1 Beachhead

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Adeptus, Private Wilger

Commissioner, Gib

Settled Reader, Xager the Chaos King

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Beta(s) :

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Life in space was an interesting mix of absolute normalcy and routine, and rare but still just common enough to be predictable bursts of chaos and confusion. Whether an engine was on the fritz, the atmo-generators were confused somehow and not filtering properly, or someone just forgot to stock enough toilet paper for the trip, each week usually had something insane cropping up to cause problems. What was weird, was how quiet and calm things had been for the last few weeks, which usually meant that something very bad was coming.

So, when she woke up to a pounding headache and a blistering sun beating down on her, instead of the cool fluorescents of the ship's interior, she wasn't particularly surprised.

She'd barely even groaned when the smarmy, synthetic voice beside her asked, "Oh, are you finally awake? I thought you might sleep the day away."

"Of course you're here…" She sighed, reaching up with one hand to rub the sleep out of her eyes while the fingers of her other ran through the rough sand she was laid on. "Do you know why the hell I'm laid out on a beach right now?"

"If I knew, I would tell you, Forge." She felt shade one her, blocking out the sun on her face and sighed, looking up into his synthetic, faintly glowing face. Shrugging his great, metal shoulders, Spark added, "Unfortunately, I do not recall much of anything beyond one point five hours ago, when I myself awoke."

"Wait, you were unconscious?" He nodded and that had a cold spot blooming in her stomach. Sitting up, she hissed for her aching back and stiff, throbbing arms and legs. It was like she'd spent the entire day before over-doing "That's possible?"

"I feel the answer to that question is a bit self-evident." The machine hummed in its way of pseudo-laughter, turning a long look on the ocean around them. "At least we know your eyes are still working.

"Oh great, you're making jokes now..." She growled under her breath, forcing herself onto her shaky and growling as the shifting, loose sand almost brought her right back down again. Running her hands over her bodysuit to search out any faults, she sighed, "I don't have my comms on me."

"No, you don't. I already scanned for it while I was waiting for your nap to end." The large machine froze for a moment, before the mechanical face glowed the dimmest purple-blue and frowned. Standing unnaturally still, he turned to her, "I cannot raise the Ace of Spades either… That's not right, I shouldn't be able to lose connection."

"You can't raise them…" She could feel the cold fear in her chest like a weight, now, solid and heavy. Schooling it with a deep breath she asked, "What about your Prometheans? Your weaponry?"

In answer, the Promethean machine's arm snapped up, Hardlight shimmerinto into shape in a flash of ruddy orange light. Looking the Light Rifle over, Spark nodded, "That, it seems, is still working. But I can't raise the ship…"

"And that means what, precisely?" She asked, "Are you damaged? Is my ship? What is-"

"I do not know." He said, cutting her off and rounding on her, laying a single hand on her shoulder and squeezing it comfortably. ��I don't know, but I'll find out, Rion. Panicking won't help any of us, though."

"I'm not panicking, just… A lot of questions running through my mind, right now." She sighed, shrugging his hand off of her shoulder and holding a hand out expectantly. "I'm unarmed. Do you mind?"

"Of course." He nodded, a simple little Boltshot flaring to life just above her hand. "It has about-"

"I know how much ammo it has." She sighed, turning a look on the beach around them. Palm trees, gravelly spots pockarming across the sand and further in, a thick jungle that didn't give her any idea on which way to go. Quietly, anxiously, she asked, "Any idea which direction to head, then?"

"Not specifically, no." The machine answered mechanically, slowly surveying the thick jungle and otherwise barren beach. "Unless you see any landmarks to go by-"

As if on cue, a quartet of massive, strangely armored wolves broke through the jungle's edge a few yards down the beach. Each was easily as big as her, and covered in red-lined, spiked white armor of some kind. They lumbered out onto the sand, sniffing the air like they were searching for a scent while she slipped around her massive, armored friend.

"Those," she hissed, "don't look natural."

"Local fauna." He murmured, half turning and running his mechanized hands over his rifle mechanically, "Some form of canine, too… Anatomical features seem to match Earth-based canine species, sans the armor. Shape matches, the larger, more armored one seems to be the pack leader."

