Conflicting Objectives XXXVII

It took John several hours to get most of the basic Ursus' system operational again.

While talking about the most basic ones, it was by no means related to making it able to move around and fight, rather than that, he barely restored sensors and visibility around the area.

However, what appeared in front of his eyes after regaining controls to this extent was by no means something Marlow ever wanted to see - numerous buildings erected by settlers were either damaged or destroyed, same as escape pods and transporters that originally reached this area to establish the first camp that grew later on to be renamed as First Haven. Moreover, he could see storehouses were in bad shape, seemingly having resources plundered or damaged.

Of course, the footage and data gathered by Ursus were limited, so his understanding of the situation was only fragmentary, but already now, major could easily say that over eighty percent of the settlement was severely affected and repairing of the damage caused would take several weeks with about between thirty to fifty percent of damaged objects being beyond repair. For many people, such numbers could mean there was no point in keeping this place operational.

With all that in mind, John preferred to focus on more pressing matter rather than thinking about what comes in the future - there were many wounded people and there could be deaths if nothing was done.

From the data he had from the functional systems, all the fighting that happened was already over and saboteurs have left the premises before he regained controls, being outside of effective range of any weapons they had at First Haven's disposal - in short, there was no immediate danger coming from outside, therefore Marlow could fully focus on helping out with rescue and treatment of the personnel.

First thing was re-establishing the comms which were disrupted for some time now - quick checks John did through Ursus' systems showed its involvement in the process. Several actions from him were enough to unblock majority of inter-PEC channels within a matter of minutes.

Once done with that, major attempted to get in touch with his recent companions, hoping they were all safe.

- We suffered some injuries, but none are lethal, sir - sarge Szarak reported once they managed to connect their PECs - I'm currently inside the settlement's command centre and can confirm all key personnel is safe. Overall, we have found only a few casualties on the premises of the First Haven so far. Given the extent of the incident, I would say we kept the damage to minimum.

- Ok, report received. Since I'm still locked inside Ursus, I will require a moment to reach your location - major Marlow informed - In the meantime, I will also have the mecha's sensors gather additional data on the surroundings' status. In case of any issues, be sure to reach out to me.

- Affirmative. Be careful, major.

They cut the channel afterwards, each of them shifting their focus solely to the most pressing matters at hand - John had to work on taking full control of Ursus, or getting out of it at least, while Stan proceeded with helping out with the damage control and immediate repairs.

The longer Marlow was working on Ursus' systems the more convinced he was that Sveta wanted him to get the machine fully operational, but over time - locks she put in the code were not too complex, yet adjusting subsequent lines was enough to delay the whole process.

While proceeding with his main focus, major was allowing his PEC to run additional analysis related to his observations made during the time spent on the New Gaia's surface - he managed to gather lots of materials accompanied by individual notes on possible connections between them, therefore all scheduled checks he could think of required massive amount of processing power and time. Because of that and resources usage, John was running this as a side task regularly, though it still meant at least a week of continuous work for his implant to be done with current queue, and he could not exclude the possibility of subsequent tasks producing results for even more complex analysis. Ultimately, he wanted to establish a proper lab for reviewing the data, but with current state of affairs, this was not possible at this point of time.

Either way, regaining full control over the mecha took priority, so he was not really looking into the side task at this point, aiming to review the results when there is a proper moment - most likely when they reach the target rally point selected for the main base of operations.

Having spent about an hour on going through the Ursus' systems, John finally reached the point where amount of systems under control was high enough to fully access all areas of the mecha's mainframe.

For a moment, Marlow considered if maybe looking into movement functions should be something to still work on before leaving, but quickly dropped this idea, thinking about potential further sabotage attempts that could make it easier for someone to capture such a dangerous weapon - he did not want to let this happen, especially since Sveta herself, while helping out those people, did not give them such a precious spoil like the mecha.

