I found myself wandering the base alone. Halsey had walked off, completely unimpressed by me and the memories of childish anger at her, from back on Skopje, flooded my head.

There had been a time when I'd been allowed to think that Halsey was the worst of humanity. When I saw what Naomi had become, it hurt me to think she could have been more than a SPARTAN. Now however, faced with the creator of the very program that had ruined my family, I'd come up short with nothing to say.

My subconscious wanted to rationalise my silence as me reeling from the revelation that I was once considered to become a SPARTAN but, in my heart, I knew the paralysis ran deeper than that.

When did I lose my voice? All the rage I had for her, the anger… where did it go?

I struggled with it as I delved into the depths of the facility where Katya and Jack had said they'd meet me. There was a distinct and violent grip latched to my stomach as I inched forward, passing by troopers who looked away from me the moment they saw my fatigues. I had known from very early on in my ONI career that I had been fine with going under the radar, for the most part. As a teenager, I'd had my share of attention but for some reason, I wanted the approval of very specific, powerful people. It was something that I remember grappling with in Orestis as I trudged through that dying city with Drake. At Luna, despite being told not to, I'd revelled in the reverence shown to myself and Katya for our exploits and I'd enjoyed playing the role of a girl at college.

I thought my beliefs were a little more consistent than this, why didn't Halsey invoke the anger she once did? Maybe I'm just going to be stuck as an actor my entire life, playing a part. If that part is someone who saves lives, though, what's so bad about that?

Authenticity and individuality didn't seem such a big deal in the face of what it was that I was trying to achieve.

And yet, is this how I would truly have run ARC DREAM, free of Parangosky and Drake's influence? Just what would Maddie Harper have done if she had grown up first and then been handed this power? Would I have hated Halsey still? Would I be so timid in facing ONI's deep dark secrets

It was hard to remember a time when I had thought for myself and to be fair, a lot of my decisions were forced on me because of the war, like slowly letting my love of coding drop by the wayside, or my interest in history and culture. I paused, then. In front of me was the tattered remains of a large UEG flag that had once flown above the atrium. I scowled as I remembered something, a conversation I'd had long ago.

"I hate to bother you but you need to pick an educational discipline before your final year, and the deadline is today."

It was my last conversation with my old teacher, My Forsythe.

"I haven't decided yet"

"I understand you have a few options, Madeleine, but you have a passion for European history that, in all my years of teaching, I have never happened upon."

"Well…It's just that it's more of a personal hobby, sir. I like learning about it on my own terms, and I have money to think about as well."

I bit my lip. Even before my life changed forever, even before ONI… I wasn't making decisions because it was best for me… to make me happy. I was making my choices to fit what I believed was expected.

Why did I care about wealth? I've never cared about it since. Why do I care about conforming? I didn't when I was a teenager. Why did I want the approval of ONI? I never cared for the opinions of anyone else.

Earth history had been my muse and my motivation, for so long I had characterized my world through that lens. I'd been disgusted by an old castle near my home for its brazen theft and imitation of old world aesthetics and yet Reach did not faze me despite its clamouring for its Hungarian roots. Perhaps something had been lost, certainly my curiosity had been dulled. A part of me felt immensely put out by this.

ONI was meant to fuel that feeling, not kill it. I'm surrounded by a discovery akin the Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine and my thoughts are preoccupied with politics and gamesmanship.

I gathered my thoughts as I descended into the belly of the base, the covenant dead strewn about the place as I followed the path of destruction, like Dante's inferno, into the depths of hell.

"Maddie?" Katya asked, her voice echoing in her helmet.

"I read you, go ahead."

"We've siphoned a fair amount of data, Tuk's identified something interesting."

"Sounds good. Where are you?"

"Detention level, not far from your location. Listen, there's something here you need to see."

"Let me guess, Preston?"

"Yeah, we found him, but that's not what I'm talking about."

I paused and cocked my head, "what is it, then?"

