Chief was sat outside the Mighty Tools repair shop of the Outpost. He had asked to speak to Product-12-09 and Signal and Delta after the mission. 09 was still undergoing repairs, unsurprisingly. Her physical damage had been extensive, ranging from missing limbs to the wounds sustained during active-duty combat against the enemy. Elysion had requested that she be sent to them alongside an AAR of the Rescue operation, in order to discern what to do with her.
He saw the two other girls marching up to him in a parade formation of sorts. More just the two forming a line, with Signal being behind the taller leader of their two-person team. Chief stood to his feet and also noted that Delta wore her standard camo shorts, shirt and rig now, rifle slung over shoulder and pistol in the thigh holster wrapped tightly around a revealed thigh. Cortana snorted at the sight.
The two girls then lined up in front of the Chief, Signal slightly trembling as they both snapped salutes. Chief saluted back and said, "At ease. I'm an NCO, so saluting isn't necessary."
"Sir," Delta replied, "Sorry, sir." And she let her hand fall back beside her. Signal, meanwhile, continued trembling, trying to keep a straight face. Her TL cast a quick glance of concern her way, but her face remained a stone wall, sort of like the Chief's. The Spartan turned to Signal and walked up to her, then took a knee, much to the scared girl's surprise. He depolarized his visor, revealing his human features.
And he spoke to her with a soothingly calm voice, "Relax. I'm an ally and a comrade in arms. We all share the same objective here."
"Y-Yes, sir..." The girl seemed to shy away for a moment. Chief gave her a nod and a pat on the shoulder, then straightened back up and looked to Delta. He walked up face-to-face with her, still towering a head above what was supposed to be a humanoid combat machine meant to rip apart the mechanoid creatures that nearly drove their ward species to extinction in this place.
He told her, "I have a couple of questions, Delta."
"I'll be more than happy to answer, sir," She replied, all military-like, giving him a nod.
Chief appreciated that kind of honesty. Was refreshing from a soldier like him. So, he started, "Products. You girls mentioned they are mass producible units for combat work, their brains repeatedly copied in order to be deployed into combat. What happens to those that get so severely damaged, like 09, that if and when they are eventually recovered, they are taken back?"
"Usually, sir," Delta hummed, "Their brains are removed, bodies scrapped and said brains are grilled for information via the NIMPH. After that's done, the brain is either installed in a new Product body, or discarded depending on the damage..." And that seemed to make even the Spartan pause. Even considering how nonchalant Delta was about it. She told him, "Us more specialized Nikkes, like me, Signal and the Counters and other units present on-site, have unique brains. They are to be recovered if we have any hope of surviving to fight another day."
"I see," Chief took that new information to heart, while Cortana wrote it down in a digital black-over-white. He hummed, then stated, "What would happen to Oh-Niner, then?"
"Normally, she'd be recycled back into active use," Delta commented, then sighed deeply, "But considering she let her Commander die along with the rest of her platoon? Presumably, final dispensation will be completed the moment she is returned to Elysion, sir..." And, at that, the Chief's expression seemed to darken behind his visor, despite no actual, visual changes like wrinkles.
He sighed and said, "I'm going to protest that. Resources aren't being expended to bring 09er back to Combat duty for nothing."
"The Commander is already on that, sir," The Scout stated, offering a small smile. To the confused Chief, she explained, "Commander Harris openly views most of us as fellow soldiers and human beings, too... Though it's good to see that more humans think like him." And she gave the Chief a nod of respect. Cortana let out a short chuckle, while the Spartan simly gave a nod back.
"The soldiers defending humanity deserve respect, Delta. I've fought long enough to know that we're all on the same side..." He told them, then said, "Thanks for the answers... I'll go see Oh-Niner, then maybe Deputy Andersen. I want to talk about forming my own squad..."
"Sir?" Both girls were stunned.
He nodded, "Dismissed," Then stepped inside the repair shop. He watched Liter wheel the girl out on a wheelchair, then stopped her and asked, "Where are you taking Oh-Niner?" as he noticed some of the wounds had been patched up. Namely, Oh-Niner had a good eye now, alongside a pair of boxes attached to the Chair's back. Liter looked up at him and smirked.
"Just taking her to Mary and Pepper at the Clinic. I'm not qualified to install new limbs on Nikkes, but I did make her some new stuff," She replied, then patted Oh-Niner on the back. The girl seemed a bit glum, though she looked up at the Chief and gave him a smile. She snapped a quick salute, which Chief replied to in kind. Liter told him, "You can follow us along if ya want."
