Asteios V, Asteios System
September 22, 2552, 24:27 hours
The forest was quiet except for the distant rumble of engines, like a thunderstorm still miles away, the sound echoed off the surrounding mountains and cliffs. Their noise did seem to be getting closer and closer with each passing moment though, and the Spartan made a beeline for it.
The system's star was nearing its zenith, beating down on the lush planet, in some ways it reminded him of the sweltering heat of Arcadia's island chains. In thick jungles hunting Minor Prophets encased in SPI Armor was a surprisingly similar experience to this. Precentors, as they were called, were always stunningly overconfident, trying to make a name for themselves by bagging a demon. He honestly forgot how many of them he left skinned and hanging from trees by their entrails for Zealots to find.
The super soldier's steps were quick and light as he made his way through the underbrush near a small river's embankment that he was following, his movements and the imprints he left belied his weight by a considerable degree. His DMRL was at collapsed low ready and close to his chest as he ran and leapt with inhuman speed and to inhuman heights whilst barely exherting the minimum of effort. The waypoint marker on his HUD updating every 10 to 15 seconds as Petra made slight corrections based on the triangulated data she was pulling from his helmet's camera feed as she tracked the 4 incoming craft.
"It shouldn't be far now." Petra informed with a small hint of trepidation in her voice, she was obviously anxious, not wanting to spark another interstellar conflict.
"Don't worry, Petra." the Spartan tried to reason calmly "If these people, if in fact they are people.. come from the Cyrannus System, then chances are good that we can come to an agreement with them. And since you deciphered their language from the outpost's database, that should make things even easier."
She appeared on his hud in the upper left corner nodding "That database is hundreds of years out of date for one thing, so I will still need large samples of their language to complete that little piece of software. And I also know that our odds are good but.. still doesn't hurt to be cautious." she replied conceding his first point.
"Realistically speaking they are our only way off this planet, and potentially our only way back home." he continued, seeing the crafts appear in the distance, their hulls glinting in the star's light.
"And if they are indeed more advanced than us, that will be another reason for extra caution." Petra spoke, still unsure of the outcome.
"I'll be as non-threatening as humanly possible." he smiled, mirth in his voice "And we won't tell them anything they don't need to know, like death and taxes, OpSec is one of life's constants." he finished to ease her mind.
"You make it all sound so exciting!" she was teasing now, and even winked at him.
"Everyone's a critic.." he teased back "We'll make contact, which, hopefully, won't turn into a shootout, and we'll make our way from there." he continued as he slid under a massive uprooted tree, continuing on towards the waypoint's end destination "And if they turn out to be hostile.. well, I'm sure we can figure something out." he intoned with an edge to his voice.
"You are incorrigible, mon soldat, and it's why I like you." the A. I. had a massive shit-eating grin on her mint-green / cyan-colored face.
"After the number of Covenant craft you've.. absconded with."
"Me? Don't you mean we?" she asked in mock offense.
He just smiled and continued on for a few more hundred meters.
The Spartan slowed to a walk as he saw two of the unknown birds come to a hover through the boughs of the evergreen pines, their steady noise confirming more than anything that they were about to land. It looked like they've found a pretty wide clearing in a saddle between two large hills. As these hills were the tallest points for kilometers in every direction the saddle provided a pretty good 360 view. He observed them from a distance, hidden in the foliage as their engines kicked up dirt and vegetation, flattening the grass in the process. The other two circled above, clearly flying overwatch.
"Ugly little ducklings, aren't they?" Petra commented but clearly curious.
The crafts in question were troop carriers by the looks of things, 2 pilots in the front, and room to spare in the back. Two large engines, with two tall wings on their rears.
"Like rickety bumblebees." Petra continuted to tease.
The two golden bronze-colored birds came down with their port sides inward to each other. They made hard contact with the ground on stubby landing struts and their engines' whine started to slowly die down, the other two still circled above, the ones that had landed began opening their port-side hatches, they opened horizontally skyward- disgorging a dozen men and women in total, clearly humans, in what looked like basic combat gear, all black in color. They quickly formed a circle around the two birds, guns at the low ready.
"At least they're human." that was probably the least shocking revelation of the day so far.
"That gear.. looks a bit.." Petra tried to put her figurative finger on it.
"Outdated." Tom helped her out, an eyebrow slowly rising as he aimed down the sights of his weapon, zooming in for a better look, the DMRL's safety still on.
"Like early to mid 21st century outdated." and she had a frown on her holographic face trying to figure it out.
They watched as the two other birds flew off towards the billowing smoke in the distance.
"These better not be Innies or a breakaway colony that vanished 2-3 centuries ago." the Spartan spoke his thoughts outloud "Any of that gear look familiar to you?"
Highlighting a soldier on the Spartan's HUD "I don't think that to be zhe case, these people are definitely not UEG colonists, nor descendants of UEG colonists. Look at their gear, there's nothing exactly like it in my historical files, and I have every piece of military equipment that has ever been produced by zhe hand of man on file and I don't recognize anything. Sure, there are similiarities, some items a bit freakishly so, but no exact matches."
"Couldn't it be that in their time away from 'home' they simply came up with new gear?"
"Gear that is vastly outdated by our standards? That seems to be less likely by zhe minute." Petra clarified.
"Hmm, can you hack into any of their systems all nice and quiet?"
"I'm afraid I can't, not until I get a feel for their systems' architecture, and for that I need physical contact with a port." Petra clarified.
"Then we'll be able to tell for sure if they're from our side of the neighborhood or not." he stated as he kept scanning the soldiers in what looked more like riot gear than combat gear.
"Indeed, if its architecture is anything like ours, even remotely, even if it's an older system, or something new based on an older system, I'd know in an instant." Petra deduced, her mind going a mile a second based on her tone.
The soldiers formed up on two other soldiers standing between the two vehicles, probably officers, listening intently as one man placed a map on the wing of one of the birds, the rest moved in closer behind him to look over his shoulder and see what he was pointing at.
"If these people actually are the Kobolians mentioned in Offensive Bias' records, the ones Methodist Bias created then this'll be a reunion for the history books." the super soldier explained "However, how it'll play out.." a million scenarios running through his mind "..might be a different matter."
The visitors were still a good 350-360 meters away, the clearing was quiet, not even animal sounds, the noise of the vehicles must've scared off anything alive in at least a 10 kilometer radius. The Spartan tried to strain his hearing, see if he picked up any words he would recognize, but they were still too far away.
"One way to find out, chérie." the A. I. conceded with a laugh.
The Spartan watched them through his rifle's scope as they spoke amongst each other, the young man from earlier spoke to a woman next to him who was clearly the leader of this happy bunch. The young man quickly collected the map and stuffed it away as the woman indicated in a very specific direction with her left arm, instructing the others, they obeyed and moved out- towards the smoke in the distance. They started walking, in groups of 3 with good separation in what must've been a standard infantry formation for them. The birds' pilots were standing close by their vehicles, talking amongst themselves.
"By zhe distance and their pace, they should reach the site in 45-50 minutes." Petra spoke up once more "Are we to intercept them at some point?"
"No." and with that he stood up, placing his weapon back on his back, picked up his backpack, and started walking towards the forest's edge "We're not going to play games."
