Chapter 3
Agent Texas had come to the conclusion that nobody had told her the entire truth about her AI, Omega. When she had been charged with him, the Counselor and medical staff had only told her that Omega could be…volatile, and was to be kept a secret from the other Freelancers. When she talked with Omega, she had gotten the distinct impression that the smoky AI had a superiority complex. He would constantly remark about other people that Texas had met and shared moments with in a condescending tone and how easy it would be to "crush them into dust." He was also very aggressive, which would sometimes spill over into her own self when she met up with, say, Carolina. Carolina had a problem with Texas, and Omega had a problem with Carolina; it was as if he perceived the aquamarine soldier as an actual threat. Even stranger still, when Omega and Texas were alone and they talked, he spoke to her and about her in the kindest way that he possibly could. Granted, it was not much, but there was a level of tenderness in the AI's speaking tone that suggested he truly cared for her. Not like he would actually admit it to her face, though.
So, Texas and Omega were "talking" within the recesses of Texas' mind when she entered the mess hall that evening for dinner, grabbed her tray, and had almost made her way out the door when she heard a voice calling her name. She turned to see South standing at the Freelancer table, the others sitting around her with either glowers or worried expressions.
"Hey, Texas!" South called with the faintest hint of malice in her voice. "How come you never eat in here with us? Too good to sitting with your team, huh?"
Tex growled silently, glaring daggers at South. She was asking for it, she really was. South knew that she couldn't take Tex on physically, so she just resorted to being a bully to make herself feel better. Tex had never really much liked South, or anyone on the team for that matter. North was alright, she supposed, she never had never talked to him really; Wash was naïve, but he had good intentions; and York was a fool, but a chivalrous fool. The others, she would not tolerate for long periods of time.
"For your information, South, I have better things to do while I eat," she snarled in response. South looked as if to make a smart remark, but Wyoming pulled her down.
"Well, I'm sure that you can take a break for a few minutes and enjoy supper with us, old girl. Let your hair down for a moment, if you will," he spoke smoothly, and Texas reeled back. She never took her helmet off in front of other people; it made her feel so insecure. But to deny an invitation was downright rude, and they WERE supposed to be working together. "Well?" Wyoming asked again, and Tex had no choice but to shuffle over and face being sat between Maine and York. She still kept her helmet on, though.
"Come on, take off the helmet," Wyoming pressed her, but Tex remained stubborn. She'd pull a Wash and eat in her helmet. She wasn't taking it off with the rest of the group.
"What, too chicken to show your face?" Carolina sneered at the black-armored agent.
"That's enough," York said quietly yet firmly, staring at Carolina.
"Yeah, maybe she just doesn't take off her helmet for, um, religious reasons!" Wash piped up, and all turned their heads to look at him. "Sorry," he mumbled.
The topic did not go any further for at that moment, the doors hissed open and all the personnel fell silent. Delaware walked in, still in her burgundy and gold armor but without her helmet, long black hair tied in a jaunty bun that was partially falling out. She started to make her way over to the food line before a few of the maintenance crew stood up and blocked her path.
"Well, well, well. Look, boys, it's the Freelancer reject," the one in the center sneered, and his cronies chuckled all around him.
"What do you want, Kilt?" Delaware snarled, and the helmeted man shrugged.
"Just checking to see how your probation match went, but we were all watching. Guess you're just not one of the Director's favorites, are you?" he remarked cruelly, and Delaware shrugged in return.
"Guess not."
"You must be upset. How 'bout you come back to my room for a little, you know, one on one? If you get my drift, that is," the guy, Kilt, leered at the woman, who wrinkled her nose distastefully. North and York looked about ready to get up from their chairs, but Tex beat them to it. She abandoned her food and made her way to stand behind Delaware, cracking her knuckles.
"Ooh, the reject has backup. I'm SO scared," Kilt cackled, and Omega cackled within the recesses of Tex's mind.
