Torres looked over the edge of the wall again at the camped-out enemy, wondering just how deep the shit pool they were wading through at this very moment was. He scoped one of the archers in, watching as the man glared back at him, then sighed and lowered his M4. This really wasn't going to be the best fight, considering the bastards pretty much had'em dead to rights and surrounded.
Good fucking thing they had a tank, though. He sighed, arranging his uniform's collar and looking toward Taylor. The young man kept his SAW pointed down at the bastards, just in case they'd try to rush them. Behind them, the sun began to set, the torches of the enemy encampment being lit by the local guards patrolling the place. The Princess had, in her insanity or wisdom, asked them not to do anything that could presumably get the enemy to attack first.
One would guess she wanted to keep casualties to a minimum, especially seeing as those assholes down below were her compatriots. Torres understood the reasoning, but that didn't mean he had to like it. It was a pretty fucked-up thing to ask a Devil Dog to leash himself. And he knew Richard, at least, felt the same. Itami's troops might not have, however, considering Kuribayashi's whole shtick right now.
"Soldier!" Spoke one of the men below, looking up at Torres. Torres waved, stunned that an Imp would talk to him, before the Imperial continued, "What is it you seek from our homes? Have you not caused enough harm with the damage done to the Legion we sent through the Gate? We merely sought to bring forth civilization to your rotten world, but now you come to our lands to kill us?"
Torres snorted and planted a palm on his face, "Buddy, if you knew how fucking stupid that just made you sound, you'd be stabbing yourself in the gut... Of course, we've come over to give a nice little bit of payback for you fuckers trying to and actually enslaving a bunch of our own people. My country's born out of kicking colonialist shitheads off of our land, too, plus, we're buddies with the place you invaded through the Gate. And we honor our alliances."
"A shame, then," The man below replied, "For you will all die tomorrow..."
Torres snorted, "I'd like to see you fucking try," before he stood to his feet and marched off the place. Taylor chuckled, but kept his MG trained on the son of a bitch, while Ivanov, Richard's gunner, set up next to him with his own MG. Above them, the clouds of an early storm were gathering, cluttering the darkening sky and shielding any stars that might appear.
Itami greeted Henry downstairs, with the US Marine stating, "There's a lot of bad shit outside, man..."
"Yeah, I saw," Itami replied calmly as they walked through the city's streets, "Though word up the vine is that command's already preparing to deploy a task force to deal with this. Richard's been dealing with aligning our defenses in the meanwhile. Been considering bringing the Abrams to the northern gate. Seems to think the Imps will be coming from there."
"It'd be nice to have backup, soon," Torres murmured, "Not sure how Welkin's gonna take having to have his tank moved to the Front Lines, though..."
The two eyed the small field hospital set up in a courtyard, watching as Kurokawa and the other medics worked on treating the wounded of the city's small militia. Rosie seemed to be guarding the place, shotgun slung on her back. She was also aiding Kurokawa and the others by providing the medicine they needed from the medical supplies packs they'd brought with the Convoy.
The UNSC medic saluted them as they passed and they replied in kind, passing by.
"Where's Kurata, by the way?" Torres asked, looking around at the civilian population. The locals were a mixed bag. Some, probably the hardass Imperial nationalists, eyed them with distrust. Others, like the kids and teens, waved to them and smiled, their parents seemingly stunned by the kindness their children were showing to what was supposed to be an invading force.
To be fair, Torres understood the feeling. He was pretty shocked that the kids were being this nice to a bunch of outsiders with guns that had practically come to occupy their city. Sure, they'd promised they'll defend the city, which might have been corroborated by the Knights and by the Princess that were present, but that didn't mean you were really gonna be friendly with the people your Empire actively declared war upon.
So Torres thought, anyhow.
"He's in the Formal palace," Chuckled Itami, "Being pampered by catgirl maids."
Torres snorted and planted a palm on his own face, "Swear to god, that boy ain't right..." as they walked down the main boulevard of the town. They saw some of the female Knights of the Rose Order talking to the populace. The blonde with curled hair turned to face the Marine and SDF member, a brow raised at the two men. They waved in greetings to the woman, to which she hummed and waved back, seemingly lacking any form of trust toward them.
