1250 HOURS, NOVEMBER 6, 2554 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

UNKNOWN HALO INSTALLATION - UNKNOWN COORDINATES

The lights in his helmet turned on as Tysiac fell for another second in the dark plunge before finding a room lit with torches. Landing with his boots with a hard thump that shook the ground and caused the dirt underneath him to be kicked into the air, Tysiac brought his rifle up and checked every corner of the room he was in. From the doorway where the torches were attached, Tysiac heard commands in an unknown language fading away.

After making sure his rifle was loaded with Lockdown Paint, his memory quickly recalling that it was non-lethal as long as he avoided aiming for the head or neck, Tysiac started stalking through the doorway. The rooms he went through had enough light emanating from the torches, allowing him to turn off his helmet's lights and further reduce visibility. Dirt gave way to the metal alloys that the Forerunners used for their hallways on other Halo Installations, which did not comfort Tysiac. Glowing paint resembling locked Forerunner doors adorned the walls, leading the man towards an arch. The arch depicted a strange, winged creature with four red eyes and four skulls decorating its wings. Through the archway was almost city-like, with towering pillars that resembled housing units.

Tysiac ducked to one side of the archway and carefully peered into this city. There were bipedal bat-like creatures, almost half his size, gliding through the air, climbing or skittering across ropes of lit lanterns spanning across the entire city. The city's architecture uniquely catered to these creatures, with bridges, scaffolds, nets, and other attachments to the pillars that allowed them to move easily around. The windows in each of these pillars brought him to realize these were homes. And it was a lively city at that.

None of them seemed to see or notice him yet. But there was not a chance he could sneak through this. Not with him hiding at the front entrance, and neither did he equip an active camo ability to his suit that would've given him a chance....

There. Out in the furthest part of this place, Tysiac could see the familiar tails and fur colors of two Chupadores: Kai and Church. Seeming to have something around their necks, and it seems they were being led deeper in, with a few roadblocks here and there with a rather curious livestock resembling a mix of cow, pony and goat...

Tysiac looked towards his helmet's HUD to ensure he had recorded at the start of his trek. This wasn't just a Halo Installation, but a world with diverse species and cultures.

Just as he looked away from the recording symbol, Tysiac's eyes glimpsed his motion tracker and immediately spun on his heel and brought his rifle at what had been moving around behind him. His helmet lights turned on and rewarded him with a yell of unknown language and the sight of one bat-creature armed with a wood and metal spear. Just as the creature yelled, Tysiac fired a warning shot at its feet. The Lockdown Paint round snapped through the air and splattered on the metal flooring, crystalizing and inflating immediately into a ball-like shape of crystal pink. His motion tracker lit up as more contacts jolted in shock and surprise at their attempt at an ambush failing as Tysiac kept both distance and a suitable warning to not try their luck.

Both sides stared each other down, as Tysiac couldn't risk looking to see if the Chupadores were still in sight. After several seconds, he gave a long jerk of his head towards the entrance of the city and attempted to speak to the armed creatures, "Those Chupas. They're mine. I'd like them back."

The creatures gave a shuffling as they conversed with each other in whatever language they had. He couldn't discern what it was, and he had nothing to translate them.

The motion tracker quickly informed him of another group of contacts coming from the city itself and towards them. He was losing time, sight and patience over the natives as he said again, "I don't attack, you don't either. Bring me to those new prisoners of yours."

They shuffled and spoke with each other more. There was some recognition from his words, given a few of these guards were eyeing him with caution and were gripping their spears tightly. One creature, likely the first one he spotted, had slowly poked and prodded at the crystalized paint he had fired earlier, encountering resistance from the paint. The sound of additional reinforcements soon came as they addressed the group he was holding off before seeing him.

He brought the rifle towards them a little, keeping enough that if someone tried to flank, he would quickly shut them down.

The leader of the group that had joined the confrontation continued to question some creatures before glaring at the ONI agent. After a few seconds, he gave a grumble before motioning with his spear and gave a short bark towards the city. With some trepidation, Tysiac risked under the assumption that they were letting him in and escorting him, and lowered his rifle just enough.

The bat-creatures kept a wide distance from Tysiac as they surrounded him before following the armored man into the city. It wasn't likely they could harm him, even if they had gotten past the MJOLNIR's energy shields. And they likely wouldn't want to find out what happened if he peppered them with his paint rounds.

