Switching back to his radio, Thomas asked "Control, any area where they can land?" a few moments later, a bearing was sent to his HUD. forwarding the coordinates to the pelican, Thomas too made his way to the said location- Helicopter Bay 5.
Kazuya walked past the broken remains of the hangar door,alongside his "partner" Satelizer, as well as Rana and Jiina. Originally only he had decided to follow Thomas to the bay out of curiosity but one thing led to another and as a result, the three women tagged along. At the very least, Thomas allowed them to follow him, though he told them that he was probably leaving with the group.
As the group stepped outside, a plane came into view. Kazuya gawked as although there were no visible rotors, the plane could hover. It touched down and simultaneously opened it's hatch. Out came two figures- both wearing the same kind of armor as his roommate, though they were of different sizes. All three sported rifles to which were aimed at him. Thomas raised his hand, perhaps an all clear sign, and the group lowered their weapons. Thomas, relaxed his arm but for a split second his still-recovering body weakened, and he stumbled to the ground.
"Leader!" one of the soldiers cried out and rushed to his side.
"..Heh... hey Wringe... glad to see you're okay..." said Thomas. He faced the other and,
"Nice to see you're alive and kicking squirt." said the armored figure.
"Can't say the same to you halfwit." replied Thomas. "Regardless, good to see you two alive."
Even without having to remove their helmets, Thomas knew what had to be done...
Reaching for his comm, he said "control, This is Thomas Shubaltz. I'm leaving with the aircraft, regardless whether you'll let me or not."
Gengo Aoi stood over the controls overlooking the monitors. He witnessed the mysterious aircraft land and the figures that emerged. Noting the similarities in equipment, he surmised that they were his allies. A moment later, a channel opened up.
"control, This is Thomas Shubaltz. I'm leaving with the aircraft, regardless whether you'll let me or not."
"Very well, go." Dr. Aoi only said those three words.
"Why did you let him go?!" said a voice behind him. Apparently one of the other officers had braved himself and returned to the control room.
"Why? that's pretty obvious." Replied the doctor. 'Even if we wanted to keep him here by force, we couldn't."
"besides.." he added "I fell that we will be meeting him again soon..."
Receiving the go ahead, Thomas faced Kazuya and the others. "Well guys, thanks for bringing me here. I'll see you all later." and with the pair supporting him, he slowly climbed the pelican and watched the group as they lifted off.
As the bay doors closed, the trio saw the total destruction that the attack had caused.
"Not a pretty sight huh?" said Thomas.
"Definitely. What kind of hellhole you drop yourself into huh? Seems a lot worse than the one we came from." replied Alex
"Oh right... Wringe, mission report. What happened?" Said Thomas
"It could have gone better..." uttered the woman. "Six dead, multiple injuries. They were ready for us... I couldn't!" she continued, nearly on the verge of tears.
"Stop it Wringe! No one could have expected any of that." retorted Alex but Thomas understood her sentiments. Any officer, regardless of rank, had to live with the guilt of losing the men under them in combat. He had his fair share of losses, but he grew up seeing that kind of loss... He grew up seeing that as a daily occurrence that he had to live with...
Placing his hand on Wringe's shoulder, the latter seemed to calm down. "Relax Wringe. You said it could have gone better, at least it wasn't any worse. Everyone else could have died." he said as he tried to comfort his second.
Facing Alex, Thomas asked "And what of our friend Mr. Lim?"
"Got him out. Originally we would have returned to a major outpost but thankfully dispatch relieved us of the cargo halfway." replied the Delta soldier. "We requested to be the ones to find you. " He added.
"Thanks. It means a lot." said Thomas
"Hey guys, we're here." replied the pilot. Thomas swiveled his head to peek through the glass cockpit. In front of them was the massive bulk of the Deuteronomy opening it's hangar doors.
"...ughhh" Thomas opened his eyes and saw the familiar white ceiling. Shaking his head to clear it, he tried to remember what transpired since the pelican flight.
...Immediately after entering the hangar was he ordered to a conference room to be debriefed. Inside the said room was the commander's hologram.
...After that, he was ordered to the medical wing to receive a full checkup just in case. Right..., during the said checkup, he was told to get a minimum eight hours of sleep.
And now here he was, awake after hopefully 8 hours of sleep. Getting up, he showed himself to the medical officer and then headed for his room. Picking up the data chip containing Revealer, he accessed his personal terminal and summoned Deuteronomy's AI: Orpheus.
"Hello Lieutenant, what can I do for you?" it said in a male voice as it's holographic body appeared. Like many AIs, Orpheus created it's own personification- in this case a middle ages bard.
"Orpheus." replied Thomas. He slotted Revealer's chip into a port and addressed Orpheus once more."I need you to scan these files." he said, selecting certain data long overdue to be sorted due to the complications on the Earth below them. "compare to all possible matches and report to me when the top one is found."
"Alright then. It shouldn't take me too long." replied the ship's AI as it "picked" up the data and disappeared, perhaps to search the ship's database. No doubt it would be much more effective and accurate compared to the processing power of an AI like Revealer. Convinced he needed some more well deserved rest, he lay back and fell into sleep again...
