Splitting the Party

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Almost as soon as the ramp touched down on the armored interior deck of the Black Sun's small hangar, the children were moving. Ruby and Nora were the fastest, while Qrow and a pained looking Yang were the slowest, the former letting Maria hold onto his arm as a guide on. The rest of the People of Remnant were scattered between the first and the last, with the aliens stepping out behind the slowest of the People.

Which, he supposed, was a fitting name for at least the Humans of Remnant.

They would need to delineate between UNSC Humans and Remnant Humans for many very obvious reasons, after all.

As he stepped out of the armored transport and into the Human ship proper, he took in the hangar around him. It was small, even by Human standards, with enough space to one side for the Pelican where it had parked. On the other, a pair of Warthogs rested, one fitted for transport and the other sporting the heavy, multi-barreled machine-gun that was so well associated with the light vehicle.

On the other side of the light vehicle, sat against the wall, were several crates around man size with labels consisting of numbers and letters that, needless to say, he could read but couldn't understand.

"Spare supplies and loadout materials." The Demon said when he noticed Thel's curious gaze. He turned to the Spartan while he explained quietly, "Spare parts to maintain the vehicles and weapons, spare materials for repairs, tires, fuel, and a small selection of weapons that can be fitted into vehicle hard-points. We don't have a vehicle bay, but we can do limited retrofits."

"A Gauss cannon?"

"One." The Demon nodded, "But only twenty canister rounds."

"Ah." He nodded, turning away from the mess to the milling Hunters and the Spartans watching them. "A Gauss would have been advantageous."

"Mhm." The Demon nodded, "You'll just have to make do with four super soldiers and a MAC enabled starship."

"How ever will I survive?" Thel joked, shaking his head wryly and watching Ruby and Nora both absolutely fawn over every piece of machinery they didn't recognize while their partners tried to keep them from breaking anything. Quietly, he asked, "Shall I get their calm, or shall you?"

"You know them better."

"Now would be as good a time as any to rectify such." He tried, chuckling lowly when the Spartan only turned his head to give him an unamused, impassive look. Standing beside his comrade he called out, his voice echoing in the smallish hangar, "My friends, if you please, the Demon would speak."

It only took a moment for the young warriors, and Qrow and Maria as well, to collect themselves and bunch up in a loose circle at the base of the Pelican's ramp.

"Are you alright for a briefing?" The Spartan asked quietly, looking to Yang who was leaning on her partner with a pinched face.

"Not really, but not a lot of options." The blonde shrugged, a hiss of pain shooting through her teeth in response. Grimacing she joked weakly, voice tight with pain, "So, uh, shrugging is bad, I guess."

"Why is that happening?"

"Our implants are connected right to our nervous systems, like normal arms are." The blind huntress explained quietly, holding onto Qrow's arm like a life-line, "They have sensors and things I don't know anything about that manage the signals and the like for us, prevent the pain and stuff. But those run on Dust, so… So, as far as our brains are concerned, we just lost 'em again."

"And it hurts like a mother fucker, too." Yang growled, adding under her breath, "Makes me glad that horned bastard knocked me out the first time…"

"You got knocked out?" Maria laughed, shaking her head amusedly, "Lucky you. I still had to keep fighting when my eyes got gouged out."

"You fought without eyes?"

"My Semblance is Preflexes." Maria explained with a little smirk, albeit a pained looking one, "It lets me sense and predict the movements of people around me before they even make them. Blind or not, I can still fight, and they didn't know that until there was a scythe in her back."

"Impressive." The markswoman nodded, turning to the Chief, "I can take them to medical. Small doses of pain relievers to last through the trip."

"Good idea." The Demon nodded, asking the two women, "Are both of you alright with morphine injections?"

"Oh fuck yes, drug me, please." Yang grunted, shuffling forward with her partner for support. "Where and what do I sign to make this not feel like someone just lopped my arm off again?"

"Linda will show you the way." He answered simply, turning to his other two Spartans while the woman led Blake, Yang and Maria off. "Frederic, Kelly, inspect the Pelican for damage and resupply our ammunition stocks."

