Chief walked to the CCT, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Of course, with half a hundred students doing their thing in the Courtyard at any given time, it probably was not going to be very hard. The fact that they had just come back from vacation eased Chief's mind as to how this new setting for his operations was gonna be. No student batted an eye at the armored titan as he walked between them, figuring him for one of them.
"Should be pretty easy to get me in. Just have to find a terminal and slot my chip in." Cortana remarked as she still ran through the last packages of data, "Afterward, I'll open a direct link between the MJOLNIR's software and the CCT sensor suites. Should give us a nice line of sight for the Kingdoms." She appeared in front of him, on his HUD, worried over his own accommodations. She asked You doing okay, John? You slept on the floor last night."
"I'll be fine." He answered calmly. Of course, Spartans were used to sleeping, eating and doing everything in the MJOLNIR suit. Still...
"I feel like you'd be better off in a bed than on the hard floor. Even with your armor." She stated matter-of-factly as they reached the base of the tower. The Chief hummed, entering the place and walking past the greeter, into the elevator. The trip up to the comms floor was short. He walked on in, finding a few dozen students manning the random terminal here and there, but otherwise he was free to go in, even with the holographic reception lady watching him go in.
He took one of the farthest, secluded terminals, finding a holographic display lighting up in front of him, followed by a holo-keyboard. He looked underneath the device, finding a simple slot. Looking around him cautiously, to ensure no one else was watching, then up and around the ceiling scanning for cameras, he yanked Cortana's chip from his helmet and slotted it into the opening, finding a decently good fit.
He watched the holographic display flash blue once, then twice, followed by a progress bar appearing. He kept his eyes on his Motion Tracker, ensuring that the students around didn't march up to interfere with his work. Well, more Cortana's, but he knew. He leaned against the console, watching the progress bar tick up with one eye while keeping watch with the other.
Inside the CCT's system, Cortana smiled as she found herself sat in the midst of a highway of binary code, images and data as it streamed past her at superluminal speeds, through into the sky and down into the other local terminals and the other Kingdoms. Four tall towers sat at approximately correct cardinal points, with dozens of smaller dots spreading over the vast pseudo-map of Remnant across which the streams of data criss-crossed. The vast repository of knowledge, both founded and speculative, belonging to the people of Remnant, ranging from photos and articles on science and technology, gave her a treasure trove to look through. However, right now, the AI was focused on one thing.
She plucked a string of Data from the stream closest to her, opening it up in a window. The CCTS's radar and sensor suites, attached to just about every major settlement of the Kingdoms, would give the girl and the Chief an Eagle-eyed view of the entire area. Of course, that meant cracking the codes that currently shielded the sensors and radar. Huh, Curious. She found strings of data hidden among the Radar and Sensors, regarding combat machines belonging to the Atlesian Military. To their credit, the code was heavily encrypted and layered in dozens Firewalls. So many, in fact, that she doubted she could crack her way through without arousing suspicion, or even the full might of any Atlesian cybersecurity. Not that the Code wasn't easy to crack, of course. Atlas seemed awfully weak in the cybersecurity department, weirdly enough. That, or her cracking skills got better with the de-aging process.
She stowed the data for later, ensuring a link between her and the system as she parsed through and broke the defenses of the two items of interest. She smirked, "Bingo..." as Data regarding multiple bursts of Cherenkov Radiation caught in the faint echoes of the system's otherwise preoccupied detection radius. She attuned the data to match these small 'data packets' of Radiation, raising a brow. She hummed, rewinding the data to the day of their arrival. A faint detection in upper atmo at around 03:00 Hours Post-Meridian, that being them, presumably. She squinted, following that up with matching their signature with others.
She let out a surprised "Huh." as she found the data being a near-perfect match. Further attuning to the Data allowed her to view exact coordinates of where the bursts of Cherenkov Radiation had hit and found most of them outside of Vale proper. Ever-curious, Cortana copied the whole block of data and put the string of Data back into place. She checked the progress bar she'd put up for John, before seeing it nearly run out. Perfectly timed, if she could say so.
