DAEDALUS AWAY TEAM 1 // IMMACULATE AEGIS // FLEET SPACE

McKay shook his head. "Seems like no matter what universe you are from you aren't free from someone with a technological advantage enslaving another populace, as well as an absent precursor race."

"Well-" Ronon started but McKay turned to him.

"Pegasus is different. If the Wraith didn't feed on humans then they'd likely have enslaved them too." He turned to the human doctor. "If this creature-" He signalled at the floating mass of tentacles "-is truly made by the Forerunners, your precursor race. Then surely it would be able to make the necessary adjustments to the technology. If it can maintain their technology that is more advanced surely it can be used to upgrade the systems aboard to match their specifications." He turned to nod to the chief engineer from the Resurgence. "It is very likely that there are severe software restrictions on these vessels, we've seen it back on our home universe. When the Jaffa, a race of warriors born into servitude to the Goa'uld, started to defect the Goa'uld placed countermeasures into their ships to prevent them from being used against them. This could be a similar thing."

He paused. Addressing Kham specifically. "I'd suggest you take the hardware side, and I go and check out the software side of things. No offence to you but your software and computing systems are ridiculously antiquated compared to our own, it's as if you've been technologically stunted for generations-" He turned to Strevlos. "-Much like our other tentacle friend over there, if his historic files are to be believed. That said perhaps you can find a way to communicate to our floating friend here?"

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Before McKay could get too carried away with assumptions, Dr. O'Connell did step in to clarify a few points."Dr. McKay, with respect, that may not be the answer. I am not denying the possibility, do not mistake me, but there are other considerations. The Huragok can be...difficult to work with."

Breifly interrupting O'Connell, the Huragok made a high-pitched vocalization, vaguely reminiscent of a whale or dolphin. O'Connell smiled towards it, and gave it a gentle pat behind its head. "It's okay, Floats, you're very helpful." She remarked towards it, though quickly turned her attention back to McKay and the others. "The Forerunners, near as we can tell, did not design the Huragoks for science. They are engineers, meant to maintain and repair. Teaching and coming up with new solutions for technological problems was never their purpose. Even though they do understand far more advance technologies completely, they don't really know how to explain it in ways we understand. You have to know how to ask the right questions to get the right answers from them. They are very helpful, don't get me wrong, and very willing to help. But, it's likely that the Prophets ran into the very same limitations we have when using them to assist with reverse-engineering. It will all make sense, the more you work with them."

Dr. O'Connell gave a quick look towards Kham. "I can have someone show you to one of the slipspace borers. From my understanding, the Shipmaster does not want anyone interfacing directly with the ship's borer yet, but the Aegis' AI will give you full technical readouts, and will even help run simulations on any proposed changes you might want to make. In fact, Narak, could you go ahead and get a copy of the borer's operating logic for Dr. Mckay?"

As Narak went over to one of the Aegis' consoles in the corner, O'Connell grabbed a small, somewhat cylindrical object from one of the other tables and placed it down on the table in the center of the room. "Now, as for communicating with Floats, the Huragok primarily use a form of sign language to speak. The Covenant long used translators like these to interpret it into written Sangheili. I've set this one to translate it into English."

Interacting with: @Sep

Marcus sat at the Command Chair, staring out into the void of space as he allowed himself to be distracted by the glittering stars shining though the darkness. He couldn't stop thinking about Leon and his team; out of communications range and in an environment they didn't even know. He knew people like Elizabeth and Colonel Briggs would do the same thing if it was their men being sent down to an unfamiliar, potentially hostile world. Now beyond returning home, people began to realize they were all they had out here. The lines between duty, survival and protocol were becoming blurred- mashing everyone together into one big dysfunctional family of soldiers. Marcus was quickly jolted out of his thoughts as the sound of approaching footsteps prompted him to look up at the figure. The woman before him was, he assumed, of strong Germanic origin, possessing a strong, square jawline, blond hair and ice blue eyes. He smiled, and she didn't. "Warrant Officer Schleibaum, what can I help you with?" He inwardly cringed as he nearly fumbled to try and pronounce her last name; the awkward pronunciation of "sleigh-ballum" making the woman scrunch her nose slightly before speaking with a heavy German accent. "Admiral Oliver, Sir. Ve are being hailed by zhe Daedalus." Raising an eyebrow, Marcus rose from his seat and replied, "Patch it through to the main display, let's see what they want." The woman clicked her heels in a salute to the Admiral, saying, "Aye, Sir," before pivoting on a heel and walking briskly back to her station. Marcus went over to the main panel, shoving the stiff interaction to the back of his mind as the glass display lit up with red-tinged words, "CONNECTING TO UNKNOWN SIGNAL. . .STANDBY."

When the hail finally connected, Marcus stood at Parade Rest, allowing a brief pause for the communications to clear up before speaking to the figure at the other end. "This is Admiral Marcus Oliver of the UNSC Unbroken Hope, is there something I can help you with?" The figure at the other end introduced themselves as Major Kevin Marks of the Daedalus, suggesting one of their engineers be sent over to install a shield generator aboard the Unbroken Hope. Of course, this was all in respect to Marcus's permission. "Understood; send them to the Hangar and a security escort will take them to Engineering." When the hail closed, Marcus strode to the center console and spoke up. "Issac." The white hologram materialized, and Marcus spoke again with a tone of uncertainty in his voice. "We'll be having one of the Daedalus Engineers onboard to look at an upgrade for the Hope. Security will be present in case of sabotage; I want you to oversee the upgrade process and disallow them remote access to anything other than the power distributor and the necessary subsystems connections. Ensure this is a one-way operation; anything requiring additional permissions needs to be relayed to me. Understood?"

