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Kurt had heard enough… more important, he had seen Dr Halsey's reaction She knewthem And it was time he found out what

"Okay," Kurt said, "everyone grab the pods and move them to the translocation platform"

He stepped closer to Dr Halsey "I'd like a ith you, ma'am"

The Spartans maneuvered the pods back into the corridor Mendez spared a look at Kurt and Dr Halsey, and then left

"We don't have lanced at her watch "Forty minutes, to be precise, until the core-room entrance shuts"

"You knohat's inside"

There was the slightest hesitation, and then she replied, "How could I, Lieutenant Co"

Dr Halsey's eyes hardened and her mouth set in what Mendez would have called a poker face

"Doctor, I' everything Even what you rave tactical repercussions"

"Indeed," she whispered, and her expression softened a bit "If they mean that mentations"

Kurt tensed, unsure how to proceed Dr Halsey was a civilian outside his chain of co how the military interacted with the civilians under its protection--all too slow, for his purposes If he were not reliant upon her scientific expertise, Kurt would have considered ain

"I a Doctor You do not have the proper clearance for that information

Now please tell me about the core You could save lives"

"'Save lives' is exactly what I a to do," she replied, and crossed her aresture was identical to the one Kelly made when she set her mind to be resolutely stubborn

Kurt was cornered If he threatened Dr Halsey, he could lose her cooperation If he didn't get the infor out, he only had one option, and she knew it

He took a deep breath and said, "Very well The neural mutation for the SPARTAN-IIIs alters their frontal lobe to enhance aggression response In times of extreme stress it e not even a SPARTAN-II could"

"Like Dante?" Dr Halsey said "Stillwhen he should have been in a co Dante who had just a second earlier saluted hiht he had been nicked

"Side effects?" she asked

"Yes," Kurt whispered "Over tiher brain functions are suppressed and the Spartans lose their strategic judgularly adree that trade-off is worth it," she said "Unless, their needs were, even by Spartan standards… extraordinary" She carefully examined Kurt, and then whispered, "What happened to Alpha Company?"

"They were deployed to shut down a Covenant shipyard on the edge of UNSC space"

Kurt stopped, straining to hold back the blackness that rose within him Shane, Robert, every one of them dead, and the fault his

"I never heard of the operation," Dr Halsey said

"Because it was a success," Kurt replied, regaining some control "If it hadn't been, the Covenant would have destroyed every Orion-side colony… But the entire company, three hundred Spartans, was lost"

Dr Halsey started to reach out toward hi better of it "Tom and Lucy… ?"

"The only survivors of Beta Coasi Delta Op," he replied

They were silent a moment Kurt wrestled to rise above his emotions and the memories

But with so

"I understand why you would risk such an outlawed protocol," Dr Halsey said "You would do anything to help them, your Spartans… as would I for mine"

Over the COM Chief Mendez spoke: "We're at the platfor further orders"

"Stand by," Kurt replied He banished his feelings to a dark vessel in histo overfloith pain, and then he focused on Dr Halsey

"Why are you here?" he asked her "It is not to recover Forerunner technology If you had really suspected, you would have told John and he'd have sent le Spartan and a fifty-year-old ship converted for civilian use"

Dr Halsey dropped her gaze to the intricately tiled floor "There is no need for this pretense with you," she whispered "Only, one becoets how to tell anyone… anything" Her forehead crinkled almost as if it hurt to speak "You are correct I did not coy I ca: their survival"

She set one hand over her throat--soesture to protect herself

"This is not a war the UNSC can win, Kurt Surely this has occurred to you?"

He nodded, although in fact it had not

She seemed to accept this, however, and continued "We have been slowly losing this war 'Slowly,' I think, because we had not been the eeted Earth Add to this griy that even the Forerunners could not control"

"But we have to fight," Kurt said "The Covenant don't take prisoners And from what you've told us of the Flood… there's no other option"

Dr Halsey smiled "So like a Spartan… and, at the same time you are so unlike any of them You crossed a line none of your kind has ever dared before: breaking regulations and engineering a es AVhat I had planned, though, went much farther…"

Over the COM Fred broke in "Sir, the Forerunner controls on the platfor crazy I'm not sure what it means"

"Stand by" Kurt replied

"You see," Dr Halsey said, "ht They are too indoctrinated to know any other way But when I learned of the possibility of a new generation of Spartans, I realized there was a chance to lure them away Perhaps place them in cryo and fly as fast and as far away as I could froht another day," Kurtupon this Forerunner installation," Dr Flalsey continued, "was pure chance… Or asCamp Currahee next to Zone 67 In any event, there ies we can repurpose here

Your guess is as good asfar more valuable to us: a way to save their lives, what I think inal plan

There is a haven for these 'Reclaimers' that--"

Gunfire echoed down the hallway