[h2][b]Narak 'Chorna - The [i]Immaculate Aegis[/i][/b][/h2] [hr] Floats initially hesitated at Strevrols question, but after a high-pitched vocalization, it started to "speak" towards the translator with its sign language. Although, even just a short time reading the words projected by the translator demonstrated that the Huragok had a very liberal interpretation of the word "important." It started to speak about every single system it could think of, from shields to emergency lighting. Not only that, but all of the information it was giving about the systems had no common threads between them, and were often just trivial details. Narak actually started to laugh, and eventually interrupted Floats. "If asked, a Huragok would give you every trivial detail about every single system, in terms you may or may not understand. If you wish to learn from a Huragok, you need to ask far, [i]far[/i] more specific questions." [hr] [h3][b]Dr. Fiona O'Connell - The [i]Immaculate Aegis[/i][/b][/h3] [hr] "Yes...essentially." Dr. O'Connell answered to the Spartan. Given that two voices had come from the helmet of one of the others, she assumed that one of them was the AI. "As you probably know, Covenant slipspace technology is much faster than ours, but even that is not enough in this galaxy. For this universe, much quicker FTL travel seems to be the norm. Since there is no way we are going to be able to scavenge a hyperdrive for this size of ship, we need your help to improve the capabilities of the [i]Aegis'[/i] slipspace borer. I believe it is possible without substantial changes to the borer itself. Covenant technology was all reverse-engineered from Forerunner technology, and the Prophets never really had that great of an understanding of it. So, most of their technology works quite inefficiently. One UNSC AI, Cortana, was able to upgrade the weapons and slipspace capabilities of a Covenant DDS-class carrier purely by improving that efficiency. She had access to a mountain of data recovered from the first Halo ring...but I also have copies of much of that data. And more. I intend to give you copies of all the data I have on Covenant and Forerunner technology, and all of the six years of post-war technological progress we have made. Between all of that, myself, and the experts from the other universes, I am hoping we will be able to get this done quickly." As O'Connell led the Spartans through the ship, many members of the [i]Aegis'[/i] crew, Sangheili in particular, took particular interest in them. Having visitors on the ship was unusual for them, but seeing Spartans was even more exceptional. It was possible that some had encountered Spartans at some point in their military service, either before or after the war, but most had only heard stories about them. To some Sangheili, the Spartans' legendary prowess was something to be respected, and to others, it was a challenge. Regardless of their thoughts on the Spartans, O'Connell was sure most of the warriors on the ship would have relished the opportunity to prove themselves against a Spartan. If it did ever happen, O'Connell just hoped it was in a sparring match rather than a shootout. In an effort to keep the Spartans from focusing [i]too[/i] much on the warriors they were passing, O'Connell decided to answer the AI's initial questions, and hopefully put the Spartans' minds [i]somewhat[/i] at ease regarding the Sangheili. "If you want to know more about events since your time...where do I even begin? So much happened in the last year of the war, but it all went so fast after the first Halo ring was discovered. The first ring was destroyed by the Master Chief, Spartan-117. You, well, you obviously know him. He was really at the center of it all. The thing that first started causing division within the Covenant was after the Master Chief killed the High Prophet of Regret. The Prophet of Truth decided to replace all of the Sangheili honor guards with Brutes and task them with protecting the Prophets, either because he no longer trusted the Sangheili to protect them, or just because he saw it as a political opportunity to elevate the status of the Brutes. Either way, Truth eventually betrayed the Sangheili entirely, and shortly afterwards, the Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam, learned from a Forerunner monitor the truth about the Halo array. That being the fact that the Halo array is a weapon designed to kill all sentient life in the galaxy, and not some path to a religious 'Great Journey', as the prophets believed. So, that was the start of our alliance. The Sangheili learned that their religion was a lie, and the Prophet of Truth decided that the Brutes would be easier to control than the Sangheili, presumably. That, or he was just an idiot. Either way, Master Chief and the Arbiter both worked together to kill Truth, and then to destroy the Flood, which...is a whole [i]other[/i] story." Eventually, the group did reach the lab, where it seemed that the other scientists had started to question Floats Easily. Though, she was sure that either the AI, Spartans, or some other UNSC personnel would have plenty more questions for her about their galaxy's "future".