Richard had had a hard time processing just how much of a mess things had gotten. Ranging from the fact that they were facing a possible new enemy force that was supposedly gonna back up the Imperials. He and his team buckled up for the aircraft's landing back at FOB Kingdom, while Tyuule, Delilah and theirs watched them process the matter at hand. Richard had also told his squad and, he assumed, Halsey and/or the Chief had briefed everyone back at the FOB.
Radio traffic, however, continued to be mostly about the equipment discovered on the Mages, which now included a flashbang grenade, an M5 Frag and at least one gun with half a magazine worth of ammunition in it. That made Richard think that the bastards had scavenged some ancient crashed ship of theirs for weapons and just found what hadn't rusted good to use.
Descending onto the flight deck, the group saw that the newer equipment was beginning to arrive ahead of schedule. Several Heron dropships descended from orbit and onto the runway of their own newly-built airfield. The first thing they saw coming out of them were newly-built and upgraded Grizzly Main Battle Tanks. Up-armored, bigger and more dangerous brothers of the venerable M808 Scorpions, the Grizzlies were armed with twin-linked 120mm Smoothbore cannons in an up-armored turret, two 50cal MGs mounted just above it in CROWS-style automated turrets and a pair of missile launchers for air defense.
On the rugged hull of the up-armored Grizzly resided the smoke launchers that fired specialized concealment items, including stuff that somehow managed to disrupt thermal imaging scanners. The company rolled off the transport vessels and onto the deck, lining up, followed by the crews dismounting onto the tarmac for inspection. A UNSC Captain of the Army ran said inspection, while engineers gave once-overs to the war machines.
Behind them, about a brigade's worth of Plasma-based self-propelled artillery. The standard-issue UNSC Rhinos rolled off the transport vehicles, made to order and beautiful in their own right, not to mention designed to spread hot plasma across a wide area. Behind this brigade of tanks, however, were also multi-launch rocket systems dubbed by the UNSC, 'the Black Organs', due to the color of their own Titanium-A3 battle plate reinforcements, which were placed over the box-like launch system on the flatbed and on the angled crew cabin. It was a six-wheeler vehicle.
Add to that logistics vehicles designed to carry the ammunition and spare parts of these vehicles rolling off the next transport in the line of Herons and the final added treats bag:A Heron with a wider and taller troop bay opening up to reveal the manned combat mechs of the UNSC. Double-jointed, armored, shielded and carrying a vast array of specialized sensors, as well as a gatling gun on the left arm and a quad-missile launcher on the right, the Mantis walkers marched onto the deck, their feet thundering against the concrete.
Richard grinned, while Stavrov brought her arms to her chest, crossed them and stated, "Well, big mama just gave us some help. Doubt the Imps are gonna last a day when the shit kicks off... AKA when they decide to fuck around and find out by pulling another attack like the one on Ratiarius," words which garnered a few muted hoo'rahs from the Marines of the squad.
The group then watched their wounded being carted away while more aircraft departed for the UN FOB on Alnus, presumably to pick up the civilians. Halsey must've called ahead, seeing as the Engineer Corps was out, too, building housing near the rear of the airfield, pressed against the mountainside as to keep those civilian refugees safe behind the multitude of layers of defenses the base was putting up.
Speaking of said defenses, the Marines also noticed M95 and M97 LANCE missile turrets being put up on the place's battlements, alongside SCYTHE AAA gun batteries and other various defensive pieces. Behind the walls was also the newly-built series of supply pads and fusion reactors that the UNSC was using to power the ever-growing military outpost and the expanding Kingdom of the Warrior Bunnies.
"It's good to know the UNSC continues its progress toward establishing a considerable foothold here," Tyuule voiced as she regarded the process of expansion and the development of the new settlement. The engineers had helped build up every bit of infrastructure within the territory of the Kingdom and did it with speed and tenacity unseen even among the best of the best of the architects and workers of the Empire.
"Hey, we said we wouldn't leave too soon, didn't we?" Richard smirked. Behind the queen, who was now blushing, Delilah rolled her eyes and smiled at the two, with a couple of the other Marines snickering in the background as well. That the Queen and the Marine had gotten as close as they did was unsurprising, considering the amount of time the two had spent together over the past few years. What was, however, most annoying for the man's fellow Marines and the woman's Warrior Bunnies was that the two weren't even remotely trying to 'tie the knot', so to speak. None of those present here knew why.
"Anyways," Richard hummed, "Let's go find the Colonel and Major and report the situation to them ourselves, then pack our gear and move out."
"Roger," Replied the squad. The group marched off the landing pads and toward the Headquarters, passing by the multitude of UNSC personnel on-station, as well as the contractors the base was working with to keep itself running. UNSC High-Com had decided that this place was suddenly an intermediate-to-critically important facility and operation, so it was developing.
