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"There’s sohter was kil ed in action I’ to hit al of you very hard"

It took a few osky knew about Miranda, just as Mendez knew, and Halsey had always thought the revelation would bring her to her knees But it was nothing--absolutely nothing--coered a terrible pressure at the roof of her mouth and squeezed tears from her eyes She felt the sensation before the words hadin her mind

When did I last see her?

When did I last speak to her?

Halsey couldn’t remember, and she couldn’t even recal what their last words had been, only that there had been no affection in the in the middle of a technical hter she hardly knew and now never would

Everyone she gave a damn about had been taken from her Fred, Kel y, and Linda were al she had left A nored and cried at a time like this, but the four of them weren’t normal, and they weren’t a family

Mendez leaned closer to the console "Admiral, this is Chief Mendez What else do you need to know before we bring this sphere out of slipspace? Reht personnel in slipspace stasis, too--either clinical y dead or close to it They’l need immediate medical attention if the cryotubes end up back in realspace as welWe just don’t kno that’l work yet"

Mendez looked distorted through her glaze of tears, but Halsey was damned if she’d break down in front of hiosky said "We’l need coordinates on the surface of the sphere to effect an entry We have a Huragok standing by to assist with communication if need be"

"We’l establish an entry point and get back to you, led to snap out of it She’d never needed anything e in it But this punch was too big She wondered if she’d ever get up again

"Doctor," Mendez said, quiet and aard "I’hter Co next"

He hates

Halsey sed Her throat was thick and salty with unshed tears "Yes Let’s do that, Chief"

And she’s gone Miranda’s gone And John And even Jacob, too

She looked at her hands, palnize thenize herself The whole world had shifted slightly and beco to do with slipspace

But she couldn’t afford to fal apart now She did what she’d done so s and what she’d persuaded herself was her normal humanity, and sealed them far away fro to do But it was also the only way she could e to draw her next breath

When she turned around, the rest of the Spartans had gone but Fred was stil there, arms at his side as if he suddenly didn’t knohat to do with them

"Are you okay, enuinely cared about her She wanted to think that was because she had so features, but perhaps it was al part of that relentless indoctrination that made her the center of their world by default Either way, she was going to finish what she’d set out to do--to protect them al , whether they were hers or Ackerson’s, and repair as left of their lives regardless of what fate awaited her

"Are you okay?" she asked

Fred sounded as if it was an effort to talk "I just never thought it would be hiht he’d always be there"

Olivia appeared again froineers want to talk to you, Doctor"

Prone drifted past Olivia and floated in front of Halsey He started gesturing, but there was no voice translation She realized she’d switched off the datapad She fu it, and the voice came to life

"You require us to help those who arrive," Prone said "We can do this"

Halsey grabbed the diversion of dealing with soent "Yes … yes, we do We also need your help to transfer this technology to our own fleet We want you to come back to Earth with us"

"Impossible" Prone to Drift had a stubborn streak that Halsey hadn’t expected to find in a Huragok "We were created to remain with the shield world and to y left for arguy," she said careful y "So to want to come with it to make sure it’s safe, aren’t you?"

Prone backed away and conferred with the other Huragok in a flurry of tentacles He edged back to her as if he had a deal

"We wil create new ones a to build soineers, do you mean?"

"That is e do"

"Our col eagues wil be here soon Are you convinced now that there’s no threat outside?"

"We are"

"Good Then al we need to knohen this world can be safely ues can land to get in here"

"We wil inform you," Prone said, and drifted away like a union convener who had to sel the deal to hisat the co down at his boots He’d run out of veno at Halsey

"Onyx to ONI control, this is Chief Mendez," he said "Ader exists, can we na it a nuosky round while she waited "What did you have in , ma’am, I think we should cal it Ambrose If Lieutenant Commander Ambrose hadn’t sacrificed hi about this sphere"

"No," Halsey interrupted There was one thing she could stil do for Kurt, and it was long overdue "Cal it Trevelyan That was his surname before I took hiive hinity of his real name"

There was a brief silence "I’l see that’s done," Parangosky said "And one day I’l make sure that nale grain of sand from the e a thing for Kurt

But she had to start somewhere

UNSC PORT STANLEY, ONYX SECTOR: FEBRUARY 2553

"Wel, that’s so you don’t see every day"