groundedxdreamer

[groundedxdreamer]

"Just tryin' to keep your optimism up," York joked as he got to his feet. "Yeah, I'll make the tastiest damn rations you've ever had."

Getting ready was the easy part; explaining everything to the kids was a hell of a lot harder, but at least they seemed okay with Carolina going on a 'business trip.' After that, it was just a matter of making her way to Karava.

Fortunately, the lush jungle planet wasn't so backwater that she couldn't find a place to land: the trade port of Kor Delban had plenty of room for visitors that weren't any sort of government official--human or otherwise.

The place was bustling, relatively speaking, with many humans, Sangheili, Kig-yar, and even a few Jiralhanae and Unggoy rubbing shoulders in the cramped streets or the small bars all around. The exact coordinates of the distress signal were about a kilometer or so away from the city itself, but it was a good place to take stock and, if she so chose, ask around for information.

"Hey, who's the pilot here?" He should know as well as she did that 'not far away' meant next to nothing here; slip space and physical space didn't interact that nicely. That would be too easy. She herself was no expert, either, but there were tools for that, fortunately. Precision took entire teams and really good computers, but she didn't need to be super precise - just to get there.

"I'm going to go get the ship ready. Can you help me prep some rations?" 'Getting the ship ready' would also include setting up flight paths - all the tools she had for doing that were built into the damned thing.

[groundedxdreamer]

"Yeah, but now this just seems like a really dumb trap, if you ask me."

Hopefully, it really was someone just that desperate for help. But there was only one way to find out.

"Lucky for you, Karava's not that far away. We're actually pretty close to Sangheili space, turns out."

"This signal actually being him was never an option." At least, as far as she was concerned. "But it could still be somebody trying a hail mary for help." Somebody they likely knew, even, if that was the case - somebody who couldn't reveal their own identity too clearly. Seemed like the perfect place for somebody on the run from the law to hide, right?

"Give me a bit to plot a route, and we'll work from there, yeah?"

[groundedxdreamer]

"Nothing particularly useful... except for the fact that the distress signal's coordinates are coming from Karava."

York leaned back in his chair, turning it around to face Lina. Right, she may not even know what planet that was.

"Backwater Sangheili planet, big mixed species population--including humans who don't have much love for the UNSC. It seems like the last place a guy like the Director would ever go, which really just makes me more suspicious that this is a trap. But I guess we'll find out, huh?"

"You know I can't turn down a challenge like that." A ghost of a grin paired itself with her response, but it was gone before it was fully realized.

"I'm gonna go get stuff ready. I'll ping you when I have information. Get some sleep." And that was an order. Ending the call, she sat in the hallway in silence for a moment, eyes closed, head leaning back against the wall, before eventually pulling herself to her feet and heading to York's little listening outpost. "... Find anything?"

[groundedxdreamer]

"'Course I can." He'd practically built this house from the ground up; no one else could keep an eye on better than him. "Before you go tomorrow, we'll have to talk to the kids about it, let 'em know you're... going on a job, I guess?"

Except she wasn't getting paid for it... not that they needed the money.

"But yeah, we can handle that later. Go give Church a call, and I'll see if I can get any more information about where this signal came from."

"I'm gonna go get my gear and give him a call. I'll probably head out in the morning; gives me time to get travel rations together." And explain to everybody what was going on, at that. She couldn't help but feel that this felt eerily similar to her mother's last deployment - but she trusted York to handle the 'worst case' a hell of a lot better, and had already built in contingencies for it - namely, Church. Somebody has to be the voice of reason.

"Think you can hold down the fort?"

[groundedxdreamer]

"He always does." York didn't know Church nearly as well as Carolina did, but he knew enough to know that the AI would definitely pitch a fit about this whole situation. But that was probably a good thing--the more people watching her back, the better.

And there really was no way to stop her at this point. If nothing else, finding out the truth behind this message would be nice.

"You know I always worry about you," he said, standing up and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I just worry more when you're far away, is all. I trust you to get the job done, I just hope it goes smoothly. Maybe, if we're lucky, it'll just lead to some pointless dead end and you can head back."

"Oh, he's getting dragged into this one way or another." It had taken some work - a lot of it - but the same person that had helped re-stabilize Church had been instrumental in setting up a stable long-range communicator that she could rig up to her helmet.

