Three months later...
UNSC Staff continued operation well into the next few months. The situation between the Warrior Bunnies and the common soldiery and science staff of the UNSC continued to warm up to the degree that Warrior Bunnies were coming to visit the ever-expanding Forward Operations Base while Marines went on security and training visits in the Kingdom itself.
Queen Tyuule had slowly begun integrating every tribe and, under an ONI aide's tutelage, installing a sort of government, a Council of all the Tribe Leaders which would gather around Tyuule to discuss laws to adopt and how to better prepare the Kingdom for any future incursions and for development. UEG Diplomats had also begun landing planet-side, with a newly-arrived diplomat ship, the UNSC Dove, having recently joined the fleet above.
Halsey looked over the scans the probes they'd sent out into the rest of the solar system had given. Really, nothing out of the ordinary, save for the planet below them itself. A variance in the magnetic field seemed to cause various minor glitches in the radar systems and sensor suites of the ships that tried to scan it. Nonetheless, location systems and GPS were made to defeat said glitches and to allow the UNSC troops on the world to properly locate each-other and the many areas of interest around.
She intended to go visit a local border town later today with the Lieutenant and his Platoon, so she made the preparations. They intended to open discussions with the lot of the folks around, to provide themselves landmarks and areas through which they could explore and to ensure that they could keep their borders safe for the time being. They were still at war, despite no attempt by the Imperial Military to breach their land again with any bigger a force than before.
Perhaps they didn't see them as a threat to take on just yet. Halsey wondered, humming as she typed away the last report she needed to type out for the day. Hefting her tablet and sliding it into the breast pocket of her labcoat, she marched out of her office, which had grown massively in size, proceeding down toward the motor-pool. There, he saw Richard sitting with Tyuule. He strummed a four-string guitar, while Tyuule tuned her voice to the song, sitting cross-legged on a box of ammo.
She hummed, bobbing from left to right to the tune, her eyes closed, then began singing in English, a bit shy at first, "Yes, we will rally 'round the flag, girls, we'll rally once again... Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom...!" before she really got into it, letting her beautiful voice loose, "We will rally from the hillside, we will gather from the plains, shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom! Freedom forever! Hurrah, girls! Hurrah! Down with the Tyrants and up with our Flag, while we rally 'round the flag, girls, rally once again, shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!"
The Lieutenant continued strumming the guitar, even as he noticed Doctor Halsey marching up to them. He flashed a grin to the doctor while the girl continued singing. The good doctor stopped in front of them, crossing her arms to her chest and listening to the woman before her sing. She whispered to the Lieutenant, "Her pronunciation has certainly gotten better..."
"I tried," Richard remarked with a smirk.
The girl was midway through the last verse when she opened her eyes, to see doctor Halsey. She froze, narrowed her lips and let her cheeks glow red as her eyes for a moment, before saying in pretty good English, "Ah... Doctor... I had not noticed you joined us. Apologies," as her ears flopped. Halsey hummed, then gave the woman a small, almost imperceptible smile.
"It's fine, Your Highness... May I say, impressive voice," The woman stated, which surprised the Queen. She gave a thankful nod, before standing to her feet. Richard, meanwhile, put the guitar away and jumped off the Warthog's driver seat. Halsey looked to Richard and said, "I want to go on a little exploration mission. Seeing as we are still at war with the Empire, as much as I'd like for it not to be the case, we can freely explore the enemy's border towns thanks to that. There is one about fifty kilometers west."
"Want me to rally the Platoon?" He asked, grabbing his rifle off the dash of the 'Hog and sliding it over his shoulder.
"It'd be appreciated to have an escort, Lieutenant, yes," She replied to her subordinate, then looked to the Queen and offered kindly, "Your Highness. We can take a detour, if you wish, to bring you to your people. The newly-minted Council should be undertaking its first Session within two hours. It'd be a shame for the Queen herself to miss the forming of her new government."
