The plan to retrieve the artifact was simple. Go in shooting and grab it.

Okay, so there was more strategy involved. Owen had laid it all out in the clearing, the militia gathered in tight around him. They’d work in squads. Conduct a sneak attack. Hit them while their equipment was out. Punch a hole in their lines hard enough to gain access to the artifact and then hope for the best.

Oh, and leave the kids behind.

In a way it made sense; the rest of the squads had been near the site at one point or another, and they were working together to determine a best course of action. But regardless of the action chosen, it was going to be violent. And violence was what Owen and ONI were keeping Local Team away from.

Dorian was not as ready to go fight as Victor—and for good reason; he’d seen one too many times what the Covenant was capable of, and those marks on Victor’s arm were just further confirmation. But at the same time, Dorian was sure there was an easier way to get at the artifact. All the reports said their explosion had driven it deeper underground, between the service tunnels. There had to be a way to access it from underneath the Covenant. Using the service tunnels had worked when blowing up the drilling equipment; he was confident it could also work to their advantage in retrieving the artifact.

“Hey. Saskia said you wanted to see me?”

Dorian glanced up from the holographic map he’d been staring at for the last twenty minutes. He was ensconced in a makeshift lean-to, wedged beneath an oak tree. At least it wasn’t raining.

“Hey, Evie,” he said. “I did want to see you.” He patted the mat of grass he was using as a cushion. Evie sighed and crawled in. She looked tired, dark circles blooming underneath her eyes. “You think you could get ahold of Salome?”

Evie blinked in surprise. “Salome? Why?” With her outdated, patchwork programming, Dorian wasn’t totally surprised to find the militia hadn’t been making use of her.

“I’ve been thinking,” Dorian said, amplifying the map so that it flooded his lean-to with green light. “There might be a way to get to the artifact through the service tunnels.”

Evie frowned. “You don’t think Owen would have come up with that?”

Dorian sighed. “Owen is a soldier. He’s working with a bunch of other soldiers. It’s not like when it was just us and him and he had to keep us out of harm’s way. So, yeah, he’s approaching this like a soldier. But I just think there’s got to be—maybe not an easier way, but a sneakier way.”

Evie laughed, shook her head. “After everything, I’m honestly ready to just sit here, and let them take care of it. Then we can go back to the refugee colony, maybe use those full scholarships we were promised.”

Dorian smiled at that, but he felt the emptiness in her statement. “And if they mess up the mission?” he said quietly. “If they don’t get the artifact?”

“They’ll get it,” Evie said.

“Sure, probably, but it can’t hurt to have a backup plan, right?”

Evie rolled her eyes. “Come on, Dorian. At the end of the day, we’re civilians with some weird, specialized training in fighting and navigating terrain. This is their job, this is what they do. We might just be out of our depth on this one.” She paused. “I mean, you’re starting to sound like Victor.”

He studied her, not sure how to put his doubts into words. It was clear to him ONI wanted that artifact—sure, the fighting out in space probably was bad enough they couldn’t break through—but why send them on this suicide mission right after their camp had been destroyed? Evie read it as a quick errand on their way home, but Dorian saw it for what it was: an act of desperation.

He didn’t think ONI wanted to leave them on Meridian if things went bad. But he could imagine it happening. They’d find a way through the fighting if the artifact was secured, because evacuating an asset of that value would become a priority. That, he was sure about.

So if he wanted a guaranteed ride off Meridian, he needed to find a way to secure the artifact. Owen and the rest of the militia probably were going to be successful. But after everything, he didn’t want to put his future in someone else’s hands. Not if he wanted to see Remy and Uncle Max again.

But looking at Evie, he just wasn’t sure he could explain all that to her. She would dismiss him the minute he even hinted at the possibility that ONI might leave them stranded. So he just said, “What else have we got to do? It’s just coming up with a backup plan.”

Evie considered this.

“C’mon,” he said. “No one’s as bad-ass as you when it comes to hacking into that ancient Brume-sur-Mer system.”