"Aye, Sir." Issac saluted, vanishing from the central console. "Security Team One, report to Hangar." Issac's voice was momentarily heard over the Hope's loudspeakers, and Marcus could feel the wheels turning as the orders were received. "Warrant Officer Williamson, monitor the Hope's systems and update me on installation progression." An "Aye, Sir!" came from somewhere on the upper right side of the Bridge; the figure obscured by the glass panel serving as a divider between the left and right sections of the ship. As Marcus seated himself back in the Command Chair, it wasn't long before he began drifting off to the operation's progress.

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SENTINEL 1-1/Away Team 2
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Interacting with: @Sep

The team of six made their way to the craft known as the 'Jumper', embarking it with another team as they secured themselves to the seats. Liam has his pilot helmet on; polarized and tinted to obscure his eyes from view as did every other ODST. Well, except Leon. The Squad Leader insisted on being as transparent as possible in the face of the unknown, and therefore had depolarized his helmet's visor as to not look like another faceless being to the rest of the crew and auxiliary forces aboard the station. One of the shuttles had just departed, which meant soon that he and his team were next in line. From what the others could make out, every single black-clad soldier had their own role in the squad, it seemed. Most carried suppressed assault rifles, battle rifles and SMGs, with one member lugging what appeared to be some sort of a heavy sniper rifle, again fitted with a suppressor at the end.

As the Jumper finally touched down without so much as a bump, Leon filed out after the members exited the craft. He was at least glad to have these new 'Omni-Tool' devices mounted on each of their wrist gauntlets, but he much preferred using his helmet's internal communications and VISR. His team fanned out of the dropship and followed Sheppard; their heads and bodies on a pivot to survey the area from all sides as they approached the maintenance shaft in a staggered column. Leon held a hand up; signaling his team to stop as he spoke up, voice barely above a whisper but just loud enough to hear. "Where are we needed, Sheppard?" He didn't like relying on some non-UNSC personnel calling the shots, but he'd have to deal with it nonetheless given the circumstance.

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@Sep & @EliteCommander

Strevrols gaze flicked from the Huragok and back to McKay as he let out a small chuckle.

"Just because we have the same outward appearance," He waved his tentacles for emphasis. "Doesn't mean we can talk to each other. Besides, judging from that cylinder the doctor has given us, I'd say my involvement in establishing communication with the creature is no longer necessary. A good thing really, especially since my people never used this "sign language" of yours. Being aquatic beings with fairly acute eyesight we originally communicated via changing the color of our skin, but ever since leaving our original home world oceans, we've lost the ability to do so. Our researchers have said our reliance on tech is why the gene that allowed for such communication slowly fell out of use but they digress into genetic technicalities so often, I have trouble remembering the specifics."

Strevrols paused, giving the others a moment to absorb that information before continuing.

"As for our histories... I will admit, we have stagnated greatly in the last few years. But when war comes, other things fade into the background, quickly forgotten." He said, taking on a somewhat grim expression as he turned to face McKay.

It was a lie of course, though not entirely untrue. There was a long period of time in which his people had been technologically, culturally, and militarily stagnant as they had slowly clawed their way back to being a galactic power but those present didn't need to know that.

"But enough of all that," Strevrols went on, the grim expression on his face disappearing as though it were never there to begin with. "Let us focus on the tasks at hand. Namely, improving this ship."

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As soon as Samus exited the ship, she would receive a message coming from what should be their client. Raising her arm, the hologram would reveal a wrinkly-skinned alien, wearing a rough mercenary-based clothing, who called himself Forda. After some fodder conversation, with Jerus doubling down on the alien's inconsistency, he would reveal Thaz and Samus' target being a Gamorrean named Gorm, and the target on Nar Shaddaa being a Nautolan named Ripper. In Samus and Thaz's case, Gorm would be on patrol with his gang of Rodian mercenaries, and would be coming around their general location within the hour. And quickly after notifying Jerus of his target, the alien hastily ended the conversation, leaving the three hunters to figure out what to do next. With that said, Jerus would proceed to contact the armored bounty hunter about what they should do next.

"Well, this'll be different. You two let me know when you're in position and I'll let you know when I find my target. Simple right?"

Samus nodded understandingly.

"Roger." the bounty hunter replied, "We'll report to you when we have further updates on the situation. Good luck."

As she turned off her holographic projector, Thaz would ask her fellow huntress a favor.

"Where is the target going to be, exactly? Can you get me somewhere high up? I don't have to be close. If I can see him, I can take off his head."

Samus paused as she looked around the surrounding area. Their landing pad was mostly surrounded by a several meter tall wall that was connected to other buildings, along with a path leading down to a small three-way intersection. Within their confines, the landing platform was mostly barren, with plenty of litter polluting the ground they stand upon. However, there were several groups of crates stacked upon one another opposite of the entrance, with one stack in particularly being just high enough for one to scale onto the wall itself. That's when Samus got an idea. She turned towards the saurian huntress and pointed to that stack of crates.

"See those crates?" she asked before continuing, "You won't be able to scale them up to the wall by yourself, however I can boost you up to get up there. You should be able to get a good vantage from up there."

If Thaz was to comply, Samus would escort her up to the top of the stack before picking her up and throwing her up for her to catch the ledge and make it up.

