The girls seemed stunned for a moment. Ahead of them lay a tent colored a deep blue and seemingly made of plastic. It had windows, though cutouts for holes through which the air filtered didn't really qualify as windows, as well as two signs. Written in Japanese, English and, courtesy of a UNSC Translation device sent by doctor Halsey's people as a token of goodwill, the local alphabet and language. The signs read 'Men' and 'Women, with each placed on a specific side of the makeshift building.
Rory was the first to step inside, examining the female side of the place and the changing rooms. She watched as small clouds of steam poured from the inner area, which was separated from the changing rooms with curtains. She then examined the changing room. Rubber mats lay on the floor, there was a long, thick bench in the middle and several shelves with containers to put one's clothes in.
Following her in was Tuka. Rory smiled at the Elf girl, then said, "Ah, Hodolew's daughter. To what do I owe the pleasure."
"O-Oh... Greetings, Your Holiness," She replied and bowed, then noticed Tyuule, "And you as well, Your Highness."
"Please, do not," Rory waved it off and turned to face her, "We are all but guests here, my girl."
"She's right," Tyuule smiled as she set her clothes aside, baring it all proudly...
"B-But, you're..." Tuka seemed stunned for the moment, the sweet little girl. Rory could appreciate the meekness which was instilled into the young Elf by her father, though she wondered if Hodolew had trained her specifically like this, or if his wife's death had led to the girl finding her father more distant than prior. She had been there to help as a witness to the man's wedding, after all.
"I know," Rory nodded, "But I have been..." She hummed, then looked at her halberd as she gently set it aside and started preparing to go into the baths, "I have been humbled by the UNSC, the soldiers that you saw me arrive with just prior to the Dragon attacking you. A truly strange army, they are," and she let out a short chuckle. She paused only as a chill shot up her spine, the memories of the MAC Round blasting apart the mountain coming to her. Tuka had definitely noticed her little jump there, as had Tyuule.
Tuka gasped, "They humbled the Apostle of War? What sort of magics do they wield?" Clearly not willing to confront her otherwise. Tyuule, meanwhile, chuckled and continued arranging her clothes, before plucking up a towel and wrapping it around herself to at least keep some of the breeze out. She still had her BDU with her, though her armor seemed to be lacking this time, perhaps being in the armory.
"Not magics. As per their leader's own statement, it is called technology," She replied softly, "The weapon of men and women unbound from their belief systems. However, Doctor Halsey, who is a woman of science, should not underestimate what faith can do to guide one. And I am sure she does not, even with her blustering," and she looked to Tyuule, "She was the one to bring you here, was she not?"
"I wanted to come. I was concerned over the well-being of the Third Platoon," Tyuule blushed, averting her gaze and suddenly grabbing her right hear, playing with it.
"I have seen this 'doctor Halsey' when she came to get her men," Tuka replied, looking between them, "An elderly woman."
"Age begets wisdom. And doctor Halsey has wisdom in spades," Offered Rory as she finished undressing, all while a seemingly embarrassed Tuka looked away. She hummed, then looked to the blushing Tuka while retrieving one of the towels beside the container she'd left her outfit in and asked her, "Do you care to join us?" with a devious smirk, while the Queen giggled. The elf gazed at her, stunned, for a moment, to which Rory clarified, "We cannot continue our conversation lest you join us, young one."
She wrapped the towel around herself, then hummed and paused as she heard heavy breathing. All three of them turned toward the door flap of the tent as a figure walked inside. A green suit, bearing a mask of some kind, opaque eyeholes in said mask, black gloves and, in general, a wrinkled-looking plastic clothing set stood before them. Rory almost went for her weapon, while balls of magical energy formed in Tuka's hands. Tyuule, meanwhile, somehow produced an M6 Magnum pistol. Presumably from under her clothes.
The figure raised one hand, before pulling her hood off her head and the mask off her face. Bright blue hair and eyes greeted the two ladies, alongside the face of a young maiden. She spoke, "Apologies... Was examining the equipment of our newfound saviors," to which Rory chuckled. The Elf, meanwhile, lowered her hands and breathed a sigh of relief. The little girl wiped the sweat from her brows, adding, "They call this a..." She hummed, then switched to English, "Mopp Suit," and then back to Latin, "I do not know why."
