Chapter 12 – Limina

January 4th, 2552 - (15:09 Hours - Military Calendar)

Daedalus system, Ballast

2.5 Kilometers below Kassarina Nature Preserve

:********:

Like everyone else, Duncan stood as still as a statue and just as confused as they watched the sudden reunion. On one side was Renni. On the other, Lieutenant Commander Riat Cordova. The first connection was easy enough to make after some thought. One was a former agent for the Office of Naval Intelligence. The other was still with ONI.

The second connection was just as easy to see, but only because he could now examine their faces side by side. He thought back to the first time he'd ever met Renni, back on Actium at the Clay-Antonia Shipyards. It had been seven years since. However, seeing the two together allowed him to vividly recall his feelings during Renni's arrival into Epsilon. Back then, as she was joining them for the flight to New Verona, she'd struck him as someone with a familiar face. He sensed he had seen her somewhere before, although he couldn't put a finger on where exactly.

Now he could.

Renni was almost a mirror image of Cordova, albeit slightly younger, slightly lighter-toned olive skin and with blonde streaks running through her dark hair. Otherwise, the connection playing out in front of everyone's eyes was crystal clear.

Out the corner of his visor, he saw Rico lean over to Nova and whisper. "Hey, Dama Roja, what's going on? Why's Dama Rubia making contact with LT Bossy over there?"

Nova stared knowingly at him for a moment. When he replied with his own incredulous gaze, she shook her head in disappointment. "Can't you tell just by looking?"

He looked at the two then back to her and shrugged. "Que?"

Nova sighed. "They're sisters. They're related."

The realization dawned on Rico as he watched the two slowly ease off of their embrace. "Oh...oooOOOHHH...oh no."

As Rico struck up an argument with Nova over why that couldn't be the case, Duncan observed the conversation between Renni and Cordova. Between the two sisters. As he did, he drifted off in thought. If they were related, then why hadn't Renni ever told them? And if they were sisters, how come they had different surnames? Mahonis and Cordova were not anywhere near the same name. Neither of them was married, or at least he was assuming with Cordova, but he knew for a fact that Renni was still rocking the bachelorette life. Moreover, how come none of these things ever came up in a conversation for the last near-decade?

"It's really you." Renni said, marveling at her.

Cordova laughed. "You were expecting someone else?"

"Well...yeah. I didn't think I'd run into you down here after all this time."

"No kidding." Cordova eyed her armor. "Look at you, all suited up."

"I could say the same thing, miss." Renni took a step back and snapped off a two-fingered salute. "Or should I say, Lieutenant Commander?"

Cordova shrugged. "Either one works." She looked past Renni to the ODSTs still standing behind her as well as those coming in. "For now, though, Lieutenant Commander will have to do." Her eyes landed on the Staff. Her countenance soured. She nodded grimly. "Staff Sergeant."

"Lieutenant Commander." The Staff echoed, not bothering to return the gesture. "You called for us, mam?"

As the rest of Epsilon started depolarizing their visors, she got an eyeful of each of them. Seeing their faces seemed to only dampen her initially lighthearted mood. "It seems I did. If I knew in advance who was going to answer my SOS though..." She exhaled. "Anyway, at least you're here now. That's good news."

"Wish we could say the sa-" Rico was cut short as Nova elbowed him in the chest-plate, shutting him up.

The conversation's flow ebbed. An uncomfortable silence set in, the focal point of its tension coalescing in the space between Cordova and the Staff. Renni was quick to catch on as she looked between them. "Wait. Hold on, you two know each other?"

Cordova's grimace deepened. She folded her arms over her breastplate, her lightheartedness fully replaced with a business-like demeanor. "Oh, we have history. Don't we, Staff?"

The Staff coolly shook his head. "No mam, I have no idea what you mean by that."

A smirk crossed Cordova's lips. "Want me to clarify?"

The Staff didn't answer. Her smirk widened. "I've worked with Epsilon a few times in the past, but I think that was well before you knew them." She pressed an exhausted hand to her temple. "To think you would end up as one of them. God, what are the chances of that? Anyway." She glared at the Staff. "The last time we worked together, I-"

"Ended up getting sidetracked." The Staff answered.

Cordova arched a brow. "Finally done feigning ignorance, are you?"

Renni squinted at them both "How...do you two know each other exactly? I feel like there's something you're not telling."

