Noble 7

Ten minutes later, all of Noble Team was assembled in the science wing and the Covenant Corvette that had caused so much trouble was now resting at the bottom of the icy Esposz Sea.

Major Burke was down in the bunker, debriefing Whiskey-One.

"Zealots? You're sure?" Dr. Catherine Halsey inquired in response to what Jorge had reported.

"Their armor configuration matched," he told her.

"Shield strength too," Six confirmed, standing beside him.

Carter sensed Halsey's irritation and spoke up, "I gave the order not to pursue. Our primary objective was to get the station's relay back online."

"Your primary objective? Commander, are you a puppet or a Spartan?"

"Ma'am?"

"There are those at ONI, myself included, who believe the Covenant dispatch Elite advance to hunt down artifacts of value to their religion. Survivor accounts suggest such teams are small, nimble, and almost always Zealot class," she explained, pinning Carter in her glare. "No doubt they came to the station for the abundance of ONI excavation data stored there… and you let them get away."

He didn't appreciate her abrupt shift in tone. He had done his job and then some, splitting his team to defend Sword Base, bring the COMs relay and AA guns back online, and here she was, talking down to him over not putting the previous mission aside to chase down some Elite spy.

Carter answered firmly, "Data retrieval was not a command directive. Even had we known, we had other more urgent matters to attend to."

"Like warning the planet," Kat added.

Dr. Halsey gave Kat a rude, dismissive look, as though she had no place to intervene, then directed her attention back to Carter.

Calmly, she said, "Professor Sorvat's final entry in his field notes made reference to a 'latchkey' discovery. Latchkey. Not a word he would use lightly. So let's hope the data module your Lieutenant Commander stole, contains it."

She returned her gaze to Kat as she made the accusation. Carter turned to her as well.

"Kat?" he began.

Halsey interrupted by speaking directly to Noble Two, who was no doubt wondering how anyone besides Six knew she had it.

"Before you ask, I was alerted at the moment you tried to access its contents, as I am with any unauthorized tap."

Kat shifted her helmet to her other arm and pulled out the data module, then walked over and dropped into the container built into the shielded, transparent wall Halsey stood behind.

"That data is classified Tier One. I could send you to the brig for interfering with my work," the doctor scolded as she pulled the container toward her side of the wall and retrieved the module.

That's it, Carter decided. She's stepping way out of line.

"Maybe you'd like to join her," he told the doctor.

"I'm sorry...?"

"We're currently under Emergency Planetary Directive, Winter Contingency. I'm sure you're familiar with the punishment for civilian interference with a Spartan deployment."

"Are you threatening me, Commander?"

"Just making a reading suggestion, ma'am..." Carter said, leaving.

This debriefing was over.

"Let's move, Noble Team."