As they moved through the city quickly, one guard tried his luck and gave a jab at Tysiac. This had occurred during one small traffic jam and the man had taken the time to observe and record as much of the city as he could. He had been noting the ceiling above as a rocky structure supported by many beams placed there by these newfound species.

The guard quickly found out about the energy shielding, only the sight of the energy shield's status appearing on his HUD and barely shown even the slightest of decrease. Tysiac elected to intimidate the perpetrator by slowly turning around to stare at the guard. The side-glance from his ANUBIS-class helmet froze the bat-creature in place. His staring giving a well enough warning that not only shouldn't he have done that, but it could have started a fight in the middle of his species' city, which would've ended very poorly.

Tysiac wouldn't, but these creatures had no idea. After giving a "glare" and a slow shuffle with his rifle, Tysiac slowly turned back around to continue his trek through the city. The sound of an angry muttering coming from behind told well enough the guard was being scolded and thanking whatever god these creatures had that the man wasn't interested in starting something.

Following further down, Tysiac with entourage crossed through surprisingly sturdy bridges across chasms and towards another archway with both a reminiscent sigil of an eagle and the same bat-creature with its jaws opened as the door. That same damn eagle that was similar to the UNSC logo. The sight of it made Tysiac give a frown as he continued to follow through the doorway and into a large room.

Water filled most of the room on both sides, a walkway leading to the throne of their leader. Around the walls were sigils, braziers illuminating the room and a small column of light filtering down towards the throne itself. And to speak about the throne was certainly something out of a tribalist taste. Massive rib bones surrounded the throne from an unknown creature, arranged like an opened flower. Ropes stretched a red, tanned leather across the ends of the bones, emblazoned with the bat-creatures' clan symbol, if Tysiac had to guess.

There, sitting on it, was certainly the leader of these beings. The clothing was simple, with green and purple robes and two golden circlets around the base of its ears with a cane carved from a bone. The clear, red eyes from the being studied Tysiac with an indiscernible expression as the armored ONI agent came to a stop before the leader.

The leading guard of Tysiac's little entourage knelt before the leader before speaking. It wasn't long until the leader spoke up and gave an order to the guard, which was something that wasn't appreciated, however he didn't argue as he backed away and joined the rest of the creatures as Tysiac elected to move forward a little.

He stared at the bat-creature, making note of the lack of yellow in his eyes compared to what the rest of the species had. Very likely, the leader was trying to stare back and through the tinted reflection of Tysiac's HUD.

Some time passed, perhaps just a few seconds as Tysiac didn't take a look at the mission timer, but the bat-creature spoke first. This time in English to the ONI agent, "Greetings, surface-dweller."

Tysiac elected a silent nod as the creature introduced himself, "I am Juwo, the leader of this village. Your armor differs from many above us, however one question is something I'm most concerned for:" The now identified village leader gave a hardened glare as he asked, "Do you follow the surface-dwellers in black robes?"

A quick look through his memory and Tysiac shook his head. He had encountered none of the religious "Omegites" that were mentioned in his initial observations through the comms. And with his luck, the only ones he was likely to see were dead ones, either by his hand or another. Juwo relaxed as Tysiac made his turn to speak, "No. But my mission may yet end up involving them, especially if they were the ones that created the shipwreck in the lake." He gave a small shuffle with his rifle, to give a subtle message on his intent to finding out who was responsible for one, if not more than one missing ship on the UNSC roster.

The village leader seemed to recognize the hint, as one part of his mouth twitched upward before asking on his turn, "You spoke about the surface-dwellers that arrived just before you. You said they "belonged to you"?"

"In a way." Tysiac replied smoothly, "Regardless, I'm in a need of keeping the bunch within eyesight of me. And with them being in your care," He took a step forward and said with some sarcasm, "it makes an old man feel worried."

The sarcasm seem to humor the village leader, as he gave a small smile in response before asking, "You are aware of what the turquoise has?"

"An energy sword." Tysiac answered, "One that wasn't well appreciated in use by another alien species. One I hope hasn't encountered this Installation."

The word he used caused the leader to widen his eyes somewhat as he pressed, "You know of Sirca?"