"Ho boy." was all Petra said in an apprehensive tone.
/
"Hey, Lieutenant, did you catch the Buckaneers game last night?"
"You know I don't watch Pyramid games, Specialist. Besides, aren't they all reruns?" the pilot replied in good humor, trying to placate the young man and his Pyramid obsession.
"If you consider losing 7 Cubits as fun, sir." he simply replied.
"Even I know the Buckaneers suck, Eneas, why do you torture yourself?"
"Caprica represent!" her fellow pilot from the other Raptor added his quarter Cubit as he sat on his bird's wing, eating something enthusiastically.
"Hades yeah, Caprica represent, Lt.!" Eneas replied to the man.
Lieutenant Cadas only laughed in her seat as she went over the Raptor's systems "Zeus only knows what you two-" and her words froze in her throat as her eyes picked up movement ahead, a figure in the tall grass slowly walking towards their position, still a good 130-150 meters out. Taking long, deliberate steps. She panicked as she saw hulking armor and immediately thought Cylon.
"What the fr-" and she immediately reached for her wireless "Captain Kozer! Captain Kozer! Raptor 2-8-1! I got something here!"
/
As Captain Kozer's wireless crackled to life she heard Siren's voice all but scream in her ear, and she immediately signalled her men to stop.
"Slow down, Siren, slow down. Turn around? What are you-" and as Kozer turned around to look back and figure out what Siren was yelling about, she spotted a tall figure making its way slowly towards the two Raptors, clearly not Colonial. By then her Marines had noticed as well "What in Hades.."
"Captain?" her XO asked clearly nervous.
"Head back! Pick up your feet, let's go!" and the Marines ran as fast as they could back up the slight incline of the clearing, weaving through the tall grass.
By the time they got there the 4 pilots had their service weapons drawn, all of them at the high ready pointed towards the unknown figure.
The Marines joined them around the birds, taking up firing positions.
"It's a frakking toaster, sir!" one of the Lieutenants yelled, food stains still on his chin "That explosion makes all the more sense now!"
"Permission to open fire!" one of her Sergeants asked.
"Everyone, hold!" and they all stared at the figure that stood a good 50 meters away, its arms out to its sides, palms up towards them, clearly trying to indicate that it wasn't armed.
"Siren, get Actual on the horn, now!"
The young Lieutenant nodded as she holstered her sidearm and quickly scrambled up into the Raptor, grabbing a headset at the ECO station.
"Brynhildr, this is Siren, Brynhildr, this is Siren. I need Actual on the horn, now!" as she waited for a response she looked out the Raptor's canopy, staring at the tall thing as it stood there motionless. Her heart pounding in her ears like a drum.
/
The expedition had been going well so far, the first Colonial expedition of exploration in centuries. Centuries. A striking woman mused to herself as she walked the corridors of her ship, a datapad in her hands with the latest findings from the Hermes, their scout ship. It had returned from its own breakaway journey of 2 weeks, scouting the outlying planets and gas giants of this massive solar system, but so far everything had indicated that the only world that was capable of supporting human life was the one below them. Hades, if this world hadn't been discovered by the long range deep space spectroscopic telescopes on Caprica then this Expedition more than likely would have never been launched in the first place. Gods damned bureaucrats.
But the Lords seemed to favor them in their endeavor. They've been in this system for 6 weeks now, mapping this jewel of a planet, doing geological surveys, the eggheads were besides themselves with joy. The crews of the expedition were calling it New Kobol and it had stuck. A good name, and no one had come up with something bette-
"Commander Agano to the CIC, Commander Agano to the CIC." Lieutenant Doyer's Gemenese accent echoed over shipwide.
The Commander walked up to the nearest phone and called the CIC.
"This is the Commander, report." she asked in her always polite tone.
"Sir, we got Siren on the line, she says Captain Kozer wants to speak with you, and she says its urgent."
Did the Marines already find out something about that explosion? "I'll be there in a minute." with that she hung up and went into a light jog, the CIC wasn't far.
A few corners and corridors later she was there. The Marines on guard saw her and opened the hatch for her.
"Commander on deck!"
"At ease." and with that she immediately went to her station "Anything new from Siren?"
"She's still holding, Commander." her XO replied from the other side of the plotting table, his eyes on DRADIS.
She picked up the phone "Brynhildr Actual, go ahead."
"Sir." she heard Kozer's slightly distorted voice on the other end "We've made contact, with what, I don't know." the woman was known for her bluntness, still Agano did a double take "A tall armored figure is approaching our position at a slow pace."
The Commander furrowed her brows at that "Did you say armored figure?" at that her XO's eyes fell on her, one of his eyebrows rising in curiosity, she glanced at the phone on his side to pick up and listen in, he did just so.
"Yes, sir. Half my Marines are convinced it's a Cylon." if at that she hadn't been fully awake, she was now.
"Repeat your last, Captain, did you just say 'Cylon'?" she asked a bit forcefully, but with a lowered tone as to not cause panic in the CIC.
"That's just it, sir. I don't know. It's not like any Cylon we've ever seen. Frankly, Commander, I'm not even sure it can be even classified as one. It's huge, easily 2 meters tall and then some. No chrome plating, just dark slabs of thick metal. If it is a Cylon it's not like any model we've ever seen." Kozer was clearly agitated but in control of her emotions.
"What's it doing, Captain?" Agano asked her Marine CO "I need more information." if the Cylons were back, they were in for the fight of their lives.
"It's just standing there, sir. Hands open and out. I can't see a lot of details from this distance." Kozer explained confused.
"Hold." with that she muted her phone "Set Condition One throughout the fleet! Tell the civvies to spool their drives and input the emergency jump coordinates, but hold on the jump."
The XO didn't waste a second and switched his phone to shipwide "Action Stations!" and their Tactical Officer echoed it.
"Action Stations, Action Stations, set Condition One throughout the fleet! This is not a drill, set Condition One throughout the fleet!" Lieutenant Doyer announced.
Comms in the meantime relayed the Commander's orders to the civilian ships of the Exploration Fleet.
The XO addressed the Bridge "Set weapons' grid to full power, CIWS coverage to full sweep, double layer! Vipers in the tubes! Stand by for enemy suppression barrage!"
"Weapons' system coming online." Lieutenant Doyer spoke up from Tactical "Standing by for target bearing!"
/
At that the entire crew of the Bryn went into overdrive, Viper jocks were running down to the two flight decks, hopping into their Mk. IIIs and Mk. VIIs, non-essential systems were locking down, as was every single open hatch, non-essential areas depressurized in moments, Engineering on full alert.
The deck crews were fueling up and arming Vipers at a rapid pace, a moment later they were placed on the first elevators to be sent down to the 3 starboard and 3 port launch tubes.
"Let's go, ladies, today if you please!" the Chief of the Deck herded them like spergets "Your mamas ain't here to hold your hands! Skidmark, if you land my bird like you did the last time I'll send your ass to Hephaestus in a lunch box!"
"Y-yes, sir!" the kid squeaked out in a 'I hit puberty last week'-voice.
