It'd been almost a week since the battle against Zorzal's forces. No enemy forces had come since. Meanwhile, the UNSC FOB had begun an expansion program. Layers of defenses were being built up as the base was being expanded, including automated air defenses after the realization that dragons were flying about. Much to doctor Halsey's chagrin, the expansion also meant the deployment of more military-grade equipment from the ships. Artillery pieces, anti-air missile systems and a thousand more of their soldiers had come planetside, with well over a hundred new scientists as well.
Halsey regarded the changes from atop one of the newly-built concrete walls, while UNSC Construction Battalion workers, namely electricians and engineers, put up the anti-air turrets meant to help defend the FOB. Around the walls, layers of barbed wire and mines had been set up, with only two ways out:through the rear of the FOB, or through the front, where two roads had been 'built'. Really, they were just beaten paths of dirt that were more openly travelled by Warthogs.
There were also newly-built landing pads and helipads in the base, for Pelicans, Condors and other birds that needed an LZ while transporting supplies, equipment and personnel. Still, Halsey was glad to see that the UNSC's SeaBees and Engineer Corps moved as fast as they did when it came to expanding their horizons and the entire FOB Area, because they had several new buildings, including new barracks square in the middle of the base's walls.
Gun pits had also been dug outside, Halsey now realized, with the newest models of artillery pieces being set in place around them. Bunkers and MG nests also lined the places around the gun pits, with the barrels of the Kodiak Self-Propelled Artillery sticking out like bent tree trunks, their enormous muzzle brakes all too familiar to the Doctor and the Marines she worked with.
She watched a convoy of UNSC trucks and Warthogs depart for the Bunny Warrior kingdom. They were slightly encroaching on the girls' territory, but they promised they would leave the forests untouched so that their villages may continue to exist in peace, should they wish. Still, Halsey and Tyuule had finally signed an agreement through which the UNSC would protect the Bunny Warriors and act as an ally for them, while the Bunny Warriors themselves would serve as an auxiliary troop and Pathfinders for the UNSC when the need to search for resources and alien technologies came.
A fair trade if she said so herself. The Imperials had proven to be nothing to write home about. Still, she did. The reports requested by command and the UEG's committee to the UNSC exploration forces were supposed to be thorough and Halsey would leave nothing out either. She wasn't like her former commander. She intended to make ONI work for the betterment of mankind while she was still active. All branches of it.
She sighed, rubbing her eyes, then watched the convoy disappear in the distance. She descended from the walls, then marched down one of the freshly-dried concrete roads toward the command post. Radar antennae and radio and telecom systems stood tall, thin black stalks that protruded from the concrete square that acted as the CP. Around Halsey, Army personnel, brought down alongside the Marines, patrolled. Military Police.
Marching into the command room, which was still undergoing the final bits of construction, namely hiding all the wiring in the roof and the likes, the woman was greeted by Colonel Jacob Thatcher, an elderly man with a lot more bones to pick with the Covvies and Sangheilli than even the most hardened UNSC Marines. Grey, buzzcut hair, jet-black eyes and the most tired, aged face the woman had ever seen beside her own. He nodded to her, then said, "Doc. Good to see you."
"You, too, Colonel," She stated, approaching the holographic table and noticing the images playing. Drones had been deployed on cross-continental flights to map out the entire area from the mountain ranges up north to the Imperial territories in the middle. She wondered just why they'd need such an expansive map, before remembering that they were, in fact, at war with the Empire, despite the best efforts of Doctor Halsey to the contrary.
She hummed, then said, "One week of scouting and you've already painted most of the Empire's important facilities... I'm impressed."
"Wombat drones really helped with that," The man noted, leaning onto the table and looking over the place. He hummed, then said, "I'd presume you don't want us to go wasting missiles and such on them, doc?"
"I'd rather we found a way to coexist... If not peacefully, at least in a constant state of tension that only one side could break, either with diplomacy, or with the gratuitous use of nuclear warheads," Halsey murmured, almost a joke. She looked to the grinning Colonel, then clarified, "That last part was a joke, Colonel. Staining such a beautiful world with nuclear hellfire seems a little excessive. Doubly so, considering we're facing an alternate humanity whose only purpose seems to be to exist as a maleficent and absolutely deranged knockoff of the Roman Empire."
