Sanctum Excavation Site
Pilus Expanse
UNSC
Madrigal
Chi Exos System
0645
Agent Oregon stood at the top of a small hill that overlooked the excavation site. He had stopped because he was waiting for his AI, Ares, to finish with the final scans.
"Are you done yet? I don't exactly like going in blind." asked Oregon. "Can't you wait for a fucking few seconds?" said Ares, as he formed his little avatar, one sixteenth Oregon's size, on his shoulder. The avatar was a red male in a MJOLNIR Mark VI helmet with a football jersey that had the number '45' on it. "There are no life signs, but there is a fuck-load of this strange feedback when I run the scans."
"Can you identify them?" asked Oregon. "Why don't you do it?" replied Ares obnoxiously.
Oregon grunted, annoyed at Ares for the quality of information Ares gives, as always. Ignoring it, he slipped on his Rogue class helmet and started walking towards the elevator that would lead to the facility. The green and yellow colours on his armour are hardly noticeable on the planet due to the lack of light.
While he walked, he pressed a button on the side of his helmet which would activate his Local Stealth System, or LSS. The LSS would generate an invisible electro disruption field which would allow him to not be detected by any form of scan or radar. Along with that, he would also be invisible to surveillance systems but could still be seen through direct sight.
Oregon entered the building which housed the elevator which would take him into the depths of the facility. He jabbed the touchpad to hail the elevator. Just as he did, Ares appeared next to him.
"What is it?" Oregon asked curious. "This is an elevator." Ares said. "Yeah, you don't say." Oregon replied cocking his head as he did. "Yeah, the elevator that leads down into a classified, not to mention, abandoned Forerunner dig site. And here it is up and running." Ares finished.
Oregon thought about it for a few seconds and decided to be more cautious. As he walked into the elevator when it arrived, he removed his Bolt-shot from its holster and pressed the touchpad which would take him down.
As he travelled down several metres he asked Ares, "Are you sure this is the right Forerunner dig site?" Ares appeared on his shoulder once more. "Well then, since you are so unconfident in my abilities, maybe next time you can tap the UNSC communications channels, and next time you can decipher the encrypted codes, AND NEXT TIME YOU CAN DRIVE THE FUCKING SHIP!"
Oregon paused for a moment. "I do drive the fucking ship." Ares paused for a second. "We are descending into unknown territory and you are distracting me from my scanning." Ares said as he turned off his avatar, losing his verbal battle with Oregon… for now.
As the door opened, Oregon stepped out cautiously. In each hand, he held a Bolt-shot at the ready. He made his way right down the corridor to a large door. He tried to unlock the door but found that it was locked by a virtual lock. Oregon was able to open it with ease.
Oregon thought to himself, 'This isn't a normal UNSC lock style.' Even though every lock is different, something about this one just didn't seem... Familiar. But it was not especially difficult to open, so it was not the problem at the moment.
As he passed through the alien doorway, he was in a large hallway with rectangular-shaped lights built into the ceiling that glowed blue shining the way. Along the sides of the walls were what looked like power lines. As he continued to walk, he reached another, much larger door. As he tried to access it, he found it was locked. He tried for a few minutes to break the encryption, but was unable to. The pattern of the lock was constantly creating new patterns. Only an AI was clever enough to keep up with the self-generating patterns.
"Ares, you think you can pick this lock?" Oregon asked as Ares' avatar appeared on his shoulder. "What's the matter? Can't pick a simple lock?" Ares said tauntingly. "Just open the damn door already."
Ares' avatar moved from the top of Oregon's left shoulder, to the console. In a few seconds, Ares was able to decode the virtual lock.
"Done" He said. "And maybe tomorrow, I can teach you how to actually pick a virtual lock."
In reality, it was very hard for Ares to decode the lock. The only reason that Ares could do it and Oregon couldn't was that Ares was able to overtake the speed of the random pattern generator.
Oregon waited for a few seconds. "Well, why isn't it opening?" Oregon asked turning his head to Ares. "What? Must I do everything?" Ares responded.
Oregon pressed the console and stepped in the centre where the two large doors would slide apart. The door groaned for a moment and then silence. The door however, still did not open.
"Come on you pathetic piece of ancient machinery!" Oregon yelled though not receiving a response from the door. "Why won't you open?" He said as he kicked the door and in a second, the door slid open and a red beam of energy hit Oregon in the chest, knocking him onto the floor.
The heat of the beam burned Oregon's skin and scorched the armour on his chest. "Oh crap, Oregon!" shouted someone on the other side of the door. Immediately, there was a loud clanking sound before Idaho rushed out of the room and kneeled on one leg next to Oregon. "Come on, say something." A low groan came from Oregon. "I'll take that as 'I'm fine.'