The Marines were raiding the Armories like kids a candy store on Colonial Day, weapons and mags were being handed out like ambrosia at an initiation party.
"No frakups, frakheads! Kozer left your sorry asses to my tender care!" the Master-at-Arms instructed from the doorway of Armory 02.
CAG was in his bird and waiting patiently for the launch order "Meroipe, as soon as we hit vacuum I want you to take Theseides low, and cover Bryn's belly, I'll take Perseides and Jasanides and form a two-pronged picket reinforcing the CAP."
"Roger that, Slammer." came his XO's distorted reply over wireless a moment later. Meroipe sent a silent prayer to her patron god 'Prometheus, guide my hands. Permit me to show you the strength of humanity. That the trust you placed in us will not be abused.'
/
"All decks reporting in at Condition One, Commander." Petty Officer Perseio reported from Comms "The first Vipers of Perseides and Theseides are in the tubes."
With that the Commander nodded and unmuted her line with the Marine Captain.
"Tell your men to hold their fire unless fired upon." she then quickly started assessing the situation, if that was indeed a Cylon down there.. they've been in orbit of New Kobol for well over a month now, in that time if the Cylons had chosen to- they could have easily jumped right on top of them at any time and blown them over the river Styx.. but for a single supposed Centurion to just slowly approach them down there, with no weapons, no clearly apparent hostile intent.. something just didn't feel right. Or was it stalling for time? The explosion they picked up on the surface and were trying to investigate.. were the Cylons trying to hide something and were biding their time? A dozen other scenarios crossed her mind. But if this was to come to blows, she would not initiate, she would not spark another war "Captain. Approach with caution, and try to make contact." her XO just stared at her as if she were a Gorgon.
A long silence followed from the other end.
"Understood, Actual. Will approach and try to make contact. Siren will stay on the line and update you play by play, sir." with that Agano heard ruffling as Kozer apparently gave the headset back to Cadas.
/
When the Marines heard their Captain echo the Commander's order to approach and make contact their hearts started beating faster and faster, sweat running down their brows under the dry heat of the star high above, black really wasn't a conducive color in such weather, the light wind did seem to help a bit.
Their anxiety was skyrocketing, kids with no combat experience to speak of, only growing up with the tales of glory and horrors their parents and grand parents had regaled them with from the Great War. They all hoped their basic training would kick in if the situation called for it.
"Lt." she looked at the other Raptor's pilot "Contact the other 2 Raptors, tell them to get their asses back here right the frak now. 1st Squad, form up. Safeties on. No one fires unless fired upon. Lukas, stay here with 2nd Squad, if shit hits the turboprop I want you to pull out. In the meantime.. no sudden moves."
A choir of muted 'Yes, sir'-s went up and everyone did as they were told, moving slowly with deliberate intent.
Kozer with a squad of Marines slowly rose from the grass and started to approach whatever the Hades this thing was. It still stood there, unmoving like a rock, its gaze clearly on them, fingers barely moving. It just waited. Unnerving as frak. Kozer and her boys and girls had their rifles across their chests, fingers above triggers, they folded out into a 15 meter wide semi-circle, their focus on the unmoving statue of metal.
'Athena, please don't let me frak this up.' and Kozer indicated them to advance.
/
"You got any of that Petra? I could really use a translation." Tom spoke with his external speakers turned off, since he'd gotten only within 50 meters of these people their voices had become much clearer and Petra immediately began writing a translation software.
"Long-dead languages aren't exactly my forté, and their dialect has shifted in a few short centuries, so try to be nice and not get into a gunfight while I work my magic."
"Copy that."
The soldiers were getting pretty close now, they even stopped talking amongst each other after their leader sent them a glare. They stopped about 7-8 meters from him, now that they could really get a good look at him they were staring at him wide-eyed, looking him over as if trying to convince themselves that he was actually real and tangible. A few seconds later they started chatting again, the language certainly sounded Greek-ish to him, and it almost had a Latin flow to it.
"Feel like I'm in a Zoo.."
"You've never been to a Zoo."
Not one of them took their eyes off him even for a split second, it's almost as if they were transfixed, but clearly on edge. One wrong or quick move could set off this powder keg. At least they didn't look hostile, nothing that he could see in their eyes, read on their faces or body language indicated ill intent. After you've cleaved through enough Insurrectionists you knew when you were looking at someone who was unreasonable, violent, aggressive, someone who enjoyed the pain of others. No one here had that in their eyes, but they were very much alert and afraid, assessing him, their patience clearly being eaten away by their raw nerves.
"Petra.." the Spartan asked calmly.
"I'm working on it.." she whispered in a sing-song tone "I still need larger samples of their language. Try to communicate with them, try to keep them talking."
But it seemed that decision had been taken from him, he focused on the woman, their leader, who unclipped her weapon and with her left arm extended away from her body, and her eyes never leaving him, she slowly lowered her weapon with her right to the ground. She slowly rose back up, both arms away from her body, and she took a very slow and tentative step towards him. This just seemed to make her soldiers even jumpier, a few were looking at her like she had gone off the deep end.
"Here goes nothing." the Spartan whispered to himself as he also made a slow, and tentative step toward her, turning on his external speakers.
"Hello." and he put as much openness and friendliness into that one word as he could muster. His deep voice really didn't help on that front though.
They all froze, trepidation being replaced with surprise on their faces.
He extended his right hand slowly, as if to pet a jittery deer.
/
The Marines started walking toward the Cylon-thing and their anxiety went up with each step they took toward it. They felt smaller and smaller. Its true dimensions becoming clearer with every meter.
It observed them, its gaze falling on each Marine, one at a time until it refocused on Captain Kozer once more.
"Lords of Kobol, just what the frak is that thing?" a Marine breathed under her breath, but loud enough for the others to hear her.
"Let's just waste this toaster and get the frak off this planet." another genius piped in.
"Don't make me smack you, Barbara." her squad leader replied "And that goes for you too, Costas."
As they got closer, many more details began to become clearer, they were quickly realizing that whatever this thing was, it was frakking advanced, the armor plates covering it were thick as Hades, it looked insanely intricate, definitely not something you could buy for a Cubit. Metal plates of a grey-green-bluish hue covering underarmor of a matte black color, its design even more intricate. Its left shoulder was protected by a massive pauldron, the gold-colored plate it had for a face strangely didn't glint in the star's midday light, it was as if the metal covering it swallowed up the light, as if it wasn't even metal to begin with- but it had a sheen of something to it that clearly indicated that it was in fact metal. The contradiction was maddening.
"Look at it, Costas, just look at it. Does that look like any Cylon you've ever seen?" a smarter Marine asked rhetorically.
"Has to be a Cylon, has to be." the man in question strained his voice in a rough whisper.
"Lords know I've never seen armor like that before. Hephaestus' hairy sack, just look at it."
"Yeah? Then what the frak is it doing on this planet, huh? How the frak did it get here?"
A poignant question they all had to concede.
And it was armed, clearly, heavily armed, some kind of sidearm on its right thigh, a massive combat knife on the left side of its torso, what could only be described as magazine pouches on its front, more tools of an unidentifiable nature on its left hip, another small pouch strapped to its left shin, some kind of pack on its back, next to which the buttstock of some grey-green weapon stuck out like a sore thumb over its right shoulder.
