"Let's pick another city, sir. I'd like to vote for New Mombasa. You've seen New Mombasa, right Captain? At least, before the war?"
"We can't afford to start in another city."
"But why not, sir? I fail to be convinced by your decisions when your only reason for not picking the alternatives is saying 'we just can't', Captain. I've just looked through the data regarding Earth, and I'm already getting new reasons to doubt our current decisions even if it doesn't violate the Cole Protocol. Famine, 4 different wars committed by Corporations, mass pollution, utter chaos. At least every city, every country on that planet has a facade pulled across it to cover up those problems and bullshit. Night City, apparently, could only afford the cheapest one."
"And that's precisely why."
"… Are you implying that you're intentionally sending whatever hope we have into a hell hole and let it burn? Captain, if you want to give up just tell me that you want to give up."
Captain Church simply gave a sigh and a side eye to Agent Washington's sarcastic response.
"Other countries and cities still have some politics and government upholding it. The very facade you mention. Even if it's simply a front for Corporations to do what they want. You've seen the resources regarding Night City, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Among the several no man's land that formed within that dying planet, that area has what they call an Arvin Accord to maintain its status as a completely free City. In other words, there will be no legal resistance to us setting our foot down there."
"If we weren't a government military body. Which, Captain, I think we kinda advertise even with the amount of non-UNSC materials welded to our ship. They'd count that as an outright invasion, and therefore a violation of the Accord."
"Not unless we're a new corporate looking to sell products."
Washington raised his hand, about to object… but he fell silent, weighing the risk and reward of Captain Church's plan.
"Alright. Fine. Then what are we selling them? I do want to inform you before you give me the options, that selling UNSC or any outright alien technology will be biting us in the ass through many different ways."
Captain Church gave a side eye to Agent Washington.
"Of course not. Do you think I'm that crazy?"
"With what you've been suggesting throughout our journey on UNSC Revenant?"
Captain Church let out a snort as he tapped on the screen.
The holographic display swapped from a 3-dimensional map of Earth (and littered with various videos of Earth's current situation) to several projects the Engineers on board have devised.
"As you can see, we've attempted to integrate what we can offer, to what should be acceptable. As you have pointed out, we've considered outright sale of Covenant or Forerunner technology to be a huge risk. So what we offer are products that are derived from us using such technology to make them."
Architecture, Agriculture, Vehicle manufacture. Agent Washington quickly looked over the various options. Seeing whether they were viable, whether people would buy them over the current existing products.
And whether the crew could make them.
"I've spoken with our Chief Engineer duo about which projects we can do."
"What did they say?"
"If they can crack the code they're currently having trouble researching and reverse engineering? All of it."
"Well, that's good news."
"If they can manage it. You want to hear what they're shouting in their labs?"
Captain church tapped another portion of the bridge computer, which promptly opened a smaller holographic monitor displaying a video feed of the lab's security camera.
One of the two Chief Engineers on board of UNSC Revenant was a Spartan IV - Spartan Cell wore an ENGINEER-variant of the Gen 2 Mjolnir, manufactured specifically by the Lethbridge Industrials to Subvert, repair, and reconstitute technology.
Even those of Covenant and Forerunner origin. The functions built into the suit made sure the Mjolnir variant's role stayed true.
Washington saw Cell use the added strength from his Mjrolnir armour to throw an analogue pen so hard it speared halfway through the lab wall. And according to the walls and floors being filled with numbers, the pen had already outlived its usage.
"IT'S A 3! IT'S ALWAYS A 3! NO MATTER WHAT METHOD I USE IT'S ALWAYS A GODDAMN 3!"
The other Chief Engineer was not even human - Khyl 'Suhom, a Sangheili Artisan-Armourer working directly under Thel 'Vadam, and also in direct cooperation with UNSC thanks to Project ANVIL.
"But that's good, is it not? By your explanation a consistent result means that it's stable."
"IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE 4!"
Chief Engineer Cell's quad-set of spectrum nodes glowed bright red, the placement of the eyes making sure to display his ever growing frustration through the unchanging helmet.
The visual was certainly terrifying.
Expecting what the Spartan Commander would ask, Captain Church quickly quipped in as Washington looked on at the Chief Engineer's Tantrum.