This time it was Jack who spoke, his voice hoarse and strained, "get down here, you need to see for yourself."

}{}{

You've got to be kidding me.

"I figured you'd be surprised," he said, sheepishly. "We've both regained a limb or two it seems."

"So much for your hatred of ONI you god damned hypocrite." I spat.

"Look, I can take you to your brother. He trusts me."

I bit my lip so hard I almost drew blood.

James Davenport.

He stood on a robotic leg, perched like a proud tiger in front of me. It was a mockery and a farce. What the hell was he doing here? I was inches from his face, practically yelling as I struggled to keep a lid on things. Katya had a hand on my own robotic forearm, her fingers firmly holding me back. Jack also seethed, glaring at his former friend from behind me, his eyes boring into James like plasma, melting his defences and making him squirm and melt. The mention of my brother softened me and I stepped back, holding his gaze with a steely glare that should have made him baulk.

"Why is he here?" I asked, struggling not to hiss.

"Let me take you to him, I'll explain on the way."

"Why should we trust you?" Jack asked, cocking the barrel of his magnum.

James swallowed, "because I never stopped hating ONI. I wasn't given a choice whether to join up or not. Look, I get it, okay? This isn't something I wanted to happen, either. I gave up on you a long time ago, Maddie; I knew you'd never believe me or trust me on your own ever again-"

"So, you used my brother?!"

"ONI arrested him, not me. I'm not even supposed to know he's here!"

Katya looked over her shoulder, there were no guards left alive to stop us but it didn't stop her being cautious. "We're not gonna get anywhere by talking to him. If he's telling the truth, your brother will know."

I nodded. "Go."

We walked through the detention centre, filled with covenant dead and ONI guards, bleeding out on the floor.

"How did you survive? All these people are dead." Jack asked.

James threw Jack his gun, "empty clip. When ONI started cleaning house, I let the covenant in, anyone who came close to Preston's cell got a round in the skull."

I think he expected me to pull him up on that. He wanted me to say that he was used to getting humans killed. I couldn't bring myself to do it, though. I'd have been a hypocrite, after all.

"You have killed, then." He said, noting my silence.

"I have." I conceded, following him to a locked cell.

He paused, "I'm sorry, when I first…" he stopped himself and turned to the keypad, putting in the code and letting the giant mechanical mechanisms clunk and whine as it opened slowly, swinging deliberately as light flood the dark cell.

"P-Preston?" I asked, looking at a sullen figure slumped against the wall.

"Mads?" he asked, rising to his feet.

He looked exhausted, tired, and on the edge of insanity as his eyes came into view. His hair was greasy and unkempt, his beard was full and his chest bore a fresh scar near the heart. He moved like a zombie, shuffling towards me as I stepped forward. His fists were clenched and shaking.

"Are you okay?"

He stopped and cocked his head to the left, just a little.

"What happened to you, what are you doing here?"

"I didn't suit the colour green," he chuckled, tugging at his gross orange jumpsuit.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Pres, we'll get you out of here, okay?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Why not?" I said, freezing in place, "Pres, we need to go, I can get you someplace safe."

"You killed her."

"Killed who?"

"Maggie."

"You know?"

"Of course, I know!" he yelled, he swung limply at me, a token gesture but one filled with all the rage he was capable of. I gripped him tightly and held him at arm's length. "I found out through him. Not you."

I glared at James, "who the hell do you think you are?"

Preston growled, "He's a friend. You'll help me if you ever want me to look you in the eye again. Tell her, James. Tell her what ONI did to you."

James looked uncomfortable but his voice was clear, "I needed you to see him, Maddie. You wouldn't have heard me out otherwise."

"Why do I need to hear you out? You have some wisdom for me? Maybe even some intel? Why are you even here, James. You hate ONI."

"After I lost my leg and my arm, I was arrested by Serin Osman. You know her, right?"