Evie grinned and her cheeks pinkened and she looked away, her hair falling into her eyes. Seeing her flustered from the praise was honestly pretty cute.

“So you’ll help me?” he said.

“I’ll try to get you in touch with Salome,” Evie said. “Assuming she’s even still functioning. And assuming we can find a computer.”

“Remember, Dubois brought his data pad during the evac,” Dorian said promptly. He’d already considered this and knew it would not be a wise idea for them to attempt to patch into her directly using the stations set up around town.

Evie laughed. “I see. And he’ll let us use it?”

Dorian reached into his bag and extracted the data pad. It was an older model, beat up and scratched and ugly, but Dubois claimed it worked just fine. Dorian tossed it at Evie, and she caught it midair and turned it around in her hands.

“He just let you borrow it?” she said.

“I told him I was doing some prep work for the mission. Not exactly a lie, right?” Dorian grinned. “Besides, Dubois is cool. You know that. Anyway, get to it! Let’s see what you can do.”

Evie sighed. “I doubt we’ll be able to connect to the town’s comm system. Going to have to find another way.” She switched on the data pad, and the light shimmered over her face.

“Owen was able to get in touch with ONI.”

“Yeah, on a military channel,” Evie said. “I’m sure ONI’s got a signal beaming down here so they don’t lose track of us. Or that artifact.” She scowled a little. At ONI, Dorian thought, until he saw her tapping furiously at the screen. “Ugh, this is barely working! We’ll never—oh, there it goes.”

“Are you patched into ONI’s channel?” Dorian asked.

Evie lifted her gaze at him. Then she broke into a peal of laughter. Dorian’s cheeks burned.

“That’s not something I could do,” she said. “Not directly, anyway. I can tell just from a glance that it’s way too secure. The good news, though, is that we don’t need anything from the channel, we just need to use the channel, and that, I think I can do.”

Her fingers danced across the screen. Dorian crawled around beside her so he could peer over her shoulder. The data pad’s screen was filled with a cascade of code, Evie dancing through it so quickly he could hardly follow her movements. Her brow wrinkled in concentration. Dorian found himself holding his breath.

“I got it!” she cried. “I think.”

“You think?” He looked closer. “The connection light is on.”

“Yeah, but let me see if I can actually get in touch with Salome.” She swiped across the screen, icons fluttering open beneath her touch. Code materialized in a separate window. Dorian sighed, leaned back against the trunk of the tree, and looked out at the makeshift camp that had sprouted up in the clearing. The supply box from ONI had contained a few tarps that they had stretched out into tents, with the thick tree canopy overhead providing cover from Banshee patrols. But mostly it had contained weapons.

No wonder Owen was leading a charge against the Covenant. Evie could barely get in touch with the Brume-sur-Mer infrastructure system. They were in a tiny town, and surely the UNSC was focusing on larger cities with a more immediate threat. With little food and water left, and limited resources to stage any kind of attack plan, the only thing they had going for them were numbers—and a Spartan.

What else was left but fighting it out for the artifact? Once the Brume-sur-Mer militia had the artifact in hand, they would immediately get bumped up on the list of ONI’s priorities.

“Evelyn Rousseau!” chirped a familiar saccharine voice.

“You got her!” Dorian tore his gaze away from the camp. Sure enough, a two-inch hologram of Salome flickered in the air above the comm pad. She looked over at him and blinked her bright eyes. “Dorian Nguyen!” she said. “I did not expect to see you two.” She frowned. “I did not expect to see anyone. The town has been invaded by the Covenant for some time now.”

“We noticed,” Dorian said. Then he grinned at Evie. “Thanks.”

She smiled back. “Let’s hope this plan of yours works.”

“Plan?” Salome tilted her head, leaving a streak of light in her wake. Dorian wondered how long this comm pad was going to hold on. “I don’t like it when the two of you have plans.” She put her hands on her hips. “Also, you shouldn’t be in this part of the forest. It’s restricted according to a proclamation issued by the Meridian government on—”

“Salome,” Dorian said. “We need your help with something. Do you still have a view of the town?”