Kozer listened to her men and women as they displayed ther academic debating skills, this thing clearly could've torn them a collective new one if it wanted to, it certainly looked capable, but it hadn't made a single move, nothing hostile, Hades, it didn't look like a Cylon by any stretch of the imagination. As much as it was metal from head to toe, it somehow didn't feel mechanical. She couldn't quite explain it, but an idea just then and there had struck her.
"Everyone. Shut up. I'm gonna try something." she spoke as she slowly began to unclip her weapon 'Athena, hear me, lend me your wisdom this day. I, your faithful daughter need you.' she prayed silently.
/
"They've reached the.. figure, sir." Siren's voice rang in Commander Agano's ear "The Marines are standing in a half circle around it. Nothing's happening, sir. As far as I can tell the Marines are speaking with one another. Wait.." the waiting during her pauses made the CO and XO tense every time "Captain Kozer just placed her weapon on the ground! She's walking closer, trying to make contact."
"This is insane, sir." the XO whipsered with a hand over the phone's mouthpiece "We should tell the civvies to jump, I'd rather not wait for the other shoe to drop."
The CO just gave him a nod who in turn nodded to Comms, he sent the word to the fleet and the ships with them jumped away. When the XO received the nod from Comms he let out a deep breath he didn't know he had been holding.
"The- the- Cylon, the figure, sir- it just extended its- uh.. hand, sir." Siren reported "It just shook hands with Kozer, sir!"
At that the Commander and the Colonel exchanged glances of surprise "Just what in Ares' balls is going on down there?" the Colonel breathed the question silently.
/
Kozer could only stare in surprise as this thing spoke with a clearly human voice, a young man by the sound of it. Her Marines were as silent as a necropolis. This being towered over her by at least 50 centimeters, but had been so far as gentle as a kivon.
She didn't recognize the word, but she guessed it to be a greeting of some kind, what language or dialect she could only specu- and then it- he extended his hand and she almost drew back out of surprise rather than fear.
"Watch it, Captain. This whole thing could be some sort of trap, Hades, this thing could be a walking bomb for all we know." 1st Squad's Sergeant added.
"Relax, Nicanor. I think if he wanted us dead we'd all be smears by now." she replied over her shoulder without taking her eyes off the giant, his hand still waiting patiently.
5 fingers, thumb 90 degrees high from the other 4, an open greeting. 5 armored fingers. With her blood thumbing in her ears she slowly extended her gloved hand in return and he took it. Her throat was dry and she had to swallow, his massive hand completely engulfed her own, he closed his fingers slowly and gently around her hand and slowly shook it twice. Then he let go, and withdrew his hand to his side.
Kozer closed her hand, as if trying to recall the feel of his, she could still feel some of the textures of it through her glove's thin material. Shen then raised a hand back towards the Raptors, gesture indicating that things were so far so good.
/
"Captain Kozer just indicated that things are so far going well, sir." Siren relayed the information to Actual "Whatever this thing is, Commander, the Captain doesn't seem to think it's hostile."
"Just keep your eyes peeled, Aerope." Agano urged the Raptor pilot "And keep us updated." she then muted her end of the line "DRADIS?"
"DRADIS is clear, sir." her Tactical offier spoke, her blue eyes like the XO's still fixed on the overhead monitors.
"Will do, sir." Siren replied in the meantime from the other end of the wireless.
/
The armored giant then started speaking again, in full sentences. The language was strange, had a funky rythm to it, almost melodic in its nature. The Marines around Kozer just stared dumbfounded, a few even had their heads tilted like spergets, trying to figure it all out. The situation was surreal to say the least.
The armored giant then slowly drew his right open hand toward his chest and the Marines froze.
"Hold." Kozer hissed with as much niceness as she could manage.
"This thing must have a pretty advanced MCP, sir." the Sergeant added "The Cylons must be inventing new languages to frak with us."
"Conjectures don't help, Sergeant." Kozer chided the man behind her, she worried that a jumpy Marine would do something stupid "I'd rather we didn't set off another war." and that reminder was enough to cool the Marines' heels. The giant was still focused on her as he placed his hand gently over his chest plate and said a string of simple short words. His name maybe? Wait, did he just say alpha?
/
"You probably don't understand a word I'm saying, but I'm human, like you. I know that's probably hard to believe, but I'm not going to take my helmet off just yet." he felt ridiculous "You sure this is a good idea?" he asked with his externals off.
"Yes, it will force them to speak as well, and zhe more they talk the faster I'll be able to extrapolate and translate."
So he resumed "I come from a place that's very far from here, and I'd like to ask for your help." he then raised his hand to his chest at which the Marines' grips on their weapons tensed. The leader and another soldier exchanged a few words, wariness in their tones.
"Slow down, big guy." Petra spoke in his ear.
Ignoring her he continued "My designation is Sierra Alpha 0 6 2."
The woman in front of him just kept staring wide-eyed, the soldiers around her now started talking again, they were a lively bunch, slowly overcoming their fear and trepidation, Petra devoured the language "That's it, come to mama!" she spoke in his ear excitedly.
But their leader must've understood his intent as she also raised her hand to her own chest.
"Tryphena. Tryphena Kozer. Katipánis."
"Katipánis.. katepánó.. that means Captain!" Petra translated "Now we're getting somewhere, I'm still iffy on the syntax, but give it a try." and an 'Update Complete' green text appeared in the center of his HUD for a moment before winking out, a brand new addition to his Mjolnir's software "And do be careful, these people are very nervous. So don't blow it."
"Don't worry." then an idea occured to him "Let's see what will happen when I'll mention Earth."
The Spartan blew air out his nose to focus his mind, and with a thought switched on his external speakers.
/
"Are you able to comprehend me?" and the Marines almost soiled themselves.
Kozer just stared- her eyes going wide again as she took a step back "H- how do you speak Caprican?"
"I told you it's a frakking Cylon. It's frakking toying with us, sir!" the Marines were getting antsy, rifles slightly coming up.
"I meant no jest, or to cause alarm." the giant spoke again in a calm tone "It took me time to comprehend your tongue."
"How? We barely spoke a few words! Have you been monitoring us?!" the Captain now asked with suspicion, taking charge of the situation.
"No, Captain. My armor's governing function translated it from a very old tongue my people once spoke."
"Y- your people?" Kozer felt like she had been dunked in cold water as her knees almost buckled. If he wasn't Colonial, and he was human, that meant only one thing 'Athena, give me strength.'
"Yes, have you ever heard of a planet called Earth?"
"Lords of Kobol, shield your ears.." a Marine whispered incredulously and wide-eyed.
"E- Earth?" the Captain spoke almost breathlessly, her mouth going completely dry.
"Yes. I come from Earth." whilst technically a lie, this really wasn't the time to go into details like colonies, and other sensitive information that UNSC HIGHCOM considered strictly classified when it came to non-UEG citizens.
"Oh my Gods.." a Marine breathed.
"It can't be."
"H-how do we know that you're even human? Like us?" Kozer asked, still nervous, but her curiosity and barely contained excitement was there, just under the surface.