The Staff glanced between the two ONI affiliates before focusing on Renni and her increasingly perplexed face. Duncan saw him relax a little, a sign he was about to spill his guts. "It was a mission back in 44'. Miridem. We secured her in order to carry out a bigger assignment for the evacuation-"

Cordova stepped closer. "You knocked me unconscious with the butt of your shotgun." She pointed to the weapon in his hand. "Probably that same one. I haven't forgiven you for that."

The Staff lifted the M90 and cradled it in both palms. "Respectfully, mam, I don't need your forgiveness. I just needed your compliance. You didn't give it. So, I needed to secure you in order to help extract the remaining populace."

Cordova glared at him. "Is that the story you tell yourself to help you sleep at night, Staff?"

He nodded. "Yes mam, every night."

"And how does that work out for you?"

"Well, mam, it's left me well-rested enough to come to save you and everyone else down here." He nodded to the scientists peeking out from the two Jotuns. "So, I think it worked out just fine."

She continued staring hard at him as he met her gaze with his usual calmness. "You deserved more disciplining for that little stunt, whatever your cause. But let's try to keep this civil so that you don't have to pay any more of those debts you still owe to society. Compared to what you should have received, you got off relatively easy. Remember that."

"...Will do, mam."

Duncan held his own peace at that.

They hadn't gotten off easy.

Spending seven months on a planet that officially didn't exist, training government-sanctioned child soldiers that officially didn't exist, while still trying to maintain some semblance of a healthy conscience for the life after was not easy. Compared to that, he sometimes wondered if an actual prison sentence wouldn't have been a lighter punishment. That way they might have at least preserved some of their innocence. But that kind of debate was left up to the subconscious imaginings of his occasional night-terrors, something he had learned to live with over the years.

At length, Cordova turned to Renni and gave a half-hearted smile. "Sorry. Old wounds."

Renni hesitantly nodded, still skeptical.

Cordova's disgruntled demeaner changed instantaneously to tactical seriousness. "Right, if you're here to help us, then-"

"Hey-hey-hey, wait a minute." Rico intruded. "Hey, LC, you said something about how low the chances had to be that Dama Rubia was in our squad. But what are the chances that you'd be her sister. What's that about, huh?"

Cordova blinked, confused. "Who's...Dama Rubia?"

Renni rested an understanding hand on her shoulder. "He means me."

"Oh." Cordova clenched her jaw as she locked eyes with Renni. The air between them changed from familiarity and informality to a sudden atmosphere of professional distance. Renni quietly nodded, confirming some unspoken agreement between them. Cordova turned to Rico. "Sorry, but that's classified info. Top tier stuff. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."

Rico perked up. "Do you want to though?"

"No."

As Rico deflated, he rounded on Renni. "What about you? How come you never told us?"

With Rico having become the surrogate voice of the rest of Epsilon, the squad listened intently to what Renni had to say. For herself and for her newfound sister. Renni, after receiving a swift shake of the head from Cordova, shrugged in reply. "I'm sorry. Its strict ONI business."

The answer was less than satisfying.

"I thought you were ex-ONI?" Yuri pressed, cocking his head to one side. "Or is there no such thing?"

Renni seemed more taken aback. She looked sorry, apologetic even. It was clear that both the question and the questioner had hit their mark. In the end, she shook her head. "It's...confidential. I'm sorry but I can't-"

A loud rumble shook the cavern. A distant explosion echoed into the chamber from much farther away. But not that far, Duncan noticed. It was significantly louder and worryingly closer than last time.

"You hear that?" Hector asked. "More bad news inbound. Ep-1?"

Epsilon as well as what remained of Kilo and Lima turned to the Staff who in turn motioned towards Cordova. "I had an idea before I came in here but I wasn't expecting someone else to be present who was higher up the totem pole. You're the highest-ranking officer here, mam." He took in a deep breath and let it out. "What're your orders?"

Cordova winced as she realized she was now the center of everyone's attention, for the scientists and the ODSTs. She considered it. "I...was actually hoping you had an idea."

"Is that an order, mam?"

She sighed. "Yes, Staff, I order you to tell me what your plan is to get us out of here."

"Copy that." He pointed to her belt. "Can you turn that off first?"

Cordova looked about her person before realizing what he was asking for. She reached into one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a thumb-sized device. On Duncan's HUD, it registered with a feint blue triangular icon hovering over it; their Nav point. A circle of red light blipped periodically at the device's center. She pressed it. Immediately, the light switched off and the Nav point vanished.