"I shall be well. One of your supply convoys should be departing for the..." She paused, then smiled, "Capital... Of the Kingdom."
It was clear that the concept of a fully unified nation was still new to her. Unsurprisingly, seeing as the only unified countries she must've seen so far were other City-State Kingdoms, Imperial vassals and the Empire itself, which was a gathering of multiple states conquered by them. It seemed that the Emperor's people were not only mirroring the Romans in militaria, but in their way of conquest as well.
Richard moved up to call the rest of the squad via Radio. Doctor Halsey boarded the Warthog via shotgun, while the Lieutenant took the driver seat. He looked over to the Queen as she was preparing herself to depart and meeting a few of the girls that came with her as military escort. Tyuule looked back, gave him a smile which he returned, then greeted the UNSC Marines of his platoon with a salute. They replied.
Rosie approached the Lieutenant with a grin and said, "Seems your girl's getting more acclimatized to us."
"She's not my girl," The Lieutenant replied in a whisper, "Now, haul ass aboard. We got a village to visit. Doctor's orders."
Rosie smirked, "Sure, sure. I'll take the gun," before mounting up on the Warthog. The others took a truck and a couple more armed 'Hogs. As the Marines started the engines and prepared to depart, Tyuule approached, much to the surprise of the Lieutenant. She pulled out a bag of coins and handed it to them, then looked around at the troopers, before looking the Lieutenant in the eye.
"Denarii. Needed money. If you intend to go into a village of the Empire, I believe trade is the best way to open yourselves up to them," She stated, "And if it is a village to the West of us, my girls traded with them once upon a time, before the matter with the Empire began. The Village's name is Ratiaria. They can provide you with fresh foodstuffs, perhaps."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Halsey said from beside the Lieutenant, "We will try to open trade with them, then."
"That would be good. When you return, let me know how that has gone. We wish to continue our trade with them as well. Perhaps we can, through you."
"Sure thing, Your Highness," The Lieutenant nodded. Moments later, the UNSC's vehicles rolled off the motorpool, out of the FOB through the main gates and onto the main concrete road. The UNSC had taken to building a two-lane-a-way, two-way road between the kingdom's front gates and their base of operations. Turning west, the vehicles rolled off onto the dirt, shaking and kicking up dust as they moved single-file toward their intended target.
Three UNSC Warthogs and a tractor unit, usually known to them as a Heavy Expanded Military Transport Truck, or the HEMTT(Hemat) for short, rolled forth, with the HEMTT being in its standard covered transport configuration. In the back, with the Marines, there were also various boxes filled with some provisions and trinkets. Halsey looked at her tablet, gazing upon the GPS system and interspersing it with photographs taken from low orbit to tell them their route of travel.
"So, doc," Richard started. She looked to him as he asked, eyes still focused on the road, "Is... There a reason you always travel with us?"
"I've gotten accommodated to going on trips with your Platoon," Halsey remarked nonchalantly, sliding the tablet back into her breast pocket. She looked at the ever-expanding fields ahead and continued, "That and your Platoon has a very good record of VIP escorts from past operations, including some vouched by the Master Chief himself. Like during the finalized Peace Talks between us and the Swords of Sangheillios."
"Ah, yeah, I remember that," The Lieutenant snorted, "Operation Enduring Peace. Still can't believe they trusted a bunch of wily Marines to go to a peace talk with the Split-lips..."
Halsey rolled her eyes, "Pardoning the understandable slur, I have to say that the Chief does not commend soldiers lightly."
"I'm well aware, ma'am," He smirked as they trundled forth, "Sapien Sunrise are still a bunch of jackasses. Hell, I don't much like the Elites myself, but trying to sabotage talks to stop'em from attempting mass genocide again? Rather take a bullet for one of the bastards myself than let that happen. We'd barely finished the bloody war five years prior, after all."
