Chapter 3

March 28, 3240, 1017 hours
Site 417, Egarda (Kepler-20f)
Kepler-20 System
Home Universe

Sally had awoken that morning at just after five, something she doubted she could shake with any degree of success. She had risen from the bed immediately thinking of being back home; comparing the room around her to what she had been comfortable with. She thought of the bunkroom on the Indomitable as well and how this closer resembled that. The room she had been allocated was small, though shockingly private. It was the size perhaps of a very large closet with separate window, though the bathrooms were more or less communal. She cleaned herself of the sweat she had accumulated over the last day, and ensured she was in top hygienic condition before leaving to eat breakfast.

She had been thoroughly been informed by Doctor Lee the day before, of the backgrounds of the scientists, their areas of study, and when they had been individually transferred to Site 417. Each had extensive paperwork to go through which necessitated going through every related sheet. While Site 417 had extensive computerized records, she opted to going through the physical backups with NICOLE's help of course. They had been at it for over seven hours by the time they had called it quits. Before she went to bed that night, Sally had forced herself to remember the name of at the very least part of the team. She had seen the name of Doctor Rosa Lindenberg so often though she could swear she would be recalling the name even years after this operation ended. The good Doctor had an impressive background, a prodigy child at an early age who had an innate skill for psychology and interactions with people who had cultivated that skill in specialized school on a world that Sally had never heard of, Contranto, located near Buffer Space, the imaginary line of lawless worlds dividing what was considered 'safe', making her early life a risky one indeed if Covenant Remnant had decided to conduct raids on Human space. On growing up, Lindenberg immigrated to Tribute in the Epsilon Eridani system, only a scant eleven lightyears away from Earth, becoming a citizen of one of the larger countries on the planet and quickly finding work on the University of Balay board of scientific directors. Five years after that, she had been headhunted by the Frontier Corps, and her career really took off.

And yet she ended up here. Fifteen years of high scale digs and at least one extraordinary find relating to pre-Covenant outposts of the Sangheili, she had ended up on Egarda. Not a bad world in its own right. Sally had no doubt that it was because of their current location, but the lower population and lack of political influence said that he world was a backwater, life-giving as it was, and odd given its relative place in Human space.

As she had dressed in a T-shirt and light cargoes, she wondered if the assignment to Egarda was a punishment of some sort. Probably not; Lindenberg had led a sterling career before. Then again, they did need Reclaimers to get into the lower levels of this facility. Sally herself knew that these were technically in finite amounts, herself included. She had even heard that there were breeding programs to produce more Humans to run Forerunner machines. These were, of course, rumors, and ones that came from beyond UEG-held space, so none of her concern in the end. Still, that particular prospect was disturbing if people wanted to get inside a secure Forerunner base or laboratory that badly.

Lindenberg's other scientists however didn't have nearly as impressive a collection of resumes; most of them were grad students, and some were even undergraduates from a motley collection of universities and colleges. She recognized a few of them as being on Earth, though many of them were on countries far flung across the universe. These weren't incredibly important beyond confirming the identities of those that had gone into the structure where they had disappeared. She shuffled the papers back into place and organized them in a folder she had brought along. There wouldn't be any need to go deeper until she was absolutely certain that she had not missed anything. If the doctor's team had tripped something and got themselves zapped, she wanted to be sure that she could recognize faces or distinctive marks or even clothing if shreds of those were left behind. As a precaution, she took scans of the faces with NICOLE's camera, and as a bonus, scanned a code on the same personnel file that actually contained a plan of a three-dimensional rendering of each person's head and face, allowing it to be viewed from any angle needed. All very good and useful to help locate the scientists and determine who was who.

She took a sip of the coffee that had been in the mug next to her and she nearly gagged at the taste. It was burnt, quite badly so, and she had to mask the flavor with an entire cow's worth of milk and half a plantation of sugar. Even then, she could taste it, sloshing around in her mouth, reminding her more of a foul-tasting cough syrup than a drink to keep her on her feet. She swallowed and looked at the cup as if it had grown three pairs of eyes. Still, she had to drink something other than water.

"This is quite the party size, Sal." NICOLE told her as data streamed over her screen. "There's ten people in this particular group."

"Funny huh?" Sally said, glancing at some local maps of the area. "Ten people go missing and not one could think to pick up the phone and dial?"

"Maybe Johnson's right." the AI said. "Maybe they are dead."

"Johnson said that there was foul play involved." Sally corrected.

"Right, sure. But don't you think that's a bit curious?"

"We still have to actually head into the structure itself. We only did a check of the surrounding area, and even then that was a general sweep for tracks or tire markings in the sand."