Katya chuckled, "Parangosky's pet and one of your mentors at Luna, right Maddie?"

I nodded.

"She locked me in a room and handed me a gun and placed a single round on the table. Etched into it was my name. You have a choice, she said, you know about Madeleine's mission so you either leave this room as one of our agent's or I leave this room and you end this here."

"You chose wrong." I said, furiously, "what right do you have to stick your nose in our business?"

Jack shifted uncomfortably as Preston laughed, "every right, Maddie. Or have you forgotten that you didn't tell me about what you did to Maggie?" When I opened my mouth to reply he held up a hand, "save it. Let him finish."

I was stunned. Confused and with my head reeling, I did as I was told and kept my mouth shut.

"Look I thought about it, Okay. I've done some nasty shit. Ellen's death damn near broke me and messed me up for a long time. I didn't want to give ONI the satisfaction of putting an end to me on their terms. I would rather die getting caught breaking their rules than take their easy way out. It was worth it, too. ONI put me in charge of its dirtiest secret. Those kill-lists that section three buries? I ran the missions with teams all over UNSC space and I had access to everything, clearance well above even you, I'd bet. Using that clearance, I found the truth. My uncle hadn't been kidnapped to become a SPARTAN, he'd been scratched off those lists because he was a potential dissident."

All of a sudden, something clicked in my head. A little connection. Two dots.

"You found out that Preston was on the list, didn't you?"

James smiled. It was an old sight, one that dragged me back to the age of sixteen. He'd smiled at me like that when we first met. On Skopje, he'd struggled in real time with my fall from innocent child to Spook and I felt out of place for the first time in a long time as I found my reality being torn in two.

"I did. Your story never left me, Maddie. What ONI did to you wasn't, isn't right."

"What did you do?" I asked Preston, "you were always emotional but you were never a traitor"

Jack, who had been tinkering with Preston's restraints, stopped and looked up at me. "Maddie," he said, looked between myself and Preston, "I don't think it has much to do with him…"

"You think this is my fault?"

"Parangosky has manipulated me before, you really think that she'd lock my brother up and not tell me about it, what point does that even serve? She's never done anything like that before, it's insanity."

"She did move your sister from Earth to Ballast, if you remember." Katya said, folding her arms.

"That was Eliza's choice."

"One that Parangosky was happy to oblige to manipulate you."

James knelt to help Jack with the cuffs, "Preston was a threat to you" he said, grunting as the restraints came loose.

"Yeah, no shit" Preston said, "I'm gonna kick your arse for what you did to Maggie."

James stayed on one knee, looking up at me, "The A.I. that compiles those lists is essentially a personality analyst. It marks civilians and servicemen who could cause dissent for elimination. Before Meridian, before you got your blank check for whatever you found there, she turned it on your family. Preston was identified as the one person who could break your conditioning."

"Conditioning?" Jack asked, rising to his feet, "Like Brainwashing?"

James stood, too. He shook his head and looped Preston's arm over his shoulder, "Not like hypnosis and torture conditioning… more like…"

"Indoctrination." Katya said, darkly.

Preston struggled to walk as we exited back into the cell block and headed for the door.

"We can't take him out the front" James said, "I know a way out, a secret canyon that leads out the rear of the base but I don't have transport."

"We do." Katya said, "I radio him now."

Katya dropped back as we moved slowly, Jack out front, followed by myself, James, and Preston. Preston's legs gave out and he slipped into unconsciousness as I rushed forward to catch him. I looped his other arm over me, helping James as we followed Jack deep up a service ramp towards a small vehicle elevator.

"Look, you two…" James said, "I'm sorry about Ellen-"

"Don't." I said, hoarsely, "Please."

"She meant a lot to me, too. I know why you're so upset. It's been killing me ever since."

Jack had his weapon raised, scanning for targets as we moved inside the lift. "It wasn't just her. It was everything after, too. You didn't just make mistakes, James, you got people killed."

