Captain Cutter and Serina were already looking at the star map Professor Anders had sent them on the journey back up.
Shawn, already knowing what would happen, mostly tuned out as they argued.
"So all it did was point here?" Cutter asked skeptically as Anders sighed again. "Yes, in the thirty seconds I had to examine the artifact, all it did was point to a second star system." "Arcadia, to be exact," Serina said as she showed pictures from the planet's resorts. "The population is a little under three million, but it's quite the tourist spot."
Professor Anders turned to the Captain, "There's something there, Captain, and I think it's important we get to it before the Covenant does." She said as Cutter shook his head, "Our orders are to investigate Harvest. We still don't know a lot about what's going on down there." "I understand that, Captain, but everything I see here tells me that we need to get to Arcadia to figure this out."
The Captain looked to Serina and the Spartan for support, but they both just shrugged. "Very well, Professor. I'll clear it with Admiral Cole. Serina, set course for Arcadia." He said as he walked out, muttering to himself.
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Now on a lower deck, Shawn is using a fabricator to repair a few small dings in his armor as Sgt Forge walks over. "I didn't know you could take all the off by yourself." He said surprised to see the chest plate in two pieces, one in the machine, the other in Shawn's hands as he went over it with a spray gun.
"It sucks, but I had to learn since I'm usually put out in the middle of nowhere, really helps to know how to service everything without needing a techy nearby." He joked as Forge laughed, "I hear that, so what's the plan? Is the Captain going to follow the Professor's star map?" Shawn nodded. "He's clearing it with Cole right now."
Just as he said that, Serina came over the PA. [All hands, prepare for slip space jump, secure all cargo and report to cryo bays.] "Better get going then, see you in a bit." Forge said waving as Shawn stayed to finish on his armor.
Finished with his armor, Shawn put it back on before returning to his ship. Entering the Prowler he went to the armor station and fully removed the suit. Breathing in the 'fresh' air of the ship, he hazed into his helmets faceplate for a few moments before making sure no lasting damage had been inflicted.
Despite the advances Halsey had made, she was still unable to reverse engineer the Elites shield tech, so Spartans were still at risk when plasma weapons were involved. John and Blue Team already had a few close calls, but the others quickly learned how to fight the Covenant, learning from intel they received or from being sent after important things.
Taking a chip from his helmet, he plugged it into its slot as it started to upload the information it was able to get from the Forerunner relic.
"Personal log. I made contact with the Spirit of Fire and her crew at Harvest, the Forerunner relic was found just like normal. Going to Arcadia next, hopefully I'll be able to save them all, it's so strange to see them in front of me and not from a screen. End Log"
As his ship linked up with the Spirit to jump to Arcadia, Shawn climbed into his cryo pod and listened to music from his past life. [Now playing: Apocalypse by; CAS] He'd searched for days to find any trace of his old life, this was one of the songs he'd been able to find before the war started. He'd asked Halsey to keep an eye out, but he didn't think she'd find much, or even look for that matter.
"You've been locked in here forever and you just can't say goodbye"