Chapter 7 - Tempus

September 16th, 2544 (07:30 Hours – Military Calendar)

Ulterin System, Miridem

Matin Province, Continent of Vitre

Provincial Capital of New Memphis, De Gaulle Starport

:********:

Lieutenant Colonel Garrison strode briskly down the hallway before him, moving with unbridled swiftness despite the weight of his ODST BDU. The doors to the Command Room of the De Gaulle was just up ahead with a fireteam of four Marines standing guard. Despite their visible fatigue, they stood ram rod straight and saluted as they opened the doors, allowing him past.

The Command Room itself was a circular space with a window offering a 180-degree view of the Apron and the surrounding city. Various logistical stations with inactive displays encircled a central space with a meter-tall holotank. It vaguely reminded him of the Coronary back at Falchion. The thought briefly made him aware of just how much he missed his Battalion HQ. He brushed aside the nostalgia, knowing there was no place for it here, not under these conditions.

Two other persons occupied the room, two because the third didn't exactly count as human although she seemed to give off the uncanny notion of one.

The knightly AI known as Joan stood pensively over the projective lens of the holotank. Major General Horvath stood to her left and Colonel Mentieth to her right. The whole setup gave him the impression of witnessing the Transfiguration with a 2500's take on the subject, although, whether Joan could be considered a Messiah figure or not remained to be seen. He honestly hoped she was, because if what Squad Epsilon had uncovered beneath the baggage room of Terminal A was anything to go by, then they were all currently standing on the precipice of damnation.

Joan spotted him first and gave a curt bow. "Welcome, Lieutenant Colonel."

The others simply nodded. No one was in the mood for pleasantries, especially given the nature of what they were about to discuss.

"Are we still going ahead with it then?" Garrison asked.

Horvath folded his arms across his chest in thought. He sighed at length, telling Garrison all he needed to know before even opening his mouth. "We'll have to run the risk. Right now, Joan's busy preparing to get the Starport back online while also running through the back-up feeds to see who planted that charge and when."

Garrison's brow arched. "Back-up feeds?"

"Yes." Joan said, although her voice notably lacked some of the luster from earlier in the morning, instead sounding more tense. "Unbeknownst to most of the De Gaulle's patrons, there are hidden cameras in key positions with private power-supplies that can run even while the rest of the Starport is offline. They were installed decades ago for gathering evidence on terroristic activities should anything take place within the building such as a premeditated electrical shutdown. The initial point was to counter the Insurrectionists at the time. However, times have changed."

Joan held up her right hand and a two-dimensional screen projection appeared above it. "I cycled through weeks of footage since the initial invasion. So far, this is what I could find."

The image was a little hazy. However, it was clear enough for them to make out the expansive circular space of the Starport's main atrium located beneath the building's central glass dome. There were scattered chairs and tables from several latticed food courts, waiting areas and lanes leading to security checkpoints that branched off to terminals in either the North or South Wing. But what was of interest to the three officers were the seven dots moving across the space that were too tall to be human.

Joan zoomed in.

What popped out to Garrison right away was that they were Elites, seven of them. What he couldn't figure out was their armor. It was a dark crimson color with accompanying V-shaped visors that glowed a menacing blue. They were moving towards the security checkpoints leading to the North Wing.

He didn't recognize their armor at all. That meant this had to be some new type of Covenant Special Forces that humanity had yet to encounter, up till now at least. The lack of video audio made their every footstep seem silent, and the way their images flickered and faded in and out of spectral reality thanks to their light bending technology caused them to meld with the shadows of the darkened atrium.

"I've never seen that armor variant before." Mentieth observed. "Some new Spec Ops perhaps?"

Horvath scrutinized the figures. "There's a high chance but I can't say for certain." He turned to Garrison. "Any clues?"

The Lieutenant Colonel shook his head then pointed back to the image. "I recognize that though."

Horvath and Mentieth followed where he was pointing to a spot between the Elites. They were carrying a large, round object between them. Its violet sheen and spiky surfaces enabled them to quickly identify it.

"I'm glad you noticed." Joan said. "These are the same Elites that brought in the antimatter charge. The only problems are…"

"Problems?" Horvath asked, prompting her to finish. She glanced at Garrison.

