Chapter 5 – Praeteritum
January 19th, 2552 - (09:15 Hours - Military Calendar)
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach
Csaba Mountain Region, Viery Territory
Falchion Base
:********:
Colonel Garrison hopped out of his Warthog and walked straight through the doors of the Center. His inner alarm bells were ringing to the tune of the most recent request for his presence at the Coronary. It came straight from the top, from UNICOM no less. William made that expressly clear to him upon appearing on his personal pad with the update. A higher-up wanted to talk to him immediately and the immediacy of it told him there was a developing situation somewhere. Where there was a developing situation, pods in the air and boots on the ground were sure to follow.
With a ding, the elevator doors opened and he strode down the Coronary's central walkway. Around him, the dozens of logistics personnel typed away at their consular stations and called in reports on their headsets. Too much was strobing across their screens for him to make any sense of them. That he left to William whose Scottish warrior avatar flashed into being next to him.
"The Brigadier General's on the line already, sir." William said. "Just waiting for you."
"Great. And I forgot to fix my hair today. Perfect."
"No worries, colonel. You still look beautiful to me."
"Thanks for the lies, Will."
"Anytime, sir."
William vanished as Garrison reached the elevated platform at the center of the Coronary. The tactical planner stationed there hummed with life at his arrival, releasing a projection of a two-dimensional widescreen. After a quick boot-up process, the face as well as the office space of Brigadier General Abajjé appeared. Garrison noticed it in a blink; the concerned stare, the restrained posture, the worry lines creasing his forehead. A forecast of what could only be unwanted news.
He saluted. "Brigadier General, sir. You asked for me?"
"I did." Abajjé straightened. "Remember your previous orders?"
"Yessir, why?"
"Well, I'm here to countermand them. There's been a change of plans. Colonel, your battalion is to remain at its current standby position indefinitely. You are to continue your pre-deployment workup until given further notice. Any questions?"
There were many. So many that Garrison was unsure which one to give voice to first. "Sir, permission to speak freely?"
"Granted."
"What happened? I thought we were squared away?" He looked about the room, to the scores of personnel busy with their tasks, but perhaps not too busy to listen in. "And what about secrecy?"
"We went through a lot of trouble last time due to the subject matter being for your eyes and ears only. Now things have changed. There's been a reshuffling of priorities further up the totem pole than even I'm privileged to know the full extent of. That's why I can't so much as tell you what you're waiting for or for how long. For the time being, just know that it relates to your battalion and that it comes straight from the top."
"From the top?" Garrison stopped to ponder the possibilities behind that statement. "So, we're going off the books then?"
"Like I said, that's as much as I can convey. I can't confirm that for you, but if I were you, I wouldn't dismiss it either."
"...Understood, sir. I'll hold down the fort then."
"Good to hear. Any further questions?"
"No, sir."
"Alright then, you're dismissed colonel. But keep an eye out for my next update. It can come at any time so stay on your guard."
"Will do."
Abajjé's feed winked off and the colonel was left staring at a blank screen, confused and conflicted in more ways than he cared to think about. Too much had suddenly gotten a wrench thrown into it for him to figure it out. He was freed from the quagmire of his thoughts once William rematerialized above the nearby holo-tank.
"If you don't mind me asking colonel, but what were those previous orders?"
Garrison knew he could have scolded William for such a gross breach of protocol. However, he had a hard time seeing the half-meter tall figure beside him as less of a friend to contend with and more an artificial intelligence in need of correction. One simply made more sense to him. Plus, there was no point in keeping a topic confidential that was no longer important.
He sighed. "Fumirole."
William's eyes widened by a few pixels. "Wow." He said, sounding genuinely surprised. "That...is far too close for comfort."
"That's because we're not in a comfortable position anymore."
"Were we ever?"
"Compared to now? Yes. Now things have gotten so serious that I don't even know what to tell my troopers. The 7th isn't some sedentary Army division that doesn't mind comfy stations. My boys and girls need something to do, somewhere to drop, someone to kill. The most I can hope for before I start hearing complaints from the officers is about a month, two tops."
"And after that?"
"After that, they might start getting up to trouble. You know how Helljumpers are."
William tapped the hilt of his claymore. "Ah yes, the devil finds good employment in hands without a deployment. It doesn't really help that they're called 'Helljumpers', does it?"
"Not if they can't raise hell somewhere else." Garrison started back down the walkway, William trailing him like a ghost.
"So, what will you do then? To keep them busy?"
"Simple. I'll keep them busy." Garrison shot him a smile that was left unreturned by the nonplussed AI.
"I just said that."
"That's because great minds think alike."
Garrison walked into the elevator as William stopped at the threshold.
"Well, I guess I am a great mind, aren't I? After all, I'm nothing but mind."
Garrison pressed the ground floor. "No, I mean the poor soul whose brain got iced to give you your neural pathways."
William's moment of pride shattered and the AI gave him a disdainful glare. Garrison got a laugh out of it. "Relax, Will. I mean you too. You're probably a greater mind than he was anyway."
