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The Deacon's senses faded with his ht stars He thought he heard the buzz of Yans and the surprised shouts of the aliens as they retreated toward the control center Then he passed out

"Breathe," a deep voice echoed in Dadab's ear

He woke a few seconds later, just in ti his ok?"

"Around The bend," the Deacon gasped For a ht Maccabeus was his savior But as his vision cleared, he realized it was Tartarus, noearing the Chieftain's golden armor Dadab knew exactly what this meant "Inside the control room, Chieftain"

Tartarus ripped Humnum's lifeless body from his tank, and held its harness open for Dadab

"Show me"

"But the wounded …" Dadab said weakly, sliding into the bloody straps

Without aspike into the center of Bapap's chest The Unggoy jerked once and was still

"Rapid Conversion is disabled--the victim of an alien trap" Tartarus leveled his weapon at Dadab "They tricked us with inforive"

Dadab looked up frohtened

"You can live long enough to explain the extent of your betrayal Or you will die here like the others" Tartarus jerked his weapon toward the control center, co Dadab to run

And he did, Tartarus following close behind, the Fist of Rukt clanking loudly against his armor

As Dadab rounded the junction, he found hiht

It turned out that Flim had made multiple barricades: one around the control room's pried- open door, and another farther down the central ay Flim, Tukduk, Guff, and a few others still held the nearest line of barrels, but the aliens pressing from the far end of the orbital had taken the latter Between the two lines were oy bodies

Dadab saw the aliens who had stor fire with Flim and the others near the control center One of the aliens fell, downed by a plasma-burst to the back The Deacon saw Guff leap from cover to finish the job, only to be cut down by an alien with black skin who leapt over the far line of barrels This alien lifted the wounded soldier by an ar down cover fire for the last of his retreating coed into the fray The Yaned; at least two dozen of the insects swar from one ay support cable to the next But not all the Yanme'e were focused on the aliens

Dadab watched in horror as a trio of the creatures wriggled through the gap in the control roo stray rounds from the aliens' weapons meant for Tartarus, as well as a surprised look from Flim as he rushed past, Dadab sped after the three Yan he was too late

The insects had shown Lighter Than Sook had usurped their position once, and they were deterh the door, his dearest friend was ribbons--reduced to strips of pink flesh dangling from the Yanme'e's hooked fore-li in his ears, the Deacon stared at the dissipating cloud of hter Than Sook's severed tentacles was sunk deep into a gap in the center The Yanme'e skittered over one another in an effort to pull the lihtly bonded to the alien circuits

Dadab filled with rage As the insects continued their grueso of war, the Deacon raised his pistol and let theular head was boiled away before the others' antennae were up

Dadab burned the second as it atteht and roasted the third as it buzzed for cover behind the arc of towers The dying flutter of the insects' wings against their shells sounded like shrill screams But the Deacon felt no pity as he stalked into the control roo by his side

Near the holo-projector he saw a glistening pile of offal: the spilled ree rise in his throat, and he looked up It was then that he noticed the s it was just a picture, Dadab was surprised when the alien relared at him with fiery eyes But the Deacon was duned: < I Aht have dropped his pistol and prostrated hie began to change The alien's red eyes flickered gray Its pristine gar dirt--as if it had been hit by soan to trerasped its orist to try and keep its hand fro, it very clearly flexed: < Liar! > < Liar! > < Liar! > Without warning, the orbital lurched Dadab fell back onto his triangular tank and rolled sideways into the s away fro with his heel: the central tower'sprotective panel He pulled the panel froore and wiped it with his hand On the bareof the Oracle's sacred glyph--shallow, delicate lines, obviously the work of Lighter Than Some

The Deacon looked back at the projector < Who, liar? > he asked

But the i its manic accusation

Dadab had no idea that he atching the destruction of Loki's fragment--its forced extraction by the JOTUN all-in-ones that had assaulted the reactor tower's ence resided in the towers had preyed on Lighter Than Soe the sacred glyph, and unknowingly help it set a trap for the Jiralhanae Why it would reveal its deceptive nature now, Dadab had no idea But he also didn't care

The Deacon tasted theof blood in his mouth and realized his sharp teeth had bitten into his lower lip He rose to his feet and swept his pistol across the towers, pulsing its trigger The ie of the alien warped and sputtered above the projector, like the flame of one of the Jiralhanae's oil laht that faded as Dadab's pistol cooled

As the Deacon surveyed the dead Yan circuits, he knew there was still one accessory to Lighter than Soht accomplish what his friend had so desperately desired: an end to all this violence Sliding through the control rooh for one ood