Their last miracle - direct contact on Church's side with all of her tech from absolutely absurd range, made possible by some ludicrously expensive technology that was apparently considered military standard for some of their alien friends; they'd just had to repurpose it a little for this. That had been way above her expertise. The communicator was a little big to plug into her implant; while the equipment itself was small, the stabilizers and interpreter chips for the encoded information took up a little more. Instead, they'd had to upgrade her helmet to communicate with the hub relay.

"I'm not going to pretend there isn't risk, or that you shouldn't worry - but I'm going to get things handled." Her mind was made up; if she wavered at all, they'd be here all day.

[groundedxdreamer]

"No," he admitted with a sigh. "I'm just worried, y'know?" And why wouldn't he be? The last thing he wanted was to risk their family falling apart one way or another. Suddenly, Carolina being in danger was a lot, lot scarier than it used to be. He'd only recently (relatively speaking) reunited with her, after all.

"...you're right, it wouldn't make much sense for me to go. I know the security systems here like the back of my hand, so I can at least keep an eye out. Plus, I should still be able to stay in contact with you while you're away. And you can call Church..."

"Do you have a solid argument that outweighs the risk that ignoring this potentially brings?" Maybe nothing would happen. But, just as likely, if it was malicious the sender would find another way, and if it was a genuine request for help, the sender would die - and while that wouldn't be on her hands, that didn't make it easier to accept.

"Or you could go. I'd feel better with you here, though; you're my security expert." She'd probably be fine on her own, but he was better at protecting others. All she was ever good at was intervening when the danger was already imminent; that just wasn't acceptable here.

[groundedxdreamer]

York took a deep breath, leaning back against the wall. Logically, it made sense: take the bait and spring the trap on purpose, the sooner the better, and deal with the consequences. It was the safer option than sitting around wondering if the sender came to them instead.

On the other hand... they were retired. They weren't supposed to be doing any fighting anymore, they could leave that to everyone else. Carolina hadn't exactly loved the idea, but the passage of time didn't much care for her opinion on the subject. Plus, the kids...

Keeping them safe was a full time job, regardless of the circumstances.

"...I'm gonna hazard a guess that there's no way I could convince you not to go?"

"Doubtful. Unless they're dealing with some fallout and think I can help, I guess; most of them weren't really to blame for what was happening, but they're also not dumb enough to deliberately pick a fight." For the most part, at least. Enemies or not, nobody got the moral high ground in the past encounters; any new fights, not so much.

"Most of the crew we encountered are dead; I have that on the good authority of a deeply traumatized man." A dead traumatized man.

"... I think I have to take the bait, though. If it's somebody who needs help, I can't wait, and if it's somebody who wants to target me, I can't let them get desperate enough to come here, no matter how well fortified the place is." It's not worth the risk - and they weren't always home.

[groundedxdreamer]

"It's definitely the most likely option." York stifled a chuckle. "And, lets be honest, you are still kinda famous. This is a pretty fucked-up way of getting your attention, but you can't argue with results."

But that's exactly what had him worried. There were a thousand other ways to get her attention that didn't require mimicking the voice of her dead father. Was it meant to rattle her?

"My concern is who wants your attention so badly. Someone who worked for Hargrove, maybe?"

She had told him what had gone down on Chorus in great detail by this point, and the former Chairman of the UNSC Oversight Subcommittee was still behind bars to this day. But even with Charon Industries being disbanded, that didn't mean there weren't still folks out there with a grudge.

Still standing next to the bench, as she needed some time to cool down before relaxing too much, she took it and listened to the offending message, a hard expression overtaking her features immediately. Her feelings on the subject of her father were complicated and deeply nuanced, and her expression in regard to this was likely equally difficult to parse.

"... It's bait." Had to be. The man had locked himself into an airtight bunker alone with a gun; that's not a move you make if you're planning to walk back out.

"The question is why." It could be somebody else who wasn't on the best of terms with the UNSC and needed a way to get her attention, and her relationship with the Director wasn't exactly a secret these days.. But then it would have to be somebody who knew him, or at least his vocal mannerisms. This could just be well researched.

"It could be a trap, meant to lure me in, or it could be somebody who knows more than I'd like them to know who needs help but can't telegraph too much." Coded messages tended to be how oppressed people operated, out of necessity more than anything; she'd learned that long ago, but only really associated it with oppression on Chorus.

"... Famous is a stretch, I think."

[groundedxdreamer]

"No. Well... maybe?" It'd be a weird fucking code, if that was the case. A message in the Director's voice just meant one of two things: the real deal was somehow still alive, or someone was doing a hell of an impersonation. Both possibilities were worrying in their own way.

