Chapter 12

Bartz stood with Apone, Pops, and the advisors while the Marines from first platoon's first squad pulled security. All eyes were on the blackened, burnt-out remains of what had most certainly been a landing craft at some point. No one said anything. Bartz's jaw was clenched, and the two senior NCOs quietly smoked their cigars, eyes shifting between the lander's remains and the two synths that were now approaching the ruined craft.

The burnt and blackened remains showed that the lander had collapsed in on itself, leaving the center of the craft a jumble of jagged metal and melted slag. At some point, the forces of the planet's weather had caused the rear half of the wreck to break away. It had rolled, settling on its side, resting in several feet of lake water. The front half was still upright, its ruined superstructure also semi-submerged.

"Was this hit by something?" Bartz asked, his mind automatically assuming that some kind of munition had taken the lander out. As morbid as it was, he hoped that was the case. It would help make sense of what the hell they were dealing with.

"I don't think so, sir." Pops said. The older Marine knelt down and picked up a jagged piece of shrapnel, turning it over between gloved fingers. "If it was hit by an explosive, then it would have blown pieces in one direction." He gestured around them. Sure enough, there were pieces of shrapnel that ranged in size from fingernails to car doors scattered amongst the pebbles, with some having reached the grass that ran alongside the shore. "And look at how the skin of the ship flowers outwards." Pops pointed to the ruined craft. Sure enough, the fuselage of the lander was facing outwards all around. "Whatever caused this thing to go up happened inside."

"There's another body." Knight reported. All human eyes turned to see the uniformed synth kneeling near a black, charred mass. They walked over to see Knight gently rolling it over.

Sure enough, it was a body. Or what was left of it. Whoever it was had obviously been caught in the explosion. Burnt skin clung to the skeleton, leaving a horrifying death mask of empty eye sockets and peeled-back lips staring at them. Knight was already searching for the ID tags. When he found them, he realized that the intense heat from the explosion had fused the metal tags with the corpse's melted clothes and seared flesh. Wordlessly, the synth drew his six-inch KA-BAR fighting knife from the sheath on his sub-belt and began cutting away at the mess that held the tags in place. Once they were free, he wiped away the ash, soot, and melted fragments that obscured the text.

"Faris, Katherine M." Knight said, reading off the tags. "Employee ID 5211P-C." Knight held the tags towards Pops, who took them. The synth didn't wait to be told. Instead, he turned and started towards the lander, joining Rook in investigating the interior of the lander's remains. Pops turned the tags over in his hands before looking at Bartz, then at the advisors. Janet was once again in stunned silence beside Frank, whose jaw was clenched shut, neck muscles tight. Kurt was visibly confused as well, though he was doing his damnedest to keep his composure.

"Sir, we've got two bodies and a destroyed lander." Pops said directly to Bartz. Apone stood beside the captain, quietly smoking his cigar as he took in the sight of the destroyed lander. "I'd say that there's something out here that we need to worry about."

"Agreed, Gunny." Bartz said. He turned to face the three civilians. "What exactly did the company tell you when they sent you out here?"

"They told us to investigate a ghost transmission that had been picked up by the Covenant." Kurt said, unable to take his eyes away from the lander. "That we were to investigate the source of the transmission and attempt to recover any personnel found on the planet."

"Did they give you any information as to who the hell the transmission could be, or what their situation was?" Pops asked.

"There's speculation that the woman in the transmission may be Doctor Elizabeth Shaw, from the Prometheus excursion." Kurt said. The Marines all looked at him with blank expressions. "You guys haven't heard of the Prometheus?" They all shook their heads.

"Seems you company folks have a worrying tendency of losing expedition crews." Apone said. "It's a wonder you ever got us out of the core system."

"The universe is a dangerous place." Janet said defensively.

"Wait a second." Bartz said, holding up a hand. "You three told us that the Covenant picked up the transmission while in-transit, passing by this place." He gestured to their serene surroundings. Had it not been for the remnants of the lander, the lake, field, and mountains would have been something out of a painting. "Obviously they weren't just passing by, seeing as we've got bodies and a lander from the Covenant's crew, as well as an unknown recovery beacon blinking out there." He waved a hand in the general direction of the recovery beacon's signal. "Who reported that they hadn't landed?"

"The Covenant's Walter unit." Kurt answered. Bartz stared at the man for a moment longer, then looked back towards Apone. The First Sergeant didn't have to voice the fact that something was obviously off about this whole thing. Bartz reached up and pressed the push-to-talk button for his radio.

"Knight, Rook, on me." Bartz said. The synths didn't respond, but a moment later he saw them trudging through the water back towards them. The captain turned to Apone and Pops. "Let's head back to the staging area. We'll be moving out to investigate the signals shortly."

"Roger that, sir." Apone said. Pops gave a nod. Bartz turned towards the advisors. "Hopefully we won't be making any more unexpected discoveries." He held his gaze on Kurt for a moment before starting back towards their landing site.