Diode. Remnants of Research Station.

-Play Sabaton-Carolus Rex, Stringstorm instrumental variant-

Within the confines of a large hall, filled to the brim with Cloning Vats, on the main catwalk's central portion, resided a young woman, with a dainty figure, white hair and blue eyes. She wore a long victorian-era dress colored scarlet with black frills, as well as a black and red bow. Seated at a table, the young woman took a sip of her chamomile tea, regarding each of the vats in the sixty rows, going from the top of the large hall down to the very dark bottom. The place was much like a space cathedral of sorts, its insides lit scarlet by the emergency lighting of the auxiliary generators.

The woman looked ahead as a holographic figure materialized from pixels in the chair across from her. Clad in a scarlet and black PACT admiralty uniform, the golden hilt of a rapier sword hanging from his belt with the sheath and with an ivory goblin mask on his face, his legs crossed, Veniczar Arcadius stared at the woman through the two narrow, tilted vision slits of the mask. He spoke, his voice rough, modified by the mask's internal components "Did you know?"

"Know what?" She returned nonchalantly, taking a sip from her tea. Arcadius growled lowly, then asked again "Did you know? That something like this would appear out of the confines of null space? That they'd join the Captain's crew in saving the Ryuvian? You can read my mind, Zero, even from so far away... You know what I'm talking about, so don't play the innocence card." with a hint of anger in his voice. Zero looked over the brim of the cup, then sighed, placing the little china down onto its plate and setting it on the table. She shook her head, then answered "I have no recollections of them in any of my visions. Whomever the two ironclad soldiers were, they clearly are not of our realm or Galaxy."

Arcadius paused for a moment, watching the dull expression of the girl, before bowing his head "I see... What am I to do if I meet them and that damned Gunship of theirs again? They had nearly sunken the Legion with a Nuclear device. A crude weapon, at that." to which Zero nodded and said "You will keep the dreadnaught out of combat for the battle at Far Port. Stay and observe them... I'll have our agent on the Sunrider work on one of them in the meantime."

"I feel a pang of guilt every time you mention her. She is of same blood as I and you, Zero. And we're using her like a conduit... Thankfully, my guilt passes fast." Arcadius mused. Zero tilted her head forward once, then returned "I feel much the same, but I care for the greater picture as of now. Our mission and plan for humanity require sacrifice, whether voluntary or not. If she wishes so, we can help her keep one of them alive after our mission is completed, as a thank you for her unwitting cooperation in this little travesty of a mission."

Arcadius exhaled, a sound muffled by the mask, then spoke once more "Our parents would not be happy, but alas... I must prepare the fleet for battle. We shall speak after Far Port." and nodded to Zero. The girl hummed, then said "Be careful." regarding the Veniczar. He hummed, then nodded once more, before vanishing and leaving Zero to her own machinations.

"Now..." She sighed, standing up "To work on our dear sister..."

Sunrider. En-route to Far Port.

Six resided in the Gunship, checking the nuclear torpedo armaments of the craft, whilst Sev worked on the ship's gun links. The 30mm Nose Cannon, the rocket pods and the flares all seemed to work perfectly. The two Spartans nodded to each-other. Six walked out of the vehicle, a tablet in his hand, then gave Sev a thumbs up, before saying "All's good." and receiving a nod.

"Glad to know..." Sev responded, looking over the data. The man noticed something attached to Six's back, then waved him forth. His brother approached steadily and the two faked looking over the data, before Sev whispered "You still got the package, Six..." to which the Spartan in black armor turned back and gasped, pulling out the item in front of them. The tubular case of glass and metal that shined an eerie azure greeted them.

"I could swear I gave it to the Autumn's Captain..." B312 sighed deeply. Sev nodded and said "You did... I don't know what this is supposed to be anymore, though... We traveled universes and this thing cloned with us or something?" He then whispered. Six shrugged and said "The only way to know it is to pop it open..." before inserting a short code on the side keypad and twisting the top, revealing it with a hiss of steam. A small crystalline chip resided in the middle of a cradle.