"Mission Oriented Protection Posture," Tyuule replied in perfect English, "MOPP for short. Lieutenant Richard introduced me to the concept when mentioning that, during previous wars, their humanity and the members of the United Nations that own this base have to deal with issues such as military-made diseases, or biological weapons, as per their own terminology, as well as gaseous armaments known as chemical weapons."
"Their military can invent diseases and deadly gases?" Tuka hummed, "That sounds like a Magical curse."
"I would believe so, too, but..." Rory sighed, "It is far more terrifying to behold it being made by the hands of man than the magic gifted to us by the Gods."
That left the room a little quiet, a bleak atmosphere settling in as the girls all changed out to go into the bath. Of course, Rory could not just leave the situation like this, stating, "Of course, they bring many positives as well. Well... Positives for those like some of those in my flock. Bunny Warriors have allied with the UNSC after the Empire's threats upon them and the subsequent battle. I hold a firm belief that the Queen, Tyuule, likes one of the men of the UNSC."
Tuka paused, looking at her as her face flushed, while the younger girl, whose name Rory had yet to ask for, seemed interested. She spoke, "By the way, young mage, I have not gotten your name."
"I am Lelei La Lalena, apprentice to Cato El Atlestan and taught at Rondel during my earliest years of life," The girl bowed, "An honor to meet you, Apostle. And you as well, miss Elf. And you, too, Your Highness..."
"Hello," Tuka greeted shyly, "I am Tuka Luna Marceau. Daughter of Hodolew Ray Marceau, of the High Elves."
"A pleasure," Lelei replied, then straightened up and said, "Shall we?"
Rory smirked, "Indeed, we shall..."
And in they went...
Early morning the next day, Rory had been the first to wake from her slumber within the confines of the United Nations base. She watched calmly as the UNSC, US and SDF troops loaded up their equipment onto the transports, with Torres, Richard and Itami seemingly talking with one-another and laughing as they put extra kit in the HEMTT. Tyuule, meanwhile, seemed to be focused on talking with the supply corps troops that came to drop in the gear for them, as well as with Delilah.
She approached the two women and said to Tyuule, "Hello, Tyuule, Delilah."
The Bunny Warrior queen and Delilah both turned to face Rory, with Tyuule greeting, "Good morning, your Holiness. How have you slept?" as she gripped her assault rifle by the strap.
"Well enough," Rory shrugged, "The other two young ladies, Lelei La Lalena and Tuka, will be joining us on this ride, it seems..." And she chuckled as she heard arguing in Elvish between father and daughter. Beside her, Lelei was talking to Cato as she prepared to depart, carrying a full bag of supplies. The Apostle chuckled as she listened to Tuka yelling at her father for a moment, before the man finally seemed to relent.
She approached, carrying a bow, arrows and a bag full of supplies for the road, meeting with Lelei, Tyuule and Rory in the midst of the gathering group of vehicles. Tanks, infantry, Warthogs, Toyotas, Humvees and even an AAV and MTRV were going to be rolling with this little 'away' force. The Marines of both the States and the UNSC had already clambered aboard their vehicles, with the SDF packing the last of their bags.
"Seems we're preparing to leave in a hurry," Commented Rory, then she gazed toward Lelei and Tuka and stated, "I hope you ladies have your translators at the ready..." before she and Tyuule led the way toward the vehicles. The three Lieutenants saw the women approach from afar, with Itami humming as he watched Lelei and Tuka approaching them.
Richard spoke, "Seems like our third party's ready for the road trip, too."
"Hah," Torres snorted, "Hope they can keep up."
"Mercury can fight from what I've read," Richard commented, shifting one last back onto the HEMTT, before turning to Torres and Itami and stating, "And Tyuule's a crack shot, but she still likes her kukris more," as he walked with them toward the 'lead' vehicle. HITMAN THREE-ONE was the Toyota-type transport that the boys rode in on. It was chosen as the command vehicle for the simple reason of it having both the space and the long-range radios fitted onto it.
