—42—


The M18 pulled up to the front of the gate, Damon hitting the horn twice to alert the guard. A single person jogged out from the camp, rifle swaying in his arms as he approached the gate. He flipped up a lever and a dull green light slowly came to life. The locking mechanism disengaged and the fence began rolling back on its track. The guard waved them in and Damon gave a subtle head nod before accelerating through. He guided the vehicle into the open garage, the door coming down behind with a slam that seemed to reflect the gravity of the situation. He turned off the engine and there was only silence.

Ross shifted in her seat. "Better to rip the bandage off now, yeah?"

She opened the door to the M18 and prepared to get out, but Damon reached out and grabbed her forearm. The grip wasn't firm, but he made sure Ross would turn back to look at him.

"With respect, ma'am, I'll handle this. Has to be done right, otherwise it falls apart."

Ross felt his hand move away from her. "Fine. It's your show, Corporal, but I have a lot to discuss with your captain."

"Take all the time you need with him," Damon obliged, "but we're about to drop a nuke into his lap." Damon keyed his COM. "DEV, you read me?"

A blue light winked within the console of the M18. "I read you, Corporal Vasher. Welcome back. I've already notified Captain Anderton of your arrival."

"Yeah, about that… tell the Captain that I need him and OC Shafer in the vehicle bay ASAP. No one else."

"Affirmative, Corporal."

Damon gripped the sides of the steering wheel with his hands and rested his forehead on it, exhaling what felt like would be his last breath. The M18 rocked from side to side as Ross, Jacen, and Naomi got out, leaving the silent Sangheili alone with him. As Adar began to unfurl himself from the back, Damon turned in his seat to face him.

"Do me a favor: stay in camo until I give the word."

Adar said nothing and maneuvered himself out of the vehicle, stepping out to stretch his elongated body before stepping off into the corner of the bay to activate his camouflage.

Damon stepped out and shut the door, immediately taking a seat on one of the stacked crates nearby. He raked his fingers through his growing hair, not remembering the last time he had a proper haircut.

"Corporal."

Damon lifted his head to see Ross standing in front of him. "I know you weren't expecting to find us, but thanks for saving our asses… you and your team."

"Thank Captain Anderton. He authorized the mission," Damon said. "I was just fine not knowing we have a psycho Covenant faction on this rock and an Elite."

"It could be much worse," Naomi added. "You could be the one having to explain this mess. Oh, wait…"

No sooner than the words left Naomi's lips, the door to the vehicle bay slid open with Rey and Astrid coming through. Damon stood rod straight. Rey stopped at the top of the four-step stairs, mouth parting open at the sight of Captain Ross. He snapped his head around to Damon, who gave an I'm just as surprised as you are shrug.

"Melissa?"

Ross took a few steps forward. "It's not a ghost."

Astrid kept wordlessly staring, eventually finding the words that seemed suspended in her throat. "We thought you were dead. That everyone was dead."

"Everyone is dead, Astrid." The words didn't seem real when Ross spoke them. "We're all that's left."

Rey went down the steps, cautiously moving towards Ross with disbelief in his eyes. "What do you mean everyone is dead? You've had contact with the other camps?"

"Jasmine was right, sir," Damon said. "About everything. The only thing she left out was that she was a captive with Captain Ross before she escaped."

"I need to know everything that happened and what we're dealing with," Rey demanded. "Did you find the AI and the location of the ship?"

"Captain Ross can fill you in on the details, sir, but…" Damon shifted his feet before clearing his throat.

"Here it comes," Jacen muttered to Naomi.

"She wasn't the only life we saved there. There's another and we… we brought him back with us. As far as I know, he's not a threat."

Rey braced. "What are you talking about?"

Damon exhaled. "All right. You can come out."

The air seemed to shift in front of Rey's eyes, a familiar ripple that he'd seen enough times to know what came next. And then it happened. The air began to take shape, becoming solid layer by layer of maroon armor draped over an alpine warrior of death.

Instinct took control, overriding logic and funneling directly into muscle memory. The Captain had his weapon in his hands and aimed forward faster than he could believe, his finger already applying pressure to the trigger.

"The hell? Everyone, get back!"

Ross sidestepped in front of Adar, hands up. "Rey! Listen to me, he's on our side. He's no threat to us."

"The hell he is!" Rey began angling for a better shot. "Move aside, Melissa."

"We brought him here for a reason," Ross explained. "He was a prisoner to the Banished. He saved our lives. We can help each other."

