2265/MIA No More

MIA No More
Date of Scene:	17 May 2015
Location:	Crystaline Jungle
Synopsis:	A Slipspace bubble opens into the Multiverse and a Covenant ship tumbles out. The ship's name? The 'Ardent Prayer'.
Cast of Characters:	38, 783

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Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
It starts with a blip.

UNSC sensors immediately detect and analyze the blip, registering it as a Slipspace bubble with at least one Covenant ship coming through -- a SDV-class heavy Corvette, cold and apparently lifeless as it returns to real space. What may give them pause is the identification tag that comes with it: the classification tag 'Ardent Prayer'.

Scanning, analyzing, repeat multiple times. It's impossible, right? Those who had seen the reports from Reach also knew of Operation: UPPER CUT, and everyone knew how the mission ended. Yet here it is, followed shortly behind by the section of Covenant metal that was gouged out of the supercarrier 'Long Night of Solace'. Only after both are returned to real space does the Slipspace portal close.

By the time UNSC forces are alerted and scrambled, both Covenant craft are already making planetfall, tumbling ungracefully through the atmosphere. Their projected point of impact? The Crystaline Jungle, just before it becomes The Marshlands.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The main ship that is responding to the arrival of the mythical Ardent Prayer is the UNSC Crimson Dawn, an Autumn-class Heavy Cruiser. The ship drops out of Slipspace far enough above the crystaline jungle to not destroy it when it comes into being from the slipspace rupture, and immediately begins to deploy multiple craft. Standing on the bridge of the Dawn is her captain, Jason Reynolds, "I know this is the Multiverse and everything, Lieutenant." He says to the woman standing next to him, looking at the screen in front of them, "But I don't know if we will find anything on that ship. It has been a long time, and there's no telling what might have happened."

    The woman standing next to him has her helmet off, blonde hair hanging down around her head as she watches the Covenant vessel tumble through the air towards it's impact site, "There's no civilians in the potential impact zone, is there?" She asks. The captain shakes his head, and she nods, "Good. I'll go in first, have the Marines form a perimeter.." She picks her helmet up off the console nearby and locks it down, sealing it, "And have a medical team on standby."

    She turns and heads away from the bridge, moving down to the Pelican bay and mounting up. The ship takes off and begins to make a straight shot towards the impact zone. Once the ship has landed, or crashed at least, she'll be the first one on board.

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
The section of 'Long Night of Solstice' overshoots the anticipated impact zone and slams into the Marshlands at a relatively low angle, soon bogging down in the mix of superhydrated mud and vegetation. There do not seem to be lifesigns, likely all remaining Covenant on board dead. The UNSC will need to make sure of that, but survival is highly unlikely.

The 'Ardent Prayer', however, impacts exactly as projected. The two lateral sections of the Corvette buries itself nose-first into the ground, the stressed metal screaming as contrary momentum shears it apart, and the main ship tears apart from its own lateral fins.

The nose comes up like a whale in the midst of beaching itself, most momentum halted due to the shearing of its own hull, then it crashes down to an utter halt. The body of the ship seems to settle on the forest floor, tilting to one side at almost a 45-degree angle and exposing its underside in particular. The 'Ardent Prayer', or what's left of it, is finally still, silent, and by all rights... dead. Even the forcefield-like protection over the hangars seem to be offline along with the usual bluish-green lights.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    As soon as the ship finishes it's impact and they can move in on it, Noble Six directs the pelican pilot down. She lands the vehicle a safe distance away, and Six dismounts along with a squad of Marines, "Sergeant, establish a perimeter. We have to assume any Covenant forces that may still be on the ship are hostile. If they survived the crash, they'll probably be hurt. Make sure they don't escape."

    The Marines fan out and Noble Six moves into the wreckage. She turns on her VISR system on her helmet and the light on her shotgun. She is pretty sure her and Jorge had killed everything on this ship, at a massive cost. The Savanah had gone down during the fight. But they thought it would make a difference. She shakes the thought off as she maneuvers through the damaged vehicle, making a bee line for the hangar bay where the pelican had landed all those years ago.

