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Phil ips was a bearded bloke in his thirties who had civvie hired help written al over him Osman was tal , not Spartan tal , but conspicuous just the saosky settled down at the far corner of the tables and gestured to theirl handed six datapads to Oset a chance to look to Vaz for a reaction before his screen flashed into life and told hiheili expert from Wheatley University
Debrief, then About what? The bloody Spirit? What was so special about that?
"I’l get to the point," Parangosky said "You’re under no obligation to undertake this mission"
That sealed the deal for Mal ODSTs didn’t turn down tasking, any tasking They’d auto, now and forever, world-without-end-amen, on the day they’d turned up for the selection board Being RTU’d--Returned to Unit, sent back to their original regiment or ship or squadron in whatever country because they didn’tthat could happen to them Death was a osky fixed Vaz with a watery but intiaze "Corporal, when’s the best time to kick a man?"
"When he’s down, ma’am," Vaz said quietly "And preferably in the nuts Hard as you can"
Mal could have sworn that Parangosky smiled It was more like a twitch of the lips, but he was pretty sure Vaz had hit the target
"Ayou al to go and kick the Sangheili in their col ective nuts in ways that n to you I want you to sow discontent and strife They’re already infighting and I want to keep that going until we’re ready to finish the job
Anyone not keen on that? There’s no sha I’ve seen your service records and you’ve al ht to say no"
Yeah, Mal was pretty sure she knew every last thing about thears they took in their coffee So she had to know the answer she’d get It was stil a decent gesture, though Nobody said a word Os an eye on the Spartan, and the Spartan kept giving her a furtive glance as if soe, soon Mal made mental note to stay wel clear
"I’n is this going to get? Because we’re fine with assassination and sabotage"
"I know I’heili dissidents Misinforosky squinted at her datapad for ato have to think on your feet Intel’s very patchy now and we’re not sure exactly where the fault lines are for inforhly"
Mal knew that ONI were a law unto themselves, and the one question he’d learned never to ask hy It was always how and when He certainly didn’t plan to ask if every osky’s op
Devereaux didn’t seee, ma’am So no peace treaty, then?"
"Admiral Hood believes it’s possible to reach a for to be busy dealing with the colonies now that we need to bring our ard sheep back into the fold"
Mal thought she’d avoided the question until the answer sank in Oh God She’s even sidelining Hood now Never rade that I’d need a telescope to see it Had he been given a lawful order? Wel , he hadn’t been given an unlawful one yet
Phil ips was stil sitting there with the expression of a rabbit about to be hit by a truck that it just hadn’t seen colanced at him
"So what’s the professor’s status,after him, yes?"
"No, he’l be arosky hovered on the edge of looking concerned "You’l have to forget the chain of command and make your own decisions out there Our coot relays down, our people out there are struggling to get word to us, and the colonies--wel , where they’ve gone silent, we don’t knohether they’re a s heap of charcoal or if they’ve just decided to sever links with us"
Mal wanted to ask why she’d picked them He could understand the professor, the spook, and the Spartan, but there were stil plenty of ODSTs around, and any of them could have done the job It obviously wasn’t a lottery or else Vaz wouldn’t have been here too
He’d find out sooner or later It didn’t
"We’re shipping out in the ht, do it within the coht over from the barracks We’l transfer to the ship at Midpoint--it’s Port Stanley She’s got the latest Forerunner enhancements to her drives, so we can cover a lot of space fast A corvette’s a big vessel for six, but we’l have an AI to handle her"
Parangosky laid her pad down like a winning hand of cards "Come on, BB Don’t be coy Introduce yourself"
Mal had never worked with smart AIs A ship would drop hiain and extract theet to play with any of the technology that ONI took for granted He waited for the hologram to appear When a blue cube materialized in the center of the tables, it was a bit of an anticli a little more exotic He’d heard al the hairy stories about the weird forms that AI avatars took
"That’d be me," the blue cube said in a news anchor’s tenor voice "The taxi driver Black-Box Airport runs my specialty"
Mal leaned back in his seat and caught Vaz’s eye for a second He looked careful y blank, like he always did
We don’t do psyop We’ve never worked with Spartans before And we’re definitely not trained for this spook stuff But how hard can it be?
They were ODSTs They could do anything It was al about the right attitude--a commando’s state of e-head World, then"
CHAPTER THREE
IT’S BEEN ANNOUNCED TODAY THAT ADMIRAL LORD HOOD, CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS, IS TO HEAD A DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO THE SURVIVING EARTH COLONIES TO DISCUSS RECONSTRUCTION UEG SOURCES SAY THAT SOME COLONIES HAVE REBUFFED THE OFFER AND WON’T NEGOTIATE WITH THE ADMINISTRATION THEY FEEL ABANDONED THEM IN OTHER NEWS, UEG PRESIDENT CHARET HAS UNVEILED HER NEW CABINET AMONG THE CASUALTIES IS COLONIES MINISTER DAVID AGNOLI, WHO’S BEEN REPLACED BY AKEYO ODUYA