The trip to the bridge had been anything but short, which was not a bad thing per se. Even with the alien bodies they found amidst the wide open purple hallways of the alien vessel, the two felt somewhat isolated, save for Cortana chirping in every once in a while. Suletta seemed a bit off, but Miorine didn't comment on it, as it probably wouldn't be productive to the situation at hand. All she thought to herself was just how insane this had gotten.
Certainly, human survivors capturing an alien ship must've been a rarity, considering what the girls saw out there. A slight nausea struck and the ship reverberated, hull gently groaning as they exited Slipstream Space. Miroine scoffed at that, then gagged and swallowed the bitter bile that rose in her throat due to the nausea. Coughing, she said, "Could have warned us..." as she patted Suletta on the shoulder.
Suletta nodded in agreement, simply scanning the place, awed. The white-haired bride of the young Mercurian redhead caught herself smiling at the sight of her groom looking so curiously around. Cortana chimed in awkwardly, "Sorry. Processing power's a bit busy right now... You're nearing the bridge, though, so that's good," only for the door ahead to flash purple and slide open, revealing the massive command deck of the ship.
In the middle of the room, there was a pedestal with various holographic screens displaying the Oort Cloud, their current hiding place. On another holographic pedestal, Cortana sat with her arms crossed, her avatar flaring as she seemed to be parsing through the ship's data. She did notice the new arrivals entering and turned, smiling at them as they walked onto the command platform. She told them, "Welcome to the bridge of the Ascendant Justice, ladies. She's not the prettiest, but she works."
"You captured an alien ship and are playing it up as nothing big," Miorine observed, the last of the tension she felt walking on board this vessel finally vanishing. Cortana chuckled at that, while Suletta looked around still, awed. So, as usual, it was up to Mio to speak. She sighed deeply, rubbing her eyes, then told her, "Thank you for rescuing us... Even if it was just a coincidence, at least we're not floating in that debris field alone."
"You girls said you've been around for a few hours... So I take it you weren't on Reach when it got hit. And the robot in the Hangar is nothing like I've ever seen before," Cortana thought loudly, though for an obvious purpose. Probably to sum up what she knew and ask them those questions. She continued, "Yet you both seem human. And the mech doesn't look like Covenant tech either. Forerunner, maybe...? No, too jagged... Mechanical."
"It's human technology," The Heiress quickly clarified, surprising Cortana. She raised her hand and said, "Look... Everything we've seen points to us not being anywhere near our home, so we'll be honest in hopes of getting some form of safe route back to Earth. Ask any question you have and we'll answer it as truthfully as possib-" she felt something strange touch her back and let out a scream "AAAEUGF-!" and swiveled about, hand wrapped around the grip of her pistol.
Her eyes shot wide open as she saw the creature that'd touched her. Six curious eyes, attached to a fluorescent, blue-glowing snake-like head. It, in turn, was attached to a series of inflated, pulsating sacs. It let out a soothing chirp, its strange appendages and tentacles gently dancing and coiling. Suletta turned toward it and smiled as she heard it chitter, then said, "Nice to meet you, friend!"
"... You can understand it!?" Both Miorine and Cortana balked.
"Of course. You can't?" Suletta asked. She motioned to the creature with her hand and said, "His name is Floats-Silently and he is one of the Huragok of this ship. Whatever Huragok means... He seems nice enough and he was repairing a small breach in your suit, miss Miorine..." then pointed at the small sealed patch on Miorine's hip. The girl blinked, looked to Suletta and the creature and sighed.
"Engineers..." Cortana murmured, "... I need translation software to understand it. How do you...?" only to pause as she saw a faint flicker of red on the girl's cheeks. One that was not her hair. She narrowed her eyes, then shook her head, "Nevermind. Back to the questions at hand-what are you doing...?" only to see that Suletta was petting 'Floats-Silently'.
She smiled, "He likes scritches."
... Both the AI and the Heiress had to take a moment to register the adorable sight of a young girl petting the strange alien creature and hearing its chirps of happiness. Suletta beamed at it. Miorine's own cheeks glowed a more healthy, human shade of red, however. And Cortana simply let out a chuckle, then told them, "I suppose that's okay, then..." though she made a mental note to ask about that later.