"I noted from your reports that neither you, nor your men and women are particularly shy when it comes to shooting humans," Halsey remarked. Of course, they had years of experience fighting both Covenant and Insurrection troops, so anything that moved was an enemy to them until proven otherwise. A sentiment Halsey understood, considering the SPARTAN-II program was created to combat the Insurrection itself.
"Covvies, Innies. Didn't matter to us all that much. Honestly, ma'am, we're people who love the UEG and what it brought for us," Richard explained, gently switching gears as they were getting into a rougher part of the trail to the village, "We don't care what threat we shoot at as long as we get to keep family and friends safe... And after our little Great War with the Covvies? We're all the family we have left."
"Third Platoon for life," Rosie stated firmly, grinning.
"Hoo'rah!" The entire Marine Platoon vocalized together. Halsey shook her head, not in disapproval, but rather out of a mild sense of disbelief at the bonds military men and women could so easily forge with one-another. She was glad that the squadron she chose was so open about their past. She sighed, putting on her glasses and taking out a book to read from her pocket.
She noted, "Lieutenant."
"Yes?" He raised a brow.
"As I told you, it's only 'Doctor'..." She stated firmly, but looked to him with a hint more kindness behind her tired blue eyes, "The rank of Admiral and the command of ONI were attributed to me by Lord Hood and the UEG on no merit that I can think of. The UNSC and the Government, however, have a need for a person to command their intelligence agency. Someone they believe they can trust. Whenever they find that person, I will return under their command, but even for as long as my tenure as head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, I'd rather be referred to as Doctor."
"I understand, doc," He smirked, "Slip of the tongue."
"I see," She hummed. Sighing, she leaned back into the leather chair of the 'Hog and let the Lieutenant drive without saying another word.
Meanwhile, aboard the transport truck, the quiet of the trip was about to be interrupted...
Ivanov hummed. He looked to Ikari, then asked, "How're you doing, kiddo?"
She gave a calm nod, then went on to check her sniper. Ivanov noted, "You're not very talkative. Noticed that the moment you joined our Platoon."
"It's been four years, Ivanov... I try to talk to people, but sadly, you aren't too fond of talking either, except when it's your turn..." She replied, looking him in the eye. He grinned, to which she hummed, "Anyway, none of us are that far apart in age. Definitely not far enough for you to call me Kiddo. Eldest of us is the Lieutenant himself and he's... What... Thirty? Thirty-two?"
"Thirty-four," Spoke another Platoon veteran, a corporal by the name of Stavrov, looking the Sniper in the eye. Maria Kalina Anastasia Stavrov had the longest name that any sane man or woman of the East had ever had the pleasure of hearing. She was a Russian descendant, same as Ivanov, and a veteran, same as Ivanov, having fought near the closing years of the Human-Covenant war. She was also descendant of some old Russian Nobility as far as the rumors went. An unimportant detail for a menacing, blonde-haired beauty with a killer glare in her eye and strands of grey hair showing, despite her own age of thirty-two. She glared at Ivanov, then said, "Give the girl a break, Viktor."
"Huh..." Ikari hummed.
"The great Corporal Stavrov graces us with the melodious sounds of her beautiful voice," Ivanov smirked.
"Fuck off, mudak," She scoffed, her voice slightly venomous, but mostly playful. She put a cigarette between her lips and lit it with a gifted 'trench lighter', an item made out of the spent casing of a 14,7mm bullet and the fired bullet itself, with the latter acting as a cap to the entire mechanism. She spoke to him, "Poor girl can't even rest and check her kit with you around, Ivanov..."
"Pardon me, KomBat, didn't think we weren't allowed to talk to one-another," He replied smugly.
"I don't mind being called out with song lyrics from Lyube, Tavarisch, but let's keep the English up and the Russian down. We're still in the Multinational Corps. And I didn't say we couldn't interact with people. I just said you couldn't," She smirked, the cigarette still held firmly between her lips as the rest of the platoon let out various noises that resembled suppressed laughs. She looked over to a confused Ikari and said, "Relax, Snapshot. You think you'd know by know about Ivanov's penchant for trying to interact with people."