"Do you recognize it?" Okay, that was a bit of a dumb question, since he was categorizing it in front of her. If he knew it then he'd have already had it on catalogues. Instead, before he could answer, she said, "We should go before they smell us. They look hungry and I'm not volunteering to be dinner for anyone."

"That won't be a problem." Spark assured her with an almost airy, quiet chuckle. Raising his rifle and pointing it roughly over them, "Wild animals dislike loud sounds. I'll disperse them and we can move in the other direction."

"I have a bad feeling about-" The loud, synthetic thoom of the rifle split the air, a single holo-round searing through the open sky above the creatures. They flinched and turned towards them, snarling and licking their bony teeth, and she sighed, "They aren't running."

"No they aren't." Spark confirmed as they lurched forward, kicking sand up behind them as they rushed towards them. "Curiouser and curiouser… Wait here for just a moment, please."

"Sure." She shrugged, watching him stalk ahead of her and murmuring under her breath, "One of us is made of armor, after all. Might as well enjoy it…"

The smallest of the wolves, obviously, was also the fastest as it raced almost ferally towards them, jaw wide and eyes locked not on the machine but, interestingly, beyond. On her. The heavily armored Promethean frame her friend occupied - or was, she could never be sure of the technicality on it - shot to the side when it tried to bypass it, though, slamming a single great foot down and into its skull. Bone and flesh gave way to Promethean steel and the creature jerked to a stop, back half snapping up and into the machine for momentum's sake before it fell limp in the sand.

And then began to dissolve, of all things.

Spark paid it the shortest second of attention before his head snapped up and his rifle went with it, tracking perfectly in time with his mechanized gaze. Two more bursts sounded off, ripping into two more of the strange wolves where their neck met their shoulders. Each fell with loud snarls and puffs of leaking, inky smoke that billowed out from their bodies like a smokescreen between the two of them and the slowest, largest of the wolves.

Which, in spite of Guilty Spark having massacred its brethren, barreled on towards the machine without a care in the world.

It was the size of the rest of its pack and then some, and covered in twice as much of the armored, spined plating. The red veins along its length seemed to glow as it reached Spark and leapt, jaw wide and aimed for his mechanical throat, for as little as that would matter. One armored fist punched out before it landed, though, crushing the base of its jaw up and into its skull, hurling it back where it writhed and bucked in the sand.

Jaw hanging loosely, it found its footing and pulled itself up, snarling wetly and leaping for his armored framed again. The same fist snapped to the side, casually backhanding it into the sand with a hum of curious thought. This time, though, the rifle snapped up in his other hand, a trio of searing red rounds bursting forth to carve through the creature's chest and throat. As it fell smoke began to billow from its wounds and then from its body, choking the air as Spark turned to trundle back towards her.

"These are very strange creatures." He said as he reached her and half-turned, watching the smoke drift up and into the air, "Earth canines would have dispersed after the shot, unless they were starving. And then they would have run when their numbers were dispatched so readily, or when injured."

"And those didn't." Not to mention the 'turning into smoke' part but she was sure he'd noted that much without needing her to mention it. "Did you notice how they fixated on me, too?"

"I did." He nodded, "Curious."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to run into more of them." She said, turning to leave and adding a short, "Come on, Spark. We need to get out-"

"Something large is coming." He warned her, free hand snapped out to her chest to push her behind him, towards the sea while his rifle snapped up.

She stumbled and fell in the sand, which proved to be her saving grace as an entire tree slammed into the Forerunner machine, shattering on his armor and showering her in splinters and soil. Spark staggered under the blow, his free arm snapping to the side to hurl the bottom half of the palm away from them and clear his vision, other hand raising the rifle as the beast that had thrown it leapt for him.

His rifle cracked twice, angry orange lines lancing out at the monster as a fist slammed down onto him, his left arm snapping up to take the blow. Standing over him, the honest to god minotaur bellowed a roar right into his synthetic face and slammed its other fist to the side, into where a Human would have had ribs. Spark's armor crunched as he was forced aside, but he didn't move more than a foot. A fact that seemed to shock the minotaur just long enough for his arm to force the great fist up over his head and then slam down, crushing the monster's other arm at the elbow.

Pain lancing up its now ruined arm, the beast bellowed once again before two rapid bursts of orangered carved through its open maw and out the back of its skull.