"The antimatter charge that your ODSTs found is not the only one in the Starport."

The air around the room grew palpably heavier as the officers did their best to stifle their own concerned reactions to the news.

Horvath arched an eyebrow at her. "Care to explain?"

"In truth, these…whoever they are, brought in more than one through the main atrium. Across the feeds I counted five specifically that were carried into the building."

"Five?" Mentieth pressed. "Well, where are they?"

"That's where the second problem lies." Joan said. She paused to take in a virtual breath. "I don't know."

The AI sensed the impending backlash and preemptively held up her hands in her own defense. "Please understand, the hidden cameras aren't fool proof. For one reason or another, wherever the charges are transported, they send out a kind of EM field that radiates at least 100 meters out from the source. I believe this was how one of the ODSTs managed to find the first charge by detecting the trace-elements of Tritium that this field emits regularly. The EMs wouldn't be a problem to the higher-grade equipment used by UNSC troops and especially not the Covenant. However, it would affect lesser tech such as these cameras. The reason this is the only footage I have of these Elites is because wherever they took the charges, the field would knock out the cameras' power supplies before they could get a view. Those in the atrium had the advantage of distance since it is such a large open space."

"Then can you give us any ideas as to where these bombs may have been planted?" Horvath asked.

Joan gave another graceful bow then held up her sword arm. Another image appeared showing the schematical framework of the Starport. Five circular dots were drawn across the structure, two in the North Wing and three in the South Wing. "These are rough estimations of where each should be according to the proximity to local camera blackouts as well as the time that each device was transported through the main atrium. However, I couldn't say for certain where they're located. I would recommend using what technology that ODST is equipped with that discovered the first."

The three officers stood in quiet contemplation for a moment, pondering the situation and the different courses of action that could be taken. Garrison spoke first.

"Major General, are you certain you still want to carry on with-"

"I've already informed Tursk of what we've accomplished." Horvath said adamantly. "We've agreed that the Starport must remain open as a rallying point for the Miridem evacuation effort. The civilian starships from other regions are currently on their way here to refuel. We'll simply have to try and defuse these charges before they get here. There's no time for delay. However, I'm restricting the info about our current dilemma."

"I wouldn't call it a dilemma, sir." Mentieth interrupted. "It's more like a pressure cooker. If the report from Garrison's troopers is anything to go by then the other charges are highly likely to also be on standby remote detonation. Just two are more than enough to take out the entire Starport. But five? That's overkill, sir. And if you allow Joan to reconnect the refueling lines and get fuel running again, a synchronous detonation of those charges could cause a ripple affect across the entire block. Considering how interconnected the fuel lines may be, we're potentially looking at city-wide devastation. The Covenant may not even need to glass us at that point."

"What are you recommending, Colonel?"

"Sir, I recommend an immediate evacuation of our forces from the Starport. From there, EOD can be sent in to-"

Garrison shook his head at the thought. "Not a good idea. We'd be dead long before we got the chance."

The other two officers turned to him fully, prompting him to carry on. "Is no one else here concerned about why those bombs are on remote detonation? That means whoever has the trigger can send us on a one-way ticket to hell right here and right now before I can even finish my sentence. But they haven't done it yet. Why is that?"

Horvath shrugged. "You tell me, Garrison."

Garrison looked out the room's window to the cityscape beyond the apron. "There's a saying where I'm from that I think best describes this situation; 'Why catch a Tuna with a Tanker when there's bigger fish on the way?'"

While Mentieth was still incredulous at its meaning, Horvath caught on quicky. "You're saying they're waiting for a bigger target to show up?"

"Targets." Mentieth said, starting to understand. "You mean…the civilian ships coming to refuel here, don't you?"

Garrison nodded. "They could've blown this place the moment we took the Starport. They didn't, which means they've got bigger fish to fry than us. A timer wouldn't do them any good since they don't know when the civies will be here so remote detonation is their best option. They're probably watching us even now." He eyed the Colonel. "That's the reason why we can't leave. If they see us suddenly bugging out of the Starport en masse without any obvious cause then they might realize that we've caught on to them. There's a high chance that they'll detonate the charges before we can escape so they can at least take some of us out."