"Well, if you think him such a poor sod, maybe you should get your own brain taken out for the freezer. Then we can see who's-…"
The doors closed, shutting off their chat. Garrison was surprised Falchion's guardian angel didn't remanifest himself inside the elevator as it began its descent. He guessed he was cooling off his heels back upstairs. In the meantime, he set his mind on how to keep the 7th Battalion busy. Not that he thought it would be that much of a problem. Since his early days in the battalion, he knew its tangent for finding its own work when there was none given from on high. All he needed to do was make sure to guide it along the most constructive path. That, and try to understand in some meaningful sense what HIGHCOM, because it was almost certainly HIGHCOM behind the last-minute changeup, was thinking. Why it had singled out the 7th, and exactly what it thought so important. So important that it was worth diverting them from the most vital priority of defending an at-risk colony world to instead sit on their hands and knees to wait.
:********:
The three days of their stay went by faster than Duncan expected them to, far too fast for his liking. In the end, the Iris family's time together boiled down to three major focal points; time spent in the Dante Building, time spent at restaurants and time spent at the civilian res building.
For the first, they hung around with their extended family. Noah made his rounds with Epsilon, whether it was goggling over the newest car models with Hector and his magazines, play-wrestling with Mito, Yuri and Rico or getting his hair washed by Nova and Renni after the roughhousing session. The most interesting thing was his time spent with the Staff. Duncan always felt it strange and amazing watching the man with his kid. He took Noah with him on drives through Falchion, at the latter's insistence of course, or simply sat down to tell him some stories about things Epsilon had done in the past. Non-classified things, and only what he thought a child like Noah could stomach. Duncan had to hand it to him that he had a way with the boy that no one else did. A mind like his could and did make tales about the war into little fireside stories, the kind Noah gawked and laughed and sat amazed at. It was times like those where Duncan couldn't help seeing him like a grandpa still in his prime. And, more discreetly, it wasn't the first time he found himself wondering what kind of father he would have made.
The uncles and aunts got to enjoy those occasions with their nephew. So did Duncan, mainly because the Staff gave him permission to hang with his family while everyone else got busy with training. Trading the daily rigor for family time was fine. Though he got slightly worried that his son was hanging around his Uncle Zack too much, because before long, he caught him grumbling about why not having a World Cuisine on-base was evil. That led to the second thing; food.
Chicken parmesan was never far from the menu in the places they went. For Noah's sake, they made sure he found the delicacy he was looking for. However, Duncan also made an effort to get the delicacy he was hoping for. The squad made that easier for him. Renni and Yuri volunteered their time the most. With some assurances to Erica, Yuri got the chance to get Noah on a private flight. Apparently, the ODST-pilot had connections and even something of a reputation with the pilots that came in and out of Falchion. One of them was willing to lend him a Pelican for a brief stint. Noah got a ride in the co-pilot seat while Yuri flew them around Csaba's local airspace, Renni acting as chaperone for both of them. Yuri chose the best routes that wouldn't get them noticed by flight control, giving him a chance to deliver on his earlier promise. And he sure did. Noah would talk non-stop later on about how his Uncle Match swooped through the air, made sudden dives then twisted them around in 'cool' spirals. He recalled how excited he felt all the while, but that his Aunt Ren looked like a ghost once the whole thing was over, an expression his mother could relate to after hearing about it.
While the pair were babysitting, Duncan took Erica on date after date. They hit every one of Falchion's fancier restaurants where the average clientele leaned more towards officers than enlisted. He had the credits regardless. Saving up tended to leave him with an abundance later. As it turned out, fighting the Covenant from dugout foxholes, ruined buildings and wrecked street corners for weeks and months on end taught him how to save up for rainy days. It wasn't like he could be too thrifty on colonies under siege. Because of that, he could afford to be thrifty here, to see her smile while they enjoyed high quality dinners, to watch her roll her eyes while he gave particularly hefty tips to stunned waiters.
Then there was the time they spent back at the civilian res building. Duncan got a chance to experience a thing once unknown to him; a true couch potato lifestyle. He sat with Erica and Noah while they enjoyed a movie or two together. But of course, since Noah was there, he had them watch 'Chasing David', his favorite, almost every morning. Since the little guy was still in school, Duncan undertook the task of helping him with his homework, mostly to spare Erica so that she'd have energy for later. A small price to pay for the bigger picture. Once Noah's lights were out, they left him on the couch, locked the bedroom door and enjoyed having the king-sized frame to themselves for more reasons than one.
It was a good arrangement for however long it would last. As things would turn out, not very long.
On the last night he woke up to the sound of clinking dishes. He found Erica still asleep. Noah was missing. He climbed out of bed and walked out to the kitchen. The microwave was going. There was Noah standing right beneath it in his pajamas, watching the mug inside turn and warm.
When he heard his footsteps and turned to see who it was, a look of shock flashed across his face, as if it were the last person he wanted to see. A similar look took hold of Duncan at the sight of Noah's face. His eyes were red and puffy, glazed over. Duncan's first thought was that he was sleepy, but the way Noah spoke was like someone fully awake.
"Hey dad."
"Hey bud." Duncan eyed the mug. "What're you up to this late?"
Noah didn't answer at first. He stared at the mug for a while. Then a delayed shrug. "I don't know. I was trying to sleep but..."