"Just go ahead and take a listen," he added, sitting down next to her and offering the datapad. "That'll probably tell you everything you need to know, honestly."

"Been a couple years." She'd been more than happy to disappear and let herself fade into obscurity, as much as was possible; there was still a massive legal mess, what with her being 'alive' and settling out her father's death, reconnecting with grandparents (they were still alive, which had impressed her - but definitely getting up there in age), and sorting out endless piles of paperwork.

Really, the military allowing her discharge without significant repercussion had been a small miracle.

She stepped past York, to the bench by the door where she kept a cool water bottle, alongside a couple other things for her workout, taking a healthy drink.

"Is it in some kind of code?" His hesitation indicated some kind of catch, but if he didn't think it were important somehow, he wouldn't have brought it to her.

[groundedxdreamer]

York hadn't been a fan of the 'vertical gym' idea at first, but he knew Carolina loved a good climb; the net had been a good compromise. Hell, even he liked to utilize the verticality from time to time.

Terrible on the joints, though.

"Not quite sure," He stated as Carolina, quite dramatically, landed in front of him. In his hands was a datapad, on which he had recorded the message he'd found. "Intercepted a distress call that... might be meant for you?"

On the flip side, Lina found herself having a hard time relaxing - to absolutely nobody's surprise. Routine seemed to help; they both handled their individual paranoia in different manners, both fitting for their own personalities. He watched, listened, and fortified; that had always been his style. Perhaps the smarter one, as time went on; while she'd no intent of letting her routine slip, she knew very well that she wasn't in her prime anymore.

"Up." Of course, if they were going to build their own gym, she'd insisted on some vertical options; it's not like they had a budget, and they had plenty of time to figure it out - and some tools that they probably weren't actually supposed to have. She had climbing tools for the field, sure, but she'd much rather practice how to scale things without said tools. York had made her install a net for safety, which... Fair, honestly; she needed to stop letting pride get her in unnecessary danger. The net did, however, mean she could dramatically fall and bounce up, swinging over the side of the net with a firm grip on her way back down, and hitting the ground with a tuck and roll. Honestly, she was about done anyway, and that had taken enough effort after a good workout that she'd need a moment.

"Everything alright?"

[groundedxdreamer]

@perpetualxfire

York liked to think he had adjusted to a life of peaceful domesticity pretty well, honestly.

Levosia was more or less a backwater Outer Colony these days, untouched even by the Covenant during the war and with little in the way of historical significance. He and Carolina didn't have to worry about the bad memories connected to Earth or Meridian this way, and they still could stay in close contact with Church over in Quarian space with few issues. And there was just enough sense of community that they didn't feel entirely isolated either, even if many of the locals weren't big fans of the UNSC--good thing they weren't either anymore. It wasn't perfect, but it was a place they could call home.

And the kids loved it. Mandy loved exploring the woods--Liam not so much, but he liked following his big sister around regardless, and the relative peace and quiet was right up his alley.

All in all, a little slice of paradise.

Or, at least, it usually was. The Outer Colonies were a dangerous place post-war, and old habits died hard; York had tried to make his home a good place to raise a family AND an impenetrable fortress at the same time, and he was always on the lookout for suspicious signals that might be a portent of incoming trouble. Usually, he didn't find much of interest at is little monitoring station, but today was different.

Normally, he just bounced incoming distress signals towards the busier areas of UNSC space so they could get detected more reliably, but this one gave him pause.

This message is for the famous vigilante--she knows who she is. I am in imminent danger and require immediate assistance. Meet me at these coordinates.

"Son of a bitch..." York grumbled to himself at he stared at the text on the screen. He recognized that accent, that voice, and he knew who he was talking about. Despite his better judgment, he knew there was no ignoring this. At the very least, she deserved to see it for herself--so he made a beeline for their home gym to try and track her down. Seemed like a reliable place to start.

"Lina? You in here?"

[groundedxdreamer]

🍈

Nice. Aaaand saved.

[Text: Carolina] I'll be over in five. That's the plan here, right?

[groundedxdreamer]

Send 🍈 for your muse to accidentally send their boob pic to my muse

[groundedxdreamer]

Alright, here's a proper pinned post for my blog, to make life easier for mobile users.

This is an independent roleplay blog for Agent York from Red vs. Blue. However, I am very AU and crossover friendly.

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