"I know."

Ellen Stagg. She'd been my inspiration. She was a quiet woman with a wicked sense of humour and a wonderful simplicity about her. We'd become the sirens of Skopje together, a mini legend in our own right, kicking ass and taking names with a SPARTAN to complete the trio. It was for her that I had gotten my beautiful Viper tattoo, reclaiming my body from the covenant who scarred it. She'd been in my thoughts ever since, almost as much as Nicola had.

Katya stepped inside the lift and glanced up at a sparking transformer above us, which jammed the elevator in place. We lowered Preston to the floor and I stood up, pulling my helmet free.

"I don't feel great." I said, bending over as sick or bile, I couldn't tell which, rushed towards my throat.

"We can go fix the transformer," Katya said, "you two stay here."

I slumped against the wall and closed my eyes. Jack seemed hesitant but he followed Katya after a moment, his eyes not leaving James as the opened the maintenance hatch and climbed through.

"How did you lose your arm?" James asked, leaning against the wall on the far side of the shaft.

I scowled as I thought back to my final confrontation with Erun, a turgid, gruelling fight through an ancient war machine.

"Remember that Elite from Skopje and Meridian. The one I put an axe through its jaw?"

He nodded.

"Well, he took it off last time we met."

"Jesus…"

"I killed him. Hardest fight of my life, took him out with one hand and the help of a brute if you can believe it. Got him right where it hurt. He watched a fleet die as I left him there." I sighed, "Doesn't matter now, I suppose. He's gone and I'm still here, fighting on."

"Sounds rough," He said, pulling a bottle from his belt. He unscrewed the cap and gulped down some water, "want some?"

I shook my head, "I'm good." I said, drawing my knees to my chest. Feeling small felt good right now. For some reason, Preston didn't see what I did for Maggie in the same way that everyone else had and to make matters worse, ONI clearly thought that he was some kind of threat to me.

"Look, I'm not a bad guy, Maddie. I made some huge mistakes-"

"Save it." I said, shaking my head, "Preston was seen as a threat to me. I want to know why. We can't change what either of us have done so let's not dwell on it."

"Sounds like you plan on keeping me around."

"Preston might hate me right now but I've lost too much to let him go, too. If putting up with you or even making nice is what it takes to repair whatever damage I've done then I will do it and I will do it earnestly. God knows I've done a lot worse for people."

"Well…" He said, tucking his bottle away, "based on his psych Eval, Parangosky and Osman figured you two were the closest of all the siblings in terms of personality. Where your development was cut short by the invasion, Preston had an extra couple of years to begin to develop a greater sense of self, something that Parangosky, Serin, and Drake thought they could influence when it came to you."

"Drake? I never saw him after Skopje, not until Meridian."

"He got too close. Hidden in the after action report from Skopje is his assessment of your relationship and his recommendation for you going forward."

"This just doesn't make any sense. They were up front about manipulating me, Drake even mentioned that he'd been kept away from me. Why would they hide Preston away if he hadn't done anything wrong?" I said, looking at my brother as he rested peacefully against the wall of the elevator.

"He did, though. Your brother flunked officer track, flunked as a medic, flunked as everything except for combat engineer. They told you some of their manipulations to make it seem as though they were being straight with you. ONI don't leave assets like you to chance."

"So what if he flunked, don't loads of people washout?"

"Well, it turns out that ONI tracks things like that and engineers like that tend to become a 'subversive element', which is a problem. Especially when they are perfectly capable of completing the training and fail for other reasons."

"He never did say why he washed out…"

"The files don't say," James shrugged, "or at least, I don't think they're accurate. He chose to quit each of them, in spite of his success."

"Right, but I still don't see how this connects to me. If he was so dangerous, they could have just killed him and covered it up?"

"What do you think they were in the process of doing?"

It hit like a train to my gut.

"I just don't believe it" I said, "if I found out they'd know I'd never forgive them and why did it take them so long to do?"