"That," he said as it fell on him and he casually forced it to the side, collapsing in a smoking heap beside him, "is not any kind of natural fauna I have yet seen. And the coloration..."

"That couldn't be natural…" She nodded, standing and brushing the sand off her ass. Raising her loaned Boltshot, she ordered, "Get a Watcher out, scan the trees. I want to know if more are coming."

"I don't need them." He warned quietly, raising his weapon towards the treeline, "My own sensors are detecting around twenty contacts thirty yards out, spread out across twenty-eight point five degrees. They are scattered, but approaching, and- Behind us."

They spun on a heel in the same moment, their weapons snapping up as… A small fishing boat trawled up in the shallow of the sea, one of the three men on it waving to them. "Well 'ello! We heard gunfire n' figured someone ran up on some Grimm, so's we came looking! You folks need a ride to Kuo Kuana?"

For a moment, she considered refusing them. She didn���t know what a Kuo Kuana was, or who these people were - or what, based on the third's literal horns - and she didn't like going into what she didn't know. But the sound of Spark's Lightrifle cracking tugged her out of her reverie and she nodded, splashing into the warm, tropical waters towards the boat and calling for Spark to follow her.

They weren't whatever those monsters were, and that was more than enough for now.

"I gotcha missy." One said as he helped her into the boat while Spark fended off a trio of small raptor looking things. Raising his voice, the fisherman said, "Oi! Get on then, tin man! We's 'bout to get goin' either way so- Stars and tides!"

"I am here." Spark grunted shortly as he splashed down beside the boat, nearly propelling it away before his hand snapped onto it to anchor it in place. With unnatural grace, he leapt up and out of the water, kneeling on the metal bottom of the wide fishing trawler and grunting, "We should go. They have aerial elements coming for us."

"We sail," the fisherman grunted, "you shoot."

The boat lurched as they turned to sail away, and Spark turned, his rifle cracking out two more lances of focused hardlight. The strange, crow-like monsters lurched as their wings were severed and then fell, flailing in the water as they drowned. A brutal way to deal with them, to be sure, but a damn effective one, too.

"So," she started as she settled in beside the boat's wheel, watching the captain steer their way away from the monsters, "you mind sharing what a 'Kuo Kuana' is with me, Mister….?"

"Mistah' John." The man drawled irritably, "John Greene. And how the Grimm tide do you not know what Menagerie's capital is? Yer on the dang continent! What, they don't teach geography in them fancy Human schools o' yours?"

"Not about Menagerie…"

"Damn typical, that is… Don't even teach about us good ole Faunus, after all the shit." The man growled, short, deer tail flicking rapidly on the back of his hips. "You seem an alright sort, ain't said nothin' bout my tail at least, but some Humans… Figures dey wouldn't even teach ya 'bout our capital."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, sir." She said, affecting as polite a smile as she could covered in sand and dripping sea-water. "But since they didn't, you mind… Filling me in, just a little, on it before we get there? What it's like, who's in charge…?"

"Yeah, reckon you'll need some help from the Chieftain seein' as you're lost." The man sighed, "Well, we'll be there in 'bout a few hours, so I'll bend yer ear if ye don't mind me doin' it."

"Please." She smiled even wider, "I'll listen to everything you have to say."

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"The starscape around this planet is unfamiliar to me." Her massive, machine friend said as she approached him at the rear of the fishing ship. In spite of his words he was watching the sea patiently, hands hanging at his sides, and not looking up. As if sensing the question he explained, "Watcher, approximately two hundred meters above us. I have it surveying for more of those creatures and the starscape."

Useful…

"Grimm." She explained, sitting on the edge of the boat beside him and joining him in watching the waves. He didn't ask but she knew better and explained, quietly enough the working men wouldn't hear, "The captain referred to the Minotaur as a type of Grimm. Combined with the similar features…"

"Some strange, local fauna, then." He filled in easily enough, the finger of one hand tapping idly on his thigh in what was either a nervous tick, or his emulation of one. Whichever was the case, she couldn't be sure and he didn't explain, going on instead, "Like our assistants, then. They seem to be some… Odd Human offshoot."

"Rescuers."

"I didn't need rescue." He corrected amusedly, "I easily dispatched those 'Grimm', so assistants is a more accurate word."