"I'm just saying. Did you go through the J&L personnel files?"

"No." Sally admitted. "Why would I need to do that?"

NICOLE's holographic form materialized above the table, appearing as if a full-sized Mobian lynx were sitting cross-legged on the surface. The slight flickering as dust motes wafted through the projection broke the illusion.

"I'm looking through them now. Got to say that these guys don't have the strictest vetting process. Can't believe they give these guys loaded weapons."

"Were the J&L files within Site 417's databases?"

"Well... no." The AI admitted. "I had to talk to the base's sysadmin who confirmed that to me. I kind of had to do a bit of extra-digging."

Sally looked up at her, coffee mug slowly setting on the table. "You broke into an off-site PMC's personnel files?"

NICOLE managed to look guilty, which was amazing considering that if she wanted to she could hide that. "Look, it's not like we've done worse over the last few years. Breaking into a few government computers and using their files to our advantage is kind of heavier than a third-rate security firm."

"You know, it's the principle..." Sally said, starting to form an argument, but she sighed explosively and said, "...nevermind, just show me."

NICOLE smiled. Her form vanished, and in its place was a collection of holographic documents, each with a name and personnel record attached to it. They scrolled by incredibly quickly, and Sally realized that perhaps this was the entire company's record of its employees everywhere. She was proved correct in this realization when NICOLE isolated twelve files and displayed them in rows and columns.

"These are all of the security officers on-site right now." the voice said out of thin air. "Twelve individuals, each of... questionable reputation."

Sally looked at the pages as close as she could. The resolution on the hologram was quite good so she could make out the text. After glancing at a few, she started to notice a few peculiarities, especially when the company had elected to place a 'Concerns' section on the CV of these men and women. On further inspection, she felt a combination of confusion, dread, and morbid curiosity. Nearly every single person on this list had written in this section a complete record of infractions, misdemeanors, and in two cases, felonies.

"What the hell?" Sally asked. "Who OK'd this? Who thought this was a good idea?"

"I know, right? There isn't really any laws on hiring cons; a lot of companies give people a second chance at a reputation of course, but this list... ah... this throws up a lot more red flags than it should."

Sally held her hands over her mouth as she read the files with felonies on them. Of those two, one of them was the commanding officer of this contingent of men.

"Captain Deric Karr." Sally read. "Age 37, born on Xi Bootes Ac, served in the UNSC Army; local garrison force... oh, and in addition to that, served five years in prison for assaulting an officer on two occasions. The first time he got demoted. Second time he ended up in a place called... the 'Lagoon'."

"UNSC military prison on the planet. Don't let the name fool you; the Lagoon is in the polar regions."

This was not good. Karr seemed to have been jailed for a serious offense, and the fact that he had done so twice meant that he had the ability and the motivation to bring violence against anybody. She did not have the reason as to why Karr had struck his commander, but what had happened in the end was just as chilling: he had been granted the position of Captain among his men.

Did Karr perhaps have something to do with the disappearances? Maybe he went in along with the scientists? Maybe he was the one that later reported that everyone had gone missing? There were certainly a lot of maybes in her reasoning, not to mention a chain of evidence that she was clearly missing. She had nothing to prove that Karr even went into the ruins in the first place. This dejected her somewhat as she was entertaining the idea of the man as a suspect.

Maybe she still could get this out of the way. There was no harm in at the very least eliminating Karr as a suspect, as flimsy as her reasoning was. She could also use him to further her own exploration of the Forerunner ruins. That settled it. She would kill two birds with one stone. If both of these were dead ends, at the very least she would get it off the list. She steeled herself and downed the rest of the bad coffee, stowed the rest of the files in her folder, and made sure to grab NICOLE before she left the room.

The rest of her team were wasting time in their own bunkrooms. They had to, as there was no real direction as to how to proceed. Generally speaking, the Marines and Roberts were exercising in one form or another to keep sharp. It was something she herself had done regularly. If there was one thing that being in the UNSC did for you, it was keep you in shape. She flexed her abdomen at the thought and shuddered to think of going soft in any way. She gathered them up and told them what she had decided to do.

"I wasn't expecting you to actually give that any thought." Johnson said a little sheepishly. "I just wanted to contribute."

Sally looked at them all in turn and put her hands on her hips. "We need to think this through thoroughly, guys. We need to explore all the angles. For all we know this is the right track."

"So." Kanow asked, crossing his arms. "Just how would Karr be able to kill ten scientists?"

"We don't know he was the only one. He could have had a posse."

"I think you're grasping at straws. I think we need to investigate the ruins before we start jumping to conclusions. That's the most likely place they would have gone."