"Hardly." Astrid came to Rey's side, her own weapon drawn and aimed. "You brought the enemy into our camp. Have you lost your mind, your loyalty? And who are the Banished?"

Ross lowered her hands. "My loyalty is intact. Maybe we should ask the UNSC when we ask them why they forgot about us. I can promise that he won't hurt us. Let me explain everything, please."

Rey—weapon still aimed at Adar—cut his eyes to Damon. "You agreed to this?"

"It was my call," said Damon. "I had the option to leave her and I was prepared to, but I trusted my gut on this one, sir."

"Then consider using your head next time!" Rey took a step back as Adar began to approach him. "You move another inch and I'll open your head."

Rey planted his foot behind him, bracing before he was about to fire. The Elite stared back at him, unmoving. His eyes slowly scanned to the right and then the left. Rey tightened his grip on his weapon. If the Elite was preparing to make a move, he needed to think fast. Energy shielding would eat the majority of his rounds. By the time the shields would break, the Elite would've already closed the distance and eliminated him. If that was the case, he could only hope the others could gun the alien down before it harmed anyone else. After over 30 years of fighting such an enemy, Rey wasn't prepared for the Elite's words to him.

"Calm. I give my weapons."

Adar began disarming himself, dropping his pulse rifle, his energy sword, and a single plasma grenade on the floor. He gently kicked them towards Astrid's feet and kept his long arms by his side.

"Listen to learn," he said. "We can speak and you can inquire. My battle lies with the Banished. Your enemy, at this moment, I am not."

Rey stole a quick glance at the surrendered weapons, an almost sacrilegious gesture among the Sangheili from his studies of them. Was this a game, a new tactic? He kept his weapon aimed. "All right, then let's talk."

In the silence among them, a bag crinkled and all eyes went to Naomi.

She gave a nervous smile and held up the silver bag in her hands. "We found coffee."


Rey watched as the last drop of coffee fell into the pot, rippling across the surface as he took a foam cup into his free hand. He poured worth in the cup, the once derelict aroma wafting across his nose. Steam curled above the liquid gold, its rise suddenly interrupted from Rey's lips to lessen the heat. He took a sip, the dark roast flavor washing across his taste receptors that resurrected something inside of him. The tartness kicked in the back of his tongue and he curled his lips back.

"Jesus," he said in an undertone.

"Makes you take it for granted." Ross sat down in one of the two chairs in the small office within CIC. She held a cup of her own in his hands.

"We ran out of the real thing at the end of the second year," said Astrid. "Had we known we'd been here this long, I would've started rationing it."

"The first year was the hardest." Ross took a sip. "Getting everyone organized, setting the schedules, adjusting to the time cycles. You slept for an hour, sometimes less. I probably had a gallons' worth before lunch."

Rey poured himself another cup before walking around to sit atop the tiny desk that faced Ross and Astrid. "We'll probably be sleeping less if everything you just told us is true."

Ross leaned forward in her seat and didn't break eye contact from Rey. "I stake my life on it."

Rey slowly shook his head. "Not just your life anymore; it's all of us. You say we're the last camp, that this faction of Covenant wiped everyone else out, and that the war is also over with us winning. Melissa, I've known for some 20 years and you're not one to be gullible. Had this come from you, with human sources to verify, I'd believe you 100%. But knowing all of this intelligence came from the mouth of a Sangheili, I can't be so sure."

"You question me as if I believed him from the beginning. You know my background, both of you. We served in special operations, intelligence. I was captured, beaten, and questioned by these Banished. The same goes for Adar. We were held captive for months together, and for the first few weeks, we never spoke. He was my enemy and I was his."

"Then what changed?" asked Astrid.

Ross stared down into her cup, seeing a faded reflection. Her eyes went out of focus. She closed them and wagged her head to clear her vision. A deep breath. "They took turns torturing us, the Brutes. The rotations were random. Never knew which one we'd get. They asked the same questions each time: where are our ships? How can they get off the moon?

"Adar never said, never answered them. Even after they beat him, burned him, cut him. I wouldn't have survived if they did the same to me. They had Jackals deal with me, one in particular. They just… kept going."

Rey pinched the middle of his forehead with an exhale. He walked around behind the desk and opened one of the lower drawers. A bottle of bourbon that was half empty was in his hand. He poured three fingers' worth in a cup and handed it to Ross. She accepted it with relief in her eyes, taking a small sip that made her wince.