"…So we're trapped here then, at their mercy?" Mentieth asked.

Garrison gave a long exhale. "Pretty much."

"We have at least one thing in our favor." Horvath said. "They don't seem to be aware of the fact that we've uncovered one of their bombs. If they knew that we know, I'm certain they would've set off all five by now. That means we have a window of opportunity here." He pointed to the five dots on the schematics. "We'll send out teams to search for the last charges. Garrison, I want that squad that found the first one to help out. We'll have to defuse all five simultaneously so as not to alert the Covenant until it's too late. Mentieth, your guys and mine will hold down their sectors outside. We're operating on a need to know basis here. Only those who need to know should be told what the situation is. Everyone else stays out of the loop."

"Wouldn't it be better for them to know, sir?" Mentieth asked.

"Knowing doesn't do them any good." Horvath admitted. "Especially since they're not in the position to do anything about it. I'd rather not cause a panic."

Both the Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel nodded at the grim fact.

"Understood sir, I'll keep my people in place." Mentieth said. Though he still seemed concerned about the matter, he kept his worries to himself for now.

Horvath's attention resettled on the AI. "Joan, I don't want the Starport running on full power until the job's done. Understand?"

The AI held out her sword proudly to the Major General. "I will do what is necessary to save my Castle my Lord. I swear it."

:********:

Nova wished she could take off her helmet right about now to wipe away the sweat streaming down her forehead and stinging her eyes. It wasn't because she was hot. Her armor's temperature controls were working overtime to keep her cool. Rather, it was because when defusing an alien device with a kiloton yield easily equivalent to a nuclear warhead, one could naturally expect to feel a little anxious. And as if that weren't enough, the device could go off at a moment's notice and reduce her and everyone within range into vaporous gasps of smoldering matter. It was no Tsar Bomba, but it could do the trick just fine.

In moments like these, which she was grateful were few and far in between, she often took stock of her life up to this point. Memories of family she left behind on Earth would slip through her mind, of her mother and father taking turns dropping her to school and saying one of many goodbyes, or of her little brother who spent most of his life in a wheelchair until she had to say her final goodbye to him on a hospital bed. They were more often than not painful memories.

Then there was Epsilon.

In the few years she'd been an ODST she had gotten to know plenty others while mostly sticking close to her squad. The Staff, Deaks, Hector, Yuri, Rico, Zack and most recently, Duncan. The faces behind the names went through her mind. She always felt like the only girl in a family full of boys. But they were still family, just as much as the one she'd left behind. She would do what she needed to in order to protect them, just as she'd promised herself to do for her parents when she left Budapest for Camp Árpád.

Both Epsilon's Engineering Specialist and Demolition Specialist had been left behind to conduct explosive ordinance disposal on the weapon. While Nova and Rico got to work, most of the rest of the squad was busy hunting down the rest of the charges, except for Yuri who had to stay behind to stand guard.

It was nothing short of a gut-punch when the Lieutenant Colonel comm'd them to inform them of the true scale of the Starport's security breach. The fact they would have to stay quiet about it was probably the best option. Except for their COs, only 1st platoon, Alpha's 2nd Platoon and a selected team of EOD specialists from the 211th were in the know. They were going to find the rest of the bombs and then defuse them all simultaneously.

It was a good plan, but what good plan that involved simultaneously deactivating five nuclear devices set to remote detonation ever ended well? She almost wished there were. That way she could feel a little bit more comfortable about what she was about to do.

From the get-go there was no choice save for crouching on top of the antimatter charge in order to actually work with it. Nova had to settle herself between two spikes and hope she didn't slip and get herself accidentally impaled. Rico was doing the same thing on the other side. They were both working from a shared pool of tools they would need to handle the job on the interior. At the moment they were still occupied with blow-torching their way inside. Both of them placed a palm against the weapon's surface to steady themselves while they used their other hand to hold the torches, searing their own elongated circles beside the arming device located half a meter from the center.

"How're you handling, Ep-6?" Nova asked, having noticed that the demolitionist had been quiet this hold time.