Plus, it was almost as if they had a fresh new colony for people to move to once this whole mess with the war against the Empire was done and dusted. As the group approached the HQ, the Lieutenant showed them to wait outside and ordered Rosie to follow him so he could give the report. Tyuule and the others stayed outside, with Stavrov noting, "This is gonna be a strange few months, isn't it?"
"Probably," The entire Marine unit replied. Tyuule let out a chuckle.
They were an endearing bunch. It was a good thing they'd become allies when they did, else Tyuule wasn't sure what she would've done to face the wrath of the Empire, or theirs. Thank goodness they managed to also stop Shana before she caused any more damage to their early relations with the UNSC. A whole 'nother infantry Battalion had also been dropped in, it seemed, as the Marines and Tyuule were taken out of whatever conversation or thoughts they were having by the sigh of several hundred new Marines.
Battle-hardened, with sunken eyes, but wearing smiles as they marched, this Battalion bore markings on their shoulder pads indicative of their service life. Some of the men and women were as old as forty from the looks of things, with the most prominent marking on their shoulders being the Battle for the Ark. The last great campaign of the War, where the UNSC had secured victory against the Covenant. Tyuule had read about the greater Human-Alien conflict that had taken so many lives across almost three decades and how the UNSC was still fighting remnants of the Covenant Empire.
Stavrov smiled, "Colonel Stacker's boys are here."
"Looks like Captain Dubbo's right there as well, leading from the front," The Corpsman added, nodding toward the Australian Marine himself. He, too, was a legend among the ranks of the UNSC for his service. Yet again, most of the men and women before them were all veterans of almost the entire war, with their careers culminating in the Battle for The Ark. Tyuule wasn't sure what to do now.
She had also read up on the Chief and the SPARTANs. What they did and still do was beyond incredible. Humanity had been lucky to have such heroes in their ranks. The entire force she was now part of alongside her girls was the UNSC's finest. Despite that, they were reassigned to this backwater world for no reason other than perhaps Doctor Halsey requisitioning them in order to complete her operations here.
Understandably, the doctor would need security teams, but Tyuule felt like the number of troops present here was overkill. Maybe they were planning to stick around? It would've made sense for the UNSC to try and set this place up as a new world. A lot of unoccupied land to build upon, to farm upon, a lot of new locals to befriend and bring into the fold of being UEG citizens and soldiery for the UNSC.
She would've been glad to be a UEG Citizen, even if it somehow meant giving up her reign. Her people had suffered long enough as both thralls to the empire and simple bandits and stealers of men for their own species to live on alongside mankind and whomever else they decided to bring into the fold as members of the UNSC's many new demihuman units.
She hummed, then smiled to herself as she looked around, before feeling Delilah's hand land on her shoulder. Her confidant spoke, "Worried about something, ma'am?"
"No," Tyuule replied, shaking her head. She then looked around at the concrete, the recreation areas, the friendly demeanor of the soldiers and the air traffic. She then sighed and spoke, "The UNSC has provided us much in this short three-year span. I just... Wish we could help them a little more than we have. The Gate, the Forerunner technology on the planet. All of it is so strange. So little we know about the entire world around us, Delilah. Our whole world was flipped on its head when they came."
"We always assumed the Gate was built by the Gods, so, yes, true. It does flip everything upside down," Delilah replied, "Not to mention the arrival of two different variations of a highly-modern human military, both at war with the Empire that attacked them," The girl pinched her brow, then let out a deep sigh, "Emroy's blessings, Your Highness, I don't even know how we took it so openly... We even learned English, for the Gods' sakes. Just to better understand them and each-other."
Tyuule shrugged, then said, "I would presume it has to do with their arrival and providing us help, my friend," with a smile on her face, "They protected us from the Empire, humiliated its military forces and stifled the wrath of a God and his Apostle by a show of strength. And they did it all to make sure we, their first ally upon this little world, would be safe."
"I feel like a babe being coddled at the breast of one of our teachers," Quipped Delilah, garnering a chuckle out of the rest of her squad and Tyuule herself. Her smile grew as she spoke, "And yet here we are. A reborn people, rearmed to protect ourselves and our new brothers and sisters-in-arms. The possibility of going beyond the veil that is the blue sky, weapons we only thought of as magic until three years ago and a technological and societal uplift the likes of which no other tribe has seen on this world, even upon surrendering to the Saderan Empire."
"We were lucky," Tyuule replied, "Very, very lucky that they needed us."
"And that they decided to keep us around," Delilah grinned.
"Your people made a name for themselves, girls," Stavrov looked back at them as she spoke, "You backed us up when you could'a hung back while we were duking it out with the Imps and then you welcomed us with open arms, helped get our people back and all that. Don't doubt you've made yourselves well-liked in the eyes of the entire UNSC and UEG, considering this is a semi-public operation."
