Royal Road
The Ark's Royal Road was busy as usual, heavily travelled by the average 'upper class' of the Ark. Still, as of late, the local usual customers were met with a surprising sight. The arrival of Nikkes to the place, many of which were veterans of the War on the surface with at least two years' service and the backpay to match that service time. Those same Nikkes, Mass Production models or not, now shopped from the mid-tier, yet still fancy places usually reserved for the Elite. They weren't alone, either.
UNSC Marines on two-day leave permits walked with them, chatting them up with smiles on their faces. Some of the local Elites didn't much like the sight, obviously, but Mike Shevchenko, one of the Marines, who was walking with one of Mighty Tools's members, couldn't give less of a damn over what they were saying about them behind their backs. Centi, the bubblier of the two girls working in the Ark's construction squad, was telling him about the latest mishap with the Carronades and their pranks.
"I gotta tell you, though, the firework bit was funny!" She smiled as they walked, "Almost didn't make Liter angry. Almost, really, heh..." and she chuckled, "Man, boss is really not gonna be lookin' forward to paying for the cleanup, I don't think."
"Truth be told, the Ark's government's finally paying for their military blunders, so expect'em to actually be paid for by the State," He replied calmly as they walked, "SeaBees are actually quite eager to get more work done, too. Hell, sis told me they're working day in, day out to make sure the FOBs they're gonna deploy on the surface have the proper tunneling materiel necessary to make then interconnected. Y'know, for ease of reinforcement."
"Ooh! I really wanna visit one of'em! From what I've seen about your modular base designs, they're real cool!" Centi quipped, grinning, "Might help me and Liter fix up some of the other issues our Outpost's facing, too. Stuff like old construction materiel and all that. Some of the support struts and elements are a bit rusted and we're still trying to see if it corroded anything."
"I'm sure you two are gonna figure it out," Sev nodded. Centi was about to turn around and say something again, but both of them were surprised when she was hit in the back of a head by what seemed to be a discarded cardboard box meant for some kind of food. Young women's voices echoed in the background, giggles of joy that the good Mike could easily track to the assailants.
Four young women, maybe in their twenties and wearing some of the fanciest designer clothing available, pointed at Centi and said, "Hey, buddy-boy, don't'cha know there's no tin cans allowed in here?" while the person seemingly watching over them, a man in his forties with the same hair and eye color, sat at the table near the fast food joint, doing nothing.
"Yeah," Another spoke, "Plus, shouldn't ya be hanging with actual humans? Y'know, like us! No reason to stick around that faux-beauty robot thinkin' she's a real girl! This ain't Pinocchio!" and she and her sisters laughed. The old man in the back shook his head, then sighed and continued eating. Sev scoffed at that and was about to go give the little brats a piece of his mind if their father wasn't gonna. Centi's hand pressed against his chest and, even though she was simply trying to conceal her sadness behind a fake smile, she shook her head.
"No point..." She told him, "The people who usually shop at Royal Road ain't ever gonna get what we're doing up there."
The girls laughed still, mocking and deriding the girl and other Nikkes that walked around. What they hadn't noticed, however, was the crowd of on-leave Marines that had gathered around to witness this. Other people within the Royal Road's surrounding stores watched with a bit of surprise and some, with malignant glee as the girls mocked their defenders. It was almost terrifyingly awe-inspiring just how little had changed. One of them stated, "Heh, look at that! Just like a Nikke to give up that easily! You soldier-bots should just go back up and do what you do best:Die!"
And that struck a chord.
"... Speak the lowest rats on the food chain," Voiced Shevchenko, much to everyone's surprise. He looked to Centi and gently took her hand off of his chest, then walked to within ten steps of the dumb broads and spoke to them, "Just a bunch of pretty prissy princesses with nothing to offer to the world beside snide comments and the stupidity I'd expect out of the average High School broad living the sheltered life."
One was about to snap back at that, while her sisters seemed pissed. Sev crossed his arms to his chest and spoke, "And just like the average little piece of shit that decides to open their mouth on matters they know jack-diddle-fuck about, you said something that didn't just piss off any random Nikke that passed by that couldn't blast you out in the open for it verbally before, but also their new buddies."
He walked up to one of them, face-to-face, and she soon noticed the man stood a forehead above her, "You're talking shit to members of the UNSC Marine Corps. Just the rat-tailed morons who're up top dying in the mud while you're out here, probably only passing your class cuz either your daddy bribed the teachers..." and he smirked, "Or you're very good at doing some favors for teach when your pa ain't lookin'."