"And to translate, KomBat means commander of the Battalion. Shortened thing from the old Russian Military dialect... Also a song from a famed Russian band of the 21st Century named Lyube," Ivanov explained. Ikari nodded, then looked to Corporal Stavrov, who shrugged and took a deep drag out of the cigarette, flicking the ash off to the side. The Japanese descended soldier felt a bit odd, still, but the Platoon was her people. She was the shy, quiet kid of the family, though.
She approached the front of the truck and knocked on the window separating them from the drivers' cabin, to which one of the tertiary crew, the Radio Operator of the squad, poked his face through. She asked, "How much farther, Miguel?"
"Bout five klicks out, Stavrov," The man stated, "Fuck did I tell you about smoking in a covered truck?"
"Oh, blow it out your ass," She replied abrasively, "I smoke wherever I want."
"You're the one who's gonna be crying when Dick starts yelling at you," He smirked, then pushed the window shut. She rolled her eyes, then flipped the bird despite the man having turned his back. The vehicles rolled on forward for more time through the wide fields of the area, only to begin slowing down. Miguel called out to the crew, "We're there! Pack up your kit and get ready!"
The Marines all stacked up their mags. The various clacks of charging handles being cranked and rounds being fed into rifles echoes across the flatbed of the truck. Some of the Marines prepared themselves to retrieve the boxes and haul them out. Doctor Halsey, however, interrupted that by saying, "Unload the supplies only once we've opened talks with the villagers. Be prepared. This is enemy territory."
As the vehicles entered through a main 'gate' of sorts, really an archway made of wood that opened into the small town itself, the huts of the villagers came into view. Houses made of clay and dirt and perhaps few bricks came into view. Dirty glass windows through which the villagers peered opened. The Marines and disembarked from their vehicles, save for the gunners on the two rear 'Hogs, then formed a perimeter.
They kept their rifles pointed down and fingers away from the triggers as the medieval townspeople exited out onto the main dirt road of the town to greet them. The village was built 'tall', meaning it went from one archway to the other. And from the looks of things, it was at least a couple of kilometers long, perhaps several hundred meters wide, if not outright a thousand.
For a border town... It was pretty undefended.
Back with Halsey and the Lieutenant, the two and Rosie marched to talk with the locals. Halsey began, looking to the eldest man currently out, "Greetings to you. I am doctor Catherine Halsey. We come in peace," as she motioned to her entire force. The man, an elderly, stout fellow with a grey beard and no hair on his head, bowed. Halsey looked on for a moment, confused.
"Welcome to our village. I am elder Rantz, of the people of Ratiaria. What is it you and your men seek in the farthest corners of the Empire, doctor?" He replied calmly, introducing himself.
"We seek many things, but, as of right now, merely to open trade. We and our people have our settlement not far from this village and wish to negotiate," She explained, to which the man hummed.
"How far away is your town? We do need new trading partners after the Empire's forces forbade us from working with the ladies of the Warrior Bunny tribes."
As Halsey talked with the man, the Lieutenant scanned the area. Various people came to look at the newcomers in their horseless carriages. What was normalcy for a veteran operational unit of the UNSC was an oddity and a half to medieval people, clearly. Still, it didn't stop some of the people trying to approach the Lieutenant's platoon mates. He spoke to the locals that did, telling them, "They cannot speak your language. Come to me for what you wish to ask."
He had had to answer several questions, namely how the vehicles moved, who they were, that kind of basic stuff, honestly. Rosie approached him after a bout of answering the questions of a five-year-old and stated, "Whole lotta Hearts and Minds going on here, sir. Ain't used to it," as she hefted her shotgun by the strap and reset its position on her shoulder.