"Yes, let him make you angry. Let your rage be felt in the fear on his face as you tear out his skull and beat him to death with it," the AI said, and Tex chose to ignore him. Delaware, meanwhile, was staring the man down with narrowed grey eyes.
"I must insist that you don't make me angry, Kilt. You do not want to see me angry," she snarled at him.
"No. All I want is to see you in my bed."
Delaware made to lunge forward at the offender before she stopped in her crouch as a large, golden-amber SOMETHING blossomed into being on the ground, snarling up at the offending engineering personnel with bared fangs. The Freelancers couldn't help but stare at the new AI, which had taken the form of a lean desert cat and was growling with bared fangs. It was enough for both of the groups to start backing away, the AI creature staying close to Delaware.
"Chi, they're not worth it," Delaware whispered, but the AI continued to ignore her in favor of giving a distinct his. "It's not right to do that, Chi. Let them off this once," she continued, drawing away towards the door, her appetite forgotten. The AI gave one last snap of their teeth before it turned quickly and prodded into nothingness, while Delaware left without a look or anything to eat. Texas followed suit, abandoning her own dinner.
"Delta, you seem to have access to all the ship's information, correct?" York asked his AI, who had appeared on his shoulder. "Can you tell us who that AI is, and anything else about Delaware?" he asked quietly as the solders continued to start their conversations after Delaware had left. The green AI remained silent as he gained access to the ship's database and began searching, searching…
"Agent Delaware has been a registered agent of Project: Freelancer for 112 months, specializes in hand to hand and weapons training, originated from the Reach colony-"
"She's from Reach?!" South nearly yelled, and the others shushed her urgently, lest they attract the wrong attention.
"As I was saying, her registered AI was received a mere 4 months ago and is designated Program CH1, or Chi." The AI paused for a moment in his own perusal of the agent's file, but did not find much there considering how long Delaware had been with the Project.
"Sounds like Delaware is one of the first agents on board this project," North mused, narrowing his eyes in concentration.
"But who IS she? We don't actually know anything about her," Wash pointed out to them from his spot next to Maine.
"Delta, old chap, you are one of the first AI to be delivered to our group. Have you had any sort of conversation with Agent Delaware's AI?" Wyoming asked the green AI, who looked at him.
"I have. Chi and I were formed within a short space of each other, and I have had a conversation with her."
"Her?"
"Yes, her. Chi is…a curious entity. She is quiet and always thinking, and makes judgments on what is right and what is wrong based on morality protocol and the greater good of the mission. She is also able to change her form at will."
"I take it that she's not always a wildcat?" Carolina remarked.
"Indeed. When we first met each other, Chi had taken the form of an extinct Speotyto cunicularia." At the empty glances from the others, Delta quickly added, "a burrowing owl."
"North, I would like to meet my sister," Theta spoke from North's shoulder, not speaking directly to Delta.
"I don't know, Theta. We're not supposed to let you talk to other AI units outside of the battle field," North spoke doubtfully as he poked and prodded the food on his plate.
"Oh, come on, North," Wash insisted on behalf of Theta. "The kid's just curious to see what his big sister is like. It'd also give us a chance to get to actually meet Delaware."
At this point, South stalked off with disgust painted across her face. It was common knowledge that she was no fan of the AIs that her fellows had started carrying. Maybe she'd be settled if she had one of her own. North looked after his sister sadly, sighed, and leaned in close.
"Alright, what's the plan?"
So North, York, and Wash were the only three Freelancers to make their way down a hallway towards their own quarters, hoping that they might find some indication as to where Delaware, stuck on maintenance duty still, might be working. They ducked in another hallway and poked their heads out slightly to try and glimpse the agent, now dressed in the grey slacks of the maintenance crew, cleaning the control panels to the various supply rooms. Her hair, tied to the base of her skull, still flowed down to her waist in a silky flow of foreign beauty that none of them had seen on their home worlds, be they Earth or one of the colonies. The side of her face that was visible, obscured by the red and gold locks earlier, was exposed to them and showed a glistening black tattoo that surrounded her eye, shaped like a small set of wings. Now the Freelancers knew that, wherever Delaware had come from, she was probably from one of the outer colonies.