Rico didn't look up as the light from his torch glowed over his polarized visor. His voice came out as icy chill. "Why can't we just use the arming device to shut this thing down? It'd be easier wouldn't it?"

She could tell he had slipped into his hyper-serious persona which only ever happened under high stakes scenarios such as this.

"We can't. Since its on remote detonation then we can't risk it being reactivated by whoever has their hands on the trigger. We either take this thing out at the source…or it takes us out."

"So what do we do once we get inside? Do we have to wait until they find all the others before we start?"

Nova shrugged. "Guess so."

"I just don't want to blow up. The idea doesn't sit well with me, you know."

"You can't exactly help not siting well on this thing, can you?"

"Hmph, you got a point Dama Roja. I wish you didn't."

There was a bright burst of sparks as they reached the end of their rotations. They both carefully grabbed the Magnetic Grapple Devices on their backs and held them over the section of cut metal. Their thumbs hovered over the triggering stripes on the back-handles.

"On your go, Ep-2."

"Three…two…one…mark."

They pressed the triggering stripes at the same time. The Grapplers beeped on. There was a double clang as the strong magnetic pull generated ripped the metal circles up from the bomb's surface to stick to the devices' undersides. They discarded the pieces of metal and crawled cautiously towards the newly made holes.

The weapon's interior was aglow with a harsh blue light. They were forced to bend a little to get a better look inside.

A rainbow of multicolored wires weaved through varying sectioned components that were all cast in a single blue illumination emanating from the center: a projection of concave energy shielding housed within a small holding platform. From its azure-white glow, they could tell it was a sheathing made of Tritium, one of the two main elements that the Covenant used in their ships' Pinch fusion reactors. What captured their attention was the sphere of bright white and purple energy the size of a golf ball that floated in the middle of the concave containment field like a miniature star. It was neither too close to the top nor bottom of the field. Its positioning was perfectly balanced, probably for good reason.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rico asked, almost upside down due to the way he had to lean in.

Nova nodded back. "Antimatter."

Rico gave a lighthearted whistle, sounding like he was loosening up a little at the strangeness of the sight. "Never seen anything like it this up close."

"And let's hope we don't ever have to again." Nova swallowed the rock of anxiety she felt welling up in her throat. "Think this thing is a Penning's Trap?"

Rico scrutinized the sphere of energy. "Nah, its not rotating. There'd be signs of acceleration to keep it from colliding with the Tritium sheathing. I'm willing to bet everything that we're dealing with antihydrogen here."

"That'll make this an Ioffe Trap then. But wouldn't there need to be an expansion of the Tritium to create the space needed for the stabilizing effect? That shielding isn't moving at all."

Rico shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe it's both?"

Nova glanced at the walls. "Maybe it's neither. Ep-6, increase spectral enhancement by twenty percent."

"Roger."

They carefully upped the degree of their visor's visual acuity. It was a difficult task because going too high on visual improvement with an object such as the one before them could get them struck with permanent blindness if they weren't careful. As far as they both knew, 20% was already a gamble too far.

The bomb's interior became much more defined. Rays of sparkling blue energy appeared that fed into the Tritium sheathing from the surrounding wall. They both followed them to their source in the form of fingertip sized nodes that dotted the interior walls near the holding platform.

Inside the shielding itself the light cast from the non-object housed within flickered to a near epilepsy-inducing degree, prompting them to only take quick glances that left its afterimage temporarily burned into their retinas. The sphere was moving. The problem was that it was moving with such speed that the motion was imperceptible to the naked eye, hence the impression of stillness. Both of them returned to normal visuals.

"That's bingo for antimatter particle acceleration as well as Magnetic and Electrical Shielding Emitters." Nova said, smirking.

Rico huffed. "Good thing I didn't risk any good money on this then. Jeez, it's like betting on Irish' odds. So how are we doing this?"

Nova looked around a bit more. In doing so she spotted a second concave containment field, smaller than the one right below it. This one was much lighter, meaning it was likely there to only contain radiation. Her keen eyes noticed the small, multi-faceted glass housing within, and inside of that, a disc of silvery metal the size of a coin. She dropped a NAV marker on it. "That's what we need."