"All I have is the psych profile of the people we bring in, Preston and you share a lot of traits, from teenage listlessness to a deeply competitive spirit. They screened him for section one when we brought him in, that's the only reason he's still alive, I think."

"Why didn't they sign him up?"

"Because his formative years weren't spent being spoon fed propaganda by ONI agents. He was too erratic. He was unpredictable in a way that wasn't useful, so they were going to get rid of him."

I wanted to push back on that but it was true, ONI had played a huge role in my life, the whole reason I was here was because Parangosky sponsored me herself. From winter training at sword base as early as seventeen to an apartment and credit card straight from Parangosky's personal black hole budget, I'd been privileged by ONI and because of my gratefulness, I'd never bothered to look into the hidden cost of it all.

"Look, I understand if you don't believe me, Preston didn't at first, either." He said, defeat seeping from his sagging shoulders like lava from an active volcano. "Back on Skopje, while you were locked up in that covenant camp, Drake let his guard down once. He said: it's better that she's dead. Just means she won't come to regret joining ONI later. I was pissed, it sounded like he'd given up on you despite dragging you into all of this."

"He never stopped telling me I'd regret signing up." I sighed, "I just assumed ONI would only ever screw me up front, you know?"

"Did you? Ever Reach that point, I mean."

The day will come when you regret this, lass.

I didn't need to reply. Tears welled in my eyes as I thought of George, his frozen corpse floating on what remained of the Ides' Bridge. I thought of Nicola, her skull split open, Maggie, lying dead on the floor of a bar with Eliza sobbing her innocence away just beside her.

James nodded again, he understood. He left me to think in silence as Katya and Jack returned a while later, the pair of them looked concerned at the silence and surprised, perhaps because I hadn't beaten James to a pulp yet.

"Should be fixed, now" Jack said, approaching the keypad. He pushed the button and sighed with relief as the elevator began to grind and stir its way up the shaft.

"How is he doing?" Katya asked me, looking down at Preston.

"He's exhausted," I said standing up, "he'll be fine, soon."

"It might make extraction tricky if he's still out like that, you got a pelican to hand by any chance?" James asked, pulling himself to his feet, his robotic joints squeaking as the tiny hydraulic muscle fibres worked their magic.

"We can do better" Jack grinned, "we get all the good toys, don't we?"

I nodded and braved a smile, "Yeah, perk of the job."

"What's just outside this door?" Katya asked as the lift ground to a halt, "you said it's not on the maps?"

James nodded and drew his pistol, "it's the secret entrance, a single landing pad sunk into a little ice crevice. So, we will be below any covenant retreating from the base… hopefully they're too busy running away to spot us."

"I'll ping Ollie our location." I said, "we will need the assist."

The doors opened and we were greeted by a fleeing covenant force. They didn't notice us at first, they were too busy scrambling up the icy cliffs to care as we slid into cover next to a set of handrails and readied our weapons.

We peeked out of cover and Katya pointed to a small figure hidden in the rocky cliff overlooking the battlefield, Sniping at targets below them. The remaining troopers, a token force of around twenty marines, were trying, and for the moment succeeding, to see off the covenant as they tried to flee the area.

"We need air support, Ma'am. You got anything on station?"

"I do. Hold here." I said, sitting down. "Viper to Winter, what's your status?"

Van Graff's nigh-on giddy voice echoed in my helmet "Currently making half the covenant air force look like training drones Ma'am, seven confirmed kills and counting!"

"I need you to circle back, danger close CAS on my position." I leaned out of cover and painted a target on the far ridge just beyond the troopers."

"On my way, hold tight!"

I sent out the call to hunker down and watched as the fire from the rag tag force died down. The covenant, sensing blood in the water, began to filter into open ground, splashing and sloshing like boggy water in the open. I grinned as a low whine could be heard from their rear.

