[video]

[fargoneconclusion]

[ A purple armored humanoid is broadcasting from in front of a white wall. That's all that can really be gleaned from the visual of the feed. North has decided that the best way to handle this is to keep as many personal details out of it, so not even his helmet is removed. Anyone who attempts to extrapolate geodata from the feed will find that it is now set to the North Pole. ]

This is Agent North Dakota of... formerly of the UNSC. I think it's a couple hundred years too early for that. Nowadays, I guess you could say I'm from the United States.

I've done some scanning of the Network, and I've found evidence of some of my teammates having been here in the past.

[ Actually, it was Theta who scanned the Network, but North is determined to not immediately mention the little AI. It's worrying that he's found evidence of himself - or someone claiming to be himself - without having any knowledge of the situation.

North has asked Theta to look into it further, comparing the archived videos of that "North" and the others with data compiled from their known counterparts, but it seems to be taking an inordinately long time. Theta feels distracted, anxious. That's never a good sign. ]

If there are any active or retired members of the UNSC, please identify yourselves. There are too many reported instances of imPorts disappearing from this universe to assume that you are still present.

[ It would be nice if South was here and their relationship was its old, playfully competitive self once more, but North would settle for having any of the Freelancers. York would be a solid choice. He'd like to know what Delta would make of this. ]

Comments

video

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

[There's a guy in the video who looks pleased to see North.]

North Dakota. It's good to see you again. I don't know if you remember me- Jacob Taylor? I was in a paintball exercise you ran, once.

[Texas was the opposing team captain. She brutalized him, but dammit it was a learning experience.]

video

[fargoneconclusion]

[ Paintball? North shakes his head slightly, in response to Theta's excitement buzzing around his head and the man's question. No, he doesn't remember Jacob, and it bothers him that something has been messing with his head without his permission. ]

I'm sorry, but I don't have any memories of being here before. It's nice to meet you now, Jacob. I hope I wasn't too hard on you.

video

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

No, you were great. Agent Texas, on the other hand...

[Jacob winces at the memory, rubs the back of his head.]

But you know what they say: hard training makes for easier combat. I'm a soldier from the future, like you. Different universe, but similar job.

video

[fargoneconclusion]

Oh, Texas was with us?

[ North chuckles and stretches as best he can in his armor to crack his neck. ]

You're not going to offend me if you say that she's tougher than I am.

[ He is well aware of that particular fact. He wouldn't want to be in her shoes. ]

Should I be... concerned that they've been bringing in so many soldiers for a planet that's not at war? You, myself, the alien princess. You've met one of my teammates, and I think more of them were here once.

video

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

Yeah, she was. And she's definitely tougher than you- tougher than most people, I'd say.

[There aren't many people Jacob will admit to being completely outclassed by in terms of combat skill. Texas is one of them.]

You should definitely be concerned. Technically there's still a war on, but the news has been awfully quiet since we beat the Soviets earlier this year. Maybe a peace agreement was signed and they just didn't advertise it. But even besides that, there's plenty of danger around.

Voice;

[exceptfebruary]

A couple hundred years too early. What year are you from?

To my nearest estimation, +/- 1 year

[fargoneconclusion]

2552. It's a bit of a culture shock.

[exceptfebruary]

[ There's a short pause. ] About 536 years from now. The same leap in time backwards from now would predate the Gregorian calendar by over a hundred years. You are too early.

[fargoneconclusion]

I'm sorry. I'll try to be on time the next time this happens.

[ His joking is seasoned with warmth and earnesty. It's almost enough to believe that he won't be early ever again. ]

video

[catchacold]

You've done a lot of work really fast, if you already scanned the network.

[Missing his own teammates, he wonders.]

How far back did you have to go?

video

[fargoneconclusion]

I don't know about that. Maybe I've been here awhile, and I like to figure out the basics before I go around asking questions.

[ He does like to know what he's talking about. That much is true. He doesn't want to be too easily pegged down by questions, because he - the other he? North 0.1? He doesn't know how to refer to his former counterpart on this plane, but North doesn't like how information about himself, his AI, and his sister is floating around without his consent. ]

I went back about 2 years, but I found they were here more recently than that. Is there someone you're looking for?

video

[catchacold]

Beginning of the month still. You must at least have a quick method of scanning the network.

[He's just saying. He thinks for a moment, then shrugs.]

