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"No, hold your fire Al of you" Phil ips was stil talking "You too, Elar Everybody relax Everybody calm down--"

Naomi drew back her arm and simply punched her fist into the barricade like a power-ha into Vaz as the Spartan drove a huge hole in the wood andinto the halMal braced for a blinding hail of plase-heads but Phil ips, standing in front of theht in the crossfire zone Everyone froze

"Don’t you bloody dare, " Mal said

"I’ you"

"Great Thanks Now get out of the way"

The Elites had forhtly out in front with her pistol aimed squarely at Mal He looked into her face for anostrils They ht Phil ips orth a lot if he was al that was stopping theive a da the line Some of them stared at her as if they didn’t believe huot a warship right overhead," Mal said "If anted to kil you, we could have reduced this keep to rubble fro Okay?"

"They’re under attack," Phil ips said "You’ve seen what’s outside"

Vaz jerked his head toward the door "That’s not our proble by"

"We can’t abandon the out of patience At any second, a hinge-head kid could start firing, or one of the jumpier females, and then it would be a bloodbath "We can, Prof, and they’re big enough to take care of themselves Move"

This was the trickyout They were seconds away frorabbed Phil ips and pul ed hi fe their way over the debris from the barricade when two voices fil ed Mal’s helmet--Devereaux’s and BB’s

"Ene"

"Abort that, Mal Take cover"

"Two eneot ‘Telcam’s team and some other joker"

Mal stuck his head out of the door just as a vol ey of bolts ski simple these days? Everybody down "

Phil ips dropped prone as if he’d been sho to do it He aimed out the door "Told you so," he said "The other keep wants their land and buildings It’s nothing to do with the war"

Mal stopped short of s hireat excuses to settle al kinds of personal scores

"Wel , you tel that to the plasnaled to Vaz and Naoe-heads were already in position at the s "You’ve got to work out which side you’re on, Phil ips, and here’s a clue--it’s ours "

UNSC INFINITY, OORT CLOUD Parangosky watched the discreet icon on her datapad switch fro Lieutenant Priselkov when she was in ful flood about the slipspace coosky trusted BB to know better than any huent and what could wait for a presentation to end

"My apologies, Lieutenant," she said, getting to her feet and sliding the pad off the table "May we resu’s coet this resolved"

It was always educational to watch their faces She cast a benign glance around the table and noted who looked worried, who looked intrigued, who looked irritated, and as doing their best not to betray any reaction at alThis project had consumed their lives for the last year or two, cut the they held dear on Earth, and--since the Huragok had arrived and changed everything in a frantic ind of rabwhether she understood al that

"This is quite a serious situation," she said quietly "I wouldn’t interrupt thisless" It did them no harm to think she was a mind-reader as wel as omniscient She nodded at Hood "Excuseher without actual ya muscle, not even his eyes The doors closed behind her and she slid onto the buggy’s seat to ride to the closest secure space on this deck

"She’s too big, BB" Parangosky propped the datapad on the dashboard and whirred down the passage "Justcity, not a ship I’l always be a frigate scale of sailor"

"I didn’t want to upset Aine again by asking her how things were going"

"She’s rather unsettled by the Huragok, I’m afraid They don’t docu sometimes"

"That sounds astutely unionized of them"

"Yes, let’s not fal into the saheili did, because once you lose the services of the little darlings, you’re scuppered"

She could see the compartment door up ahead, marked SECURITY TESTED She’d take BB’s word for that The seal sighed as she closed the door behind her, leaving her leaning on her cane in a conspicuously quiet coeneric power outlets and data feed sockets on the bulkheads It didn’t even have any floor covering, just the bare gray composite of deck sections

"Okay, Ad of news for you, and I’l be patching you through to Captain Ososky’s datapad flashed up an ONI holding portal "We’ve found Phil ips, but Kilo-Five is stil trying to extract hiht be a perfect time to offer the Arbiter soosky didn’t rely on God or luck, but she was prepared to accept that the reward for being permanently on the lookout for opportunity sometimes resembled an answered prayer