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
Noble Six would find that the interior of the 'Ardent Prayer' is indeed not picking up any Covenant movement, or Covenant lifesigns for that matter. In fact, there are signs of combat throughout the ship -- blast marks, blood splatter, scattered plasma and UNSC weaponry alike. Though the bodies have moved to new places due to the crash, they're still here as well, just as if the battles had recently been fought.

The doors may take some strength to get open, some partially jammed if not left open or closed, but lack of power also means any electronic locks have failed. Noble Six has been through here before, she knows the fastest route to her destination -- the hangar bay.

She won't be disappointed, and a fast scan of the numbers on the Pelican's hull do indeed match it to the Pelican used for Operation: UPPER CUT. The Pelican has shifted, pinned against the far side rather haphazardly, likely due to the entire crash sequence. This is compared to where it had originally landed close to the hangar door to the outside, which now has an impressive view of the jungle's canopy. The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine had been partially dislodged within the Pelican's 'blood tray', blocking access to most of the personnel bay and certainly the cockpit.

At this point, Noble Six would register a blip on her motion-tracker. Just one, there and gone... but could there be something in the cockpit?

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The sight in front of her makes her fill in the blanks as she stepps into the all too familiar hangar bay. The slipspace drive fires, destabalized as it is, and creates a slipspace rupture centered on itself. It tears the whole smaller ship and most of the super carrier with it through time and space to this point.

    The arrival of Reach into the multiverse must have caused the issue, because how else would they have gotten here? She moves to dislodge the drive and try to shove it away from the back hatch of the Pelican, though the sudden flicker of movement inside makes her realize SOMETHING inside is still alive. She quickly shoves the ruined slipspace engine out of the way, then kicks it with a powerful boot to finish moving it.

    The GEN/2 armor sure does help a lot more than the old Mk. V, she admits. She moves up to the rear hatch of the Pelican and looks for the emergency release. She knows there's one right about..There. She hits it and disengages the ramp locks, moving out of the way of the ramp so it can drop to the ground.

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
As the ramp drops with a severe crash, damaged hydraulics no match for gravity, there is a large shudder as the Pelican resettles. Nothing major to worry about, really, as the Pelican is pretty much stuck and can't be moved in any true sense of the word. Though Noble Six may notice a deep five-fingered handhold in the edge of the ramp, as if someone had grabbed the ramp and had pulled it up into locking position...

The open bay allows light in, illuminating the insides of the dead Pelican. All seems relatively standard, perhaps some scratch marks on the floor -- and a large metal humanoid figure slumped against the pilot's console, squeezed in next to the pilot's chair. Though difficult to tell size at a glimpse, the silhouette is most certainly matching to an older MJOLNIR suit in the broadest of strokes. One arm seems to be resting on an upraised knee, and the familiar glint of a UNSC-issued M6G can easily be seen in that hand.

A dull amber flicker passes across the visor, head canting just fractionally. "Identify yourself." The demand is low but authoritative, static of damaged speakers lacing a deep and rough male voice with a faint Hungarian accent.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The sound of the voice is one that she never thought she would hear again. It takes a lot of restraint tos tand there looking at him as he aims the pistol at her. She doesn't want to do anything too hasty, because she knows he'd shoot her. So she decides to respond to his question.

    "SPARTAN Carol-B312. Callsign Noble Six." She says, though he would be able to hear in her voice that she's barely able to contain how happy she feels about seeing him, "It's good to see you again, Five."

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
The chin lifts slightly as Noble Six identifies herself, and there is about a three second pause with no further reaction. His hand soon relaxes, twisting at the wrist so the palm is up, and the pistol easily shifts off focus so it's quite clearly pointed at nothing. Still ready, in case something else pops up, but that's neither here nor there.