"That's my plan actually, Shane." Sally said, shifting her weight. "This is what we're going to do: the first of which is that we're going to tell Doctor Lee about what we think."

"He's not going to like that; that we suspect their own security guys." Roberts said with a detectable note of apprehension in his voice. "He might shut us down."

"He can't do that." Sally said. "We're operating under the authority of a UNSC flag officer who greenlit this investigation. As Doctor Lee and the Frontier Corps are also under the UNSC, he has no right to refuse us. He doesn't have to like it."

"We may find nothing." Kanow said, growing more annoyed.

"Relax." Sally said, with a bit more force this time around. "Karr comes with us to investigate the ruins. We all go in there strapped and loaded for bear. If nothing happens, then nothing happens, and we clear the structure. Karr shows any sort of reaction to the whole ordeal, and we take him into custody."

"Alright." Kanow sighed. "This isn't going to end well though."

Lee was less than thrilled over the whole ordeal when Sally recounted the reasoning to the head site researcher.

"I have to say I'm not thrilled about this." Lee said in a low tone. "Sergeant Major, you've been on site for two days and you already suspect my chief of security?"

"With respect, Doctor," Sally said, her voice gentle and deferential, "We have several avenues we wish to explore, but I want to eliminate Captain Karr as a potential suspect if he is indeed not responsible."

Lee twisted in his chair, one set of eyes focused on a computer screen while the other set watched Sally. Likewise, one of his lower arms typed commands on the keyboard. A small part of Sally's mind considered the gesture a little disrespectful, but Gallvente may have been quite good at multitasking, and saw no disrespect in dividing attention. That, or Lee didn't think her claim at a treacherous guard warranted his full energy. "Do you have any evidence that Captain Karr could have killed Doctor Lindenberg and her staff?"

"No." Sally said flatly. "We don't have much to go on aside from prior offenses."

"Which is?" Lee asked.

"We were able to obtain personnel files from J&L that listed that Captain Karr had assaulted a superior officer twice before being arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. Assaulting the same officer a second time shows that Karr has the potential to be vindictive and can hold a grudge. He is also capable of carrying out great personal harm, and is more than capable of murder. Doctor, Captain Karr beat his Lieutenant within an inch of his life and likely could have killed him if other soldiers didn't step in."

"I'm still waiting to hear how Doctor Lindenberg factors into this."

Sally shrugged. "That's where I'm at a loss and where speculation begins."

"It seems like this is all speculation, Sergeant Major." the Gallvente said.

"Yes, but here's the more likely possibility: Doctor Lindenberg and her team disappeared and is still inside the Forerunner ruins you uncovered, and due to being a Reclaimer, proceeded deeper into the ruins through doors or portals otherwise inaccessible to the other staff."

Lee cocked his head. "Hmm, you should have come to me with that theory first instead of pointing fingers at my men."

Captain Kanow said, "Doctor Lee, were you aware in the first place that your security staff nearly all had prior convictions on their records?"

Lee leaned forward, fixing his full attention now on the ODST. "As a matter of fact I did, Captain. As you may have already known, Site 417 is low on the Frontier Corps' list of priorities. So we found Forerunner ruins; so what. They're a dime a dozen nowadays and nearly all of them have far more potential than ours. The way things are turning out, we stumbled across the Ecumene's version of an outhouse so far as we know. This was why Rosa was such an asset to us. It cost us much to bring her out here, so our sectional budget demanded that we... settle... on other security contractors, and even then we were forced to hire local and individually. J&L charges by the agent, you see."

"So this leads me to my next point of action." Sally said, taking center stage once more. "I am a Reclaimer." she placed her hand on her breast. "I can get into those otherwise inaccessible areas."

For the first time, Doctor Lee seemed surprised. "I... I knew that they were sending one; I was assured so by Admiral Andsworth, but I wasn't under the impression that... that you were the Reclaimer."

"Expecting someone else?" Sally asked, an eyebrow arching.

"Yes. Absolutely. Nearly all conventional knowledge over the last eight hundred years has said that Humans were Reclaimers, and only then, approximately forty-seven percent as of the last study; maybe less."

"I won't go into the details, but I can tell you right now that you actually have two on hand. Johnson?"

The Marine inclined his head, looking pleased with himself.

"Sergeant Major Johnson also has been confirmed to have the genetic markers to access Forerunner systems despite complications in his history. I won't go any further than that, but he can open just as many doors as I can. Doctor, I think you've hit the jackpot. The best part is you didn't need to spend a single dime to get us."

A grey tongue poked out of Lee's mouth and licked his lips in anticipation. Four arms settled on the table and tapped, sounding like a drum line. His breathing increased. Sally let the silence grow. She didn't dare interrupt the Doctor's thought process as he weighed his options.