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Thaz gave a good look at the wall that Samus pointed out. She was more agile than Samus seemed to think, and she was reasonably certain she would be able to get up on the wall by herself...though it would probably be difficult to do with the weight of her beam rifle on her back. Thinking about it, it would probably be best to get help with it, rather than risk drawing attention by falling back down on a stack of crates.

"Hmm...okay, got it. Let's just try not to draw too much attention on the way over." Thaz answered.

Thaz stuck close beside Samus as they moved towards the wall. As odd as Thaz assumed the pair looked, most people seemed to keep to themselves. Regardless, they did wait until they felt they were not being watched before Samus boosted Thaz up on top of the wall. As soon as she was up and had her footing, Thaz looked back down to Samus, gave a nod, then activated her active camouflage.

"Okay, there seems to be a lot of places I can get to from up here." Thaz said through their comms. "You should probably scout out where the target is going to be, and I'll make sure I have a line-of-sight on it. Timing seems to be the big thing for this job, though. We're going to have to wait until Jerus has his target dead before I can take my shot, which means you're probably going to have to keep the target in my sights until he does. Then not die to his bodyguards. That's important."

The Cathar didn't respond right away, still going over something with the blueprints before nodding. "Yeah...yeah, I can work with that, see what exactly these 'Prophets' of yours did to this poor ship." Then he turned and bared his teeth at McKay. "And the next time you suggest our culture or technology has stagnated, I'll introduce you to my hydrospanner and his friend good friend, bonding tape. Upgrading something on a mass scale is worthless if you don't fine tune it first, so we're slower to make big leaps, but they're far more meaningful." And with that, Kham followed his guide out of the room to where he was supposed to go.

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"It is of Sith magic and alchemy, Eri'Moram. A Sith Spawn, a creature that does not age, weaken with time, or loose it's potency. Records say that there have been many attempts to wipe out the creatures completely, but none of them were successful. Needless to say, most weapons proved less than effective, but if it's in any of the larger chambers, we just might be able to pin it and just lay into it until it's dead, or even crush it to death."

@sep



"-So, with a few adjustments and with a sufficient enough power source, i am positive that i can adapt my designs that i have used for interdimensional travel, in order to take us home." Eggman concluded. He looked around at Sonia, Oglivie and Thunderbolt.

"But where are we going to get a large enough power source?" Sonia asked. "The Emerald we do have is powerful, but not enough."

"If you ask me, we should probably leave it for now. Manic is going to be laying low for a while. His forces defeated and the few he has loyal to him are gone. He's not a pressing concern. Now, if what they have said is true about this Anubis guy, then we are in some SERIOUSLY hot water. He could come for Mobius next. He might be a greater threat than Manic." Oglivie butted in. "Sonia, i'm going to have to request the Chaos Emerald for my suit. Because right now, i'm the best chance we've got at stopping him."

"Right now, the best chance we've got is not confronting him." Eggman replied. "Angry gods fought by Eggman? 3. Angry gods fought by everyone else in this room?" He asked.

"Angry gods raised and lost control of by Eggman, 3." Retorted Sonia.

"Goes to my credentials." Eggman smiled sinisterly. "Point is, when i fought Chaos, i threw my brand new battleship at it, he took it out in one shot. When i fought Iblis, i threw my brand new battleship at it, he took it out in one shot. When i fought Dark Gaia, i threw my brand new battleship at it, he took it out in one shot. Am i the only person here noticing a pattern developing?" He asked.

"We see your point. But notice how in every one of these instants, it was Super Sonic that saved the day?" Oglivie asked.

"EXACTLY!!!" Eggman slammed his hands on the table. "WE CANNOT JUST THROW OURSELVES AT HIM HEAD ON!!!" Eggman looked noticeably shaken. It had been 2 days and the scientist was clearly scared out of his mind. Every time he had been in this situation, he had always secretly had Sonic to fall back on, because Sonic wasn't the kind of person to kill him. He could take the loss and escape with his life. For once, he had been completely deprived of any kind of back-up plan. "I'm..." Eggman sat back down in his seat. "I've been at this for 2 days and every time i come close to an idea..." He pressed a button and the pictures of Iblis, Chaos and Dark Gaia appeared. "I get a gut-punch of a reminder of when it didn't work last time..." Oglivie put a hand on the old man's shoulder.

"We... We can think around this." He reassured. "We can come up with something... You worked with Manic on his Fake Chaos and Sol Emeralds. Any chance of cooking up some more?" He asked.

"Manic kept his cards pretty close to his chest on those ones. I helped him with part of the formula, but the rest would take me years to even formulate. And if anyone says, "i bet Tails could figure it out" i will flush myself out the nearest airlock and save you the bother..." He sighed, before slamming his head on the desk.

"Let's change subject. How's that Factory Ship coming along?" Oglivie asked. Eggman rolled his head to the side.

"What factory ship? The idiot scientist onboard that "Daedelus" thing won't let me just start building with it. I tried to argue and the bounty hunter threatened to shoot me." He sighed. He then looked at Sonia "He's DEFINITELY friends with his version your father, i'll bet you 100 rings on it." At that point, Thunderbolt marched across the table and grabbed Eggman by his mustache, pulling his head to meet hers.