The giant seemed to ponder her words for a moment, glancing to the ground as if in deep thought, before his shoulders sagged an imperceptible 7 milimeters.
Slowly raising his massive hands to its head, a part of the jawline's structure suddenly popped out with a hiss of air, and with one smooth motion he lifted off what they could now all see to be a helmet, revealing a very human face underneath.
"No frakking way.." a Private spoke silently, his mouth hanging open.
"Lords above.." Barbara clutched at her Aphrodite figure hanging next to her dog tags.
"S-sir? Orders, sir?" another asked.
At that point one of Kozer's young Marines' eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted with a thump in the grass, the stress of the moment had finally gotten to her. Another Marine, Costas, rushed to her side checking for a pulse, finding that it was steady he calmed down "Sh-she's okay." he said as he just kneeled in the grass next to her- still staring up at the massive man in front of them.
Kozer studied his features carefully, the young man was pale, like he'd spent years of his life cooped up inside, strong features, short hair, and sharp eyes. Those eyes, when he looked at her she knew instantly that this man wasn't a Cylon or some Cylon trick, his eyes held so much fire in them, experience, those eyes must have seen so much she thought to herself. In short he looked rugged, strong, a professional soldier through and through. Ares made flesh.
He shifted his gaze from Marine to Marine for a moment longer before placing his helmet back on his head, the seals along its jawline locking it down once more.
"Forgive me, I need my helmet's governing functions so we may be able to speak with ease."
The Marines were still in a state of shock, they just kept staring, their fear was mostly gone judging by the expressions of shock and giddy smiles that started to form on their faces. Kozer in her mind could only repeat a single sentence: 'We've found the 13th. We've found the 13th!'
/
High above in orbit on the Brynhildr Commander Agano and her XO were still waiting on the line, both of them kept their eyes fixed on their respective DRADIS displays above, Siren hadn't said a word in the last few minutes but they could hear her breathing clearly enough, a constant reminder that the wireless was still open.
"Oh my Gods! Sir, you're not gonna believe this, it's- it's human! He's human!" she suddenly shouted.
The Commander eye's widened as she looked down from the DRADIS to her XO, his face mirrored her own expression.
"Human? Are you sure?" the XO asked now, trying not to raise his voice.
"He was wearing a helmet, sir!" Siren clarified.
"Lieutenant, did you say human?" the CO asked for clarification, looking around the CIC, making sure no one was listening in.
"Yes, sir! I think one of the Marines just fainted." and they could hear the amusement in her voice which made the XO's eyebrows shoot up.
A person in some kind of armor, so far from the Colonies, no ship, at least no signs of one since they've been in the system, nor anything down on New Kobol to indicate the presence of one. Agano weighed the possibilities carefully.
"A moment, sir. Kozer is on the wireless.." the CO and XO tried to listen in as Siren fumbled with something and spoke into her own set, after a few seconds "Copy that, sir!" they heard her reply to the Marine Captain before switching back "Commander, Kozer says that he's definitely human, and that she's immediately requesting permission to delay the recon mission and bring him aboard for a full debrief as soon as possible."
This person, whatever- whoever he was- was a mystery, a complete wild card, and he had already been down there for who knows how long, and quite apparently he was also waiting for the Raptors, since the way Siren described it, he appeared barely 5 minutes after they had touched down. However, they still needed to find out what had caused that explosion, Hades, this stranger could have very likely caused it himself. However, if Kozer was convinced, and she knew the woman fairly well, she must've seen something or understood something about this man, which gave her a unique perspective on the matter, and that was good enough for the Commander. The fact remained.. the questions just kept piling up in Agano's mind, it seemed that there was only one solution she could think of currently to unravel it all.
"Commander?" her XO asked, she must've been deep in thought as he had worried expression on his face.
She held up her free hand to indicate that she was fine and replied to the waiting pilot "Permission granted, Lieutenant. Bring him up."
"Copy that, sir. Relaying now." Siren switched again to another set "Sir, yes, Commander Agano wants you to bring him up- yes, sir, I'll tell her- I'll.. what?! Oh my Gods, oh my Gods! Yes! Yes, sir, I'll tell her!" they heard her fumbling yet again "Oh my Gods, oh my Gods, oh my Gods." she kept repeating in a panicked whisper of a prayer before picking up her headset connected to Actual "Commander?! Captain Kozer said you better roll out the red carpet! She says she's positive we just made contact with the 13th Tribe!" that last bit Siren all but screamed into the wireless, making Agano and Kaios flinch.
But the news itself almost made the phone fall out of Agano's hand as soon as what Siren had said fully registered, she shared a look with her XO, the man was as pale as an eidolon. She quickly collected herself and issued her next orders "Confirm your last, Raptor 2-8-1! Did you just say 13th Tribe?!"
"Yes, sir! Kozer is positive! It's them! We found them!" the girl shrieked with joy, Agano had to pull the phone away from her hear for a moment.
"Good Lords, Siren.." Agano chided but she had a smile on her face that she could barely control, just from the infectious joy Siren was always known for, but what she had relayed from Kozer was an even more powerful blow, her mind was reeling from the information. The Commander collected herself before addressing the young pilot "Good work, Siren. See you all topside." and with that closed the wireless to the Raptor letting out a long sigh, closing her eyes for a moment to organize her thoughts, she turned to Tactical "Set the ship to Condition Two and launch a Raptor, recall the Exploration Fleet. Launch Viper escorts for our returning Raptors, and I want a Platoon of Marines in the starboard Hangar deck."
"Yes, sir." Tactical obeyed, her voice going shipwide again "All hands, stand down to Condition Two, stand down to Condition Two. 2nd Platoon in full kit to starboard Hangar deck, 2nd Platoon in full kit to starboard Hangar deck."
"Get me the Gunnery Sergeant." Agano turned to Perseio.
"A moment, sir." the young man worked at his station for a few seconds before looking up nodding.
The Commander picked up her phone "Gunny, I want you to create a quarantine zone, set up cordons, let's keep this party to a minimum."
"You got it, Commander." the man replied from the other end, with that she closed the line.
"Lords, preserve us." the XO breathed as he rubbed a hand over his face, processing everything, Agano was in the same boat.
Everyone in the CIC rushed to carry out their orders, something big was happening. Both their CO and XO seemed agitated, and that was never a good sign.
/
Siren was currently experiencing an emotional high she just couldn't come down from, it was so powerful she felt like she would burst, she couldn't believe it, she just couldn't, but it was real, it was happening, her face had started to hurt from the grinning and laughing, her cheeks were wet from tears of joy, she was wooping and cheering and pounding her fist on the Raptor's wing, the Marines and pilots around her were smiling at her and some started to laugh as well, they just didn't know why she was in such a good mood.
The Marine's XO approached her, her mood had plastered a grin of curiosity on his face as he asked "Just what in Hades' testicles has gotten into you, Aerope? What did Kozer tell you?"
And she was tempted, she was so tempted to tell them, she just hugged him and kept laughing "You'll find out soon enough! You all will!" and she kept on releasing uncontrollable giggles of joy as she sat on the Raptor's wing.
He took that to mean that whatever it was it was good news, very good news, but for the life of him he couldn't guess what it could be.