"Will do," He stated, then turned to tag along with them. He didn't know they had a clinic, wondered if it would be useful for him as well, should he ever need medical treatment, then he squelched the thoughts. The only reason he'd get injured was if his armor became brittle and a round could pierce it. Speaking of, he needed to find some way to upgrade his gear...
Cortana stated, "Y'know, I think it might be a good idea to learn all of the facilities in the Outpost, since we'll be living here..." rather absentmindedly as she worked to get into the Ark's network. Chief could tell she was working, due to the usually cool feeling of her presence being a tad warmer than usual. As the group walked through the Outpost, they met several Nikke units along the way. Patrolling Products.
One such Product was a 12. 12-20. She and her twin gave simple waves to each-other, thought Twenty seemed a tad surprised at the fact that Oh-Niner was receiving medical care. In the meanwhile, Chief continued to formulate data and plans with Cortana pertaining to discussing matters with the Elysion CEO, perhaps to allow him to keep 09 around.
The trio entered the medical center, finding it to resemble a hospital, sterile tiles, white walls, sealed doors and everything. Entering deeper, they found Pepper, a pink-haired doctor clad in a sweater that reached down past her waist and wearing a pair of headphones, tending to another Nikke that'd been injured while humming a tune. A tune Cortana quickly recognized, whispering, "Everybody Wants to Rule The World... Odd choice, though I'll presume it's more recent for them than it is for us."
"Hey, Pep!" Liter called out, causing the young woman to let out a yelp. Surprisingly, though, her hands remained as steady as when they'd come in. She peered over to the door and smiled, then noticed 09 and the Chief. Liter inquired, "Here to talk to Mary, seeing as you're busy," to which she gave Liter a quick nod and motioned off to the side. Taking another door, the group entered the hallway and saw the presumed 'Mary', a well-developed beauty, her eyes nearly closed as she arranged her own blue sweater and white labcoat.
She turned toward them and said, "Ah, Liter. And there's my patient!" with a smile, "Hello, 09."
"Doctor," She gave a nod, a sad smile on her face.
"Right this w-" Mary paused when she spotted the Chief. She actually seemed to open her eyes wide for a moment in order to mimic the action of a blink, action which the Spartan caught, even through the speed she did it with. She spoke to him, "You must be the new aide-de-camp that the Commander recovered... Welcome to the Outpost and to the Clinic, sir." her voice now jovial, a smile returning to her face.
"Ma'am," Chief replied respectfully. Mary was the head physician, it seemed.
She chuckled and waved that off, "Just call me Mary, Master Chief," before turning to 09 and stating, "I'm surprised they'd send you to repair anything more major than a crack, honestly..."
"Chief dragged me over here," The girl replied awkwardly, "Don't really know why..."
Chief shot back, "No soldier left behind, Oh-Niner. The experience you have alone will be useful for the Garrison here at the Outpost..." before turning to a stunned Mary and telling her, "She'll just need the new limbs installed, doctor. I'll go talk to Chief Deputy Andersen, ask to have her assigned to a squad under my command if at all possible..." which, well, to say it stunned everyone even more was an understatement.
Niner stared at Chief with a dumbfound, yet somewhat hopeful look, while the other two women seemed to stare at him with shock that was intermixed with the unusual look of joy. Mary's smile grew a bit as she took the wheelchair wordlessly from Liter, while Liter herself took her hardhat off and scratched the top of her blonde head, murmuring, "You Greenhorns worry me..." even though she wore a smile.
Chief had obviously heard this, but chose not to comment. He told Liter, "I'll be off to see Commander Harris..." before the constructor Nikke gave him a nod and a quick salute, arranging her leather jacket all the while. The Spartan gave a quick nod out of respect, then stepped out and marched down the road toward the Command Center. As he did so, he spoke to Cortana, "How's the Data decryption going?"
"Currently? Well..." Cortana sighed deeply, "Can I admit that I'm surprised?"
Whenever Cortana admitted surprise, she usually meant frustration. Chief recalled when she'd seen the data on Halo and everything else, including during FIRST STRIKE. He asked warily, "What do you mean?" as he kept up his march, giving nods of greeting to the various security detail Nikkes marching around. The girl took a moment, seemingly considering how to best word her concerns.