"Why'd you need me to do that?" Cordova asked.

"To confirm to my superior that we found our objective." The Staff replied as he looked around the empty cave, to the distant darkness in the back and to the scientists still clinging to the excavators for dear life. "I guess it's only you then. No important devices, no experimental equipment, nothing?"

She frowned. "Disappointed?"

"No, actually. That just makes our job a lot easier." The Staff pointed to the far-off darkness. "I'd like to see what's over there. The plan hinges on it. We can talk it through as we move."

Concern flashed through Cordova's visage as well as that of the scientists.

"Something wrong?"

"No." she said, biting her lip. She caught the worried stares of her fellow survivors before turning back to him. "It shouldn't be."

The Staff rounded on the troopers at his back. "Lima, Kilo, guard the entrance in case the Covenant finally blow a hole through that corridor and we're still in here. Epsilon, on me."

The ODSTs quickly split into their squads. Lima and Kilo jogged back towards the door while Epsilon trailed behind the Staff. He nodded to the Lieutenant Commander. "Lead the way."

Her grimace never fading, Cordova got moving, headed first in the general direction of the Jotuns. As the troopers jogged after her, Mito slipped in next to the Staff and spoke over the squad comms. "You knocked out an ONI agent, sir?"

"What about it?"

"That's-, that's hardcore. Man, you guys never told me that. Seriously, you're no joke."

"That was a long time ago."

"She still remembers it though." Mito jabbed a thoughtful thumb ahead at Cordova.

"And I'm still trying to forget about it, so drop it, would you?"

"Roger that. Still, boss, that's hardcore."

"What'd I just say?"

"Shutting up."

Halfway back to the Jotuns, Cordova asked. "What's the situation outside, Staff? How's the battle going?"

"We won."

She stopped in her tracks. The Staff went a few steps ahead before stopping to face her. Her look of pure unbelief warranted a response.

"How do you think we're still alive right now to come to your rescue?"

Her unbelief remained. She peered back at the halting squad, looking to Renni for more confirmation. "It's true." Renni replied. "We sent them packing in orbit with the ODPs. The one's blasting us topside are the last holdouts."

The ground shook again from another plasma bombardment. Seeming to take her word for it, Cordova's demeanor lightened once more, softening into a mix between genuine surprise and unexpected hope. "Wow. Just...wow..."

"I think phrase boss-woman is looking for is 'good job'." Yuri said proudly.

Rather than crush him under her glare for such informalities, Cordova smiled with wonder at him. "Good job." She gestured to them all, even to the Staff. "All of you...great work. Really. Thank you. I-...I didn't think we could, but-..."

"But we did." The Staff said, finishing her thought for her. To everyone's surprise, and even the Staff's, Cordova smiled at him as well. She got back underway without another word.

The squad carried on after her. On the edge of his periphery, Duncan saw Renni shoot Yuri a knowing grin of her own as they moved deeper into the cavern. "Good job?" She asked over the comms.

"What?" He answered. "It's true. We deserve that much. You're welcome for sticking neck out for everyone."

Renni's smiled brightened. "Thanks."

:********:

Deaks listened in to the conversations on the extraction team comms while he made his rounds. With his oracle scoop he panned across the preserve's inner grounds, or what was left of them. He swooped from north to south, sighting in on targets of highest interest.

The hundreds of Covenant ahead were straddling the far ends and corners of the preserve. They looked on while the current barrage continued to rain down across the grounds. The plasma torpedoes struck three at a time into the center. The spot where the main observatory once stood was now not only expanded, but deepened into an ever-smoldering crater with each salvo. Its interior glowed a menacing orange, like the mouth of a volcano. He couldn't see directly inside, but he could hear the destruction whenever a new barrage blew into the crater, causing the groaning liquefaction of the structures below. Smoke billowed out in waves following each burst from the ship as larger and larger fragments of burning infrastructure fountained up into the air. Considering the in-atmosphere bombardment was reaching the ten-minute mark, with no signs of stopping, it was clear to the Covenant on the ground as well as the troopers hiding in the forest that this was turning out to be a surprisingly massive facility. Even Deaks found that he often stopped to watch the destruction, wondering how far it would go before it stopped. His best guess from the growing, two-second delay between when the torpedoes were fired and when their impacts were felt was that the enemy was 700 to 850 meters deep. It was a good thing they hadn't thought so far ahead as to bring along a Super Scarab. Had they done so, the entire occasion might have gone ahead far faster than anyone would have liked. Anyone who was human anyway.