"Noe?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm making some hot chocolate. Mom always makes me some when I can't go to sleep."
"Oh. Okay."
They stared at the mug again, leaving the sound of its heating as the only commotion in the room.
"Does she have to make it for you a lot?"
Noah jumped a little, startled, as though he'd forgotten he was there.
"Noe?"
"...No." He finally replied with a slow shake of the head. "Not really..."
Duncan watched him, worried. "Hey, you okay?"
Before he could answer, the timer went off. Noah reached for the microwave's handle but it was too high for him. Duncan wondered how he opened it in the first place. The sound he heard earlier made sense. That was probably him struggling. He helped him open it and got a hold of the mug. He flinched. It was steaming hot.
"Let's give that a sec to cool down."
"Okay."
He let a minute pass for good measure. He took the handle. There was barely any change in the temperature. He took it out to blow on the hot chocolate inside but Noah stopped him.
"It's okay, dad. I can drink it."
"You sure? It's still really hot?"
"I can take it."
Those words had a life of their own and they persuaded him to hand over the mug. Noah took a sip. Duncan was certain it burned his lips. But instead of recoiling, he watched him take another sip and then another.
Impressed, he asked. "Ready to go back to bed yet?"
Another quiet shake of the head convinced him to bring them over to the living room. He sat Noah on his lap, switched on the main display and asked him what he wanted to watch that could help him back to sleep. There was no argument to be had, no debate.
"Chasing David."
That settled that. Duncan put it on and held Noah close while they watched yet another replay. He listened to the sips as they quickly turned to gulps. From what he could tell, the hot chocolate was still steaming. It should have been burning his throat. The kid didn't show any discomfort whatsoever. His heavy eyes remained affixed to the display despite the searing hot liquid he was taking in by the mouthful, at a rate that would have made any coffee addict wince.
Duncan was starting to feel less impressed and more worried.
Soon the hot chocolate did its thing. Noah lay knocked out on his chest halfway through the movie. He quietly turned off the display and headed back to the bedroom. He laid the boy down between him and Erica with the gentleness that he often saw Rico reserve for his anti-personnel mines. It was the same in principle. With Noah down, he slipped beneath the sheets and left himself drift off.
He didn't drift very far. An undesired consciousness slowly came back to him, as well as the feeling of being watched. His survival instincts kicked in automatically and he opened his eyes by a small crack, not enough to let anyone think he was up.
Noah was laying on his side, wide awake, facing him, watching. Duncan figured the hot chocolate had worn off. He sensed next to no time had passed since they lay down. He was going to ask what was wrong when he felt the need to lie there and observe.
Time slugged on as the two watched each other, not moving or doing much of anything. Duncan was still pretending to sleep. Noah wasn't trying at all. There was a profound heaviness behind those eyes that wasn't from sleep.
After what he suspected was half an hour, Duncan reached out two fingers. Noah was unsurprised as he put them on his eyelids and slowly closed them. Catching the hint, he giggled and lay his head on his father's shoulder. Duncan heard him snoring a minute later. It freed him up to ease back into unconsciousness, content.
The morning of their departure rolled in like an unwanted guest. No one wanted to get up that morning, especially Noah. It took the Staff having to call in just to get them out of bed. Having helped them pack their things the night before, Duncan got them moving. Soon they were headed out the lobby doors with both suitcases saddled on his shoulders.
A Warthog was already waiting for them outside. The Staff was at the wheel. Hector, their usual chauffeur, was too busy getting his own Hog taken care of at the local motor pool to be their driver for the day. With the rest of Epsilon having said their goodbyes the evening prior, they were good to go straight to the starport.
The drive there was hushed except for the characteristic growl of the vehicle. Duncan picked up on it when they were nearly to the gates; Noah's silence. He hadn't said a word since he woke up and had barely looked at him on the way to the Hog. Duncan tried meeting his gaze from the rearview mirror, but he wouldn't give him the time of day. It left him unsettled at the sudden change from last night. That feeling of distance was there again.
They reached the starport fence faster than he wanted them to. They disembarked and Duncan handed them their suitcases.
"We'll see you later, Staff." Erica said as she finished hugging him. "Keep up the good work, okay?"
"Count on it."
Noah approached the man, albeit with a blank stare. His arms stayed at his side. The Staff kneeled down and gave him a one-armed hug, patting him on the back. "Watch out for your mother, Noe. And your grades too. You got that?"
Noah nodded awkwardly. The Staff let him go and ushered him to Erica. She herself was hesitant to turn to the last person she needed to say goodbye to.
Against her uncertainty, Duncan beamed with confidence. "Oh come here you."
She chuckled as she walked up to him. They latched onto each other, holding on so tightly that Duncan wondered if he really wanted to let her go. She pulled away a little, just enough to kiss him. They held each other there too, so long that Duncan felt the building fire in his lungs. But he could ignore it for the sake of the greater warmth radiating into him. Asphyxiation by love wasn't as bad a way to go as most of the other things he'd seen.
She released him after a while, leaving them both breathless. She put her hand to his cheek. "You come back to me, you understand?"
"Yes mam." He grinned. "Always do."