/
The giant soldier watched Kozer closely from behind his faceplate as she got the go-ahead from Commander Agano as relayed by Siren. 1st Squad now shed of their fear stood much closer, still gawking at him, neither of them could fathom what they had just learned.
Kozer beckoned the giant to follow "Our Commander has given me permission to bring you aboard, Sierra." she explained as she picked up her weapon and clipped it back on to her harness "Our ship is in high orbit, there are a few procedures we need to follow, is your- armor vacuum rated?" she smiled at him.
"Yes, Captain." he curtly replied in his calm voice, and nodding his head. Strange how he could speak Caprican suddenly, but he spoke it in a very queer and formal manner, which gave credence to his translation claim.
He fell in next to her as they walked, the other Marines behind and next to them, asking questions of the man they now knew as Sierra.
"Are you really from Earth?"
"What's it like?"
"How did you find us?"
"Which god is your patron god? It must be Ares!"
Kozer told them all simply to shut up, and stop pestering the man, and as excited as they were, they knew better than to get on her bad side.
2nd Squad and the Raptor crews were waiting by their birds, weapons low, all eyes on him, even they seemed to be in a good mood, evidence to Aerope's strong voice carrying over the fields of the clearing, she really did her callsign justice. Guessing from their small smiles and subdued behavior Siren hadn't broken the news yet the Marine CO mused.
/
As 1st Squad got closer 2nd Squad saw Kozer in a way they've seen her before, she was smiling. Which was understandable, simply judging from how Lieutenant Cadas had been acting, something very good must've transpired. And all of it seemed to center around that armored giant of a man. But seeing Kozer smile.. the woman was as serious as a terminal disease, stranger even, all of 1st Squad were grinning like idiots, they were all happy, excited, they all had a spring in their step. Their curiosity was eating them alive.
As they approached the Marines and pilots with the two Raptors could only stare at the giant man walking next to Captain Kozer, he was massive, armored plating, gear, weapons, it looked incredibly advanced. Seeing the Captain in such a relaxed mood walking so close to him settled their nerves completely.
When they were less than 10 meters from them Lieutenant Anemosa took a step forward addressing his CO "Sir?" confusion and a grin etched on his young face "Who's this? Are you all right?" he asked as he kept staring at the giant, his mind riddled with questions.
"Later, Lieutenant. 1st Squad, half of you pile into Raptor 2-8-2." moving a bit slowly but doing as they were told, the Marines turned to the second Raptor but still glancing at the strange soldier. The other two Raptors that had flown off to investigate the explosion's site had returned and were circling above, waiting for them.
Kozer turned to the giant "Sierra, as I mentioned earlier. There are a few procedures we need to follow, for the sake of the ship and her crew, one will be a medical quarantine, the other of course security, as such, I would like to request that you surrender your weapons and gear. For now."
The giant turned his gaze to her in full, for a few moments nothing happened and the Marines started to tense up, he looked back toward the Raptor, before returning his focus to her.
"All right." he released the pack he was holding over his right shoulder, the Marines relaxing at once.
Kozer took it from him, lowering it to the ground "Do I have your permission to inspect the contents?" he simply nodded.
Kozer fumbled with the interesting latch for a moment before opening it, inside, she found packages, about two dozen of them. From the labeling that she couldn't read and the way it squished in her hand slightly she guessed it to be some sort of packaged food. Next, a few packadges with interesting latches and red symbols on them, she opened one, it contained sterile equipment, some items that she could only guess at being syringes. Medical gear. Next to those- 3 soft containers with tubes, water. Below them- and probably the most interesting pieces, were grey blocky weapons' magazines, 5 of them. She put everything back and closed the bag. Standing up she glanced at his other items "Your weapons?"
He moved slowly as to not be misconstrued in his intent, he simply lifted the sidearm off his thigh plate, some kind of magnetic system Kozer guessed. Removed the magazine from it, pulled back on the slide and caught a flying cartridge, which he deftly put back in the removed magazine. Handing both sidearm and magazine over to her, she gave them to her XO who placed them in his backpack.
Next came his combat knife, his very large combat knife. The blade must've been from the same material as his armor's plates, a small fortune in precious metals probably.
He then removed 2 green orb-like grenades from his hip plate, carefully handing them over.
Next came his main weapon, and it was a doozy, nothing like any of them have ever seen anywhere in the Corps. To them, it looked like a magazine fed, large caliber sniper rifle. He removed the magazine, again grabbing a cartridge that flew from the ejection port, which he placed back into the magazine. First he waited for the young Lieutenant to store the magazine before handing over the rifle, knowing it needed two hands for normal people to handle, it was so long it came up to Kozer's chest if measured from the ground.
He didn't move to remove anything from the pouches across his abdomen. Kozer guessed them to be magazine pouches, but they were of little use without a weapon so she didn't say anthing about them.
"What about that?" she asked, indicating the ornately designed silver item on his hip. As she mentioned it everyone's eyes fell on said item, its design was fascinating, and it was anybody's guess as to what its purpose was, strange symbols adorned it, maybe of religious significance? Was that how he honored Ares?
But from that prompting he became motionless again, the seconds ticked by, he was clearly conflicted over the matter. Roughly 7 seconds later he slowly reached for it, detaching it, turning it over in his open left hand.
"Whatever you do, don't shake it, don't twist it, don't press anything on it. I'm telling you for your own safety." his tone was harsher than before, but not unkind.
Anemosa just stared as this man just spoke Caprican, whoever he was.
She gently took it from him "Understood, Sierra. Thank you for trusting us." and she smiled up at him. He nodded only once. She understood reverence of the Gods very well. She was no blasphemer.
"I'll want those back."
"You will, I promise." and he nodded again, but slower this time to accentuate his gratitude.
She then turned to her men, next to them the second Raptor fired up its engines, making it necessary to shout to be heard "All right! Everyone, hop inside!" and she indicated towards the open hatch of Raptor 2-8-1 as she walked up to it "Please climb aboard!"
The giant only nodded once "Yes, sir." and climbed inside, Anemosa and the others just stared for a moment and joined Kozer and the giant in the Raptor, the two pilots already at their seats, doing pre-flight, having already completed their walk-around.
It was an awkward fit, this armored giant of a man took up a lot of leg room, even if he took a knee he took up the space of almost 3 fully kitted Marines, had he stood he would've never fit. Kozer sat down next to him, her back to the co-pilot/ECO, seeing her clear reflection in his golden faceplate up close, her smile still there.
They felt the Raptor vibrate as its engines came online, the pilot turning up the throttle, it needed a bit of extra juice to lift off, apparently he was heavy too.
Being this close to him on the ride up, none of them could help put gawk at his armor, the technology necessary to produce something like this, just how advanced had their cousins become? And more to the point, just what kind of military did he serve in that necessitated such heavy weaponry and gear?
The fact that he was calm, courteous, made no sudden movements, and complied with their requests put them all at ease. He was someone who clearly understood how his appearance affected those around him, and he didn't wish to aggravate anyone unnecessarily.
/
"Just what did we get ourselves into?" Petra pondered with mirth in her voice, her image popped up on his HUD, as always in its upper left corner.
