“Partial Satellite Imagery reconstructed and ready, Captain.”
“On screen, Apollo.” Satellites in Low Earth Orbit take dozens upon dozens of still photos per second as they fly through the heavens at insane speeds. The images had to be stitched together to get a clearer picture, but without the right amount of probes, there will still be gaps in their surveillance.
“Most of the Americas are pitch black,” comments Commander Ethan. Though it is to be expected as much of that side of the planet is still night, the great lack of artificial lighting is a bit concerning.
Browsing through the shots available to them, Lieutenant Commander Nathan shook his head. “I don’t recognize these cities, sir,” he said, checking from one country to the next. “But I guess that answers the question of where we are.” They are on Earth… at least satellite image wise.
“So this is what I missed, huh?” Lieutenant Colonel Tristan Stone is a seasoned soldier of the ODST. He currently serves as the commanding officer of the 129th Shock Troops Battalion but was wounded when the ship took fire and crash-landed yesterday. Checking the map himself, he said, “If we are in the Congo… and New Mombasa is supposed to be… there…?” scratching his head as more known landmarks kept on not showing up.
Captain Irons simply nods, agreeing with the ODST’s confusion. With the logs from the FTL drive, Apollo is adamant about his time travel theory, but they need more evidence. “Nathan, this may be a long shot, but check on the ship’s complement if we have an expert on history.”
“Yes, Captain.” Apart from the officers, much of the crew and their complement of marines came from every walk of life. With numerous worlds glassed, many were either conscripted or volunteered to join the fight against the Covenant, abandoning their previous lives and trades.
A door for the bridge slides open as Lieutenant Kane enters, “Captain, reporting as ordered,” saluting at Irons, who reciprocates.
“Lieutenant, I would like you to meet Lieutenant Colonel Stone,” gesturing toward the ODST before letting the two share their greetings.
“Ah, so this is the ONI officer you told me about? I look forward to working together with you,” extending his arm for a handshake.
“Sir?” confused but Elara shook his hand nevertheless.
“The Colonel insisted on going with you to Mars, Lieutenant,” says Samuel.
Tristan flicks his hand several times, feeling a tingling sensation from the handshake. “Yeah, that still feels weird,” he mutters, turning his attention to the lady. “My boys are currently out and about, and I was not invited to their party, so I figured I better go out and have a stroll while they are away.”
“I have authorized you a few days off, Colonel. You just had your arm restored, your nerves are still raw.”
“More the reason why I should go out there and take this bad boy out for a spin! Besides, I don't need no physical therapy. This isn’t my first rodeo.” There is an idiom saying ‘Beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young’. However, with Stone, it's mostly not knowing when to quit.
“Captain, I mean no disrespect, but who would lead this mission?” Of course, the ODST outranks her several times over, but it's her ship and crew they are talking about here, as well as her pride being an ONI officer. When the Homeworld’s security became apparent, even senior commanders were thrust back into field duty, so Elara is not sure this Lieutenant Colonel would even follow orders.
“Worry not, young lady. I’ll just be there to stretch my legs,” he says, smiling and nodding at her direction, not wanting the role. “But I do want to bring some of my own, if you don’t mind.” A handful of other ODSTs that were not able to join Major Silva’s teams, either due to injury or just plain dumb luck of the recon roster already filled up.
“I see, thank you, Colonel,” Elara replies, turning her attention back to Irons. “Captain, may I request to have my prisoner returned to me? My ship is now in running order, I should be able to provide the necessary accommodations for my guest.”
Irons couldn’t help but roll his eyes in disbelief. He could already think of several dozen UNSC rules with regards to lugging around a civilian into an active warzone, let alone how difficult it would be for them to perform their duties while guarding a prisoner. But before he could shoot down her request altogether, Nathan approaches.
“That might not be possible at the moment, Lieutenant,” Nathan says, balancing himself on his crutch and handing the captain a data pad of what he requested.
Reading through the document, Irons mutters, “Dr. Olivia Reed.” The number of Phds and Masters under her name was quite impressive, an expert in pretty much every field of history, not just of Earth but of several planets as well. Time travel or not, there are ‘people’ on this planet, and Samuel would need someone who understands cultures.
Iron soon turns his attention towards Lieutenant Kane, who doesn’t seem to be happy about this development. Coughing, trying to break the tension a bit, Iron speaks up, “Mr. Price, who’s next on the list?” Lieutenant Commander Nathan promptly responds.
“A Corporal who once taught high school history in the outer colonies,” Nathan replies.
