Setting: Theta Base,
Local Time: 10:00 AM.
The late morning light of the Ark cast shadows over the treeline where critters of the Ark chittered and chirped unseen. Nearby, Theta Base kept its persistent scent of ozone and tangy sanitization alongside the heavy whirring of UNSC machinery and air conditioning.
The ambient noise however came to an end when a high pitched yawn broke the pattern, accompanied by the light sound of boots on metal.
"A-A-Ahhh~"
Milo yawned, rubbing an eye with his knuckle while his other hand held a holographic file to his chest, its light gently reflecting off his white Xenobiology coat.
He made a turn at the observatory module and down the hall to the Laboratory where the quiet whisper of comms chatter echoed down the hall.
"Doctor"
Came the professional voice of a stationed ODST, there were 4 of them, standing guard with their backs straight and rifles in a relaxed position, fingers off the trigger.
Milo looked up, eyes heavy with lingering sleepiness.
"O-oh.. h-hello... is Professor Anders in?"
The ODST gave a curt nod.
"She's present."
Milo gave a slight bow, handing the trooper his identification card.
"Th-thanks."
The ODST said nothing, simply placing the card on the doors frame where a chime began and the door swished open. The ODST handed Milo his badge before letting him in.
"Have a good day Doctor."
Milo's cheeks pinkened.
"Th-thanks, you too."
Milo walked into the lab in a series of small strides, where the professor and several Xenolinguistic specialists were present.
In the center of the lab, whirring away, was a holographic projector with a hologram of a rough cipher spinning in place, surrounded by photos and videos from their recent expedition to the strange alien structure.
The younger doctor shuffled over to Anders, handing her the file he held in his arm while the other adjusted his glasses from slipping off his nose.
"M-morning."
She spared a glance, the light of the hologram reflecting off her eyes.
"I see the Ark's local time hasn't been kind to you."
Milo shook his head, a second squeaky yawn escaping him.
"N-no. I saw Captain Cutter managed to spare a ODST escort for us."
Milo said, scooting into a stool beside the professor. She gave a nod, tapping the holographic file in her hand.
"It is going to be needed after all, he already contacted me earlier this morning that Trent is starting to meddle in our affairs."
The sleep in Milo's eyes, while present diminished as his eyes widened before landing on Anders.
"The Rear Admiral is... do you know what kind of files he's trying to get his hands on?"
Anders shook her head no.
"I'm not sure, the Rear Admiral might be trying to pull some section III stuff on the both of us."
Milo tilted his head, brows furrowing in confusion.
"Both of us?"
Anders stopped, shoulders tensing before her focus diverted to the cinnamon-roll giving her a genuinely confused expression.
"Yes."
She began, before hesitantly continuing.
"I'm a ONI civilian xenoarchaeology and xeno-biopsychology consultant for section III."
Milo fell silent, lips parting before he blinked once.... twice... thrice. For a second Milo's brain had simply stalled. ONI had taken him, dropped him on the Ark with zero prior training.
"Wait.... you're also ONI?"
Anders' widened some more.
"This ONI-abducted child, how does he not know?!"
She thought, before clearing her throat. Her gaze returned to the rough cipher in the center of the room. Milo, seeing her focus shift, did the same, his eyes landing on the rotating hologram..
He leaned forward, extending his arm to the rotating cipher draft.
"W-well u-um... h-how has the Cipher been? D-do we have a general idea on what these symbols mean?"
Anders, grateful for the change in topic nodded before straightening her back.
"We do have a rough idea of what we're seeing."
She began, rising to her feet and approached the hologram, gesturing to the various symbols.
"By cross referencing several Glyph chains from our own historical past, such as the Egyptians, Mayan, Mesoamerica, Mixtec and Aztec, we were able to create a generalized meanings for each glyph you were able to take a photo of."
Milo's eyes seemed to glow. Before he stopped himself he rose up to his feet.
"I-i see. We're you able to determine if the glyph with undecipherable elevation was a glyph representating a map?"
Anders nodded. "Correct, and the 2nd glyph you captured, the group of dots likely represents their aliens forces. The next."
Anders paused, her gaze landing on focusing on it deeply.
"We still don't know.. it's such a unique glyph."
Milo hadn't realized he had walked around the table and approached. Finishing Anders sentence.
"A diamond shape with a cellular outline with what looks like a helix."
The older scientist simply nodded.
"Indeed, while we can speculate. These aliens are intelligent, and considering they're present on the most advanced structure in the galaxy.. i believe this symbol might be their unifying symbol.. or what they're rallied behind."
"L-like the same way all factions have an identifying symbol."
Milo said in a hushed tone with Anders falling silent, the eyes of the other present researcher glanced over to the pair moments before the whizz of the Laboratory's door echoed across the room.
All eyes darted to the figure walking in. Her hair neatly brushed, back straight and shoulders tight.
"Oh h-hi m-mo I mean Finch."
Finch's eyes seemed to sparkle before returning to their icy dagger normal.
"Good morning Milo, how has the research been?"
The older Professor glanced to and from Finch and the Cipher draft.
"We are making progress, the Cipher draft is almost coherent enough."