"Looks like…Plutonium." There was a moment of silence as Rico seemed to put the pieces together. "So that's how it works."

"Yeah. That glass chamber's probably a release mechanism. Whoever's got the detonator just has to pull the trigger. Once that plutonium contacts the antimatter, it's over."

"Death by Particle Annihilation." Rico sighed. "Great. That's nice. I'm guessing we're starting with the nodes then?"

Nova rose back up from the hole. "Matchstick!"

Yuri appeared a moment later standing over the lip of the abscess in the floor of the baggage room. "Da?"

"Prinesi mne germetiki!"

"Khorosho."

He disappeared from the edge then reappeared seconds later holding two small tubes with trigger mechanics attached. As he handed them over, he snickered. "Whatever happened to using inside voice, hey Nova?"

"That only applies to you."

She didn't spare him another moment's attention and passed one of the tubes over to Rico.

"Concrete Sealants?" He asked, looking it over.

"It'll help block the projection capacities of the emitters and prevent any chance of high radiation leakages from the nodes being blocked. We only need to disable the ones contributing directly to the Tritium Sheath surrounding the Plutonium. With those out of the way, we can use the Grapplers to pull it out. Then we're golden."

Rico flashed her the okay sign.

They attached the tubes to their blowtorches then carefully repositioned themselves so their backs were to the entry points on the charge. They hooked their legs around the closest spikes and proceeded to slowly lean inside.

Upside down in the cramped space, Nova was more than thankful she wasn't claustrophobic. She couldn't afford to be when she shared the same room as everyone else in the Dante Building back at Falchion.

She boosted her spectral enhancement back to 20%, did her best not to look directly at the flickering antimatter and began the arduous task of tracing the individual rays of energy back to their respective nodes. Those that connected to the sheathing surrounding the plutonium she quickly leaned towards then released a heavily measured drop of liquid concrete onto it. She then used her blowtorch to heat the cement until it dried into a solid coating. Rico did the same on the other side of the cramped space.

After five minutes with the blood rushing to their heads the work was almost done. She glanced at the energy shielding around the plutonium disc and noticed it was growing fainter. They were making headway. But she also happened to notice that one of the nodes Rico had taken care of looked shinier than the rest. It was still wet. Her heart rose into her throat as she increased her visor magnification and noticed a small droplet forming.

"Rico."

The Demolitionist, at hearing his actual name, turned around to her. She nodded urgently at the node. He spotted it just as the droplet finally fell.

It fell with what seemed like agonizing slowness yet too fast for them to react, landing on a lower node. Immediately the energy field surrounding the antimatter particle fluctuated to a minute degree. The particle housed within shifted slightly upward and to the left. They held their breath. After several tense seconds, the antimatter floated back to its original position. Still the sheathing remained slightly deformed.

They stared at it for another ten seconds to make sure it stayed put at the center.

Nova slowly rounded on her inverted EOD partner. "Make sure…its dry next time…we clear?"

Rico gave a slight nod of his head. "Crystal."

They quickly went back to work despite the uncomfortably close call. After another four minutes they were both done. They double and triple checked the nodes to make sure they were dried, then shifted their attention to the plutonium disc. The surrounding glass encasement was completely free of the energy shielding. Nova didn't waste a second. She reached over and seared a hole through the glass before poking it out of the way, leaving a means of accessing the plutonium.

The two ODSTs pulled themselves out of the antimatter charge to sit on top of it.

"Now we wait." Nova said.

Rico set aside his blowtorch and eyed her Magnetic Grappler. "Hopefully you can pull it off. Oh, and one more thing. You saw how that antimatter particle went back into position?"

Nova thought it over, then cocked her head when she realized what he was getting at. She could sense him grinning. "What about it?"

"Sí." He laughed. "That's the stabilizing effect."

"But the Sheath wasn't expanding."

"La estabilización es la estabilización. That's right Dama Roja, it's an Ioffe Trap too. I want my money back."

She laughed, holding up her hands. "Well then it's a good thing we didn't bet anything. Plus, I wasn't the one who almost set it off."

Rico growled in dissatisfaction. "I just want payment for this hack-job they made us do here."

