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THIRTEEN
0700 HOURS, OCTOBER 31, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ZETA DORADUS SYSTEM, NEAR CAMP CURRAHEE, PLANET ONYX
Kurt scanned the horizon with his binoculars. He watched the pattern of the wind in the tree line, the birds that had taken wing, and a whisper of smoke that snaked up from the canopy.
There was trouble in the air.
From his perch in the "tree house" he couldn't see the source of the disturbance near the Spartan test area.
The tree house was a platform a hundred meters off the jungle floor in the titan arms of a banyan tree. The only electronics here were the radio and the AI projection unit. Everything else was low-tech: optic binoculars and telescopes, parabolic sound collection dishes, good old-fashioned signal flags.
"What's the Agincourt got?" he asked Mendez.
Chief Mendez turned to Kurt, pressing the bud receiver into his ear. "A lot of static. Encountering broadband interference. They're moving to high orbit to get a clear picture."
The Agincourt had just delivered supplies for the incoming Delta Company. Kurt had asked for a little observational assistance before they broke orbit.
"Pass my thanks to the Commander," Kurt said.
Chief Mendez's face darkened. "They're breaking up."
The dish-sized AI projector sparked to life, and warm red sunlight sparked and filled the tree house. It solidified into a tall Cherokee brave, bare-chested, wearing buckskins, feathered spear in his massive hand. This was Endless Summer, the ONI AI stationed at the ultrahigh-secure facility thirty kilometers to the north, a place that technically no longer existed, it was so secret.
The AI gestured for Kurt and then he vanished, replaced by the lightning-bolt symbol for a UNSC priority flash communique.
The AI that had replaced Deep Winter was aloof, had barely tolerated Kurt and his staff, and it never initiated communication. This was trouble.
Kurt stepped closer and the pad scanned his biometrics. Several files were beamed directly onto his retina, a top-secret protocol that gave a new twist to the phase "eyes-only" security.
He read:
United Nations Space Command Priority Transmission FLASH 91762P-06
Encryption Code : BLACK
Public Key: file/seasonal/
From: CODE NAME ENDLESS SUMMER
To: / Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose, special attache. Logistical Operations Command (NavLogCom) , Office of Investigations UNSCMID: 045888947
Subject: Emergency Alert Status
Classification: Restricted (XXX-XD Directive)
/start file/decryption protocol/
FLASH TRANSMISSION TO CAMP CURRAHEE COMMAND AND CONTROL
ENDLESS SUMMER DIRECTED TO LIEUTENANT COMMANDER AMBROSE-EYES ONLY
ZONE 67 UNDER ATTACK.
Per general order 98.93.120, I am authorized to take command of all military personnel on Onyx under emergency circumstance. I hereby exercise that authority and order all under your command to immediately defend zone 67 from eminent danger.
Attacker Identity: Unknown. Nonhuman origin.
ATTENTION: Possible Covenant vectors.