"Sir." They both nodded, turning to do as they'd been ordered.

"Arbiter, I need you to choose-" the Spartan hesitated and, after a moment, addressed the room at large and seemingly corrected his course, "Choose who to represent your group. While the others rest and recover, we can discuss and decide our next steps in the bridge, with Roland."

"Um, question…?" Ruby murmured, holding up a hand nervously. The Spartan seemed to hesitate a moment, surprised by her actions, and then nodded patiently for her to speak. "Um, who is Roland? Is he another Spartan?"

"No, I'm not a Spartan, Miss." A disembodied voice answered, sounding amused at the mere idea of it. The Arbiter already knew what the voice was but for the younger's benefit, they explained, "I'm the ship-board AI, Roland. I run the ship's internal software suites and handle minute targeting and power systems."

"So you…. Are the ship?!" Ruby blinked excitedly, slowly bouncing on the spot. As the bouncing sped up and petals began to fall, she started to ramble excitedly, "I mean, are you actually the ship? Or separate? 'Cuz I had a friend that was an AI, once, and I always wondered if her body was her or if it was separate or-"

"That is a lot of questions, young lady." The AI laughed brightly, "And maybe at some point, we can get to them. But for now, can we focus?"

"I guess, yeah…"

"Hmph. Watch this." The Arbiter murmured to them all, Ruby turning to him with confused, furrowed brows. Cocking his head to the side and pointing down he said, simply, "Right now, we're standing atop a just under one hundred meter long giant railgun, Ruby. It's what killed the Leviathan down by Argus."

"That's…" Ruby blinked owlishly ,processing his words, "Big."

"Indeed." He grinned, turning to the Spartan beside him and asking coyly, "The cannon runs the entire length of your ship, I presume?"

"...It does."

"That's such a big gun!" Ruby squealed, flashing to the Spartan's side and grabbing onto his shoulders, beaming a wide smile at him, "How does it work? I know he said it was a railgun, so is it a railgun?"

"Yes, it's-"

"That's. So. Awesome!" She squealed, bouncing in front of him excitedly while the Spartan watched, his own head bobbing slightly to match her excited bouncing, "How does it work? I don't think using basic magnets would be feasible on a ship this size, at least from what I saw from the dropship's cockpit. Are they special magnets, then? They'd have to be, really, so I'd guess some kind of composite material capable. What does it fire?"

"Roland." The Arbiter laughed, laying a hand on the excited girl's head and rustling her hair. While she flailed and fled from him, trailing petals to hide behind Jaune's armored form, he asked, "Could you do me the kindness of preparing a data-pad with whatever you are allowed to share on what MACs are and how they function?"

"Can do, if the Chief okays it."

"Sure." The Spartan grunted anxiously, taking a step back, "Non-classified materials only."

"Of course, Master Chief." Roland answered, sounding amused at either Ruby's excited antics or the Arbiter's own. Whatever the case, he moved on fairly swiftly, "The briefing room is prepared, Sir. There's an array of stored and connected data-pads in it I can forward the information to, if you want, too. I'm already using some of them for briefing packets as it is, so it won't be a hassle."

"Do it." Chief grunted shortly, adding to the assembled Hunters, "Your representatives?"

"Me, Ruby and Qrow." The blonde knight said instantly, explaining partially unnecessarily, "We're the team leaders for our two teams, and Qrow is the oldest Huntsman we have. So, uh, that will work. If you have any rations and water, Ren can… Manage getting everyone else fed, too?"

"That crate over there." The Demon grunted, pointing at a crate labeled 'RP-0001' across the hangar. "Take what you need and get yourselves some rest. The Black Sun is already under way to Atlas."

"If I might make a suggestion?" Weiss started, earning a nod from the Spartan, "Do not take us down there, no matter what, at night. Atlas' sensors will probably still detecte us, but if they can't see us they might assume we're a Grimm and open fire."

"Prowler class vessels are designed for stealth."