The UNSC Winter appeared behind them like the angel who appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, its twin plasma cannons spooled and unleashed liquid metal death upon the enemy, who panicked, fearing that their own had turned on them. They were cut left and right, their grunts and groans drowned in a spattering of plasma fire and cheers from the marines.

"Someone cooking pork?" asked Preston, blinking awake.

He smiled at James who nodded, "A friend of mine lit the barbeque, not me. That's Ollie Van Graff, right? Not many people would dare fly a prototype ship like that…"

"Let's go." I said, ignoring him, "Winter, get your arse on the deck, we need to bug out ASAP."

"Something the matter, Cap?"

"I'll explain on the ship"

"Aye, Ma'am."

I cut the link and helped Preston up, walking briskly towards the landing pad as my brothers strength returned to him a little bit and I felt less of his weight on my shoulder. He'd filled out a lot since I'd seen him last. His shoulders were broad and wide, his chest thick, and his stomach as tight as my own. His hair was overgrown and messy, a consequence of his imprisonment, and the makings of an impressive beard sat raggedly on his face and chin.

You're still my big brother, after all.

His eyes were sullen, though. Still as blue as an ocean but whereas mine shone like a winter morning, and Alex's were as deep as a warm sea, Preston's looked almost murky as he glanced about. His paranoia was palpable as Ollie touched down and lowered the ramp. Preston gripped James and I tightly.

"You guys would make for a crap taxi service, you know that?" he said, chuckling.

"Good job I'm just a murderer, then" I replied, flatly.

"Hey, you said it"

James looked sadly at him as we laid Preston against the side of the drop bay and sat down nearby, rubbing the joints where his flesh had been melded to the prosthetic legs. He winced a little and stretched but I felt no sympathy. James seemed to have come out of his slump but that slump had cost the lives of a lot of people, I wasn't going to let him forget that.

Moron or Murderer. You get your men killed for the wrong reason… or the right one. As a Commander, the hope that your troops die for something meaningful is all you can ask for.

The ship lifted off and I looked around. Most of my life was in this room. Jack, Katya, and Preston represented almost half of what I could consider a true friend or ally. Behind me, Ollie relaxed in his chair as we climbed up into the sky.

"Captain-" he began, sitting upright.

"You really don't get that you're also a Captain, do you?"

He blinked and relaxed, "sorry, force of habit. I was trying to be a good boy for your brother, if you remember."

"I do" I said, sitting next to him. "Get us into orbit near Anchor 9"

Walsingham appeared nearby and I rolled my eyes. "If I may, what are your plans, now? Could we not recover anything from Sword Base… or do you have physical data?"

I went to open my mouth but thought better of it, "Not now, Wally. I want an update on Ward's force deployment."

Walsingham raised a brow and began to list off Ward's tactical moves as he repositioned his fleet's defences in the system. Trafalgar was at the heart of his defence, centred around using Reach's moon for cover. My eye was caught by James, however, who, alongside Katya, slipped into the maintenance hatch in the belly of the ship.

"Miss Harper, you really should pay attention- wait, I'm receiving a hail from Admiral Parangosky, would you like to accept the ca-"

He shut off. Then, the ship powered down.

"Ugh, what the hell is going on?" I asked, looking at Ollie, "did you break my ship?"

"Naw, it went dead, power's cycling, A.I. is gone, weapons down… I've only got flaps…" he grunted, letting go of the controls.

"So, we have no propulsion, weapons or-"

The power came back online with a whir and a low drowning noise that rose to a crescendo until all systems appeared normal.

"Wally, status?" Ollie asked, looking curiously at me.

I raised a brow, leaning forward as I checked the systems panel for a diagnosis.

"There's nothing wrong here" I said, "this ship is a prototype, could be a-"

"Madeleine!" Tukmen'tukhan said, grinning as he appeared in front of me. "I must say, I'm sorry about all that."

"What did you do?" I asked, sighing.