The man at the table had wanted to intervene then and there, clearly, but he saw the gathering platoon of Marines, both male and female, surrounding the girls and him and decided it best not to get himself beaten up over his daughters being morons. The lead of the sisters was about to snap back, but stuttered. Sev flicked her forehead with his fingers and said, "So how about you and your two little sisters just sit your bitch-asses down and let us folk enjoy our walk?"
The girls wanted to counter, but saw the impromptu platoon that had gathered, several of the women cracking their knuckles and ready to kick their teeth in if they did anything stupid. So, with that, they turned back around, grumbling, then sat down with their father. The Marines laughed, while their Nikke comrades stared on with surprise. Turning back and walking with Centi, the man said, "Man, folks really oughta learn to be thankful for what they have..."
He looked to the surprised builder girl and told her, "Don't gimme that look, Cee. We all know we're soldiers, we all know we're here for mankind and we all know you girls are our sisters in arms. Fuck anyone too sheltered to understand that, if we gave up the fight, they'd be on the chopping block next and probably won't like seeing the executioner's axe coming down."
She sighed, then looked back as she heard the father berating the girls, surprisingly enough, then she smiled at Mike and told him, "Thank you... I think that's the first time in history someone stood up for either me or Liter... Then again, not like Liter needs much help," She chuckled. The old Grandma could kick some ass and take some names if she recalled the story correctly.
He smiled back and said, "Marines stick together. Now, c'mon. I've still gotta buy you and Liter something for agreeing to fix my armor and I'd rather know what kind of stuff you girls really like," before he led the way deeper into the Royal Road. In all honesty, Centi had never expected things to move as fast as they did. Even with the glares she might've been receiving from other RR patrons, she really didn't care anymore.
The fact that someone had decided to jump up and defend them, especially someone whom they'd be fighting beside in any upcoming battles, warmed her heart. She watched some of the SeaBees rebuilding whatever damaged buildings remained while Nikkes armed with UNSC weapons and clad in UNSC armors also patrolled the area and soon knew just how much their livelihoods had improved.
It was... Heartwarming, really. To think they had people who cared this much.
The Outpost
"Alright, let's recap one last time before we leave. Ammunition for the trip, check. MREs, check. IFAKs and repair kits, check. Sensors and com beacons, check. Missile launchers with extra warheads, check..." Alyosha murmured to himself as he read through the manifest of items the Counters would be taking on their next trip out of the Outpost. His next major course wouldn't come until next week, so he had plenty of time for an on-site boots-on-the-ground op to clear the monotony of studying.
A knock on the door took his attention from the list. He said, "Come in," and watched Rapi walk in. He smiled at her, then said, "Came to help me prep our stuff?" to which she nodded. The pair started looking through the gear and items thoroughly as they lay sprawled out around the Commander's room. He said, "Good to know the UNSC's really starting to supply us with stuff."
"Do you happen to know where we're even heading, Commander?" She raised a brow, visibly concerned.
He nodded, "North-east, I think. Doctor Halsey mentioned a few patrols going missing in the area. She wants us to investigate whatever's going on over there. We'll have a direct link to the Outpost, since it's looking like a low Alva particle concentration in the area..." only to see the girl pause. He hummed, nodded and said, "I know. It's weird for patrols to just drop out of contact without a high AP Density."
"I think there may be a lot more to this than whatever Syuen's reports have led the Doctor to believe... Something doesn't sit right," She told him as she crossed her arms to her chest. She lifted a new weapon off the table and looked it over, murmuring, "I never thought I would actually get to see a Stanchion up-close..." as she shouldered it with an almost instinctive skill.
He nodded understandingly to his XO and told her, "Yeah, I said the same. It's why they agreed to provide any support we might want for this op. Whatever's out there, we'll figure it out, hopefully find the patrols and get to go home before lunch..." though he, too, seemed a bit more wary of it now that he had a moment's peace to consider the possibility. Maybe it was Syuen giving them one last 'screw you' from the proverbial grave before she turned up to become a Nikke.
Who knew at this point, though. Alyosha certainly didn't, but he didn't voice it. He simply told her, "We'll figure it out there. I mean, if nothing else, we're fairly good at on-the-spot improv," and he smiled awkwardly. Rapi sighed and nodded. That was true. It was sort of their modus operandi. Even so, it felt wrong not to have any sort of information about what could possibly be making so many patrols disappear. And the lack of Alva Particles meant either that the Raptures managed to make something not reliant on the stuff, or worse. It might not have been Raptures at all.
Deep down, Rapi feared it. As did Alyosha, in truth...