"They're back to researching Forerunner technology we managed to extract from the broken fragments of Installation 04, and from the data UNSC Infinity had sent over to us prior to its destruction."
"… I take it he's not getting the progress he wanted."
"Oh, believe me. He was happy earlier this morning, telling me that he nearly cracked the code to the Forerunner's Assembly Vats and the ability to convert raw material into necessary feedstock. He told me and Khyl that if he managed to breakthrough in the software calculations, we would essentially have an up and running improvised assembly vat ready to produce whatever form of blueprint we input into."
"So we'll have forerunner technology in the palm of our hands."
"Not fully, unfortunately. The limitation on the data we managed to acquire means that there is only so much we can reverse engineer. We still can't build an entire fleet, but we can at least mass produce anything from Weapons to Vehicles. We'll have to manually assemble the vehicles after the parts are separately printed out. He says we may also be capable of outright creating buildings if we're lucky."
"That sounds terrifying."
"Yes, it does. But as of right now, he's stuck."
"And that sounds concerning."
"Well, despite our current situation, I can confidently say we have time so we don't have to worry yet. Besides, his partner-in-crime is a Sangheili Artisan-Armourer. He knows how assembly vats work, the two of them can pull through this."
"Let's hope they can pull through before we arrive."
"I hope so too."
"Agent Washington, sir?"
Washington's intercom buzzed to life as a Medical Officer decided to give the Spartan Commander a report.
"Is there a problem?"
"No, no sir. We just wanted to notify you that… Spartan- ahem, Spartan Noble 6 has… woken up."
Agent Washington nodded at the news. Guess he now had something to keep himself busy while the rest of the ship whittled away at progress.
"I'll be with you soon. Captain Church?"
Church simply nodded. As far as the two knew, they had exhausted all the current news on the ship.
Agent Washington turned to the door.
Guess it was time to introduce himself to a Hyper Lethal Vector.
"Careful now, sir. You've just woken up. We don't want you falling down on the ground."
"Balance isn't an issue. Where am I?"
Washington walked into Noble 6 attempting to stand up from the infirmary bed, ignoring the Medical officer's concerns.
The Spartan Commander interjected.
"You're in the UNSC Revenant, Spartan Noble 6. I'm Spartan Commander Washington, second-in-command on this ship. It's an honour to meet you, sir. I've heard a lot about you."
Washington stretched out a hand towards Noble 6. Noble 6 in took Washington's hand, and gave it a firm shake.
"What happened to the rest of UNSC Seventh Halberd?"
"If you're asking about the destroyed ship we found you near… You were the only one."
Noble 6 looked to the floor as he let Washington's hand go, before turning back to Agent Washington.
"Sorry I came alone."
"None of it was your fault, sir. I'm sorry we couldn't rescue anyone else. Can you stand, sir?"
"I don't feel anything hurting. I can walk as well. That should be more than enough for me to get back into the fight."
"That's good news, sir. But we're not going to be fighting for a few days."
"Where are we heading?"
Washington let out a sigh at the question.
Great, now he has to explain the bullshit plan his captain thought up, and managed to convince around half the crew mates of this ship that it was a good idea.
"Follow me, sir. We'll give you a tour as we tell you what we're about to do in approximately 72 hours."
Noble 6 watched Agent Washington as he followed the Spartan Commander out of the Infirmary.
"First off, UNSC Seventh Halberd was not the only one to take heavy hits from the Banished. UNSC Revenant has been rescuing and salvaging any remnants of UNSC-related personnels. Until further notice, we are the biggest surviving pocket of UNSC."
"What about ONI?"
"ONI… disappeared, sir. 7 months ago. Last contact was during the Created Conflict when Black Ops Operatives were sent to destroy any UNSC related intelligence in Created- controlled areas. When the Banished systematically attacked us, ONI was unfortunately one of the first branches of our government to go MIA."
"I see."
"We've been surviving on salvaged parts of Covenant, Banished, and Forerunner technology. Most likely the reason why we're still alive."
Several crew mates stopped in their tracks as they gave Noble 6 a salute.