"Good." She kissed him one more time. "Love you."
"Love you more." He let her go.
"Noe, come on, tell dad goodbye."
Noah didn't say a word. He kept staring at his feet. Duncan strolled over to him and took a knee but he still refused to meet his eye. "Hey, son of mine, do me a favor, okay? Remember what I told you a few days ago?"
Noah nodded.
"What was it?"
No answer.
"That you're strong, that you're a trooper, and that you can take it, no matter what, right?"
No answer.
Duncan sighed. He patted the tooth necklace that for the past few days had never left his person. "Use that to help you remember it. I'll need you to hold down the fort for me while I'm away. I know you can do it. It's only a little longer." He grasped his shoulder. "I promise."
After a hesitant second, Noah nodded again, though his mouth remained glued shut.
Duncan turned to the other two. They looked just as confused as he was. He returned to Noah and reached out to hug him but he suddenly took a step back.
Unsure what to do, Duncan stayed there, confused.
"Noah?" Erica called. "Noah, go on-"
"It's alright." Duncan said. "It's fine." He pointed to the line of civilians passing through the gates. "You guys get going. Looks like the boarding's started."
"I-...I don't know if-"
"Eri. It's fine. Go on."
He doubted she didn't pick up on what he was trying to hide. She was hesitant for a second before the wherewithal came to her to take Noah by the hand. She waved goodbye and they both started towards the gates.
Duncan stood up.
The Staff came up next to him. "D?"
"...I'll manage, sir."
They watched them walk the last of the way to the line.
Nearly there, Noah dragged his feet. Then he stopped. Erica turned back, probably asking what was wrong. He peered back at his father. Without warning, he broke free of his mother's grip, dropped his suitcase and ran.
Duncan straightened up. As the Staff took a step back, he stepped forward. He saw the sparkling wetness in Noah's eyes as he sprinted straight into his arms, forcing him back to his knees.
Noah wrapped his arms as far around him as he could get them. He was sniffling, sobbing, crying with all he had.
"Hey, hey, it's okay." Duncan said in the most soothing voice he had. "It's okay."
Noah was saying something. It was so fast that Duncan couldn't understand. Listening more closely, he realized Noah was murmuring the same thing over and over again:
"Don't die, dad. Don't leave us alone."
Every muscle and fiber in his being slackened. His arms would have slipped right off of Noah had he not willed himself to hang on. He summoned all his strength just to keep from cracking up.
"Hey-hey-hey." He held Noah back, showing him his smile. "Don't say stuff like that, buddy. You know you don't have to worry about me. I told your mom just now that I always come back. I'll tell you the same thing too. And I mean it."
Noah stopped crying though he still quaked. "You-...you better. You still-...have to come to-"
"Bring your parent to work day. I know." Duncan pulled him in close again. "Don't worry. I'll be there if I can. No matter what though, I'll be back. You can count on that, okay trooper? Now go show Emma what you've got."
Noah began to settle down. Duncan felt him nod and he let him go
His face damp with tears, Noah stood at attention. He put his hand to his temple and saluted. Duncan got on his feet and returned the salute. The grin he hoped to see so much made its debut on his son's face.
Noah swiveled around and bolted back to his mother who had been watching the whole thing, hand to mouth, swelling with emotion. To everyone's surprise, he took her hand in his then took the lead.
Duncan tracked his family as they got through the checkpoint, as they traded goodbye waves one last time before they strode up the ramp into the passenger section of the waiting starship. A few minutes later the ramp retracted into the craft. The ship's engines commenced their routine warm-up.
Click. Click. Click.
The sound was coming from right next to him. Duncan turned to the Staff. He wasn't expecting to find the man staring at the ship, a beefy Sweet William cigar wedged between his lips and a lighter in one hand. With a final click, the device caught alight. He covered the flame with the other hand as he brought it to the tip of the Sweet William. He drew in a breath, lighting the thing aglow and drawing its oaky essence into his lungs before expelling a long trail of smoke. His eyes relaxed a bit and he finally seemed to notice that Duncan was staring at him.
"Since when do you smoke?"
"I don't." The Staff took in another breath-full.
"But, you're-"
"I used to, once upon a time." He put out the lighter, releasing another long smoke trail. He took the cigar out from his lips and examined it. "Back when I first started out in the 7th, I also started seeing one-too many things that I didn't like on one-too many deployments. I picked up a love for these. It helped take the edge off. Harper and Joels didn't think so. They had me stop. They were worried I would get too attached to these, that I'd become a health liability to the squad. At the rate I was going, they would have probably been right."
"So, why now?"
"It gets harder when they're not around." He nodded to the ship. "Doesn't it?"
Duncan turned back and saw that it was lifting off now, turning itself in the direction of New Alexandria. He understood what he meant.
"...His generation should never have to learn the price we paid for this." Duncan said, watching the ship ascending high above Falchion.
"I understand what you mean." The Staff replied. "Truth is though, you don't get a say in that. The only thing we have a say in is whether we win this war or not."
The starship thundered and roared away, beginning its return flight to the city. Duncan didn't stop watching until the last glimpse of it disappeared into the clouds. Eyes up, hands balled tight at his sides, he spoke without a hint of uncertainty or hesitation.