"A little late for backing out now." her Spartan replied, as the Raptor shook under them as if to underline his statement. He was his usual calm self if his voice was any indicator, he focused on Captain Kozer in front of him, she was strapped to her seat as the bird shook again from turbulence. She couldn't keep her eyes off him, none of them could, even the pilot in the starboard seat kept peeking at him from the corner of her eye every few seconds with a grin that wouldn't leave her young face.
"Lords of Kobol, Ares, Zeus? It would seem that the system Methodist Bias put into place is still strong as ever, they still worship the Greek pantheon. Historians back home would go nuts over zhese people." she giggled, hands on her hips.
"So it would probably be best if we didn't tell them that they're worshipping ancient machines." the Spartan mused "I think we've had enough religious zealotry to last us several lifetimes."
"Speaking of machines.."
"First let's just see how all this will play out, Petra. Most smart A. I.-s aren't revealed even to most UEG citizens or UNSC personnel outside of ships' crews or base personnel."
"I concur, rather not trust our fate to strangers."
"Exactly, we don't know anything about these people, so once aboard, I want you to try and get into their systems without tripping any alarms or sparking another war. I want to know who we're going to be sharing meals with for the foreseeable future."
"Judging by zhe passive signals I've picked up so far from being inside this bird, which they call a Raptor, I don't think we'll have much to worry about as far as cyberwarfare is concerned. But I'll be careful as always." her image smiled that sneaky smile she always had when she was about to be conspiratorial.
"Just work your magic, devil woman." he breathed and she just grinned.
"You have my word, baby sweet."
"Our number one priority is still getting back to the UNSC, back into the fight. It'll be HIGHCOM's job to sort these people out."
"Oh, which reminds me, if these 'Colonials' as they call themselves do in fact possess a different form of FTL, then perhaps we could-"
"Sierra?" Kozer spoke up to get his attention, at that Petra put a hand over her mouth and winked out.
He raised his head slightly to let her know he was paying attention.
"Is Sierra your name?" she asked curiously, at that everyone in the Raptor perked up.
"No, it's my designation, a part of it at least. My name is classified under Unified Ground Command statute H-7."
Her eyes glinted with recognition "So you are in the military." she clarified to be sure.
"Yes."
"I'm sure everyone will be excited to meet you, this is a big day for us. It's probably the single most important moment in our history." she smiled at him.
"No pressure." Petra whispered in his ear.
"Commander Agano will meet us on the deck, with probably most of the crew." her excitement was really starting to rise to the surface now "May I ask, how did you get to this planet? Or is it a colony of Earth?" the others must've considered that a very intriguing question because now they were looking at him openly.
"I think it would be best if I spoke with your commanding officers first." it seemed Petra kept tweeking his translation software, it kept getting better and better, the vocabulary greatly expanding to more accurately translate more unique and modern words "And there's only so much I can reveal as I am still under orders."
She nodded at that, a bit disappointed, but she understood as she didn't press any further.
"The way these things work, I'm sure in time more information will become available, to the both of us." he explained to soothe her worries and curiosity, so far he'd gotten along with Captain Kozer, and he wanted to keep building on that mutual respect, never burn bridges if one day you might need one in a dire moment.
The turbulence had finally subsided and from the rear compartment the Spartan could see out the front canopy, the blackness of space in all its splendor. In the distance he could make out about half a dozen points glinting in the dark as light from the system's star reflected off their hulls.
/
In the CIC the crew was busy as ever carrying out orders, the CO and XO tracked the ships that were attached to the Exploration Fleet as they jumped back, nothing and no one amiss.
"Sir?" Perseio spoke up from Communications "The civilian captains want to know why the fleet had to go to Condition One and why they had to jump away and then jump back."
"Tell them I'll update them soon." the Commander spoke looking up from a file she'd been reading.
"Yes, sir." he replied and resumed his duties.
DRADIS beeped again as the 4 Raptors appeared, coming up from the surface of New Kobol.
The XO was still stunned, leaning on the plotting table with his hands, staring ahead, his mind clearly somewhere else "Sweet Aphrodite, do we even have any protocols in place for this?" his eyes were still staring straight ahead "When was even the last time the Admiralty toyed with the idea?"
"I still vaguely remember the First Contact protocols from War College." Agano reminisced with an amused tone.
"Yes, but we're not talking about aliens." he whispered that part "We're talking about Earth, the 13th Tribe for frak's sake, and once the civilian ships find out, it's going to be chaos, the eggheads on the Neith are gonna go sub-orbital." he smiled, already picturing it in his head, scientists, astronomers, biologists squirming like children in a toy store.
"And we didn't even have the foresight to bring diplomats with us.." Agano lamented with mirth.
"Probably for the best, from the looks of things this is a soldier, a lost soldier, and soldiers face to face tend to work things out a lot better than dealing with backstabbing bureaucrats. I'm certainly glad we don't have any of them with us. Besides, I don't think the First Contact protocols are going to be of much use to us."
"After over 4000 years apart, I think they might apply." she mused "At least in principle." looking up at DRADIS once more following the Raptors as they drew closer and closer "For all intents and purposes, a period that long is bound to result in completely unforeseeable differences between them and us, be they technological, cultural, you name it, anything you can think of. We probably don't even speak the same language anymore."
The XO just shook his head, coming around the plotting table speaking in a whisper "Thaleia, you trust Kozer that much? This can't possibly be real, sir. I honestly still think this is either the Admiralty pulling a fast one on us as a Colonial Day prank.. or half a dozen Basestars are about to jump right on top of us." he finished with much more force and urgency in his tone.
"Deep breaths, Cosmo, deep breaths. The Cylons haven't been seen or heard from in over 4 decades, for one, and two, Kozer clearly saw something down there that we can't understand from up here, not yet at least. She's a lifer, been in the Corps for 12 years now, comes from a family of Marines, most of whom fought in the War, if anyone aboard this ship can recognize a Cylon then that would be her. I'm also not stupid, Colonel, 2nd Platoon is our guarantee that this situation won't go sideways, hopefully for anyone." she looked away for a moment, going over everything that's happened so far. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath to settle her nerves. Then turning to her XO in full and crossing her arms across her chest she followed up with "Haven't you ever wondered, Cosmo? Awake at night imagining, thinking 'what if'? What if the 13th Tribe is real.. real, as real as you or I? What if they're somewhere, out there? Hoping that one day the One and the Twelve will be Thirteen once more?"
"I didn't think an Officer had the luxury of dreams, sir." Colonel Kaios replied with humor in his voice, his previous tension now gone.
"As long as it doesn't interfere with our duties, in fact, I'd make the argument that dreams are an extension of our imagination, and a tactically-inclined mind can always benefit from a rich imagination." Agano explained whilst adjusting the collar of her dress blues.
"Well, I'm not a dreamer like you, Thaleia, I prefer cold hard facts. Don't misunderstand me, our civilization's speculated for centuries.. I guess.. I just never believed." he explained.
"Sir?" Perseio from Comms spoke up to get the Commander's attention "The Raptors are on final approach. The LSO has directed them to the starboard Hangar as per instructions."