I don't know. Wouldn't really do me any good, knowing they've once been here.

video

[fargoneconclusion]

You should scan the network and find out if I do.

[ It's not a no, but he's going to slide away from the topic of how he scanned the network and how long he's been here. ]

I guess I'm a curious person. I'd want to know if they were okay, if there was any chance they'd still be here, if they were safe while they were. It wouldn't do me any good, but I'd want to know how I'm handling it in comparison.

voice

[failureisntachoice]

About time a friendly face showed back up here. [ And while her tone doesn't sound overjoyed, she's glad to see someone from her place has made a reappearance. ]

Do you need the whole spiel or do you remember who I am?

Voice

[fargoneconclusion]

Is everyone going to get on my back about being too late or too early?

[ His question is only to give him time to consider hers. North thinks it's a trick question, but the only catch he can see is the time travel element. He could've been abducted before Texas was introduced to the rest of the Freelancers. ]

If it's all the same, I'll skip the spiel, Agent Texas - unless you think there's something I'd be missing.

Voice

[failureisntachoice]

Considering you didn't miss much? I wasn't planning on it.

[ Not when she can find something else to harass him about. ]

That depends on when you're from, North. Do you have Theta with you?

Voice

[fargoneconclusion]

[ And here he thought this was going to be a vacation from South harassment. North is about to confirm the AI's presence when Theta does it for him, as the open feed picks up their conversation.]

She's asking about me! Why is she asking about me?

Because you're the best AI in the entire project, and a pretty darned good marker for how long I've been at Project Freelancer. Isn't that right, Tex?

video

[fastballspeciaaaaal]

I'm not a solider-y type [OBVIOUSLY], but I was an honorary Blue before all of Blue Team disappeared. [A proud little smile accompanies that. since nobody ever told her how terrible they are.]

The Blues were UCSB, right?

video

[fargoneconclusion]

[ He has NO idea who or what she's talking about, but she's a kid, so he's not going to rudely correct her notions.

North is, however, going to delay responding for a few minutes while he and Theta go through the Network to try and figure out who the Blues are. His first guesses, Carolina and Florida, turns out to be wrong. ]

Oh, Wash's friends.

[ ... who the heck are they? What stupid quartermaster gave that Caboose guy a set of MJOLNIR armor and has he been court-martialed yet? He still doesn't understand it, and trying has given him a headache. ]

You must be pretty special to have made the Blue Team so young.

[ She was probably a huge improvement. ]

video

[fastballspeciaaaaal]

Walla Walla, yeah! [She liked to give the colourful space people nicknames and that's the lovely nickname Wash ended up with. It's one of the more nonsensical ones.]

Uh-huh, I was a pretty essential part of the team. I made their headquarters sign.

[It was kickass. Though, honestly, her recruitment to Blue Team was mostly just a combination of Caboose liking her and Wash trying to keep her from dying in the absence of parental supervision.]

video

[fargoneconclusion]

[ There's a tiny pink firework, and Theta appears.

Like Walla Walla, Washington. Hey, North, how come you don't have a nickname?

Because I think my nickname's North.

[ So much for keeping Theta on the downlow, but it hardly matters. Thanks to his previous time here (?? - the concept still hurts his head), people would suspect Theta was with him anyway. ]

So you made their sign, huh? That sounds pretty important to me. After all, how would the Blues know where their base is without you?

[ Sure. What top secret, Freelancer base doesn't need a sign? North manages to not rub his forehead or excuse himself for an aspirin. A sign. He's going drown Wash in lockdown paint when he sees him. ]

voice forever

[arkproject]

If you're from that far in the future, couldn't you just run a search function on your teammates' names and see if their network IDs are still active?

The government deactivates the phones that aren't in use, so the ping should come back non-functional if they aren't around.

voice is fine with him

[fargoneconclusion]

You're the first person to explain that to me. Now that I know they deactivate the phones, maybe there's something I can do.

On it!

It assumes that they haven't destroyed the devices though. I wouldn't put it past them.

[arkproject]

[ Cheerily, ] Probably most people don't realize you can use that as a search criteria.

That paranoid, huh? ... And who was that?

[fargoneconclusion]

My friends are an eclectic bunch.

[ He's putting it mildly. Paranoid, eccentric, adrenaline junkies - there's at least four Freelancers that North suspects would bust the communicator in a fit of pique. ]

That's a friend of mine. He's good with computers.