“This is incredible.” That’s all Chief Kasongo could think. It was as if he had finally stood up after being seated his whole life. There was some pain at first, headaches and dizziness, but those were quickly remedied with medicine. Only a week ter, he started to recognize something different, giving him a new perspective on things. Not only that, in mere days, he began to learn words and phrases in English, and at this rate, he could probably be fluent in just weeks.

  “It’s dangerous,” he murmured. He now realized this. Maybe that’s why the doctor had that sad look in her eyes before he fell unconscious during the procedure. Even the transtor during the negotiations vehemently tried numerous times to change his decision. Now that he thought about it, the Admiral didn’t speak that much, so it would be fair to assume it was the Professor who twisted his words, wanting him to back out.

  But his people needed this strength. To recim his nd, he was willing to sacrifice everything, which is why he found it odd that the Professor made sure their culture was preserved, not only in writing but also in practice. She asked the elders to thoroughly record all of what they were.

  At the moment, very few of his people had undergone the procedure, and in exchange, they forfeited all cims to the prisoners. That one was quite strange.

  The men would train to fight, the women would raise the livestock, while the children would go to school to study and learn… to grow their minds, cultivate them, and perhaps, they too could receive the gift he had received.

  Finding their target wasn’t exactly hard; all they had to do was ask about the sighting of unusual lights. There were plenty of rumors about it, and all they had to do was find and follow its trail. Not long after, people began to join their expedition. Most, however, were mercenaries or locals offering their services as guards or guides, while others hoped to earn a few coins selling their wares as extra supplies.

  He hated this. He was sticky and sweaty. The mask on his face was getting soaked. There was no direct water route to their destination, so the expedition had no choice but to travel through thick jungles, wide-open pins, poorly maintained roads, and crisscrossing the territorial boundaries of various nations and tribes.

  “Oh! Oh! Your Grace! Look over there!” Like an overly excited kid, which Scribe Khun was, he pointed at everything that moved. Khun looked at the horizon with adventurous eyes. As the Empire ran on meritocracy, even children who showed promise during schools and the yearly nationwide examinations could be admitted into more advanced institutions in the capital. That also meant that there were times they were annoying, as one would expect a kid to be.

  “Put your mask back on,” Encai groaned as he tried his best to ignore him, adjusting his own. The Empire hoarded knowledge throughout the centuries, and their study of medical science had understood countless things that even the wealthiest European countries remained oblivious to. Nobles and Maesters wore masks whenever they left the safety of their Empire’s territory.

  They had been traveling for God knows how long, setting up camps and sleeping in the middle of nowhere, only to continue the grueling trek the next morning. Encai put on more ointment to his skin to repel insects as he quietly grumbled, feeling his rear sore as it bounced back and forth against the saddle of his horse.

  All of a sudden, a gunshot rang out. The entire convoy stopped, but no one seemed concerned about it. “Would you stop doing that?!” Encai shouted as he turned to Ser Ianor. From a distance, he watched as a kudu fell to the ground dead, and numerous servants began moving towards it to prepare the kill. It was quite a ways away, nearly a kilometer.

  While he was thankful that at least they wouldn’t be eating processed jerky again, Ser Ianor kept shooting animals in her spare time, boldly decring their position to possible bandits. At the same time, it numbed the expedition, causing them all to feel a ck of urgency whenever they heard a shot.

  “It was such a beautiful prey, Your Grace. I could not help myself.” She smiled as she hefted her Mauser bolt-action rifle in her arms, detaching the scope with practiced movements to keep it safe within a secure container.

  “Ser Ianor, I will have that gun confiscated if you keep doing that. We are too deep into unknown territory, and if it weren’t for that, I would have you sent back home right now. I am too tired and too hot for this, so for the love of everything that is holy, stop it!” He wiped some sweat off his forehead as he ordered the convoy to continue moving again, hoping there wouldn’t be any more problems along the way.

  From a distance, however, a scout watched. Their saviors had provided him with a device that allowed him to see much farther than he could ever imagine. He pointed the binocurs towards the group, keeping note of their numbers, their weapons, as well as the insignia marking their fgs. All this information would be reyed as soon as he returned to one of their outposts. He watched the group move along one st time before slithering back into the forest.

  Samuel listened to their concerns, but at the moment, their only option was to simply hope for the best. Even if a number of the crew refused to acknowledge this, they had nowhere else to go. He turned to Dr. Robert Caldwell and cited him as an example—a scientist of a technology that didn’t even exist yet. He would be left destitute even if they dropped him off in Europe or the USA.

