No Gods, Nor Masters

Aer Vis

Doctor Halsey watched the footage back again, for the third time that evening. Thirty-Five millimeter coilguns did absolutely nothing to that beast of a creature. Admittedly, the UNSC loaded them up with HE, expecting to fight a wyvern the size of the stuff the Imperials flew at them and the UN forces gathered near the Gate, not something of this size and with this much armor plating.

Halsey needed to get a sample of that thing's hide to check it. Thirty-Five Mil HE doing nothing to armored targets was not unheard of, but doing nothing to a target with what was pretty much a layer of hard, plate-like armor thick enough to repel the blasts and high-speed projectiles was something she intended to fully study when she got the opportunity. That also meant taking the thing out in order to autopsy it, or at least retrieve tissue samples.

Primary concern wasn't it, right now, even as the UNSC was launching Longsword fighter-bombers on a headhunting mission for the damn thing. Their main priority right now was finding out if Third Platoon was alive and if they'd managed to rendezvous with the friendly UN Task Force. The Broadswords had bugged out before they had a chance to witness any sort of interaction.

Halsey marched down the main path of the base, toward the Airfield. Around her, Marines, Army and other personnel prepared for the worst while Air Force birds lifted off in pairs from the double runway, with the most launched craft so far being the Longsword. The UNSC fully intended to bring that piece of shit down from the skies if it harmed their troops, just like they did when Zorzal thought he'd be coy and slashed the doctor's arm.

She rubbed the injury, which had scarred annoyingly enough. A reminder, Doctor Halsey thought, of one of the first missions undertaken with her at the head of ONI. Gazing up at the sky as it filled up with squadrons of hunter-killer aircraft and drones, not to mention Pelicans meant for SAR, the good doctor pondered how far they'd gotten in these past few years here. They'd found chunks of technology, items of interest and two new allies in the form of the Warrior Bunnies and the Dragon-Born.

Certainly, the last group was coming closer to them. Halsey murmured to herself, "The Imperials have been getting bold again, it would seem..." as she looked over the datapad detailing recent Imp incursions in the area, per the reports of the security team she'd ordered with the staff around the controller crystal. Halsey hummed, then allowed herself a small smile.

'Controller crystal' was a term given by the staff operating in that area to the Slipspace Flake encased in the mountain. It worked similar to a controller for the Gate, as it seemed, alongside the other, presumably similar matrices located in the surrounding areas of the continent. Areas that Halsey would need to explore if she hoped to find out just how the Gate was affected by Slipspace and how it, as an interdimensional portal, worked.

She watched three Wombat drones loaded for bear launching from the tarmac, burning at full throttle past the walls of the FOB and veering right, toward where the UNSC convoy had gone. Each carried several heavy-duty air-to-air missiles designed to bust even the heaviest Covvie aircraft with one hit. A scaled bastard hat attacked her men would certainly not last long against that much high-impact explosive ammo striking it. Even so, the Longswords that would follow behind the Wombats had even heavier payloads in their arsenals.

Halsey sighed, settling herself down as she realized she was trembling. This wasn't the time for her to act this way. The crew of this exploration, which had grown into something beyond its original scope, had grown quite tight-knit. Marines and Army knew each-other and they knew medical, Navy and Air Force staff. Scientists pretty much knew everybody and everybody knew them. Same for the Warrior Bunnies and the more recent addition of the Dragon-Born.

Speaking of those who were born with partial scales and actual dragon wings, but were humanoid, Doctor Halsey watched as a cloaked figure floated above the base before she slowly began her descent. Pulling her hood off, Jeanne appeared in front of the doctor, her face grim. She spoke, "Doctor... You have my sincerest apologies..."