"Really...?" Mio sighed, pinching the bow of her nose, "Fine, yes... Questions?"
"Right," Cortana replied. She'd actually almost forgotten, so she switched back to being a little more serious, "Where even are you from? We don't have that type of technology. Hell, all our mechs are a fair bit more rigid than whatever that thing is. And I know every single thing ONI's Materiel Group has been developing. That is not one of our toys..."
"... We're from Sol, I guess," The girl replied, then clarified to Cortana, "An alternate Sol. We never left the system. We've colonized it, certainly, with multiple Colonies, asteroids and various other matters as our habitation zones. Long have we departed Earth as our cradle, but not long enough to be able to jump into other systems via FTL like your people... There's so much that's different, from the fact you people still use kinetics to the fact Mobile Suits do not exist here and ALIENS ARE INVADING..." and it fully sank in. Miorine narrowed her lips as she grew pale, needing a good couple seconds to understand they really were not home. Not as they knew it.
"... That's a lot more information than I have any capability to process at the moment," Cortana sighed deeply, rubbing her temples. A part of her wanted to throw away the Halo data, or so she thought, or stow it somewhere aboard the Covenant ship. She still had the enemy AI to deal with, however. It was going to be a goddamn pain with it still aboard, but she had to grit her teeth and bare it, so she simply told Miorine, "Let's keep every piece of valuable information for a later debriefing when we get back to Earth, okay?"
"Understood," Miorine nodded, then asked, "So ,you said we have a rendezvous to make, right?"
"Yeah. We're going to be jumping in-atmosphere to retrieve a few important people, then bugging out as soon as we can. Hopefully, it won't get to it, but if there's combat..." The AI replied as she already started making calculations. She paused, blinked, then swore, "Damn..." in a whisper. She'd just realized something. "You two are civilians. I don't care what you say, I highly doubt either of you can put up much of a fight against the Covenant, so-"
"I can!" Suletta raised a hand, "I and Aerial can provide cover for when we evacuate your friends!"
"... You and your mech?" Cortana blinked, while Miorine looked, surprised, at her Groom. Cortana clicked her tongue and asked, "No offense, kid, but what can you do?"
The bride wondered if she should take her Groom's side. She hummed, licked her lips and said, "I can vouch for her combat capability and Aerial being dangerous. She flew against terrorists back in our world and beat them handily into the dirt even though they were all armed with Gundams like hers..." before noting Cortana's confusion. She clarified, "A Gundam's a very special Mobile Suit. We'll tell you everything when we're near Earth."
"Noted," Cortana replied, wary, "Then... I hate to do this, Suletta, but I'm going to have to ask you to fly air cover for the Chief and his crew when we go for the RV. Shoot to kill."
Suletta snapped a salute, her face terrifyingly calm. To the point even Miorine wondered if she wanted to see her groom become a killer. The girl stood to her feet and showed Floats-Silently to follow her. The Heiress, meanwhile, felt a lump in her throat. She walked up to Suletta and took her hand, which caused the redhead to turn toward her, surprised. With worry plastered across her face, Miorine partially begged, "Please, stay safe..." as her heart beat in her throat.
Her Groom simply smiled, "It's okay, miss Miorine. I have it under control. C'mon, Floats."
As the girl and her newfound friend? Pet? Wandered off, the Bride couldn't help but sigh. Cortana smiled at that and said, "You two care a lot about each-other, huh?" as she watched the girl march up to the side of the holographic emitter and sit down, taking her rifle off her shoulder. Platinum eyes stared up at the AI next, to which she replied, "I can tell. You two must've been through a lot, considering you mentioned she fought Terrorists."
Mio curled up, hugging her knees as she replied, "I haven't always been the best... Friend or Bride, I guess..." only to hear Cortana let out a chuckle at that last one. She looked up, furrowed her brows, "Look. It's a long story. The point is she did everything in her power to keep me safe and even to save my dumbass father from those terrorists. She... outright killed a human being..." and bit her lower lip, angry, "And I snapped at her... Avoided going to see her because I was afraid I was going to see a killer..."
"Ah..." Cortana hummed, "And now you're worried you've just given her the green light to become what you fear she'd become?" and she got a nod from the girl. The AI chuckled again, "The care you two have for each-other is adorable. Also, I honestly can't imagine someone as sweet as Suletta actually killing people, so I get the fear, but... How did she even kill the guy?"
