Themyscira - Eastern Forest Three Months Later
Orana crouched down lower as she stalked forward under the thick brush of the forest. All around her, her sister huntresses had spread themselves out among the thick trees of the forest. The plan, this time, was to have six huntresses distract the Spartan by attacking the two floating creatures which dwelled inside his craft directly, or, if failing that, attack the motley of other floating machinery that seemed to encompass his craft. While the other six focused their fire on the Spartan himself. The hope being, he would be too distracted protecting his own machinery, that one of them could land the killing blow.
Although, Orana had her doubts. All of their previous expeditions had failed and had left her sisters passed out in the field before their gates with all of their weapons and armor stripped from them. When they would wake, none of them would remember how they came to be lying in the grass outside the gate. Only that they were in the midst of their expedition, before something would happen and they would awake in the field. It was annoying the more senior of their number to say the least.
Worse, the queen had outright forbidden any official actions against the Spartan. Meaning that the huntresses were limited to their more conventional arms, and that these hunting expeditions were made up of strictly volunteers. The excuse being that they were simply hunting in the area, and just so happened to stumble upon the Spartan.
An excuse their queen had yet to challenge. After all, the agreement with their Lady was that the Spartan would be allowed to stay on the island, along with being provided a few resource locations for his use. Not that the Amazons would leave him in peace, nor that they'd allow their Lady's honor to be besmirched.
Orana watched as one of the purple creatures slowly floated its way towards one of the large machines outside the Spartan's craft. It floated up to the silver contraption and began to mess with something on its side. Only to pull back a second later when the machine's eye pulsed blue twice and then took off towards the top of the craft. The creature then turned and began to lazily float back towards the ramp of the craft.
As it ascended the ramp, one of Orana's sister's arrows embedded itself in the ramp in front of it. Causing a high pitched chirp to emit from the creature. Before it reached forward and plucked the arrow from the ramp. It turned it over in its hold. Examining the small rod, even as another arrow thumped into the ramp beside it. The creature examined the new arrow for a second, before plucking it from the ramp and comparing it against the first. It then turned and stared towards the tree line. The arrows clutched in its tentacles.
The third arrow nailed the creature directly. Only to cause a field of white energy to spring up around the creature, before the arrow fell to the ground. Only to be collected by the creature and compared against the other two. As if it were judging their work.
"What in Hades?" Orana whispered to herself.
She had seen the creatures many times over the past month, but usually they would flee back into the craft as soon as the first of their arrows struck. This was the first time she had actually seen one of them pause in their retreat.
But before she could make any sense of what she was seeing, a quiet cough erupted behind her. She spasmed and felt as if Zeus himself had struck her with one of his lightning bolts. She fell to the ground with her vision tunneling. The sky above a crisp blue in contrast to the darkness closing in. The last thing she saw was a flicker of distortion moving off towards her sisters.
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Themyscira - Eastern Forest Ten Minutes Later
Grim dragged the last of the Amazon kill team into the clearing. For the past few months, the Amazons had been trying to catch him unawares and eliminate him. Usually by stalking through the forest and surrounding his little encampment. Before letting loose with a volley of arrows. The first time this had happened, Grim had been reviewing a data-pad filled with repair data. Only for an arrow to fly through its screen. After that, the Spartan had made sure that any breakable tech was maintained within the Prowler and expanded his circle of detection.
Mainly, by adding small cameras into the surrounding forest, along with motion sensors, and bio-detectors. He had also switched out the rounds in his pistol to that of TTR rounds. A non-lethal, training variant of pistol rounds. Which would ordinarily tase a Spartan and lockdown their armor. But if used against unarmored targets, would render them unconscious for anywhere between two to four hours.
He dropped the last of the women in the clearing and threw their sword and bow into the pile of weapons next to the pile of bodies. Before he leveled a look at the engineer across from him, who was busy plucking each of the arrows from one of the Amazons' quivers and examining them individually.
Grim cleared his throat loudly, causing the alien to pause in its examination and stare towards the Spartan.
"Pep, what did Phoebe say to do if we were attacked?" He signed towards the alien.
Pep tilted its head and quickly spouted out a litany of chirps and clicks. Which filtered into the Spartan's translation unit.
"To run back into the ship and wait for you to give the all clear." Pep answered. Grim crossed his arms and waited for Pep to figure out what it had done wrong. A few seconds later a loud huff of air emerged from the alien, in a close approximation to a sigh.
"I apologize, I was distracted." Pep explained.
"Next time, wait until I come get you and then you can work on whatever you want to." Grim signed. Pep chirped loudly in confirmation, before returning to whatever it was it was doing with the arrows.
Grim then turned as the first of the repair drones descended from the communications array above. It made its way over towards the first of the Amazons in his little pile and began to strip her of her bronze helmet and chest piece, along with any other armor she may be wearing. The idea being that Grim and Phoebe could repurpose the copper and other metals within to help repair their ship.
If it also deprived the Amazons of weapons and annoyed them….. Well, fairs fair.
