[Halo] New! San Angeles RPG

[Naked Crook]

Tye watched the brief exchange between Harrison and Nighthawk, before he spoke up to answer Harrison's question. Tyber: Well, sir...I would say it depends on how you look at it. Tye shrugged. Tyber: On one hand, we are in pretty good shape. Casualties were below the expected threshold for an operation of this nature, and we managed to capture The Ulterior Motive in relatively good shape. Tye shrugged. Tyber: On the other hand...this may have been a victory for The Trust. The fact that we are here, and they are not, and we have no idea where they went, would indicate that they are very close to what I would call a victory condition in this engagement. You might be asking yourself how that could be, seeing as we boarded their ship and captured it. Tye paused. Tyber: To fully answer that question, I would need to explain to you what The Trust has in their possession, as I understand it.

[Hells Sniper]

Harrison nodded as he turned to face the elevator, he sighed as it did not move. Harrison turned back to Tye and shook his head. Harrison: Captain Frost should be arriving with Captain Reynolds shortly, best wait for them so you don't have to explain yourself twice. Harrison looked at Tye and nodded. Harrison: Should be a few minutes.

[Kairu]

Reynolds stepped off of the pelican and towards Frost, his hands still folded. Reynolds: "Yes Captain, let's go. The sooner we plan the next move, the sooner we can crush the Trust from our planet and getting back to stopping the Covenant." Reynolds held out his left hand as he motioned Frost to take the lead. Reynolds: "After you, Ma'am."

[Naked Crook]

Jennifer looked at Reynolds, and nodded. Before she turned, she looked at Fireteam Harmony, and the other Marines which were normally under Reynold's command. Jennifer: Fireteam Harmony, please resume standard operations. The standing order for all personnel is to sweep this ship and ensure that all remaining hostile forces are either captured or neutralized. Please see to this immediately. Once Jennifer had said this, she turned, and she led Reynolds out of the Hanger Bay, and into the corridors. Jennifer led Reynolds to one of the nearby elevators, and simply waited in silence, as she summoned it. Once the door was open, she stepped inside, with Reynolds in tow, and then pressed the button marked "1". As the doors closed, Jennifer simply stood there, with her hands behind her back, in silence. After a few moments, the elevator came to a stop, as the door opened near the bridge. Jennifer once again took the lead, as she led Reynolds out of the elevator, and opto the bridge. As she stepped onto the bridge, she heard Harrison's final statements about how she and Reynolds would be there in a few minutes. Jennifer: It will not be necessary to wait, Admiral. Jennifer walked onto the bridge, as she joined everyone at the holotable, taking a spot next to Nighthawk. She looked over at him for a moment, before looking at Tye. Jennifer: How much did I miss? Tyber: Not much, Ma'am. I was just telling the Admiral that this was both a victory, and a defeat, for the good guys... Nighthawk: The good guys being us...in case that isn't clear to anyone here.

[Kairu]

Reynolds: "So what exactly has happened, Commander? This is ship is all torn up and the obvious bits of battle are present, but what have we found?" Meanwhile: Fireteam Harmony had followed Frost's commands with Reynolds' silent approval. Securing the ship and sweeping it deck by deck, section by section, corner to corner was the most important. They knew that any trace of resistance is enough to cause havoc on an unprepared group of people.

[Naked Crook]