"True enough." Thel nodded, adding quietly, tiredly, even, as the stress and rigor of the day made themselves known, "But we do not know how Atlas detects things, and a few hours of rest isn't undue, after everything. You may be fresh and rested, Demon, but forget not that these warriors and I have been engaged in battle for hours passed."

"...Noted." He nodded, turning and waving for the four of them to follow him further into the ship.

Normally, Thel knew as well as any Sangheili if not better, Human Naval security didn't opt for taking his people on straight paths through their ships. Be they diplomats arriving for meetings about trade or relations, officers aiming to coordinate maneuvers or even prisoners being moved for interrogation, they would be taken on circuitous paths. Winding through the bowels of the ship, up and down several lifts, and often-times made to double back entirely if the ship was small enough to need it.

All to the end of ensuring that no matter what came of the meetings or talks, the Sangheili was entirely unlikely to know their way through the ship. Which had obvious security motivations that he and every Sangheili could understand if not outright accept. How could that Sangheili's information make easier a Spec-Ops Lance's infiltration of the ship if he knew it so poorly, for instance?

Or, in the case of a prisoner, where to go to escape.

The Demon, though, made no such security oriented overtures. Instead, he and his comrades were led down a single long hall-way and then into a room. It was, as per the norm for UNSC ships and designs, simple. Utilitarian, in a word, with dull grey walls enclosing it. Each of the longer walls sported simplistic screens, lit in cool blues and whites and displaying the UNSC emblem in the exact center. The table and chairs that split the room were much the same, albeit reinforced heavily, presumably for Spartan use.

Same for a single chair at the end, made of purple neo-laminate and clearly brought in expressly for his use.

"You even arranged a seat of my people's making for me?" He laughed as he eased into it, if only to mask his pleased sigh. "I am grateful, Demon, for the charity."

"Not charity, Arbiter." The Spartan assured him, looking at his own reinforced chair for a long moment before sitting in it, setting his Assault Rifle on the table in front of him. Sitting beside Thel, the Spartan added, quietly, "Diplomacy."

"Are they so different?"

"Yes. Charity is giving something with no expectation of any kind of return, Diplomacy, though, expects returns." The Demon answered quietly, adding in his odd way of humor, "You would hate charity."

"So I would." Thel laughed, "So I would."

"I bet it's nice, though." Jaune murmured, adjusting his sheathed sword and taking his own seat opposite the two of them. At the Arbiter's confused cocking of his head the knight explained, "Having a chair made for you to sit in it, I mean. I know you never complained, but, well…"

"Your butt's shaped different." Ruby shrugged, setting Crescent Rose on the table the same way the Demon had and then settling in beside the knight while Qrow leaned against the wall behind both of them. "Your legs are, too. It makes sense that our chairs and, you know, stuff might not be super comfy for you."

"Even if these," Jaune rapped an armored knuckle against his chair's armrest, "aren't made for us, they still aren't made for your, uh, race."

"Indeed they are not." Judging by the size and reinforcements, they were scarcely for Human use, either. More likely they were special, designed exclusively for Spartan usage. An odd thing to design, then, considering their low numbers…

Unless the UNSC was making a vast number more of them, to justify the effort.

"I think we should focus up." Qrow grunted tiredly, "Everybody's worn out, and none o' this is important anyways."

"We were just talking, Uncle Qrow, geez…" Ruby sighed, though, and shrugged her own complaints off. Turning to the Arbiter she asked, "You brought the Relic with you, right, Thel?"

"I did." He nodded, pulling it from his waist and resting it on the table between them all. "Why do you-"

"Jinn!"

As always, he felt the strange nausea of the world around him shifting in the core of its very fabric. It was a now familiar kind of pseudo-vertigo, overtaking him in a gentle wash and then settling into place. The flickering of the lights on the walls and the screen's rotating feedback icons were the most telling of it all, though. They slowed to a crawl and then, inside a second that, he supposed, didn't truly exist they froze.

"Ahhh!" Jinn, the Blue Spirit of Knowledge, yawned as she stretched out and then sighed, reclining along the table's top languidly, her feet in front of them and her head near the door, eight feet away. Sitting up and folding her legs under her she hummed in amusement, "My, my, I never thought that I would be summoned here, of all places."