"BOSS! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" She screamed at him. "YOU ARE THE GREAT DOCTOR EGGMAN, THE GREATEST SCIENTIFIC GENIUS THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN AND THE SMARTEST TO EVER RULE IT!!!" She slapped him hard across the face. "YOU ARE NOT SOME WORN OUT OLD HAS-BEEN THAT IS GONNA TAKE CRAP FROM A WALKING BOTTLE OF DELSYM, AND A GUY THAT THINKS THE ABILITY TO CLIMB STAIRS IS HYPER ADVANCED FOR A ROBOT!!!" She roared at him. "NOW PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, BECAUSE WE ARE GOING TO NEED THAT BIG BRAIN OF YOURS WORKING OVERTIME!!! WE'VE BEEN THROUGH WORSE!!! THE METALLIX, THE DARK BROTHERHOOD, THE ZOMBOT INVASION, DOCTOR WILY!!! GET A GRIP!!!!!" At that point, a hand shot around Thunderbolt's neck. "Good grip..." She wheezed.

"YOU'RE RIGHT!!!" Eggman yelled. At that point a call came in. "PUT IT THROUGH!!!" He yelled, before remembering that he currently was holding the jugular of the one responsible for committing the order. He let go and she staggered over to the console and pushed a button, before falling off the table, unconscious.

"Daedelus calling Egg Carrier. Our captain wishes to send an engineer to potentially help with upgrades to your ship." Eggman was about to raise his fist and tell them exactly where to shove their engineer. His ship was perfect, there was no way some two-bit overlander from some backwater "Earth" planet, as they called it, was going to upgrade anything aboard. He then had an epiphany.

"We would be delighted to receive any assistance you can render." Sonia replied. Eggman's face went from nuclear-anger to bright and cheerful as he put on his best gameface.

"And in return, i, the great Doctor Eggman, will be delighted to do the same." He smiled. "I am positive that i am going to be able to upgrade your craft in ways you couldn't possibly imagine."

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"Unless it is no longer flesh and bone, it is still a living creature. Enough heat, enough force, and it will be damaged. Using the environment to our advantage, as you suggest, may be helpful." Eri remarked. As they continued along, Eri traded her plasma rifle for one of the Unggoy's needlers, as well as taking a concussion rifle for her own use. Even if the Tarentatek's hide was durable and heat resistant enough to not be pierced by an explosion against its flesh, that would not stop the pressure wave from pushing into the body, damaging organs and stressing bones. She had little doubt that it would still be resilient, but it would be a good method to consistently apply damage to the creature.

Eventually, the group came within sight of the tomb, though they waited for a few minutes for the rest of Eri's team to arrive with their extra equipment. She took a few extra grenades and made sure to grab as much concussion rifle ammo as she could carry, and she would be able to exchange her armor ability module for another, if she felt there would be a better option than active camouflage.

"How many of us would these Mandalorians expect to participate in this hunt?" Eri asked Jerius.

DAEDALUS AWAY TEAM 1 // IMMACULATE AEGIS // FLEET SPACE

McKay scowled at Kham Rho as he threatened him with a hydro-spanner. As if putting the name hydro before spanner made it any form of more science fiction than anything else. He pulled out his tablet and began scrolling through the various commands and subcommands that existed in the systems of the ship for boring a hole into slipspace. It all seemed like a jumbled mess, much like their initial attempts at creating a hyperdrive from the Prometheus. They tried making the system without any true understanding of what it took to make the system work.

He continued to scroll. "The programming behind these systems is incredibly inefficient. I'm sure I should be able to improve these systems to increase jump efficiency."

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DOCTOR NOVAK // UNBROKEN HOPE // FLEET SPACE

There was a flash of light as Doctor Lindsey Novak appeared in the hangar bay of the Unbroken Hope. She looked as if she was going to throw up briefly before she swallowed and all was good. She held her tablet underneath her arm as a delegation from the vessel approached. "Hi I'm uh, Doctor Novak from the Daedalus? I'm here to discuss some possible uh- some uh- technological upgrades to your ship?"

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"Are you...truly able to make that determination after such a short look through it?" Dr. O'Connell remarked, obviously skeptical. Still, she did not dwell on it, and instead just opened up her own copy of the software to reference as well. "I have looked through it myself as well, but like I said, slipspace travel has not been the focus of my research. Fortunately, we do have Floats Easily to help. I know at least one of our most advanced warships, the Infinity, received highly advanced slipspace drive upgrades with the assistance of a Huragok. We will just have to replicate their success."

Floats was hovering around behind McKay, seeming to alternate between curiously looking at his datapad, and even more curiously looking at Mckay himself. O'Connell, meanwhile, was showing a degree of frustration, and perhaps dread as she looked through the code. "There are a massive number of commands here, though. We really need to find a way to narrow down our focus onto what will give us the most improvement most quickly. I think that is what we should question Floats about first, though...what would be even more helpful would be an AI. A true AI, that is. The Aegis' AI is quite advanced and very effective, but it is not a 'smart' AI. It's not truly thinking or independently creative. Personally, I was hoping the Captain of the Unbroken Hope would take the opportunity to send his AI to help. I am not sure how advanced artificial intelligence is in your universe, but a UNSC shipboard AI is created with a digital framework from scanning the neural structure of a Human brain. They are fully thinking and capable of learning, and would be something I would be very appreciative of right now. One of them could make changes in seconds that would take us hours or days. And that's not to mention the increased capacity to simulate the effects of any changes we want to make."

Eventually, O'Connell let out a sigh and stood to her feet. "You know what? We're just going to have to be bold here. I'm not going to waste weeks or months on this when we could get this done in days. The Shipmaster is just going to have to push for this...hopefully politely." She explained, walking over to a console in the corner of the room to contact the Shipmaster.

