh, sort of…" Momo said as she stood on a stool and reached towards the top of the shelf, and slipped and fell backwards as Jr. caught her. Their eyes met, and they stared at one another for a long pause of silence.
Suddenly Momo saw a few heads poking around the corner of the kitchen door and got out of Jr's hands and thanked him, blushing beet red. Jr. blushed as well and scratched the back of his head.
"ooh, looks like sparks are flying! Can't wait til they actually get on their first date!" Miyuki said excitedly.
"ah, young love… can't say I don't miss it…" Archerson said as he pulled out a photo of his wife and daughter from his pocket, smudged and dirty on the sides, but still visible.
"that your family sir?" Magen asked.
"yes it is, and I hope to see them again soon, once we're finished here. Got any of your own Corporal?" Archerson asked behind the group.
"a fiance sir. Marriage is four months from now… I hope…" she said playing with the small ring in her pocket.
"congratulations then Corporal, I hope it goes well, and it will. We'll be back before you know it" Archerson said.
"yes sir. We will" Magen said as she looked up, and over Archerson's shoulder, made out the blue goggles Garrett was wearing.
"got any family to go home to Garrett?" Magen asked. Garrett was silent, then walked back to the couches and leaned against the wall. The whole group was silent.
"A Spartan's family is the UNSC… try not to ask that question again Corporal…" Archerson sighed.
"I'm… sorry sir. I didn't mean to… Garrett, I'm…" Magen tried to apologize before Garrett waved it aside, telling her to stop.
"quit while your behind Corporal, your just digging a deeper hole. Don't worry about it, he's ok with the idea. Trust me, I know" Archerson said as half the group looked at the lone soldier in the corner, either thinking or performing guard duty, no one could tell.
"does a Spartan have a family besides the military? They cannot simply be soldiers can they?" KOS-MOS suddenly asked and everyone turned towards her.
"the thing is, most Spartans in the past are taken early on in their life, when their six or seven years old, then trained as soldiers and genetically altered and cybernetically enhanced. They never really know their real mother or father" Archerson said as KOS-MOS stared at the black armor in the corner.
"how cruel… and they experimented on him…" KOS-MOS said, feeling sympathy towards the seven foot soldier.
"hey, he's ok with it. Stop thinking about it and realize he's perfectly fine with his strength, that most men dream of being as powerful as he is, relied on to do a job, more valuable than a whole fleet of starships. The Admiralty are in a sense his grandparents, the Marines and Navy his Brothers and Sisters, and Scientists his Mother and Father. Wait, what's her name again? Dr. Halsey?" Archerson said.
"yup, supposedly she worked on the Spartan IIs when they were created, god knows how she's lived this long, must be over 100 years old by now…" Magen said.
"I heard the experiments were extremely painful…" Michaels said as Wilson nudged him to shut up.
"Garrett…" KOS-MOS whispered as Garrett stood in the corner, half blending with the shadows half lit by the synthetic sun outside, armor eating away at the light.
Garrett's head suddenly cocked quickly and looked around wildly, and everyone was startled as he walked forward a few steps before pressing his fingers to the right side of his helmet.
"CAPTAIN!" he yelled as he swapped through thousands of frequencies to keep a lock.
"what? What's going on?" Archerson ran forward.
"I have a fragmented connection with UNSC, Flagship Marathon. I can't keep a lock" Garrett responded as he tried hard to clear the static out.
"where, what, how are they doing it? Did they take over the portal? Is there a way back?!" Archerson asked.
"I'll patch through what I can" Garrett said as he fed the info into a portable data pad before handing it to the Captain.
"What's it say?" Shion asked over his Shoulder as everyone crowded around.
(VERIFY, UNSC ODST SQUADRON 105TH THROUGH 127TH, UNSC DATE 11/04/2668, TIME COORDINATE 1146:52 HOURS. FEED DATA.
PORTAL SECURITY COMPROMISED, RESEARCH ZONE ON RED ALERT. COVENANT INBOUND. REPEAT. COVENANT INBOUND. PRIMARY ODST SQUADRON KIA. AI TRANSFER COMPLETE. REQUEST DOWNLOAD ASAP. COMBAT IMMINENT. REPEAT, COMBAT IMMINENT. LINK CUT. DATA CORRUPT. REBOOT LINK?)
Archerson was stunned. His squad was KIA. Haverson was dead, Maven killed, everyone was gone.
Archerson fell to his knees as Garrett tried to track any hostiles down below.
"sir, an AI is downloaded to the Ark's main control systems, I can't bypass. We're going to have some problems in the future" Garrett told him.
"shut up! Just, shut up…" the grizzled soldier said as he sat there, everyone watching. Garrett stood silent.
"sir, with all due respect, I don't quite think the Covenant got through without a large fight on their-" Magen tried to say before Archerson suddenly stood up and punched her.
"hey! Don't do that to her!" Shion yelled as Magen doubled over from the blow and coughed.
"sir get a grip!" Helden said as Archerson stood watching his own fist curled, then looked down at Magen coughing from the hard hit, trying to get some air back in her lungs.
Archerson stormed out of the room and outside the door, and leaned against the wall, away from everyone else.
"I can't believe it… they're all dead…" Wilson said as he helped Magen get up.
"I'm sorry for all of your losses, I know this must be hard for all of you…" Mirie tried to say.
"don't! just… don't…" Greys was about to yell, then seconded the motion and with a gesture of the hand told her to leave it alone. All of the marines sat silent on the couch as Garrett stood there. The others felt out of place, they didn't know how to respond to it. Even Shion, who had lost her brother, couldn't imagine what it was like losing an entire strike squadron, of thirteen men and women who were practically these soldier's best friends.
"I'll go get the Captain" Garrett said as he walked to the door and around the corner.
Everyone watched as they heard a small scuffle followed by a loud BANG! And a sliding sound. Archerson walked back inside with a large black bruise on his jaw as Garrett followed behind him, unscathed.
"Garrett… thanks for knocking some sense into me…" Archerson said as he stood there, tear marks drying on his cheeks.
"anytime sir" Garrett responded.
Momo came back carrying a few cups of coffee as she watched and stood there, Jr. holding a few more.
"are we good Corporal?" Archerson asked Magen. Magen slugged him, then rubbed her knuckles.
"now we are" Magen said in a low growl.
"heh… I guess I deserve that one…" Archerson said rubbing his jaw.
"no court martial right?" Magen asked.
"court martial for what, I tripped. Twice" Archerson smirked. Everything was fine again, for the most part.
"well, let's get to talking, we have a lot to catch up on" Shion said and sighed, taking a cup and sitting down.