Following that line of thought, he tuned back in to the comms just as Baelson gave his next order.

"King-3, 6, 8 and Ep-7, lineup with those launchers. Tell me when you've got a visual on those dropships."

Out the corner of his eye, Deaks spotted the four troopers moving forward in the underbrush. They each held a SPNKR rocket launcher draped over their shoulders. Zack was among them, mirroring their movements in crouching and aiming their launchers eastward. It took Deaks longer than a second to realize what they were aiming at. He peered back through his scope and sighted up towards the eastern sky. There were two targets there other than the corvette. With such light weaponry, there was no hope of destroying the ship itself, but maybe the two Phantoms below it. The dropship pair were actively circling 100 meters above the crater. Minutes beforehand, they were released from the corvette's hanger, landed and opened their own hangers to squads of Brutes. Even their white-furred leader had gone aboard one of them. Then they took off again to begin their present rotation.

Deaks assumed they were planning on being the first assault teams inside once their way in was cleared. By proxy, aside from the plasma torpedoes, they would be the first threat the recovery team would have to face if they failed to exfil in time. Baelson must have come to the same conclusion.

"King-3, I've got a lock on Phantom 1, over?"

"King-6, same. How about it, 8?"

"King-8, Phantom 2's in sight and I'm ready to bite. Ep-7?"

After a few tentative beeps from his launcher, Zack replied; "And...got it. Phantom 2's locked in."

"Keep watch on their patrol patterns." Baelson advised. "Remember, no one fires a shot until the corvette's finished and those dropships start to move in. Until then, try to predict their movements so you don't lose those locks."

The ODSTs flashed their acknowledgement lights.

It was a sound strategy...for the first five seconds they would have to carry it out. After that, Deaks deduced that the corvette, no longer concerned with the preserve, would turn its cannons their way. From here on out, everything would depend on the recovery team's timing. If they did make it out okay, there would be no reason for the extraction team to get involved. They would be able to leave without issue.

Except, even if they did manage to pull it off, there would still be an issue. It wasn't a big one. It was just human-sized, wearing a lab coat and Deaks was sure it, or rather she was now faking being unconscious.

He scoped down and leftward to the northwestern area of the preserve, honing in on the alleyway between the concrete building there and a nearby greenhouse. The facility scientist from before was still lying there between the two Brutes. The main difference from minutes prior was that she was lying partially turned over on her side rather than with her back against the wall. The movement was too subtle for one of her guards to have done it. He was sure the lady was the one responsible. The best evidence he had to suggest as much was that she had turned over so that her head leaned west, towards the exit of the alleyway, past the outer lawn to the edges of the forests. Beyond that was her freedom. Even from his position he noticed that her eyes, closed and bruised as badly as they were, weren't moving sporadically like they would if she were asleep. They were moving selectively. Therefore intentionally. She was awake. And possibly not just awake, but feigning unconsciousness so as not to alert her captors.

Then he saw something that confirmed his suspicions. A single eye, her left, cracked open by an almost imperceptible degree. She was looking west in his general direction. Without knowing it, she even looked straight through his scope directly at him. Deaks held his breath. She then snuck a peek at the Brute standing guard on her left, sizing it up, watching where it was looking. Its attention and eventually hers were directed towards the sudden gathering of Brutes on the lawn just outside the alley.

Deaks quickly counted close to fourteen Brutes had stopped at the same spot. There was a general commotion among them. They were all visibly tense. Some were disputing with the others in their strange, rough barking match of a language.

He spotted the two most worrying figures among them: the golden-armored Brute and the chieftain. They were pushing their way through the gathering towards each other.

With other Covenant scattered everywhere on the perimeter, the chieftain must have decided that patrolling the entire preserve was redundant. What appeared to be his second in command seemed to have decided on heading towards the alleyway. Towards the hostage. He centered his scope on its forehead. But the chieftain was moving in the same direction. Deaks' worries burned through his stomach at the idea that they were trying to outrace the other in order to reach her. He zipped over to where she was and found that her eyes were fully closed again.