He watched as the drone made its way down the line. Piling the Amazons' gear above them. Only for another two drones to swoop in and carry each of the piles into the Prowler and towards their manufacturing facility within. It was a quick and easy process that Phoebe had perfected over the past few months. Especially with how frequently the Amazons would run their little hunting parties.
One drone approached Pep and began to reach down towards the sword and armor lying on the ground before the alien. Only to have its arm batted away by one of Pep's tentacles. The drone paused and turned its gaze towards Pep, who seemed enraptured by the stack of arrows in its grip. It then turned back towards the gear and reached out again. Only to be smacked away once more. The drone turned Pep once more and chirped. Pep immediately chirped back and pushed the drone away. The drone's eye blinked once before it rocketed back up towards the top of Prowler.
Perpetually Unbalanced, or Pep for short, was the younger of the two engineers ONI had found on Vigilant Expanse. A large and hidden Forerunner shield world. Which meant it was much more curious and carefree than its older counterpart. For some reason, the engineer seemed fascinated by the Amazons' weapons and armor. Often, it would be found digging through the pile amassing within the ship. Pulling out random weapons and gear, before subjecting them to a quick examination.
Sometimes, if it found an item it liked, it would carry it around as it worked on the other tasks Phoebe had assigned to it. As to why, neither Grim nor Phoebe could say. But so long as it didn't slow the engineer down, they found it best not to care.
Pep's compatriot, Accidentally Sparks or just Sparks, was the older of the two and it could care less about the Amazons' gear. It was far more interested in tearing apart and rebuilding everything within the ship. Although, Grim got the sense it was more out of annoyance and boredom than actually wanting to help.
The side effect of which was a far more efficient manufacturing suite. Which was how Phoebe had rushed the multitude of repair drones that now orbited around the Katoptris. Alongside the mineral extractors they had scattered around the island and the beginning of the Owl they were building.
Speaking of the Owl, Grim cast one last glance towards the Amazons before he turned and made his way up into the ship.
"Back from your walk?" Phoebe asked as he pulled up the Owl's progress on his HUD.
Grim grunted in response as he ran through the list of assembled parts. The first of which was the fusion generator and its associated engines. Next was the general frame of the aircraft, along with the piloting suite. All that was left to add was the photoreactive paneling and the weapons system. Both of which were currently in the process of being built. Not that the aircraft truly needed the paneling and weaponry. It was only intended to assist with the repairs to their ship.
When Phoebe had done her initial scan of the Katoptris, she had failed to communicate the severity of the damage to their communications array. Which had been severely damaged from the impact. Before being buried under a mess of rock and dirt. Meaning that before they could even start to repair the array, they had to dig it out. Which had been the previous three months' project.
The drones had made considerable progress, but they had also run into an issue. That being the large collection of boulders and other large stones spread across their buried craft. Most of which were far too large for the drones or Grim to remove. Meaning they needed some sort of crane to haul the slabs of rock away. Ergo, the production of the Owl.
Initially, Phoebe had wanted to build an Albatross. But Grim shot down that idea and argued for a more multi-purpose aircraft. Something they could use outside of rebuilding the Katoptris. So, the two of them had gone back and forth between building a Pelican or an Owl. With the final decision of building the Owl being reached when Grim pointed out they could use it to spy on the Amazons as well as scout out the rest of the planet unseen.
"Glad to hear you're still having fun with your new playmates." Phoebe teased.
"They're annoying." Grim pointed out dryly.
"Sure! But they're also keeping you exercised and entertained!" Phoebe answered as her avatar appeared on a nearby pedestal. "Plus, they're paying handsomely for all the training you're giving them." She said with a wide grin and wave towards one of the drones passing by with a pile of armor.
"You have an interesting definition of paying." Grim responded with a slight upturn of his lips inside his helmet.
"Paying, stealing. Does it really matter at this point? If they didn't want us to take their stuff, they could stop showing up fully armed." Phoebe answered with a grin.
Grim tilted his head slightly. Conceding the point.
"How long will it take you to drop them off?" Phoebe asked, pushing forward with the business at hand.
"Ten minutes to load them into the Razorback and another thirty to drop them off without being seen. All totaled, a bit over an hour." Grim rattled off.
"Good. I think we've repaired enough of the comms array to allow us to ping one of the satellites in orbit. I'm not saying we'll be able to hack into a defense satellite yet, but one of the commercial ones isn't out of the question." Phoebe explained.
Grim nodded as he turned towards a weapons rack lining the wall of the hanger. He pulled a sniper rifle from the wall and settled it along his back. Along with pulling a fresh batch of TTR rounds. All of which were quickly stowed away in his pouches. He then made his way over to the gray Razorback and hauled himself up into its driver's seat. Before he hurtled down the ramp.
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Themyscira - Katoptris' Bridge An Hour Later
"Alright, here goes nothing." Phoebe said as she and Grim watched the holoprojection.
Above them, the projection spun. Showing an orbiting cable news satellite with an empty bar next to it. Below it, their hill was shown with another bar next to it. Slowly, both bars began to fill with red. As Phoebe connected what systems she could to the satellite, until both bars were completely full.
"And we're in business!" Phoebe nearly shouted with a clap. She then waved her hand towards the projection and began to comb through the mound of data. Projecting what she thought might be relevant on the table.