"Katya and I killed your friend."

"You wiped Walsingham?"

"Yes. That man you brought on board, he said that A.I. was used as part of his headhunting missions."

James entered the room, behind Katya of course. I scowled like a dragon and glared at him.

"What's going on?" Ollie asked, looking between us all as the tension rose.

"Walsingham was modified to ensure that my missions were carried out. At the first sign of dissent, they notify Parangosky, who flips the switch and puts out a hit." Katya said, darkly.

Ollie nodded, "some ships even have a kill switch, knocks them out dead for a team to come and arrest them… or kill them."

"It was the same on the Enigma with Hermes" Katya said, "we'd always have had to do this if we were going to bring Preston and James on board."

"How did you guys find out?"

"I was straight up told" Ollie chuckled, "although I don't see the need to do it unless we've done something ONI wouldn't like" he added, nervously.

"I found it and told Katya and Jade" Tuk said, almost grinning, "I reasoned that until I was given data to suggest you would ever need to know these failsafe's existed, we wouldn't tell you. Until now, you never gave us reason to believe you might cause ONI trouble"

"Until now?" Ollie asked, looking about.

"James used to run the head hunter program for a time" Tuk added, motioning to James who still cowered behind Katya.

"Sir?" Ollie asked, looking at his old boss, "Can someone please fill me in? Y'all are killing me."

I sighed, "James and Preston… aren't supposed to be here. Parangosky didn't want me to know about them."

"Why?"

"They threaten her control over ARC DREAM" Katya said, standing aside so that James and Jack, who'd avoided the confrontation in the drop bay, could join us.

"Well, that's just great, because I've got Parangosky on the line, she's not the sort of person you just put on hold, guys." Ollie sounded worried, which surprised me. I'd have thought he would be fine with a little mischief. What that said about these 'kill switches' and his head hunter missions made me uneasy because Ollie was usually very confident.

"Tuk, can you stop her from seeing James and Preston? And the data we pulled from the relay?"

He nodded, "Easy."

"Okay, Ollie and Kat stay, the rest of you need to leave. Look after my brother." They departed as Ollie took a deep breath, "relax, it's only the most powerful woman in history" I said, punching him on the shoulder.

"Not funny" he grinned, relaxing a little.

Katya sat down and the door sealed itself, with Parangosky appearing in the viewscreen in front of us.

"I don't like to be kept waiting, Madeleine, what's your status?" she said, her eyes firm like iron.

I scrambled for a plausible excuse. "Slight malfunction in the Winter… something caused a surge in the reactor, the spike fried Walsingham and…" I pretended to check the weapons and shields, "critical defensive systems are currently down, as well."

I wanted to wince, I felt as though it was more than a little bit obvious that I wasn't being completely truthful.

"Walsingham? You're sure?"

"He's not responding. I've replaced him with Tuk'mentukhan, so it's fine for now. He's looking through the ship's systems to find a fault."

"Are you okay my dear? I know he was something of a confidante to you for a long time."

That much was true, I figured it was a mistake to be nonchalant about his 'death', though I had been indifferent to him for a long time, there was a chance that Parangosky hadn't known that when she assigned him to watch me.

"He's not a smart A.I. and I've lost a lot more over the years than a glorified science project. I don't mean to be callous," I said, running a hand through my hair, "but I think you might finally be rubbing off on me."

Parangosky frowned, "I am glad to hear that, I was wondering perhaps, if you had finally begun to let go of what's been holding you back all these years."

"I wasn't aware I was being held back, Ma'am."

Parangosky's eyes narrowed as I realised that I'd made another error, I'd rarely pushed back against her. My questions to her had always been for clarification but I had just contested her assessment of me and it made her suspicious.

"Attachment holds everyone back, Madeleine. I told you to put it all to rest at Ballast, did I not?"

"I think that decision was made for me" I said, catching a side eye from Katya, who seemed sad as she looked at me.