Salome gave a little squeak of offense. “Of course!” she said. “I am the town’s only artificial intelligence. What good would I be if I couldn’t see it?”

“Hey,” Dorian said. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know if the Covenant had cut you off.”

Beside him, Evie covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

Salome sniffed in annoyance. “They don’t even know I’m here,” she said. “Don’t think I don’t see what they’re doing. Digging holes all over the place.”

“Yeah,” Dorian said. “That’s what we want to talk to you about.” He grabbed the projector he’d been using to study the holo-map of the town. “There’s one hole in particular that we’re interested in. It’s at Rue Coquillage and Rue Flot by the—”

“Oh, that one.” Salome sighed and shook her head, her hair swishing like static. “Yes, that’s officially been declared a danger zone. You should not be going there, Dorian Nguyen.”

“I promise I won’t,” Dorian said solemnly. “I just want to see how it lines up with a map I have. Can you project your image for me?”

“As long as you won’t go there! Only military personnel should enter the area.”

Dorian looked up at Evie, who was still smiling. It was nice to see someone smile, after everything that had happened.

“You hear that, Evie?” he said. “Military personnel only.”

“Noted,” she said.

Salome didn’t pick up on their sarcasm, though—someone had thoughtfully left that ability out of her programming. Her avatar vanished and a few seconds later was replaced by a grainy image of the Covenant’s excavation site—or what was left of it. The shield was gone, and the massive Scarab platform lay in charred, melted heaps. A trio of jellyfish-like figures drifted around the wreckage, pulling out chunks of less charred, less melted machinery with their long, slender tentacles. They were obviously Covenant, but not like any of the species Dorian had fought before.

“What are they?” Evie breathed. “They look like they’re … repairing it?”

Dorian felt a knot in his chest. “Well, then we better get in there quick, shouldn’t we?” He activated his map, a simple green grid that shimmered over the image of the strange creatures. He rotated the map around, adjusting its position relative to the excavation site. Trying to find his way in.

“Salome,” he said. “You have any views of the hole itself? Any way to show us what’s underground?”

“It’s underground, Dorian Nguyen,” she chirped. “Why would you need to see it?”

Dorian rolled his eyes. “Look, if you can’t do it—”

“I can show you the view from the service tunnels.”

Evie glanced up at Dorian, an eyebrow raised. She was starting to understand.

“Perfect,” Dorian said.

The image flickered and was replaced with a view of the service tunnels—or what was left of them after the sabotage mission. This particular stretch was in much worse shape than what Dorian and the others had trekked through as they fled from Covenant retaliation. The walls were blasted in, revealing striations of dark dirt and clay. The ceilings hung in tatters.

“There is no way we’re getting down there,” Evie muttered.

Dorian ignored her. “Salome, where’s the hole in comparison to this tunnel?”

“Right here, Dorian Nguyen.” A section of the image brightened, turning even grainier in the process. A piece of the Covenant Scarab had slammed through the tunnel, crashing through its reinforced walls. And something was in the dirt. Something shiny, something smooth. A faint curve of unblemished glass.

“Oh my god,” Evie said.

“Salome,” Dorian said, his chest tight. “What is that? That glass thing?”

A long pause. Dorian took a deep breath.

“I don’t know,” Salome said. “It appeared after the blast. It was originally encased in some black material, but the explosion stripped that away.”

Dorian looked up at Evie. Her eyes were wide—with fear? Excitement? He couldn’t tell.

“Told you there was an easier way,” Dorian said.

“Absolutely not,” said Owen.

“Are you serious?” Dorian shouted. “It’s the same freaking move that we did to blow the excavation site up in the first place! There’s no reason to march into battle and try to dig the stupid thing out!”

Owen enlarged the image and slid the focus on the tunnel itself, away from that strange curve of dark glass. “That tunnel is not passable,” he said. “Look at it.”

Dorian glared at him, refusing to look at what he knew Owen was showing him: collapsed walls, thick chunks of stone, destroyed structural beams.