"Their encryption scheme is surprisingly advanced," She explained, not oblivious to the fact her own hacking suite was fairly more advanced. Still, she clarified, "I mean, I get they make humanoid machines like the Nikkes by the thousand at this point and that needs heavy encryption, but we're talking about layered Firewalls here, John. I snake my way through one, I slam another, to the point the Ark's entire security net is a Maze. Now, I can make my way through it with little issue, obviously, but it might take me a few days if... Well, I did manage to upgrade the Outpost's network, though, so..."
"Good with the bad, then..." The Spartan murmured, then inquired, "What's your take on the situation so far? Honest answers only."
"Honestly, John, I'm a bit stumped we're in this big of a mess," She hummed, then chuckled and added, "But when haven't we waded through hell?" Before quickly bringing up the most recent memories of "The Covenant, the Flood, hell, even the Didact..." and ending it with a mirthful, short laugh and a jovial quip, "What's another world-ending threat, but another notch on our belt, eh?"
"Heh," The man surprisingly snorted, a monumental event that made Cortana glimmer a bit pink, though he didn't notice. He stated a calm, "Yeah..." as they approached their target. That was the first little reaction he'd allowed himself in decades, a short laugh that helped ease the tension within his mind, if even a little. Cortana, however, did not seem to want to let it go.
"You laughed! I win!" She cheered. That old bet was still on.
"I don't have any credits to my name here, but we'll see how things work, aye?"
"Aye, aye, Chief... Hehehe."
Entering the command center, the Chief took the elevator up, moving past several dozen off-duty and non-combatant Nikkes through the halls and reaching the man's room. He gave a quick knock, which was immediately answered by Alyosha opening the door, hat under his arm. The young Commander looked up and smiled, then said, "Chief. I was just about to come talk to you."
"Sir?" The Spartan asked, tilting his head down to look upon the man, already reflexively at attention.
Alyosha smiled and said, "Chief Deputy Andersen wanted some new details delivered to you. I was supposed to come find ya and hand the data over..." Only to see confusion in the Spartan's few movements. The rock that was the supersoldier stood there, staring at Alyosha through the visor, to which he spoke, "Want me to read it aloud then? Alright..." and he activated a tablet, clearing his throat and starting, at first with a mock of Andersen's gruff voice, "Master Chief Petty Officer 117 is to be-..." Only to feel a chill. He looked up at the stoic Spartan and asked meekly, "Not fond of the voice... Right..." before reading normally, "MCPO 117 is to be assigned a testing unit, a platoon of Nikkes to be formed under his command and at his leisure, to verify combat and leadership experience as per order 2131 of the Ark Central Government..."
"Huh..." Chief blinked
"You got your own squad, Chief," Snorted Alyosha, "Under the Outpost commander's leadership orders, obviously, but, heh... You get to pick your own rank and file, though I'd assume it's mostly out of Mass Production Nikkes..." And he read, "Oh, nope, you can take members from already-formed squads with no commanders, so..." only to hand Chief the tablet, "Guess you can write your desired personnel and send it to the man?"
"I'll... Do that... Sir..." Chief stared, dumbfound, at the device in his hands.
"C'mon in. Now that I don't hafta go looking for you, I figure we can just take a break..." Alyosha stated, before he turned around, took off his brown uniform jacket and set it and his cap onto the back of a chair. The Spartan nodded, then stepped inside, already starting the report and request for at least 09er to be deployed to his side. Alyosha told him, "You can pick between four and six Nikkes to deploy with if you want."
The Spartan took that information into account and decided. He asked, "Does that mean I can request the Scouts, sir?"
"Delta and Signal? Yeah, sure. Delta's been bugging me for more missions and training as it is," He nodded as he sat down at his desk and activated his personal computer. The Spartan, meanwhile, sat himself down cross-legged in the center of the commander's room and started writing. Alyosha, for all intents and purposes, wanted to be a good host and ask Chief if he didn't want to sit down somewhere more comfortable, but then he remembered the whole discussion with Andersen and...
Yeah, he simply told him, "Lemme know if you need anything."
"Will do, sir. Thanks," Chief replied as he wrote up the request. The Scouts, Niner, an iDoll Sun and maybe a Soldier EG, plus a Product-23. Fairly Elysion-heavy unit, but he preferred military to non-military. iDoll Sun was pretty much the only one he hadn't considered beyond the fact she carried an AR and seemed like a capable Mass Production unit. Otherwise, he continued writing.