"Precisely my worry." Parangosky replied, cryptically. "Head back to Anchor 9 for repairs. I'll send you a new A.I. As for you, did you find anything useful at Sword Base?" she continued.

"Only Catherine Halsey. She wasn't very forthcoming."

"What a surprise" Margaret chuckled, "she must have wiped everything there when the covenant showed up."

I shrugged, "it's possible, I suppose. Although, it seems odd that the hole you hid my new pilot in didn't have more talent on offer."

"Indeed." She said, icily. "Captain Van Graff is a good asset, one you would be wise not to waste."

"Have I ever wasted an asset?"

"Choosing not to share Beta-7 data with me is wasting a lot of assets."

"You always taught me to compartmentalise."

"I taught you to be clever."

"It's a question of trust, then."

"I don't trust anyone, Madeleine. You know that." She said it so pointedly that it could only have been a warning.

Don't fuck with me, she seemed to say.

"Regardless, as per your report on the Sorvad girl, I believe there has been rebel activity in the province of Ütközet that matches the profile of the militia group this 'Mikaela' might have joined. I want you to piggyback onto a reconnaissance mission to find her."

"I thought I had operational control here, Ma'am." I said, folding my arms.

"My dear, of course you do. The wider UNSC has needs too, which is why you're needed there. HIGHCOM has seen fit to organise a counter attack but we need intelligence. You will be inserted with Noble Team and one of my own assets to recon the area and search out that target. I suggest you take this opportunity, Madeleine, I trust your judgement but I also trust my sources. Ready your team over the next few weeks and help HIGHCOM and their doomed counteroffensive. It'll be our best chance to get what we need. If the covenant are here in force, it will make the chances of this girl slipping through our fingers all the more likely."

"Why do I get the feeling that you know more about this than you're willing to let on?"

"Because I always do, you have your orders," she said, explicitly, "I'll be sending you an old friend to keep you company. He's quite the talent, one I found whilst looking into you."

My stomach twisted. A babysitter with a personal connection meant that Parangosky was more wary of me than I had first assumed.

Attachment is holding you back…

But I'm sending an old friend to watch you for misbehaviour.

Who it was concerned me, the list of people I had a connection with were largely with me here on the Winter. Angie wasn't cut out for this work and was still on earth as far as I was aware, putting Eliza in harm's way was something she'd already done… it could have been Akron but he would do anything to remain with his family.

"Who are you sending me?"

"Nico Belloc"

I swallowed. "He's Alive?"

She nodded, "very much so"

"I'm not sure about this, Ma'am. That's old history, you said-"

"When have I ever done anything that hasn't made you stronger?" She asked, cutting me off.

Katya gave me a look that could splinter diamonds. Her face was a storm of fury, I could see it in her eyes.

She's gaslighting you.

"I trust you." I said, mostly for the benefit of my friends present, "Send me what you have and we'll get it done."

"Glad to hear it. Parangosky out."

Her visage winked off the display and I gasped for air, unaware that I'd been so tense.

"She knows Mikaela is there." Katya said, scowling.

I nodded, "why is she so concerned about her?

"And who's Nico?" Katya asked, looking to me for answers.

"I can answer that" Tukmen'tukhan said, "the question about Mikaela, that is. I've gone through the Sword Base data: it seems that the Sorvad family were forcibly contracted by ONI a few years ago, for three generations, they have studied what ONI now believe to be an ancient human artefact hidden on Earth. ONI seized the research and sealed it away at their HQ in New Alexandria but they can't access it because the data is locked to Mikaela's biological imprint."

"A stalemate." Katya mused.

"Indeed." Tuk said.

"So, Nico isn't coming to babysit, he's coming to make sure ONI gets that data."

"Or to kill her." Ollie said, his voice shaking, "if it's the same person, that man was one of the deadliest head hunters I ever worked with."

I swallowed.

"Maddie, that man is a criminal."