ARES:Gods of War

War Stories

The Chief sighed as he sat himself down. He'd gotten his own 'room' in the Outpost HQ, which meant he had privacy, a place to stay and a little something more to help him understand the world he was in. Walking into his room, the man scanned the place, noting that he had everything from a proper bathroom with a shower to a wide bed, a desk with titanium reinforcements in the chair, a corner couch, a holographic TV and specialized laptop computer and a lot of other similar amenities to the Commander.

Cortana whistled, "Nice place," with a smile. In a moment, the lights of the room seemed to flash, before returning to normal. Notably, Chief felt that usual cool feeling in his head had vanished. He paused, worried all of a sudden, before watching a figure materialize ahead of him, still barely reaching his chin in height. She smiled at him, arms crossed to her chest as opened her arms and said, "Voila! I now have a little place to hang out and... 1 sec..." She closed her eyes, her avatar flaring emerald for a moment, before she smirked, "Alright. We're clean now. This room is secure."

"Thanks..." He sighed and took his helmet off of his head as the sliding twin doors behind him hissed shut. He sat himself down at his desk, for the first time in a while being able to be with his own thoughts, even as the chair below him groaned a little under the weight of a Spartan in several hundred kilos of Titanium plating. He breathed in, then out and activated his computer as Cortana stood there, leaning against the desk. He cast a glance her way and offered a short, calm smile, before his face returned to the stoic one of old as he requested, "Status report."

Cortana rolled her eyes a little, though her smile remained. She straightened up and stated, "I have a direct link to the Ark from here, though it'd be a bit of a gamble to leave through the data stream connecting us to the whole of the ArkNet. I need to create more secure connections so I know I can wipe any trace of myself from their systems..." before lifting her hand and opening her palm.

An alphanumeric data string played over her hand in the shape of a ring. She told him, "I set up an algorithm that helps filter stuff out about us if you want me to put it into practice. Y'know... If you wanna keep the secret or get some conspiracy theories about us going," with a sly smirk. Chief shook his head and continued typing away his report, to which Cortana rolled her eyes. Marching through the desk, seeing as she was a hologram, she leaned over his shoulder, watching him write out a search query, not a report.

He told her, "Commander might want us to go out. Help him hunt Chatterbox. I'm trying to see if the Outpost's internal net has any information on it," before turning toward her, "Though I'm going to assume you already knew and are scouring it yourself," Which made Cortana smile. She thought sweetly that he knew her so well. With a snap of her fingers, the data necessary, as written by Alyosha, appeared on his screen.

After a while of the two just lounging around, Cortana sat on his desk, the bell rang and the AI vanished as her appropriated holographic emitters turned back to emitting their standard holograms. Chief called out, "Come in!" and the door slid open. Delta walked in, donning casual clothes instead of her full combat uniform. Note that casual clothes meant her usual outfit, minus the bulletproof vest and rifle. She even had her holster still.

The woman stopped in front of Chief's desk and saluted, to which the Spartan saluted back and motioned to her to take a seat. She pulled up a chair and sat herself down, before starting, "Apologies if I'm interrupting anything important, sir, but I figured I should come report in as the senior Nikke of the squad and... Well... Presumably, your XO for future matters."

"My door is always open, Delta," The Spartan stated, echoing what the Commander had told him, though slightly paraphrased. Truth be told, he knew that an open doors policy was conducive to a better work environment for troopers. Though he wasn't a very social man, he knew better than to let the opportunity to assist his own troops in having a decent living standard slip.