Commander Agano simply turned to her XO smiling "Then we better get down there." and with that they left the CIC for the starboard Hangar deck, 2 more Marines on their heels.
/
"Everyone, gather up! For-mation!" the CAG was directing the deck crews and Marines, still in his flight suit, helmet hanging from his left hand.
"Commander on deck!" someone yelled from the back and everyone stopped what they were doing.
From a causeway above descenced Commander Agano with Colonel Kaios, a Squad of Marines at their back.
"At ease!" she ordered with force so everyone would hear her.
"Commander Agano." the CAG saluted.
"Major Cape, at ease." and she saluted back "How are things going, Ruell?"
"We've cleared out most of the non-essential personnel, sir. Gunny Baianos got the Marines in order, 2nd Platoon did their job well."
And he was right, most of the starboard Flight deck was empty, save for the necessary personnel to handle the incoming Raptors.
"Captain Halea got most of our pilots tucked away all nice and snug." the CAG grinned.
"Good, I don't want an audience for this and for rumors to start circulating before we can confirm anything." the Commander intoned whilst walking forward, her officers and crew forming up around her.
Major Cape lost his grin at that but not his excitement, standing a bit closer to the Commander he explained "I've known Captain Kozer for a long time, sir. She knows what this would mean, so if she says this is the real deal then we best believe it, sir."
The CO and XO exchanged glances, that was another strong endorsement of Kozer besides Agano's. As if on que the Master-at-Arms and the Chief of the Deck walked up "Sir!" "Commander."
"At ease, gentlemen. This is turning out to be one busy morning." they nodded, Chief Elyos still had a grease stain on his cheek from working on one of their few remaining Mk. III-Bs.
They heard running and turned to see Captain Halea join them, grin on her face, sweat still pouring down, she must've landed a few minutes ago on the port Flight deck and ran like Hermes to not miss the show.
"Is it true?" she asked before noticing who else was standing there quickly saluting "Sir!"
Agano saluted back "Relax, Earther, you haven't missed anything." at that her grin became even bigger.
"I- I just can't believe it! It's unreal, sir!" Meroipe chirped, the good Captain was known as an Obsesser. Obsessers were people who were quite frankly obsessed with the 13th Tribe. People who read anything they could find on the lost Tribe, from religious texts to conspiracy theories, scientific journals, historic evidence, all the movies and songs. When Meroipe wasn't flying a Viper by the seat of her pants, she was jabbering about the 13th Tribe and Earth, that's how she got stuck with her callsign in flight school. It was probably also one of the biggest reasons why she had signed up for this expedition.
Agano just turned to her CAG "This was a need to know-type situation, Major." but she wasn't really mad.
"Sorry, sir. It just slipped out. It was worth it just to see her face almost turn blue." and before Agano could turn to chastise her prankster CAG, the elevator alarms went off, notifying them that the Raptors were coming down on the vehicle lifts, equalizing the pressure before opening the inner doors.
"Atten-tion!" the Colonel bellowed and they all went ramrod straight and waited as the Raptors descended on the massive hydraulic jacks that held up the pads, the doors closed above them as soon as they were clear. As soon as they fully descended the tow tractors pulled the Raptors off their pads, the final door closing behind them as they all stopped on the main hangar floor in front of the assembled crew.
No matter how good of a job the Marines had done, some people still managed to filter in, simply too many doors led to and from the hangar decks. Off-duty personnel, deck crews, mechanics standing behind the line of Marines, were they getting a visit from one of the other ships? Must be an important visit if so many senior officers were there to greet them.
"Now Siren did warn us, Gunny. He's a big guy. In armor." Agano informed the Master-at-Arms "Let's not get trigger happy."
"Sir." the man simply grunted.
The hatches of the Raptors began to rise, Marines filed out of most of them and joined the assembled crew on two sides also coming to attention, their weapons at parade rest. Many others who had no idea what was going on were puzzled, it had to be some high ranking officer or some dignitary coming aboard.
From the second Raptor two more Marines hopped down, followed quickly by their XO, Anemosa, and as they did- behind them a massive dark form rose and ducked low to fully exit the bird.
When the form stood to its full height, towering above the Marines- everyone in the hangar froze, someone actually dropped a small tool as it pinged on the deck.
A giant armored person stood just outside the hatch of the Raptor, his sheer size, the golden faceplate on his helmet, the thick plating covering most of its body, some type of black form fitting thick material covering everything else. From behind him Captain Kozer emerged, a big smile plastered on her face, she quickly climbed down and formed up next to Agano with the rest of the Marines and crew.
The Commander's mind went blank, and she wasn't the only one. Next to her Cosmo's eyes bulged. Major Cape could only stare, the only coherent thought to enter his mind was to send a quick prayer to Artemis.
"Holy Hera.." the Chief of the Deck whispered astonished, next to him Captain Halea had the biggest shit-eating grin anyone has ever seen, she was on the verge of tears.
"Oh my Gods.." a crew member said from behind.
"What in the Gods' name is that?!" another asked.
"Sweet Zeus, that's a big frakker.."
The soldier from Earth stood there silently, arms at his side, not making a sound. Fearsome was the first word many of them thought of whilst staring at him.
"Compa-ny, pre-sent arms! Sa-lute!" the XO yelled after regaining his composure, and they more or less at once slowly raised their hands in salute, at that, surprising many of them the giant also went to attention, mirroring their movements. The Colonial salute differed from the giant solider's one, their hands held to their foreheads were parallel to the ground, whilst the giant soldier's salute was a straight line from his elbow to the tips of his fingers. The fact that they even had a salute similiar to one another's was a mind-boggling thought. Just what else did they have in common?
"At ease!" Agano ordered and they slowly lowered their arms, mirrored again by the giant.
They couldn't believe it, it was happening. It was really happening and they would be the ones to do it, to make Colonial history. The reunification of the 13 tribes of Man!
"Permission to come aboard, sir." a strong voice came from the giant, shocking everyone, he spoke Caprican.
"Permission granted!" the Commander stated, her mouth dry with surprise, but her expression was full of joy now. She had what people called smiling eyes.
The giant stepped down from the wing of the Raptor and some could've sworn the deck shook.
Commander Agano took one step forward, a big smile on her face, her excitement barely contained. Her worries and doubts all but forgotten in the moment as she reached out her hand "My name is Commander Thaleia Agano, commanding officer of the Battlestar Brynhildr. On behalf- on behalf of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.. it is an honor to be the first to welcome a soldier of the 13th Tribe!"
The armored soldier slightly inclined his helmeted head, seeing her hand, he slowly reached out and tentatively took it, shaking it once.
"The 13th Tribe?! Oh my Gods.. we made contact?!" someone whisper-shouted in the back, no one could believe it, they'd actually made contact with their long lost brothers and sisters. That revelation sent a shockwave through everyone gathered. They all started coming foward, smiles and grins on their faces, a few had their hands over their mouths, people were crying, two deck hands were hugging and crying together, huge smiles on their faces as they all started talking and whispering amongst themselves, every single pair of eyes on him.
The giant then spoke once more "Staff Sergeant Sierra Alpha 0 6 2, Special Warfare Group 4, of the United Nations Space Command Army." he introduced himself "It's an honor, Commander."