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In contrast to her open frustration before, Dr. O'Connell had been calm and respectful in giving her request to Falul. She described, clearly, the benefit an AI would be likely to have and why it would be helpful to secure one's aid. Both she and Falul were well-aware of the, admittedly, reasonable justifications the crew of the Unbroken Hope had to distrust the Sangheili, and despite no longer following the religion of the Covenant, Falul himself was still distrustful of the very idea of fully thinking machines. Regardless, the benefits were still simply too substantial to ignore, and making the attempt would be worth a potentially uncomfortable conversation.

After taking a few minutes to make his decision, Falul opened a communications channel to the Unbroken Hope. "This is Shipmaster Falul 'Taham. I am seeking to speak to the Human Admiral Marcus Oliver." He said simply. Given that they were from the same universe and the Aegis AI was already familiar with UNSC communication protocols, the Admiral would be able to see Falul on his view screen, in addition to hearing his voice.

[h3]1530 Hours, April 16th 2550 (Military Calendar) /
Unknown system, Unknown sector.

Security Team One / Unbroken Hope Hangar / Interacting with: @Sep ,

A slender figure flanked by two armored Marine MP's happened to glance in her direction, looking rather perplexed at her sudden materialization. Weapons lowered, the trio began to approach the lone scientist as she made her introduction "A pleasure to meet you, Doctor Novak- My name is Elizabeth Carver. If you'd just follow us, we'll take you to Engineering." The CSM flashed an assuring smile; she was doing her damnedest to make Novak more at ease. Last thing she wanted is a panicking egghead running around her section of the ship. After winding about the various backroom corridors, they would finally approach a massive room striped in caution colors. With the door sliding open, the interior was revealed to be massive; housing a massive center generator wired up to the brim with connections to servers, cooling devices, and the two giant turbines in the back. Beyond that, the interior was relatively spacious; allowing for a manner of workbenches and light manufacturing facilities to line the walls. The temperature was notably hotter, but nothing uncomfortable. Elizabeth turned back to Novak with a light smirk. "Welcome to Engineering's domain. The Chief Operation's Officer is up in that room at the top of the stairs, should you have any questions." Elizabeth said, pointing to a single flight of stairs leading up to an upper platform supervisory station overlooking the rest of the interior. However, she lowered her hand and mentally slapped herself as she cleared her throat, her face reddening. How could she possibly expect to simply point and go when this egghead wasn't at all familiar with the ship? "Excuse me, just... had a bit of a brainfog. Right this way, please."

The MP's seemed perplexed at the woman's sudden burst of confusion as she headed toward the station, but nonetheless trailed after her while keeping the scientist in their line of sight. Approaching the top of the station, the woman knocked twice as the door slid open to reveal a middle-aged man with frizzled short brown hair and light hazel eyes; dressed in an orange Engineering uniform and equally covered in patches and streaks of soot, oil and some bruises. Elizabeth stepped inside, with the Engineer seemingly puzzled as to why the hell Security was down here. "Mark, got a second? We've got a scientist to see you regarding potential upgrades to the ship." The man's puzzlement esclated to confusion, then softened to a polite acknowledgement at the mention of a scientist. Then, back to a light puzzlement. Regardless, the man looked to the new arrival as he spoke up with a comfortable Southern drawl. "Good to meetcha' Ma'am. Mark Bradford, Cheif Operatin' Officer of this here Engineerin' Bay." He noticed she wasn't wearing a UNSC science uniform, which only served to confirm his puzzlement with a series of microexpressions as he held a relativity clean hand out in greeting.

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Marcus Oliver / Bridge / Interacting with: @EliteCommander
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Not even a few hours had passed before he was jolted out of a daze once more, this time by a rather publicly broadcasted statement. The bridge went silent, as the panel lit up with an automatic connection to whatever had initiated it on the other end. Marcus bit back a scowl as a booming, throaty voice met his ears. Getting up out of his chair and straightening himself out, the Admiral walked into view and stood at Parade Rest, speaking up soon after. "This is Admiral Marcus Oliver, how may we be of assistance, Shipmaster? Internally, he nearly screamed. Never in his life had he actually seen a Shipmaster, Covenant or not. The closest he had seen was a General, and he'd swore that would have been his last had Omicron not stepped in. He wasn't dare going to say the Sangheili's name either- he didn't know how their customs worked and didn't much feel like being destroyed over an assumed short tempered alien.

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In contrast to the Admiral, Falul was relaxed, having no inhibitions about speaking with Humans. He still found them to be a strange species, on the whole, but he was accustomed to them and familiar with their social expectations. Or at least, familiar enough with their customs to be able to speak to them in a professional capacity.

"I am contacting you in regards to the current efforts to eliminate the weaknesses of our fleet." Falul answered, once again quite directly. "The faster-than-light capabilities of both of our ships are not adequate to the standards of this galaxy, Admiral, but yours could be fitted with one of this universe's hyperdrives. As I am sure you have been informed, there exist few, if any ships at this time, in this galaxy with a hyperdrive that could be fitted to a ship the size of the Immaculate Aegis. Our most practical option now is to improve the capabilities of our existing slipspace borer. The scientist aboard my vessel informs me that this effort would be greatly assisted by your associated intelligence. An...artificial intelligence, as you refer to it. As I have been told, your artificial beings have been able to improve upon Covenant technology in the past, and your ship should be equipped with one. I request its assistance." Falul asked. He had explained his position briefly, and had made no effort to "soften" his rather bold request.

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"Of course." Samus responded assuredly as she made her way out of the landing pad, "Stay put. I'll let you know when he's coming."