The men clambered aboard, with Torres remarking, "So, we're gonna be fine, is what I'm hearing," as he jumped into the backseat. Kurata was driving, of course, with Itami taking shotgun as the girls also approached. Richard took the seat opposite him and nodded, with Henry smirking, "Good to know that. We also got the mage and the Elf chick. They gonna be fine?"
"Hell if I know, man," Shrugged Richard. The two turned to see the girls climbing aboard, to which the UNSC Lieutenant spoke again, "Sleep well, ladies?"
"Well enough," Tyuule replied, sitting herself down beside him and smiling. Thankfully, enough, it seemed that the girls only took up one of the two benches within the Toyota high mobility vehicle with Richard nearest to the front. Kuribayashi came aboard next, grinning ear-to-ear as she hefted her Howa Battle Rifle inside first. Behind her, Kurokawa came next, then came Sergeant Akira Tomita. Last one in was Rosie. She tossed her shotgun onto her back.
"Roomy," She quipped, grinning as she sat herself down and closed the door behind them. Plucking a tablet from her carry bag, the girl opened it up and said, "Hope everyone's read the reports. Imps seem to be bringing stuff to bear. Probably realized they fucked up hard enough to bring the sky crashing down on their domes. Joint Tactical Command's been given to UN and UNSC assets, with the Major, Colonel and Admiral coordinating with General Hazama, as well as the other officers in the UN Cadre."
"UAVs spotted a lot of movement in the Empire," Torres said, then explained to the surprised Kuribayashi, Kurokawa and Tomita, as well as the rest of the unit, over the convoy radio, "UNSC started sharing the information with us just recently, but we do have the footage of their Wombat UCAVs. Imps are moving more of their small-time dragons up. Fifty cals are just enough to pen the little shits."
"So, we may be seeing contact along the MSR?" Kuribayashi inquired, looking over her gun. She pulled the bolt back partially, making sure a round was in the chamber, before thumbing the safety and holding the gun by its grip, barrel pointed at the floor like Kurokawa's. She saw the confusion in the two newcomers to the party. Lelei seemed to be the most interested, taking in both the language and its translation, presumably to build upon her own knowledge. Tuka, meanwhile, seemed to steady herself, gripping the bow in her hands tightly.
"Possible, but unconfirmed," Itami replied from the front, looking back at them, "UNSC Bombers already started the hits, like we expected. Took out an entire encamped military force somewhere along the riverbank that divides East from West and us from them, so air support's another factor we'll need to take into account. Richard, you got a JTAC with you?"
"Rosie's good at guiding GBUs," Quipped the Marine, with Rosie grinning.
"Gimme a laser designator or a map and a compass and I'll give our boys accurate coords," She added onto it, winking at the boys and girls. She then chuckled as she garnered an almost imperceptible glare from Tyuule, "But yeah, this is gonna be a fun road trip. Hope you kids brought your packed lunches for this one, 'cuz Command's only going to start running supply trains when shit kicks into high gear."
"Pardon," Lelei started, "How does..."
Rory chuckled, "It's a figure of speech, girl. It depends on context and, in this case, means when the UNSC begins their assault against the Imperials in earnest."
"Oh," Lelei hummed, then nodded, "Thank you."
"Think nothing of it," She replied, then looked to Itami at the front and said, "Say, Lieutenant Itami."
"Huh?" The man seemed genuinely scared for a moment as he turned toward her.
"You have been avoiding me. Have I done something to offend you?" She teased, to which Richard and Torres snorted. Rory had only been here for, what, a day at least? And she had already scared the living shit out of Itami. Richard didn't know the man as well as Torres did, certainly, but he knew well enough that when a man looked that scared, the girl had him dead to rights.
Itami started stuttering, "Y-Yes, well, you see, I was busy with preparing for the operations. It's nothing personal."