"Either our transfer here via Slipstream created a copy, or we're in some loopy land right now." Sev said. He looked to Six, then checked the back of his helmet. A chip induction port. He felt the back of his own helmet, then sighed and said "Well, lil' bro, that's all yours... You've got a chip port on the back of your helmet." to which Six looked at his brother, a slight awe clearly felt through his visor.

The boy looked over to the chip, then wrapped his fingers gently around the item, slowly taking it out of its supporting struts and in-between his index and thumb. The chip was about the size of his gloved thumb, maybe just a bit bigger, but it looked normal enough. He looked to Sev, then asked "You sure I should do this?" to which Sev nodded, before saying "The AI chose you, brother. Get'er up."

Six slightly smiled behind his helmet. His brother'd always been there for him, no matter what. The two were twins, but Sev was generally the older brother due to his birth being like 5 minutes ahead of Six. They also had one hell of a childhood... Something to reminisce after all's said and done. He slid the chip into his helmet and felt a drop in themperature of the breathable air. Probable system reboot as the AI acclimatized herself, something evidenced by the HUD fading and a slight blue mist surrounding him.

The HUD flashed, then turned a light purple and a smooth voice overtook the COM system, that of a young woman's "So this is a MARK V MJOLNIR set. Spacious." before a light gasp was heard and a HOLO-Window appeared on the HUD's top right corner, revealing the face of a beautiful young woman, with short hair. A bowl-cut of sorts. The AI, her avatar purple with black 'clothes', stared at Six, then said with a warm smile "So you're Spartan-B312. A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise... Who are you?" Six whispered.

"Name's Cortana, Lieutenant." The AI answered swiftly and curtly.

"Right, also, call me Six. Sleep well?" The Spartan smirked. The AI chuckled, then said "No thanks to your driving, yes." as she scanned their surroundings via the suit's systems. She hummed, then said "Curious... We're not on a UNSC Vessel, are we?" allowing the Spartan to shake his head. She scratched her chin, then returned "Mhm... Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to figure out my bearings for a moment. I can sense a really weakly-defended network on-board this ship. I just got its name off the transcripts, The CSF Sunrider. Quite an advanced vessel... Want me to keep you posted with what I find, Six?"

"Sure. And link to Seven too. He'll want to find out about this." The boy said. The AI hummed, then nodded and said "Gotcha, Six." before she flashed off-screen. The younger Spartan nodded to his twin, then turned about as both heard footsteps, light ones, headed toward them. The duo's footsteps came in contrast, as the soldiers watched a lilac-haired girl with dark-blue eyes, a blue flight suit and white coat over her body, as well as a tablet in hand, approaching. Beside her was the girl they'd rescued, slightly taller than her friend.

"Hey, guys." The cheerful redhead said, grinning. The two Spartans nodded to the girls, then Six said "Hello to you too, ma'am. Doin' alright?" to which the girl gave a slight nod back and said "Yeah, just great, actually!" with cheer. "Name's Asaga, by the way. And the girl next to me" she placed a hand on her comrade's shoulder and said "She's Chigara Lynn Ashada. She's the Sunrider's Chief Engineer."

"I believe we've met before. At least I met your brother, Seven." Chigara nodded to Six, then looked to Seven "I'll bet it must be great to see him awake and walking."

"You ain't got the slightest, Flight Officer Ashada." Sev answered calmly, to which the girl chuckled. She looked to Six, then looked over his armor set with some enthusiasm. "I still cannot believe there's more than one set of this advanced armor. The tech almost seems Ryuvian." to which Asaga quipped "Sure, but it's more bulky than the streamlined aerodynamic and eye-pleasing stuff we have around... Sure, it may be slightly better."

