Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ashton cleared his throat as the room full of weary eyes shifted, with varying speeds and interest, towards him. He stood up, and was pleased that he no longer felt woozey. He finally must be adapting to the new chemical makeup of his brain...

He saluted. "Sir. As you all know, our secure packages were kept safe from harm in personal containment cells. Most of these were cryo-tubes, which most all of us know how to operate, and all of us for sure have been inside. Freezerburn, dehydration, malnutrition, muscle atrophy-- these are all negative side-effects that the Forerunners had seemed to eliminate with their form of extended suspension.

"They seemed to be able to warp an individual inside a Shaw-Fujikawa field. In essence, that type of field is what our ships travel through when we pass through slipspace, something the Covenant, and apparently the Forerunners, were much more adept at.

"When Angel realized, through my remote sensors, that we were not, in fact, dealing with regular Cryogenic Suspension Pods, she fragmented herself into a string of code that could deal solely with the task of awakening our prescious cargo from this peculiar sleep, sir. The original copy stayed with Commander Hammer, and this 'Fragment-Angel' beamed herself directly into the pod's computers and Forerunner panels, to help me open up our Spartans and other personnel."

Dansmith coughed into his hand, trying to figure out how best to explain what he thought he understood.
Perhaps I could help explain, Lance Corporal. I'm tapping into the Monterey now, stand by...

Instead of the maps and vids from 79, Angel's avatar appeared over the Holo-projector, her blue wings and slim figure cast in a bright white glow from some unseen source. A.I.'s and their vanity...

Addressing the whole room, "Good evening, gentlemen, ladies. I am not, in fact, the original A.I. you set out on this mission with, though I bear the exact same identity: Artificial Intelligence, callsign Angel, from NavSpecWar. The Lance Corporal and I have been forced into each other's company under the most... unusual of circumstances."
Bringing up a three-dimensional interface of Ashton's latest cranial scan, She showed, in stark detail, the Liquid-Crystal lattice of tubes and vessels that comprised her current self.
She took a breath (again, simply asthetic), and began.
"This, is me. You notice, also, that this is Lance Corporal Dansmith's own cerebrum, the location of higher body functions and thought. Through a malfunction in the Shaw-Fujikawa fields brought on by tampered Forerunner computing machinery, my Neural Network was forced to coincide with Dansmith's own brain, in the same instant. Normally, this would be impossible, as two things (my neural network and his brain) cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Unfortunately, nothing about a Shaw-Fujikawa field is 'normal'. Freak accidents such as missing limbs or even entire dissaparations have been reported during Slipspace jumps. I guess, against that sort of scale, that we should consider ourselves lucky.

Now, my physical self resides inside his Neural chip. I cannot occupy such a small space and think with any proficiencey at the same time, however. So, I must borrow from Dansmith's own neurons in order to make complicated calculations. Currently, I am harnessing the Monterey's computers, since we are in such close proximity."
Taking the pause as an assumption of not understanding, Dansmith leaned forward and rest his knuckles on the table.
"Basically, our brains were forced to become one. She was burned onto my brain in the only way that she could exist, as a Liquid-Crystal network. Therefore, a lot of my veins and arteries have been... -repurposed?- towards holding her L-C Network. I only understand this because she has not stopped talking to me since she and I 'met'. Sir."

"Sir, not that I know of, sir. I've only been having slight equilibrium, er, balance, issues. Nothing serious, by the rest of Able's standards, sir."
Ashton shifted only slightly in his boots, then planted them firmly on the deck.

"I only worry about an A.I.'s estimated seven-year lifespan, sir. There are theories that an A.I. will eventually think itself to death sir. I am not sure how this limitation changes when an A.I.'s virtual brain is brought in contact with a human's physical one, sir."

"Nor do I know what would happen if I 'died' while still combined with Ashton. Is he suscpetable to computer viruses now? Can we 'hard-boot' him like an ancient personal computer? We would need to consult Doctor Halsey for more informed hypothesese, sir."

"Sir," Anthony stood up and gave him a salute. "I think I would like to begin the XO De-breifing." he walked to the front of the room, looking at all the faces of his peers with a stone glance.

"First Sergeant Anthony Dallas Karr, XO of Able Company, 301st Strike Division, UNSCMC." It was obvious not many of them paid attention to debrifings, their openings were quite sloppy.
"Marines, Lieutenant;" he gave them curt nods. "Upon the leaving of what we have designated as 'Shore Party one' I fell asleep in the Armory." A slight chuckle arose from the members of Able. It soon subsided. "Upon discovering 'getting left behind' by the first Shore party, I rounded up a squad of 3 Pelicans for an EVAC upon hearing a transmition from the Instalation. Out of those 3 Pelicans, only one survived, with only 3 Marines. Myself, Private Dan Court and Private Avery Tyson who were a part of the casualty rate as a result of this mission. Upon landing in the bay of Instalation 79, Privates Court and Avery set up a TFBP (Temportary Fall Back Position). Upon fiding the rest of you, regrouped back at the TFBP, We began to take fire from these metalic AI's dubbed 'Sentinals' and suffered heavry casualties... and I think you all know the rest..."

He stopped for a minute, seeing as his hand began to shake, filled withheat. his pulse began to quicken as the eyes of the rest of his teammates fell upon him. Emptying the magazine, into a passing Jackal, the rest of the company began to fire in his wake. Their silence became fearful, and their eyes still locked on the target fell in a mass of flesh and blood. Plasma bolts fired past him, angry like a swarm of bees trying to scare him back into his seat. He was aware of the flashback occuring right now. The time he felt standing there felt like a lifetime as the thundering footsteps of a Brute began rumbling into his back. The sweat began to bead down his face. He could feel the Brute's anger as it rose its hammer, prepairing to strike, when suddenly in the back of his mind, something popped, and stopped.
"Able Company, 301st Strike Division, Mission De-Briefing is complete." He looked to the Lieutenant. "Lieutenant Seth, you have the floor." He stepped away from the front, the sounds of war followed like s ghost as he sat back down in his seat.

The First Sergeant remained in his seat. "Sir, No sir. Flashbacks can be a Marines best friend." he said, now standing up. "They serve as a reminder, a battle wound just as bad as a visible one. Its gonna stay with me for a while sir." He said. Within his ears, the explosions and the shellshock began to kick in, but Karr ignored it, and pushed pasted the illusion. "Really Lieutenant. I'm fine. But, about this plan for Earth..."