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He batted her hand away The gesture was more censorious than the artificial voice sounded "Please no "

Halsey stared at the back of her hand for a ok would rap her knuckles They ht have been passive and nonpartisan, but they obviously had their liy Lucy could only look at Prone insht her elbow and steered her away Lucy watched Prone, who see that Mendez was the good guy who’d stop Halsey bul ying him Or maybe he’d just formed a bad opinion of the entire human species It was hard to tel

"Diplomacy, Doctor," Mendez said "Try it"

But Halsey wasn’t taking any notice She was coation and the need to let ONI know that she had it

She see aloud now, because she certainly wasn’t asking anyone for an opinion, least of al the Chief

"Once we get a signal out, then we’l need to take those Engineers with us," she said "They’re a unique resource Huragok descended froine e can extract froine how anic computers They’re like AIs"

"Maybe, but you say they’ve waited a hundred thousand years? Wel , then we can afford to spend a couple of days sweet-talking them That’s just a feeeks outside"

"Planets fal to the Covenant in weeks In days "

"Al I’, so try another tack"

Halsey reached out for the control panel again, one hand on her sidearm It was visible in her pocket Lucy readied herself tostupid

"So what happens if I access this? Are you going to stop me?" Halsey took a step toward Prone and he backed away "I don’t want to harm you

I just want to call my damn office "

Prone recoiled and Refil Neededto defend him Lucy wanted to yel at Halsey to shut up and leave the his fro to cower and fold his tentacles closer to his body He was scared She knehat it felt like to want to lash out and just make the noise and the pain and the fear stop

Just leave him alone

Lucy was a little shorter than Halsey but she knew she was a lot stronger She grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back a few paces, her attention stil on that sideared her off without even looking back at her and took another step forward

"Prone, I think I kno to operate this, so if you don’t--"

And that hen Lucy snapped

She grabbed Halsey by the shoulder again, spun her around and threw a punch that sent a shock wave right up her arrabbed Lucy from behind, but the switch had been thrown and she didn’t kno to turn it off The fury shut out al sound: her lungs froze and her skul was bursting She fought to break free and get at Halsey, this focus of al that was threatening and bul ying in her world, but she couldn’t

If she didn’t let it al out right now, she’d col apse

"No!" she screamed "No! No! No!"

The sound of her own voice after al those years was shockingly alien, so weird that she alnize it It took every scrap of breath and energy she had left She couldn’t say another word

"Wel , goddamn…" Mendez said "Goddamn "

UNSC PORT STANLEY, SOMEWHERE OFF SANGHELIOS: FEBRUARY 2553

As too many UNSC personnel had found out the hard way, it was pretty hard to kil a Sangheili

The shipht on board stil looked battered and some of his teeth were broken, but he was alert and alive Os and waited for hiain He hadn’t touched the food placed in the security hatch That didn’t surprise her

So who are you, then?

According to the nav computer in his shuttle, he’d come fro out his naer Phil ips watched hiht with fascination

"Here’s the hard bit," Osman said "Do I tel ‘Telcaheili had been taken alive, and those had been too close to death to be much use to ONI, but this one would be very useful indeed

"Nabbed, " Phil ips said "What a sweet old-fashioned word There was a time when people cal ed this rendition I suppose you want me to have another chat with him when he’s calmed down a bit If he calms down"

"Wel , you’re the only one on board who can look him in the eye and not want to spit in it And you’re supposed to be the greatest living expert on hinge-heads"

"Sooner or later, so about it"

Osman just looked at him and raised an eyebrow eloquently It was very easy to put Phil ips in his place She didn’t real y mean to, because he’d far exceeded her expectations, froness to muck in with the rest of the crew to his coer he was in

But he had to reheili culture He was here to help ONI kil the bastards