The golden-armored subordinate reached the alleyway first but the chieftain arrived just in time to set a firm hand on its shoulder. The subordinate shoved him off. In response, the chieftain grabbed its shoulder again and threw it back with such force that it stumbled out of the way. Once it regained its balance, the hasty Brute growled and barked in their language. The chieftain stood in its way with a hand grasping the handle of its gravity hammer. It shouted an aggravated reply. Its subordinate shouted back. Whatever it said, the chieftain refused to respond again, prompting it to reach for the grenade launcher on its back. The first finger brushed against the weapon's bladed stock before it stopped.

The golden Brute's head shifted skyward. It sniffed. It peered over its shoulder and sniffed again. Then, much to the perceivable confusion of the chieftain, it turned its back on the alleyway to face the west. It sniffed at the air again, looking left and right.

Deaks froze. He backed up from his scope to look at the leaves hanging around him. They were shaking, rattling as usual, but were blowing eastward.

The breeze had switched direction. The troopers were now upwind from the preserve.

Deaks' blood ran cold. The wind was carrying on from their position, straight over to the preserve and into the golden Brute's flaring nostrils. It was catching on to their scent.

He watched as it stopped sniffing. Its hands tightened into fists, its teeth being borne and its eyes narrowing in Squad King's general direction.

Deaks switched on his comm-unit. "Ep-3 to 4-Actual, I think they found us, sir."

Baelson must have heard the barely contained franticness in his voice because he responded with equal concern. "Where?"

"The golden-armored Brute, northwestern corner. Its looking right at us."

He heard Baelson come up behind him to see with his binoculars. Through his own scope, Deaks observed the golden Brute rounding again on the guardian of the alleyway. It growled something and jabbed an accusatory finger towards the west. The chieftain's defiant visage softened and it squinted in the direction that it was pointing, causing a number of the other Brutes to look around as well.

"That's not good." Deaks groaned.

"No, it isn't." Baelson agreed and receded back to his original position just as quickly. "Keep an eye on them. Alert me asap if they make any moves towards us."

Yet another unsatisfactory order.

Deaks returned to his scope and watched the chieftain shake its head in disagreement. The golden Brute spoke again, much more vehemently. In return, the chieftain flashed its fangs and pointed forcefully at the ground beneath its feet, shouting an order of its own. 'We stay here'. Deaks understood that much from the rough body language. He also understood that the golden Brute didn't appreciate the order. It turned westward again and raised a hand towards the forest as it made some untranslatable point. But it received no response from the chieftain who stood resolutely firm.

The golden Brute growled but stopped motioning towards the forest. It finally realized it was talking to a stone wall. It peered at the western trees with a palpable disdain, though whether for the chieftain or for the troopers it was picking up on, Deaks couldn't tell.

He shifted back to the woman again. The irony of the whole situation wasn't lost on him. She was safe for the time being from the Brutes because of a Brute. And how long would that last?

An idea, a flash of possibility struck him then and there.

Deaks peeked out from his scope to watch Zack. Epsilon's radioman was still observing the skies. Deaks eyed his launcher. He glanced between the weapon and the woman down below.

There was a chance. However slim, it was there. Gripping his rifle tighter, he resolved to at least try. Even if Baelson hadn't sanctioned the idea, his conscience had. Centering his sights on the aggravated golden-Brute, he hoped it would be the right call. But first he would need one more person to make it with him. Knowing Zack, it wouldn't take too long to convince him either.

:********:

Even on the move, Duncan was starting to put more of the pieces together.

Minutes earlier, the Lieutenant Commander openly admitted that she didn't know to which unit Renni had been assigned in the ODSTs. That was a whole seven years ago. That, and their surprise at seeing one another here, told him that they hadn't been in contact for some time. Possibly those very same seven years that Renni was serving with them. Logically, it suggested they weren't contacting one another for that time frame. But they were obviously sisters and they were obviously close. So, any lack of communications between the two had to have been intentional, either on their part or someone else's.

He eyed Renni as she jogged up ahead. Yuri's question from before still lingered at the forefront of his thoughts. Duncan was beginning to wonder if there really was such a thing as an ex-ONI agent.

"The last of their fleet's retreated after the pounding we gave them." The Staff said, bringing Cordova back up to speed. "But we took a real beating too. More than half the fleet was put out of commission. That's why the Navy sent us ahead while they make sure no one else slips into the system."

"Like with Miridem." Cordova noted.

The Staff nodded. "Yes mam, like Miridem."

"I see."

The Staff gestured ahead to the scientists that were stepping out from the excavators to meet them. "And these guys, these are all the survivors."

"They are."

"So, just to confirm before we leave, there's no other special tech or equipment that needs transporting?"