Samuel frowns. He was hoping to give the ONI officer an ‘out,’ but clearly, there is no other person on the ship who can match Professor Reed. The Captain sighs as the ONI Officer tries her best not to glare, but Irons is simply not in the mood to argue with the spook. “You have your orders, Lieutenant Kane, Colonel Stone,” he says, nodding at them. The ODST salutes right away before making his way out of the bridge, Elara eventually following after.
As soon as the bridge door closes, Commander Ethan jokes, “I think she is quite happy about that development.”
“Oh, no doubt. I had to hack their ship to get that data out,” Apollo declares proudly, making Samuel frown at the AI. “What? They are the ones who docked into my loading bay without prior clearance!” the construct complains. When Apollo tried to communicate with the vessel the first time, all he received was firewalls one after another. But after the crash, he took advantage when the smaller ship’s defenses were down and engineers were busy providing repairs, satisfying his curiosity.
“Anything else I should know about?” asks the Captain.
“They have a smart AI onboard,” Apollo adds. He wonders if that is why Lieutenant Elara kept shooting down his theories earlier today. Maybe the construct aboard the Eclipse Runner had its own notions. Still, he had receipts after all; it was his proof.
“ONI…,” Samuel mumbles. Their crew could probably be the last of the human race, but yet still, he can’t trust Kane and her people. Soon he turns his attention to Hayes. “Commander, get me Dr. Olivia Reed.”
“Yes, Captain,” Ethan replies quickly, standing from his seat, saluting, and soon exiting the bridge.
"They aren’t monsters," Chief Nyembo thought. It was dark, after all. Much like the others, he also thought that the obsidian glass that covers their headdress was the void, a pitch darkness where the souls of the damned are consumed and never to be found. But their saviors are humans much like themselves. Though they look and clothe differently, and use different tools, he doubts they are any different from the outsiders that pretend to be their masters.
Or at least that is what he thought. An hour after first light, they began arriving in droves. The very earth rumbled like a stampede of beasts as their contraptions crossed the plains faster than the largest cats the continent could offer. Metal beasts with tusks like boars, threatening to skewer any who are dumb enough to stand in their way.
Their numbers quickly swelled to several hundreds, but so did his people as the wounded and sick were brought in. Strength in numbers made it easy for the tribesmen to have a sense of security, but that didn’t help them at all when the great flying monsters began to appear from the horizon. They roar violently, winds and dust blown apart as heat burns the very earth as they land.
More tribesmen ran away in fear, while others began to bow down to their new gods. Afraid that the warriors clad in black summoned Kongamatos to destroy them all, the ODSTs stood around confused, eventually trying to stop the locals from bowing to them. Chief Kasongo didn’t know what to do. It is clear that their saviors are not here to harm them, but all they have shown so far simply goes beyond what he and his people could grasp. One thing is clear, however: if he wishes to save his homeland, he must honor their request, he must get these people’s assistance, whatever the cost.
“Tell me, Professor. Is there a reason why someone as intelligent as you would do something so reckless?” Captain Irons scrolled through his data pad, reading Dr. Olivia’s profile. “It says here you’ve been employed by the Office of Naval Intelligence several times before. Surely you’re aware of how they treat spies. A wise person would take those rumors as a warning.” Putting the data pad aside, he finally faced her.
Olivia stood there, flanked by two MPs with handcuffs binding her wrists. She looked a bit disheveled, having been so busy with work that her only proper sleep in months was within her prison cell. Adjusting her glasses, finding it quite difficult, she looked around and found no familiar faces amongst the bridge crew. A sigh of relief escaped her lips. “As I’m not currently being skinned alive by some ONI Interrogator, am I to assume you need something from me?”
Straight to the point, Irons liked it. He stood from his seat and began to walk closer to the professor. She didn’t look like anyone who would harm a fly. Irons was curious about what prompted her actions, but he had more pressing matters to attend to. “Not even a hint of remorse,” he commented. While there was no pride in her demeanor, typically a spy would have some exit strategy or powerful backer to rely on, but Reed seemed different. There was a sense of dignity about her. Samuel rubbed the stubble of his beard before turning to Nathan and nodding in his direction.
The Lieutenant Commander nodded back before turning his attention to Olivia. “Professor Reed, in exchange for your cooperation, we are willing to transfer custody of you to us. Your rights and legal proceedings will be handled by a civilian representative until we reach the next UNSC-controlled space, where you will receive a fair trial.” It was a generous offer indeed. She would be allowed to move freely around the ship and base camp, albeit under the watchful eyes of MPs, but it was still far better than what ONI would likely have in store for her.
Olivia pondered the offer, skeptical of its sincerity. It seemed too good to be true. But before she could reply, Captain Irons called out, “Commander, has the ONI Corvette left yet?”