"Then let's hurry up win this thing already."
:********:
Renni was absolutely bewildered. Bewildered because no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find anyone. That evening, she had gone out for a late lunch at the mess hall. She offered Yuri and the others to come along with, but they refused, citing all kinds of reasons as to why they were too busy. So she left by herself.
Not a soul from Epsilon was in the Dante Building when she got back. Their floor was utterly empty. The lights were still on but there was no one lying down on the bunks or checking over armor in their lockers. The bathrooms were empty too. She checked the communications cubicles on the 10th floor and found no one from the squad there either.
Where was everyone? Surely, they would have told her if they were going out somewhere. She asked around. The few that could give her any solid clues all said the same thing. The squad had left the building, all at different times. One thing was blatantly obvious though. They had cleared out well before she got back.
But to where?
She was getting a sneaking feeling that something was off. She decided to head back outside and sniff around. Reaching the lobby doors, they parted but she stopped there. Sitting in the driver's seat of one of the Warthogs parked outside was none other than Nova. Hands on the wheel, she looked on guard. For what?
Renni came closer and got her attention. "Nova, what's going on? Where is everybody?"
Nova side-eyed her for an unsettling while before she held out a hand and gestured to the passenger seat.
Renni stood paralyzed. Her sense that she was walking into trouble was going haywire. Then it calmed. It was Nova, after all. A squadmate. A friend. There was no animosity in her poker face either. Though not sure why she would expect to find any animosity, Renni took the situation in stride and pulled herself into the passenger's seat.
The engine was unusually quiet. She was sure it was Hector's Hog, same scratches on the hood and everything. However, that beast always had a habit of making its presence known. Not anymore. It was whisper quiet as Nova started their drive.
The quiet ride that followed passed on beneath the greater conversation that the regional winds were having with each other, bickering in howling tones from the east to the west. There was some good in that. The noise took away from the tense unknowns playing out in the vehicle.
Nova refused to talk. Renni tried her best questions.
"Are you okay?"
"Is this Heck's Hog?"
"...Why'd everyone go out without saying anything to me?"
None of them worked. None provoked a single response.
Had she done something wrong? Had she offended someone? Her guess was Nova. Then again, she was one of the most emotionally robust persons in Bravo. Why would she suddenly be acting up now and for no reason?
At first, she considered the possibility that everyone went out together to some planned event. The biggest problem with that theory was that those she spoke to in the lobby said they saw different members of Epsilon leave at different times. That debunked the idea of a planned event, implying they went off doing their own things.
Still, separately? At any normal time on-base, there was at least a group of two going somewhere together, whether it was Zack and Mito headed to the mess hall or Hector and Yuri visiting the mechanics. They were never completely alone. Another factor that didn't add up: if they did actually go to the same place then why would they leave at different times? Why not go together?
The lack of answers from Nova wasn't helping. Neither was trying to figure it out and spinning herself deeper into the web of her own suspicions.
"Logical deduction never works well in a void. Try to get your footing first then work your way up from there."
Her inner voice recalled the memory as crystal clear as the day she first heard those words. They were wise, no doubt. Meant for another time, another life. Or were they? Good wisdom was good wisdom, wasn't it?
Any given situation presented a number of possibilities for gathering information. Environment. Time and weather. Context. Intentions.
She focused on getting her footing, deducing her new circumstances from what she could pick up. For one, they had already driven beyond Falchion's last perimeter fence and security checkpoint. They were moving into the outer wilderness of the Csaba Mountain region, headed southwest, limiting any probability that they were going to some civilized place. Environment.
It was nighttime and there was a chill breeze passing along with the wind. The skies were clear. She could look straight up into the starry dome and see Reach's two satellite moons. The larger, Csodaszarvas, had its orbital rings about it that gave it the unnerving appearance of a giant eyeball. At the center of its pupil was the smaller moon, Turul, with its less pronounced figure making the two celestial bodies look like parent and child. Both reflected the sunlight of Epsilon Eridani, good indicators that wherever she might be going; it would be well-lit. Time and weather.
She was with her squadmate on a night drive, headed somewhere unknown in a vehicle that Nova didn't normally drive in. The rest of the squad was nowhere to be found and no answers to be given for their disappearance. The best explanation she could conjure up was that they were going to join the rest of the squad. With good visibility came good overland navigation and communication. Maybe they were going on a secretive nighttime exercise that the Staff had planned at the last minute. That could explain why no one had left together and why Nova seemed in a less than friendly mood. Context.
The Warthog bounced down an uneven road that wormed about the southwestern base of the Csaba mountains. The path slowly corrected on a more westerly route.
They came to a roadway framed by a lineup of towering oaks when Nova suddenly slowed down. They slid to a stop near the side of the road. Leaving the engine on and the way ahead well-lit, Nova stepped out of the Hog. She pointed to the base of the nearest tree.
"See that?"
Renni looked. There was nothing unusual or out of place. It was a perfectly normal tree for all she could tell.
"What about it?"
"Follow me."
Nova moved towards the base. Renni joined her out of reluctance. The whole scenery was getting too spooky for her liking. Not saying a word to her, going out into the wilderness then stopping to check out some random tree? What was going on?
