Chatter Logs

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-08-06T10:25:00

2007-08-06T09:33:02Z

...they're retreating.
They've left Earth. We saw the ships vanish.

I... god. I can't believe it. None of us can.
Allies are still here, but that's all.

I know, I know, it's too early to say 'we've won', they might just be going to regroup and I shouldn't say anything until ... but damn. It's still something.

(Things have been too good to be true, lately. I keep pinching myself to see if I'm awake.)

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-07-31T20:15:00

2007-07-31T19:39:41Z

The atrocity we plan, the last resort:
I pray that it doesn't come to that.
-unknown author

--

There were lights in the sky that night. Not that there weren't always, distant fire, explosions...
But streams that criss-crossed the heavens, blinding and blue, making it possible to see as well as if it were day - those weren't so typical.

Soldiers of all species gathered outside, watching the show, trying to identify its cause. Some way away from the main crowd, Jersey leant back against his Sentinel's wing, gazing on with a lump in his chest. Not awe but fear. Easy for everyone else - they didn't have a clue about what he'd seen.

"...this isn't it?" he asked quietly. "You know. The Halos. Everything."
"Negative. Phenomenon observed is not related to activation of Flood defense network. You will know."
The last part flew over his head as he let out a sigh of relief. "...thank god. I just thought..."
"Please clarify concept of 'thank god', Reclaimer."
"Never mind." A smile drifted onto his face, and he headed over to join the rest of the watchers.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-07-29T20:11:00

2007-07-29T19:29:16Z

Well, THAT was ... yeah, I can't even make jokes about it.
Whoa.
Master Chief.
It's not like I don't know Spartans, hi you two if you're reading this. But this was different. It was like he was about as human as the Elites... scary guy. Really scary. But...
He saved my life, so I can't complain there.

Debriefing afterwards, let him know the whole deal with me and the rest of the guys who got through the Ark, 'cause I'd started talking at my buddy in Forerunner and he recognised it. He wanted to know *everything* off us. And I told him it all. Even what the best things in the food synths are, but I think he wasn't really listening. He's a Reclaimer himself; he's probably a helluva lot better at it than me.
...I think he's on a mission. Good luck to him.

But ANYWAY! Enough of that.
We took down the weapons plant. The ones of us who made it were lucky as anything... damn.
At least the Elites told us what we were looking for. There's these Engineer guys I didn't know about - had to be told to ignore them. They don't want to hurt us, just to fix stuff, but if we'd shot them they'd have made things even worse. It really helps having inside knowledge, you know?
I dunno... I could get used to this - arrangement.
I'm starting to think a few more of us could, too.

Tango 117

2007-07-28T08:27:22Z

Maybe this wasn't the hardest fight he'd ever been in. That award would have to go to the Ark escape. But being on the squad taking down a Covenant superweapon plant... that had to rank pretty highly.
Not just humans, here. The group was split down the middle - he'd never thought he'd actually be glad to have Elites around. He'd heard them talking; even they seemed surprised at what the place was. "Hypocrites," one of them had said. "They'd rather alter human technology than our own. Probably still scared the gods will strike them down for it." He had no idea what the alien had meant by that, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

As it was, there was no time to think about the issue. A Brute, tall and shaggy-furred, armour obviously new, was charging towards him. Battle rifle blasts didn't seem to be doing a lot except enraging his opponent further. For a second, he was sure he was dead.

Not quite. There was a second shadow falling over him, now. Not quite as tall as the one the Brute left; but tall enough. Around him, he could hear his squadmates yelling in surprise that the rumours were true, the defectors calling out "The Demon is here!" in turn -
and shields glowing in golden light, armour that was once green but now faded and burnt flashing forwards, the blue of an energy sword shining. The Brute roared and fell to the floor.

"...daaamn."

I can't believe it. *He* saved me.

"Get down, private!" the new arrival yelled. He knew that voice, but he didn't have to. "There's a target..."
"Master Chief, uh, sir, I - it's on our side! [Don't shoot him!]," he called back - firstly to the Spartan himself, his voice turning a little weak, then to the Sentinel who'd just joined them.
"They're not on our side." The Chief's head tilted for a moment. Jersey had the impression he was being stared out, visor or no visor.
"Uh, maybe, but if it wanted to kill us we'd kinda be dead by now. And they hate the Covies too, the old ones. ...Chief?"
The Spartan paused, gave the tiniest nod, and moved on.