The armored bounty hunter had no idea what a Gamorrean looked like, however judging how she heard the Weequay comparing it to "pigs" it would only make sense to look for someone that fit the description. She didn't know what Rodians looked like either, but again as long as a group surrounded the target, she should be able to catch on fairly easily. For now, Samus allowed herself to idly hang half-way in between the landing pad and the intersection.

Marcus Oliver / Unbroken Hope Bridge / Interacting with: @EliteCommander

Marcus knew this wasn't going to be good. Regardless, he bit back on his tongue and chose his next words carefully; seeing as the Shipmaster did indeed have a point. He also knew just who'd be able to carry it, but he wasn't foolish enough to send them in alone. "Very well, Shipmaster. I'll have Issac prepped and briefed on his assignment; his arrival will be with an escort I am sure you'll be familiar with. Expect a Pelican's arrival within the next ten minutes, Oliver out." Ending the hail with a sigh of relief, Marcus turned to his left. Off to the side and out of view of the panel, the white hologram materialized upon his mention, looked over and snapped back to Marcus with silent indignation. "You're kidding, right? You're sending me over to a CAS-Class?" The Admiral sighed, walking forward and calling out, "Clarke, get Omicron to the Bridge." As Marcus focused his attention back to the AI, Clarke's voice rang out over the PA system. "No, I'm not kidding. Jill can ensure the module's integration from here- Omicron will accompany your arrival aboard the Ageis. I'll explain more when they get here."

Within a few moments, the doors to the Bridge slid open to reveal the gold-plated visor of Kendra-223, and every other member of Omicron that entered the room. Spreading out around the center console where the Admiral and Issac stood, they snapped a perfect salute in unison to the Admiral, who simply said, "At ease." As they relaxed their arms back to their sides, Marcus took a deep breath before explaining what he was sure was going to turn heads of all involved. "Team Omicron, welcome. What I'm about to say will sound as outlandish as everything on the Resurgence, but hear me out. You're being assigned on a mission to transport Issac from the Hope to the Ageis, the former Covenant CAS-Class Assault Carrier. Ensure his escort and protection at all times during the duration of the.. consultation, for lack of a better word." Marcus paused, not only thinking about what he was going to say next, but also allowing for the Spartans to adjust to the information they received. Kendra nodded, simply gesturing a hand outward to say, "Continue." Marcus nodded, and spoke up again. "Their Shipmaster wants Issac to have a discussion with a scientist on board their ship for the premise of improving their means of Slipspace, as well as eliminating any other 'weaknesses' of our ships. I know you're only going to be there for security detail, but I'm confident this will proceed with no combat. If these Elites and their crew are anything at keeping their word, this should go smoothly. Any questions?"

The members of Omicron wearily exchanged glances behind their leader at one another, no doubt communicating on a secure channel as Kendra stepped forward, speaking up. "What you're asking for goes against everything we've trained for; everything we are. I could forgive your insubordination on the Resurgence, Sir, but this.... this is insane. Are you sure this is what you want?" The disbelief and emotion in the typically stoic Spartan's voice surprised Marcus, yet the Admiral remained steadfast and sympathetic. "If it were any different, which it isn't, I wouldn't be doing this. Frankly, we can say no, but our hands are forced. We can keep denying requests for support over and over, and eventually be turned against for lack of contributions to the cause of eliminating Anubis. Or we can be complacent and supportive, and do something to get home, if that's even an option. You and your team are the only ones I know that are qualified for something like this; all I ask of is your trust in me. This isn't a suicide mission, and I'm not doing this without purpose to our own cause. Hell, I don't think I'll ever be forgiven by my wife and children for going M.I.A, and a lot of people here have already resigned to that fate. However, if we can destroy Anubis so he doesn't find our universe, then that's my objective. The choices such as this will be asking a lot of all of us, but I wouldn't be making them if I wasn't taking everything else into consideration. I don't expect forgiveness from you any time soon, Kendra, but I need you and your team to trust me."

It felt like an eternity had passed, even after he concluded the speech, but the Spartan saw on her visor the unmistakable, silent green blink of her team's markers. They were onboard, and this prompted her to step up to the Admiral as they all remained back in their positions. Dwarfing the man by a considerable difference in height, it almost seemed as if the Admiral shrank an inch as he craned his neck upward to stare into his own reflection from the polarized golden visor. Kendra had all the information she needed, but one last thing was on her mind before she took the DCC from the podium attached to the center console. "You're right, Admiral. Unfortunately, this isn't home and I couldn't turn you in to ONI. However, I never liked them anyway, and as questionable as your leadership is, I trust your decision." As Issac vanished into the podium and the DCC ejected itself from the slot, Kendra continued staring down the Admiral as she yanked the chip out of the slot and placed it into the back port of her head. Ignoring the ice cold surge of pain, she nodded. "We'll get it done." Kendra quipped, before turning on a heel and exiting the Bridge, all the members in-tow of their team leader. Marcus pivoted on a heel, and strode back to his seat rather shaken. Another hard choice made, but he didn't anticipate such reaction. Regardless of any matter, she was right.