"The Staff said he is on way to Terminal E." Yuri said, stepping back over to the abscess again. "They've found three more of bombs already."

Nova considered the info as a sign of progress. "That means we've got one more left to go. Keep your ears open. Once they give the signal, we've got to be in place to defuse this pin cushion." She patted the charge's surface. "However comfy it may be."

:********:

If Duncan saw another Antimatter Charge in the next 10 years it would've been too soon. One was already one-too-many. With four, he was so far over the line that he couldn't even see it anymore. Even so, the EOD team was already on its way down the darkened halls leading to the South Wing, following the Tritium pulse of the EM field generated from what had to be the last charge.

After the one they found in Terminal A, they discovered the second in the ceiling above a balcony in Terminal B. The third was hidden inside of one of the support pillars in Terminal C. The fourth in D was sealed away within a maintenance room floor. The EOD experts amongst the Marines were left behind to contend with them while the rest of the team carried on.

Duncan was at the forefront of the operation with his mineral scanner. While he was quietly regretting his decision to ask Hector for the device, he accepted it as a necessary risk. They needed the Starport, there was no getting around that fact.

Right now, with the scanner in hand, he was also carrying the weight of innumerable lives. Performance pressure wasn't the right word for it. It was more like a broken record in his mind screaming at him with each step he took: "Don't screw up or we're all dead!"

Duncan was safe at the center of 1st and 2nd platoons' advance down the lengthy passage. The Staff who had taken point with Captain Ortega peered back at him. "Anything, Ep-8?"

He checked his scanner display. "Take a left at the intersection 50 meters up. It's another 110 meters after that."

"Copy."

"Got some updates if anyone's interested." Zack said. It was no small thing to say that everyone was grateful his hearing was back to normal.

The Staff gave him the go-ahead. "Shoot."

"Alright, local news first. I'm your Waypoint host, Private Zachary Matthews and today-"

"No theatrics." The Staff said. "Just the rundown."

Zack sighed. "Nova and Rico are ready to defuse the first charge we found back in Terminal A. Those EOD guys back in Terminal's B through D are saying the same thing. We only need to hit the last one then we're ready."

"Uhuh, what else?"

"As for international news," Zack laughed. "Words come down the grape vine from SATCOM. Everyone's pulling back to New Memphis. When I say everyone, I mean everyone that's left. The Covies are really pressing in hard into the West so the Navy's doing a tactical withdrawal. The first civilian transports are gonna be here in about an hour."

"That's not much time."

"Oh." Zack perked up. "How about a special addition? There's reports coming in from across Miridem, a lot of chatter about some new special forces that've been going around helping people out. They had this really cool name too but I can't remember what it was."

"I hope they could help us out." Duncan said. "Cause if this doesn't work, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Amen and amen." The Staff said.

The two platoons reached the intersection and took a left. After another 90 meters they entered into the central concourse of Terminal E. They quickly spread out across the space, rifles up.

Duncan saw the familiar shape of a blue ovular object on the floor beneath them. He called it out and they headed down a floor using a dormant escalator. The pulse led them over to a row of chairs. One of them looked slightly out of place. A pull from Hector allowed him to yank four of the adjoined seats out of the ground with ease, more ease than should've been normal.

"Whoever planted these charges really knew what they were doing." Hector said, pointing down to an area of tight seams not so obviously cut out in the floor. They repeated the process they had done in the baggage claim below Terminal A and every terminal afterwards. Once the troopers blowtorched out a slab of paneling, they found another abscess, and another antimatter charge.

"2-Actual to Razor-3 and 5, get to it."

At Ortega's orders two ODSTs from Squad Razor climbed down into the abscess with the help of other squadmates. They took out tools from their rucksacks and started getting to work.

For another ten minutes everyone else took up a defensive posture around them. The troopers quickly got through the exterior and started messing with the bomb's innards. At the end of the ten minutes they successfully got themselves in position for the plutonium disc removal.

The Staff passed the info along to Garrison who proceeded to coordinate the effort over a private commlink to the EOD teams. "We only get one chance at this people. On my mark. Three…two…one…mark!"