"Then why bring attention to Karr?" he asked, finally speaking.

"As I said, elimination of all possibilities."

"So you wish to enter the facility?"

"That isn't so much a wish, Doctor, as it is our prerogative as an investigatory force. You can't necessarily stop us, but you can assist us if you choose."

"How?" the Gallvente asked.

"Lend us Karr for the investigation into the facility. He comes with us, we stake out the area; open a few locked doors, and above all, keep an eye on him. If he shows any reaction to the crime, or if we find the bodies with evidence that Karr and/or his associates may have had an 'interaction' with them, then we place him into custody for questioning and bring the UNSC in on it. That's all. No frontier justice here, just procedure."

Roberts looked over at his princess with major respect showing on his face. Though he knew that she looked down upon the way he conducted himself at times, he was massively impressed with how she handled situations, getting what she wanted while at the same time soothing another party into trusting her. Roberts knew this of course because she was completely genuine in the way she conducted herself. There was no play at duplicity here, just sheer honesty in her reasoning. It was one of the reasons that Roberts was proud to have her as his future monarch.

Lee regarded Sally, slowly nodding his head. The slow movement then had more energy. "OK. That I can do. That I can do, but Sergeant Major, I urge you caution and I urge you to please, please be careful. Any rash actions will reflect poorly on this site, on the Frontier Corps, and on me as well. Do you understand?"

"Clearly, Doctor." Sally nodded. "We will do our utmost to keep things professional."

Doctor Lee extended his hand. Sally reached across the table and took it, noting that it had folds and wrinkles similar to that of a Human, and though she couldn't really feel it, she guessed that it would have felt the same as Human skin. They clasped tightly and shook once.

"Good." Lee smiled. "Excellent. I have nothing but high expectations for your expedition. Are you going to need anything more?"

"I have a request." NICOLE said.

Lee seemed surprised for a moment at the voice that came from thin air, before Sally retrieved the computer from her hip holster, and unfolded the cover. NICOLE materialized in the air.

"Have you performed a seismic scan on the site?"

"A cursory scan, yes." Doctor Lee said. "That was to set up the initial dig sites."

"Can you perform another? This time can you perform higher intensity and deep penetrating scans if you can? I want to get an idea of the size of this facility. That way we can better carry out the next phase of our operation."

"And that would be?" Lee asked.

NICOLE's eyes seemed to flash, and she half-smiled. "This is a Forerunner facility after all; and I know from personal experience that they're bigger than they look. Doctor, we're going to need reinforcements."

Four hours later, Sally stood outside of the entrance to the dig site. Behind her were squares of uncovered sections of the earth. Even now, archaeologists gently cut away at the ground around the exposed Forerunner architecture in the event that they stumbled across larger, yet to be uncovered tops of temples, housing, or walkways that may have even been even better hidden. She glanced behind her for a moment and wondered just how old these structures were. Easily a hundred thousand years old, maybe even older perhaps. It had to take a while to bury these buildings in the ground. She returned to her former activity after a moment of contemplation, which was watching the sky with a pair of electronic binoculars, looking for sparkles among the sky that could have indicated the location of the Blind Spot which had apparently coasted over their location many times over the last few days. She had contacted Commander Xu and had explained the situation. He had agreed to the request and immediately sent a Pelican loaded with five additional men. Their personnel records had been forwarded to Sally for analysis, and she was happy with what she had gotten. She now had nine men under her command, which brought their ranks to eight Marines, one RAF soldier, and exactly one J&L security agent. Now she had something to work with. Given the size of other Forerunner structures she had been inside, most notably the Silent Cartographer at Installation 05 and the subsequent trip to the Control Room of that ring, ten seemed like a small number, but if her time with the Freedom Fighters had taught her anything more, it was that it was not the size of the unit that mattered, but how they were deployed.

Yes. Ten would be enough. More than enough if she played her cards right and operated surgically.

She spotted a glint in the air; a very faint one, as if it were a small grain of glass that had the odd chance of reflecting light at her. Within moments, the glint was enveloped by flame.

This was their Pelican, now entering the atmosphere carrying the extra troops. She followed its progress lower and lower. Within fifteen minutes, the dropship had lowered itself into the same position that they had originally landed at two days before. She lost sight of the Pelican as it landed up over the ridge, but within an hour of it landing and reporting its passengers offloaded, it lifted off once more into the blue azure expanse, rocketing back into space, doubtless to meet the starship on its next pass over the area.