Beside her, her friend with short purple hair hummed, then crossed her arms to her chest. She chuckled and whispered something to her friend, which the woman seemed to have taken as something short of an actual insult. Probably just playful banter between the young women of the Rose Order. Farther ahead, meanwhile, Tyuule and her team were returning from a patrol through the alleys.
Tyuule turned to the men and saluted, then stated, "We just finished our patrol. No enemy spies or anything of the sort."
"Been keeping an eye on the Rose Knights, too?" Torres asked absentmindedly as they marched to the central building together.
"I trust the Princess's soldiers not to rat us out," Tyuule replied calmly as she fished through her vest for something to eat. She pulled out a piece of beef jerky from the MRE and started chowing down on it. A Humvee rolled down the dirt road slowly, allowing the group to move to the right side of the road to allow it through. It was an uparmored Humvee carrying the Mark-19 of the force. 40mm grenade machine gun. Wild design, Tyuule thought as she watched it roll by.
Entering the palace itself, the group was greeted by the scent of cooking food and the presence of some more members of HITMAN-3's convoy infantry force. Marines, both US and UNSC, sat together, playing games, their rigging and armors sat to the side. Left only in their BDUs, the Marines laughed, chatted and chugged various drinks brought over by the cat maids.
The head maid stepped up. She was an elderly woman with greying, dirty blond hair caught in a bun and a wrinkled face, but she had kind eyes, despite the age. She spoke, "Welcome home, Lieutenants, Lady Tyuule," and motioned for them to follow her, "The Princess is currently busying herself with the last of the preparation for the defenses and Lady Formal has fallen asleep. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Richard has gone to ensure that we have enough food supplies at my request."
"I don't think we'll be facing a prolonged Siege," Itami said as they marched with her, "The UNSC will probably send support tomorrow, taking into account the fact that our joint offensive is set to begin in earnest. Add to that the possibility of our own units sending in air support and a Battalion Combat Team of mixed soldiery and this siege's probably going to end relatively soon."
"We'd be glad if that was the case," The woman stated as she led them forth. They entered one of the rooms adjacent to the throne room, wherein they found Piña looming over a set of maps on a table. She sighed, then greeted them with a wave, dismissing the maid with a thankful nod. Henry and Itami approached the table, while Tyuule sat in the back to finish her meal and Delilah simply hummed a song.
Torres turned toward Delilah and blinked, then smirked and started bobbing his head. He quietly sang in reply, "I'm just a regular, everyday, normal mothafucka...?"
Delilah smirked, "I told you in the first song, I'll tell you in anotha..." and she added in a normal voice, "Taylor introduced me to that song... It's hilarious."
"Our Machine Gunner has one helluva taste for songs, what can I say?" Torres nodded approvingly, then looked to Itami and the Princess. She chuckled, while his old Japanese friend shrugged and nodded approvingly. He cleared his throat and said, "Right. What's the word on the plans for your forces there, Princess...?" before looking over the troop positioning on the map.
"I have chosen to array my forces in groups of forty per gate, with forty waiting in support in the rear in case they had to move forward. Lieutenant Samuels was thoroughly clear that your own troops will be arranged as the command staff of your unit sees fit," She replied calmly, despite the glance she cast toward him and Itami, then continued, "Generally speaking, we should have all bases covered."
"We'll have a QRF at the ready, too," Itami added, "'Hogs, Humvees and the tank..."
"The allied air fleet should be coming by pretty soon, too. Provided we can hold out, we'll have backup from the air to wipe the last of these bastards out," Tyuule spoke as she looked over the map, "They'll presumably array the extra thirty-four to thirty-five hundred soldiers around the other gates," and she looked to the confused Piña before adding in clarification, "You will see beasts of metal unlike any the Empire can potentially muster, old friend."
The Princess clearly didn't know how to take that. Had it been a threat, had it been a promise? It didn't matter at this moment. Any sort of reinforcements short of the Gods themselves coming down to forestall the advance of the Imperial Army(without killing them, perhaps, but that was a pipe dream at this point) were viewed as emissaries of blessings at this point. Emroy's blessings, of course, taking into account the presence of Rory the Reaper.
She sighed, then said, "I will take any reinforcements we can get. We're still some hundreds of soldiers versus over four thousand of the Empire's best..."