"Nothing like that. Sorry, Staff, but what you see is all there-" She looked further ahead of the excavators. "Actually..."

Duncan followed her sightline to the darkness at the back of the cave just as that darkness began to fade. He winced at the spectacle. The darkness wasn't fading because of the light from the excavators but because they were getting closer. As if the lack of light was responding to their presence of its own fruition. He was gradually able to make out the finer details of what lay at the back of the cavern, details that tempted him to freeze in place.

There was a set of doors there. Compared to the rocky composition of the cave walls, to the surrounding stalactites and stalagmites that looked like they had taken millions if not billions of years to form, the doors looked new, like someone had just placed them there earlier in the day. They were made of the same material as the corridor they had used to reach the cave. And they were massive. The closest thing he could compare them to were the hanger doors on a frigate. But there were no ships to be spoken of here, only a doorway to...what exactly?

"What is that?" The Staff asked, never breaking stride so that the shocked troopers running behind him were forced to keep pace.

"That," Cordova began, "Is the reason why ONI came here, and probably why you're really here as well. It's a doorway."

He turned to her as they jogged. "That doesn't really answer my question, Lieutenant Commander. A doorway to where? And what's it doing down here?"

"Can't say. The team that was working here long before I arrived was still trying to work out those details even after you and your team got deployed to Ballast. Whatever it is, it's going to be under an even greater classification than it is now. That is if we can crack it open."

Behind them, Yuri groaned. "Does that mean we have to work with ONI again?"

"You already are, trooper." Cordova answered with a hint of snide, prompting a louder groan from Yuri.

"Suck it up." The Staff said. "We'll figure out how to help and hopefully find a way out in the process."

"Copy that, sir."

They soon reached the excavators which, to Duncan's surprise, were further away than he thought when he first saw them. Unless he was mistaken, the machines had travelled an extra 40 meters without moving a single inch from where they were, or looked to have been. He wasn't sure whether his brain was messing with him or whether the cave was actually moving about without moving at all. He couldn't quite explain it. By that same logic though, Cordova was not standing between the two Jotuns when they came in, but rather far ahead of them with the vehicles appearing on either side of her. But the distance didn't match the size. Things appeared smaller when further away, yet the excavators remained the same size even as the squad halted between them. Something was off about this chamber, and his alarmed sixth sense told him that all that strangeness was emanating from the doors. More than ever before he felt like he was being watched. Instead of it coming from every direction though, he felt it solely concentrated around the doors. For whatever reason, looking straight at them gave him the same sense he would have from staring into a person's eyes for too long, then finally looking away once they'd caught him staring. It unnerved him.

Cordova pointed out the scientists as they stopped in front of them. "These are the researchers for this part of the facility, xenoarcheologists to be precise."

"Can I get any names?" The Staff asked.

"That's classi-"

"How classified? Because I need to be able to report who's alive to my superior, and they'll inform their superior, and eventually yours. I'm certain your guys would like some situation updates if this site is as important to them as you're letting on."

"...Right." She pointed across the lineup. "These are doctors Madeira, Benson, Ransburg and Carson." She looked around. "Where're the other two?"

One of the scientists, Dr. Benson pointed further back towards the doors. "They went over there to look for a way inside. We told them not to go, but Strawson was adamant. He won't listen to anyone right now. Elicia went with him too just to make sure he doesn't try anything risky."

"Strawson?" The Staff asked.

"You know him?" Cordova asked back.

He looked over at the rest of the squad. Everyone but Duncan perked up at the name. "We had a run in with him some years ago. Where is he?"

Not venturing to ask about the circumstances of their meeting, and wisely so, Cordova led the way again. This time the 'xenoarcheologists', the specialists in a kind of scientific field that Duncan had never heard of before or understood what it meant, followed after them at a less than brisk jog. Special space scientists or not, they were still academic types.

The 'darkness' that Duncan was beginning to realize was some sort of optical illusion faded away completely. The doors were revealed in full clarity and full proportions. As they filtered through the toothy inner maze of tall stalagmites and low hanging stalactites, they spotted the other two scientists. The pair were standing directly in front of the doorway. Duncan upped his visor magnification to get a better look. Weaving through the last of the rocky fence, he noticed that the woman was moving along the left door, prodding its surface with her hands. The man on the right door he assumed to be Dr. Strawson was doing the same.

"What're they looking for?" Nova asked. "A keyhole?"