There was work to be done.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-07-26T16:37:00

2007-07-26T15:50:03Z

These were strange days. Where the enemy was not only at the gate, but inside it, watching everything with an air of disdain...
As a rule, they all kept their distance from one another. Ex-Covenant members sticking together, and humans sticking with humans. Understandable, really.
Still, there were a few who at least made the effort to be - polite and respectful if nothing else. Attempts at conversation, at looking at each other and realising that these were no longer the problem they had to face. All the same - for every pair of potential squadmates who'd (for example) discuss the artistic merits of human versus Sangheili music civilly, in an attempt to build bridges, there were another five who would find themselves in their respective medical facilities (with the human far worse off).
The line into outright 'friendly' had yet to be fully crossed. It felt like it would be a long time.

--

Oh crap.
The big thing they're building? Weapons factory. Something like that, anyway - equipment. They've taken over a whole bunch of our supply lines, and they're funnelling everything into their own work. That's what the Elites are saying, anyway - it's kinda the reason they set up here, I think. Overheard them talking, and as far as I can tell? They seem pretty sincere. (I'm trying to see if I can pick up any of the actual language from the basic stuff intel hacked together; some of it's kinda similar to the stuff I know. Which is... kinda weird, but explains why they like it so much.) We're getting words through as to why they bailed on the Covenant in the first place; something happened that really hacked off their leaders, or something. Someone said something about they'd been betrayed?

I just hope -

*yelling*

-damngottagowillfinishthislaterkay?

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-07-17T22:02:00

2007-07-17T21:10:23Z

...it's true.
We got official word through a couple of days ago, and had a few Elites and Grunts (came with them) set up near us yesterday. They're not wearing Covie colours any more. I don't recognise the armour at all. There's a few who even came into our camp, kind of as a peace deal - couple of our guys have gone over to theirs. Damn, I don't envy them. This is just argh and wrong...
At least they seem to be as shaken up as we are, as far as the body language means anything with them. No-one's made the mistake of actually calling the Elites anything to their faces yet. These guys are eight foot tall and you'd need to be a Spartan to not be killed fighting one hand to hand. (The Grunts, however, seem to be fair game.)
Noticed my buddy seems to have started flying closer to me again.

No word on the whateveritis they're building. We'd better find out soon; it's ...starting to get a bit scary.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-07-13T15:10:00

2007-07-13T14:20:35Z

Okay. Someone's got to be kidding us, now. I mean, things just don't work like that! It's just - guh, wrong!

'Cause from what I'm hearing?

The Elites are on our side now. That's just. Freaky. I can't think of the words to describe it. Why, what, how is that even going to work? They hate us! Hello, trying to blow the place up?

...Though it's not like I've seen any of them in battle for absolutely ages. It's just been the big guys, the Brutes, leading everything. Everyone else is still around, sure; but they'd vanished some time ago. I never thought it could be that.
I don't think anyone did.

But from good news to bad. I've seen a lot more ships dropping in lately. ...Covie ships. They're doing something and I don't know what. This? Is not good. Unless they're Elite transports... but I don't think so. That'd be too much good news for one day.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-07-08T23:27:00

2007-07-08T22:28:41Z

It'd been a good day. No fighting, at least, none for him. The cake had vanished as soon as been looked at, the games had yet to come out of their cases, but he'd looked them over and over smiling.
But there were some things that needed taking care of.

"Hey, Durga?" Jersey whispered down the chatter line, everything else quiet. No need to dial numbers, really; she always seemed to know. "You there?"
"Where else?" her voice responded.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay. You know I've got that Sentinel playing bodyguard, right?"
She laughed faintly. "I noticed."
"About that. You, uh, didn't have anything to do with it, did you? You're not checking up on me?"
"Jersey, if I wanted to check up on you, I wouldn't need a Sentinel."
"Riiight." Any transmission she liked, he knew, she'd read - it was just courtesy she stayed away from his private messages. Or at least didn't tell him about them. "But the having anything to do with it part?"
"I haven't communicated with it, transmitted anything to it - I don't even understand how their code works. It's nothing to do with me."
"Uh... huh." He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried. At least it wasn't her fault - but if not, why was it still there?
"You thought I'd..." More laughter.
Jersey ran his hand down his face. "So, how're you doing?" he started, trying to change the subject, but his enthusiasm fading as the words came out of his mouth. "...Anything happening?"
"Strange ...dreams. Pictures of irises, countdowns, and strange messages. I can't make any sense of them. But that's all. It's nothing worse than I've had in the past."
"That's ...good then. I guess. Although that countdown..."
"You worry too much."
"I'm not having you go crazy on me."
"I'm not going crazy on you."
"...Yeah."