A shiver ran up Mio's spine. The girl replied, "She... Squashed him with Aerial's hand..."
... Okay. The AI girl definitely didn't expect that, "Oh..."
The silence between the two of them remained for a while as Miorine finally got time alone to process even more of the mess. Everything from the fact she'd just agreed to let Suletta go out into an active warzone, to fight and cover them if the crap hit the fan. She swore to herself, then stood up as Cortana spooled up the jump drives. Bracing, she watched the holographic screens displaying the outside wink from an Oort cloud into the most eerily beautiful whirlwind of blue.
As the inky darkness immediately faded out again, the women gasped. A dozen enemy ships had come down upon the exact point they slipspaced into. Cortana sighed and said, "Well, John must've dragged them out into the dark. Going to send replies to the hundred questions they just sent our way, stand by..." as she pulled up several interfaces. All color had long-drained from Miorine's face by the time she heard Cortana bark something in anger and annoyance...
... Only to see the lateral lines of the enemy ships heat. She called out, "CORTANA!"
"I see them! Suletta! Launch, buy us some time!" Cortana ordered, then murmured angrily, "I swear, if I catch that little runt..."
"... Aerial, engaging. Alea iacta est," Suletta replied monotonely. A small azure dot flashed on one of the ventral cam screens for but a second. Just enough to make Miorine's heart sink.
Out in the void, Suletta wore no emotion on her face. As the Heads-Up Display of Aerial played ahead of her, her systems began to track enemy units. Fighters, gunships and dropships. The enemy's plasma batteries tracked them, meaning heavy fire was incoming. Her systems also tracked another dropship, this one marked with an unknown IFF ping. As Cortana sent her details, she saw that that was the gunship they were meant to be protecting.
Eyeing the first enemy ship in sight, the girl raised her plasma rifle and, with no hesitation, she squeezed the trigger. The emerald beam cut through the void and struck the forward shields of the teardrop Seraph fighter, the focused shot boiling through the energy armor, then piercing right through the middle of the enemy's fighter. The ship detonated in a blue blaze as Suletta pushed her engines to the maximum, dodging plasma fire while diving to join the incoming dropship.
Something had taken over. Something Suletta hadn't felt before. She was calm, focused, sharp. Her eyes tracked targets at a speed she never thought she could, even during combat. Her beam rifle whirred as it charged, then snapped as a burst of plasma fire washed over the Covenant drop-ship that was veering toward them. GUND-BITS detached from the suit's sides and formed a shield around her as a volley of plasma from a Covenant fighter washed over her.
She kicked the left-side thrusters to max, spinning a full 180 and firing a concerted burst of plasma fire at the fighter as it dived for her, all while keeping herself in perpetual motion to escort the dropship back into the hold. The bursts of energy blasted through the shield of the enemy Seraph, tore its belly open and sent it careening into the shield of one of the cruisers around them.
With a flick of her wrist, the young woman dodged a burst of laser fire from one of the cruiser's point-defense weapons as the others began to lay into the Ascendant Justice/Gettysburg combination-vessel. Her GUND-BITS wrapped around her weapon as she aimed it at the cruiser. She squeezed the trigger and held it down. It charged visibly, light lancing through the various minute nooks and crannies until it reached the tip of the weapon.
She released and a wave of energy left the barrel of the weapon, slamming into and causing the shields of the enemy cruiser to shimmer red for a moment. She ducked under another plasma volley, stowed her rifle and GUND-BITS and drew her beam sword, slicing upward, left and right in a flurry. The blade cut through the shields like a hot knife through butter and three Seraph fighters were bisected, one with each strike.
Miorine had linked into one of the internal cameras with the help of Cortana. The red, circuit-like glow on Suletta's cheeks told of something more than a normal human. Even her groom's eyes glowed faintly, moving with unwittingly terrifying speed as they tracked targets. Cortana murmured, "Incredible..." from next to Miorine. Mio disagreed, though. It was terrifying.
Two more Seraphs exploded as the Covenant's ships redoubled their efforts, focusing fire on the Mech. She focused her GUND-BITS into shield mode, parrying volleys of laser fire. She dodged a plasma torpedo that was launched her way as Aerial spoke to her, "Suletta, we need to return aboard. They have more firepower than we do..." to which the redhead turned them.