  Many voiced their concerns of course, Announcing their finding to everyone would be a great blow to their morale but keeping it all under the wraps could only get them so far, the crew was restless and they needed some answers. “Before everything else, I would like everyone to welcome back Ensign Elizabeth Mitchell.” Cheers and cpping were shared among the group while the Ensign stood up and thanked everyone. “Chief Donovan, do you have it?” The old handyman jolted in his seat when his name was called. He soon rummaged through his pockets before sliding a small box across the table toward the Captain.

  Samuel reached for the box and checked its contents before making his way toward the Ensign. "Ensign Mitchell, step forward." Elizabeth quickly moved away from her seat and approached the Captain. Irons continued:

  “In recognition of your outstanding service and unwavering dedication to duty, it is my privilege to acknowledge your exceptional contributions to our mission. Your actions have been exempry, reflecting the highest standards of the UNSC. You have demonstrated remarkable courage, resourcefulness, and leadership under pressure. These qualities are vital to our success and are a testament to your character and commitment. Therefore, by the authority vested in me, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Wear this insignia with pride, as it signifies not only your new rank but also the trust and confidence pced in you by your comrades and superiors.”

  The Captain reached into a small case and retrieved a single silver bar, gleaming under the lights. With a steady hand, he pinned the insignia onto the newly promoted officer's uniform, the mark of a Lieutenant Junior Grade now proudly dispyed.

  “Congratutions, Lieutenant Junior Grade Mitchell. We expect great things from you, and I have no doubt you will continue to serve with distinction."

  “Thank you, Captain.” Elizabeth smiled and saluted crisply, which Captain Irons reciprocated before shaking her hand. Once more, cheers and celebrations were shared among the small group as they welcomed the newly promoted Lieutenant.

  “Hang on a minute, wouldn’t that mean there would be two ‘Lieutenants’ on the bridge?” They had been calling Lieutenant Commander Nathan Price, ‘Lieutenant’ in order to quickly differentiate him from the others. Commander Hayes pondered what they should call Ms. Mitchell.

  “Perhaps we can call her Junior or Eltee? Although…” Nathan turned to Ethan, “As the Captain did recently change his rank to Admiral, perhaps we too could go higher. I get to be Commander, and you can be Captain, Sir Hayes.”

  “In due time, both of you. Besides, I am still a Captain.” Samuel smiled as he shook his head and made his way back to his seat. Lieutenant Mitchell did as well, polishing her new pin as she did so. Samuel turned his attention to one of the people present, reminded of something. “Professor Olivia, according to the deal we made in exchange for your freedom, you would surrender the data you stole. Do you have it on you?”

  Reed knew it was only a matter of time but still frowned as she pulled out a data chip from inside her coat. With a simple hand signal, Samuel ordered Nathan to collect it before moving to the other side of the room to pass the data crystal to Lieutenant Kane. “We hope this act will at least resolve the tension between us and ONI.” Captain Irons nodded at Era, who nodded back in acknowledgment. Olivia wondered if they had found out… then again, she did leave quite a rge breadcrumb trail.

  “To finally begin this meeting.” Commander Hayes stands and continues, “Recently, the construct Calliope was able to unlock the secrets of the ship we have named Icarus. We are still in the process of cataloging and identifying alien technologies taken from the ship’s data banks, as well as uploading UNSC ship schematics from Prometheus. But nonetheless we now have a fully functioning mobile shipyard in our hands.”

  Much like UNSC SRR stations, a Phoenix css is capable of performing repairs and services to nearby ships thanks to its extensive war factories. Though Prometheus cannot build a warship from scratch, it still has the schematics of nearly all UNSC ships. Uploading those to the Icarus should allow them to rebuild the fleet.

  “As we do not want to become too reliant on alien tech, Master Sergeant Donovan and his team, along with Dr. Caldwell and his people from Luna station, will try to make sense of Icarus’ systems." The ship could theoretically run indefinitely using automation, but AI does fail eventually, and programs could get corrupted. Having folks who actually know how to maintain the machine would be better in the long run.

  “This also means, in order to protect ourselves against the Covenant, we will need more people, trained personnel to crew new ships. As for the Admiral’s orders, Lieutenant Mitchell, Lieutenant Commander Price, and Myself would provide training for new officers. We will be given time to study for our new jobs as instructors, so don’t worry.” nodding at the other two officers. Prometheus would have to run on a skeleton crew for this to work… not that she needs many at the moment as they still haven’t found a way to get the ship off this pnet.

  “I’m guessing you’ll be taking some of my marines away.” says Nichos, unhappy with this arrangement.