Her questions got their answers, two in fact in the form of a pair of duffel bags that Nova pulled out from behind the roots of the tree. She tossed one over. Renni quickly ran down the zipper and peeked in. Her eyes widened. There were clothes inside. She reached in and sifted through them: A pair of fatigue pants and an ODST shirt, socks, boots and hell, even a bra and shorts. The nametags on them were all the same. All hers. She rounded on Nova and found her already with most of her clothes off, switching what she had on for what was in the other duffel.
"Nova, what're my clothes doing here?"
"Put them on."
Renni cocked her head, feeling disoriented. "How-, who-"
"Don't worry, Zack and Yuri weren't involved. I'm the one who picked them out for you. Now hurry, we need to move."
No less confused, Renni considered the chance that this was a prank. But Zack and Yuri were the ones who were the most open to pranks. Not Nova. And if this was a training exercise, what in the world was it that required her to change clothes out in the middle of nowhere?
Renni went along with it for now. She stripped down to her undergarments. She reached for the clothes in the duffel.
"Don't do halfway." Nova said, stopping her. "Go all the way."
Unsure what she meant, she turned and saw Nova with her back to her, stark naked while she moved to throw on her new clothes.
Renni's confusion upgraded to outright bafflement. "What? Why?"
"Just do it. You'll know why once we get there."
"There? Where's there? Hey, I'm going to need more info than that."
"No." Nova said matter-of-factly. "You don't."
"But why-"
"Hurry up, Ren. We're short on time as it is."
With that, Nova ignored her. With no more answers coming, Renni relented. The best she could do now was finish up and find out why later. She slipped into her new undergarments and then into her fatigues. Fixing her hair back, she rounded on Nova. Her squadmate was already finished and walking over with her duffel.
"Ready?"
Renni nodded.
"Good. Hand me your bag."
Renni picked it up and passed it over. Nova went back to the oak tree and tossed them both into a deep grove between the roots. To Renni, it felt like she was watching her get rid of a body.
The two of them returned to the Hog and got underway as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
More questions.
Environment. Time and Weather. Context. Intentions. What were the intentions? What was the reasoning behind them. In defiance of her best guesses, she couldn't lock down any good explanation. It was one of those few things she hated most; not knowing. Not knowing something that was critical to know.
Tire tracks.
She noticed them within the cone of the headlamp. There was a trail of tire tracks going up the road. They were fresh. She was surprised she didn't realize it before. The route they were taking was not a frequently travelled one. So these tracks could only belong to a select few going up the same way, to the same place perhaps. Epsilon had to have gone ahead of them to...wherever.
They followed the tracks for ten more minutes. A few kilometers out from Falchion and there was nothing to see aside from pure, unadulterated wilderness. There was nothing out this far. She would have known if there were. Nova's poker face only made the situation worse; the fact she knew and was unwilling to say.
"Nova, where are we going?"
Nova looked at her in the rearview. She smiled. "We're linking up with the rest of the squad. We'll be there in a minute."
"W-, why couldn't you just say that before?"
"You'll see."
Too much frustration was kept pent up for Renni to make a coherent rebuttal. Instead, she sat back, quietly brooding.
The Hog continued on through the night until the road took on a growing ascent. The incline was gentle but pronounced.
True to her word, in under a minute Nova brought them out to an area where the forest suddenly disappeared. The trees gave way to a slowly rising, grassy landscape. Peering further along the road, Renni saw that it stopped right before a sheer drop. The landscape seemed to rise back up into view several kilometers away. It was a valley surrounded by steep, grassy plateaus on either side.
That's it. They were on a plateau.
Then she spotted a light-source not far from the right side of the road. It was close to the edge of the plateau but not quite on it. Wishing she had her visor on, she did the next best thing and squinted.
Warthogs, several of them, were parked around the light. In their midst, a fire was burning on a pile of wooden logs and stone. A campfire. Persons sat around it on small boulders or large logs. Most of them turned to see the newcomers.
Regardless of the distance, she could identify the shapes, the faces and the hushed voices from anywhere. Epsilon was having a campfire.
Nova steered to the right and drove off-road, eventually easing up until the Hog was parked near the others, completing the vehicular perimeter. All eyes were on them as they hopped out and moved into the circle.
"Hey everybody." Renni said. "So, um, someone want to tell me when we planned on doing all this? And why I was left out of the loop?"
Nobody answered. Even Yuri, the one person she could never get to shut up, was as quiet as the grave. Nova left her side and took a seat on one of the boulders, adding her own silence to the mix.
Renni detected suspicion in the way they watched her. She knew those looks well. It was the same kind they gave her when they suddenly ambushed her in that sewer on Actium. Luckily Deaks wasn't here threatening to make a tourist trap out of her teeth, but upon realizing the thought, she immediately hated herself for it. Strangely enough, the one person not observing her with that distant alienness was Mito. He looked just as out of the loop as she was. He moved to speak.
"Ugh, hey, so now that she's here, why're we all-"
Nova cut him off with a finger to her lips, returning the gathering to its earlier silence.