She flashed a message as the bar filled. 'Yank me'. Going back into the chip with the acquired data, the AI settled herself in for a long day of reading. She felt the detach from the system and the following slot-in of the chip, before starting "I think you're gonna want to see this." as she started compiling a really succinct report on what to expect. She 'heard' the Elevator begin its descent within moments.
He spoke to her, "... Are you sure?"
"100% positive." Cortana remarked, smiling, "We're gonna have a lot of company in the coming few days."
She watched the Data flow as she continued to tie every ounce of information together, opening up the link to the CCTS's suite of sensors to the Chief via a HUD system. She knew he'd want to go after whoever else followed. They both knew something had sent them and a lot of other people here. She just wondered who else would be joining them on this little journey.
"... I have an idea, Chief." She smirked.
"Shoot." He answered.
"A message, piggybacked off the CCTS's data streams, hidden... We both know what those Cherenkov pockets are. Or we can at least speculate."
"Send it, then." Chief noted, "Along with coordinates."
"Will do, Chief. Will do. This is gonna be fun."
600km North-west of Vale.
Mountain range of Sanus.
The thunder of an 8-gauge Shotgun shook the forest. Dodging, bobbing and weaving through the strikes of the Creatures of Grimm, as some of the locals from the nearby village had called them, Kelly-087, the fastest Spartan to date and one of the core members of BLUE Team, fought her way through a pack of about ten creatures, five of which she'd already killed.
Following up behind her, Frederick-104 put five rounds through the head of one of the taller bastards, knocking a second to the floor and stomping its head in. Two shots rang out from behind him, striking the leader of the pack and tearing into it like a hot knife through butter. Linda-058 stared down the scope of her SRS-99/99 Anti-Materiel Rifle as she aimed for the next target.
"Well, this is one hell of a raiding party..." Kelly murmured, shouldering her shotgun. She utilized the weapon's slam-fire capabilities to dump her last five shells into the pack, before taking cover as a quill about the length of her arm cut the tree. She called out, "Three, target up high!" as she reloaded her weapon. She grabbed one of the smaller Grimm by its horns, slamming it into the tree once to pin it, before snapping its neck. Linda's rapport was the last two rounds in her sniper's magazine puncturing the eyes of the massive black crow-like Grimm.
"We're almost done." Fred remarked, putting his heel down. Into the head of another small Grimm, nonetheless. He raised his rifle, squeezed two more shots off, then took cover as their com system flared with static. He took cover behind the tree, flashing an amber light Kelly's way twice. The girl flashed an acknowledgement light green at the current commander of BLUE team. He spoke into the comms "It's encrypted. Decoding now..."
Cortana spoke to them.
"To all allied on this broadband, this is Charlie Tango November Zero-Four-Five-Two dash-Niner, delivering this message piggyback through transmission off the planetary communications system. SIERRA-117 sends PRIORITY ONE order to rally, consolidate at attached coordinates. This message will now repeat..." And repeat it did. Fred cut it off, reading the small packet that contained the Coordinates.
"Cortana and the Chief're here?" Kelly asked, taking cover behind a tree to Fred's left, "They're alive?"
"Codes check out." Fred remarked with a smile hidden by his helmet. He tossed a fragmentation grenade to quickly end what remained of this confrontation, then looked between the girls and said "Whatever happened, they may have more answers. Kelly, head back to the town and let the locals know it's safe now. Gather whatever supplies you can. No money, just food and water for the trip. Suit NAV estimates the coords at over 600 kilometers due South-East of us."
"On it." Kelly saluted, before she took off in a sprint. The fastest member among Spartans had earned that title fair and square. She'd always come out on top during races. Linda slid down from her Sniper's perch, sliding her rifle onto her back. Fred nodded to her, readying himself for Grimm to come their way. None arrived and their MT was clear. Some time to catch their breath, finally.
"Think the people here could lend us some help?" Linda asked, "Or are you really planning on going on a few days' worth of a walk to get to these coordinates?"
"I'd rather not expose them to us too much." Fred noted, "This place doesn't feel like any colony we've been on."