"On my ship?"

"No." Jinn blinked, looking at the Spartan and cocking her head to the side, an amused smile splitting her face, "Actually, yes, in a detached kind of way. Really, I meant I never expected to be summoned in orbit. When the people of The World can't get to it under the power of any technology they have broached. Much less by the same person, for the third time..."

"I don't have a question for you… Again." Ruby said sheepishly as Jinn's gaze turned on her, "But I figured that, you know, maybe checking your rules didn't need one, so…"

"Clever, once again." Jinn chuckled, floating up and into the free space over the table, reorienting with her arms folded under her chin. Ruby shrank into her seat under her scrutiny until, finally, Jinn sighed and relented, floating up and sitting with her legs crossed, as if on an imaginary mat. "Summoning me for clarification of my rules is allowed. Once. Three questions per century, you may not summon me without one, and yes, I do work off world."

"Okay." Ruby nodded sheepishly, "Thank you."

"Mhm." The spirit nodded, turning a small look on the Spartan beside the Arbiter and then frowning. "The Master Chief."

"You know me?"

"I know everything." She laughed, cocking her head to the side, "Who you are, what was done to you by that woman, Halsey… How tragically necessary it was. And all you and yours have lost. Every single name, Missing In Action, not even granted the painful kindness of a funeral for propaganda..."

"..." The Spartan stiffened audibly, the arms of his chair groaning under his fingers as he ground out, lowly, "I think we're done, Ma'am."

"Indeed." She smiled, the blue of her arms and legs beginning to pale to white and then fade away. In parting she said, quietly and finally, "I am bound to answer all questions asked by Humans, John. If you ever need me… Simply call my name."

"Spartan." Thel rumbled once the woman had faded away and the Relic descended, floating majestically over the table in reach of them all. The Demon didn't respond and, gently, he dared to touch his arm.

In a flash, the man was on his feet, reinforced chair crashing into one of the screen's behind him as one hand batted his arm away and the other snapped around, leveling his Magnum on the Arbiter's chest.

"What-"

"Arbiter!"

"Hold, my friends." He called out, holding up a hand to placate them, aware of the sword in Jaune's hand and Ruby's rifle, leveled on the Spartan's armored back even though it would do nothing.

Instinct, he supposed.

And, useless though it would definitely be, he appreciated it.

"I'm sorry." The Demon said quietly, lowering his weapon after a moment. He turned a look on the chair embedded in the wall and, after a moment, moved to pull it free, brushing it clean and setting it back in place to sit in.

"I should not have touched you." The Arbiter rumbled as he sat down again, hands on now dented armrests. Sensing the man wanted to leave it behind, he turned to Ruby and asked, "What, my friend, did you mean to test here? Beyond the obvious."

"Mostly just… The obvious, I guess." Ruby murmured, looking at her rifle and grimacing, likely realizing how useless it would have been. "I'm sorry… I didn't know that was how it would go."

"It's fine." He chuckled, paying his armored friend a sidelong glance, "It would not be the first time you have pointed a weapon at me."

"Mhm." He nodded, adding, "I apologized for that time, Thel."

"Indeed." He nodded, "And I forgave you that and forgive you this. Be at peace, my friend." The Spartan only nodded, but he saw his shoulders relax and knew that his words had been heard, and turned back to Ruby, "What did you wish to do after testing that, though?"

"I…" She swallowed, and seemed to understand that regardless of her opinions they were moving on, and said, "I figured that keeping the Relic up here, on your ship, would be the safest thing to do."

"No one on Remnant can get up here." Jaune nodded, "Maybe not even Salem."

"Asked Oz once about it, was curious." Qrow added from behind the duo, "According to him, no one ever used magic to get up here. Or at least, no one that said anything about it."

"They died or failed." The Spartan nodded understandingly, brushing aside the mentions of magic to get at the matter at hand, "So it should be safe. I'll authorize its storage in an armored containment unit aboard. It'll be safe."

"Thanks." She smiled, "So, that's one thing dealt with… What next?"