The EOD crews across the Starport used their Magnetic Grapplers to simultaneously pull the plutonium discs from the release mechanisms. Duncan watched Razor-3 stand up with the disc attached to his grappler.

A moment later the Lieutenant Colonel called in with each team to ensure the disarming was successful. Across the board, all five were confirmed deactivated. In a second, the tension that had pervaded across the last hour dissipated completely.

The ceiling lights turned on around them, bathing the concourse in light as the Starport's local AI reactivated its primary functions. The De Gaulle was finally up and running.

There was a collective sigh of relief and a few congratulatory high-fives. Duncan was about to take one from Hector who he knew deserved his own praise for keeping the mineral scanner on him in the first place. But he was stopped by the appearance of another blue pulse on the scanner display.

He gradually turned away from the larger ODST, quietly following the blue blips until he found himself facing a boarding tube on the other side of the terminal. There, somewhere beyond the tube was another, familiar, oval-shaped object.

Duncan felt his mouth go dry. It made it a challenge to force words out. "E-, Ep-8 to Ep-1," Duncan said, licking his lips. "We've…got a sixth one…over?"

The other ODSTs slowly stopped their small celebration and rounded on Duncan. The Staff immediately stepped out. "Repeat your last, Ep-8?"

"There's another one sir." Duncan said. He pointed towards the docking tube. "Down there, it was a smaller pulse than the others so…I didn't pick it up till we defused them..."

The air across the concourse became burdened with a heavy sense of dread and urgency. Without a word, or any gesture, the two platoons rushed towards the tube's entrance. They each knew that if they weren't before, the Covenant were now fully aware of the fact that the UNSC were disarming their bombs, and now they still had one left under their control.

The troopers rushed down the docking tube. They turned the corner inside only to be stopped at the door to the Starship on the other side, and the girl with the glowing halo standing guard before it. The holographic image of the armored figure they quickly recognized as the Starport AI. She extended her sword over the door. "Stop my kinsmen, I will handle this."

Confused, the troopers looked at each other, at the door and then at the AI.

"What're you doing?" The Staff asked.

"Saving my Lords." The AI held up a hand. There was an audible THUMP from the door. Then light appeared as the craft docked on the other side pulled away. Through the window they could see the Starship begin moving on its own, backing up a hundred meters across the tarmac before piloting onto an open runway.

The image of the knightly girl disappeared. With the guardian gone, they were able to get close enough to watch the ship, an elongated jet-like craft with a bulky body, rush down the open runway before lifting off. It reached max speeds at a surprising rate and ascended into the morning sky. After a full minute of ascent, the craft disappeared behind a curtain of clouds.

The AI's voice startled them as she spoke over the PA system. "My deepest apologies for not realizing the presence of the sixth charge. The enemy must have purposefully planted this one by boarding the craft directly from outside rather than passing through the main atrium. It may have been a back-up in case anything happened to the others. Either way, it is no longer within range. The moment you detected its presence, I split off a separate Subroutine into the piloting suite to remove the craft from our immediate proximity."

"So then…the De Gaulle's safe?" Duncan asked.

"Indeed, my Lord. The Castle is secured."

Duncan's knees suddenly gave out and he collapsed onto all fours. He released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. In truth, he felt more mentally drained than physically tired. Surviving the entire ordeal had taken its toll.

The Staff rest a hand on his shoulder, still focused on the skies. "Good work, Ep-8. Keep that up and we just might win this war."

Even despite the confidence in his tone, Duncan could pick up on the faint traces of shakiness.

"Sure, sir." He said between deep breaths. "If I don't go out first, I'll do what I can."

"That's the right attitude, trooper."

Zack stepped up. "Does that mean we're not gonna die then?"

The Staff shook his head. "No. Just means we're alive for a little longer."

:********:

From the top floor of a structure bordering the large western highway around the Starport, R'tas observed the human forces setting up positions amongst the vehicle wreckages. His gaze flickered between them and the dial device in the palm of his four-digited hand. As the trigger for the Antimatter Charges he and his team had planted inside the Starport, it was checked and double-checked to ensure its functionality. Yet this was no malfunction. His eyes weren't failing him either. Five of the six icon-projections signifying the connection to the charges suddenly went dark at the same time, meaning they had been disarmed. While the sixth was still active, he kept away from detonating it out of a simple and now possibly fatal mistake. He hesitated.