She smiled a predatory smile, "I see... Well, we shall be spending some time together now, so at least we will be able to get to know each-other a bit... Better~," And the other two Lieutenants, as well as their Sergeants and NCOs, stifled giggles, while Lelei, Tuka and Tyuule stared, confused. Richard was just glad even Kuribayashi and Tomita got the whole thing. Rosie, too.
"Anyways," Richard cleared his throat, "We should probably head off. It's..." He checked his wrist-watch, "Well, look at that. Exactly seven o'clock. Step-off time."
"Right," Itami nodded, silently thanking Richard for pulling him out of this as he picked up the Radio transmitter and spoke, "ALPHA, this is HITMAN-THREE, Three-One speaking. We're beginning our mission. Wish us luck. Three-One, over and out," then he switched to convoy Radio and spoke, "All convoy vehicles, we are mission go! Proceed down the MSR at best speed!"
Affirmative replies echoed over the radios, with the first vehicle in the lead, Misfit's Abrams, starting up its turbine engine and beginning to roll forward. Behind it, a UNSC Warthog with a missile launcher, two with gatlings, one with a Gauss gun and one for cargo, for the extra ammunition, spare parts, that kind of thing. Each was manned by members of Richard's team. Behind them were the MTRV, HEMTT and the AAV bringing up the rear, as well as the Japanese APC.
The vehicles began their rollout onto the dirt paths, passing by checkpoints and defenses, by artillery pits and trenches and by barbed wire and fences that separated the base from the outside world. Farther behind the base, they could see the airbase section being built up. A dozen hangars, a control tower with a radar and a massive tarmac landing strip, plus taxiways and reinforced storage areas. The entire UN presence was working on them.
Up above, a UNSC Pelican bearing civilian markings, namely those of a research unit out to see what the Gate was about, as per Doctor Halsey's orders and request, flew in for landing. Richard remarked, "Looks like the Eggheads finally decided to show up and check the place out."
"Hope they have strong stomachs," Torres quipped, "It's Taco Tuesday."
The SDF and other two Marines let out short laughs as the convoy rolled ever forward down onto the main road and highway. Itami hummed, looking to the left and remembering this stretch of road as the one with beautiful scenery, the same route they took before meeting with the UNSC and the Fire Dragon. He also remembered the beast and how terrifyingly easy the UNSC Air Force had mulched it.
By God, was he glad that they were slowly building up a proper alliance with these folks. He asked, "Hey, uh... Elf lady and the mage."
"Yes?" Tuka leaned forward. Lelei did the same, but she didn't speak.
"Why'd you tag along?" He asked, "Don't take this the wrong way, but..."
"We wanted to see if the city of Italica still stands," Lelei replied, "That, and we wanted to see if we could seal a trade deal with them. While we deeply appreciate the SDF and UN Forces allowing us to stay within your base and to visit the base of the UNSC, we will still need to be able to earn our own living," and that was not exactly a lie. Lelei did, in fact, want to help her fellow Coda villagers and the Elves set up a relationship with Italica, a small city-state duchy that was a vassal of the Empire.
"Italica, huh?" Torres inquired, "Guess you haven't been told."
"Told what?" Tuka replied, somewhat worried.
"High-Com wants us to take Italica over. It's situated on a major crossroads point on this Highway. First, we'll hit a few small towns up, see if they're willing to talk and be brought under the care of the UNSC and UN instead of the Imps, then we'll take Italica. Sure, we won't touch the duke or his family, but we do want the place under joint UNSC-UN Control, seeing as it's going to be important for any further pushes into the Empire's lands," Richard explained, thorough as always. He figured the girls deserved to know the truth.
"I see..." The young woman sighed deeply, "This should be an interesting outing..."
"Indeed," Tuka added.
"Can't be any more interesting than when we rescued you, girls," Torres shot back, smirking at them. Another few chuckles were followed by an eerie half a minute of silence. Kurata seemed unwilling to say anything while Kuribayashi was simply looking around at the people gathered on board the transport. Torres tapped his foot impatiently, waiting to see if someone was gonna speak up again.
He sighed, seeing nobody was. He took a disk case from his right pocket and handed it to Itami, asking, "Play this, please... Silence's fucking killing me."