"If the Grimm, as the locals call them, didn't give it away..." Linda remarked with a shrug. They heard rapid footfalls and turned toward the direction of the village. A leather backpack flew toward Linda, which she caught mid-flight. Another pack followed up, landing in Fred's hands. Linda opened hers, noticing a few canned goods and a few fruits and veggies in jars. She hummed, then looked up to Kelly and asked sarcastically "You didn't strip their pantries, did you?"
"Nope." The girl noted, slinging her own day pack on her back. She also had three thermoses with warm liquid inside and several filter types that would allow them to get water from any source. She handed them out, then said "The mayor thanks us for the help. They'll be able to rebuild their wall without any kind of major issue... And they gave us a 'bit' of their food."
"Again, we sure they didn't tear open their pantries for us?" Linda asked, settling her own pack on her shoulder.
"Mayor said they had a pretty nice harvest this year, so they have a lot to spare. They'll trade the excess with the main city of the local nation-state, the Kingdom of Vale." Kelly answered. She looked to Fred, then asked "We going, sir?" and a green acknowledgement light winked on. The Spartan turned, facing exactly down the path they were meant to go. A beaten dirt path leading out into the unknown.
He sighed, an uneasiness creeping into his very heart about this, before a heavy, armored hand fell on his shoulder, dissipating the doubt. He looked to see Kelly, her visor depolarized. She looked at him with reassurance. He gave her an almost imperceptible, but thankful nod. He drew his firearm, holding the backpack with their supplies by the strap, then gave three consecutive hand signals. Advance, hold formation, shoot on sight.
As the three took off, they could only wonder just who else was around if John was alive...
Forever Falls outskirts
Not far from Vale
Within the scarlet bounds of the grass and trees of the Forever Fall, gunfire echoed. A Spartan in armor colored a dark shade of scarlet, an armor of the CQC variety of course, held her MA5 with one hand and her pistol with the other, trying to stave off a squadron of vile creatures that were charging her. She didn't know, nor did she care what they were. The only thing she cared about was-
CLICK
That. She had been down to her last MA5 clip. Letting out a colorful swear in a mumble as she found herself damn-near defenseless, the girl thumbed the safety of her pistol and the rifle, before slinging both back into their holsters and rolling back just as another monster came to bite at her. She drew her knife mid-roll, planting it in the knee of another one of the fuckers with disregard. "Just how many of you bastards are there?" She asked the creatures, well aware that they couldn't answer.
She gasped, ducking under the claw of a taller, lankier werewolf-looking bastard. It clawed at the tree she had been backed up into, but she had the advantage of strength. Kicking up, the girl either staggered the creature or shattered that skull bone plating it wore, since shards of bone fell onto her armor. She then raised her knife and plunged it right into the lower jaw of the creature, aiming exactly where the brain would've been. Thankfully for her, her hit worked as she saw the creature dissipate into a black smoke, vanishing into the wind.
"Well, that was-OOF!" She felt all the weight of a freight train slam into her, throwing her clean through the trunk of the tree and into a string of scarlet bushes. She swore to herself, coughing, before looking up to see a gigantic, porcupine-like bear bearing its teeth at her. It opened its mouth, roaring at her and forcing her to get back on her feet quicker as it prepped to charge.
A grenade flew right into its open mouth, followed up by the contrail of a Sniper Rifle shot and the roar of the gun. The fragmentation grenade shattered inside the creature's mouth, so to speak, splattering its entire head across the floor and trees. Shrapnel pinged off her armor plates, but didn't pen. Her eyes shifted to the Motion Tracker, catching a glimpse of a golden dot as it approached.
Green armor stood out like a sore fucking thumb in the midst of this clusterfuck of red. Hell, she felt more camouflaged than before. The Spartan that sidestepped out of the bush from which the shot came, however, was the most welcome sight that Spartan-023 had seen all day. But, as she read the IFF Code above the Spartan's head, she froze, her heart caught in her throat and damn near stopped.
And the voice, that familiar, smooth voice. The Spartan in the Mark IV armor turned her head, asking "Daisy, you alright?"
