: ...according to a friend, there's a material called "stasis
: refrigerant". This sounds okay at first, but then you learn that it
: can only be used in bombs (why is it called stasis refrigerant then?), and
: also that the bomb it's used in never actually explodes (why is this bomb
: not a bomb?).
: I am forced to
: 1) question the scifi writing credentials of whoever's writing this
: 2) avoid watching the show because it's only going to make me mad
: 3) hope the movie is better

Assumptions are being made that statis refrigerant is only used in explosive bombs and has absolutely no other uses. We're relying on spoken word from a soldier, who like us, makes statements that aren't 100% truth sometimes because they're lying and other times because they're imperfect narrators who have a more limited view of the situation than the viewer/gamer.

What's occuring here is working on multiple levels. ONI intercepted a lead about Axl and Sedra and dispatched a team. Sedra's Colonial Guard is looked at as weak and their border controls are practically non-existant. ONI's team discovers a Zealot is involved in a plot involving the smuggling operation. They assume that there will be a bombing similar to when Gek tried to set off the Havok in Rio, but don't understand the intent. The device goes off and it doesn't do what they expect. It appears now that the bomb isn't a bomb and that a new weapon was just tested.

There are portions of the second story that outline a conspiracy to procure a device that will house the element so it can be brought to Sedra which took time to acquire and a map of the sewer system that the Zealot used to navigate towards his target. The device was of UNSC origin and it would take some significant manuevering to get one and have it delivered as part of a shipment of crops. i don't recall if ths was the statis refrigerant or something else, but the one who acquires it is human.

When ONI arrives at the source of the element they found human smugglers working to erase a debt owed to an unknown financier. Even though the Alpha Shard is deemed off-limits due to the peace treaty, there is an assumption that the smugglers will be non-human. Now you have human smugglers, an ONI team and a Sedran Colonial Guard presence on it in violation of the treaty. Then there are the Lekgolo, which like Axl and the Zealot are only the 3rd tie-in to the Covenant.

Not all is at it appears to be.