It would have been wasteful, Halsey thought, to throw a world away over a petty dispute received due to the fact she'd gotten a slight cut on her arm from the blade of the Prince. Now that she thought of the prince, that man must've been terrified. She hoped, at least. He had witnessed the entire two-thousand-man army he led into battle wiped out in almost the blink of an eye by what even Tyuule had called 'God's Birds'. She needed to take a moment off her day to go and educate the Queen and her subordinates about technology. Blissful ignorance was good, until it no longer suited the necessities of one's survival.
She hummed, then brought up topographical details of the surrounding area and the feeds from their Wombat scout drones. She pulled the images of Alnus Hill out and widened them. The Holy Hill seemed devoid of life for now, sans various seeming travelers to and fro. She sighed, squashed the images down and tossed them back onto the topographical map, moving on to bring up images of the Empire's capital.
Multiple layers of defenses, several districts, of which the furthest from the center looked like hell holes with little to no sanitation or care, as well as aqueducts and the main palaces and houses of the Imperial Royalty, not to mention the training fields for the various Legions of the Saderan Empire's military and their stables for horses and the "Wyverns" as Tyuule had called them. Flying lizards with hard black scales that could, in testing at least, stop a 7,62mm bullet.
Sighing, Halsey looked to the Colonel and said, "I know war seems like a very nice little occupation while we search for that Gate, but I assure you, Colonel, there's nothing here that is worth the slaughter of an entire people. Let them come with their armies and lose men if they so wish. All the easier for us to clean them up after, if they don't understand the message. We will only go to fight a proper war if Lord Hood and the UEG approve it and, so far, they have thankfully been reluctant."
"Yes, ma'am," The Colonel nodded, then sighed and leaned forward, "We could still do with scouting parties. Make contact with the locals and whatnot..."
"A worthy idea, Colonel, though I'd suggest letting me finish programming the translation software on the holographic tablets so they can communicate through text-to-speech with the local population," Halsey explained, arranging her labcoat and feeling the wound on her left arm. It still stung a bit and she had to change the bandage, but it wasn't horrible.
"Gotcha, ma'am. Just let us know when. I've got a few squads and ONI reps slated to go on the talks," The Colonel noted. She nodded. Good, her subordinates were taking initiative in all the right places. She offered the man a curt nod, then stepped out from the command building and into the medical wing. There, she was greeted by a young woman with black hair and green eyes who flashed her a smile. Halsey could smell the standard 'medicine' scent of the place. Disinfectants, pills, basically all the things, even the freshly-laid sterile tiles and everything.
"Ah, doctor!" She offered, "Came for the bandage change?"
"Of course," The woman nodded. She pulled her wounded hand out from her sleeve and showed it to the woman. She undid the bandage gently while Halsey was giving a last look through the translation software she'd written up on her tablet. She set it aside, looking over to the medical doctor as she tightly wrapped the new, disinfected cloth bandage around her arm.
"There we go," The girl stated, then she arranged her glasses and typed in the report for the bandage change.
"Thank you, miss O'Harra," Halsey offered, putting her hand through the coat's sleeve again and standing up, "What medication did you use?"
"Basic disinfectant alcohol, ma'am," She replied, then handed her the report to read. Halsey took it and nodded, quickly skimming through the tablet's contents and noting that the dosage had been lowered, probably due to her wound closing. She hummed, gave an approving nod, then handed the tablet back to the doctor and took her own from the medical table. She then went to leave, but O'Harra said, "Oh, doctor Halsey, one more thing."
"Yes?" She turned to her.
"I've noticed some of the Bunny Warrior girls who left base recently weren't properly maintaining their injuries. If you go with the next convoy over, can you please let Queen Tyuule know about that? I don't want their wounds to get infected," Doctor O'Harra requested. Halsey gave a curt nod to the woman, then excused herself. She aimed for the research wing this time.
Some of the concrete was still drying around her, so that told her the place was relatively freshly-built. Still, as she entered, the scent of various substances used for research hit her like a freight train, unsurprisingly. She passed by various laboratory sections, including the soil and atmosphere research sector, noticing that the staff there was working on soil samples right now.