Daisy-023 nodded. She put two fingers up to her helmet and made a smiley face, the standard wordless greeting of the IIs. Spartan-141, Cal, responded with the same gesture, before watching the girl jump up to her feet in her usual, athletic way. Daisy took Cal's right flank, blade drawn. Cal chuckled, then asked "You out of ammo?" snidely. Daisy rolled her eyes.
"Not my fault this place is crawling with these things..." She murmured.
"I have two spare mags for my pistol, but I lost it. Left-most pouch." Cal returned, scoping another Grimm in. This one was taller, meaner and uglier than the others. It also had a lot more armor on its body, including ribs that stuck out around the chest cavity. The two Spartans looked to one-another as Daisy reloaded her M6G, then Cal said "You take the ones on the left?"
"If you can snipe fugly and keep his friends off of me." Daisy grinned, pistol raised and knife underhand.
"Deal." The girl nodded, watching as the pack of creatures as they took one step at a time, drooling black ichor onto the scarlet grass. The leader of the pack, the tallest and lankiest of the wolves, was now on all fours, in the lead of the pack. The two Spartans counted about a dozen, give or take, aside from him. Easy kills, so they thought. A quick exchange of glances and a nod...
And the two sprang into action. Cal put two rounds into the skull of the leader as it surged forward with its mates in response to the girls moving forward. It tumbled, collapsed and died incredibly easy. Daisy followed up by parrying the telegraphed attack of the second wolf in the pack, putting one into its skull and stabbing the third through the side of the head, before twisting the blade and yanking it out.
Cal took a knee, shouldering her sniper and blasting two more of the remaining Grimm with her last two shots. She slid the sniper on her back and drew her own knife, barreling forward into the group and grabbing the lead by the throat. She threw it forward, pinning two of its brothers and it to the ground by using the spikes on its back. She kicked its head in, followed by stabbing into its brethren with the knife.
The two girls danced a ballet of death, one still armed with a firearm. They broke bones, stabbed, cut, slashed and punched their way through a horde of monsters, their minds off their respective causes of death as they slaughtered on. By the time they were done, their blades had partially dulled and Daisy had gone through both magazines, leaving herself with only a knife again.
As the corpses dissipated around them, both sheathed their blades nigh-simultaneously as they finally got some room to breathe. Daisy shook her head, then murmured "I think we should avoid the rest of'em..."
"Agreed." Cal noted. She tapped her helmet's receiver, asking Daisy a question she was aware would come.
Daisy nodded.
Cal nodded back. Good, they were going for the same thing. Still, she asked "Any idea who the sender is?"
"No idea, honestly... Maybe Chief got an AI?" Daisy answered, "C'mon. We oughta start moving... Can't be the only things around."
"Fair." Cal hummed, setting the NAV point as shared between the two of them. The two stepped off, toward their target.
The Island of Patch
Around the same time
The sudden arrival on this small piece of livable land had shocked this young Spartan slightly. The last thing he remembered was being aboard the first alien ship ever encountered by mankind. The same ship that had, presumably, attacked Harvest. He had been there to blow it up with his team, his suit was ruptured and he was left without a way off that ship. He'd gone down fighting.
So... Was this 'heaven' or some variation thereof? He still had his armor and weaponry with him as he strolled on inside the town square at dusk. Several people looked to see him, but most only waved and smiled, not even batting an eye to the Supersoldier that had just strolled into their home town with a weapon strapped to his back and another on his thigh.
The town had several things, among which a cinema and a small shopping area to walk around in. He was looking for the local sheriff, to get information about where to go. He'd gotten that message about SIERRA-117. And if John was around, he needed a way to get over there and rally up. He needed to know if there was a boat off the island or any quick way to get across over 300 kilometers.
He stopped a blonde-haired man that was carrying groceries and said "Excuse me. Do you know if there's a ferry off this island or something to get me across?"
The blonde, blue-eyed man hummed, then said "Well, you just missed the ferry that was delivering supplies to the local market. It's gonna be back in around 3 or 4 days, though, so if you can wait."
