“No,” Altair says, his eyes still on the map I sent him. “Your team is in no danger. In fact, this is the sign we’ve been waiting for.” Altair is a composed man, not easily incited to emotion, but there’s an unmistakable gleam of excitement in his eyes as he looks up again. “I know your time here may be almost done, Sergeant Kaiser, but I need to ask this one last thing of you.”

“I’m grateful to serve.” The Titan saying has often tasted like a lie, but not this time. I’m happy to make myself useful to him and his cause one last time.

Altair nods his gratitude, and his hands move across the screen before him. A few moments later, a file appears on my own device. When I tap it, a three-dimensional image springs to life above the table.

“What am I looking at?” I reach out to touch the hologram with two fingers, rotating it. It’s an image of an orb, its edges lumpy and indistinct, its surface moving in slow ripples. A faint light pulses from within.

“This is what you’ll be retrieving from the site. It’s a power source.”

“Alien in nature?” The question is absentminded; the silence from Altair’s end is both an answer and an indication I should not have asked it. “Apologies, sir. I forget myself.”

It’s not the sort of question that’s asked here, especially from someone as low-ranking as me. Still, my mind turns over this new information. An alien power source. I’ve long wondered if the Interplanetists utilize Primus technology more often than they admit. But what use could they have for such a thing?

“Your radars won’t be of any assistance,” Altair says, which is just as much of an answer to my question as the previous silence was. “It may be buried beneath the ice, but if it was visible to you, it should be close enough to the surface for you to locate once you’re on-site. I trust you will find a way to secure it.”

“Your trust is not misplaced.”

“Take the exosuits and any other equipment you need from the outpost, but no large machinery. You’ll be a stone’s throw from enemy territory. Best not to attract any unwanted attention.”

“Understood.”

“And, Corvus?”

I wait.

He leans forward, his gaze sharpening. “This is highly classified. Let no one see it. Do you understand?”

There are a dozen questions I could ask here—Does he mean I should hide this from my team as well? From our own people? What should I do if someone does see it?—but I know the answers already.

“Yes, sir.”

“Go make your planet proud,” General Altair says, and severs the connection.