Tyber: Well... Tyew began to think, as he tried to find the words to describe what he saw and what he heard. Tyber: From what I heard, and from what I saw...it seems The Trust is in possession of some sort of AI that they claim can be used to turn the tide of the War with The Covenant. The Trust seems to call this thing "Vanguard". They believe it to be some sort of weapon. Nighthawk: But it IS a weapon...no doubt about it. Its primary function is to destroy anything in its path. Jennifer interjected. Jennifer: Wait, wait, wait...you said this thing was an AI...then you called it a weapon? Is it an AI like we know it or is it actually a tangible piece of technology? Tyber: I don't know...both, I think. I have not actually seen the thing in person. I saw an apparatus that The Trust claimed to be Vanguard, but that is all. All I know is that The Trust has something, and and they believe it to be an endgame device. Anaconda growled, as he looked at the Humans in front of him, trying to describe Vanguard. Anaconda: Let me make it clear; Vanguard is a weapon, in as much as it is an AI. Vanguard is far beyond constructs as Humans, or even The Covenant, know them to be. I have done battle with this machine before, and it is capable of moving between physical constructs like your AIs are capable of moving from system to system. The Trust is in possession of Vanguard's... Nighthawk: Software... Anaconda nodded. Anaconda: And they are trying to enable Vanguard o move into a new physical platform... Nighthawk: Hardware. Tye looked at Nighthawk and Anaconda for a moment, and then sighed. He then around, shifting his focus between Reynolds, Jennifer, and Harrison. Tyber: The Trust managed to escape with this...AI...and I believe they are fully intent on activating it and bringing it back to life, so to speak. As it turns out, this is so undesirable...even The Covenant have a vested interest in stopping it from happening. In case it was not known; The COvenant was here, and they were helping us fight The Trust. Tye paused. Tyber: As treasonous as that sounds...it is the truth. Nighthawk shrugged. Nighthawk: I don't see what the big deal is, to be honest.

[Hells Sniper]

Harrison sighed heavily as he placed his hand on his forward and massaged it. He had heard this all before, and for people who had been fighting the Covenant for fifteen years, he was wondering why they were always so willing to have the Covenant help, or even help the Covenant. When he heard Nighthawk, he shook his head and thought to himself. Harrison: I don't expect you to think it is a big deal, but I honestly don't care what you think of the matter. Harrison looked up at Tye and tried to focus on what was important, he tried to tune out Nighthawk's comments as much as he could. To him, from what he was hearing, the most prominent threat was still Vanguard. Harrison: From what I am gathering, the most pressing matter is still the Trust and Vanguard. The Covenant have stopped most major combat operations, which I am guessing is now due to this "construct" as well. Do we have any idea where It is going? Where The Trust is retreating off to? Harrison looked around the bridge. Harrison: I am assuming they would've deep sixed most of the data on here, but is there anything at all?

[Naked Crook]

Tyber: Actually, Admiral...the data is all still there. The data has not been destroyed...it is simply inaccessible to us. Tye paused. Tyber: The data is actively being protected... Tye turned, as he walked over to a nearby terminal, and entered a few commands. When he tried to access the Ulterior Motive's data center, and display the contents on the large screen that was mounted at the front of the bridge, the only thing that showed up on the screen was an avatar. Tyber: Protected by him...rather...IT... Tye sighed. Tyber: That is Renegade; a Superintendant class AI that houses itself inside of The Ulterior Motive's data center. That thing is rotating the encryption algorithm on every byte of data every second. There is no way we are going to be able to get past it. Everything we ever wanted to know about The Trust...is right behind Renegade...and there is no getting past him. Tye turned back to Harrison. Tyber: The Trust did not deep six their information, or the ship for that matter, because they intend on coming back, and retaking this ship.

[Hells Sniper]

Harrison sighed as he leaned on the holotable. Harrison: So, we attacked an enemy ship, disabled it, boarded it and lost dozens of soldiers, drove the Trust off the ship with no idea of where they are going, ONLY for them to come back later and retake the ship. Harrison sighed. Harrison: You're telling me we have nothing?

[Naked Crook]

Jennifer: Admiral...shutting down traitors is not NOTHING. Whether or not The Trust has plans on trying to retake this ship or not, it is expected that rouge vessels are shut down at the first opportunity. Regardless of our present situation, this had to be done. Nighthawk: Captain Frost is right. Besides... Nighthawk paused. Nighthawk: We MAY have something...I just have not taken a close enough look at it to say for sure. Nighthawk paused, as he reached to his side, and pulled a PDA out from one of his side pockets. Nighthawk: Before his ass was hauled off to the brig, he gave me this. He said it contained strategic information on The Trust. It must have been downloaded before the fighting started. We would need to take a closer look at it. Nighthawk paused. Nighthawk: And by that I mean...I would have to take a closer look at it. I always love reading the latest gossip on The Trust... Nighthawk laughed, as he held the PDA up and waved it back and forth in his hand. Nighthawk: And this PDA has some pretty scandalous shit on it, I am sure. Of course, in the interest of sharing information, I will be more than happy to share what I find. We are all on thew same side...right?