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-07-06T21:04:00

2007-07-06T20:16:07Z

...damn, it's been ages since I've got anything out.
Okay. Things are kinda the same as they ever were, except... The rations are getting a bit low at times, supplies don't always come through. Geez, I'm sneaking into the Nexus to get something to eat at times, I must be crazy. (Yes, I KNOW; but I'm pretty good at setting the PINpoint to get me back the second I've left, so I'm technically not away from there for any length of time, am I?)

I'm not hearing much news about what's happening in the outside world. Just rumours. There's even some crazy story that there's a Spartan hanging around, kicking ass, but... I don't know. It sounds like the kind of thing they'd tell us to boost morale.

Solved the problem with my flying buddy, kinda. It's still giving me the 'must protect' routine, but me and a couple of the guys (who are just as WTF about it as I am, they're cool, though) convinced it that by hanging around me, it was saying 'hey important target here' and that that's not good. So it tends to keep its distance now.
I'm still trying to work out why it's there.

Getting messages from Durga sometimes, but the chatter lines have gone to hell so not as many as I used to. I'm not sure what she's up to. She seems to be doing okay, though. Not gone... the R word... yet.

Also, I turned nineteen a few days ago. Got a load of joke presents off people here (mostly putting bows on wrenches and stuff like that, ha ha Sentinel guy), and I guess that's all I can really expect. Biggest one's just that I've survived until then.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-04-27T08:27:00

2007-04-27T07:43:29Z

Scattered tents and pre-fab shelters, and the sounds of conflict in the air. Just another scene on Earth, 2553. It came and went. At the moment, things were quiet enough.

And in one of the shelters, a young soldier tried to sleep, blankets pulled up so far he had to pull his legs up to fit under them again, eyes closed but facing out into the rest of the space.
He became vaguely aware of someone yelling. "Private, don't move! We tried to stop the thing, but it wasn't listening..."

It was enough for him to open his eyes.
Just what he wanted to see. A bright light bounced into one of his eyes, casting strange shapes across the retina.
[...crap.]
"Identity confirmed," the Sentinel piped up.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-04-19T14:15:00

2007-04-19T13:17:16Z

Okay, guys.

I'm out in the field... We're holding a city against ground assault, surprised they haven't bombed the crap out of the place but something must be up.
So overall, it's pretty quiet as these things go. Hell, I'm not complaining. Kind of fond of not getting blown up.

Yeah. Except for one very minor detail. So freaking minor that yeah, you can understand them not telling it to us...
Like a floating robot with big guns kind of detail. Not just them, either. There are BIG ones here. So yeah. That's part of the reason it's so quiet. Those guys are doing a lot of damage. I think they've really got the Covies worried. And no-one's complaining about the firepower, even if they are wondering what the hell is going on.
I'm wondering how it happened, though. I'm not complaining either, but... Technically I shouldn't be telling you but what the hell, I told you about Groom Lake and that's whoaclassified now. So yeah.

None of them have started following me round again. Dunno if I'm relieved or not.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-04-12T09:30:00

2007-04-12T09:06:18Z

Well, that's it. From all I've heard, we're gone again next week. Right back to action. We just don't get the breaks. Of course, I'm sneaking the PINpoint out there so I can get away if there's a chance, but it's not the same.

And we still can't tell anyone what's gone on. Well, except you guys. ...And anyone who heard us when we got drunk that night, I dunno.

These things happen, I guess.
...Goddamnit.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-04-05T19:32:00

2007-04-05T18:46:35Z

"You'd be Morelli? Come in."
"...That's me." A both annoyed and nervous Jersey pushed open the door. He recognised one of the people in the room; just one of the many officers he'd run into over the past couple of weeks. The other? No idea. Civilian, he guessed, not a uniform in sight. Those dorky glasses just yelled 'scientist' - although if he squinted, they could equally yell 'Delta'. "Uh. Hi," he said, and took a seat.

"Well, now. I've heard a lot about what you've been doing. How were you with languages before you were exposed to the script in - what was the ...facility called?"
"The Ark. And - English is my first language, can get by in Italian, but that's about it. I haven't tried anything else since I got back."
They talked for a little while. Yes, he could understand Forerunner script and speech. Yes, he could actually speak it. No, he didn't have a clue why - a lie, true, but not like this was a pop quiz. The officer in the room gave him a bit of a look but that was all. Something about genetics, DNA encoding, racial memories, theories of the collective subconscious... nothing meant a lot.