"But we're taking a break from outright fighting the Banished. We have enough resources to survive, not win a fight. Our forces are still scattered, and thanks to taking two consecutive hits from different forces we lost contact with other UNSC pockets. We… although not unanimously, have agreed to travel to a nearby colonised planet, establish a UNSC base, and regroup with the rest."
"Did we decide on a colony planet?
Washington stayed silent for a moment or two, before turning around to face Noble 6.
"Yes. Yes we did, sir. Earth. We'll be arriving on Earth to carry our new objective in approximately 72 hours."
"Earth?"
"... Yes, sir. Earth. Do you know much about the planet?"
"I know that UNSC cut all official contacts with the planet in 1989. They still had an eye on Earth. Enough to have some of the Spartan II candidates kidnapped from Earth."
Noble 6 looked at Agent Washington.
"Will that not breach the Cole Protocol?"
"God, I hope not. This is the engineering bay, run by a joint operation of UNSC officials such as the Materials Groups and Watershed division, Personnels from UNSC-associated Manufacturers such as Misriah Armory and the BWS, and the Artisan-Armourers of the Sword of Sangheili. Chief Engineers are Spartan Cell, and Khyl 'Suhom."
Noble 6 watched as the Engineers went to work: Salvaged wrecks dismantled, either fed into half-exposed and half-finished Assembler vats to be used as repair parts or recycled materials for new gears.
"We've checked your armour while you were out. Mark V[B] ported to Gen 3."
"Black Ops operation against the Created forced me to take whatever advantage I could. The lack of entrances available to rebellious AIs meant that the Created could spot me less effectively."
Washington nodded. He had heard a lot of Spartan IVs had also favoured the newly updated Mark V[B] for that exact reason. Which meant that they could adhere to the newly revived Cole Protocol easier.
"Besides." Noble 6 added. "I just feel more comfortable in this armour."
Agent Washington chuckled. "I'm sure you do. Unfortunately, your current armour has been suffering heavy hits. Whatever circuits it had is frying up, sooner or later you'll be dragging half a ton of scrap metal around."
"I see. I guess it's time to move on. Do you have some options for me?"
"We do. We are running a ship that possibly contains the most Spartans out of all surviving UNSC Fleets. And considering that we assimilated several intelligence and information from various Manufacturers and Divisions, we end up have a wide variety in armour. Each blueprint specialising in specific roles. I'll let the Engineers introduce you to what we have."
Washington gestured towards the corner of the Engineering bay.
Several Spartans were already having their armours assembled onto them, updating and upgrading parts, or swapping to different variants.
Several Spartans witnessed the Ghost of Reach walking with their Commander, giving the two a salute and standing.
It was a little funny to Noble 6. For nearly all his life his achievements and feats were nothing but black ink and censorship.
He was meant to be forgotten, if he was noticed at all.
And the Spartan III was fine with that. He enlisted to kill, not to gain recognition and become the next Spartan IIs.
To think that a journalist fighting against ONI caused everyone to know his name.
Ghost of Reach, the journalist dubbed him. The hidden hand within Noble Team that successfully tipped the scale of the war. Someone that allowed Master Chief to finish the fight.
It was an exaggeration, of course. There were other Spartans that survived the Fall of Reach. And there was definitely many other Spartans whose sacrifice and legacy paved way for humanity to win the war.
But media loved exaggerations, because the crowd ate that up as if it was a Christmas cake.
Engineers made way for Noble 6 as he stepped towards the platform, mechanical rings unfolding and ready to disassemble the damaged Mark V [B].
Noble 6 felt his helmet lift off his face. Holographic models of potential Mjolnir variants and up-armour attachment he could get.
It was like going through a catalogue in a store. Choosing menus in a restaurant.
"Is there a specific armour you have in mind, sir? Chest piece, knee guard, helmet?" One of the two engineers asked. Noble 6 stopped looking at the options and turned to them as he was suspended in the platform.
"Standard Issue, general purpose. Field work. Give me whatever you have."
Should Noble 6 keep wearing the Mark V [B] helmet, or should we have him wear a new helmet? I'd actually like some of your opinions on that, so feel free to leave them in the comments (and if you want him to wear a different helmet, leave a suggestion as well!)