"I knew you'd make it back." The warmth in his voice, like meeting an old friend, is certainly something that couldn't be faked. "Though I swear I just tossed you out of this Covenant barge. You've gotten new kit awfully fast." A moment of confusion, perhaps?

His head shakes and he slowly shifts to a crouch, resting the pistol on the floor, then rises to his full 8-foot height. His movements seem sluggish, quite unlike him. Possible damage to the MJOLNIR system from the Slipspace event or the crash -- or both? He doesn't sound like he's injured, though.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    "You did." She says, as she moves over to help him, though he's soon able to rise up without her assistance, "At least...As far as you remember." She frowns behind the helmet, "Are you okay to move? I have Marines securing the wreckage and a medical team on standby. I have a lot to...Explain." She says, though she trails off a bit after the last word.

    Internally she keys her helmet comm to make sure she can keep the Union aprised of the situation. Boy how is she going to explain that one.

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
Jorge-052 rests one hand on Noble-Six's shoulder, a silent thanks for the offer of support. He flexes his free hand, staring down at it before rolling his shoulders. He takes a few hesitant steps, grabbing one of the bars for the Pelican's jumpseats mid-stumble.

He cycles in a breath, visor flickering. "I'm fine. Shaken and bruised, but I can walk it off... or could, if the suit was still good." Low growl. "Which it isn't. Shields are down and unable to recharge, I think motor relays are shot, and I'm getting errors on everything that can get errors." He sounds very annoyed by this.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    With the suit shot, Six knows that they'll have to get out the old fashioned way, "Well we can't peel you out of it in here." She says, "I can see if we can't get a field tech to come take a look and at least get you moving again.." She muses, as she keys her radio.

    She helps him at least get out of the back of the Pelican. It'll be easier for the tech with the Marine escort to work on the suit outside of the troop compartment of the wrecked bird than inside it. If he can't make it further than that she'll help him sit, "I don't know how you survived the slipstream explosion, but I have a theory."

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
Jorge-052 is in no position to try to refuse assistance, and wouldn't think about it anyways. Something is wrong, he can feel it... and every time he looks at the crystaline rainforest beyond the hangar bay, he already knows that he isn't on Reach anymore. And there are other hints as well... 'you did, at least as far as you remember', was it?

Patience. Answers will come in due time.

With Noble Six's help, they exit out of the ruined Pelican and he takes a knee, letting gravity settle his weight. He removes his helmet and sets it down next to him, finally revealing his face -- which looks utterly unchanged from the last time Noble Six would have seen it. He folds both arms over his upraised knee and cants his head over at the SPARTAN-III. "I don't know either." The memory is still fresh in his mind, only minutes old to him, especially the part about being ready /to/ die. "What's your theory, Carol?"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    "We're not on Reach anymore." That much she figures he's worked out. Jorge was always way smarter than anyone gave him credit for, "We're in a place called...Well, it's generally just called the Multiverse." She looks out through the hangar bay's empty opening.

    "My theory is that when you touched off the Slipspace Bomb, it interacted with the Multiverse. In fact it very well may have been the reason Reach unified when it did." She has to think about that for a second. Was she saved because of the way the slipspace bomb went off?

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
Jorge-052's brow furrows as Noble Six explains. Multiverse, unified, what? He doesn't pretend to understand any of it, and his lips purse beneath his facial stubble as he tries to parse this as best he can. "So..." He speaks slowly, choosing his words carefully. "You're saying... that Operation: UPPERCUT suceeded... but created an effect nobody could understand at the time? Leading to here and now?"

Being reminded of Reach makes him at once eager to find out more information, but wary of what that information may hold. It's quite obvious to him that everything has changed in the seconds when the Slipstream bomb had gone off. "What happened to Reach after Operation: UPPERCUT?"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    A question she knew was coming sooner or later. She wasn't looking forward to it, "Operation: UPPERCUT destroyed the Covenant supercarrier orbiting Reach...Unfortunately soon afterwards the bulk of the invasion force arrived."