"We could press the advantage now," Torres voiced, "Take them out while they're in their tents."
"They'd answer immediately," She shot back, "And some carry weapons stolen from Lieutenant Samuels's people, no?"
"Yeah," Sighed Torres, "But don't know how to use them...?" He offered. Piña looked at him as if he'd just spoken one of the dumbest things ever. He sighed deeply, then shrugged, raising his hands as if to say 'Forget it'. He gazed down at the maps again and hummed. Boots clapped against the marble floor, which got the group to watch as Richard walked in.
"Supplies for the very unlikely possibility of this being a long siege are secure. We have enough food to feed the entire town for a month if we need to. Some of the engineers from the HEMTT are also prepping something to help refrigerate the stuff, just in case," He explained, a smile on his face. He nodded to his two Lieutenant friends, then stepped inside and inquired, "Take it we're down to our last bit of prep?"
"Before the reinforcements arrive, yes," Piña nodded, "And before the siege starts in earnest..."
"Well, shit," Richard chuckled, "This'll be a fun one... Princess, do you mind if we go see the Shrine to the Mother Goddess?"
"Follow me," She nodded. Richard and Tyuule departed together, leaving Torres and Itami to look over the plans and add any changes they saw fit. Right now, though, the UNSC members marched through the place, past the common soldiery and into the central courtyard of the place, a beautifully-landscaped central area in the middle of which resided a tall structure that was... Eerily familiar in design. And not fitting the rest of this place.
"Holy shit," Murmured Richard as they stepped up to a pylon made of a matte silver alien alloy and with various conduits shimmering blue within. Various symbols lay on the metal, glimmers of an ancient past. The two women saw Richard staring at the strange structure and Tyuule was about to ask him, before he stated plainly, "That's a Forerunner device..."
"Oh," Tyuule paused, stunned.
"... Pardon me, a what?" Piña asked.
"Really, really long story, Your Highness," Richard replied in a murmur, stepping forward.
"So, you are familiar with this type of Shrine?" The girl observed, crossing her arms to her chest. Tyuule and Richard both nodded, to which she hummed and said, "Odd, but interesting..." only to watch Richard put a hand on the wall, whereupon a blue light surrounded his palm. She gasped, staggering back and grabbing the hilt of her sword as the wall seemed to split in two and slide open, while Tyuule aimed her rifle at the opening.
The two women looked toward him. He shrugged, "What?" and stopped as their jaws seemingly dropped. Lifting his rifle, he said, "Every human can apparently open Forerunner tech..." before he pulled out his radio and spoke into it, "Rosie, get on the long-range and tell Doctor Halsey we may've found another cache of Forerunner tech. It's the supposed 'Shrine to the Mother Goddess' that Rory told us about."
"Rog. I'll get right on it, boss," The Sergeant replied.
"Appreciate it," He nodded, then shut off the com and thumbed the flashlight on his assault rifle.
"... You are going in?" Piña demanded, hand now off the hilt of her blade. Without a word, the man gave her a nod and pushed in, followed by Tyuule, both of them with their rifles raised. They scanned the walls around them, seeing the sights. Holographic displays filtered through the darkness, powering on as the two, now also joined by Piña, marched inside. Piña was awed as she looked around, the lights of the place finally powering on to reveal the geometric beauty of the place.
"I never thought I'd see something akin to this outside of the Dragon-Born's lands," Tyuule voiced, slightly awed.
"I've only seen this stuff in pictures..." He replied, then stopped as he noticed some symbols were different from one-another. He turned toward them, turning off his flashlight as the place became illuminated by the lights within the walls. He took a knee in front of the writing, then noted, "This looks like the same writing that led us here..." which caught Piña's attention. She and Tyuule joined him in looking at the writing, which, compared to the Forerunners' own geometrically-designed symbols, looked like chicken scratches. Very familiar ones, though.
"That is," murmured Piña, stunned, "That is our alphabet."
"To nobody's surprise," Tyuule hummed as she squinted at the written words, "It is a dialect of Latin, clearly."
"I have a nagging feeling our common friends had something to do with your language, Your Highness..." Richard replied. He hummed, then asked them, "Can you read this?"