Alyosha, meanwhile, watched the man before him focus entirely on the work that needed to be done. Honestly, he respected the Chief, from what little he knew of the man. He was a man of sheer focus, commitment and will to be able to just sit there and do paperwork without even fidgeting. Meanwhile, Alyosha had had more than his fair share of attention-span-related problems as he worked, as evidenced by the stack of paperwork to his immediate left.
He hummed, then looked around the place at his room a bit more, before hearing the door open and Anis call out, "Yo, commander!" as she, Rapi and Neon walked in. The trio of girls looked over to see Chief working on the request form, with Anis greeting, "And Chief! Wassup?"
"Anis," The man nodded, "Writing a form for the new squad I'm supposedly ordered to lead."
"Woah, they actually gave you command of a squad!?" Neon gasped,. Chief gave a nod, which seemed to surprise the group. They looked to the Commander, who simply shrugged, then Neon commented, "Chief Deputy Andersen must really want to keep you around us, Chief. I doubt he'd make just anyone a commander out of the blue like he just did..."
"We'll still be cooperating and he'll still be working with us on missions, it's just that he'll have a Squad with him," Alyosha clarified, "One basically linked to us in the Counters," and he started doing the paperwork now that Rapi was here. The woman joined him at his desk, starting to help him sort through the more important stuff while also casting looks at the Spartan.
She said, "Should be an interesting bit... Two squads going together most of the time..."
"Yeah," Alyosha smiled, "Gonna be great."
"Hey, at least we won't be dealing with hundreds of Raptures alone, eh?" Anis grinned, then looked to the Chief and marched up to him. She leaned over and looked at the roster, then said, "Well, the Scouts will probably be glad to get outta the Outpost more..." before humming and looking at the Chief, "You good there, man? Cuz I don't really know how you view leading a team."
"I'll be fine," Chief replied calmly. He finished writing out the form, read it over once more, then sent it. He stood up and gave a salute to the Commander, as well as a nod to the Nikkes, before departing. Anis blinked, then let out a deep sigh at that reaction. Rapi and Neon seemed to agree, while the Commander had to make a note to get Chief talking more with them.
"He'll be fine, as he said," Alyosha said, then looked to Rapi, "Thanks, by the way."
"No problem," She replied, sitting herself down on a chair and starting to write the paperwork.
Anis said to Neon, "Let's just go. Commander and Rapi already seem to be getting busy..." before smirking and looking to a suddenly blushing Alyosha for a reaction. She ducked under a thrown pen that came from Rapi's direction, then giggled like a Gremlin as she pushed Neon out of the place and shut the door. Rapi, still positioned like she'd just thrown the pen, right hand extended outward and open, sighed deeply.
The Commander coughed and cleared his throat, then said, "Well, Anis seems her usual..."
"She never changed..." Rapi rolled her eyes. She stood up and walked over to pick up her pen, then plopped herself back down into the chair and continued writing, face-to-face with Alyosha. She spoke to him, "I'm surprised the Deputy Chief allowed our newfound ally to lead a team, though..." She hummed and scratched her chin, "I do suppose he's military, so..."
"Probably having a military man with some actual experience in charge of a platoon of Nikkes suited Andersen just fine as an excuse to keep him out of the Big Three's hands..." Alyosha blurted out. Rapi blinked and looked up at him with her deep, ruby-colored eyes. He looked up at her, realized what he said, then blushed and chuckled awkwardly, "Least that's what I think, heh!"
Rapi narrowed her lips, then smiled and said, "I think you may be onto something..."
"O-oh...?" He raised a brow. He was?
The Nikke nodded, "It would make some semblance of sense the Big Three would not try and bother the military outside of deploying Nikkes. Best they can do is keep watch over the Chief, probably why he's allowed to form a squad at all. So, they're there to keep tabs on him as much as we are, while reporting back to both their makers, be they Elysion, Missilis or Tetra..."
"Plus, it gives Chief something to do with his skills," Alyosha hummed, "Yeah. Makes sense, alright."
"Maybe we should keep tabs on those Nikkes as well..." Rapi suggested with a hum as she continued writing, "The Chief seems like a genuinely good human being... Kind of like you, Commander..." And she cast a quick glance at him, her own face a twinge redder than normal, though it was slightly obscured by her hair. Alyosha blushed, too, though he hid it a little more poorly, simply diving back into writing paperwork. By the Gods, was Rapi a wonderful girl...
He cared deeply for her...