    She knows he'll find out sooner or later so best hear it from her, "Noble Team fought them off as best we could, but during the course of the battle, Two, One and Four were.." She pauses, "Listed as MIA."

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
That pause. Jorge-052 knows that pause all too well and his stomach twists, though his expression remains as unreadable as ever. "I see." It's a flat delivery which probably says more than if he'd reacted more like a human. It's a bitter reminder of 'SPARTANs never die', once again.

"And Three?" He knows he's going to regret asking this, but he has to know and damn the consequences. "What about Reach itself?"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    "Last time I saw Three he was escorting Dr. Halsey off Reach." Replies Six, as she frowns behind the helmet, "Reach fell, but our objective to bring Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn was successful. Without getting her to the Master Chief, the Covenant would not have been defeated for good."

    Six looks down for a few moments, before she reaches into a pouch on her armor and pulls out something, "I believe these are your's. I was holding onto them..Just in case."

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
Reach fell.

Jorge-052's eyes close as soon as those words left Noble Six's lips, his expression as blank as ever. Jun and Dr. Halsey likely getting off of reach in time is a cold comfort, as is news about Cortana and Master Chief. He does allow himself a small smirk in unfelt mirth, though. "He always was the lucky one."

The mention of Covenant being 'defeated for good' doesn't go unnoticed, but he elects to hold further questions as the familiar jangle of metal emits from Noble Six's hand. "You kept 'em." He chuckles softly as he lifts one hand, palm up, ready to accept them back. "Guess I'll need 'em back after all."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Noble Six puts them back into his hand, and holds her hand against his for a moment before closing his fingers around it, "Now I suppose we get into the weird part." She says, "For me it's been about two years since UPPERCUT. The way the Multiverse works...Time isn't always straight forward." She laughs faintly.

    It's about now the tech shows up and begins to work on Jorge's armor, "Haven't seen one of the old suits in a while, sir. You'll have to bear with me." He's young, probably some Lance Corporal who joined up after the war ended.

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
Jorge-052 doesn't seem to notice Noble Six's hand lingering in his as the dog-tags are transferred, or at least he doesn't call attention to it. SPARTAN-IIs can be notoriously thick about such things (well, stereotypically speaking). He fiddles with the chain to tie together the two broken ends, then pulls the chain over his head and tucks it within his armor's neckseal.

He blinks at her in obvious incomprehension at the passage of time involved. "Two years?" He can barely understand facing death one moment only to find himself NOT dead the next, much less the fact that in that very moment a full two years passed. "This is going to be a long debrief."

As the tech finally arrives and starts fiddling with the Mark V/B's back panels, Jorge simply turns his head to look over his shoulder and appraise the kid. "Understood." There he goes, slipping back into military protocol as appropriate by SPARTAN standards. "Focus on my motor functions. The rest can wait until it's put back in the labs."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    "Of course sir." The tech replies, as he keeps working. Six hrms a little bit, as she considers where to go next, "We'll transition onto the Crimson Dawn which is above us right now, and from there make our way back to the Union HQ. The Union is...Well, they're a faction within the Multiverse that does what it can to protect it's citizens and unaligned worlds. ONI and the UNSC have an alliance with them, and I've been serving with them as well. I think you'll fit right in." She smirks behind the helmet, "They'll give you full debrief."

Jorge-052 (783) has posed:
Jorge-052 shakes his head with an exaggerated sigh. "Yup. A long debrief." Union, Multiverse, alliances... one step at a time.

And here he thought the manual detonation of the Slipspace engine was the trick of that mission. He'd almost be willing to believe Mendez never imagined a trick like this!

"Ah well. So be it." He chuckles quietly. "Least it sounds like boredom won't be an issue."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The tech finishes up what he needs to do and stands up. Jorge can move without the armor hindering him now at least, "Come on, Five." Six says, as she motions for him to follow, "There's a Pelican waiting outside."

    Once on board the Pelican, it's a short trip back to the Crimson Dawn and then off to the Union HQ.