"Sure thing," The man nodded, opened the case and placed the disk onto a player, linking it with the vehicle's speakers. Soon, the thrum of a guitar and the bump of the drums started playing over the radio, with Itami grinning and stating, "Gotta love good old AC/DC..." before turning back and looking forward. Torres nodded, looking around the place, to see the girls seemingly stunned, all save for Rory, at the music.
"Least I know you girls are into good music," The Lieutenant stated proudly, then looked to Richard to see the man bobbing his head to it. Rosie and Kurokawa, meanwhile, seemed awkward about it, while Tomita had leaned back and fallen asleep. Kurokawa, he got, seeing as the woman was more of a doctor than a soldier. A good doctor, admittedly, but... "What's wrong with you, Sarge?" He asked Rosie.
"Not fond of the old 'classic' stuff, El-Tee," She sighed, slowly moving to cover his ears, "Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it, but I wouldn't cry if it was gone."
"Your NCO's got shit taste in music, Richard," Torres stated matter-of-factly, to which Richard snorted.
He shrugged and said, "I didn't raise her, Henry. It's just the way she is..." which got a rise(and a raised middle phalange of the right upper extremity toward him) from his Non-Com Officer. He chuckled, then leaned back against his seat and started humming to the tune of the song just as the lyrics kicked in. Tyuule bobbed her head from left to right and simply listened to the music.
Torres hummed, tugged at his BDU's sleeves to straighten them out, then checked his M4A1, then looked back to see that a pair of Marine Humvees, one of which was carrying a Mark 19 Grenade Launcher in its armored turret. He dreaded the kind of friendly fire incidents that beautiful piece of Marine standard-issue equipment would cause, but moreso wondered just what the Imps would think of a fully-automatic person-mulch-projectile launcher firing right at them.
He chuckled darkly at the thought, then noticed that Lelei was staring at him, confused, before waving his hand dismissively and smiling at the fifteen-year-old mage. She nodded, then hummed and leaned against her seat to sleep as well, like Tomita. Kuribayashi, meanwhile, did another check of her rifle, then looked to Tuka and asked, "So, you're an Elf?"
"Yes," Tuka nodded, "A High Elf."
"I see," Kuribayashi hummed, "How is that? Y'know, living centuries and all."
"It is..." She hummed back, then smiled, "It is an interesting thing, indeed. That the gods blessed us with long life."
Kuribayashi snorted, "I bet," as she hefted her battle rifle up closer and made sure to keep the safety on. To be fair, Kuribayashi was just asking to make conversation with the girl, seeing as they were gonna be stuck together for the next few days of travelling through the country-side of the Empire's outer territories. She added calmly, "How old are you, anyway?"
"One hundred sixty-five years old," Tuka replied.
"So, like a sixteen year-old in human terms...?" Richard asked, looking at her. She shrugged, then gave a simple nod, to which the man said, "Alright, noted," uneasily. They basically had two minors aboard their transport vehicle. Thank God his helmet was continuously recording. He hummed, then looked to Tyuule and said, "So, Delilah told me you folks and the Elves had a fight?"
"Some years ago, yes," She nodded, then looked to Tuka, "There may still be tensions, but..."
"Father says that, while tensions remain, our people can, at the very least, be thankful that your own were among the soldiers of the UNSC that protected us from the Fire Dragon," Tuka offered, seemingly calming down. She let out a yelp as the vehicle's wheels met a slightly larger rock, before her cheeks turned red from embarrassment. Tyuule simply smiled at her.
"Good to know. I heard from the lady that raised us that Hodolew, your father, was quite the shot," She chuckled, then looked to Richard. The conversation continued on, unabated, as the vehicles trundled down toward the first town in their path. Their target remained Italica, the trade hub and center of the Highway they had just recently spoken about. Above, UNSC Aircraft flew at high speed past them. There was a lot of work ahead, a War to fight. Sure, it was a war against people with swords, dragons and bows and magic, while they had guns and tanks and aircraft...
Christ, talk about stacked odds...