"Yes," the Princess replied, looking at the words, "It is a very old dialect, indeed... Seems far more prosy, but I presume it has to do with being in a Shrine..." and she started reading it aloud, "Yet as we stood on the precipice of darkness, we left hope. This beautiful world and its mysteries remain yours to discover. Let Them guide your path as we have guided theirs before..."
"Must be talking about the Gods," Tyuule murmured.
The reader nodded, then continued, "So that mankind and those with them may prosper... Even as darkness seeks to overtake these lands."
"Odd," Richard noted, then turned to the center of the structure, "I wonder what the 'Mother Goddess' meant by that message..." and he marched up to the console in the center. Tyuule and Piña both looked at the man and moved to join him. He stopped in front of the console and hovered a hand over the holographic touch display. Forerunner symbols filtered out of it, wrapping around his hand.
He paused, then started panicking as he tried to remove his hand from the holographic constraint. It was hard-light, a standard 'material' that the Forerunners enjoyed using for everything that was not made of their incessantly matte-grey alloy, or from the more translucent version of it. Before long, wisps of light converged in front of him, forming a swirling whirlwind that soon materialized into the form of a dress-wearing humanoid female. However, she was not a human. The lack of a normal nose and the more 'rounded' shape of her head told them as much.
She looked down upon them, a holographic figure several times taller, then she smiled, "So... You have found this world... Greetings to you, child of the Reclaimers..."
"Who... What are you?" Richard asked, stunned. To his left, Tyuule and Piña had fallen to their knees. He looked up at her and asked, "You're the Mother Goddess...?"
The seemingly artificial construct let out a light chortle, then looked upon him and said, "In a sense," before turning to the two kneeling women and ordering, "Rise, children. You need not bow to me." She then shrunk herself to their size, sidestepping the console and looking Richard in the eye while the local women stood to their feet. She spoke, "Tell me, child... Is he here?"
"Who?" Richard asked, still trying to free his hand.
"The one I have given the Genesong to from among your kin..." She replied, turning to face him as the girls approached slowly, "The one I believe you call 'The Master Chief'..."
Richard paused, stunned, then nodded, "Y-Yeah... Chief and his team are here."
"Then it is as I have seen. You retrieved him and his ancilla during his investigation of Requiem," She seemed relieved... She paused, seemingly taking a moment to think of something. Tyuule put a hand on Richard's shoulder, staring right at the 'Mother Goddess' as she seemed concerned, deep in thought. Her lips became razor-thin as she seemed to be processing something, before she stated, "I will wait for him and the Doctor to come here. It needs to be secured first. Safe from the hands of would-be thieves..."
"Thieves? The Imps?" He raised a brow, then looked to the Princess.
She shook her head, "Not just... Fight well, Children of the Reclaimers. We shall speak once the battle is over..." And she disappeared. Richard sighed and planted a palm on his face, then felt his hand be released by the machine. He took a step back, confused, then looked to the two stunned women. He showed them to follow along, before stopping as they saw Rory sat in the doorway.
"You spoke to her..." Rory murmured, somewhat surprised. Itami and Torres were right behind her, a bit shocked, too, "We thought only the Formals could..." and she looked toward the console. She marched forward toward the console herself, then placed her hand over the hologram, determined to get some answers. The woman from before re-materialized in front of them, stunning Rory as she gazed upon her.
She smiled again, "And one of the children of this world... I see you have finally gained the courage to come speak to me."
"We thought only the Formals alone could access this system, o' Mother Goddess," Rory replied reverently, "Forgive my transgression, but I had to try this for myself..."
The Librarian nodded, "I understand... And worry yourself not, Apostle of Emroy..." then she chuckled, "Ah, Apostle. Your Ecumene's supervisors have always had strange, strange titles for those they sought to uplift..." and looked around once more. She nodded to the Princess and Tyuule, both of whom were stunned, before stating firmly, "As I have told the Child of the Reclaimers," and she motioned to Richard, "We shall all speak when this city is safe and the Formal Family's last heiress is under the care of the Doctor and her soldiers. There is much I need to speak about..."