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TEAM OMICRON / Unbroken Hope Hangar / En-route to the Immaculate Ageis
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Within their arrival to the Hangar after stopping by the Armory, another Pelican was spooled up and ready for dustoff. Boarding into the troop carrier and securing themselves inside, no-one said a word until the troop compartment and cockpit doors shut behind them. "Permission to speak freely, Team Lead." The unmistakably gravelly voice of the team's vehicular and CQC specialist, Adam-111, resonated through the confines of the compartment. "Granted, for all of you. I'm... sure your as just as lost for words as I am." Adam nodded. "I am, but I know the Admiral's only trying to his best for all of us. The fact that he sees us as more than just what ONI would consider an expendable asset is respectable in my book. Treasonous or not, you know what he said on the Resurgence. Even if we did make it home, we'd be dead before this 'Anubis' got to our universe. He's making a tough call, but if it wasn't without purpose, we wouldn't be Spartans. Sorry for getting all Philosophical on this, Boss."

"No problem. It's just... difficult adapting to the thought-turned-reality of going to a Covenant controlled vessel to conduct a matter of business. Sure this isn't our universe anymore, but acting buddy-buddy with the very same threat we were created to eliminate wasn't exactly on my list of expectations."

"It was no-one's, Boss. Regardless, we're not going anywhere. Admiral's call or not, this doesn't change who we are. We take orders, we execute them, and we go home until we're needed again. That being said, the only people I'm with is the Admiral and my team. If they open fire first, you'll bet they'll get fired upon. As morally questionable as this is, hasn't everything else been in our lives? We don't have the time to let these things get in our way. We can save it for the return- but I won't be participating in that discussion. Sorry Boss."

Kendra nodded to Benjamin's honesty, always having been the type of person to simply get things done and disallow any interference. In combat it was great, but more often than not she found herself at odds with the Heavy Ordinance expert. As irritating as it was, she could respect such a position where he came from. Glancing over to Vanessa, the quiet Marksman had opted for a BR55HB/S instead of her regular sniper rifle. Around this time, the pilot of the Pelican called out over the PA system, "Initiating docking procedures, ETA twenty seconds." Vanessa nodded as the team began preparing to disembark the craft, speaking up as the Pelican idled around the ventral bay of the massive ship. "I can't say I have much on the matter, but I've got your back, and the Admiral's. Unconventional is our specialty, and this certainly fits the bill."

As the Pelican lurched forward and gently sat down, Kendra took a deep breath as the Pilot announced, "Touchdown; time to exfil. I'll be here when you return." The troop bay opened, and Kendra was the first to stand up and walk out; weapons maglocked across her back as Issac's voice suddenly erupted in her head. "Despite everything that just occurred, you can't admit you're not excited about this, right? Or is that just me?" Kendra remained silent, but smiled briefly as she hopped out of the Pelican's back troop bay and onto the floor of the alien ship with a notable thud. As did her team, it became apperant that they had never been inside one of the Covenant's vessels before, as they all looked around in silent fascination of the ship's interior hangar bay.

---

While Falul had been the one to speak to the UNSC Admiral, the Shipmaster had insisted that Dr. O'Connell be the one to first meet with the AI's security detail the moment they stepped out of their dropship, so she had left McKay with Narak and made her way to the main hangar. Curiously, Falul had also not given her an armed escort. In general, O'Connell had found that the Sangheili tended to be cautious in matters of security. Granted, it was rare that they had outsiders on their ships in general, but armed warriors tended to be a standard part of any interaction with outsiders. It was true that the fleet were all supposed to be allies with one another, but the Sangheili also had a very...different idea of what it meant to be diplomatic. Human diplomats to the Sangheili for the Office of Naval Intelligence were required to study martial arts as a prerequisite. Perhaps it was just because Dr. O'Connell was not technically a part of the Aegis' crew, or perhaps Falul was a bit more calculating than she gave him credit for?

In any case, Dr. O'Connell saw the pelican land, and a Human would be the first being the Spartans would see as soon as they exited their dropship. "Oh my...Spartans. I...did not know there were Spartans aboard the Unbroken Hope." O'Connell remarked. Even in her own time, Spartans were far from commonplace. Being that she tended to work in Forerunner ruins and constructs out in the field, she had seen Spartan IVs before, on rare occasions, but she had never seen a Spartan II. Nor had she ever expected she would. Their place in history was almost mythic by this point.

Nevertheless, O'Connell quickly composed herself and cleared her throat. "I am Dr. Fiona O'Connell, Office of Naval Intelligence. Do you have the AI with you?"

DAEDALUS AWAY TEAM 1 // IMMACULATE AEGIS // FLEET SPACE

Ronon groaned as the human doctor left. She was about the only one who made anything resembling sense. "So what does all this mean?"

Rodney sighed. "Based on what I can see, on an initial reading-" he nodded to the Sangheili out of respect "-is that there are limitations on the programming and errors. I'd need to spend more time determining if these errors actually exist or if it's just my unfamiliarity with the system." Rodney turned to Narak. "I'm assuming this, A.I that the Unbroken Hope is bringing over will be able to analyse the data I've seen more quickly?"

DOCTOR NOVAK // UNBROKEN HOPE // FLEET SPACE

Novak looked around the room. In some ways, it was very similar to their own. The main difference was that everything was bigger. She supposed the engineering bay of Daedalus would look more similar if they had progressed naturally without any input from outside sources. The hallways, structures, uniforms and even the weapons were all very similar. Perhaps in another Universe where the Ancients had never existed this would have been their future. "Yeah uh-" Novak offered the COO her tablet that she had been holding under her arm. "-we've got experience in putting shielding on ships that don't have it. We can place arrays over the hull of your ship, tie them into the power grid and give you rudimentary shielding. It won't be quite as good as ours aboard the Daedalus but it will be better than flying around naked."