"Roland." The Spartan grunted, "Did you prepare a brief?"

"I did." The AI nodded, a little blue avatar of him showing up at the end of the table, his arms crossed. He did not look best pleased, for whatever reason, but he went on quietly regardless, "The data-pads in front of you have the text format, all the information I have. It isn't much, unfortunately, but you can peruse at your own convenience."

"Um…" Ruby turned it in her hand, looking, he presumed, for a button while her uncle picked one of them up and went back to his spot leaning against the wall, "Ow do you…?"

"Tap the screens three times." Roland explained, the Remnant natives following his instructions as their translucent screens lit up in cool blues and whites. "Scroll wheel is on the side, or you can tap and hold once and flick. Words in purple will take you to detailed breakdowns of them, and you can swipe left to get back to the source page."

After a few minutes for them to adjust and get a handle on the data-pads, the Spartan prompted, "Roland, the brief."

"Right, well..." The AI gestured at the damaged wall and then sighed quietly, "I can only use the one wall. So, Mister Branwen will have to move."

Once the three Remnant natives had moved around to sit on the other side of the table, Ruby beside the Arbiter, the AI waved a hand. In response, the opposite screen lit up with a view of Sanghelios, taken from a distance.

"As of several days ago, the Black Sun encountered an anomaly in proximity of Sanghelios, seen here. All information from the incident itself, and zero-point-three seconds before it, has been corrupted and lost." The AI explained, waiting a moment to see if anyone had anything to add or ask. When none did, the image changed to one of Remnant and the AI went on, "Upon arrival, we began searching for several things. Signs of either UNSC or Sangheili settlements and signals related to the Arbiter we could track among them. Eventually, we found a weak, isolated signal."

"Me." Thel guessed, thinking for a moment and then blinking, "Ah, my communication line. I had forgotten I had it, after the crash."

"Yeah, your comm line." Roland nodded, "We traced it to find you, and did. Even if it, you know… Went off-line before we got to you."

"Unfortunate but not unexpected." He shrugged, offering simply, "If you wish for details on the incident that brought me here, I have nothing to offer. I boarded a private transport to move down to Sanghelios' surface, and then awoke in the woods near where I encountered Ruby."

"We were on a mission to clear out Grimm." Ruby offered when the group turned to her expectantly, "Thel helped, so we brought him with us to Mistral. And from there, we… Well, everything that happened happened."

"And now we are here." Thel offered, "So, neither of us know the details of our arrival. But do we know how we arrived?"

"In detail? No." Roland answered, grimacing, "In theory? Some sort of space-time anomaly over Sanghelios, or in Sangheili space, and here in Remnant's space. I'm searching for the origin point and, with luck, I'll find it. With even more luck, I'll be able to figure out how it works, tag its coordinates, and find a way to safely traverse it."

"With luck?" Qrow grumbled, "Hah. Better get me off this boat, then."

"Why?"

"Uh, my Uncle���s Semblance causes bad luck." Ruby offered to the AI, "He can't control it, either. So…"

"Noted." The Spartan, finally, spoke. Turning to the Arbiter he prompted him, "You have your own decisions to discuss, and for us to plan, though."

"Indeed." He nodded, speaking to the AI as much as the Spartan. "As I said, I have sworn myself and, at the least, my Keep to the cause of this world. It was handcrafted by the hands of true gods and it is, I believe, a possible path to unity for my people. And peace for theirs, as well."

"That's why we were going to Atlas." Ruby offered, "To meet General Ironwood and work towards, you know, that."

"Atlas is the most militarily advanced of the Kingdoms." Thel explained quietly, though he could not be certain it was needed. Regardless, he went on, "And originally, we intended to have that military safeguard the Relic of Knowledge as well. But now a better option has shown itself…"

"Does that change plans, then?" Roland asked, "Or do you still want to go to Atlas?"

"Ironwood might not react well to alien ships showing up all over the place if we don't give him a warning." Jaune answered quietly, "The Arbiter's people would end up working with Hunters and the Atlesian military more often than not, so making friends early is probably a good idea."