"Yeah, well, don't say that to them, alright? At least not before we reach Kuo Kuana." He nodded ever so slightly and she sighed, rolling her eyes and going on. "Speaking of, they're called 'Faunus'. Humans exist on this planet, too, apparently, but that's what they are called."

"My onboard records show no mention of them in UNSC records." He murmured, "Or in my own, personal records."

"The Domain?"

"No, y my personal records. I… Cannot access the Domain, currently." Spark answered quietly, turning to give her a worried look, the lights of his Promethean unit tinting a strange, worried kind of blue. "I am cut off from it, somehow. I find it… Disconcerting, to be frank."

"I didn't even know you could be cut off…"

"I can, but doing so requires… Effort on the part of those that for the most part no longer exist." He explained, colors shifting to a cooler, darker blue as he turned back to the ocean. "At least I can still call on the Promethean ancilla to fight. And my weaponry, of course. The Commander frame is formidable even without reinforcements and weaponry, but…"

"A gun's always useful." She nodded, "Yeah, I get it."

"I suspected you would." He nodded, "And I suspected you would feel reassured, knowing I was still at my peak. At least physically speaking."

"I am, yeah." She nodded, "But aside from that, are you okay? Being cut off like that can't be… Comfortable."

"It's rather like suddenly losing the ability to see several colors." He nodded, answering the unasked question behind her words. Shrugging his spined shoulders, he added, "I have survived worse and will survive this. Do not worry for me. At the very least, I have an ocean to watch."

"You enjoy the ocean?"

"I do." He nodded, finger still tapping out its staccato rhythm on his thigh. It was uneven so even though she didn't recognize it, she suspected it was a song or something. "Water has always been soothing, to me. The ocean particularly so."

"As long as you're sure you're fine…"

"I am." He nodded and, seemingly eager to push them on to something else, asked, "What else did you learn?"

"Kuo Kuana is the capital of Menagerie, which seems to be the Faunus' homeland." There'd be some vitriol behind everything that implied that, though, so she felt like something was wrong there. "Mistral is located on a continent to the North and, beyond it, there's another 'Kingdom' called Atlas. Where the captain figures we're from."

"Why is that?"

"You." She grunted shortly, "Atlas has a lot of robots. Droids, from the sound of things, but they have prosthetics and power armor, too. The jump to you, with your obviously advanced tech, and I both being Atlesian is an understandable one to make."

"And I'm sure you saw no reason to disabuse him of the notion." She nodded and Spark hummed in thought, "Your reasons are obvious, I suppose. Wherever we are, and however we got here, something strange is at play. I am severed from the Domain, there are strange creatures afoot, and for all the recent happenings, they don't recognize what is a very clearly Promethean frame. Even modified, and on an outskirt colony, such should be a common enough image to have seen."

"Maybe not." She murmured, "If they're cut off, or just out of the way, the rumor mill and what happened at Earth might not have reached them. No one could hide what that ship did, but out here…"

"Maybe they don't know." Spark hummed, finger pausing for a fraction of a second as he thought before resuming as he went on, "A logical assumption. Only… It doesn't feel right. It feels like something greater is at play, even if I do not yet know what it even could be."

"I agree." She nodded, giving him a serious look that drew his full attention to her, "So, we're Atlesians who got lost. We don't have any problems with Faunus, and you are a pseudo-AI I created. Not hyper-intelligent, but not stupid, and built to protect me. Until we know more, that's the story."

"I understand." He nodded, "If they have it, I shall attempt to access whatever passes for a global information net on this planet. With it, I may be able to glean more information to better build our cover up."

"Good plan." She nodded, "And-"

"Oi!" A familiar voice shouted, drawing them both back around to look towards the head of the ship where the Captain was waving and smiling. "We're roundin' the shoreline. Jus' 'bout five minutes left an' you can hop off. Hol' up and I'll see ya on yer way to the Chieftain's house."

"Can I ask why?"

"Humans ain't exactly welcome on Menagerie." He explained with a shrug, "Yer a good lot, but best to check in. Explain things, 'fore people get the wrong idea. And 'sides, they'll pay you out for killin' them Grimm."

That got them a bounty? Interesting… "Alright, we'll wait around. We weren't exactly planning on running off anyway."

"Aye, I don't imagine you all would get far."