"I know what you mean," The man replied calmly, looking around, "Viktor and the others doing alright?"
"Aye. They're letting people get a good eyeful of Marines in woodland camo. Stavrov and Miguel are browsing through the supplies we brought in the truck to see what they should give right now," Rosie reported, then hummed as she eyed a person in a cloak that had been sitting by a local stand. The small-of-stature person had been sneaking glances their way for the past few minutes. He elbowed the Lieutenant and motioned toward the person.
"I saw her," He reported, "Girl. Short of stature, maybe fifteen? Sixteen? Been eyeing us for a while."
"Think she's an Imp spy? Some kinda checkup?" She asked, "Y'know, to make sure the village is keeping up the deal of not trading with the Bunnies."
"Fuck if I know," The Lieutenant shrugged, "But we can't spook the locals right now. Tell the next gang to come into town about this if Doc Halsey manages to secure us a trade deal with this place," and he looked between the buildings behind them. Great fields of wheat spread out around the village, plus other various cereal. Beside them, right in front of them, there were fruit trees growing between the houses. Apple trees, orange trees, various items like that.
"It'd be great to have fresh fruit in the FOB," Stavrov murmured as she approached the two, "Hey, El-Tee. Sarge."
"Stavrov. Finally outta that bipolar rut of not giving enough fucks to talk to us?" Richard smirked.
"Fuck you, too, El-Tee," she chuckled, "I was thinking... Think command will be pissed if I set up a still?"
"Girl, if you start trying to brew Moonshine like you did aboard the Vladivostok, I fear we won't be the only ones reaming you for it," Rosie stated. The two started laughing, while the Lieutenant turned back to face the kid that was looking over at them. A pair of scarlet eyes greeted him from beneath the brownish cloak, but she quickly turned away and began to walk. Before the man knew it, she disappeared into the crowd.
He sighed, narrowing his lips. He felt like something just pointed a gun at the back of their heads. And at the back of this village's head.
"Lieutenant," Halsey reappeared beside him, an apple in her hand. She bit down onto the red-colored fruit and said, "Initial talks have been successful. I'll offer to command the option to deploy staff here to continue the talks, but I believe we may have acquired a new food source for the base, beside the frozen foodstuffs that the UEG spares to send toward us."
"That's great," He hummed.
"Something on your mind?" She inquired, raising a brow.
"We were being watched from the crowd. I and the Sergeant both noticed it... Could be an Imp spy," He replied, then sighed and stated, "Don't know, doc. I have a bad feeling."
"I see," Halsey sighed, "Very well, Lieutenant. We sadly have to depart, but I shall let any future mission here know about possible spies. Now, let's move. We have to get back so you can continue English practice with Her Highness," She then ordered, words to which the two UNSC Marine girls beside him started giggling. He rolled his eyes, marched up to his vehicle with the doctor and Sergeant and boarded it. He gazed upon the town one last time, then led the convoy of four vehicles to swivel about and exit the town.
There was still a lot of work ahead for them. The UNSC was slowly establishing their foothold in the place, but they still needed to make it to Alnus. The first steps would be befriending the Imperial Border towns, then, perhaps, bringing the Empire's leadership to the negotiation table, so that they may see that there would be no point in fighting a war. That they could not win and that peace was the best option.
Halsey wondered just how long that'd take as they rolled out from the place...
Behind them, however, a woman that appeared young, but was much older than the entire Platoon combined, stared at them as they departed in their armored carriages. She smiled proudly, arranging her traditional black and red dress and leaning her Halbert onto her shoulder. She chuckled, then spoke to herself, "So, those are soldiers of the army that slaughtered the Prince's men. An interesting scent you bear. Perhaps we could have met differently, but... Alas... The Gods seek to know what you intend to do with their children, ye, Warriors of the Eagle."
She stood to her feet, her scarlet eyes gleaming in the sun, "And I intend to find out..."