The bewilderment of losing the well-hidden bombs struck him with greater force than his Brothers or Uncles ever could during his youthful training years in his clan's Keep. What compounded shame upon shame was the moment he did try using one of his thumbs to break the beamline at the center of the dial that would've set off the charges.

Not one of them detonated, not even the sixth he'd hidden on one of their Starships. The symbol for that charge remained active. However, it refused to activate simply because it was now out of range on the same Starship that he had watched flee into the sky, and his hope for further glory fled with it.

Beside him stood his judge, jury, and perhaps now, his executioner.

The other Sangheili was dressed in the red combat harness fitting of his rank. Two spike-like protrusions on his helmet seemed like horns to R'tas, waiting to skewer him at a moment's notice. The pulsing blue ornamentation across the officer's armor seemed to glow with the confidence that had completely drained from R'tas.

Field Marshal Arzon Zotamee's face was a mask of uneasing mystery. His mandibles were closed together and his eyes filled with silent judgement which settled onto R'tas like a crushing weight. "It seems that your scheme has failed. Even your contingency has failed. And now I find the task again resting upon my shoulders to annihilate the humans."

The words stung worse than any bruise or beating and burrowed into the warrior with a hidden sharpness. "Triumphant One," R'tas began, "I would have taken preemptive measures had I known the humans were capable of detecting our antimatter technologies. I-"

Zotamee held up a hand, silencing him. "No need. Only a fool unfit for the mantle of leadership would concern himself with what he could have done and not with what action he can still execute. I will send in my forces immediately and destroy the humans' place of escape before a single one of their ships reaches."

Zotamee turned and strode with dignified grace towards a door where two more Sangheili of Major rank, his personal guard, stood waiting. He stopped at the threshold. "Perhaps I am the only fool here for putting more faith in such a novice than was due him. You are a Silent Shadow, but your legacy will be forever shrouded in quiet darkness should you remain as you are. Remember these words. By my order, you and your team will do nothing but watch as I account for your failure with my own success, is that understood?"

R'tas didn't answer.

"Is…that…understood, Second Blade Vadumee?"

R'tas shut his eyes. "Yes, Triumphant One. We will remain on standby awaiting your command."

"Do not hold out hope for that command." The Field Marshal said and walked out of the room, his guards following him.

R'tas was left alone to watch what would unfold. He was also left alone to bare his own dishonor.

Midway through the battle that raged on this world, he had arrived with his team via the Subfleet they were assigned to in order to reinforce the first Covenant fleet to arrive in the system. They were sent down to assist the scouting forces in the western hemisphere while the Subfleet settled matters in the west. R'tas and his fellow Silent Shadows had spent days conducting covert reconnaissance and extermination operations across this city the humans called 'New Memphis'.

R'tas himself was no commander. Being only a Second Blade Officer, he was subordinate to a superior of his own. However, said superior in the form of the First Blade Officer had expressed enough trust in his abilities to recommend him to lead the clandestine operation to draw the humans to the Starport and annihilate the vermin there, even going so far as to convince the Field Marshal of the efficiency of what was originally R'tas' own idea.

Today he had failed both them and all the Covenant troops hidden across the area. His blood boiled at the nature of his own culpability. His confidence had blinded his foresight. Now he would pay for it by watching another claim the glory that would've been his. Worse yet, Zotamee would do it via the same means that had become his life's greatest envy since joining the Silent Shadows: direct combat, simple, unfettered by overbearing tact and obtuse planning.

In his anger he lashed out, punching his fist clean through a window. He watched the glittering fragments rain down to the floor. It reflected his V-shaped visor back to him in scattered fragments.

He knew he would still have to make a report to his Fleetmaster of the Subfleet he was assigned to, and of course then to the Supreme Commander of the overall fleet. It was a daunting task. Regardless, he chose to channel his anger and frustration into dutifulness. If he could only watch and observe then he would do so to his utmost. He would record everything he saw, and hesitation, he swore, would never arise in him again.

Tempus - Time