The scientist nodded. "First, could you read these out to me?"
"Alright..." He started off. It felt like a little kid's book, but he wasn't going to argue. The sooner he got through the tests, the better. "Uh, if you don't mind me saying, something must've gotten screwed up with the third sample, it makes no sense at all. I'll read it out, but..." He couldn't really explain it. It was like reading a paragraph of 'firefly monkey cheese llama' with bad spelling.
Another nod. "Very good. How about a translation?"
"What, didn't I..."
"As far as I can tell, you were just reading off the page. I'd like it in English, please. The best you can do. And could we have a written copy? That in English too." The scientist seemed more amused than anything.
Jersey mentally smacked himself in the face. "...yeah, okay." This was always the tricky bit. Even though he understood every symbol on the page, it was downshifting all that complexity into something that approached English that had always been awkward. Sometimes, there just weren't the words.

"...how do we know he's not making it up?" the officer asked quietly as Jersey worked on the handwritten copy.
"The sample inscriptions we've given him are close to the standard of all we've been able to translate - we've had some of our best AIs and researchers on the job. So far, what he's given us seems to be very close to our own attempts at translation. The third, where he can't seem to make anything of it, we copied and pasted random glyphs and phrases from a number of messages - we've tried to organize them appropriately, but it only looks like it to a casual observer. If he was faking, he wouldn't have been able to tell anything was wrong."

"Alright, Morelli. How was that?"
"Huh. Really easy, actually. ...You know, I feel like I'm in school," he said with a laugh, then stopped at the officer's look. "Sorry. Uh, can I have a glass of water?"

The scientist nodded, made notes, and passed over a page of English text, closely followed by his request. "Could you translate this, too? Do what you can. And I'd like a written copy once more." The scientist's voice was soft, soothing.
Jersey swallowed. "Okay, here we go."

The scientist and officer wandered out for a minute as he passed over the translation, his handwriting atrocious. Job done, Jersey set about doodling on the spare paper. He could just about overhear some of their conversation. "That's impossible. There's no way..."
"...Covies don't touch the artifacts if they can help it. They'll be there later when we need to translate. But for now, we need our soldiers..."
"Even if...?"

The pair re-entered, and the scientist sat down, shooting Jersey a smile. "Well. I must say, I'm impressed. One more, as a last test for now. This comes from an artifact we've been studying. A translation, please?"
Jersey stared for a moment. He knew this. But last time he'd seen it, he hadn't. Of all the things they could throw at him, they'd picked this? Damn. Well, better get it over and done with and out of the way, and go back to normality. With a deep breath, he set out on the translation attempt. "Uh. Okay - Halo control network relay point - one seven point five..."

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-04-05T10:35:00

2007-04-05T10:35:59Z

"...you were dreaming about it again, weren't you?" A rhetorical question, not an actual one.
Jersey rubbed at his shoulder. "Yeah. Dude, this is not news. I'll tell you when I have a normal one, you know, one involving giant rabbits and killer socks, okay?" Getting so casual about it already. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a dream where the scenery wasn't distinctly Forerunner.
There were days when he really, really hated his subconscious.

--

Still not doing a lot round here, guys. Had to see more shrinks, still, when it came out that I can understand all the stuff down there. Goddamnit, I am sick of shrinks. Plus yet more getting grilled by the brass... I feel like an overdone steak. Apparently, I've got more people to talk to about this deal.
Got actual official time off soon, though. So might be able to do something...?

I've heard rumours flying about the place, actually. No-one's told me outright. I'm just overhearing things and then everyone goes 'uh, didn't say that' when I ask. But the descriptions I'm hearing - sound very, very familiar. Like 'flying thing with lasers' familiar.
I need to know. Might get Durga to go find the information out for me.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-03-30T20:52:00

2007-03-30T19:52:39Z

"Hey, who's that girl you were talking to?"
"What girl?"
"Earlier, you know, the tall chick in the yellow."
"...She's a friend's sister. Her name's Yasmin. She was just visiting." True as far as it went, Jersey thought.
"You're gonna have to introduce me sometime."
"Uh... she already got on the train home. Actually, she lives in Nevada? So... long journey and all that." That bit - not so much.
"She must be crazy travelling these days."
"We do."
"What I said. Plus, we get paid for it."