"What're Ryuvians?" The two Spartans asked, with Cortana echoing that in Six' helmet. Asaga tilted her head, then said "You guys clearly aren't from around here, so you would best follow us. We'll explain it to you while we're heading for the Bridge. Capt'n's asked we all be briefed about the upcoming situation." and the two Spartans nodded in agreement. As the group walked out of the cavernous hangar into the elevator, Asaga explained the basics of Ryuvians to them.

"Basically, the Ryuvians were ancient, highly-advanced humans able to modify anything and everything to their whim. The royalty, the Imperial Royal Family only, had access to gene modification, life-enhancing nanomachines and such... Heck, my people even created the Ryder technology, with some rumors even stating we made Time-Travel tech a thing. We were basically Gods at the point our galaxy-wide Empire started falling apart due to infighting and the Civil War between the Fallen and the Royalists. The Fallen vied for power to use in the darkest ways imaginable, while the Royalists were... Well, the lesser of the two Evils."

"Damn." Sev said, arms crossed "Humans will be humans, I guess... There's no Aliens whatsoever here, though. Right?"

"Nope... Just humans and gene-engineered weirdness some times." Asaga shrugged. Sev nodded, then sighed deeply, before saying "And now, another war's up between Humans. Well, we're back to our old tricks, eh, brother?" he then quipped, turning to Six. The Spartan nodded enthusiastically and saluted, then said "Aye, aye, big brother." to which Asaga asked "You two are actually related?"

"Twins." The two answered simultaneously.

"Though I was born 5 minutes ahead." Sev quipped, placing a fist on the left side of his chest.

"Hence me calling him Big Bro. He's kept my ass alive throughout our early life and onto our campaign against the Covies." Six said, then proceeded to give a thumbs up. Chigara looked to Six with a smile, then said "How nice it must be... Wait, what are 'Covies'?" She then asked with curiosity. The two Spartans gazed at each-other, then sighed and said together "Long story."

"We'll take your word for it." Asaga nodded. "We can talk after the Battle."

The two nodded and Sev leaned against the wall of the turbolift, humming a song from ye olden times. Six sighed, then chuckled. He looked to Chigara, then said "Hello again." to which she nodded and smiled "Hello to you too, Six."

"You doing alright, Chief?" He asked her.

"Fine. You?" She returned kindly.

"Just fine and dandy, actually. A bit dizzy after the op still, but I'm recovering." Six nodded. She looked over his armor, then asked "Just how was this set of armor made? It looks almost custom."

"It's a one-size-fits-all, really. As for how it's made, that's kind of a UNSC secret." Six responded calmly. "The UNSC is where we hail from. United Nations Space Command. Navy, Air Force, Military and current government of Terra and all her Colonies. The war we were fighting in against the Covies took a massive toll on us. Nearly a dozen worlds burned, turned to glass and millions dead."

"Jeez..." Asaga said, her usual happy-go-lucky demeanor overturned. Chigara frowned, then looked at the boys and asked "They must be a highly-advanced foe... Alien, I presume?"

"Yeah... Alliance of'em. Theocratic religious bunch. They can all go ta hell for all we care. They attacked without provocation, WITHOUT WARNING." Six clenched his fists tightly around the iron bar, denting it, his voice filled with wrath and anger. Asaga frowned, then returned "Damn right, to hell with'em. If they ain't even out there enough to make contact first, before attackin', they're some kinda cowards."

"Add to that they bomb us from orbit with plasma, yeah. Coward's a word for it. Never call an Elite that to his face... He'll deck you harder than any normal human could." Six quipped. Sev hummed, then said "Hell, sometimes even Spartans can't deal with that much pressure. SOME TIMES. We mostly can." with a grin behind his helmet. Six chuckled, then asked "Remember when we sent that one Elite flying with a pile-drive?"

"Oh, God, he was the first Ayy I saw actually crying in pain." Sev laughed. Six looked to the girls as the Elevator stopped, then told them "Lead the way."