At length, Renni remembered how Mito looked similarly out of place during that sewer ambush. Back then, the Staff was the one leading the interrogation, and from the skeptical look on his face now, she felt a repeat of history coming on.
The Staff finally broke the stillness by reaching into his pants pocket. To the subtle shock of almost everyone, except Duncan, he took out a Sweet William cigar and a lighter. He stuck the thick rollup into a corner of his mouth and lit it. A short breath in, a long breath out and a trail of roast-flavored vapor. The tension in his frame diminished and he seemed to relax.
"You're not going to relapse, are you, sir?" Nova asked, sounding concerned.
"No." The Staff said. "I can control it."
"That's what they all say before rehab hits them, sir." Hector added.
"Have you seen me take a single one of these out before now, trooper?"
"Earlier today actually." Duncan quipped.
"Right, I mean before that."
Rico shrugged. "I've heard of the legend of 1st Platoon's infamous chain-smoker, but I never saw you with one myself."
"And that's how much control I have. That legend was before all of your times because I put it to bed before any of you got here." The Staff took out the cigar and looked it over. "Tell you what, this'll be my last one right here." He looked past it to Renni, almost through her. "I'm only using them now because I'll need them now. There's a lot that needs to be said tonight. Nova?"
"Yessir?"
"You changed out your gear successfully, right?"
"Changeout successful, sir."
"Good."
Then the Staff zeroed in on Renni. He took another drag of his cigar and exhaled the smoke. "Hey, Ren. You been good?"
Renni was ready to erupt. After all the night's strangeness, the nonchalance was going to be what finally set her off. "Sir, would you please explain what's going on? I lost track of you guys. I went on a manhunt to find you and only came across Nova. She brought me out here, made me strip and now-"
The Staff held up a hand. "You've got questions, right?"
Renni nodded. "Of course."
"So do we. But ours are more important. Take a seat."
Renni was taken aback. She looked for a spot. When she could find none, she simply sat down on the ground. From the other side of the fire, the Staff watched her closely.
"Alright, here's what I'll do. I'll answer your questions first then you'll answer mine. A good exchange. It goes something like this. One: why did we leave without you? Because we needed time to prepare for tonight. Two: why did we leave separately? So that we wouldn't let anyone think something too out of the blue was happening like if we left all at once. That way we wouldn't tip you off too much before you got here or anyone else for that matter. Three: why did we have you change clothes? We did the same for everyone. It was to make sure no one was wearing anything that could have been bugged, knowingly or unknowingly."
Renni felt the last one was particularly aimed at her.
"Lastly, why did we bring you this far out? Well, two reasons. One: to be out of any sort of effective range of visual observation or listening devices at Falchion. Two: to talk to you."
"About...what?"
The Staff scrutinized her through the crackling flames. His eyes narrowed.
"What's the story behind you and Commander Cordova?"
Renni's instincts kicked in, immediately suppressing the urge to freeze up like a deer caught in the headlights. She looked around at the suspecting glares aimed at her. Now she knew the reason behind them.
Her thoughts wrestled within her. She fell silent. Two allegiances fought for control of her tongue, one new, the other old. One that called her squadmates friends, the other that called them unauthorized personnel. The second gained the upper hand.
"...I-"
"We don't care if its classified." The Staff sharply replied. "We don't care if we're unauthorized. When Rico asked you back on Ballast, you said you couldn't tell us even if you wanted to. I figured you felt pressured by your sister being present so you didn't say anything. She's not here now. No one's here but all the people who want to know your story."
Renni's mind churned about with the newer allegiance wrestling the older back to a stalemate. "...Why do you want to know?"
"I don't really like to pry into the personal lives of my squad. But this one concerns me. It concerns almost all of us, and to be honest, I'm just curious."
Renni remained silent. The stalemate resumed. She always felt a time would come just like this one, when she would have to answer for the things that came before. She opened her mouth. Still, a small, inaudible voice creeped in:
"Loose lips sink ships."
Renni felt an invisible hand wrap its fingers around her throat. It didn't squeeze but it merely left its touch, as if just to let her know it was there, ready. She tried to swallow down the feeling yet it refused to go away.
The Staff's expression softened. He leaned back on his boulder and peered around the circle. "I don't think I told you all this story."
The attention quickly shifted from her to him and she felt an immediate relief.
"The place where we are now, it used to be an old rally point for 1st Platoon. Way back in the day, when I was little more than a PFC and we happened to be off-duty, me and Joels would come out her with a few others. Captain Harper would bring the whole squad to this spot for barbecues. We would come out here to talk, to relax." His gaze wandered wistfully to the stars overhead and the scenic valley a short walk away. "To get away from it all. The war, the work, all of it."
The Staff turned to each of them. "No one's sat where you guys are sitting for years. We were the only ones that ever came out this far. When the war started making inroads closer to home, we got to spend less and less time here. We got busier and busier until this place was nothing more than a memory. A good one still. I wanted to tell you this because I get the feeling things are about to get a whole lot busier."
