"Strike Two, all clear," the calm voice of Chief Petty Officer Williams came over the open channel. "Stand down, Marines, and we'll open the front door for you. Colonel, request permission to begin our cleanup sweep."

"Granted," Beck said. "Clean 'em out. Strike One, secure the prisoners and check the hostages over. We're sending up engineers to disable that nuke and try to reactivate the internal monitoring systems. Tell Admiral Kane that Admiral Wolfe wants to speak to him as soon as he's able."

"Well done, Colonel," Colonel Serra said.

"Couldn't have pulled it off without your people," Beck said, the words sounding lame even to her own ears. The truth was that the base detachment was competent just ill-equipped and outnumbered. By the time Beck's Marines had shown up, they were exhausted from the sustained initial assault the enemy had launched.

"Thanks for saying so," Serra said with a humorless smile. "This was the first time I've ever seen NOVAs in action. They certainly live up to the hype."

"They get the job done," Beck said, waiting for her channel request to the Saber to go through.

"Go, Colonel."

"Admiral, we've secured the command center. NOVAs are doing a cleanup while my people are tending to the staff and assessing the damage. Colonel Serra has sent three squads to secure Section Twenty-six, and they've reported back they're in position and green."

"Excellent work, Colonel Beck," Wolfe said. "I'll be coming down shortly. In the meantime, your priorities are to assist the Bluebird staff in getting ready to transfer up to the docks and help the base engineers get their defensive grid back online."

"You said you're coming down? To the surface?" Beck frowned. "Sir, I'm not sure that's wise given—"

"I wasn't conferring with you, Colonel. I was informing you of what will be happening. Time is short, so make sure you're ready to pull your Marines out if we give you the word."

"Aye, sir," Beck said. The channel closed without any further conversation.

"Unusual," Serra grunted. "But from what I've heard, Wolfe isn't your typical flag officer."

"He's also not your usual gung-ho wannabe," Beck said. "It's decidedly out of character for him to leave the ship and come down to check on a ground op in person."

"I'd assume it has to do with whatever the hell is out there in Section Twenty-six," Serra said.

* * *

"Admiral, it's a bit…unorthodox for you to be leaving the ship."

"Diplomatically put, Captain, but this is non-negotiable," Jackson said. "When I told you Bluebird wasn't the only secret thing down there, this is what I was talking about. I'll need to go down personally to retrieve something I put there years ago to make sure it never fell into the wrong hands."

"What will you need, sir?"

"A handful of Marines with strong backs and a standard shuttle. What we're retrieving isn't especially large, but it's delicate. Also, I'll need a secure cargo area set up that has standard shipboard power and avionic coolant lines available."