The outer colonies were rarely visited by civilians of the UNSC, and not much was known about them outside of military knowledge. The planets that were colonized were more 'traditionalist' than those colonies situated closer to Earth, and could also be more warlike. As such, many of those colonies used tattoos to display rank in a society, or indicate a warrior or politician, or what tribe a person belonged to on a world. North had done extensive study into the outer colonies in case they ever visited them one day, but he had no idea where Delaware could have come from based on her own marking.
"You have not eaten," came a voice in the hallway that spooked the three sneaking Freelancers. An amber glow appeared from one of the ship's holographic projectors in the hallway where Delaware worked, taking on the form of a simple glowing sphere.
"I didn't feel hungry after that little stunt they pulled," the woman grumbled, rubbing just a little harder against the panel she was cleaning.
"You cannot let yourself starve. I can alert the kitchens to send you something," the AI spoke in a synthesized female voice, calm and collected.
Delaware snorted. "I'm fine, Chi. I just need to keep up with my work if I'm going to sleep tonight."
"But your sleeping quarters on Deck 6 were damaged in the last Insurrectionist attack, remember?"
"Madre de los Dios!" Delaware snarled in Spanish, tossing her rag down in anger. Chi unfurled from her orb-like shape into a tiny bird, a sparrow, and hopped onto Delaware's shoulders. "Where am I going to stay now?"
"…there is a loft on this deck that is currently vacant, in one of the storage rooms. I'm sure that no one would mind you staying up there," the AI suggested quietly. Delaware gave a grumble and continued to work, while Chi disappeared in a flash of light. York, North, and Washington took that as their cue to leave the disgruntled woman alone.
However, they only got to a short way away from where Delaware was cleaning before something bright and amber flashed in front of them, halting them.
"What were you doing near my host?" the AI hissed, taking on the form of a flowing sphere again.
"We weren't doing anything, honest!" Wash protested, holding up his hands in defense as the AI surged towards him.
"Easy there, Chi. We were just checking to make sure that Delaware was alright," York said soothingly to the agitated AI, and Delta appeared on his shoulder. Chi swerved to confront him as Delta spoke.
"It is true. These three Freelancers had no intent of harming your host."
Chi seemed to settle slightly, unfurling thin tendrils in the direction of the green AI.
"Delta. It has been quite some time since we last spoke," the female AI said in a neutral tone, very carefully measured.
None of the Freelancers could believe it. The AI units weren't allowed to talk to each other outside of the battlefield. Delta was actually willing to break protocol to confront another AI?
"I must apologize for my outburst. Please excuse me," and the AI flashed out of existence as quickly as she had come.
And though none of them, AI or otherwise, said it to their company, they were sort of sad to see the amber AI leave.
A short ways away, Agent Texas slid around the corner into another hallway, where Omega appeared on her shoulder.
"She's an AI fragment? I didn't think that they could change shape," Texas muttered as she headed back to her quarters.
"The powerful AIs can. She'll closer to what may be considered a 'smart' AI'," Omega rumbled back to his host.
"Why do you know these things, Omega? What do they do for you?"
"Why do you NOT know them, Allison? Shouldn't you know these things?" Omega flashed out of existence as well, leaving Texas to muse over her well-kept secret and what she could find out from someone like Delaware.
Whatever the case, Texas could conclude that the introduction of Delaware into the Freelancers' lives would have some outstanding consequences.
And, very likely, someone could end up dead because of it.
Foreshadowing! Man, I love that about fanfics.
You know the drill. Read and respond, please. I love that I'm getting so many people to read this, but I would like some feedback if you can offer any.
Thanks,
anna1795