"Help me up please." said Oregon with his left hand extended. Idaho grabbed it with his right hand and pulled him up to his feet. "Thanks man. But why the hell did you just blast me?" Oregon said pointing his finger at Idaho. "Me? You're the one not telling me you were going to open door." Idaho asked pointing his hand at himself first, then at Oregon. "Didn't you here the door mechanics working?" Oregon asked gesturing to the large door. "I thought I was finally about to bust through the doors."
Oregon sighed, "Well you're welcome by the way. By the looks of it, it would've taken you a few more hours to bust down the door." "Really, Jesus these doors are though." Idaho said turning first to look at the doors, then back at Oregon. "What do you mean?" asked Oregon as he walked towards the doorway to examine the doors. "I mean, I completely used up all the C5 from two storage rooms and it still didn't bust down." Oregon stopped and looked at Idaho. "Really? Well that's Forerunner tech in a nutshell for you." "Yeah, I really never liked this shit." Idaho said while walking towards Oregon. Oregon nodded remembering about Idaho's phobia of Forerunner technology.
Idaho was the only Freelancer who had a phobia of Forerunner tech. Fortunately for Idaho, this did not affect his abilities in the field of combat. Oregon did not remember very well, but he did recall that Idaho first gained this fear when he, along with a handful of Freelancers were tasked with an operation involving clearing out a Forerunner facility which the Insurrectionist were using as a base of operations. When he arrived, the Insurrectionist activated a device that shut down the MJOLNIR suits that they were wearing causing a total armour lock. Agent Idaho was frozen for about, one and a half hours, as Oregon was trying to recall. Only when a strike team lead by Agent York came to clear out the facility were the suits reactivated and unlocked. The other Freelancers that survived said that most of them were shot down with a bullet right in the visor. They say Idaho was seconds away from being killed if it weren't for Agent York.
"Well, I appreciate your help and all. But I've got to go and do my things and you've got to…" Idaho paused. "What are you doing here again?" Idaho asked. "Ares and I are looking for Forerunner tech that we can use for upgrades." Oregon said. "Not to mention the unnecessary shit that Oregon just what to keep because it looks shiny." Ares said appearing on Oregon's shoulder.
"This is Ares by the way." Oregon said "Ares, say hello." Oregon said. "Sup bitch!" hollered Ares. "Yeah, nice to meet you to." Idaho said.
"What are you doing here by the way?" asked Oregon. Idaho sighed "It's quite a long story." "Well I'm listening." Idaho looked like he was about to speak, but then decided not to.
"Look, as much as I'd love to stick around in an underground Forerunner facility and tell stories, I really need to go." Idaho said and turned to walk away. "Fine, go then." Oregon said. Oregon quietly thought to himself for a while.
"Wait, Idaho." Idaho stopped walking and turned around to face Oregon. "What?" asked Idaho. Oregon walked up and patted Idaho on the back. "Good luck with whatever your doing." said Oregon. "Uh, thanks. Same to you." Said Idaho as he continued to walk towards the exit. Oregon turned to walk the other way. "Oh, and Oregon?" "Yeah?" Oregon replied as he stopped to turn to Idaho as he saw that Idaho had done the same. "Take my advice and don't go that way."
Under his helmet Oregon smiled. "I'll take your word for it." Idaho nodded and walked out the door, closing it as he walked through it. "Yeah right, I came here for Forerunner tech and I aim to get it." Oregon muttered to himself. When he tried to open it, he found that Idaho had locked it with a simple lock. He easily unlocked it and the door slid open easily and slowly this time.
When he walked into the room, he noticed that odd looking shapes that glowed blue were floating around the room. Just as Oregon was about to draw his sidearm at the robots, Ares appeared on Oregon's shoulder. "Hold up cowboy." Ares said quickly as Oregon was about to pull the trigger. "I don't think they see you." Oregon hesitated for a while, but lowered his gun when one of the robots flew over his head and out the doorway. "It must be the stealth system." Oregon said as he watched the robot interact with the wall. "No. It's your amazing ability to point out the obvious." Oregon sighed "Let's just get this artefact before the system fails or something." Oregon said as he turned to walk in the other direction.
"By the way, is the tracking device in place?" Oregon asked Ares. "Yeah, it's working." Ares said, bored that he has to answer a question that Oregon could have answered himself. "But I don't think I follow." Ares said looking at Oregon. "Why did you stick a tracking device to that asshole, Idaho?" Oregon didn't look back at Ares. "Because" Oregon started as he continued walking. "We could use the extra help. And it would be better if I just didn't have you watching my ass." Oregon said turning to face Ares. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't exactly trust you."