"And Vale… Is not in the best shape, right now." Ruby added, "Neither is Mistral. And Vacuo is… Vacuo."

"Mostly nomadic, with a few concentrated settlements scattered around." jaune explained, "In the huge desert on the largest continent. I'm sure you've seen it."

"I surveyed it already." Roland nodded, going on, "I detected a handful of major settlements but mostly, just empty space. They're probably not to be ignored, but by and large, Atlas is the biggest mark."

"My team also recommended Menagerie." The Demon added, "Making allies there would be a good jumping off point."

"That… Might be rough." Jaune murmured, explaining when they looked, "Atlas and the Faunus, who live on Menagerie, don't have the best relationship. I'm not saying it's actually impossible, but…"

"It will be difficult." The Arbiter nodded, "But these are the Kingdoms where we have a proverbial foot in the door. And so, I believe it prudent to try them both."

"We'll break into two teams, then." The Chief said, "One will be dispatched to Menagerie. The other, to Atlas. The Faunus will need to be on the team to Menagerie."

"Yang, too." Ruby tossed in, explaining, "They're partners. And, um… They haven't been together for very long. We shouldn't separate them."

"And Weiss should not." Jaune added, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, "The Faunus and the Schnees don't get along, so sending her might be… Yikes."

"Belladonna and Xiao Long, then." The Chief noted, "The Arbiter will be going to Atlas, I presume?"

"Yeah." Ruby nodded, shooting him a look for confirmation and smiling when he gave it. "Me, too. So Weiss can come with me, while those two head to Menagerie. Jaune?"

"Atlas for my team." He answered quietly, explaining to the three non-natives across the table from him. Or, in Roland's case, in the table in front of him, "I wouldn't guess Humans are super popular on Menagerie. You all have a reason, if you go, but us? Nah, and we do not want Nora involved in diplomacy anyway."

"You'll need transport, a pilot to fly it and protection, for the Menagerie team." The Spartan noted quietly, adding after a few long seconds, "I can dispatch Blue Team with them. They can also negotiate on the UNSC's end."

"And on mine." The Arbiter added, "I trust your team as I do you, Demon."

"I'll head to Menagerie too." Qrow grunted, "I can do my parlor trick to convince 'em magic is real."

"Then it is decided." The Arbiter nodded, standing and summarising finally, searching for any disagreement, "The Spartan's kin will accompany Qrow, Yang and Blake to Menagerie, to meet with people there. The rest of us will head to Atlas, to meet General Ironwood, while Roland divines a way back to my homeworld."

"Or tries to, at least…"

Regardless, none of them disagreed and so their plans were set. And that meant that, at last, they could all eat and get a few hours of rest. Which, needless to say after the day they'd had, was something that the Arbiter was more than happy to have.

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His heavy, semi-powered armored boots crunched through leaves and scattered, thin sheets of metal. The crash site was as it had been reported, sequestered away in a veritable No Man's Land of Grimm and thick, hard to traverse terrain. Most of it had also been destroyed, too, the front half of the alien craft crushed like tin and buried in the ground. They hadn't found any bodies or weapons, yet, and he found that strange.

But their excavation equipment would see to that, soon enough.

At least, once the rain pounding on his heavy Atlesian armor stopped. It was hard to excavate in the rain…

"Lieutenant!" He turned as an Atlesian, dressed in far lighter and far whiter Atlesian armor came jogging up to him. He was smaller, too, and carried a simple Atlesian rifle across his chest that he used to point the way he had come, "Ursai, sir. About a dozen of them, the fireteam is setting up a kill-zone."

"Understood." He rumbled, turning and shrugging off his heavy backpack, flicking a switch to shift it from pack form to its heavy, massive chain-gun one, its engine already whirrting as he depressed its trigger testingly. To it, and under his breath, he murmured, "Nyugi, szerelmem. Még munkánk van."

"Lieutenant Adel?" The soldier asked, half-turned to lead him on, towards the fight.

He only nodded, lumbering along behind him in his super-heavy, semi-powered armor.

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