"It is?" The two girls furrowed their brows, surprised at the new information.
"Halsey's reports are published after being thoroughly read by an ethics committee and several bureaus. Oh, by the way, the Colonel and Major shat themselves when they heard the news about the game thing, kinda like us... Heh," Richard said as he and Rosie approached, "Hey kids. Miss us?" And he smirked. The others laughed at their Lieutenant's little quip, while Tyuule simply smiled at him. He smiled back, a red tinge on his cheeks, before stating, "Alright, ladies and gents. Go pack your bags. Colonel and Major agreed and we got the go-ahead to operate beside the UN Task Force present on the planet. That means Third Platoon is about to get embedded with the UN, so we're gonna be running with people from their side."
"Ah, hell, El-Tee," Spoke Stavrov, leaning her weapon against her shoulder, "We gonna be hanging with HITMAN Three again, I hope?"
"If I got any say in who we're operating with? Fuck to the hell yes, we are," He smirked. Several of the Marines voiced their approval with hoorahs and bumping their fists against their plated chests. Tyuule, Delilah and their girls gave salutes, before turning about. Richard cleared his throat, causing them to turn toward him, before asking, "Where d'you think you're going, girls?"
"Back home..." Tyuule said, "You are to depart for the FOB on Alnus. That means we'll be seeing each-other when you have breaks or are rotated out, correct?"
"Ya kidding?" Rosie spoke first, stepping up in front of the Lieutenant, "You gals backed us up when shit hit the fan. Don't think you can go leaving the Platoon alone, now. We're gonna need the backup," And she smirked, before elbowing the Lieutenant as Tyuule blushed and looked at him expectantly. Richard rolled his eyes, then nodded to the two girls.
With a smile, Delilah saluted and said, "Hoorah!"
A word which was echoed by the rest of the platoon plus the Warrior Bunnies this time. Richard had guessed Tyuule would've wanted to stick around for a change instead of just being there at random. She was also an incredibly fun girl to talk to. Whenever the two spent time together, even after two years, Richard couldn't stop listening to her own tales, of the gods, of how the Warrior Bunnies came to be, so on and so forth.
He paused, then realized he was staring at Tyuule as she and her girls talked among each-other. He sighed, then looked to his platoon, to see them all staring at him with grins on their faces. Well, all of them save for Ivanov and Ikari, though, as far as he understood, those two were gonna be fine and would rejoin them soon. Frowning at his squad, he shook his head, then ordered with a motion of his hand for the gang to load up. About thirty minutes later, the Marines had packed their kit and were already on the flight deck alongside the rest of the group.
Boarding the aircraft once more, the Lieutenant sat himself at the back of the blood tray, with Tyuule sitting face-to-face with him. Rosie sat herself down to his right, then said, "So, little vay-cay from standard-issue UNSC. Whaddaya reckon's gonna happen, bossman?"
"Hopefully? We get another ally in the form of an interdimensional historical version of us," He quipped, then leaned back into his seat.
"Hoorah," The girl replied. The aircraft began speeding toward Alnus hill, to the point the Marines and their Warrior Bunny Shock Troops hadn't really had time to get acclimatized to their new seats before they'd arrived. The aircraft rumbled as it decelerated, with the group feeling slight pits in their stomachs as the aircraft turned inward for the landing.
Upon touching down, the rear hatch popped open. Awaiting for them outside were, of course, Torres and Itami. The former grinned, his combat kit off as he was left in nothing but his BDU, which included a cap. He said, "Back already? Did you folks miss us that much?" as he watched his UNSC counterpart and his team descend. They all let out short laughs.
Richard patted him on the shoulder and said, "Your ugly mug was sorely missed, yes."
"Hah."
"So," Richard raised a brow as he hefted his duffel bag, "Where do we bunk?"
"Follow us," Itami offered. The two men then led the platoon of Marines and WBs to the barracks area of the base. Entering one of the many buildings, namely one the Marines and SDF shared, but still had room in for reinforcements, the men and women of the platoons were greeted by the sight of Marines and JSDF soldiers chatting each-other up, eating snacks together and outright wasting time when they could.
Among the rank and file, Kurokawa was first to notice them walking in. She smiled, waving to them, then said, "I'm surprised you moved so fast."
"Figured we'd get here in time for dinner," Shrugged Richard. The group, now containing Kurokawa, walked over to the free rooms.
The rooms were relatively spartan in appearance. A single bed, a dresser, a wooden shelf set and a desk, as well as a couple of power sockets and a lamp. Well, it was a decent-enough place to live, Richard thought. He dropped his duffel onto the bed, sat himself down and started removing the armor plates. The rest of the squad did the same, moving to their rooms to change out their kit.
Richard was, however, the first to walk out, greeting Itami, Kurokawa and Torres with a smirk and a nod.
This was going to be a fairly interesting company outing...