"It's kind of important I make it across." The Spartan replied.
"Well, darn..." Sighed the man, "I don't know what to tell you. Maybe the next Airship over to Beacon? If you need to get into the city, I figure that's the best way across. And it's coming in 2 days, for mail. You got a name?"
"..." The Spartan hesitated, then sighed, "Sam."
"Well, Sam, I'm Taiyang Xiao-Long. Nice to meet you." The man smiled, "C'mon. I'm pretty sure you need a place to stay." and he led the way. Sam followed, curious but not wanting to squander a welcoming person's hospitality. Going by the lack of reactions from the people around him, they didn't know about Spartans or the UNSC in general. He had just now noticed they were shorted than him. Taiyang's name was Chinese in origin, though...
"Uhm... Mister Xiao-Long?" Sam asked, "With all due respect and thanks, why take me in? Honestly, I could be a serial killer for all you know."
"Are you?" Tai asked with a smirk, gauging the Spartan's reaction by tilt of his head, since no facial features were visible. He chuckled, then said "Don't worry, Sam. You don't much look like a serial killer and I know my way around people. I also know how to defend myself and my home in the case of an emergency." before he eyed a black crow with scarlet eyes staring them down. He hummed, then said "Anyways... What're ya looking for in Vale?"
"A friend." Sam didn't even hesitate with that one.
Tai smiled, "Well, I'm pretty sure you'll find him or her, if they're dressed like you... What is that, steel?"
"Classified." The boy returned. Tai chuckled.
"Alright, keep your secrets." He said as they approached a log cabin that was farther away from the main part of town. Propping open the door, the two were greeted by the barks of a small dog, colored black with white fur on his belly and stumpy little legs. The creature pit-pattered its way to them, a dumb 'smile' on its face as she sniffed at Tai's leg and jumped up. Tai laughed, then said "Hey, Zwei. Have I been gone long, buddy?"
The dog barked once, as if answering, before it turned to the Spartan and slowly approached him. Sam took a knee in front of the little pup, extending his right hand slowly and watching it approach with caution. It sniffed his hand, then leaned into it, pushing its little head and splitting its ears. Sam smiled, scratching the dog behind the ears, before looking up at Tai, "Zwei, you called them?"
"Yup. He's the family dog." The man nodded, turning a corner into the kitchen, "Can I get you something? A coffee, some food?"
"I think I'm okay for now, mister Xiao-Long. Thanks." Sam said, rubbing the small critter's belly and scratching under his chin. He stood up, then looked around the house and asked "Can I help with anything?" before getting a shake of the head from the man in the kitchen. Tai motioned to the living room area, then turned to work on preparing food for himself and the dog.
Zwei followed Sam inside, where the man stopped by a wall. He noticed a bunch of photographs, some of which representing a younger Tai with three other people. A girl in a white cloak, two people that somewhat resembled each-other(presumably brother and sister, going by the usage of the colors red and black) and himself, all of them lined up and smiling. Following that picture was a string of photos with two young girls and the woman with the white cloak, until finally reaching just the girls and Tai.
A big ol' happy family. Sam looked to the latest photo, of the two girls all grown up and sitting together, both bearing what looked like weapons of some kind. A giant scythe and a pair of gauntlets with shotgun shells in them, curiously enough. He'd probably have to ask later about that, for now, he just removed his own weapons and set them aside, leaning them against a wall.
"You look like you've travelled down some bad roads, considering the weapons." Tai remarked, "Take it you are military."
"Yes." Sam nodded, unwilling to reveal more.
"Right, well." Tai hummed, "The rooms are upstairs if you need to get some rest before the ships arrive."
Sam nodded in thanks, before looking at himself, then at the wooden stairwell leading up to the second floor. He wondered if it would support the weight. He sighed, resigning himself to listening to the transmission again for the moment. Whoever this CTN was, her voice resembled Doctor Halsey's. It really did... Had Chief gotten an AI while Sam was trudging around being, well, who knew what he was?
... All answers would be given when they rallied up. He hoped.