With key systems available, major locked the most important sections of Ursus before heading towards the closest elevator. Walking there took him several minutes and about a quarter later, he finally got outside.

There was no one in vicinity and John was passing buildings, transporters and other objects of significance in a total silence. Everything around was giving an abandoned town vibes. Yet, it was until he got closer to the command centre where a number of people already gathered - those who were not injured stayed outside, talking with each other, while anyone requiring treatment was walking inside. Surprisingly, most of people appeared calm and there were barely any argument happening.

On the way, Marlow met two guys from the military unit that arrived with him to the First Haven - both men greeted him respectfully while remaining on guard duty, letting him inside the command centre.

The interior of the building was much more rowdy than outside - wounded people did not have the same composure and John could not blame them. Looking around, it seemed like First Haven's town hall also was hit by some terrorist acts, but managed to stay intact to the extent allowing for anyone to be safely sheltered.

As he approached the centre of the building, louder voices could be heard.

- I say this place is no longer safe! We don't have enough people for guard duty which makes us an easy prey! This was supposed to be a joint operation, not some private playground for corporate dogs!

- And you say you would leave everything we worked hard for making ourselves home here? Will you just give up?

- It's not about giving up! We barely made something worth anything and we can make it happen again, I agree. Still! Are we sure similar thing won't happen again? We should be with a bigger group and with more military personnel for safety!

The argument was going on when Marlow walked in, looking around for faces of people he wanted to speak with - he immediately noticed Jeanne Dubois, who was among the crowd where the heated discussion was happening, but preferred to not get himself involved, definitely not at such a moment, therefore he walked further, close to the wall on the way leading to council room.

By the entrance, there were two local militarymen who let him in after a short verification. Inside, there were Connor Cunningham and Stanisław Szarak - the first one was working on some data using his PEC, while the second man was issuing orders using voice communication. Upon noticing John, both quickly completed their tasks.

- Good to see you in perfect health, John - Connor greeted him - It's a really great thing given what we are going through right now. Please, take a seat.

- I can imagine - John replied to him as he sat down at the opposite side of the table - I will help out with anything that needs attention, though I won't lie, I would like to do some real engineering job for a change.

- I doubt this will be necessary - this voice belonged to Jeanne who walked in as he was speaking - Not sure if you had a chance to hear all the talking that happened just a moment ago in the main hall, but majority of people no longer wants to stay in the First Haven. At least, not after what happened today.

- Can you blame them? - Cunningham spoke to her - You work on something with your own hands to see it destroyed by fellow humans, who were supposed to work together for a greater good and yet, some of them ended up destroying other people's hard work. It's obvious they are at loss and feel demotivated.

Miss Dubois sighed and sat down.

- I get them and I'm pissed off myself - she completely dropped off her usual business tone - I had high hopes for this place and was happy seeing how everything is coming along, but then, some idiots destroyed things for their own goals. Honestly, I knew that there would be some corps involved in this whole expedition, wanting to get their hands on the land and resources, yet such underhanded tactics... Maybe I shouldn't have been so stubborn and joined those who wanted to move...

The way she behaved now was completely different for how it was the first time Marlow met her and it would have been a huge problem if she were to have some kind of mental breakdown right now.

- At the same time, you could have been the ones to be in the right here - he spoke - In our current cicumstances it is extremely hard to tell what kind of decision is righ or wrong. However, we still need to make these decisions, no matter what the end result is going to be. Until now, this place functioned perfectly fine and it is only because of some third parties getting people involved. Who could have foreseen that? And, even if you did, do you feel you could stop them?

Jeanne looked a bit shaken for a moment, but quickly regained her composure.

- Yes, you are right. It does not matter how it happened, we now need to think about what comes next, and I think it will make colonel McRae happy. After all, we will be abandoning the First Haven.

When she first mentioned that before, John thought it might have been some kind of negative outburst, Jeanne simply exaggerating. Yet, since she repeated it, there seemed to be no question about it - there was indeed some kind of voting that must have happened.