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-03-29T10:34:00

2007-03-29T09:43:54Z

"Look at this... they've been popping up all over the place. They come, they take out a few Covies, they go away."
"...Aren't those the same things that the survivors from the 205th came back with?"
"Yes, sir. They called them Sentinels. ...I call them trouble, to be honest."
"Have any of our men attacked them?"
"Initially, yes, but once they've worked out that they're not interested in us for the most part..."
"Send out word to any of our forces. They're not to be engaged unless they attack us first."
"...Pretty big 'unless', sir."
"I'm not ruling it out."

Just a little sting. More like a pinch.

2007-03-20T16:29:16Z

"The Index must be kept safe. It cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of those brutes...!"
"Yeah. Or the Grunts."
"This is not the time for jokes. You know your duty."
"...Alright. What do you want me to do?"

"...ah!" Jersey bolted awake, his nerves settling soon enough as he realised where he was.
"...f'r god's sake, shut it, Jers'. Some of us have enough trouble sleeping anyway without you yelling," Cortez muttered into his pillow.
"Hello? Like I don't know that. ...I'm getting a drink." He made his way into the tiny bathroom and tapped the panel for the lights.

That hadn't happened, he knew, though it felt so real. He just remembered following Vector to the medical facility, and then the Monitor had done something, sedated him... DNA test and neural scan, that was all he remembered being told, before a surprised little '...oh' and coming round later. There was such a big gap there... something was wrong. Forerunner technology shouldn't have needed to sedate someone for that, he thought. He'd been so stressed out and busy at the time that he hadn't had time to worry, but now... well. He knew it was screwy.
Vector'd done something. He knew it.
...Damn. He could even see it, how hadn't he noticed that...? Jersey bit his tongue to stop himself yelling in a completely un-Marinelike fashion.

"What did you do to me, you ... beachball?" he muttered, reaching out and touching his reflection.

Wish you were here!

2007-03-19T23:38:41Z

Yeah, okay - holiday pictures. Heh. I can't seem to find any decent footage of the cool stuff at the moment. I'll get to it!

...Some corridor. That place? Easy to get lost. Too easy. Though yeah, that's a direction sign on the wall at the end.

Dammit, there's always one where you get your thumb in front of the lens, isn't there? There were always funky lights everywhere.

You can see one of the energy bridges around the place in the background here; those things gave everyone the creeps, though no-one'd admit it. They just didn't look down.

Low-level shot. Head round the corner and there's the corridor leading off to living quarters. I'll try and find one of them...

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-03-19T18:26:00

2007-03-19T19:04:16Z

owowow my head
what did we do
oh my god sarge was singing that is scary
ugh
think i was too
argued with someone?
dammit we saved the world we *should* get cheerleaders
kind of thing maybe

-Later-

Whoa, yeah. Wild night. I think we earned it, though. Today is gonna be full, though, everyone wants to talk to us. Enough debriefings to... hell, I don't know, I - didn't really think this metaphor through.
Emilio told me off for yelling for the Sentinels earlier this morning. I think I was going all 'get me a coffee' in Forerunner, or something like it. ...oh god yes, we get actual coffee again. The stuff that we had down there was alright (and it beat MREs), but it's not quite the same as having something where you can recognise what animal it was meant to come from. Damn, I just want to go out and blow what rations we didn't already totally destroy last night on the biggest steak I can see... like, real, not just synthesised. There's got to be some somewhere, right? I don't think the Covies want our cows.

Had to hand my armour over to the techy types, dammit, they're going to analyse the design and see if they can get anything into production (though it's not like they'd have to do anything except ask! ... if they could get anywhere to ask). I did manage to get some video I shot around the place off it before we left, though; I'll have to send you guys a few stills because there's so much of it. Kept meaning to before, but... yeah.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-03-18T10:57:00

2007-03-18T11:09:39Z

WE MADE IT. WE'RE NOT DEAD.

...god knows how.

I mean. Damn. I thought it was tough last time. It was just. Jeez. Even with all this kit, and even going out the back door, we still had a hard time breaking through; and then we had to try and hold position until the UNSC could get us out of there... that? Was not fun. And that is probably the biggest understatement I'll ever make but if I try and describe it I don't think it'll make sense. I just... it was insane.

On a transport out of the battlezone now. All of us. Everyone was a bit WTF when they saw us... hey, I'd be the same if I saw me. Nearly got shot at by our own guys and that is not a good experience.
But yeah. Hoooboy.
Glad to be going home.

...That's a lie. That place was starting to feel like it really was home. In a way, I'm going to miss it.
Let's go for 'glad to be actually around real people who aren't my squad and around all the stuff of modern human civilization that is still standing again'. That'll do.

