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Delta Team: Midnight Sakura Chapter 02 — Description

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Pelican 355
20NM enroute to Karakura, 3rd Spire, Installation 0

“So this is the first time you’ve been surface side on Sparta,” asked Jacqueline, “Or is it officially back to being called Installation Zero.”

“Yeah, it is,” replied Ava, “Why do you keep calling it that?

“It’s what the old timers call it,” replied Jack as she pulled a water bottle from her bag, “Apparently it's what they called it before it became the hub for the Republic.”

“Really, I didn’t know that,” said Ava as she stretched. They had been in the DC-74 Pelican for several hours, being restricted to low altitudes and slower cruising speeds due to heavy traffic above them.

“Alan,” called Jack, “Where is the Commander and Agent Lau?”

“They are at an intelligence meetings,” replied Alan Willmore, who just climbed down to the main passenger compartment, “We are making our approach into Karakura.”

“So will they be joining us for our little vacation,” asked Jack.

“They should,” replied Alan as he took his seat, “Luckily for them, they’ll probably taking something they won’t take them forever to get here.”

“Why is Karakura not connected to the high speed transportation grid,” asked Ava, “They have quite the education system there, you’d think that it would benefit the private education institutes there.”

“It is also home to a number of R&D centers,” replied Alan, “They like the security of being isolated from the rest of the settlements and cities. But the city has it’s own orbital elevator and space port, so they are able to move materials in and out quite easily, but can lock it down in an instance.”

“What are they developing there that requires such security,” asked Ava.

“I don’t know, but I can’t imagine it’s anything too dangerous,” replied Alan, “It sounds more like paranoid Corporations not wanting their projects stolen.”

“Isn’t Agent Lau’s family connected with one of them,” asked Jack.

“Apparently. Lau, which I don’t think is his real name, is connected with one of seven major families who own the Morgenroete Corporation.”

“Interesting,” said Jack is she took a drink from her water. The Pelican door opened up as it slowed down to less then a 100kts in airspeed and the artificial ocean filled the view beneath them, but quickly the land and city of Karakura town could be seen.

“Looks similar to New Mombasa,” commented Alan, “We will be staying in the north side of town. Emily said it is a convenient place, close to a general store and a small restaurant. Not too far from the country side where are target will eventually be staying.”

“Do you think Cortana will give us any trouble,” asked Jack.

“I don’t think so,” replied Alan who was often overly optimistic.

“But there is still possibility,” added Ava, “Are we allowed to be armed during our R&R.”

“We are allowed to conceal carry compact M6Gs, if you feel is necessary,” answered Alan. The compact version of the M6G fired smaller, but higher energy, .465 caliber bullet. Since the round theoretically would be fired in populated area where over penetration from the round was a threat to civilians, the Spartans would be using hollow-point bullets what would expand when striking a surface and would cause more damage to flesh, at the cost of lacking armor penetration. The compact M6G unlike the military pistol versions contained a single action only striker fire mechanism instead of the standard double action only.

“Karakura town, due to its isolation and high population of students and researchers means that crime is relatively low, especially violent crime,” replied Alan, “Most firearm usage is for hunting and sports here, so I don’t expect much need to carry a side arm.”

“Sounds like you’re expecting a quiet time here,” asked Jack yelling over the relative wind, who was excited for the prospect of some actual R&R.

“I am,” said Alan leaning back in his chair as the Pelican engines began to shift into a landing configuration. As the engines began to shift to a vertical position, its thrust increased its thrust to counter the decrease of lift generated by the airfoils. The Pelican touched down softly on the pavement at the military base at Karakura. Alan could tell that the pilot, while experience, had most likely never seen combat and had spent most of his career flying in friendly skies.

“Welcome to Fort Destiny Spartans,” said an UNSC Army Sergeant who greeted them at their Pelican.

Alan who had his duffel bag slung over his left shoulder reached out with his other hand to offer a handshake to the Sergeant. While UNSC customs and courtesy had all enlisted personal and anyone under the officer rank of O-3 salute Spartans, the Delta Team Spartans were dressed in civilian attire.

The Sergeant quickly shook the hand of the Spartan, “I thought you guys were going to be bigger.”

Alan laughed at the comment, “We didn’t finished our milk during Spartan Training.”

“We are this way, I have a Warthog to take you to your destination,” said the Sergeant as escorted the Spartans, “Sorry our base resources are kinda limited here and we don’t have a spare hog here that we could loan you Spartans for the stay.”

“Really, this facility is quite large,” said Jack looking around at the facility.

“Look closely, how many UNSC vehicles do you see,” replied Sergeant.

Jack then took a closer look and notice the most of the vehicles were civilian vehicles, “So most of this facility belongs to Corporations.”

“Just Morgenroete, we share a small extension with them as we are working on an important project with them, several actually,” replied the Sergeant.

“What sort of project,” asked Jack.

“Well technically its classified,” replied the Sergeant, “but everyone around town knows its some sort of next generation vehicle using reversed engineered Forerunner tech. You’ll see some experimental fighters and exoskeletons around here”

“Really,” replied Jack.

“So you mention you guys didn’t drink your milk during Spartan training,” said the Sergeant to Alan trying to learn more about his guests, “Not trying to be rude, but we don’t see Spartans around here much outside of the ones brought in to test new MJOLNIR technologies.”

“Haha, yeah,” answered Alan, “About seventy percent of Spartan IVs undergo augmentation that amongst several enhancements, will increase their physical size. Another smaller percentage will greatly increase their size.”

“The Legends,” asked the Sergeant.