Checking the logs from the flight control tower, Hayes replied, “Negative, Captain. The Eclipse Runner is still on the tarmac, but they report they’ll be lifting off soon.”
Samuel turned back to Olivia. “Lieutenant Kane was insistent that you be returned to them before they head off-planet... So you could either accept the deal or be on your merry way.” Irons crossed his arms before him. It wasn’t much of a choice, at least for a rational person, but he still didn’t know the woman’s motives, so he couldn’t be certain.
She was no pushover they could threaten with bureaucratic nonsense to force compliance. Having worked with ONI far too many times before, Olivia was well aware of their tactics. But this wasn’t ONI, and the offer they made wasn’t exactly turning sour the pot. Still, she didn’t know what they wanted from her. “If I accept this deal, what exactly do you want me to do?”
“Well, first of all, return what you took from us.”
“I no longer have it...” Olivia began to lie, but Irons interjected.
“No, you still have it. You know how I know? Because you’re still alive. Not only that, but you were expecting to be tortured by an interrogator the moment you got here,” Samuel countered.
Olivia shook her head, a slight smirk appearing on her lips. She had never been a good liar, but she hadn’t expected the truth to come out so soon. “What’s the point then? If what I took would be returned to the UNSC, to ONI. All would be lost, and all my efforts would be for naught.”
“May I remind you that it was ours to begin with, Professor. You were employed and paid for your services. You aren’t simply content with what we intend to do with it,” Irons reminded her. In truth, Samuel had no idea what the stolen data even was, but his opponent didn’t know that. Fortunately for him, it didn’t take long for Dr. Reed to show her hand.
“From the very first Sumerian tablets of old to humanity’s final struggle against the Covenant, Project Memento Mori is meant to catalog our civilization’s history. It is my life’s work! For months, I have toiled day and night. I was the project lead, an overseer of thousands of scholars, scientists, and historians from all over human-controlled space! And ONI is just going to stick it all on some shelf! Hidden away because they are afraid that our doomed race would panic if they find out all we could hope to do in the face of our powerful adversary is to waste precious time and resources to record our demise!” Olivia trembled in anger as the two MPs shifted about, holding their firearms a bit more tightly.
Samuel somewhat understood the frustration; there had been several instances throughout his long career where a similar thing happened. However, perhaps due to him being a soldier, he did not fully empathize with the civilian. “Where is it, Professor?”
Olivia remained where she stood, not wanting to answer. Getting impatient, Samuel was about to order the MPs to search her when Apollo spoke up. “Captain, if my theory is correct, this file might be a whole lot more useful to us than stashing it away in a lockbox somewhere.”
Rubbing his temples as the AI continued to insist on his theory, Samuel sighed. “We haven’t verified that yet.”
“Well, Professor Reed is here, why not ask her?”
A long minute of silence soon enveloped the room, with only the mechanical beeps of consoles or hums of machinery being heard. Samuel pondered what they could offer to get the Professor to cooperate now. One’s legacy is pretty hard to beat after all. But before he could try to negotiate, Dr. Olivia asked, “Ask me what?”
Apollo smiled before the nearby holotable lit up to life, numerous satellite imagery from numerous cities and countries filling the space for the Professor to look at. Olivia approached, examining the images. “Is this a test?” she wondered.
“Something like that,” replied Apollo.
Her eyes scanned the images one after another, even gesturing with her cuffed hands to move the photos into groups, giving her a better picture of what she was working on. “I mean, I recognize most of these... However, there are structures that are still not fully constructed. This one is London, The Tower Bridge is incomplete, but to what extent, I’m not sure.” Though the satellite shot was as clear as possible, it was still difficult due to how little detail she had to work with.
“What year do you think these photos are from, Professor?” asks Ethan.
“Uhm, 1890 AD? I'm not entirely sure mostly because I don’t recognize these ones,” she said, pointing at the group of images she had set aside in the corner. “According to these surrounding landmasses, these cities are from the South Eastern Asia region. The structures and cities themselves also appear to come from the cultures that exist in that area… But I don’t recall there ever being such grand cities in these nations during this time period.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asks Ethan, confused.
“Well, these nations were colonized by European powers—the Dutch, the Spanish, the British. They took over much of these lands in the past, and if they were to construct any cities, or any buildings for that matter, it would naturally appear in a European style. Local structures would be few and far between or at worst demolished outright, but as you can see, that isn't what's happening here,” Olivia explained, zooming in on the photos before comparing them to European-style structures from the other satellite captures.
Samuel and Nathan looked at each other, trying to grasp the situation they were in. Even Apollo, who had thought about celebrating once his theory was proven, found himself dumbstruck and even worried due to the additional complication the revelation had presented before them. He was right… half right.
