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"Not if you’re the Arbiter"

"Okay, I’ to Ontom air traffic control as soon as you make contact, so I can find me Then I can trace Phil ips"

Vaz couldn’t see any of the viewscreens fro even if he’d had his eyes open Mental y, he was now back in his drop pod, a powered coffin of a machine that would dump him on a planet with the minimum of ceremony and spit him out at the feet of the enemy The ODST life wasn’t for the claustrophobic But this was how he prepped for landing and it was a hard habit to break He could convince himself that he didn’t have a few inches of clearance in front of his face He could tel himself that it was just his eyelids, and he had al the space in the world His body was tel ing hihtly

No Calm Nonconfrontational Don’t stare theed to a faint shudder Tart-Cart had entered the atmosphere They would land in a civilized fashion, and everyone would leave the diplouistic support Vaz was dying to see how the hinge-heads reacted when Naoh

"We’re coround fire"

"What, specifical y at us, or general anti-Arbiter mayhem?" Mal asked

"I’l assu?"

"No--wait, here we go I’ for Ontom"

Vaz activated the chart display in his HUD before opening his eyes Noas looking through the delicate bluethe contours as Tart-Cart nearly nose-dived down through clouds to pul up in a shal ow but very short approach to the shoreline

"Never thought I’d be landing here with permission," Naomi murmured

It took Devereaux several minutes to crack the airlock seals once the dropship settled on its da sounds, al too faht

"Probably just a little local ood news is that my chart’s spot on"

Naoh the hatch first and Mal scrambled out behind her Tart-Cart had landed in what looked to Vaz like a factory parking lot on a Sunday, a big expanse of nothing scattered with an odd assortment of Phantoms, Spirits, Revenants, and smal , scruffy Spectres and Wraiths The Arbiter’s pilot alking toward the noise continued, but he didn’t seem bothered by it He looked much more interested in Naomi

She stopped alh to do that The chances of hi a Spartan before must have been zero, but it was clear he’d heard al about them

"You must make your oay now, de to cal her, and if heto have to try a lot harder than that "The tey weapons," Mal said "You want to brief us on anything?"

"Stil soan walking back to his vessel "Brutes Feel free to shoot the traitors We would have wiped them out sooner, but Ontos"

"Wait, are you leaving us here?"

The pilot shrugged without turning around "I o, checked his MA5C, and cal ed Devereaux on the radio "Dev, did you hear that? You stand by andout fast"

The radio clicked "I heard, Staff Good luck"

"Cal us if you get any trouble"

Vaz headed for the archway Hinge-heads couldn’tanywhere on their own, and the next they didn’t seem remotely interested, not even with a Spartan present He couldn’t tel whether the Arbiter trusted the squad, thought they were too puny to be trouble, or hadn’t actual y been told about Nao, open space that ht have been a plaza or an Elite-sized boulevard It was definitely a ht spat one way across the plaza and then the other Mal knelt slowly on one knee in the opening and sighted up

"Wel , if this is Florence," he said, "soal ery"

Vaz stared across the big, open plaza It was a bo hit the stonework about fifty meters froy bolts shot out again from a position opposite

This hat Vaz was used to No s, no politics, no diplomacy He hefted his rifle, ht our way in"

Mal looked around, shrugged, and pointed to the first wal that would give them cover

"Details, mate," he said Then he sprinted "Just poxy details"

ONIRF TREVELYAN Dr Magnusson kept her word, an unusual thing for a huuard unlock the hatch and slide the tray into the opening Heat the other side of the roo on his bunk atto be fed like some anxious animal When the outer door of the hatch snapped shut, he counted to ten before wandering slowly across the cel and sliding the inner hatch open

On the ledge, tls on a metal tray s hiht back, it simply made him more determined to escape He took the tray and carried it over to the table One bowl contained irukan grain and the other stewed y, white flesh they cal ed chicken, it was closer in flavor to the est it without problenusson had said--it had heili appeared to need But when he scooped a spoonful into his mouth, his life was transforhelios It was delicious

And it had to be a trick Why else would the huo to so much trouble to keep a prisoner happy?

Jul hadn’t found a surveil ance device in his cel yet, but there had to be one

"I a hi, won’t they?" He cleared the bowl of rain "And let me tel you that this certainly does not taste like chicken"

A good ood portion of protein--always boosted his mental processes as wel as hisout how to turn the metal tray into an implement or a weapon Perhaps that was too obvious They would knoasWhat he had to do was escape froave the hue, and then escape from this world The last was least important even if it hat he wanted most

He picked up the bowl of irukan and wandered around the cel while he ate it, looking over every panel, every conduit, and every seal They would be expecting him to try to batter his way out Osed and punched the bulkheads in her ship, and how it took two of their troops and a Spartan to subdue hiive in and find a subtler way to get at the Huragok

Where would they be, anyway? How s He had to destroy al of them, because the creatures were artificial, just like this world, and they could build more of their own kind But he didn’t kno much time he had For al he knew it could already be too late