"I know what it is." The man answered again, his rifle lowering slightly as he added, "The question is: Does anyone here know how this ring was made, who made it, and why it was made?"

Juwo considered the question before shaking his head, "Stories, myths and legends. However, the surface-dwellers here have long since considered their faceless god the creator of Sirca, and as a haven for their species at the moment of their creation."

This didn't comfort Tysiac. Not at all, "I might not know much about this "Omega" that they praise about. However, unless he called himself a Forerunner, then he's been lying. Though..." His voice trailed off as another question formed in his mind. The Forerunners may have certainly built this ring, but how was it that these Chupadores, the bat-creatures, the local livestock that he spied on his tour around the village... Why were they here? Was there not another planet they were supposed to be on? Did they used to have a planet and something occurred that forced them to take shelter here? Or was this "Omega" a Forerunner after all, and has been hiding himself enough for Juwo to call him "faceless"?

Too many questions, and not enough answers to be found. Tysiac brought his attention back to the village leader, "What significance does this energy sword have?"

Juwo gave a chuckle, "Much significance. The blade is known as the "Hand of God". There's many who sought its power, however, it was destined only for the Great One to reclaim it and unlock many great secrets."

"A pretty prophecy," Tysiac commented, "Does it include a reincarnation of this "Great One"?"

The bat shook his head, "No. It is a mark of changing times, when the White Wolf would be slain by the Hand's Chosen, and deliver our people to freedom in the lands above."

"And Ambassador Lavernius Tucker just so happened to be handed the role. Again." Tysiac groused, making the village leader tilt his head in confusion as the man waved a hand, "Don't pay that any mind. It's a story not helpful right now." He shouldered the rifle to magnetize to his back as Tysiac said, "However, with that "freedom", it might include dealing with "Omega". So, I can say we're somewhat on the same side. That said, where might I find the group of misfits, plus Tucker?"

Another chuckle from Juwo as he explained, "The White Wolf is locked in a cell for now. The Chosen One, however, is being trained in using his weapon to be prepared for what is to come. The rest have been allowed free rein around the village," Juwo said. Then, not knowing that due to proximity and equipment, Tysiac heard him mutter, "Much to everyone's displeasure."

After the pleasantries and unpleasantries between them were over, the village gave Tysiac some freedom to move about. He was expected to not cause trouble to or against the village, not that they would've had success in stopping him. But common courtesy is as it can. Tysiac began his own observation. Despite the tribalistic nature of the creatures, there was a lively sort of culture developed by them. Ranging from "Alchemy", to having a tavern and places of social gatherings.

Kai and Caboose were easy to find, though reaching the tavern and discovering the Red Simulation Troopers there was an interesting discovery. He had known that Dexter Grif was overweight, but to see him both in orange fur and seemingly completely unafraid of the bat-creatures around him? Quite the curiosity, especially finding "Sarge" to be the short dwarf of the entire bunch of misfits, just below Tysiac's own height in armor.

And then he found Tucker, suffering combat training in a way that made Tysiac question if the same Lavernius in the UNSC employ had suffered in trying to be competent before. That, or the captain of the guard was exerting some grudge. Either way, whatever attempt there was to prepare him, it wasn't something he was keeping up with. And Juwo noticed it, grimacing whenever they watched the Chupadore get beaten up repeatedly during sparring.

Finally, there was Church. Having found him in the prison cells of the village and asleep with a curiously genuine smile. It didn't seem to the Spartan that he was just having a good dream, but rather something else. The nearby guards that had been keeping an eye on him all answered the same thing they saw in broken English. Same smile, as if he just discovered something that completed him in some profound way.

Tysiac wasn't a psychiatrist, so he wouldn't know what to make with what state of mind the Chupadore had. With little else to do, Tysiac left Church alone as he went back to documenting and observing the bat-creatures in much of their activities. There was much for ONI to see, and plenty to be ready for when the UNSC could make their formal appearance.

He could only hope that whatever happens would not be another Harvest. Even though Humanity may be in a stronger position, and Sirca is the only homeworld these creatures have, Humanity has suffered through enough genocides and false religions. The UNSC wouldn't tolerate another conflict.

Red vs Blue © Rooster Teeth. Halo © 343 Industries. Concept by Myshu, assisted by The Department of Chupapology.