He sat up straighter, refocusing on Renni. "ONI's had a lot of sway over us for some years now. I figured it's time we cleared the air on that and get a few things off our chests. We met your sister about a year before we met you. First was a mission we did in response to the Molnar Bombing. I'm sure you heard about that. We ran a counter-terrorism op against an Insurrectionist base of operations on Epsilon Eridani IV. The goal was to seize rebel weapons and resources, capture a head honcho that only showed up later and, incidentally, to free a whole ton of enslaved colonists. We were sent there with some training from the LC in the use of specialized pods, giving us a specialty that was unique in the ODSTs. It would wind up saving our lives later and at her expense too." He paused. "Any questions?"
Renni remained stone-faced.
"Next was a recovery operation that came a bit later. We were sent to retrieve an important package from a downed CCS on a moon in Aratus-Sulfi. Cordova led the way on that one. Little did we know that our target was an experimental and highly specialized intrusion software, a gentleman of an AI named Mr. Green. He was a rolling irony, a paraplegic intelligence able to go places we could hardly imagine. We got him out of there right as a Covenant fleet arrived to finish off the system. I believe you got to meet him during TROJAN." He paused again. "Any questions?"
Renni kept herself restrained, though she couldn't keep the genuine shock from fracturing her guise. He was unveiling highly classified information to her like it was yesterday's gossip.
"Finally, there was Miridem."
He stopped, and as his words settled in, a general air of discomfort grew over the gathering. Other than Mito, Renni saw a few of them fidgeting, looking off in the distance or down to the dirt at their boots.
"...That one doesn't need much explanation. You already know the gist of what happened, don't you?"
Renni wasn't sure what to say. She understood that there was some relationship between her sister and the squad. However, she never thought it would have to come up like this. That feeling at her throat persisted.
"Yes." She said. "On some operation, you knocked out my sister and diverted from your original mission along with Sergeant Joels."
"To take out Covenant AAC batteries in the outskirts of a provincial capital." The Staff finished. "She wanted us to handle a torch and burn op for an ONI installation that was at risk. I figured it wasn't anywhere near as at risk as the tens of thousands of families waiting in New Memphis. As it turned out, we didn't see eye to eye on that one. You know the rest."
Renni stared at him, trying to deduce what he was after. It was so much information and so suddenly. She couldn't help being reminded of someone. The intangible hand tightened its grasp only slightly and she was barely able to force out the question: "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Simple. I'm trying to convince you to spill your guts. So spill them."
The hand squeezed harder.
"I've told you all I have on your older sister. Now I'd just like to know how she got where she is. How she got to be that cold and calculating. And what are the odds that you're both sisters in ONI to begin with? To be frank, it's not very common for two siblings to join the same military branch and meet each other on the battlefield like you two did on Ballast. It all strikes me as too much of a coincidence."
It was a coincidence.
Renni wanted to correct him there. However, to do so would be to invoke the wrath of the feeling that was trying to strangle her. It squeezed so hard that she was losing her breath.
"Hey, woman."
She turned to see Yuri leaning over from his log. "You're taking too long to answer. Are you going to give us the goods or not? And guess what, we didn't come all the way out here to hear you say 'no'."
Anyone could have taken it for his usual aggressiveness. But Renni could recognize when he was simply acting out. This time he was acting in earnest. She could tell because he'd spoken with perfect English, a rare thing indeed, a way he only spoke when he was absolutely adamant about something. He wanted to know. So did everyone else sitting around the fire.
She stared into the flames and tried to grasp for control of her tongue. The hand stopped her, holding on for a short while before she strained against it with her full will. The restraint gradually dissolved and her mouth became her own again.
"Actually, we weren't in the same branch." Renni began. Her jaws slackened at the inner battle fought for them. "I-...we were assigned to different sections since we were young. She was always in Section II. I was in Section I. We-"
"Woah-woah-woah," Rico cut in. "What do you mean 'since we were young'?"
The squad's curiosity was firmly fixed on her. She almost wanted to go back to the Staff's stories. Sadly, there was no going back. The last gasps of the feeling at her throat tried to stifle her. She mentally shrugged it off and proceeded to break the decades-long silence.
"When I called Cordova my sister back on Ballast, it was true, but just half-true."
"Why half?" The Staff asked.
Renni sighed. "Because we're only half-sisters. When I grew up, I didn't even know I had a sister. However, the way we acted together, it was almost as if I didn't need anyone to tell me that to realize it was her. Meeting her was the best thing that ever happened for me as a kid. If you want to know why I'm here with you now, why I'm still sane, still alive, it's because of her. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't be where I am today. Not a chance."
The squad was leaning in now.
"What happened to you?" The Staff asked.
Renni decided to answer his question with one of her own. "Because of everything you told me just now, I know you broke a lot of confidentiality agreements you had with ONI. You guys aren't kidding around with this and neither should I. You know how-...how ONI has...special projects that it engages in? Special programs?"
She thought she saw the Staff's expression falter slightly. "I had a good guess that they would be up to stuff like that. Why do you ask?"
Renni took in a deep breath and refused to let it go until the ceiling of her lungs forced her to give it up.
"Staff, have you...or any of you...ever heard of something called the Janissary Program?"
The Staff caught a few pensive looks from the others. "Can't say I have. Why?"
"Well then, buckle in, because you're about to."
Praeteritum - Past