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Kuo Kuana, and presumably everywhere else on Menagerie since this was the capital and thus would be the best developed, looked like an odd and unfortunate mix of tropical ideal and way too many people for it to be enjoyed. Sandy, beautiful beaches were packed with tall warehouses and long docks and walkways that spindled out into the bay. Beyond them, to either side of a wide avenue, houses and shops were crammed wherever they could fit amid gentle hills that descended down, into a slight crater.

And at its center lay a manor that her guide's long, gnarled and calloused hand pointed out, "Das the chiefs's house. You head on down dere an' introduce yourselves. Tell ��em you're stuck out here an' lookin' for pa for some Grimm kills. If they want witnesses, the ole Carbuncle will be in dock for the day."

"Thank you." She smiled, offering a hand for the Faunus to shake. He blinked at it and then grinned widely, taking it and giving it a firm shake. As he released her, she turned to leave and added a, "Safe travels to you."

"An' to you too, Missy."

With that, she parted ways with the fishing captain and turned to head into the settlement. Heads turned to watch them pass by, and spaced opened in front of them, but she couldn't tell if it was because of her or the large, faintly glowing warmachine trundling along just behind her.

Though, of course, if she were to place a bet…

"Hold!" A man with wide, moose-like antlers barked as they approached the large entryway of the manor. "Who are you and why are you here?"

The guard's armor and equipment were light, with simplistic plating over his chest and forearms and little else aside from a forehead cap made of what looked like steel secured by thick linens for protection. Whether that was due to the omnipresent heat or some economic downturn of the country, she couldn't tell for sure. But then, this was the capital, and these, seemingly, were the personal guards for its leadership.

Regal armor, even with heavier protection, could be built for heat like this. Chainmail, for instance. That they didn't use that, though, spoke of something… Unfortunate.

And, luckily, not her problem.

"My name is Rion Forge." She started simply, leaning on as much truth as she could manage, without spoiling the real truth, to better keep her story straight. "I'm the captain of a small scavenger ship, the Ace of Spades, that went down along the coast. A few fishermen found me after my bodyguard killed some Grimm and directed me here for payment."

"Damn. Another ship down…" The guard sighed and shook his head before he gave her a long once-over, "What took her down, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Depends on why you're asking."

"Records." He shrugged simply, "A ship going down has to be reported. That gets collected and collated with other incidents so we know where to place new warning buoys for reefs and the like, or where to warn incoming ships away from."

"Ah." She blinked, thinking quickly, "I'm… Not actually sure what happened or where. I wasn't at the helm when we went down."

"Uh-huh." The guard sighed and turned, giving the other guard, a young woman with a thin, reptilian tale and scales that crawled across her arms, a look. "Go and let the Chieftain know he has visitors. He'll want to see them since they're Human."

"Alright." She nodded, turning to head through the door and then blinking as heels approached Rion's back. "Missus Belladonna-"

"I heard all about it at the docks." The lithe woman said as she stepped by, feline ears flicking animatedly as she did. Turning to give them a smile the middle-aged Faunus nodded back the way they had come and held up the basket of fish she'd brought with her, "A mutual friend of ours caught me. He always brings me some of his catch when he comes in."

"Ah." She had to fight hard to say that made sense, or look at her ears. Instead, Rion simply smiled and nodded, offering a hand, "Well it's good to meet you, Missus Belladonna."

"I would say the same." She smiled in return, balancing the basket on a hip to shake her hand gently and smiling wider for it. "I hear you two managed to kill a pack of Beowolves and a Minotaur."

"A minotaur?!" The guardswoman sputtered in surprise, schooling herself and adding, more professionally, "That's, uh, impressive."

"Indeed it is." The woman smiled, retaking the basket in both hands and turning back to the door. "Please, come with me, I'll show you to my husband. He can pay you and… Well, I'm sure that he'll want to talk about your future."

"My future?"

"Here on Menagerie, yes." She nodded, smiling pleasantly all the while. "They said you were Atlesian, which means you're a long way from home or any way to it. And without the CCT, you can't draw funds. With your ship gone, you'll need work, and, well… My husband will be the best shot you have at getting it anymore soon here on Menagerie."

"Ah." That made sense and, really, they needed a chance to gain information about the planet, so… "Alright then. Lead the way, ma'am."

For now, she'd have to take what she could get.

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Requested by :

Gib

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