The Agent gave a curt nod, her focus landing on the other holographic photos.
"What of the samples Milo collected from the handprint?"
Milo flinched, his shoulders tensing before he scurried over, adjusting his already adjusted glasses.
"U-um, th-the samples recovered from the handprint on the Mastodon carrier is consistent with the strange tracks we discovered when we first arrived."
He began picking up a holographic file and hovered it near the holo-table in the room's center. With a hesitant extend of his arm he brushed the hologram and flicked the image to the datapad in his hands.
"Th-the cells recovered on the mastodon are the same highly evolved Pluripotent and Totipotent cells."
The young Doctor continued, lifting his head to meet Finch's gaze. For a moment it softened, the daggerlike stare dulling before giving a slow nod.
"Good work."
Milo's lips quirked up while his gaze lowered, his cheeks warming.
"Th-thank you, n-now u-um the evidence from the strange structure i-is almost ready to be sent to Captain Cutter and Isabel. H-however due to the limited samples and information present, i think it'll be prudent if we aquired more samples."
The older Professor's brows furrowed.
"I agree, we need additional information to further the creation of the cipher draft, cross referencing our own historical past is fine, but we need more than just 4 fo 5 glyphs captured."
Finch let out a low hum, her eyes sharpening as Milo walked over to the nearby terminal and took a seat, he tapped a few buttons, turning off the hologram and replacing it with a comms channel. After a few moments a grizzled voice came from the holographic table.
"This is Cutter, i hope this is good news... Report."
Milo took a breath and glanced over to Elara and Anders, they stayed silent letting Milo speak. His cheeks reddened and a stutter escaped.
"U-uh h-hello captain, w-we have some good news. The samples collected from the Mastodon are c-consistent with the ones recovered from the tracks a week ago. The Cipher rough draft is coming up neatly H-however u-um. I no. I mean, we would like to request to go into the field to investigate additional sights as seen in the Ark map from the structure we investigated."
Milo trailed off, cheeks burning while placing his datapad on thr terminal and sending the aquired information to Cutter onboard the spirit of fire.
Finch gave a nod, a quirk of her lips tilting upwards.
"I have the report, good work Doctor."
"A-ah, th-thank you Captain i-"
His sentence was cut off by the urgent voice of the onboard AI Isabel.
"Captain, Rear Admiral Trent is trying to intercept the file sent from Theta Base, they have already aquired the first datapack."
Cutter's voice lowered.
"Block them and reroute the files to a secure encrypted channel."
"On it sir."
Cutter let out a low rumbling hum.
"We'll assume the Rear Admiral has a rough picture on what's going on, they might begin allocating assets Arkside... all the more reason to get you guys back into the field.. Professor, Doctor, Agent, your mission will be to begin investigation of the strange structures discovered on the Ark."
Milo's breath hitched, his glasses sliding down.
"Y-yes Captain, w-we'll do so immediately."
The channel cuts out and Milo let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"You alright kid?"
Finch said, shedding a glance to her son.
"Y-yeah... h-he sounded scary then."
Anders let out a chuckle, her shoulders trembling.
"Thats the Captain getting annoyed for you."
"A-annoyed? O-oh I'm sorry."
She chuckled some more, this time Finch placed a hand on Milo's shoulder.
"Not your fault, Milo. Just... maybe make the report less wordy next time, yes?"
Milo's cheeks darkened.
"O-oh ok, I'll try to."
------------
In orbit aboard the spirit of fire, Captain Cutter stood infront of the bridge's holographic table, his forehead creased with the constant furrowing of his eyebrows. A quiet contemplative hum escaping him.
"Hmmmm."
The onboard AI appeared on the holotable.
"Something the matter Captain?"
Cutter said nothing for a short second before answering, a hand running along his chin.
"Isabel, pull up Doctor Milo's personal file."
"Yes, Captain."
A moment passed and an image appeared over the hologram of Theta Base, an image of Milo with his personal information, his eyes too soft, cheeks rounded and youthful. In the midst of reading Isabels voice read over it.
"Doctor Milo Finch, biological son of Agent Elara Finch and ONI section III Xenobiology department. Date of birth September 22nd, 2542... that's... wow... he just turned 18... and his hiring date was."
Isabel paused as Cutter's eyes landed on the "onboard hiring date" before finishing the sentence, his jaw clenching while eyes grew icy.
"September 22nd 2560... right on his birthday... Goddamn."
A slow exhale left him.
"ONI abducted a child and threw him into service on his 18th birthday in ONI's most secret biology department."
Silence swept across the bridge, Isabel's eyes shifted up to the Captain, the gears in his mind turning.
"There is no such thing as coincidences... Milo Finch, the biological son of Elara Finch is not just a prodigy in Xenobiology..."
The older Captain grumbled as Isabel finished his sentence, her expression becoming strained, troubled.
"He's a leash."
Cutter took a sharp breath.
"Isabel, i want Doctor and Agent Finch monitored and i want all channels coming to and from the Dauntless monitored, any encrypted message sent to and from the Dauntless are to be copied and sent to me. Understood."
His voice grew colder by the second, and Isabel, reading the situation effortlessly nodded.
"Sir yes sir."