She entered the main laboratory section, finding her staff running various diagnostics on the new systems and building installations, including the specialized radar and sensor suites installed on the rooftop of the place. She nodded to her assistants and co-workers, then went to her station to finish up the last coding bits for the translator and prep to send it to all UNSC tablets and data systems around, including the Marines' HUDs.
An hour and four cups of actual coffee later, the good doctor had finished her work. She hummed, nodded approvingly and tested the code again. As it ran, zero problems had been encountered. Suspicious, Halsey ran the code again and tested it out, finding it worked perfectly, unlike some ancient language translation programs from several centuries ago. She gave an approving nod, sent the report to High-Com about the translators and started sending out the software updates via the UNSC IntraNet.
Standing up, she cued her communication device and linked it to Richard, then said, "Lieutenant, is your squad willing to accompany me? I wish to test the new software updates I've sent your way..."
"The translator stuff, doc? Sure thing. Should we grab a box of com devices to see if the Queen and her girls will wanna test things out as well?" The man offered.
"That would be appreciated, yes. Thank you, Lieutenant."
"See you at the motorpool, doc. Samuels, out."
About thirty minutes later, the doctor awaited next to a truck, tapping her foot. She heard the boots of the Marines crunching against the concrete of the roofed motor-pool of the base and turned to see them. Ivanov and another, more burly Marine of the squad hauled the box of communication devices, a small container which held at least a dozen communication beads, while the Lieutenant and the rest of his squad walked to meet with the doctor. They saluted and she replied in kind. Though still iffy about being saluted, she'd slowly gotten used to it over time. Alas, she spoke, "Good to see you again, Lieutenant Samuels. Shall we?"
"After you, ma'am," The man offered as he opened the passenger-side door and helped the doctor climb inside. He marched to the driver's seat and mounted up, while the rest of his team loaded up the box of earbuds and themselves into the truck. As the vehicle rolled out, above them, the UNSC's newly-deployed aircraft came to land. Hornets and Huron-class gunship.
The Hornet was am almost ubiquitous air support light VTOL armed with twin cannons and missile launchers, as well as the ability to carry two Marines on the side-mounted wing/strut landing legs. The UH-170 Huron, meanwhile, was a development of the Falcon whose engines had been enhanced. It mounted grenade launchers at the doors, as well as extra ammunition for them and the gatling gun and ATGMs mounted on lengthened wings at the tips of which sat the engines.
It was also larger, at a width of 12 meters, length of 17 meters and a height of five meters. It was a tilt-rotor operated vehicle, much like its smaller, but older brother, but acted more as a gunship-type transport helicopter of old with a double cockpit. In the back seat sat the pilot, who had access to the bird's GPS. At the front was the gunner, the man who operated the 30mm gatling in the nose and the ATGMs. The vehicle could also house six passengers in the back, on a long bench that stretched between the bulkier front and the two door gunner seats.
It was a relatively new development. Meant to be an inexpensive stand-in for the burgeoning fleet of newly-upgraded Sparrowhawk Gunships that were being deployed to hotspots around the Galaxy, it became the mainstay of the Army for armed medium gunship support, supplementing the Hornets and the Vulture Heavies while the Sparrowhawks and Condors were given to the Marines for use during engagements against the Storm Covenant's forces, as well as any other separatist and Insurgent units that dared even look wrong at them.
She had to admit, it was an eerily terrifying to know that they had gunships on station. Her little misadventure in examining Forerunner artifacts led to her forces engaging in a war that they had no way to end right now beside destroying the enemy. She had no intention of doing that. Not without any immediate provocation or threat upon the lives of her own people.
"Doc?" The Lieutenant took her out of her stupor. She looked to him as he drove on. Still, he asked, "You good?"
"I'm fine, Lieutenant. Pondering things," She replied calmly, leaning against the cabin seat of the truck. "How did we get lodged into this war?'