Sweat matted her fur and she took a drink of water to try and stymie the temperature increase as well as to replenish her much-needed body moisture. The temperature inside of the structure would probably be much lower, almost frigid at points, but she wanted to be prepared. She reached into her pack and brought out the pieces of her rifle, slotting them all together before locking them in place with a few pushes of the push pins. She did all of this within forty five seconds and was consistently impressed with how simple her gun was. She also grabbed one of the magazines from the pack and slapped it into the magwell, but she did not rack the weapon yet. Clicking on the safety, she let it hang from a three point sling.

"What do you think?" she asked NICOLE in her earpiece. "Did we do good with these guys?"

"There's strength in numbers." The AI admitted. "I think we did well to take on a small force. You can still have a lot of power. You're technically still in charge, but if you desire, you can split up into two echelons with Captain Kanow taking command over the second."

"That was the plan." she said, now noticing the same pickup truck that had come two days prior now peaking over the ridge. "I like it. Looks like our new friends are ready for war."

The Marines had been fitted out with long arms. As they came closer, she saw that while three of them were Humans, two of them were of her homeworld. One was even a chipmunk, a lean and tall male with short clipped black hair and fur the color of charred wood. His blue eyes were the first thing Sally noted about him, that and the frosted tips of his ears.

The second was a wolf, and a musclebound male at that. His light grey fur stood out, though his mane was quite well groomed; short enough for the helmet to fit on his head, but expansive enough that it seemed to form a natural insulation on his head. He was speaking to the others and they seemed to be laughing about something.

The other Humans she couldn't really put a finger on. They seemed to run the gamut. Different skin tones, and there was one female. The red cross on her BDU indicated she was a medic or at the very least a Navy Corpsman. She hadn't even requested that. She made a mental note to personally thank Commander Xu for that particular addition.

"Alright everyone, this is it." she said into her radio. "Gather up on me."

She dropped a NAV point on her location, appearing for all the world like a glowing blue triangle represented in 3D space. Johnson, Kanow, and Roberts met up, geared up and ready to move, and after a few moments, a reluctant Captain Deric Karr.

Sally sized Karr up in person and was just as disappointed with him as his personnel file photo suggested. The man was bedraggled as if he had to drag himself out the door every morning. His beard was unkempt, his eyes seemed red-rimmed, and crinkles were everywhere on his uniform, which mainly consisted of a polo shirt, tan slacks, and matching color boots. A pair of sunglesses were pressed to his face. What Sally was impressed with though was the sheer muscle mass that this man possessed. While Karr left a lot to be desired in the realm of being a decent Human being, his gains were not one of those things. His arms were so large they seemed to stretch the sleeves that they were contained in. Sally found herself looking them up and down unconsciously before she tore her face away from him. She wouldn't let Karr out of her sight. Not until of course she could confirm just where Lindenberg's teams went.

"Captain Karr? Are you secured?"

"Yeah." The guard said, giving only the barest of nods.

So he didn't like her. Too bad. If he didn't like that, he could take it up with his head office. But that wouldn't be until after this.

The jeep pulled up next to them and the Marines jumped out. Researcher Hoyle spoke a few well-meaning words of parting, though he was still as awkward around the group as he was when Sally and her team landed.

The wolf came up to Sally. He was perhaps close to six feet in height, and his dark tawny eyes seemed to match the sand he stood upon. "Sergeant Major, Staff Sergeant Cawl, Fire Team Uniform on the Blind Spot."

"Pleasure to meet you, Staff Sergeant." Sally said. "Ready to get some shit done?"

Cawl seemed to be taken aback from the obscenity that had just come from his monarch's mouth, but at once, a smile brightened his face. "And get paid too? You know it." he pointed back at his fire team, first at the Mobian Chipmunk. "That's Sergeant Taylor; Just Taylor. Likes to be called Smoke though. Don't give him that pleasure. The sawbones there is Petty Officer Second Class Lucy Vicci," he said, indicating the Corpsman, "Those other two knuckleheads are Master Corporals Ollie Kant, and Joji Izuki, our 0311s."

Riflemen, Sally thought, immediately decoding the MOSs.

"I'm at your command, Highness."

Sally's eyes shot to Karr, who most definitely didn't know who Sally was. Though Cawl was obviously a subject of the Kingdom given the nation patch on his shoulder, and knew who Sally actually was, it was not information she wanted to spread around.

"Staff Sergeant, on this op you will refer to me as Sergeant Major, is that clear?"

Cawl got the message immediately. "Yes, Sergeant Major. We're ready to move on your order."

"OK, follow me." Sally said, the cross expression fading from her face. "Time to go to work. Everybody, on me. We're going into the dig site now."