“Yes,” answered Alan, this was a partial lie fabricated by ONI to explain the differences of the Spartan IIs. Yet an extreme small percentage of volunteer Spartan IVs underwent similar size augmentations to make them the same large size as Spartan II. Spartan Kadmon was one such Spartan.

“Another small percentage of Spartans have the opposite done,” continued Alan, “Instead we don't grow as large.

“So why,” inquired the Sergeant as he helped load the Spartans bags into the Warthog, “What’s the advantage?”

“We are able to be fielded for extended durations, we can eat normal food and have a more flexible diets,” answered Alan as he took the shotgun seat of the warthog. The other two Spartans climbed into the rear of the warthog.

Ava was struggling to untangle the safety harnesses, Jack notice and made a comment, “Don’t tell me you forgot how to use those.”

“Sorry, its just that…”

“I know, buckling in with armor is much easier with automated lock-ins,” responded Jack who was referring the the safety system that was found on almost all UNSC armor that would lock the user into the seat of the vehicle.

“Do you usually use public transport when you are landslide,” asked Jack as the warthog with the three off duty Spartans left the base to take them to their temporary homestead.

“Yeah, the few times that I go to the surface,” replied Ava.

“So are you a spacer,” asked Jack, referring to the group of humans spent most of their life on board ships or space stations.

“Oh, yes,” said Ava who was surprised by Jack’s forwardness. Spacer was sometimes used as derogatory name, but Jack’s tone wasn’t offensive, just improper.

“Cool,” replied Jack.

“Whoa,” said Alan suddenly. Jack and Ava looked over to see what Alan was looking at, which they saw a UNSC Frigate floating over the ocean off the main road that encircled Karakura.

“That’s the Versailles,” said the Sergeant who was driving the warthog, “She is a security and testing platform.”

“Testing platform,” asked Alan curiously, “Is it wise idea to mix experimental tech with your security forces.”

“Half the turrets are still traditional energy weapons,” replied the Sergeant, “Rest though are state of the art particle weapons.”

“Interesting, not trying to adapt plasma technology with the new tech,” continued Alan.

“No, a lot of what we do here is looking at Forerunner tech,” continued the Sergeant as he pulled the Warthog off of one of the main roads to a smaller side road, “Sorry I can’t say anymore.”

“No, problem,” said Alan as he pulled out his personal communication devices, which contained a basic navigation function to show him where he was at.

“So, what do you know about where we are saying,” asked Alan.

“Yeah, is it like the rest of the city,” asked Jack, “This place looks pretty amazing.”

“Well we just left the downtown area,” answered the Sergeant, “Which contains the best of what the city has.”

“Most of our education centers are located adjacent to the downtown area, known as the midtown ring,” continued the Sergeant, “Where you are staying is it the Rokun District, which is a simpler area, but nice area. You’ll find a descent amount of students there who are going to the one of the many primary schools in the area, but a good number of people there are just common folk trying to make a life on this Forerunner installation.

Jack who was hoping for some high-life experience compared to her soldiering one, was beginning to get worried. Knowing she better lower her exceptions, she asked, “Do they have high speed wave access?”

“Yeah, they have a lot of modern services, a lot better then you’d expect because of the large population of students,” replied the Sergeant, “Area is actually well developed, it doesn't feel like a colony of any sort at all. More like well developed settlement.”

“Just don’t expect any of those fancy night clubs or high life scenes,” said the Sergeant. As soon as the the Spartan’s escort said this, the surrounding buildings began to change. The scene had been changing slowing. When the group was in the downtown district, the buildings were high raises, but as they moved away from the downtown area they began to shrink in size. Now the buildings were at average about two stories high with a few standing as tall as four stories.

“Are there some good restaurants in the area,” asked Jack. Not thinking about Ava, Jack quickly asked, “Sorry Ava, I never did asked you what augmentation you had done.”

“Don’t worry, I had very similar augmentations as the rest of you,” replied Ava, “I have a few more dietary restrictions, but it doesn’t prevent me from eating out.”

“Oh, good,” said Jack who was slightly embarrassed by her inconsideration.

“There are a few small local places and chain restaurants,” said the Sergeant who was now acting as a concierge for the Spartans now.

“You are pretty close to small food store, so if cooking is your style, you have that,” replied the Sergeant as he slowed to warthog as they approached their destination.

“Bacon is a good cook, so I am sure we won’t starve,” said Alan, who was mostly quiet for the later half of the ride.

“Oh, I didn’t know the Commander knew how to cook,” said Jack.

“Here we are,” said the Sergeant as the warthog pulled into the parking spot of a small house.

“It’s a bit small,” said Jack as she hopped out of the Warthog and grabbed her pack and slung it on her shoulder.

“And this is what I was expecting out of Emily,” said Alan as he hopped out of the Warthog and made his way to the rear to grab his stuff. Alan knew that Emily Zoli was a bit of the cheap when it came to personal things, which is why her staff made all purchasing decisions for ONI.

“Need any help,” asked the Sergeant, “sorry it wasn’t to your expectation, but this is the average size of a house in this area. Suggest you spend most of our time around the town, instead of our sleeping quarters, we have a lot of nice and safe beaches around here.”

“Not your fault sergeant,” said Alan as he grabbed his personal bags, “If you wouldn’t mind grabbing that crate there.”

The Sergeant nodded and grabbed the crate. Jack and Ava continued to grab their gear and the three Spartans made their way to the house. The Sergeant placed the crate by the door and nodded farewell to the Spartans as he hopped back into this vehicle and drove off.

“Well let’s see what we have,” said Alan as he entered the entry code into the door of the house.

END OF CHAPTER

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