"We didn't. Imps started it and a lot of us wouldn't mind finishing it quick so you can get back to that thingamabob you're looking for," The boy replied as they entered the outskirts of the forest and took a left. A bit of the forest had been cleared, of course, to provide a road for the UNSC to travel down when they wanted to go talk to the Warrior Bunnies.
Entering the village, the group was met by the sigh of the rest of the convoy that Halsey had seen prior. Some of the men and women were educating the girls in regards to certain items, such as proper agricultural practice, while others were more focused on talking to them. Clearly, the translation software had reached them as well. Stopping behind the last vehicle in the convoy, the Marines and doctor disembarked.
Tyuule stayed in the middle of the village, watching as the representatives of the other villages themselves got acclimatized to the UNSC's presence, chatting each-other up and seemingly learning from their new comrades. She looked to see the doctor and Lieutenant arriving, then offered them a nod and approached. She and Halsey greeted each-other, while the Lieutenant stood guard and looked around.
Delilah had begun chatting up a couple of the UNSC's medical corps girls, but she, too, noticed the arriving UNSC force, greeting them with a wave of the hand which Ikari replied to. Meanwhile, the Lieutenant eyed Doctor Halsey as she finished up her chat and motioned to the Marines to bring in the com beads. She handed one of the items from the box to Tyuule and pointed at her ear. Understanding the intent, Tyuule slid it into her right ear...
Doctor Halsey smiled, then spoke in English, "There. Can you understand us, Your Highness?"
She gasped, feeling her ear, then looked to the two. She spoke and their own translation software kicked in, translating the Latin into English, "I can...! This is..."
"A translation program built by me to assist in communication between our peoples," Halsey offered, smiling.
"Probably one of the most useful inventions for this place," The Lieutenant remarked, "Greetings, Your Highness. Glad we finally got something to allow us all to properly talk."
"To you as well, Lieutenant. I concur," She smiled brightly...
Richard was not a normal Marine by any means. He'd been through the hell of the Late Human-Covenant War with a lot of the buddies in his squad. All of them had seen everything from the battles for areas like Chi Ceti, Reach and Earth to the battle for the Ark when serving alongside the Sangheilli. He hated the hinge-jaws, but at the very least they had the common decency to put their former comrades in the ground... But that was not what this was about.
The moment he saw Tyuule smile at him, his heart pretty much chose to stop for half a second. He sighed, then smiled back and looked over to see his team already starting to help spread the com beads to the other folks around. What he didn't notice was the Queen's own reaction, which was more-so noticed by the good doctor. She hummed, watching the Queen pause for a moment.
Halsey sighed, rubbing her temples, "I shall go help with the spread of the translator beads..."
Rich hummed, watching Ivanov starting up a chat with another Bunny Girl, this one with scarlet hair and amber eyes. The two of them seemed to have hit it off quite well, while a few of the other boys around seemed intent on... Well... On doing certain things that weren't particularly in-line with the new Hearts And Minds approach Doctor Halsey intended for their new 'allies'.
The man tapped his foot, watching the situation continue as it was. Tyuule, meanwhile, marched up to his side. She looked to him, then asked, "Lieutenant. Can I ask something of you?"
He looked to her, then nodded, "Certainly, Your Highness..." somewhat aware he may not like what was to come.
"I require help learning your language..." She stated calmly, "And while these devices are convenient, I would feel much better, being aware of how to speak... And I do not wish to bother Doctor Halsey with this matter. She has enough to deal with as it is."
"... And you want me to help you," The Marine raised a brow, "To teach you English."
"... Yes?" She nodded, "It would also help with coordination between our peoples."
"I... Uh..." he paused, narrowed his lips and looked around, "I can try, I guess? I'm a Marine, though... We're the dumbasses of the bunch," And he flashed her a grin. Unsure of what the translator said to her, he stated, "That was a joke, Your Highness. If you really want me to help teach you English, though..." He hummed, then sagged his shoulders and sighed, "I feel like I'm gonna need to learn Latin, too, so... Trade deal? You teach me yours, I'll teach you mine?"
"Certainly," She smiled, then extended her hand.
He looked at the hand, then at Tyuule. Well, they had nothing better to do while either waiting for war, or for a way to visit that Holy Hill thing for the doctor.
He gripped firmly and shook.