...
"The wall's falling! All units retreat!"
"Noooo! I don't want to die!"
"Mommy, where are you?" *sniffle
The sounds of pain and suffering echoed around the streets. The roads were filled with blood, and the sky the same red color. Everywhere he looked, people were fleeing. Screams littered the alleyways as 'they' poured into the city.
"Come on Thomas! Get on! We have to get out of here!" a jeep rolled out in front of him and Thomas jumped into the back compartment.
*CRASH!
As the jeep sped down the road, a crate ahead of them exploded, revealing one of 'them'.
"FUCK!" shouted the driver as he tried to steer clear of the 'it'. Thomas had enough time to level his weapon and fire, successfully incapacitating it and allowing them to escape it's clutches...
"Dammit... where do we head now?" said the driver.
"Where else but the den?" replied Thomas. "Isn't that where we should all be heading?" he added
"Right... you haven't heard yet huh?" said the driver nonchalantly "The den was breached a while back. This branch has just met it's end..."
"...tz, Lieutenant Shubaltz."
"Nghh?" Thomas opened his eyes as Orpheus continued to wake him. "A dream huh?" he exhaled and opened the console. "Orpheus, what is it?" he asked. Glancing at the time, he slept for another 5 hours. 'Guess that really did a number on me huh?' he thought as Orpheus' hologram appeared.
"Lieutenant, I managed to complete the analysis." said Orpheus.
"Good, forward them to the console for me." replied Thomas
"Very well but Lieutenant, I must warn you that the results... are disturbing." answered the AI
"I expected it would be." he replied "I won't hold it against you so if you would." he added. The AI agreed and the data appeared on the screen.
Thomas took one look at the files before addressing Orpheus again. "Get the Commander on channel now. I'm heading to Conference room A. Request for the captain to head there as well"
"Lieutenant, what is it? I'm quite busy so let's wrap this up quickly." said the commander's hologram. Orpheus had successfully brought the two men inside the conference room where Thomas was waiting.
"Yes sir Thank you sir" replied Thomas. "Alright then sir, regarding the situation here at this Earth." he began. "If you recall, I spoke of the beings they call Nova during the debriefing yesterday."
"Yes. What about them?" said the commander impatiently. Thomas couldn't blame him. After all, the commander was indeed busy with paperwork from the mission reports of the groups under his jurisdiction.
"Sir, take a look at the report Orpheus sent you. It pertains to the Nova." he said as the data appeared on their datapads
"Hold on... This is?!" said Captain Riley. "Yes. The analysis shows that the Nova cells and stigmata are 89.3% match to Oracle cells." replied Thomas
"That means that 'they' have found a way to travel across dimensions?" asked the captain. "But their forms have drastically changed from before." he added
"Perhaps. But regardless of whether they're from the same world or not, it just points to one thing: There are aragami forms in this world." said the commander. Thomas shuddered. He felt it to be true. All the signs were there yet, he chose to ignore it. He chose to push the possibility of them coming into another world. Not when they sacrificed so many to keep them there. Keep them in that world.
"Lieutenant. Lieutenant!" The commander's voice snapped him out of his deep thinking. "Sir." he answered back "What is it sir?"
"Get your ass back on dirt. Try and contact their leaders and convince them to let us land some more boots down there." replied the commander.
"Copy that sir. I'll see what I can do." he replied. "However, wouldn't someone from HR be more effective?" asked Thomas. "They know you better." replied the commander. "To be honest, I agree you are not the best person for the task but you have conversed with them more than any of us." he added. "Any more questions? Very well dismissed." and the two men exited the room, leaving the holograms of both the commander and Orpheus inside.
"Orpheus, tell me. What was the remaining 10% matched to?" asked the commander.
"Sir, the analysis showed a 3 percent deviance from the cataloged aragami which was to be expected." replied the flickering image of the AI. "However, the remaining 7 percent shows a match to the flood." it continued.
"I see." replied the commander. " Very well then. Orpheus, continue to monitor the situation. All reports to me only using the encryption 'TotalSilence'. I'll see what HQ has to spare. I smell a storm approaching."
"Yes sir" replied the AI. and with that, the two holograms disappeared, leaving the conference room without illumination.
A/N well, I'm back and with a brand new chapter. The quote unquote big reveal- The Nova are Aragami [Look up God's Eater for more details] mixed with the Flood. Well repercussions aside, I'll delve into the into the interactions in the next chapters. Look forward to it.
As for the poll, so far the scarab is leading. (might change who knows? 2 more days)
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heroverush: I answer anyone who asks questions under this section. And I don't have any relation between the two of them other than author and readers (unless they're people I do know but aren't telling me)
Kyondakogon: late happy birthday
Dudewithanm4a1: my mistake- corrected, [for everyone's clarification, Thomas is an ODST]
and for everyone: thanks for the support! Hope you enjoyed and I'll be back soon :D
