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"I’ain"

"Do you have a few minutes to ith me, Terrence? I pro these days"

Hood fol owed her out into the passage, hands clasped behind his back The long, die echoed with their footsteps

Soely old-fashioned noise in a state-of-the-art warship

"Is this about Phil ips?" Hood asked

"He’s stilto take a very dim view of that"

"How diaret"

"But the Arbiter’s not i another civil war I need to find Phil ips"

"I’osky trod careful y Hood knew she’d beit down his throat "I think I’d rather have our own people involved in that If only to er"

Hood didn’t say a word for a while and carried on walking,his pace to hers

"That’s what they used to cal a very big ask," he said

"Yes, I’ But I think you would be best placed to actual y raise it with him"

"So you want to insert … who, exactly?"

"Kilo-Five"

"This ask is getting rather large What if he refuses?"

"I’ a man behind I need a body, dead or alive"

"So you’re tel ing rees to it or not"

"Yes"

"Quite apart fronty like that"

"Then why are you al ocating et to Infinity? We don’t need her to handle huents"

Hood alht"

"You don’t trust the Sangheili any more than I do"

"No, but that doesn’t mean I want to restart the war"

Any political y aware heili Dirty tricks had long been the textbookthreats He doesn’t want to know He’d rather be able to look the Arbiter in the eye and feel he was technically telling hientleman, but not an idealist That was a relief

Parangosky had covered a lot of deck today and her knees were kil ing her She ground to a halt at the doors to the atrium, a vast transparent dome over a space the size of a park When she held up her datapad and checked it against the sche snapped into place to give her a three-die--area it would be There were already soko trees and a Parana pine

"Lavish," she said, looking for a raw nerve she could twang It was hard to find one in a seasoned horse-trader like Hood "I realize habitability is ireen-jobs see this"

"The ship’s co deployments Half the crew never even meet one another We have to think in terms of the human dynamics of a smal city"

"Of course we do" They’d played this fencing game far too often and for too osky detected just a little defensiveness creeping in, a whiff of guilt Hood didn’t like the suggestion that he gave soet

Good That was the idea "When do you want the Sangheili to knoe have her?"

Hood aosky more of the Coliseum than a plaza "When we have those new drives online So what are we going to do about Phil ips?"

"Oshelios But if we don’t find hie warship ht be helpful in a number of ways"

"It’s far too soon And it’s not as if the Sangheili are holding him"

"Think of it as a work-up exercise A Thursday War"

"We’ve stil got contractors crawling al over the ship"

"Just cosmetic stuff Come on, Terrence She can deploy"

"She’s not ready Or perhaps I’osky put on her it’s-al -your-fault-anyway face, a studied, sad regret with a hint of disappoint Subconsciously or otherwise, osky pressed that primal button and Hood blinked first

"Just tel me this wasn’t part of your plan," he said

"I know I’ that convoluted I genuinely fear for his life And we do need his unique rapport with the Sangheili"

"So what are our options?"

"Cal the Arbiter Ask him a personal favor If he refuses, then you knohere you stand We don’t even have to involve Infinity unless things real y deteriorate But this is exactly e commissioned her--to dominate space"

Hood looked around the atrium as if he was lost, then indicated an exit on the port side

"Very wel ," he said "I’l cal hihelios until we’re sure we can win I wil not go to war again unless they come after us"