No Gods, Nor Masters

Post-Operation Organization

It'd been almost a week since the battle against Zorzal's forces. No enemy forces had come since. Meanwhile, the UNSC FOB had begun an expansion program. Layers of defenses were being built up as the base was being expanded, including automated air defenses after the realization that dragons were flying about. Much to doctor Halsey's chagrin, the expansion also meant the deployment of more military-grade equipment from the ships. Artillery pieces, anti-air missile systems and a thousand more of their soldiers had come planetside, with well over a hundred new scientists as well.

Halsey regarded the changes from atop one of the newly-built concrete walls, while UNSC Construction Battalion workers, namely electricians and engineers, put up the anti-air turrets meant to help defend the FOB. Around the walls, layers of barbed wire and mines had been set up, with only two ways out:through the rear of the FOB, or through the front, where two roads had been 'built'. Really, they were just beaten paths of dirt that were more openly travelled by Warthogs.

There were also newly-built landing pads and helipads in the base, for Pelicans, Condors and other birds that needed an LZ while transporting supplies, equipment and personnel. Still, Halsey was glad to see that the UNSC's SeaBees and Engineer Corps moved as fast as they did when it came to expanding their horizons and the entire FOB Area, because they had several new buildings, including new barracks square in the middle of the base's walls.

Gun pits had also been dug outside, Halsey now realized, with the newest models of artillery pieces being set in place around them. Bunkers and MG nests also lined the places around the gun pits, with the barrels of the Kodiak Self-Propelled Artillery sticking out like bent tree trunks, their enormous muzzle brakes all too familiar to the Doctor and the Marines she worked with.

She watched a convoy of UNSC trucks and Warthogs depart for the Bunny Warrior kingdom. They were slightly encroaching on the girls' territory, but they promised they would leave the forests untouched so that their villages may continue to exist in peace, should they wish. Still, Halsey and Tyuule had finally signed an agreement through which the UNSC would protect the Bunny Warriors and act as an ally for them, while the Bunny Warriors themselves would serve as an auxiliary troop and Pathfinders for the UNSC when the need to search for resources and alien technologies came.

A fair trade if she said so herself. The Imperials had proven to be nothing to write home about. Still, she did. The reports requested by command and the UEG's committee to the UNSC exploration forces were supposed to be thorough and Halsey would leave nothing out either. She wasn't like her former commander. She intended to make ONI work for the betterment of mankind while she was still active. All branches of it.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes, then watched the convoy disappear in the distance. She descended from the walls, then marched down one of the freshly-dried concrete roads toward the command post. Radar antennae and radio and telecom systems stood tall, thin black stalks that protruded from the concrete square that acted as the CP. Around Halsey, Army personnel, brought down alongside the Marines, patrolled. Military Police.

Marching into the command room, which was still undergoing the final bits of construction, namely hiding all the wiring in the roof and the likes, the woman was greeted by Colonel Jacob Thatcher, an elderly man with a lot more bones to pick with the Covvies and Sangheilli than even the most hardened UNSC Marines. Grey, buzzcut hair, jet-black eyes and the most tired, aged face the woman had ever seen beside her own. He nodded to her, then said, "Doc. Good to see you."

"You, too, Colonel," She stated, approaching the holographic table and noticing the images playing. Drones had been deployed on cross-continental flights to map out the entire area from the mountain ranges up north to the Imperial territories in the middle. She wondered just why they'd need such an expansive map, before remembering that they were, in fact, at war with the Empire, despite the best efforts of Doctor Halsey to the contrary.