“With respect, the Covenant isn’t exactly passable either. It’s not safe to—”

“I never claimed it was safe,” Owen said. “But it plays to our strengths. The Covenant’s presence here is already diminished, thanks to Blue and Green’s valor during the sabotage. And it wasn’t a large presence to begin with.”

“How do you know that?” Evie asked, sitting quietly beside Dorian. He wanted to yell at her for staying so calm. How could she act like Owen was being reasonable?

“Same reconnaissance we’ve been working with since we arrived here,” Owen said. “The plan was always to wear down the enemy until we could strike and sabotage their excavation efforts. Thanks to their attack on our camp, we have not been able to wear them down as much as I would have preferred, but the Meridian soldiers here are tough. They can handle themselves.” He paused, ran one hand over his shorn hair. “If you want to help, you can work with Kielawa to prepare medical supplies for the evac.”

Dorian threw up his hands. He couldn’t believe this. Owen had been so cautious when they had worked with him before, always encouraging them to stay on the periphery, to not engage in any theatrics. He didn’t seem like the type to just race into battle. For a second, Dorian wondered if this was the flip side of being the hand of ONI—having to accept marching orders when you didn’t agree with them.

But then, Owen had been trying to protect Local Team all along, hadn’t he? And he still was. No one expected Dorian to march against the Covenant. Or Evie, or Saskia, or even Victor. They were expected to stay behind and issue MediGel as people inevitably came straggling into camp bleeding and broken.

“The four of us would be going into the tunnel as backup,” Evie said, and Dorian realized her calmness was a gift. She sounded so sure of herself. “The Covenant will be distracted by the fighting—just like when we blew up the Scarab, as Dorian pointed out. We can be in communication, and if it looks like you need us to try and extract the artifact from the tunnel, we can. Otherwise, you can continue as you originally planned.”

Owen studied her for a long moment. Dorian held his breath.

“So how do you suggest handling the extraction of the artifact itself? This is an object of unknown origin. ONI requires certain protocols and special equipment when extracting an artifact of this nature. To avoid contamination. There’s no way of knowing how it will affect you.”

“If we learn the protocols and how to handle the equipment—”

Owen shook his head. “We have one pair of exo-gloves for extraction. One ionized lock-cube for field transport. These will be going with my team. Even if you were able to get to the artifact, there would be no way to safely extract it.”

Dorian’s stomach dropped. He hadn’t even considered that—he’d been too busy worrying about the Covenant and the tunnels themselves.

Evie paused for a moment. Owen shifted his weight as if to stand up, as if to say that the conversation was over. But then Evie spoke.

“We’re going as backup,” she said. “We don’t have to touch the object ourselves. If we get to it, we’ll let you know, and you can send the extraction team to meet us.”

Owen tilted his head. “I suppose that could work,” he said.

“Thank you,” Dorian said.

“But there’s still the fact that the tunnel isn’t stable.”

Dorian let out a long frustrated sigh, pressed his hands into his forehead. But Evie remained as unflappable as always.

“That’s true,” she said. “But if we wanted a safe mission, we wouldn’t have agreed to return here in the first place. We want to help save our home, our people, even if it means there’s risk.”

Dorian dropped his hands and stared at her. She sat with her hands folded in her lap, her spine straight, her expression clear. A brilliant move. She knew how to talk to adults.

Owen closed his eyes. “I suppose there is some value in your plan.”

Dorian flashed Evie a grin.

“But you need to be one hundred percent aware that if that tunnel collapses, if you get trapped in any way, I’m not going to be able to save you. And if the Covenant is running patrols down there still … you’ll be on your own.”

“That holds true for the entire militia,” Evie said. “Not just us. We’re willing to put ourselves out there.”

“I just need you to be fully aware of the situation before I agree to this plan.”

Dorian looked at the image he was projecting over Owen’s desk, the grid map, the overlay of the drill site. The shiny curve of alien glass jutting out of the dirt.

“And under no circumstances,” Owen said, “do you attempt to extract that artifact on your own.”

“Understood,” he said.