The ten servicemembers of different races and creeds descended into the dig site, each one of them armed and armored, ready to fight whatever stood in their way. They realized that this facility could be guarded, and heavily so. Even at this point, a lot of what they had to go on were legends and hearsay about the dangers within. Sentinels, Sally thought, would likely be the most possible threat, and she was sure that the armor penetrating rounds would be the best thing for this operation. She was sure to carry these in addition to ball ammunition for her rifle.

The incline was created by using a digging machine, most likely a backhoe, to pull at the ground and create a rude ramp to what was now ground level. Sally looked at the sandstone that had been broken down and pulled away. She could even see evidence of shells that were fastened within the ancient sediment. The sun faded away as the shadow of the ruin fell on them. Sally was thankful for the lowering of temperature. It let her think a bit easier.

The doorway itself was roughly trapezoidal shaped, hewn into the rock, though with as much machine precision as the metal portals that she had seen anywhere else. She was impressed even by this minor detail, and as the group passed into the building, a night and day shift occurred. At once, they were surrounded by stone geometric shapes and columns that extended to the ceiling. She craned her neck to see the roof and was surprised to see lights shining down upon her, which were obviously not from the dig teams. These were original fixtures. Absolutely curious.

Nobody spoke as they quickly found the only passageway that led down further into the facility. This one was open and was, like the doorway leading in, stone.

"Two by two. Captain, on my starboard."

"You've got it." the ODST said.

Sally regarded the man in his armor. Kanow had opted to wear the ODST helmet that he always had when on regular duty. Fastened onto his head, the man glanced around. His faceplate was depolarized, revealing the face of the man underneath. His eyes faced dead forward, weapon held at the half-ready. Kanow, the princess knew, was exceptionally skilled with his long arms, as he frequently had to rely on expert marksmanship, especially in hostile environments such as airless rocks or poisonous atmospheres. This also technically put the Captain at an advantage over the rest of the crew. That was fine. She knew it may come in useful somehow.

Sally steadied her pack. She had enough food for three days of work, though this was a routine move; she expected that maybe this would take a day and no longer. Five magazines were on her harness and a further four were in her pack, all of them extended with forty rounds apiece. Still, she kept a round out of the chamber. Not necessary yet.

The hallway made a hairpin turn, continuing to go downwards. Sally noted that the hallway wasn't very tall considering the chamber they had just left. This was maybe eight or nine feet high, meaning that this was indeed designed for a Lifeworker. She wondered about the bigger rates and chuckled as to how the Lifeworkers could keep their work secret simply by making the hallways too small.

"What's up?" Kanow asked.

"Nothing." Sally said, failing to hide her stupid grin. "Nothing; let's keep going.

At the bottom of the ramp after turning the corner, they entered another stone chamber. This time though, there was a distinct difference from the top level: in the very center of this room was a pad that was made out of the silvery metal that Sally had noted whenever the Forerunners were present. She couldn't work out its function, but she guessed that it must have something to do with getting them deeper into this place. So it was wither a lift or a terminus portal, she reasoned.

"NICOLE, does this mean anything to you?"

"Let me see." she said, before the device on Sally's hip began to heat up, indicating a speed increase in her runtime. She was processing this hard, looking into prior experiences. "Looks like a lift. My guess is that this was as far as the Site 417 staff made it. I think this is where the system is locked out. Time to go to work, Sal."

Sally nodded and stepped closer to the lift, which if she wasn't told, she never would have identified. "Stand back, guys. I've got this." she said, creeping closer, step by step, not entirely sure what to expect. When she was four feet from the lift pad, a holopanel activated. Sally's eyes lit up at it, and despite her dislike for the Forerunners, what they had been indirectly responsible for her life, she felt an uncontrollable excitement in her chest. A tingling feeling at the base of her skull urged her forward. Her breathing came fast and her heart beat just as quickly. She felt this was right.

Johnson watched her. Though he was able to control it, he felt the same desire, the same knowing of what this was and how he wanted to use something as simple as this panel. It was instinctive, as involuntary as breathing was.

Sally's hand made contact with the panel in the air. Her fingers felt resistance from the hard light panel, and at once her fingers moved around the panel. She couldn't read the language that she saw nor did not understand exactly how to navigate the menus that flashed and tumbled in front of her, but she knew that every single touch she made on the surface was right; correct.

Then, the panel flashed bright blue, and sang a three note melody. She backed away. Her task was complete. She had activated this lift. She let out the breath she had been holding at the end and smiled, a laugh sneaking into it at the end.

"Wow." Roberts said. "How did you do that?"

"I just did it." she explained.