At first it was mainly videos of this world's protectors. Such as a man in a blue and red suit with a red cape, holding a green car above him. As people fled screaming from the area. Another video was of a dark shape descending towards the camera, with their hands outstretched and reaching towards it. Another video was of a man appearing and disappearing rapidly. Each time he would drop off a few people before racing off screen once more. As flames flickered on the edge of the frame.
But then, more and more videos began to appear showing this world's politics. Such as a large video showing some sort of speech at the UN. Next to it, what had to be the US President and Russian President stood next to one another in front of the Capitol Building. In front of them was a large treaty that they were in the midst of signing. Only for another image to appear depicting the exact same scenario, but this time with the Chinese President.
"Phoebe?" Grim prompted as more and more images began to appear. Some showed more political maneuvers, while others showed various militaries breaking down some of their gear.
"They're disarming?" Phoebe thought aloud. A confused look on her face as she dug in deeper.
"Phoebe?" Grim pressed as he leaned forward and settled his palms on the table's edge.
"It doesn't make sense. Five years ago they were at one another's throats. Then over a span of a few years they're agreeing to an armistice?" She rambled.
"What do you mean?"
Phoebe huffed as she set up another graph on the table above them. This time, it was a timeline with multiple events and clips projected across it at various points.
"I know we were looking to see how different this world was to ours, and the short answer is very different." She explained.
"I saw the man lifting the car and the man racing into and out of the fire."
"Yes! But those two are generally accepted in this reality. They're seen as protectors. Fighting against crime and general mayhem. But that's not what worries me."
Grim's head tilted to the side.
"As best I can tell, it all started about five years ago. There was a marked drop in aggression between the US, Russia, and China. Europe and the Middle East were basically nonentities by this point. Falling into the background of most political discussions." Phoebe started to explain.
"But the three mentioned were constantly stepping on one another's toes. Testing international boundaries and conducting war games near their borders….. Up until five years ago, at which point it seemed to stop."
"You mean slow down." Grim tried to clarify. Only to have Phoebe look up at him with wide eyes.
"No! I mean stop! They all pulled back and seemed to be consolidating their power bases. While negotiations in the UN ramped up. There were more discussions about open trade and a reduced military presence. Culminating in a treaty which was signed by all UN members, dictating that all their nations would seek to denuclearize by 2030."
"What?" Grim deadpanned.
"Exactly!" Phoebe answered with a quizzical expression turned towards the projection. "It doesn't make sense! It goes against basic human nature. Even our UN couldn't convince our nations to give up their nukes. So, why the hell are the leaders of this world doing so? Better question, why are they being allowed to?"
Grim stared at the wall of videos and clips as he began to think through everything. Phoebe was right, it's human nature to be prepared for anything. It's the entire reason his generation of Spartans were created in the first place.
So, to give up one's greatest weapon, based on only the assurance of another, made no sense. Maybe there was an argument to be made that this world's humanity was more peaceful than their own. But the shift was far too abrupt for that to be the case.
"Grim! I have something else!" Phoebe called, pulling the Spartan from his thoughts. "Take a look at this!"
Before him, a new wave of data sprang to life. Various calculations and lines of code flowing by. But Grim didn't need Phoebe to explain what she was seeing. He had already figured it out himself.
"A Slipspace rupture?"
Phoebe nodded. "Dated two weeks ago. The various space agencies had labeled it a simple transmission error and then proceeded to try and bury it under a flood of new discoveries. Only they didn't account for a bunch of amateur astronomers to dig a little deeper." She explained.
Before them, some grainy footage appeared. It looked to be taken from one of the cameras on the satellites orbiting the Earth. The footage showed a flash of blue and then some object hurtling towards earth. Although the dimensions were far too small to be any sort of UNSC craft, or even Banished or Covenant for that matter.
"That footage was taken by a Korean telephone satellite and was promptly uploaded to the internet." Phoebe continued.
"Can you tell where it landed?"
"As best I can tell, it probably landed somewhere nearby. But seeing as how neither of us have seen a ball of fire in the past few weeks, it's more likely it landed somewhere out at sea. Coincidentally, the US has ordered one of their carrier strike groups to patrol the area around us. I'm sure that's unrelated." Phoebe finished sarcastically.
"Do we have a way to possibly track it, and how long until the Owl is ready to fly?"
Phoebe tilted her head as she thought through their possible options. Before she settled on the one most likely to succeed.
"I think we may be able to track its radiation signature. Assuming that between us and the strikeforce it would be the third radiation signature. But I can't say for certain. As for the Owl, I can have Pep, Sparks, and the drones prioritize its construction. At best estimates, it'll take about two days to be fully complete."
"How about without the weapons and missiles?"
Phoebe looked up at Grim strangely. "A little less than a day. But you do realize that means it's basically an invisible Pelican. Worse actually, because the Pelican has a chaingun."
"I am aware, but for the moment, stealth and speed are our best options. We're already two weeks behind and I want to find whatever that is before this world does." Grim answered, and punctuated with a jab towards the object on the projection above.