She watched the dropship board the captured Covenant vessel as plasma rained down on her shields, then said, "Okay. Guiding us in. GUND-BITS, provide cover," her voice as blank as ever. She pushed on and blinked, gritting her teeth as a shiver ran across her spine. She shook her head, clearing the Permet connection and calling out in her more usual, though fright-filled voice, "This is Aerial, coming aboard now!"
She powered her thrusters, watching as the Gund-Bits around her kept the enemy ships at bay as best as they could. When she made it safely within the shield of the landing bay, skidding to a halt, the Bits returned to and reattached themselves to her. Cortana called, "... Jumping now. Brace!" with a little hesitation. Suletta made Aerial kneel and opened up the hatch as the ship shook under plasma bombardment.
She jumped out of the Gundam, then turned to see the Dropship spew out its contents:A tall, armored man in green, a man in a strange uniform, a dark-skinned man with green armor and a gun and several more of those tall, robot-looking armored soldiers like the one in the lead, plus an old, broad man wearing an officer's uniform. She yelped as the hull of the ship groaned under bombardment, then gasped as she felt it jump.
She watched them approaching her and wanted to greet them, but the moment she bowed her head, a veil of dizziness seemed to wrap around her. Her feet wobbled and her consciousness faded as she collapsed to the floor. The only thing she last heard was a gruff voice calling, "Doctor!" and the thundering footsteps of probably the tall armored troopers...
... It wasn't long before she woke up, though. The glistening recessed neon light over her head caused her vision to go blurry for a moment. She felt a pit in her stomach that almost felt like it was a void, pressing against her innards and demanding that she throw up everything she'd eaten in the last couple of hours. Her mind rushed to find answers. The sole things she remembered were going out for a fight, then diving back into the ship with nothing in-between, then she saw the people exiting from that U-shaped dropship, she was about to say hello and-
She jumped with a yelp, straightening up. A firm, but warm hand pressed against her shoulder and an eerily familiar voice spoke to her, "Calm, young one... You've overexerted yourself protecting us," causing her to turn, expecting to see Cortana. An old woman's wrinkled face greeted her instead and, though she looked much like the AI, the wrinkles, the sunken blue eyes and the silver hair told her it wasn't. The old woman offered a gentle, if tiny smile, then gently pushed her back down onto the bed and told her, "I need you to stay calm."
"O-okay..." Suletta croaked out. She coughed and paused again as she saw a styrofoam cup with water in it in front of her. Gripping it weakly, she leaned her head forward and sipped from the drink, feeling the cool liquid pour down her throat and wet her dry mouth and lips. It soothed her throat, too, thankfully. She sighed and set the cup aside, then asked, "W-What happened...?"
"I think you were trying to say hello when you collapsed," The woman replied as she checked the girl's readings. She also said, "We're in the Gettysburg's sickbay, before you ask. Thankfully, the Covenant seemed to have missed this place when they gutted the poor girl... You seem to be well, though there are some things I've detected that I want to keep you under observation for."
"O-Okay..." The girl sighed, then paused and stammered out a worried, "W-Wait, what about m-miss Miorine?"
The doctor snorted, then turned toward the door as it hissed open, revealing the weary figure of the white-haired Heiress. With tears welling in her silver eyes, the young woman charged forward, pouncing to hug a surprised and stammering Suletta and yelling out, "You idiot...! You worried the hell out of me!" as she turned to look her Groom in the eye.
The doctor sipped from her coffee and said with a slight nonchalance, "Miss Rembran, like I told you, she is fine. It was a minor case of dehydration."
Miorine seemed to ignore it, which was the doctor's Signal to walk away. She did so, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door. Doctor Catherine Halsey was not about to interrupt their reunion. And, noting the fact that Haverson seemed to be bee-lining toward the medical room, she decided that nobody else was going to either. She stopped the man and said to him, "Leave them for now. You can ask your questions later. Else I will ask the Admiral for a 'favor' you are not going to enjoy... Move it. We have a debrief from Cortana to attend as is."
She then dragged the ONI spook away by the arm, much to his annoying protests.