The lift began to pulse blue, quicker and quicker as energy began to flow through the cracks in the floor. Portions of the ground began to raise, and soon, the humming stopped. Everything was calm and serene.

Karr stood there with his mouth hanging open dumbly. Sally glanced back and saw this. She stared for only a split second before facing forward again, a seed of doubt now planted in her mind.

"Alright guys, here's the plan: we're going to split up here. I want-"

"Mayday, mayday! Help! Can anybody hear me?!"

Sally slapped her helmet's COM set. "We can hear you! Who are you?"

"I'm Aida, civilian AI, serial number ADA-4829-1! I'm the site artificial intelligence! Help! We're stuck!"

"How many of you are there?" Sally asked.

"Ten! Doctor Lindenberg's team is trapped on the other side of a terminus we found in the building! We have wounded down here!"

Sally looked at Vicci, who was apparently hearing the same conversation.

"OK, stay there; we're coming down now to the terminus!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Hurry! We can't wait much longer here!"

The channel went dead.

"An SOS?" Johnson asked. "After a week?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Sally said. "OK, here's what we're going to do: Johnson, you and three guys are going to stay up here. I want you to watch this lift. Let nobody in, not even if they give you clearance."

"You've got it." the Sergeant Major said.

She picked the other riflemen that Cawl had brought with him. "Kant, Izuki, I want you two to stay with Sergeant Major Johnson. Listen to any order he gives you."

"Aye-aye, Sergeant Major." Kant said first. Izuki nodded. They both began to spread out and take position around the chamber. At least they were well trained in that regard.

"Everybody else with me."

They all gathered on the lift pad without another word. Sally counted to make sure they were short three, and then hit the button to lower the lift.

The descent began slowly. So slowly in fact that Sally wasn't even sure she was moving at all until the ground started to rise up around her. Everyone was in amazement. For some of them, this must have been their first time in a Forerunner ruin. None was as surprised as Karr though. Sally's theory about the J&L security agent murdering the scientists was shot dead, not by his reaction to the lift activating, but by the announcement of Aida, the scientist's AI. So it was clear then. Karr didn't kill anybody, as much as his background would suggest he could.

Sally had to mentally chastise herself though. Correlation did not imply causation. Just because he had done some bad things in the past did not indicate that he would do them again. Karr seemed like a dimwit perhaps, and was most definitely misguided in his life, but he was not a killer. So that theory was out the window. Lindenberg and her team bungling into a closed off section or even one-way terminus however was all but obvious at this point.

The lift continued to go lower. The sides of the wall gave way to transparent metal, with only the faintest of contours visible in it. The areas around the lift had bright pulsing beams of light shooting into the floors and ceilings. Spinning turbines received these beams of energy. Small metal robots darted between these beams, some of them shooting small lines of light into them, perhaps repairing or calibrating them. They sure weren't Sentinels. That much was for sure, but she had no doubt that they would be seeing more of them later.

At last the walls were yanked upwards and they appeared in a massive chamber. At the far end of which stood a massive doorway, easily twenty feet high. Sally marveled at it, noting that it was pulsing with the same sort of energy that she had seen outside of the lift tunnel.

"Holy crap." Kanow said. "Look at this."

"What do you think it is?" Roberts asked.

"That's a terminus." Sally pointed out.

"Larger than it would usually be too." NICOLE added. "That must be what all of those beams of light were. Probably a power plant of some sort. If that's so, then this gate must be able to move more than just people. Don't ask me what; I'm at a loss."

Just then, the portal of light exploded into a dazzling array of blues and whites. A vortex sprang to life with what was a surprisingly quiet blast of air. Everyone took a step back out of instinct.

"Split into two teams!" Sally ordered. "Kanow, left! Three of you on him!"

The Marines and company spread out, taking whatever cover they could around decorative pillars. Sally yanked back on the charging handle, fastening a .308 caliber round into the chamber. She lifted the stock to her shoulder and peered down the sights and started breathing hard and deep.

They waited for a minute; nobody moving a muscle.

"Hey, I don't think anything's coming..." Karr said. It was the first meaningful input he had given since he had joined their group. His twang-like accent was unlike anything Sally had ever heard before. Almost like that of her friend Bunnie... but different. Regardless of this, Sally saw that he was correct. The doorway stood there, portal now clearly formed. A whirlpool of energy contained on a singular plane. Its radius deepening into a near black the closer to the center it got. Forks of lightning spread into the surrounding air, though there was no threat on its own.

"Orders?" Kanow asked.

"We go through!" Sally said. "In two teams! Kanow, you go in; I've got you covered. Once you're through, give us cover on whatever's on the other side."

"If it's hostile? Sentinels?" The ODST asked.

"Fire on them!"