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-03-17T08:34:00

2007-03-17T08:57:07Z

...I've got it! ...this shouldn't make me laugh, but it just - yeeeeah.
Spartans' armour's 'Mjolnir', right?
How about 'Ragnarok' for a name for mine? Given... uh. Probably not such a good idea. I suppose this is what you call gallows humor, or something.

Trying to figure out why Vector had to knock me out for the scan he just did. He said something about it would be too uncomfortable otherwise but that seems like a pretty crappy excuse for sending me to sleep. But woke pretty much straight up afterwards... so... wasn't too bad after all.

Waiting for the signal and we're out of here. Need to get enough Sentinels to the entrance to make it possible for us to make a run for it.
Sarge is going crazy at the thought of having to use Forerunner equipment to get at the Covies, even though she's been using it all this time. If it's not human, it's not good enough for her to fight with. Even though this stuff was basically left here for us to use...

The memory.

2007-03-15T09:03:54Z

[A moment of your time, Reclaimer?]
Jersey nearly dropped his helmet on his foot. [Geez! You had to sneak up on me like that? Not interested. Last time you wanted something off me you failed to mention the blowing up the universe bit. Forgive me for being just a bit sceptical.]
[This will prove no risk or harm to yourself or others.]
[Yeah, right.]
[Really. Have I ever lied to you? I am aware that there may have been an error in communication, but I have never given an untruthful answer to you, or any of the others.]
[...okay, you've got a point,] Jersey admitted grudgingly. [You just hid them instead.]
[My apologies for assuming a Reclaimer would know his duty.] Vector's tone held a hint of what approached sarcasm.
[Shut up! It's been a long time. Have you ever been out there? You know, ever seen what the world's like? You saw how everyone else is - this is all new to us. No-one knows about this stuff. The only reason I know anything is 'cause my brain got smacked by one of your gadgets -]
[Excuse me?]
[That thing I told you about? When I deactivated -]
[The communication relay. Yes. A curious phenomenon... and that is what I wish to examine. This will be a brief genetic and physiological scan -]
[You did all that DNA crap already!]
[I was only looking for the specific markers that identify a Reclaimer from an aboriginal human. Not for any further anomalies in your genetic structure.]
Jersey gave Vector a glare. [Don't call them that. ...Wait, what? Okay. Quick scan. And this had better not hurt.] He sighed, following the Monitor out of the room. Goddamnit, did he always have to hum like that?

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-03-14T12:43:00

2007-03-14T12:48:55Z

Yes. Yes. YES!

Found it. Well, Durga found it. Convinced Vector that hey, I AM just a private, I don't have the authority to activate the Halo network without confirmation from higher up the chain of command. He tried to say I'm the best choice down there but hello, whole planet to choose from...

So.
We're getting out of here!
...slight problem that the entrance to this place is swarming with Covies. There's a million ships and Banshees and everything like that in the sky overhead from what I've seen. THAT is not going to be fun to get out through, even if we have got a whole pile of every kind of Sentinel and defence (and god I love this armour) that they can give us.
Ow.

Transmissions: Jersey and Durga

2007-03-11T17:17:04Z

"...can you hear me?"
"...you're okay? Connection's faint..."
"Yeah. I'm improvising. Can't explain 'cause it would take too long. I need your help."
"Always."
"Okay, I'm uploading a load of files in your direction. They're not in English, I'm afraid. But I need you to go through them and find anything to do with... I don't know. Protocols about Halo activation."
"Those were the..."
"Told you I couldn't explain. Could you just..."
"I told you I would. And... Jersey?"
"Yeah?"
"It's good to hear from you again."

catchingthebuzz @ 2007-03-09T21:21:00

2007-03-09T21:27:41Z

Ugh.

Too much at once...

Chawla Base. I stopped the artifact. Durga told me there were others, meant to destroy all life in the galaxy.
Now I'm being told I've got to press the button on them. Stop this, this 'Flood' thing? I don't even know what that is! Except that it sounds kinda scary.

I can't do this. I won't do it. I'm not ready. I told Vector I wasn't ready, kinda made up a load of bull... he's given me a little time, because it's not like they're going to make that much progress that quickly. But it won't be enough. It's never going to be enough. Not if I actually have to...

Damn.

Reclaimer, huh? Reclaim a cleaned-out galaxy, that's the whole idea.

((Full image of Jersey in armour. As usual, the comments don't match.))