  “Colonel Vega, I reviewed our personnel roster and it seems a number of them haven't even completed basic training.” says Samuel. When Earth was attacked, even fresh recruits and volunteers still in training were forced into the front lines. A number of those are currently amongst them.

  “Yes, they are currently performing non-critical tasks around the base.”

  “Anyone is allowed to join the officer training. As their commander, they would need your approval if they could leave their post, Colonel. But if you believe their position in your army is far too important to be left open then I will trust your judgment nevertheless, there is a quota of officer trainees we need to reach. To compensate for your lost numbers. Lieutenant Colonel Stone would provide training to the recruits. In the future, we would try to recruit more from the locals. As we have started teaching the children, surely at some point they'll grow up to be cadets.” Vega frowns at the thought, he despises them but at the moment he has very few options.

  “And what about us?” Lieutenant Kane of ONI raised her hand, trying to get the Captain’s attention. The rest seemed to have concerns with their new orders, but it was far better than being idle. At the very least, they now had a goal in mind—a path to take forward.

  “I believe you can answer that, Professor,” said Samuel as he turned to Olivia.

  With a frown on her face, she still thought what they were doing was sacrilege. But she understood they didn’t have much choice in the matter. Still, as a historian, she couldn’t help but hate this bsphemy. Sighing as she finally spoke, “As it was expined to me, The roles given to most of you are Phase One. Phase Two involves the world outside this base. In order to gather more people, I thought it would be through commerce, trading goods and services to the outside world, medicine and technologies to attract people to immigrate. However, the Admiral thinks that is too dangerous.”

  “Professor.” Samuel warns her.

  “You were thinking of selling cures for diseases that people do not yet understand. Technologies that they couldn’t even fathom,” Ethan interjects. This was a conversation they already had before the meeting, but clearly Olivia wasn’t done yet. “Do you really think it would be that easy, Professor? If we go and cure diseases left, right, and center, we’ll be treated as gods by the simpletons.”

  “But those things would improve people’s lives! What’s wrong with that?!” counters Olivia. She is being a hypocrite, she knows. But in her head, if it would improve the lives of many, it would redeem her soul. “Then we teach them how they are made! Problem solved!” Samuel pressed his fingers against his temple as the argument continued. He wonders if inviting Olivia into this meeting was a good idea.

  “Then we will be treated as monsters. Do you think these technologies just appeared out of nowhere? Imagine expining to them the ethics of human experimentation, the death toll of wars past where such technologies were developed, the exploitation and destruction that came with that ‘progress’.”

  Samuel sms his fist onto the table, silencing the two. He gres at both of them for a time; Olivia cowers back to her seat while Ethan straightens out his uniform. Samuel sighs and speaks, “Phase Two is for Professor Olivia Reed to train envoys for the outside world. Reading through our history, many nations of this era are currently unstable. Commerce is a… gateway to our goals, sure, but I don’t think it would be fast enough for our needs. And so, we will intervene in ongoing wars and conflicts around the globe. I believe Lieutenant Era’s skill sets would fit well on this.”

  This, of course, raises some eyebrows, and people start looking at each other. Samuel continues, “To prevent the leak of technology, ONI personnel would train the augmented locals using era-appropriate gear. Turn them into field officers, teach them tactics, everything. The whole nine yards as they say. We can then offer military training to these nations in conflict as well as materiel of non-modern nature.”

  This of course caused more chatter within the group. the absurdity of the pn they are hearing finally made the Admiral expin his reasons, “I… think that intervening in ongoing conflicts gives us an advantage. First, we can prevent greater loss of life if every conflict ends as quickly as possible. Secondly, if we provide aid to the winning side, they may be interested in joining us. With more people surviving the war, more people we can recruit. We'll need every able bodied men to prepare against the Covenant and we can't have them get wasted due to some petty wars.”

  "Can we not just... get them to talk it out?" Even if they would aim to cause as few deaths as possible, the idea of it still bothers Dr. Laura.

  "Please be realistic. Who would listen to some people they never met, never heard of before?" retorts Colonel Stone. "A show of force would only instill fear to enemies and allies alike. I believe this pn is the best route we can take."

  “How would we know who to side with then?” asks Lieutenant Mitchell.

  “We already know.” Nathan gnces towards Olivia’s direction. “History already told us who is evil and who is not."

  History is written by the victors, they usually say. Where crimes were easily swept under the rug. But conflicts are always messy affairs, luckily for those who are from the future, history can also be uncovered and facts brought to light.

  Era likes this, excited even. “Who are we going after first?”

  Samuel rubs the stubble on his chin as he replies, “How good is your Spanish?”