"Of course," Rory bowed, then removed her hand from the console, letting the hologram disappear yet again. She swallowed empty, then tugged at her collar and said with a crack in her voice due to the awe, "So, that, uh... That happened..." and she looked back to Richard, Itami and Torres. She stated, "The Mother Goddess willingly spoke to you, Richard..."
"Mhm...?" He paused, then added as he looked at Rory, "I've read some reports about Forerunner installations openly talking to humans before... I think the Chief would be the best representation of that, considering the numerous amounts of shit he has written as 'classified' under his file..." and turned to see Kuribayashi, sitting there, stunned as well. Narrowing his lips, he said, "Hey, Sarge."
"Hi..." She greeted with a wave, "T-That's... Forerunner."
"Yep," The man nodded, "Highly advanced alien technology from millennia ago..." and he stood to his feet, "C'mon. We have a briefing to plan and a call to put toward Doc Halsey and the joint strike group..."
The group, including the stunned women, followed him inside, with Torres whispering to Richard, "You good, man?" as he looked upon him. Richard seemed a tad more serious than prior now, giving a mere nod to the concerned Henry. The American Marine sighed and grabbed his canteen, uncapped it and took a swig before murmuring, "Shit just keeps getting weirder..."
Murmured agreement came from the group as they entered the house, with Richard making a bee-line for the temporary communications center, in one of the many rooms on the upper floors of the mansion. Tyuule had also joined him, while the others simply looked at them. Kuribayashi smirked, then looked to the others. Torres and Itami seemed slightly concerned for the most recent member of the Lieutenant Friend Group.
Tyuule stopped Richard as they entered the stairwell, then asked him, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." he nodded, rubbing his eyes, "Just a bit concerned over everything that's going on... I have a nagging feeling we're about to find out something worse just landed."
Tyuule sighed, then nodded, "The Mother Goddess did mention other Thieves... Shall we go talk to the Doctor? Maybe she can give us some context..." motioning to the door. The man simply tilted his head forward, then walked into the com room, wherein he found Rosie. She nodded to them in greeting, her face grave. Both the Lieutenant and Warrior Bunny queen felt pits form in their stomachs at that.
"We got a sitch, it seems. Doc Halsey just found out about it..." She spoke, then handed the transmitter to the Lieutenant and said, "She's at the UN base. Freq's already been set and the channel's gotten a double encryption for safety's sake... Sounds like one of the other HITMAN Convoys might've gotten a Code Black..." and that made the Lieutenant stagger and almost double over.
"Oh, no..." Tyuule murmured, scared, as the memories of what a Code Black meant for UNSC forces. She had been trained in radio and military code-words, being selected for a future company-level commander training and designation, seeing as she was running a country. Richard started patching in and testing the transmitter, making sure that their comes were still operational.
The Warrior Queen felt that pit in her gut grow larger...
UN FOB Alnus
Some time earlier...
Doctor Halsey's Pelican came in for a landing. Beside her, a squadron of Marines remained at the ready to provide the woman escort. Despite her protests, the woman had been saddled with having them present in this area for safety concerns. HITMAN-2 had been reported to be an hour and a half overdue from the RV point and HITMAN-1 was dealing with some issues of their own.
Descending from the hold of the Pelican and onto the still-under-construction airfield of the FOB, the woman noticed several allied aircraft parked near one of the large storage hangars. A Shenyang J-11, two Russian Su-25s and a pair of American F-16 fighters were the first aircraft seemingly reassembled past the gate, much to Halsey's surprise. She understood that the UN force was multinational, but from what she'd understood, the Gate had opened in Ginza, in Tokyo of all places. That the JSDF, much more, the Japanese government itself allowed aircraft of this type to be deployed spoke volumes of the UN undertaking here.
She hummed, watching as a pair of US Army UH-60M Black Hawk Helicopters also came in for a landing, followed by a squadron of AH-64 Apache Gunships and a pair of black-painted CH-47 Chinook twin-rotor heavy transport helicopters that had sustained some modifications, such as a refueling probe sticking out of the snout of the aircraft and a minigun mounted in the side windows. Halsey recognized the emblem on the Chinooks' sides, that of a winged centaur, right hand outstretched forth and left wielding a scarlet blade while a half-moon stood behind him on a dark-blue background, all encompassed in a shield with a ribbon at the bottom, on which the unit nickname was written.