"Aye-aye!" The Marine said. "Everyone move! Double time!"

The squad on the left sprinted towards the terminus, not one of them deterred by the unknown on the other end. They seemed to trust Kanow. As an officer and a Helljumper, it seemed like he would have a nose for danger. If the man who could lock himself in a bullet bound for a planet's surface thought that it was good to move, then following him would be a good idea.

Taylor was the last one through on Kanow's team.

"OK, the rest of you guys, follow me! Cawl! You're bringing up the rear! Karr, you're going to earn your pay on this one! You're in the middle!"

"What?" the agent asked.

"Come on!" Sally ordered. "We don't have a lot of time! If there's heat on the other end, we're going to back Captain Kanow up! Double time it, Marines!"

They charged, Sally's mind forming possibilities of enemy contact on the other end of the terminus. There would be a remarkably small amount of time to take stock of this environment. The smarter thing would have been to recon the area with one man, but it appeared as if the scientists were in a bit of a bind. The UNSC could not afford to lose Reclaimers either. She pushed back the rational part of her mind. It would only slow her down, and pure, raw, animal emotion drove her ahead and into the terminus.

Before she even had time to register the severe wave of nausea that passed over her, she landed on the other side, rolling to a stop. She groaned and forced down the wave of sickness that had passed over her, and she did a once over to see if she was in one piece. She was, and she was happy even that brief instant of transit was done.

"NICOLE?"

"Transit successful. Looks like the tunneling system works fine even after being buried in the sand for a few eons."

"Glad to see you're in better shape than I feel right now." Sally said, groaning. She turned and saw her men exit the terminus behind her. First was Vicci, then followed Karr, and after him, Cawl. The Mobian wolf have a howl of discomfort as he fell forward onto his knees.

"What was that?!" he shouted.

"Slipspace portal." Sally explained. "You were just transported through space in like, an instant."

"Less than half a second actually." NICOLE corrected. "You just did what starships do every time they make a jump."

"I need some water." He said, plucking a canteen from his belt and downing some of it, grimacing at the same feeling Sally had just defeated.

The portal closed down not long after, the tempest of energy winked out of existence, leaving Sally and Kanow's group in an otherwise unremarkable room of silvery alien metal.

"What happened?" Sally asked.

"Nothing." Kanow responded. "We got through here and there was absolutely nothing.

Sally briefly scanned the area. It looked as if this was some sort of lobby. It had to be. Benches of some sort hovered off the ground, seats forming smooth surfaces for occupants. On either side of them were rows of plants and trees, vibrantly growing and even bearing flowers. She was awestruck by these completely alien plants, instantly comparing them to those on her homeworld. "What is this, like a terminus waiting room? Like a Forerunner bus station?"

"Possibly." NICOLE said, but not much more.

Sally saw something on the wall that caught her attention. It appeared like another control panel like she saw on the top of the lift. Without hesitation now, she walked towards it and tapped several times. Perhaps this would activate a map of some sort. The wall lit up and then slowly began to lose opacity. First a little, and then it faded to near transparent. The room began to brighten, and soon the light had illuminated the entire area, forcing some to look away. Sharp shadows were cast on the far end of the wall. She stopped, her jaw dropping, and her eyes grew the widest they had ever been in her life. She was speechless.

In front of her, stretching to the infinite horizon, impossibly flat, was a sea of yellow-white matter. The startlingly bright ocean throbbed, pulsed, rose, sank, and churned without stopping, dominated by forces too complex to be understood by the eyes alone. Amid this brightness, vast swathes of darker brown patches rolled about, spewing what vaguely resembled magma. Some places on this surface towered like mountains, heaved above this surface in the blink of an eye, while others dipped far below, yanked by gravity and the god-like forces that operated here. She tried looking to the sky above this, but she could see nothing but bright light extending far, far away, far higher than she could have assumed possible. It merely became an overcast sky of grey, reflecting the light back down into an eternal unceasing furnace.

Then, in the distance, a flame leapt out from the surface. No, this was not flame, this was something else entirely. A column of pure plasma, jetting into the sky far beyond the view of the window, arcing into an awesome loop before spiking back into the surface. By Sally's guess, this must have been thousands of miles wide.

But the brightness, the sheer expanse of it all, the impossibility of this world revealed to their eyes, and the absolute sublime beauty of it all brought her to tears. It was something she never ever in her life thought she would ever see, and it now awoke a feeling that was too powerful to close down; to hide behind her stoic exterior.

"Where are we?" Roberts asked, his voice far away and spoken in a tone like that of a young spellbound boy."

Sally finally found the words, and said in a shaky, humbled voice, "The sun."