- "A dead or dying agent's beacon automatically notifies our recovery team, and we will be on the scene immediately, to secure all the Military's property."
- —The Director about Recovery in Reconstruction: Chapter 8
Recovery is a special operations unit for Project Freelancer, whose primary purpose is to provide medical assistance for injured Freelancers as well as retrieve artificial constructs when their host is killed in action.
Role in Plot[]
Recovery One[]
The Recovery process is revealed in the Red vs. Blue mini-series Recovery One, named after the title character Agent Washington's Recovery call tag. Membership of the Recovery Unit is most likely top secret, as agents not affiliated with the program are led to believe the A.I. is destroyed by the armor when the agent dies. Washington, Texas, York, and Delta have voiced that this is what they previously believed. This is a measure to keep constructs from falling into enemy hands (or possibly even rogue agents). Despite this, something begins to hunt down the Freelancers, apparently with the intent of acquiring the agents' A.I. and equipment. In reality, A.I. are ultimately considered too expensive and useful to delete. The Freelancer program calculated that the cost to retrieve A.I. from their dead hosts and store them for later use or study was cheaper than deleting and replacing them.
Reconstruction[]
In the trailer for Reconstruction, Recovery agents Six and Nine are introduced, though they are killed while investigating Valhalla. The Director of Project Freelancer is requested to report on the incident at Outpost 17-B and reports that no one survived, a total loss; despite the fact they debrief Private Walter Henderson, a survivor of the Meta's attack.[1] Recovery Command dispatches Washington to Blood Gulch; the last known location of the Omega A.I., which was responsible for the members of Valhalla turning on one another.
Disbandment[]
However, Washington, the Reds, and Blues later aided in revealing the program's criminal actions and brought Project Freelancer to justice. After the investigation by the UNSC, Project Freelancer, including the Recovery branch, was shut down and notable members were arrested. It's unknown how many and which members of Recovery were convicted.
Elements[]
Insignia[]
The Project Freelancer insignia, made up of a triplicate, represents the Recovery force and its agents. The insignia appears on the shoulders of Recovery Six and Nine as well as the uniform of the Counselor. Washington and South do not have the insignia on their armor, however. It later appears on F.I.L.S.S.' monitor in Revelation.
Recovery Mode[]
When a Freelancer or simulation trooper is injured or incapacitated, their armor enters Recovery mode, a state in which the soldier is kept alive for a certain amount of time until their armor is extracted by a Recovery agent or until their operator regains consciousness. The term is first seen in Snooze Button, when the Reds and Blues' armor is put under armor lock by F.I.L.S.S. After she releases all units, it is revealed that Donut, who was previously shot by Washington in Recreation, entered armor lock prior to F.I.L.S.S.' order to release all soldiers. This, fortunately, kept Donut alive.
Armor Lock[]
"Besides, don't they say revenge is a dish best served... frozen?"
Armor lock is a sequence in which a character becomes immobile for a duration of time, ranging from short to long. It first appears in Restraining Orders, in which the Reds and Blues are locked inside their suits by F.I.L.S.S., only to be later be released by the latter. Armor Lock makes a more prominent appearance in Season 15, where it is mainly used as a weapon by Mark Temple. In Battlescars, Temple lures Washington and Carolina in a secret room full of Freelancer corpses, before using a remote to lock their armor in place. Upon doing this, he reveals that one has only survived in Armor Lock for 8 days and 11 hours. Later, in Blue vs Blue, Temple uses Armor Lock to freeze the Reds and Blues in place, with the exception of Caboose, who has a custom-made helmet, protecting him from being put into Armor Lock.
Recovery Beacon[]
When a Freelancer agent or simulation trooper dies or is dying, his/her armor transmits a distress signal to command. A Recovery agent is sent to recover them, their A.I. and their armor enhancement before they fall into enemy hands or the AIs are terminated. Failing the recovery of an A.I., the enhancement or even the body, any information given to command would be acceptable.
Examples of Recovery Beacons[]
- Not mentioned in Out of Mind, but when Agent New York was Killed In Action (KIA), his Recovery Beacon activated, as seen in Recovery One: Part One and agent Washington was sent to 'recover' him, his A.I. and enhancement.
- Just after Washington recovers Delta from a deceased Agent York, the former receives another signal from Agent North Dakota, to discover his A.I., Theta and his enhancement gone.
- In the Reconstruction Trailer, when the Meta attacks agents Recovery Six and Recovery Nine, they can be seen having their beacons activate as the Meta uncloaks and walks towards them.
- In Reconstruction: Chapter 6, Agent South is under attack from the Meta, and activates her beacon as her domed energy shield protects her and Delta.
- In Reconstruction: Chapter 7, the beacon for Agent Maine, AKA the Meta, activates as he searches for a source of power.
- In Reconstruction: Chapter 19, Agent Washington is shot by the Meta and his own Beacon activates.
- In Perusing the Archive, Wash discovers C.T.'s body after her beacon was activated.
- In Tenth Percentile, Epsilon activated a recovery beacon after he was wounded by Tex, which may imply that Freelancer A.I. are also capable of doing so even in the absence of their Freelancer.
- In Battlescars, Wash and Carolina activate their beacons to be rescued from Illinois' refuge.
Inconsistencies[]
- When Tex is first killed in Last One Out, Hit the Lights, if her Recovery Beacon did activate, no agent was sent to retrieve her, though this may be due to her leaving the project or she removed the beacon herself. Another possibility is that V.I.C. nullified the Recover Beacon.
- When Washington was shot by South in Recovery One: Part Four, his beacon did not activate. Or, if it did, command expected it and deliberately sent no one out to recover him. Based off Four Seven Niner's conversation with South, the latter is more likely.
- When C.T. died in her armor, no recovery beacon was apparently sent. Yet, when the Insurrectionist Leader later died in that same armor, there was a beacon.
- If the Recovery Beacon's sensors are located in the helmet, then there is less of an inconsistency, as C.T. had taken off her helmet before she died and the Insurrectionist Leader put it on afterwards, meaning the sensors only recorded the vitals of a living person.