The Hundred-Sixtieth Special Operations Air Regiment of the United States Military. The famed Night Stalkers, after which many a UNSC SOAR unit had been modeled after, especially those that served under ONI's secretive directives. She'd had the pleasure of meeting some of their own SOAR units aboard a couple of newly-refurbished Sahara-class Prowlers.
If she knew anything about the history of the 160th, it was that they were the best of the best when it came to secretive, specialized airlift operations in the US Armed Forces. Some of the Operators aboard began their dismounting procedures with the pilots close behind. Crew chiefs and mechanics ran up to the SOAR members, seemingly asking questions about aircraft performance and writing up reports in relation to their re-assembly.
"Damn," Murmured a dark-skinned Marine, "Looks like the UN's started their own deployment, too..."
"General Hazama was kind enough to tell me that the UN would be bringing additional forces planetside as support elements and logistics are set to expand ever-outward toward the heat of battle... Still, that they brought the 160th SOAR is..." It was concerning, that was what Halsey wanted to say. She watched a pair of Mi-35 choppers land in their designated area of the airfield.
General Hazama and a mix of officers, US, Russian and Chinese, all marched onto the deck, their escorts behind them. PLA, RuAF, US Army and JGSDF troops marched together, weapons stowed on their backs and seemingly interacting calmly, some of them even laughing with each-other despite the supposed heavy political tensions between East and West.
Hazama smiled warmly at the doctor, then saluted, "Welcome back to FOB Alnus, doctor."
Halsey bowed, then said, "Thank you, General. I came to check upon our joint research endeavor on matters pertaining to the Gate. And to ask if my staff is being treated well," then saw some of the UNSC scientists assigned to the site walking up to her, smiles on their faces. One carried two cups of coffee in her hands. Halsey nodded to the black-haired, paled, bespectacled woman, taking the cup she was extended and saying, "My thanks, doctor Lilac."
"Any time, ma'am," The bubbly young doctor replied, before taking a step back.
"Well, that's one part ticked off the list," Halsey quipped, then took a sip from the coffee and nodded approvingly. "Cinnamon. A tasteful addition," She added, then turned to Hazama and the staff behind him, which included the new US commander of the base, a member of the Eighty-Second Airborne, going by the patch on his shoulder. He saluted her, to which she spoke respectfully, "You must be the new commander of the US Force that has joined the UN SPECREG Task Force."
"Aye, ma'am. Colonel Ibrahim Hoffman, Eighty-Second Airborne Division," He nodded, "A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, as well, by the way. Big fan of the series."
Halsey snorted, then said, "Eighty-Second All The Way, Colonel Hoffman," in reply.
"Hooah," He grinned, "We only took a small battalion to reinforce the SOAR and the others present here. The British have also started sending in their troops, which should arrive within the week. The Major and the First Infantry Division Battalion Combat Team the US decided to deploy here should also be coming with them once their vics and other amenities are secured. Russians are planning on also bringing a whole Brigade Combat Team here with all supporting elements... Though that's still being discussed."
She nodded, "Better to not put all eggs in one basket. Still, I'm surprised that the UN would allow the deployment of fixed-wing combat aircraft," and she motioned to the small mixed ground-attack and air defense squad on the runway, "Are we expecting that much trouble that the UN would agree to its member nations deploying possibly-dangerous vehicles to battle, or..." And she eyed the UN soldiery calmly, speaking in a non-accusatory, inquisitive tone, "Is it a force equalizer, perhaps?" which garnered a few awkward stares from some of the officer cadre.
Hazama waved that statement off and replied almost robotically, as if he'd learned this word for word, "Command stated it wants us to have more air support than the JASDF can currently muster. Taking into account the possibility of encountering large, dangerous animals like the Fire Dragon that attacked our men and women on their way to this very base."
"That's fair," Halsey nodded. A nice little bit of an apolitical response that was neutral.
Halsey hummed as they walked toward the Gate. Soldiers clad in various types of clothing sat, seemingly on guard duty. Each carried a different firearm, with a common caliber of 7,62x51 NATO. Bullpup rifles painted in desert tan with various black plastic parts, baseball caps with what seemed to be an emblem on the foreheads of an eagle, and the soldiers were mixed, both male and female. The Doctor looked to Hazama as she made a mental note of the emblem, that of an Eagle hugging the globe with the letters 'BLKCOR SEC', then asked, "What are they?"
