Data Drop/POA2

OPERATION: RED FLAG <//> SECTION 3 [STAGGERED SCAN] TAGGED COMM-0233 <//> MULTI-SPLICE CAPTURE ON UNSC PILLAR OF AUTUMN [MST - AUG. 30 - 0414 HRS]

"Dowski, next time you take a picture of something, pull back a bit, will you? It took me a full five minutes to figure out what exactly this was. But yeah, there are eight of these booster packages slapped onto Autumn’s flanking hardpoints—R7 thrust couplings, shipped out from Siófok. EVA techs installed ‘em yesterday and were running tests for three hours straight. But to answer your question...if you’re asking whether I think she’d hold up in-atmo, hell yeah, she’d hold up, but no one here is crazy enough to try it. Class-L flash-docks are basic math for a corvette or a frigate, but for a cruiser like Autumn, well, let’s be real, it’d be like flying a brick with bottle rockets. Those couplings have to be for something else—something not listed in the mission specs. Your guess is as good as mine." PURDY // 63673-45327-GP

"I’ve already done this dance once with the captain and I’ll do it again if I have to. If the Spartans keep pulling more gear from the armory—way more than they need—there’ll be problems. Locklear says they already took all the M90s from the aft rack which is complete BS. I don’t care if it’s functionally the same as the 45E, Wellsley, they don’t have the run on every piece of kit on this ship—there’s only twenty-five of them for god’s sake. Hannover assured me that we wouldn’t be sidelined for RED FLAG and I’m going to make sure that we’re not. We’re here to fight, probably because someone upstairs doesn’t think the Navy can get the job done on its own. Not the first time. Get Keyes on the comm now before I do something I’ll regret." SILVA // 73809-39884-AS

“CO is making me ride shotgun again on Soda so I’m running a final weapons check to make sure none of the system faults we saw yesterday are still red. Can you have maintenance look at the cylinder head on M910 serial A5883? I filed a report earlier about a leak and we’re still seeing fluid seeping out into space... a ton of it! Not sure why the hell they won’t get off their asses to fix it, but now Keyes has seen it and he’s fired up. They’d better get things sorted before we get back. Also, was there some sort of fireworks celebration planned for today that I don’t know about? Our geosynch req’s got us holding steady over Lábatlan, but I swear I saw something flare up over Eposz few minutes ago. We’re way too far to confirm though. My condo’s in New Alexandria. I’ll have to ask Candace if she saw anything when we get back.” ABIAD // 25190-26374-RA

“Can you please get Casimir Station on the line for me again? Cortana’s running through theta right now so I’m trying to check our sensor matrix before it cycles, but I’m noticing some heavy EM readings bouncing off Turul and I’m not sure what to make of it. CTR3 says it’s fine, but I’ve seen fine before and this ain’t it. These numbers...they’re through the damn roof! Is this why FLEETCOM won’t let us out from Lábatlan? Bridge crew is starting to ask questions and the captain’s gonna be here in a few. I’d like a reason for why we’re parked in all of this heavy traffic with the rest of the fleet instead of pushing out pass the moon and I don’t want that scripted crap about their relay being down. Get someone out there to fix the damn thing already if it’s holding up this much traffic!” LOVELL // 78349-90983-WL