"Something along those lines." Cordova added. "Although, I don't remember sending them back here to look for it."

"At least they're proactive then."

"Maybe a bit too proactive."

The group filtered out from the rock formations into a mostly even area of cave-flooring just before the doors. The doctoral pair turned at their arrival.

Strawson smiled at seeing the ODSTs. The smile disappeared when he spotted Cordova leading the charge. "Ah, Lieutenant Commander, you brought company."

"Cut the crap, would you? Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Well..." He looked to the ODSTs as they came to a stop just several meters short of the doors. "Ugh, am I allowed to..." he pointed to them. "You know."

"Go ahead." Cordova said.

"Right, so-"

"It's an ancient entrance and we're trying to figure out how to get it out of our way." The other woman intruded. "We can't see inside with any equipment so whatever is in there is unknown to us."

Strawson turned red-faced at her. "Hey, I was-"

"You're too long-winded." She said, shutting him down. "However, with you ODSTs here, we might find a way through. We can use the extra set of eyes and hands."

The squad hesitated. Duncan felt it too, an overwhelming desire not to touch those doors but to leave them alone. The odd sensations that had accompanied their journey up until this point were too off-putting to want to wager anything on opening them. The xenoarcheologists didn't seem to have any such reservation because they were probably used to the feeling by now. Epsilon was not.

Then another trembling of the cave broke them out of their hesitance. It was another reverberation from the corvette's endless salvos that they had managed to ignore. But the impacts were getting closer and becoming much harder to tune out. A grim reminder that there was only one way out and no one in Epsilon wanted anything to do with it.

"Oh, I forgot." Cordova gestured to the woman. "This is the last xenoarcheologist, Doctor Sorvad. She's had the longest experience working on this project of anyone here. If anyone will be able to deduce how to get us in, it's her."

Sorvad gave a graceful bow of her head. "Nice to have you with us."

"Not so nice to be here." The Staff replied. "However, I'm glad we have your expertise."

"Y-, you know, you have mine too." Strawson quipped. "We're working together on this thing. It's a lot like a high-tech Rubik's cube in a lot of ways. We're trying to find its pattern."

"Pardon me," Mito said. "But how old is that, ugh, Rubik's cube you got there because it looks pretty new."

"And not that high-tech." Hector noted. "It just looks like two big slabs of metal that someone managed to fit into place."

"To answer your first question, that's classified." Strawson replied. "As to the second, trust me, it's not as featureless as you might think."

"Can we at least ask who made these things?" Nova queried. "Or is that classified too?"

"What do you think?" Cordova replied.

"Respectfully mam, that answer does not reassure me in the least."

"We don't need your reassurance trooper. Just your cooperation."

"Do you have any idea of how we can open this?" The Staff asked. "It's not like we can push it."

"What about the excavators?" Hector pointed back to the Jotuns. "Maybe we can drive one of them over here to force our way in."

"That won't work." Strawson declared. "Reason being that we tried that method already but the doors refused to yield. They're too tough."

"Explosives?" Rico asked.

Strawson shook his head. "Same result."

"Then how do we get in? You just shot down all our options."

"There might be another one, which is what we're testing out right now." Strawson said. "The door's had a history of remaining dormant throughout the time we've had to observe it. However, when it does react, it tends to do so when there's an abundance of movement. We've theorized that its motion activated, although we were yet to uncover why it only seems to respond when there are high numbers of people present. As you might imagine, of all the resources we can bring to bear, finding the right amount of people who can keep their mouths shut about this kind of thing is not easy to procure. Not at a location like this."

Duncan whispered to himself. "I can imagine."

"And what's this 'reaction' look like?" The Staff asked.

Strawson shared an uncertain glance with Sorvad before answering. "We...well, you'll know it when you see it."

Duncan did not like the sound of that. He preferred specifics, especially when dealing with alien architecture that appeared to have been in place for far longer than anything on Ballast made by humanity or the Covenant. That fact unnerved him more than any other, because it meant these doors could not have been built by either one.

"Can we get some more specifics than that, please?" Nova asked.

"It... light's up. Think of them like indicator lights on your average door."

"I don't know if it's really that simple." Sorvad noted. "But yes, that's a close enough comparison. So? Can you help us?"

The Staff examined his squad first, and getting a feel for the general mood, he turned to Cordova and the two scientists. "Just tell us what you need. We'll get it done."

Limina – Threshold