"A private military contractor hired by the joint UN Research Bureau assigned to dealing with the Gate," The Russian officer stated, arranging his tie, "The UN figured they needed their own security personnel that was not tied to a nation... Even if the Company, Black Corps Security, is headquartered in the US," and he eyed the US paratroop Division's commander.
She sighed, then nodded as they marched past the squad of about twenty mercs guarding the building the Gate is located in. Entering the laboratory attached to the shielded bunker that contained the Gate itself, Halsey saw that her crew and the UN scientists were seemingly meshing well together when it came to understanding the underlying processes behind the trans-dimensional portal. The lab was also clean, beautifully arranged and orderly.
General Hazama excused himself while Doctor Halsey got a tour of the site, something about a radio call from one of their drone operators. Halsey gave a nod, then leaned to look through the window that peered through to the hangar holding the Gate. Inside, there were scientists clad in HAZMAT suits, scanning the gate's inner and outer composition, including the seemingly-alien material from which it was constructed, resembling a Roman or Greek marble Parthenon or temple.
It was awe-inspiring architecture that presumably shielded a highly-advanced technological marvel behind its strange, ancient farce. She sighed, then looked to see that the American commander was replying to something over a land-line telephone. He looked to his compatriots and told them something, then turned to Halsey and said, "Ma'am, we have an issue. General Hazama wants you in the command center, now."
Halsey nodded, looked to doctor Lilac and told her, "Stay safe, Emily," before she dashed out of the room with the staff of the FOB. The group dashed down one of the many roads of this would-be small military town and found the command center a minute's walk from the Gate. Entering it, the group saw that the place was scrambling over itself, with staff running to and fro and drone operators reporting. On the main screen of the command room, horrific images played.
Corpses lay sprawled across a stretch of road and burned field, alongside destroyed vehicles belonging to both UN and UNSC forces that had been with the Convoy. Halsey's jaw dropped as she stared at the massacre. General Hazama stepped up to her and explained somberly, "We'd lost contact with HITMAN-2 as they were heading for the RV point. I requested that the US deploy a group of MQ-9 Predators to look for them..."
"Damn," The Russian commander murmured, "We need to send Search and Rescue, now."
"There's a friendly drone in the area, too, sirs," The US Drone Op reported, "Looks like a Wombat from the UNSC."
"... Get me a radio," Halsey requested, looking over the damage. She saw the corpses of her own soldiers among the dead, as well as strangely well-equipped corpses, wearing older BDUs. It looked like whoever the ambusher was, and Halsey had a pretty bloody good idea of who it was, had been sloppy in cleaning up their mess. But why they would be here, Halsey knew not.
"What is it, Doctor?" Hazama inquired as the staff brought over a long-range transmit radio to her.
Casting a glance the Japanese General's way as she tuned the radio, she said, "It seems an old threat has made itself known. The Insurrection has reared its ugly head once more," and that seemed to stun a few of the people in the room. She turned on the Radio, then spoke, "This is Halsey to FOB KINGDOM. We may have a situation. I want an immediate deployment of an armored company with medical support to the area where HITMAN-2 has been ambushed. Be ready for anything."
The US Colonel ordered, "Deploy a squadron of Humvees and two Abrams to help with the checkup of the area. Have an Apache nearby as support, as well," and that got a nod of approval. The Russian and Chinese officer also ordered for the deployment of support elements, namely ambulances and other attack helicopters, Mi-35s and whatever the Chinese had for air support.
Hazama stepped up beside the Doctor and asked, "What does this mean?"
Halsey grimaced, "That this war just got much, much worse than we had anticipated... I need to go there myself, verify the damage and question any survivors..." and she looked at the carnage on the road, "If there even are survivors among the dozens of soldiers we all lost there. I will contact HITMAN-3 to tell them to be careful right now," before she switched over the com freq and spoke, "HITMAN-3, HITMAN-3, this is Halsey... Be advised. We have a situation..."
"... What's the sitch, doc?" Rosie replied, wary.
Things were about to get much worse...