She raised her tablet and scrolled through the options. "I just need to take a look at some of the ship's systems to determine how to make the upgrade compatible. If you agree with the sentiment, we take it to your commanding officer and see what he says about it."

COLONEL STEVEN CALDWELL // USAF DAEDALUS // FLEET SPACE

Caldwell scoffed. "He said what?"

Marks looked down at the computer screen before replying. "Doctor Robotnik wishes to come aboard our vessel to suggest upgrades if we are offering to do the same to his." Caldwell scowled.

"Is there anything aboard his vessel that we need?"

Marks shrugged. "We're unsure. It seems rather technologically primitive sir." Caldwell sighed.

"Tell him to send us co-ordinates. I'll beam one of ours aboard, and I'll beam him over here. We'll see what he has to suggest."

The bank team set down on a landing platform not far from one of the better intergalactic banks. The language they wrote in here was different than anything they were used to, but some of them had been spending time studying what they could. After all the instructions for their hyperdrive had come in the language, and if they wanted to blend in they found the need to learn it. The squad, The Resurgence had sent with him were acting very much like their escort, so they tried to act like rich tourists with their noses cutting the air, as they strode into the bank. Two of them went to sit on the benches, while one strode to the counter to open a shell bank account.

The information they gave was fake, something sent to them by their teams that infiltrated the gangs in the mists. It went through without a problem, and that was one of the first hitches they got over. The account was attached to a dummy corporation that could be tracked back to one of the ports in the Hapan. They'd funnel the credits into their actual account, and then split it into account amongst the fleet while the other two tried to access datapads, and noted security in the bank. The credit chips they handed out could have as much credits as the banks were willing to recognize, so all it took was getting one then making the banks think it was worth more than it actually was, or siphon it from other accounts.

In this case they would do the latter for now, siphoning from the bank directly testing their security, against the usage of some of the best hackers with omni-tools the alliance could muster onto a warship. It might take hours, or days but they could start here at the bank, and work from the ship. Their security systems were oddly archaic, but also advanced. Just like some of their holotechnology, felt outdated. But given time their systems would yield, or they'd have to resort to infiltrating the bank, and doing it the hard way.

---

They might have not of gone on the jumper, but the two operatives made their way to the groups landing zone without triggering any alarms. Sarah sat, and waited while Imura went ahead to take a good overwatch position to snipe whatever guards they had put at the entrance. Soon enough his voice sounded over the radio. "In position. Let me know when our enemy needs to sprout some new holes." Sarah chuckled. "Copy that, waiting for the jumper team to get moving now." She said, all that was required of them was to wait.

Security Team One, Mark Bradford, Marcus Oliver / Unbroken Hope Engineering / Interacting with: @Sep

Mark nodded, his puzzlement easing off as he internally began to get giddy. Regardless of the strength of the arrays, this was the first time ever that any UNSC ship would have integrated shields. "Y-yes! Yes, I'll pull up the necessary accesses. Jus'... Give me a moment here." Mark said, moving back to a center table and accessing the necessary subsystems. A three-tone beep was heard as the table's transparent glass viewscreen flashed red; with a secondary view-panel pulling down automatically on the left side of the station wall. The viewpanel lit up to display a direct connection to the bridge- and to a very weary-looking man dressed in a decorated white officer's uniform. "Bradford, mind explaining to me wh-" the Admiral cut himself off upon seeing the Security Team and the scientist in the background, clearing his throat as he moved his arms in front of him to disengage something. "Restriction lifted. What's the sitrep?" Mark spoke up for the scientist, relaying verbatim what he had been told, stepping back and passing the conversational torch back to Marcus. The Admiral raised an eyebrow, nodding as he took a breath to speak to the scientist. "You've got the green light, Doctor. Although my only concerns now are the arrays. Are they external or internal? Also- this proposal is gracious of you, but I'd prefer you compensated in return for the upgrade. Is there anything your ship needs?"

Mark stepped away from the center table; the integrated displays lining the edges now alight with multiple displays of critical subsystem information, privileges, and settings. He whispered loud enough to be in earshot, "All yours, Ma'am."

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Team Omicron / Immaculate Ageis Hangar / Interacting with: @EliteCommander
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Those three words rippled through each of the team in a silent flashback, but the living statues just stared at the woman. That was, until she inquired about the AI. Kendra took the lead, stepping forward with a nod. "He's with me, Ma'am... I wasn't expecting ONI to be working with the Elites." Despite trying to include additional emotion in her voice, Kendra ultimately quipped out her response in an unintended passive-aggressive tone. She couldn't bring herself to be as.. emotive as when she was with her squad. Not with her captors, regardless of being from a different universe.

Interacting: @Lmpkio@EliteCommander

As the orange armored mercenary wondered the streets, blending in with the populace by asking questions about an unrelated person to keep her true target a secret. However, the Gamorrean soon made himself known as he strode through the streets, making jokes with his Rodian gang and threatening anyone who looked like they were about to open their mouths and tell them off. The green and blue skinned aliens themselves all carried blaster pistols of varying design, however, one packed what looked like a high power blaster rifle(read: sniper), and another two carried carbines. All together, there were about five of them. The Gamorrean himself carried a vibroaxe in his hand, but a large rotary blaster rested on his back for situations where his ax wasn't enough. The group stopped outside of a shop for various blasters and split up slightly, the sniper quickly ascending to a rooftop where he could see all around the shop, including the rooftop of the spaceport where Thaz was set up, and the others took up positions near the entrance, making going right in a problem and stopping him if he caught wind of a fight even more difficult.