- I cannot say it makes me happy though - Marlow told her - Indeed, we wanted to get some people from you, but not at the cost of leaving a place that already started looking like a proper town. Even though I have a completely different mission, I feel it is a waste to leave this place after putting so much work into it.

For a moment, he thought miss Dubois was about to cry, but he quickly understood that she was in fact happy because of his words.

- I see I'm not alone thinking that. Then, my work here was not bad after all. Thank you. Now, for what we need to do, I would like to get help from you in organizing the move. After all, even though they stole most of it, we still have a lot of items and resources we would like to take with us. I also hope to secure the spot so it could be potentially used in future.

They went to discuss the details concerning actions that had to be taken for abandoning the First Haven. Taking into account the materials, tools and vehicles, preparations would take 2-3 days, but to move it all - the only solution was Ursus.

- Unfortunately, putting some locked functions aside for now, we don't have a qualified pilot to operate that thing - sarge Szarak pointed out - As Sveta got away with saboteurs, there is literally no one with this expertise. At least, based on the list we have available, no one here has a license. Unless we have someone who is unregistered?

- I guess, we could check with everyone about that - Connor said - But I'd rather go with whoever knows how to pilot mecha than trust someone without an official license. Having a pilot with a verified license versus someone who claims they have skills is a less risky option if you ask me. Ultimately, we can have more than one person onboard for the move to help out and, obviously, start moving it after everyone leaves so no one gets hurt in case of any unwanted damage caused.

Others nodded in agreement.

- So it leaves us with making it fully operational now - John informed - I already took care of most vital systems, but movement and weapons are still locked. Given its size, I doubt we would need weapons though.

- Speaking of locked systems - Jeanne followed up on the topic - I wonder why didn't Sveta just damage the mecha so it couldn't be used anymore. It would've been much easier than going an extra mile to setup locks in the systems. For me, it seems as if she wasted lots of time from the perspective of someone who just wanted to loot our resources.

- Maybe it wasn't out of her own volition? - Stan suggested - When looking at how the things went, she did not hurt major Marlow, she secured the mecha so it couldn't be used in fighting or destroyed, causing even more damage, and she just left quietly with a group of people, not hurting even a single person. If I'm to be honest, it seems as if she did that not voluntarily.

- Well, this is quite common for people to be forced into doing something by blackmailing them or even holding someone dear to them hostage - Cunningham suggested - It wouldn't be surprising if she was in such situation. That would also explain why she left John in a safe spot. Still, if she did that, she might have gotten herself in trouble - he looked at John - Did she tell you anything?

If Marlow was to tell them everything, he would have risked giving them too many details about information Glitter left him. Remembering her warning to not trust others easily, he decided to be as vague about the whole situation as possible.

- She added something to the drink she gave - he said - Then, when I was getting sleepy, she apologized to me, saying she didn't want me to get hurt. Honestly, I doubt she had ill intentions at all.

- So it's likely poor girl was forced into doing something against her will - sarge Szarak concluded - Having said that, it doesn't change the fact she took part in a terrorist act so she should be facing some consequences in future.

- Given we are able to report anything of the sort - miss Dubois pointed out - Either way, we will document this incident properly, so even in case we won't make it, there is a chance someone finds the record. Of course, it's not like I don't intend to make it through...

Her words caused others to smile slightly.

- I doubt anyone here thinks of meeting their end on this planet - Connor told her - At least, each of us would like to contact Earth and staying here would have to be our own choice and not someone else's.

Everyone in the room ended up agreeing on an action plan concerning the move of the whole population from the First Haven to the Industrial Caves. While there were sure to be problems to face, majority of people in the settlement agreed this choice was for the best to ensure safety of the crew.

No one was currently focusing on who were the instigators causing damage and death of their crewmates, while the only person aware of RuzDet's involvement was remaining silent about the fact, wary of potential agents still being around. For now, safe move took priority.