"It's not the best stuff, but it gets by." Rey came back around the desk and leaned against it.

"I'll take what I can get." Ross finished off the contents and cleared her throat from the burning sensation. "It was maybe a few weeks ago when they came to question us again. This time it was a different Brute, one I'd never seen before. Bigger than the others, more scars, patches of fur missing everywhere. What I remember most about him was this symbol burned into his chest. Could be Jiralhanae wording, but it's been years since I've seen the written language."

"Big boy have a name?" Rey asked.

Ross shook her head. "He never said. He didn't acknowledge me, only Adar. They spoke in Sangheili together, from the three or four words I could pick up. This Brute never raised his voice, never seemed rattled. A completely different temperament compared to the others. He never touched us."

"A Chieftain or Captain maybe?" Astrid spoke.

"I don't know if they follow the same rank structure or not, but he was definitely in charge. I don't know what their last words to each other were, but I can imagine it wasn't with love. And then he looked at me and started talking English, but it was more at me than to me. He said to Adar that he 'shamed himself by joining the humans to stop the Great Journey, to kill the Prophets, and to hunt what remains'. He said that someone named Atriox knew a better path and that we would all know the same fate as the burning hatchlings. Then he left. I never saw him again."

Astrid scratched her hairline and eased her eyes up at Rey's blank expression. She saw something turning behind his eyes, undoubtedly unpacking the container of information being dumped into their laps. It didn't seem like Ross was done; there was more and Astrid began to feel a growing uneasiness in her stomach. Rey was still silent.

Ross continued. "I had no reason to talk to him, but after what that Brute said, my curiosity got the better of me. I asked what the Brute was talking about and when did we ally with the Elites. I guess he didn't know we were cut off from our people, because he thought I already knew. He didn't say much, only that there was a 'separation' from the Covenant and a brief alliance with us to fight them. I asked him straight up, if the war between us and the Covenant was over. He said the 'conflict among our species had concluded' and the Covenant had fallen. We won, Rey. It's over."

Rey and Astrid exchanged another quick look. He sunk his hands into his pockets and rocked himself up from the desk. Peering through the small square window on the door, he could see the rest of CIC. Only Damon was there, an expression of concern worn on his face as he was scrolling through the TACMAP of Titan on the table.

"Do you know what you're asking of us, Melissa?" He stepped away from the door to look at Ross. "Truly."

Ross considered his question. "I'm asking you to trust me, that I wouldn't bring this to you unless I was absolutely convinced."

"We trust you," Astrid said, gesturing between herself and Rey. "The same can't be said for our guest."

"Trust isn't osmosis, Mel; it doesn't extend to him. You're asking us to believe this enemy, who we've been fighting for over 30 years. For us, 95% of our service to the UNSC has been against the Covenant. I've seen more combat against extraterrestrials than my own species. I wanna believe the war is over and that we won. I really do. But not from word-of-mouth from the very enemy that's driving us to extinction."

"Then talk to him yourself," Ross suggested. "If my word isn't enough, then maybe his would be better."

Astrid stood up to straighten her coveralls. "It couldn't hurt."

Rey grunted. "It won't make a difference. He won't tell us everything."

"And what makes you so sure?" There was frustration in Ross's voice.

"Did you notice his armor? He's no infantryman. You said he was part of a fireteam. Let's do the math: 3 Elites operating in human-space, possibly tasked with hunting down these Brutes, and selective in how they talk. That's special forces and he's probably trained in counter-intelligence too. I can guarantee that he's not what he seems and has an angle. I'm not taking that risk."

Ross shot up from her seat, the chair falling back and hitting the floor. Her face was flushed red. "Rey, I've lost everything! I lost my team, the people I was supposed to protect, civilians. We're beyond risks, because we've already paid the price. So forgive me if I'm willing to allow myself to have a shred of hope that the war is over and we can get outta here. If that means trusting the enemy, then dammit, I'll do it."

Rey stood in silence, working his jaw from side to side. He didn't have a poker face, his tell given away each time by his unlying eyes. Ross knew what he was thinking. Hell, it was what all officers thought. You had your orders, to protect and wait. The protection had failed and only waiting remained. A reckoning was coming, whether by time or from this Banished.

"Melissa, Astrid will escort you to the infirmary to care for any injuries you sustained. I'll have someone to provide meals, clothing, anything else you need. Get some rest. We'll continue this later."

Rey opened the door and left out.